The giant carnivorous flower roared with a wet, guttural sound, whipping its thick, wrist-sized roots through the air. They cracked down like venom-laced leather whips, each blow strong enough to pulverize bone in a single strike.
Ren threw himself backward. His boots skidded over damp soil, leaving twin shallow tracks in the choking fog. A vine lashed past his chest, so close it stole the breath from his lungs for a heartbeat.
Fortunately, that seemed to be the limit of its reach, at least for the moment. The monster could easily close in to press the attack, but it hadn't yet.
Because Aisen's sword kept it pinned in place.
He surged forward, cutting through the roots as if they were limp noodles. Each slash came with a sharp, dry swish, spraying the air with the pungent tang of sap.
Ren knew, without Aisen here, he would've been bound, crushed, and swallowed whole in seconds.
To Ren, this mini-boss was a waking nightmare.
Fighting it alone meant being shredded under a storm of attacks from every direction, every root whipping forward like a swarm of venomous serpents, leaving no space to breathe. Even a fully armed, well-coordinated party would pay dearly to bring down such a creature.
And yet now… it was being driven back by a single man.
Aisen's strikes were final and absolute, every arc of his blade an executioner's decree. The last root clawing up from the ground was severed with a wet snap.
Then, like a shadow slipping from sight, Aisen swept sideways, circling behind the monster.
His curved blade carved an arc in the mist, sharp enough to shear through the flower's crimson petals as though gutting a wild beast.
The boss's HP bar plummeted, dropping to a single segment, two-thirds of its life erased in less than three minutes.
Not giving it a chance to recover from the staggering blow, Ren charged, driving every ounce of strength into his legs until the muscles felt like they might tear through his skin.
In just two breaths, he closed the four-meter gap, coming face-to-face with the monster's massive body.
Windslash screamed, the steel's voice cutting the fog apart, biting into its trunk. A tiny damage number floated above the boss's head, so small it seemed to vanish against the immensity of its health bar.
Compared to Aisen's strikes… Ren's attack was like pricking a giant beast with a sewing needle.
Still, he didn't falter. Tightening his grip on the hilt, he poured all his strength into the next swing.
The blade carved deep into the plant's thick outer shell, slicing through fibrous flesh until it reached the core.
This time, a critical hit flashed, double the damage of the last strike, enough to make the beast flinch.
But the moment also snapped it out of its daze.
With a wet snarl, it lunged forward, its "head" splitting open. The petals flared wide, revealing a hideous plant-maw lined with dense, jagged teeth, snapping shut in a single, lethal bite.
A searing, needle-sharp pain shot through Ren's body, as though hundreds of thorns pierced every inch of skin.
Instinct took over. He tightened every muscle and burst forward.
His lean frame slipped through the gap between two massive crimson petals, one already missing thanks to Aisen's earlier slash, just enough space to escape.
The flower's enormous jaws slammed shut behind him with a heavy snap, missing their prey.
Only the lingering sweetness of its breath and the damp heat at the back of his neck marked how close death had been.
But instead of turning back to devour him or unleashing another whip strike, the boss… retreated.
Its vines coiled protectively around its body as it backed away, slicing through the mist like a retreating shadow.
That was when...
Aisen stepped into its path, his gaze so cold the fog itself seemed to freeze. "Don't give it time."
His blade rose, the motion so swift and fluid that the eye could only catch the streak of light it left behind. A killing radiance burst forth, running the length of the sword and wrapping it in an indescribable, otherworldly glow.
In the blink of an eye, the massive flower's head was severed from its stem, like a bloom plucked from its stalk.
The heavy trunk crashed to the earth, sap's sweet stench flooding the air.
Aisen sheathed his blade, his tone calm but edged with warning. "They can slowly regenerate, if their roots still reach water… and their leaves can still find the sun."
He placed a boot on the twitching blossom, a victor claiming his enemy's heart.
An uneasy dissonance hung in the air.
Any other creature would die the moment its head was gone. But plant-type monsters… were stubbornly alive in ways that defied reason.
Without another word, Aisen lifted his foot, and kicked the blossom hard.
The great crimson mass spun through the air, hurtling toward Ren like a scythe set loose.
The sudden move caught Ren off guard, but his instincts reacted in time. He gripped his hilt tight and triggered his sword skill [Vertical Arc].
A burst of green light wrapped around Windslash, tracing a deadly path sharp enough to tear the mist. Ren's body turned with the strike, cleaving a blazing, inverted V through the flower's core.
The dry sound of tearing plant-flesh rang out. The blossom split cleanly in two, its petals peeling apart like a gate to the underworld forced open.
Before the pieces could touch the ground, they dissolved into streams of multicolored pixels, bursting outward like fireworks before fading into nothing.
[You have slain The Indolent Flower Lv.16]
[You have received 500 EXP]
[You have received 400 Cor]
[You have received: Red Petal ×4]
[You have received equipment: Natural Ring]
Ren let out a slow breath, sliding Windslash back into its sheath. The faint chime of steel echoed softly in the damp morning mist.
He called up his system interface, letting the translucent screen hover before his eyes as he began to sort through the spoils.
Red Petal.
The key item needed to complete the OfferingFlowersOffering FlowersOfferingFlowers quest. With these, today's main objective was in the bag.
But what made Ren's brow twitch slightly was the other name on the list: Natural Ring.
A ring.
That alone was enough to make this whole day worth it.
With his infuriating streak of bad luck, Ren had long since stopped hoping for anything valuable from his final blows, usually it was just a few loose cor or some cheap materials.
But this time… the last strike had actually been worth something. Now he understood why people fought so viciously over the kill shot on bosses.
Even more surprising, it was an accessory, rarer to drop than weapons or armor. The kind of luck even Ren had to admit… was worth bragging about.
Suppressing the flicker of excitement, he opened his inventory. His fingers hovered slowly over the icon of the glittering ring, as if afraid that touching it too firmly might make it vanish.
A clear ping rang in his mind as the item window popped up:
[Natural Ring]Type: Accessory – RingDurability: 50/50Light: 0/100Special Effect: When Light reaches 100/100 and the wearer stands in direct sunlight, restores 1 HP per second.
Ren frowned. A simple-looking item… with an annoyingly specific activation condition.
"Light 0/100… so I have to sunbathe to charge it?" he muttered under his breath, already picturing himself standing in the middle of a sun-drenched plaza like an idiot just to power it up.
Still, for someone who spent most of his time in monster-infested zones, a passive +1 HP regeneration per second was nothing to scoff at.
He tapped the equip option.
A plain, earthy ring materialized in his palm, woven from slender, twisting vines, humble in appearance yet radiating an oddly captivating presence.
Ren studied it for a moment, then glanced toward Aisen, who was casually strolling around the messy battlefield as if the loot didn't matter to him at all.
With a sigh, Ren tossed it over. "Here. Catch."
Aisen caught it easily, glanced down, then raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is this a confession? I should warn you, I'm a man, and I like women. But if you're really determined… I might consider it."
The smirk on his lips was teasing, but his eyes almost made it seem like he was genuinely weighing the idea.
Ren's voice sharpened in irritation. "It's from the boss just now. Take it."
"No," Aisen replied with a shrug, his tone lazy but his smile still curled. "You landed the killing blow, you got it...it's yours."
"But you did all the work."
"Who wants something like this? Jewelry? If I wore it, I'd ruin my image as a rugged man."
He turned away, holding out his hands as if in mock seriousness. "Unless… you put it on me yourself. Then maybe..."
"Shut up!" Ren snapped, almost tempted to throw his sword instead.
But before he could say anything else.
A shrill screech tore through the stillness of the foggy forest.
From somewhere deep within the treeline, a black object shot skyward. A moment later, it burst into a blinding flare, accompanied by a sharp, crackling detonation that made Ren wince.
Aisen's playful grin vanished in an instant. His eyes lifted to the sky, narrowing with a weight that made Ren pause.
That burst… there was no mistaking it. A signal flare.
He tossed the ring back to Ren, his voice low but firm. "Keep it. I'm going ahead. And remember...don't even think about following me. You don't need to be caught up in this."
Before Ren could get a word out, Aisen leaned forward, and in the blink of an eye, his silhouette melted into the mist, as if he had never been there at all.