Did she already know what I would ask her for?

Ch 56: Luminous flower seed

On the 7th floor of the Altamira labyrinth.

[Fierce Hyena Lvl7]

[Giant Mantis Lvl7]

[Fire Ant Lvl7]

'This is an unavoidable fight.'

Normally, when entering a floor, the corridor will be straight for a few seconds, and then it can divide in up to 3 different directions.

The thing is, right in the middle of that divide are the three previous monsters. The probability of this happening is low, but not impossible. Since they are monsters that we have fought countless times, I could say that our luck attribute had something to do with it.

"I will try to defeat the mantis before it gets close to us."

"I'll go after the fire ant, and if the hyena comes near, I'll fight both."

I shot two arrows, one after another. The first one damaged its eye, while the second one was inserted in the center of its head, causing the mantis to go into berserker mode with its last breath, attacking in all directions without thinking about anything else.

Alessia ran in the direction of the ant and, with her spear, pierced in the direction of its head. The latter protected itself with its jaw, but the weight of the spear was much greater in this encounter, piercing its jaw and then going through its head.

At that precise moment, the hyena charged, its snout attempting to bite her.

She dodged the attack by moving to the side, but in the process, she hurt the hyena's nose.

The hyena became enraged and began attacking with its legs continuously. Thanks to her agility points, Alessia perfectly dodged all the monster attacks, and at some point, the opportunity arose to deliver a lethal attack.

Piercing with its spear, she struck right in the center of the hyena's eyes, brutally destroying its skull and piercing through its head.

[Thin blade]

[Antenna]

[Hyena Paw]

"Good job"

"Thanks"

Lately, I haven't interfered in her fights since Alessia is strong and doesn't need my help. In this way, we can divide the enemies in two and only focus on our respective objectives. By the looks of its results, this is the most efficient way we have as a team.

"The floor's default monster is the Carnivorous Flower; it disguises itself with the environment and attacks the adventurers by surprise."

"What is it disguised as?"

"I skipped that information since it is one of the few enemies on lower floors that can really go unnoticed even at close range. As the path of the adventurer's temper dictated, I did not inform myself too much to increase its difficulty."

We are slowly approaching the 10th floor, where information is sparse, maps are nonexistent, and monsters are not fixed. Only large guilds have this information, and because of this, we must learn everything we can on the lower floors firsthand. Only then will we decrease the probability of death on the upper floors.

'Even if my user interface lowers the difficulty, the danger will still be present.'

"Well, then, let's walk slowly to avoid problems."

"Yes"

And so, we walk longer than usual, hoping to find the monster that is hiding deep in the environment.

[Carnivorous Flower Lvl7]

'Oh, I knew it. The UI will put all monsters that cloak as primary weapon out of work.'

"There it is," I pointed to the monster hideout.

"Mm? It's a little different from the rest but... No, you're right. It's these minimal differences that enemies use to deceive us"

The corridors of the labyrinth are illuminated thanks to certain flowers that emit a golden light; they are always the same color and will always be the same type of plant.

Now the plant in front of us emits a slightly reddish color and has black markings on its stem. Another of its peculiarities is that, even when there is no wind, it moves slightly from one side to the other. Such differences are so minor compared to the original that anyone could confuse them, even more so in the heat of battle.

"I will willingly fall into its trap; if something happens, I expect the support of your arrows."

"Yes, go ahead. I'll have your back covered"

At the same time that Alessia moved her spear to touch the ground near the flower, I kept the string taut to shoot at any moment.

The instant the ground was struck, a rumble occurred.

Something came out of the ground at high speed, sending all the rocks used as cover flying. The next second a grotesque flower, 1.5m tall and with a snout similar to that of a beast, without hesitation bit the place where Alessia struck with her spear.

"I'll shoot at it, get down!"

As Alessia crouched down, I fired arrows continuously at what seemed to be its head but… One after another, the arrows piled into it and the monster showed no sign of being weakened in any way.

Seeing this, Alessia quickly ran away from there.

Her instincts were right, because the flower attacked right away with its nose where Alessia had been.

While Alessia is a few meters to my right, the carnivorous flower is a few meters away. We wait patiently for its next move, but… Nothing. Thanks to its big stem, the monster can attack in 360 degrees, but in return, it can't move from its current position.

"It is born, grows, and dies there. Its attack range is completely limited, and as long as you dodge its surprise attack, it will no longer pose much of a threat." Alessia said.

"From the looks of the stem, it seems to be its weakness. It's so thick that a spear or an arrow can't cut through it."

"Then, when fighting against it, we will have to use our swords," Alessia agreed.

"Changing weapons in battle, huh? Do you want me to equip your weapons, or will you?"

"If I want to prepare for the future, it is best if I am responsible for my own weapons. The inventory has a great improvement compared to before, so the idea seems feasible"

"Mn, you're right."

After removing her sword from my inventory, I handed it over to her. For her part, Alessia took a few seconds to put the spear in her inventory, so that she only had the sword in her hand.

'It's so much easier for me to do this. With just a thought, I can unequip and equip weapons in less than a second.'

With the change of weapons finished, we slowly approach the flower in order to measure its attack range. At the same moment that we got within 1.5 meters of it, it made its move.

Stretching its body, it opened its snout, showing an infinity of teeth, something impossible for the body of an animal. Alessia simply took a step back and managed to get out of its attack range.

Taking advantage of this, I quickly approached its body and swung my sword horizontally. Without any obstacles in between, its stem was severed and the body of the carnivorous flower fell lifelessly to the side.

Withering at high speed, it was surrounded by golden particles and disappeared into thin air.

[Luminous Flower Seed]

Loot in hand, I looked at Alessia.

"We can plant it in the garden of the house, generating a path illuminated by them"

"Eh? Does a luminous flower really bloom?"

"Mn, yes. This is one of the loots my parents told me about. As long as you water it like a normal flower, at some point it will generate light. Depending on your luck, each flower can light up with a different color."

"Oh, it will be wonderful to enter the house through a path beautifully lit with different colors"

Hearing my description, Alessia's eyes immediately showed a different light, as she did not see this seed as something coming from a horrible monster but as a priceless treasure.

'Well, it's decided. Tomorrow morning, we will plant it.'

"We will have to collect more to make that beautiful image come true."

On her own initiative, Alessia began to walk down the hall in search of the next monster. 

'Is it too late to tell her that this is the longest way to find the next monster? Mm, well, I won't say anything. Seeing her like this also has a touch of charm.'

[Carnivorous Flower Lvl7]

[Archer Bee Lvl7]

[Archer Bee Lvl7]

'A strange combination, huh? Will they collect the pollen from the carnivorous flower? Well, I don't think so. This is very similar to the past event between the hyena and the shadow cat.'

While the two bees fell under my arrows, the carnivorous flower continued to camouflage itself on the ground, waiting for us to walk alongside it to attack us by surprise.

"Let's see if it also reacts to the arrow attack."

In the instant that the arrow embedded itself in the ground near the flower, the carnivorous flower quickly appeared from the ground, biting in that same place. Everything indicates that it reacts to the pressure of any type of object, regardless of its weight.

In the shortest possible time, Alessia changed her spear for the sword and approached the monster. Entering its attack range, it immediately lunged at Alessia trying to bite her.

She dodged to the side and tried to get closer to its stem, but then the flower made an unnatural move. Bending its body again, it directed its snout towards her new position.

'— Grass-type monsters don't perform the same movements as those with a flesh body, huh? I'll keep that in mind from now on.'

Using her sword, she stopped the flower from approaching.

Then she attacked vertically and then horizontally. Although the cuts seemed to regenerate to the naked eye, this caused great lethargy in its movements.

Alessia approached the center of its body again and attacked in a straight line with her sword. This time, the carnivorous flower could not follow her movements and fell to the floor lifeless.