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Time rewound several minutes.
The forest sprite was fully absorbed in draining the Fruit of Bounty from the giant bird’s body.
That massive bird was no weak prey, it had been a long hunt. If Yang Yi hadn’t blasted it at the very beginning, followed by an ambush, the forest sprite might never have brought it down!
Once the bird’s core was stripped away, the sprite immediately began absorbing it without pause…
It was fortunate, truly.
Originally, it had been on the brink of death, barely able even to hatch. Its breeder hadn’t known that hatching a Forest Egg required large amounts of fresh flesh as fertiliser for nourishment.
And the best one of all?
Human infants, brimming with life force, incapable of escape or resistance, their tender bodies rich with vital juices…
If not for the coincidence of a Rain of Bounty, it might never have been born.
However, the event had altered its very species. It became a Fruit of Bounty in the form of a forest sprite, capable of endless growth, creating vast forests wherever it took root.
“Praise be to my ancestors for their legacy!”
The forest sprite often prayed in gratitude.
Its immense size, and the inherited memories it carried, allowed it to retain self-awareness. It was a unique kind of Corrupted Whale, unlike others of its kind that devolved into mindless beasts.
It was like a single drop of ink in a bucket of water, nearly invisible at first. But as the body grew, that drop became a cup of ink poured into a bucket, staining everything with its consciousness.
Thus a special being was born, the Farmer-class Corrupted Whale, also known as the forest sprite.
It had to feed cautiously, reinforcing its memories and sense of self, lest it lose all reason.
The peculiar giant bird had been ideal prey, as it too retained fragments of sentience, enough to maintain its avian form and flight.
But what it hadn’t anticipated was the arrival of a ship, and humans aboard who could not only pass effortlessly through its living forest but even shatter its cocoon and stand before it.
“Human, would you like to make a deal?”
The forest sprite tried to tempt and stall him.
From ancestral memory, it knew humans were greedy creatures, easily swayed by the promise of power and oblivious to danger.
If it offered enough incentive, it could buy time, time to finish absorbing the Fruit of Bounty, and then turn the foolish human into fertiliser!
But something about the human was off, his composition was strange.
He wore armour that looked like the product of the Radiant Church, could transform into a beast, and was born deformed, with three eyeballs crammed into one socket.
Worse still, he wielded both arm-expansion sorcery and that damned pyromantic spell from the Fire People!
Yang Yi paused briefly, scanning his surroundings as if searching for the source of the voice.
How foolish.
“I can share the power of Bounty with you, help you become a Child of Boun-AaaaAAAAHHHH!@#%@!”
The mental link turned instantly into screams of agony.
…
Confirming there were no other hidden enemies, Yang Yi decisively poured concentrated gastric acid onto the green-skinned child’s head. It sizzled and smoked, melting away the green surface to reveal the slick, white flesh beneath.
As for what the creature had said, Yang Yi didn’t believe a single word. He hadn’t even bothered to listen.
He’d been ambushed before by the Spider Queen, so whenever he encountered an unmoving aberration, he simply killed first and asked nothing.
With the help of the acid and his custom containment vessel, Yang Yi sealed the green-skinned creature. Then, with a single strike, he split open a hole and prepared to return, container in hand, while signaling Suna to begin her part of the plan.
That sword strike severed the creature’s connection to the vines. Those entangling the Farmer-class vessel went still, their movements and regeneration ceasing entirely, as though their energy core had been destroyed.
Yang Yi escaped the Farmer with minimal effort, cutting through the dead vines outside using his greatsword.
“AaaAAAAHHHH!”
From inside the container came horrific screams from time to time.
A white sphere, its surface partially melted, even tried to wriggle out, but Yang Yi quickly shoved it back in.
The gastric acid was specially designed to dissolve edible creatures and had no effect on his Penitent’s Armour.
Still, the container shook violently; the green-skinned child inside was restless!
Yang Yi poured out some of the digested residue and added two more vials of gastric acid, but the effect backfired, the creature’s struggling intensified, pounding the walls of the container with loud, echoing thuds.
“What’s going on? Don’t tell me the dosage still isn’t enough?”
Yang Yi frowned, a thought flashing across his mind as three more vials of concentrated gastric acid appeared in his hand. He raised them, about to pour, but then—
BOOM!!
The entire container exploded.
Perhaps sensing Yang Yi’s intent, the green-skinned child, or rather, the slimy abomination within, erupted with a sudden surge of power, violently tearing through the container’s inner wall and escaping.
“Damn it!”
Yang Yi froze, then quickly turned towards the fleeing Fruit of Bounty.
It had lost all semblance of a human form, becoming a shapeless mass of white, viscous slime, its body glistening like thick cream.
But Yang Yi didn’t dare underestimate it, after all, it was the core of a Corrupted Whale. A bit of damage meant nothing. And as expected, aside from the pain, the wounds had no real effect.
The green-skinned creature rapidly regenerated, sprouting fresh green skin until it looked nearly identical to before.
A shrill, furious roar burst from its mouth.
“Human! I’ll kill you! Turn you into fertiliser for my weeds, and your companion too!!”
Countless vines shot from its body, spreading out to reconnect with the forest.
Almost simultaneously, Yang Yi received a message from Suna, confirming her successful containment of the giant bird’s Fruit of Bounty.
He immediately replied, warning her to beware the forest, before being engulfed by waves of writhing vines.
The forest had come alive again, consciously attacking every foreign presence within!
Yang Yi detonated a sea-salt grenade in front of himself, then swung Ironbreaker, bursting through the tightening web of vines.
But they were relentless; there was no safe foothold anywhere.
Branches and vines attacked from every direction. Even the tree trunks beneath his feet would dodge or lunge towards him.
Fighting in the forest was pure disadvantage.
Yang Yi couldn’t even get close to the green-skinned creature, he could only struggle to stay on his feet, focusing on protecting his head from the endless lash of vines.
The Penitent’s Armour protected him well; the vines couldn’t pierce it. Even when they struck, they caused only minor internal damage.
The green-skinned creature soon realised this, shifting all its attacks towards Yang Yi’s unarmoured head.
If just one vine pierced his skull, it could parasitise and drain his brain dry.
“Persistent little bastard!”
The forest sprite cursed aloud, finding Yang Yi far more troublesome than expected.
The human was fast, strong, and seemed to dodge vital strikes as if he could predict them, an infuriating opponent.
Thankfully, his armour wasn’t complete. It had no helmet. Otherwise, the metal can would have been far harder to deal with. After all, it itself had only just been reborn, its form changed, and many of the spells in its inherited memory were still unusable...