Glen's eyes took in the beautiful view. A tree that bloomed with a multitude of colors stood before him. Glen felt a little disappointed that they had to destroy and pillage such a sight. But, beautiful sights didn't feed his crew's families.
The report from his scouts caught Glen's attention. The area was clear and no signs of ambush were noticed. Nonetheless, Glen still kept his vigilance high. Be it his intuition or years of experience, Glen felt this place wasn't as simple as it seemed. Only his right-hand man, Gonez had noticed the unusually peaceful atmosphere as well.
Once the rest of the 20-man mercenary crew had heard of Glen's worries, they too raised their wariness. But nothing happened while they were setting up camp. So, after half an hour and nothing happened, they relaxed. Only a few of the more seasoned mercenaries kept their guard up despite the clear lack of danger.
With camp set up, Glen could finally get to chopping that tree. They had to chop it down and then extract all the roots from under the ground. That was all. It was a rather simple commission, so Glen was skeptical at first. Glen had checked the rates of labor for similar works. Yet, the pay was many times more than those rates and still tripled their own. Glen couldn't figure out why his employer was willing to throw away that much cash for seemingly no reason.
This led to the current situation, Glen passed an axe to one of the newer recruits who went by Sid. Sid was considered to be an intern in a sense, but after today's commission, he would officially be part of the crew. The crew had long since accepted him, so it was more of a formality. Glen patted the kid's back as Sid walked towards the tree.
Sid was slightly nervous trying to recall the few times he had held an axe. He had to cut near the base since the commission requested as many tree parts as they could carry. Sid lined his axe and swung. The sound of an axe hitting bark sounded through the clearing. Sid pulled back for another swing, but the axe blade just wouldn't come out. Then Sid flew for a second before he died.
Glen stood in horrified confusion as a pair of branches descended the tree at blinding speeds. The branches swiftly noosed around Sid's neck before anyone could react. With a sickening snap, Sid disappeared into the canopy. The crew stood in shock for one second before hell broke loose. Gunshots echoed throughout the forest as hundreds of bullets pelted the flower tree.
Gun smoke drifted into the air obscuring a clear visual on the target. However, as soon as they stopped firing guns the earth rumbled. A few closer to the tree screamed as they were pulled to the ground. Hundreds of roots broke out from beneath them. Glen immediately yelled for a retreat, but the few who were captured were unable to do anything.
Glen saw the tree take minimal damage despite taking so many bullets. The outer bark was slightly stripped away, but other than that nothing the tree was undamaged. The tree constricted and crushed the unfortunate few who were caught. Glen could only watch in frustration.
"Boss! What's the plan!?" Gonez yelled over the gunfire.
Glen paused, he didn't know what to do. The situation has evolved beyond his understanding. Retreating was likely the most sensible option. However, Glen didn't want to give up on his crew so easily. The outer bark could be stripped, so maybe they just needed more firepower. Glen made a mad dash to the motorcycle, careful to not get in anyone's line of fire. When arriving Glen rummaged the cargo until he found the good stuff. Dynamite. Sticks of dynamite.
If these couldn't take out the tree then retreat was the only option. Light the fuse of one, he yelled for his crew to block their ears and clear the area. Although any of those next to the tree were more than likely long dead. A lit dynamite sailed through the air as Glen covered his ears. A deafening explosion rocketed the world as a few fell backward. Glen waited for the smoke to part, then he saw it.
Branches thrown and broken. Flowers toasted and burned. The bark of the tree was blackened and damaged. A good chunk of the trunk had broken. It hadn't fallen, but Glen estimated a few more should put the monstrous tree down. Glen prepared to light more dynamite, but the tree did something abnormal. Its flowers began to release pollen. The pollen flooded the air and soon one of his men breathed it in. Glen watched as that man dropped to the floor like a puppet with its string cut. The pollen was poisonous!
"Masks!!" Glen commanded.
His men were already equipping their gas masks. Glen and his crew once faced an ambush on one of their commissions. The bastards had used mustard gas to try and take his crew out. But through sheer luck and the stupidity of their ambushers, they managed to escape alive. Since then they never went anywhere without gas masks. The newer members however were more lax with this rule. They often left their masks wherever. So, they were the first to fall to the poison.
Glen scanned the crowd to find their guide Flynn because he was without a gas mask. But the guide was nowhere to be seen, so Glen focused on the task at hand. The tree had hunkered down and the canopy of flowers descended to protect the trunk of the tree. It resembled a giant bush of flowers. Getting to the trunk with the dynamite wouldn't be easy with so many flowers in the way. Glen also had a limited amount of dynamite, so if he ran out retreat was the only option.
Glen quickly thought of a solution, they just needed to get rid of the outer shield of flowers. Burning them could work. Glen quickly made molotovs out of their celebration alcohol. They likely weren't celebrating much after this was over anyway. Glen handed out the home brew molotovs to the crew that were close to him and got ready to set the tree ablaze.
---
In another part of the forest a young man kneeled on the forest floor. The young man prayed continuously to the Forest Spirits. Flynn prayed for forgiveness for his actions. The sacred tree had killed one of the mercenaries. That wasn't possible. It must've been the Forest spirit's retribution for their actions. There was no other explanation. A loud explosion caused him to open his eyes.
Zack instinctively turned towards the loud noise, but nothing happened. His action of turning however hadn't gone unnoticed. The young man he had been spying on the past few minutes noticed Zack. The reaction Zack was expecting did not come. The young man suddenly bashed his head into the forest floor.
"Forest Spirit! Please Forgive My Wrongdoings! I Vow From Now On To Protect The Forests With My Very Life!!" Flynn yelled his heart out.
However, Zack encountered an issue. He couldn't understand the young man. He spoke a language Zack didn't know of. It was like encountering a foreigner on a trail. They could be saying whatever and you'd have no clue. Zack ascertained that most of the non-verbal clues still remained though. If they hadn't existed, Zack would've been in a truly troubling situation. But the young man was acting too weird for Zack to understand anything.
Compared to the young man, the explosion was more interesting. So, Zack did a quick bow and a prayer to the young man before leaving. The young man surprisingly reciprocated with a bow and prayer. Zack disappeared into the surroundings before hearing a system notification go off.
---
Ding! 1 Prayer collected!
---
Did he just receive a prayer without killing? Zack wanted to try to get the young man to pray to him again. But when Zack looked back, the young man was unconscious and on the floor. Small goblets of pollen fluttered through the air. The pollen likely was the cause and they seem to originate from the direction of the sacred tree. Was the pollen from the tree? Zack knew there was only one way to find out.
Zack snuck towards where he had encountered the flower tree. As for the additional prayer, Zack didn't know what to make of it. Clearly, there were some other means to get Prayers, but he didn't know the specifics. Especially since Zack had other matters to focus on.
A giant ball of flames engulfed a certain tree as Zack spied from the foliage. The flower tree's pollen was extremely flammable. So, when the molotov hit their target, they burned hot. Zack examined the group of people. They were outfitted in combat attire and weren't the nicest-looking bunch. A few of their people were knocked out. Zack even noticed what looked to be their leader.
Minutes passed and Zack watched from the shadows. These people knew what they were doing. They had burned the tree's flowers and branches to expose the center. Those injured from the fires were pulled aside and treated. They never got too close to the tree, except one time. It made Zack feel really glad the tree wasn't hungry for mantis when he previously encountered it.
The leader began yelling orders, and once more Zack hadn't the slightest clue what they meant. But within a few seconds, he threw something at the tree. BOOM! A loud explosion rocketed out and threw Zack off his feet. The noise left his sound receptors ringing. The tree however was still upright. A second explosion though followed soon after. This time Zack mentally prepared himself for the shockwave. The waves sent shivers through his body and stray wooden shards pelted Zack. Despite being prepared it still felt horrible.
Zack noticed the tree had fallen this time. The roots were also animating much slower than before. The flowers were completely destroyed so there was a lack of pollen. Some of the men from the group daringly approached the tree. However, they elicited no reaction from the tree. What came after was a loud cheer from the group. Injured, burned, and tired, they had slain a living tree.
Zack didn't pay them any mind though. No, his focus was on a small marble some distance away from the felled tree. It was green in color and had a lustrous glow. It was really beautiful. Surely they wouldn't mind him taking a small souvenir. Zack slowly approached the marble with Mimic Mundane Flora active. Zack didn't want to alert the group of people since they had guns. Last Zack checked he was most definitely not bulletproof.
Within a minute Zack reached the marble. Trying to be as discreet as possible Zack grabbed the marble with his mandibles. A gunshot sounded and Zack was sent careening backwards. The marble had shattered into a fine powder. Zack knew this because a majority of it was forced down his mandibles and into his stomach. Both his mandibles and head ached sorely, but it was better than his head being blown off. Zack wanted to spit out the powder, but first he had to escape. Lying low to the ground Zack slipped into the closest cluster of dead foliage. No more gunshots came after, so Zack looked at the new notification.
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Ding! High levels of new foreign energy consumed!
Self-destruction is soon to occur in 7 days! Evolve immediately to rectify imminent death!
---
'Well, shit.' Zack lamented.