The dungeon has been parasitized

Chapter 22 Hunting Upgrade

"Three hundred meters?! I'll drown first! I can't hold my breath that long. Although I can use water manipulation, I can only swim a hundred meters at most."

"This problem must be solved."

After leaving a seed in the hollow, Klein returned to the plantation and told Yanami about the underwater hollow.

But there was nothing that could be done.

If only we could supply Yanami with oxygen underwater... Or, Klein could make a cable for Yanami with vines underwater and pull her over as quickly as possible.

But this would require a 300-meter-long vine. Klein's magic was insufficient to support him in creating such a vine using accelerated growth. If it grew slowly, the vine would have died long ago from being soaked in water for too long.

In other words, Klein now needs the characteristics of aquatic plants.

Upon opening his skill panel, Klein discovered that he had reached LV11.

The recent battles and today's escape gave Klein over a thousand experience points, but leveling up without killing anyone in the battles is still too slow.

Klein now faces a choice: leveling up requires fighting and killing monsters, but the fewer monsters there are, the faster the flesh monsters will find Yanami.

Without upgrading, there is no other way to explore underwater.

I wonder if that flesh-and-blood monster eats inanimate objects? If it does, Klein can hunt it down and then hide the prey to buy it time.

But let's take a look at the upgraded options first... Hopefully, there will be an option for underwater plants.

【LV Options:】

[1. Base growth rate × 10%]

[2. Basic plant toughness × 10%]

3. Basic plant hardness × 10%

[4. Root absorption rate × 10%]

[5. Mana recovery speed ×10%]

[6. The spear-like branches of the spear tree: vines and branches combine, and by compressing the vines and releasing them, they thrust forward rapidly.]

Hmm... It's a pity it's not the option Klein wanted, but it's certainly very useful.

Klein chose the sixth option without hesitation.

While the new ability made Klein happy, there was one thing that saddened him: the experience required to level up had been reduced to 2000 points.

As expected, things aren't that good...

Klein had also fantasized about how wonderful it would be if his score remained at 1000 points, but reality was far from that.

虽然LV9到LV10和LV10到LV11都是1000点，但从LV11开始就是每级增加1000点了，也就是说到达LV20时，经验就要10000点了。

Let's try out the new features first...

Activate skill: Accelerate growth

Klein controlled a vine to grow a spiked spear. The spearhead was a woody cone, and the back was a soft vine. Klein first made the vine compress itself, and then released it.

puff--

It pierced the soil and easily penetrated several tens of centimeters deep. The whole process was like a knight with a lance, first gathering strength in his arm, then thrusting out the lance and killing the enemy with a single blow.

Not bad... but the problem is that the wooden spear is still wood after all. If it encounters a tough monster like a steel-toothed boar, it might break before it even gets in.

Perhaps we could target the vines directly without using the spear?

Klein grew a vine following the same structure, but removed the woody spearhead.

Charge up, then release.

Swah——

The vines shot out, but instead of a gun, they lashed out like a swift whip.

It seems that this plant trait can not only be used for attack, but also to increase Klein's vine speed. If Klein does not want to attack directly but wants to use his vines to grab the target, he can charge up first and then extend his vines at an extremely fast speed.

With this ability, Klein might be able to hunt prey more efficiently, and in that case, the method of pulling Yanami into the void might be more reliable.

While the plantation is still relatively safe, I should level up as soon as possible. If I haven't obtained the plant traits I need by the time the flesh monster gets close to the plantation, I should escape with Yanami.

………………

Wild Dog Forest was originally a place where only weak monsters lived. The strongest species here used to be packs of Wind Demon Wolves and Rock Armor Bears, but now they are almost nowhere to be seen.

There were many more monsters that Klein had never seen before, and they were clearly more powerful than the monsters that were resident in the Wild Dog Forest.

For example, there are herds of Thunderhorn Deer and Steel-Toothed Boars, Magical Leopards that are faster than Wind Demon Wolves, and Sword Lions that are stronger than Rock Armor Bears, not to mention goblins and trolls.

These are likely monsters that migrated to the Wild Dog Forest due to the influence of the demonic tide, crowding out the original ecosystem of the Wild Dog Forest.

But now these new monsters are becoming fewer and fewer, because the flesh monsters are getting stronger and stronger, which has made other monsters afraid to migrate to the Wild Dog Forest.

Klein went out hunting to level up, but he didn't take Yanami with him because she was too dangerous to escape, and Klein's strength had increased significantly with the Bone Thief Badger.

After searching the forest, they finally found a lone steel-tusked wild boar, which had become separated from its herd because it was being chased by a flesh-and-blood monster.

Controlling the invisible Bone-Stealing Badger, plant a seed on the ground, then activate the skill: Accelerated Growth.

Once you reach LV2 with accelerated growth, you can grow without nutrients by spending double the magic power.

The seed sprouted in the soil, growing underground in the type of vine Klein needed, as Klein controlled, and then took a few steps back.

Then activate the spell: Wind Blade.

Buzz—hiss.

"Ouch——!"

Because Klein was invisible, the steel-toothed boar's neck was unknowingly hit by Klein's magic, but its tough fur withstood a lot of damage and was not fatal.

However, that's enough.

Klein deactivated his invisibility.

"Awooooo! Pfft—"

The steel-tusked boar snorted, aiming at the suddenly appearing Klein. Its long tusks gleamed as it rubbed its hooves against the ground.

Okay~ Charge over here.

"Aww!"

Just as Klein had anticipated, it charged forward frantically, and when it reached within striking distance of Klein—

Activate skill: Remote control

puff!

"Ang ang ang—!"

A heart-wrenching wail.

More than a dozen spikes emerged from the ground, piercing the belly of the steel-tusked wild boar, and even lifting it completely off the ground.

This is the bayonet technique that Klein just learned. It can be buried in the ground before battle to serve as a trap. Each bayonet is even reinforced and hardened, and has a health bar.

The steel-tusked wild boar struggled desperately in mid-air, its blood flowing down the tip of the spear, leaving a pool of bright red.

The strength wasn't enough; although it pierced the fur, it wasn't fatal.

The steel-toothed boar was still lively and energetic, but being lifted into the air, it had no way to use its strength. Klein didn't have the magic sword to eat blood and break its defenses, so now he could only wait for it to bleed more and become weaker.

The bleeding from the dozen or so holes was still quite rapid, and the steel-toothed wild boar quickly became weak, unable to swing its sharp teeth anymore.

Klein spurred the bone-stealing badger forward and used its sharp steel teeth to sever its neck, ending its life.