Chapter 138: Flytrap
Only now, the bustling signs of everyday life were long gone, leaving behind nothing but a scene of utter devastation.
As they stepped closer, the group noticed that the promotional banners once hanging on the walls had been torn to shreds. Along with the vending machines by the wall, they had been haphazardly smashed into the stalls.
In the murky, desolate space, there was almost nothing but the breathing and footsteps of the four of them. It was so quiet that it made their skin crawl, amplifying even the beating of their own hearts.
Occasionally, a CLATTER or THUD would echo from the distant darkness, like strange objects hitting the ground. Every noise instantly put the group on edge. They subconsciously slowed their pace, scanning the surrounding pitch-black shadows on high alert.
They hadn’t gone much further when the sight ahead brought them to a halt. Countless tables and chairs had been deliberately piled together, forming a barricade that reached the ceiling. Yet, a narrow passage barely wide enough for a single person had been intentionally left in the middle of the blockade—as if it had been prepared long ago, specifically waiting for someone to pass through.
What was even more bizarre was that there wasn’t a single corpse on this first basement level, yet the floor was covered in chaotic drag marks.
Some of those marks were wet, grimy stains, while others were deep scratches caused by friction. Densely packed, they extended deep into the passage, as if guiding them toward some unknown destination.
Their night vision goggles provided a limited field of view. They could only crouch low, carefully observing the residual tracks around them while cautiously pushing forward.
Just as they reached the entrance of the passage made of stacked tables and chairs, Little Sweet Potato suddenly extended a vine forward, as if sniffing out something. In the very next second, it was tightly ensnared by a massive leaf that resembled a gaping mouth and violently dragged into the tunnel!
Caught completely off guard, Little Sweet Potato was startled and shrieked, "WAHHH! Kevin Keane! Something’s snatching me!"
With lightning reflexes, Kevin Keane grabbed Little Sweet Potato’s main body clinging to his shoulder with his left hand. With his right, he drew the dagger from his waist, dashed forward a few strides, and slashed through the mouthing leaf, freeing the bitten vine in one smooth motion.
Little Sweet Potato’s leaves trembled with rage. It used two vines to roll up the severed, grimacing giant leaf and viciously slammed it against the ground several times, only stopping when it finally felt vindicated.
Lynn Shelby glanced at the leaf on the ground, which was larger than a basketball, and raised an eyebrow. "A Flytrap? It mutated into this?"
"Most likely. Come on, let’s head through and take a look."
Blake Blue spoke in a steady tone. After exchanging a glance with Kevin Keane and Lynn Shelby, he took the lead and charged into the corridor, instantly conjuring a thick metal shield in front of him.
CLANG! CLANG!
Sharp sounds of collision rang out consecutively as squirming plants frantically battered the shield. A pungent, acidic stench instantly filled the air. The surface of the metal shield was quickly corroded, emitting bursts of white mist.
"It’s a Fourth Rank corrosive attribute! I won’t be able to hold on for much longer!"
Blake Blue shouted in a deep voice, his hands continuously channeling his superpower to desperately reinforce the shield.
"Speed up and charge through!"
Kevin Keane immediately responded. The group quickened their pace, following closely behind Blake Blue as they dashed down the narrow passage.
The moment they burst out of the corridor, the sight before them caused their pupils to shrink—severed limbs, skeletons, and debris littered the floor. It was obvious that many things, whether from above ground or below, had ended up in the belly of this mutant plant. No wonder they had seen so many drag marks earlier.
Not far ahead, faint streaks of neon-green luminescence seeped through the gaps between the tables and chairs, pinpointing the direction for the group.
Once they completely cleared the pile of debris, a colossal red-and-green glowing plant came into view, looming dominantly in front of the basement elevator.
It was a mutant Flytrap!
Its dozens of leaves were each one to two meters wide, hovering half-open. Three or four of them were bulging, evidently wrapping tightly around prey inside.
Before the group could even find their footing, over a dozen leaves suddenly gaped their giant maws and swept toward them at lightning speed. A heavy, sickly-sweet stench hit them right in the face.
"Scatter!"
Lynn Shelby, who stood in the middle, roared. The three of them instantly rolled to the sides to dodge, simultaneously raising their hands to activate their superpowers. Ice and metal blades wove into a dense net, accurately slashing at the incoming leaves.
This strike thoroughly enraged the mutant Flytrap. Two massive, blood-red leaves suddenly unfurled from its robust main body, spewing dozens of streams of corrosive acid at the group.
"Cover me!" Right as Kevin Keane’s words fell, Lynn Shelby swiftly condensed three ice shields, planting them firmly in front of the trio.
The acid slammed into the ice shields, making a SIZZLE of corrosion. Small holes were instantly burned through the icy surface.
Off to the side, Little Sweet Potato showed no fear. It nimbly wove through the gaps between the acid streams, lunging straight for the Flytrap’s main body.
Everyone present knew that the weakness of most mutant plants lay in their roots.
Over a dozen pale purple vines violently stabbed into the Flytrap’s roots. However, the plant immediately counterattacked. A giant leaf ruthlessly clamped down on the vines penetrating its body. With a SIZZLE, the vines were instantly corroded and snapped.
"WAHHH! It’s corrosive acid! I can’t absorb it!"
Little Sweet Potato cried out in pain, bouncing around on Kevin Keane’s helmet while shrieking.
"Old Man Forrest, Sawyer, you two keep the leaves occupied! I’m going for its roots!" Kevin Keane made a split-second decision.
"Got it!"
Lynn Shelby and Blake Blue responded in unison. While using their superpowers to parry the attacking leaves, they desperately drew the Flytrap’s attention.
Kevin Keane nodded. His figure nimbly dodged the entangling leaves as he sprinted straight for the Flytrap’s main body. The superpower in his hands condensed into a lightning blade, which he used to seamlessly slash at an incoming leaf, instantly shocking it until it curled up, charred black.
Kevin Keane’s surprise attack served as the ultimate provocation. All the leaves instantly abandoned Blake Blue and Lynn Shelby. Instead, every drop of acid and every physical strike poured down on Kevin Keane, hell-bent on completely devouring both him and Little Sweet Potato.
"Now!"
Blake Blue seized this fleeting window of opportunity. He abruptly generated a three-meter-long, razor-sharp metal blade and swung it at the Flytrap’s roots with all his might.
With a SQUELCH, the sharp blade pierced viciously into the root, but it got stuck after carving a gash less than half a meter deep. The damage from a lower-ranked superpower simply wasn’t enough to completely break through its defenses.
Lynn Shelby immediately followed up. Countless ice blades hammered into the wound like a torrential downpour, continually worsening the Flytrap’s injuries.
Seeing that dozens of leaves were about to engulf both itself and Kevin Keane, Little Sweet Potato gritted its teeth and endured the pain. It extended countless giant vines, tightly wrapping around the Flytrap’s foliage to desperately restrict its movements.
Kevin Keane grasped this ephemeral chance. With a few bounds, he scaled the giant vines. The superpower within his body surged wildly, coalescing into a colossal lightning dragon that roared as it struck into the gash on the roots.
The smell of charred flesh and the pungent odor of vaporized acid erupted in a flash. Kevin Keane was nearly blinded by the fumes, but he kept his eyes dead fixed on the wound, ensuring his attack landed flawlessly on the weak point.
Its roots heavily damaged, the mutant Flytrap plunged into absolute madness. It thrashed its restrained foliage so frantically that over twenty vines and branches were forcefully torn off. It whipped them viciously toward the trio, simultaneously spewing copious amounts of corrosive acid from its leaves.
Corroded by the acid, Little Sweet Potato’s vines caused it to gasp and whimper in pain. Yet, it never loosened its restraints, remaining deathly coiled around the Flytrap’s foliage.
"Hit the roots with everything you’ve got!"
Kevin Keane roared. The three men exerted their full strength simultaneously, slamming their superpowers mercilessly into the three-meter-thick roots of the Flytrap.
Under the continuous bombardment of superpowers, the roots had been severed by two-thirds and were charred completely black. However, the flailing branches also swatted the group brutally against the wall. The impact jarred them so hard that a sweet metallic taste welled up in their throats, and blood trickled from the corners of their mouths.