Chapter 94: The A-Rank Mutant Virginia Creeper Is Rapidly Converging on Them
Setting out from the North Gate that morning, Zhou Xue, Heixi, and their teams ran into a steady stream of mutants of various sizes.
Taking them down was hardly an ordeal; between them, they fielded fourteen Awakeners.
Six from Dark Star, eight from the Red Flag Society.
It served as a decent proving ground to calibrate their unit cohesion.
…Except for one glaring showboat.
While dealing with an F-rank mutant weasel, Hall summoned ice blades with one hand while ducking into a corner to frantically munch on pickled white radish with the other.
Confronting an E-rank crimson mushroom, Hall flung ice daggers while slipping off his face covering to cram roasted chestnuts into his mouth.
Engaging an E-rank mutant willow, having exhausted his internal reserves from a barrage of ice attacks, Hall didn’t absorb energy crystals to recover.
Instead, he whipped several skewers of Malatang out of his pack and inhaled them at lightning speed.
Heixi’s operatives stared in stunned disbelief. “You bought all of that at the Chinese Restaurant?”
No wonder these folks hadn’t batted an eye at the roasted sweet potatoes and corn the Commander had handed out.
Luo Xianghuai sheepishly stepped forward to shield Hall from view. “Yeah.”
Turning his head, he hissed, “You bought that much after heading downstairs?”
Turner chimed in, “Didn’t we just finish a meal? Hall, can you give your stomach a break for five minutes…?”
Immediately after.
Upon felling a mutated chestnut tree, the Red Flag Awakeners watched in bewilderment as the Dark Star crew shouted things like “sugar-roasted chestnuts!” and “money, sweet money!”, swarming the fallen tree’s remnants.
They shoved the mutated nuts into their packs with frantic haste.
Cramming them in, they even looked up to ask if the Red Flag squad wanted any.
Claiming they could… trade them for currency?
Incomprehensible.
“No, go ahead. All yours.”
Heixi waved a hand with polite detachment.
This was the first joint operation between the two syndicates.
The Red Flag operatives couldn’t help thinking that Dark Star’s Awakeners were… rather different from their fierce reputation.
Throughout the trek, their tactical synergy came together nicely.
Though the Red Flag Society fielded more operatives, most possessed auxiliary abilities.
Dark Star’s six Awakeners were weighted heavily toward crowd control and offense: aside from Luo Xianghuai’s [Tracking] and Quick’s [Petrification], the other four wielded [Screech], [Ice Blade], [Entangle], and Zhou Xue’s [Superstrength].
Among Red Flag’s eight operatives, Heixi brought [Aegis]—a battle-tested defensive barrier.
They also had [Haste], [Heal], and [Levitation].
[Seduction] and [Paralysis] served as crowd control.
Their only bona fide offensive capabilities were [Ignition] and [Piercing].
Yet the Red Flag operatives were exceptionally coordinated.
Barriers sheltered the frontline, while control chained seamlessly into strike vectors.
They maintained dedicated scouting and retreat protocols.
[Heal], in particular, proved vital both in the heat of skirmishes and during aftermath stabilization.
The air grew tense the moment they reached the derelict shopping mall at the heart of the urban ruins.
The battle plan hammered out between Zhou Xue and Heixi was to probe east toward Great Banyan Park first.
Once in range, [Levitation] and [Tracking] would handle reconnaissance to locate the primary mass of the mutated banyan tree.
Upon visual confirmation, [Ignition] would spark a blaze to strip away the vine shielding, forcing the tree to expose its weak points. [Entangle] and [Paralysis] would lock it down, while [Ice Blade] and [Piercing] ran interference for Zhou Xue to spearhead a direct assault on the core.
Heixi would hold barrier wards ready to shield Zhou Xue’s three-person spearhead at a moment’s notice.
[Petrification] guarded [Heal] in the rear.
As a contingency, [Seduction] would draw aggro if the engagement spiraled, while [Haste] provided an area-of-effect speed surge to pull the unit out.
Neutralizing the mutant cleanly was Plan A; if the banyan proved to be an empty decoy, they would pivot to Plan B.
The creeper covered a terrifyingly wide radius, which would force [Ignition] into the primary offensive role.
By the time the column reached the abandoned mall, it was past noon.
They advanced on Plan A.
Anomalies erupted right out of the gate.
As the strike force approached the borders of Great Banyan Park, a suffocating sea of tendrils lashed out in an all-out ambush.
[Ignition] flared. Zhou Xue swung her heavy longblade, shearing through the whipping vines with brutal efficiency.
[Ice Blade], [Piercing], [Entangle], and [Paralysis] snapped into supporting cadence.
Heixi warded [Tracking] behind an energy shield, allowing the scout to lock onto the entity’s true nexus while the beast reeled from the damage.
“Eleven o’clock!”
Luo Xianghuai opened his eyes, clutching a severed banyan branch, and barked the bearing.
“On it!”
Zhou Xue swallowed a crystal whole, drawing in a surge of energy to lead the breach.
[Ignition], [Paralysis], and [Entangle] locked down the rear, battering back the flurry of branches closing in from every flank.
Hacking a bloody path through the foliage, the strike force arrived before an eighteen-story residential tower at the eleven o’clock vector.
The high-rise stood just across the boulevard from Great Banyan Park. Looking up from street level, they saw the colossal banyan bursting through the carcass of the building.
Exterior masonry and pavement alike were smothered beneath a carpet of emerald creeper vines.
A suffocating canopy burst through the eighteenth-floor rooftop, blotting out the sky. Standing beneath it, the Awakeners felt like insects waiting to be crushed underfoot.
“Holy hell… Did this thing put on an entire skyscraper as armor? How are we supposed to fight that?” gasping from relentless uses of [Screech], Turner stared in awe, running low on fumes.
“My megalophobia is kicking into overdrive…” Hall panted, wiping sweat from his brow.
“Cut the chatter and execute the play!” As the primary vanguard, Zhou Xue barked, “A banyan’s taproots drive straight down. Zhuo Tian, can your flames burn downward?”
Zhuo Tian was their [Ignition] specialist.
“I can try!”
“Do you have enough energy left?”
“Just downed a crystal.”
“Barriers deployed! The remaining energy will hold for thirty minutes; make sure you’re in my line of sight before it drops so I can refresh it!” Heixi yelled over the din. “Ice Blade, Piercing, Paralysis, take your firing positions!”
“Understood!”
“The banyan will likely go berserk once the flames catch. Brace yourselves, all of you.”
The operatives coordinated their deployment while carving away the surrounding vines.
Until Zhou Xue roared—”Burn it!”
Decades-old building rubble was packed with dried tinder. The moment sparks took root, fiery tongues snaked along the banyan’s arterial grain, consuming wood as they climbed upward and drove downward.
[Piercing] and [Entangle] dug deep into the masonry, violently prying apart foundation slabs to expose the subterranean taproots.
The inferno surged below ground.
Rumble—!
The ignited banyan writhed in agony, sending violent tremors rippling through the earth beneath their boots.
“Wait… Captain! The sixth floor!”
Luo Xianghuai tracked the tree’s defensive thrashing; its heaviest branches were whipping around in a frenzy, desperately smothering flames concentrated around the sixth story.
Zhou Xue caught the anomaly in the same breath. Grabbing the operative with [Levitation], she barked, “Get me up there!”
[Levitation] carried her skyward instantly. Nearing the flailing branches, Zhou Xue caught the shattered lip of an exterior windowsill and vaulted into the building with a clean, acrobatic roll.
Sensing an intruder, several thick boughs whipped around to lash at her skull.
Swish—!
Sharp ice daggers whistled up from street level, pinning the limbs back.
Blade in hand, Zhou Xue charged straight for the massive trunk piercing the interior floors.
The boughs desperately putting out the fire went completely feral, turning en masse to converge upon her.
Then, they abruptly froze.
Shielded by an aegis barrier, the [Paralysis] operative tapped into the burning banyan at street level.
It held for a mere two seconds.
Yet two seconds was an eternity.
Unleashing [Superstrength], Zhou Xue brought her longblade crashing down against the trunk.
Crack—!
Snap—!
With a brutal twist of steel, she levered the plant core free.
…Wait.
Why was the trunk so brittle? The interior was virtually hollow.
It had yielded far too easily.
Her brow locked in a tight frown as she looked down at the extracted core.
?!
“Something’s wrong.”
Carried back to street level by [Levitation], Zhou Xue’s face was grim as she addressed the relieved crowd.
“What’s wrong?”
Zhou Xue opened her palm, revealing a dull, withered, purplish-crimson crystalline core.
“This banyan used to be the primary organism. Its core has already been sucked dry by the parasite feeding on it.”
“And purplish-crimson… denotes an A-rank,” Heixi said, his face turning pale.
The worst-case scenario had arrived.
Rustle, rustle, rustle—!
A deafening chorus of frenzied slithering erupted from all directions.
The sun dipped beneath the horizon.
An A-rank mutant Virginia creeper was converging on their position with terrifying speed.
