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Chapter 911: Ghostvine
Chapter 911: Ghostvine
For a moment, Jake and the Lunewood Hunter made eye contact. Jake knew it could see him through his stealth immediately as he prepared himself mentally for what was to come. However, even after a solid second, the Hunter just kept observing him without making any aggressive moves.
Frowning, Jake tried to step to the side as its gaze followed him. Was it looking for an opening or something? Its actions didn’t make any sense at all. Even when Jake began walking, it just kept looking at him.
When he tried to pick up speed, the Hunter finally moved but still did not attack him. It just followed Jake as he made his way further into the forest, confused as hell. The Hunter even kept the same distance from Jake, its eye never leaving his body for a split second as it ran after him. He had already cut off his conversation with Villy, but now he seriously considered asking if this Hunter was broken.
Something definitely felt off, and Jake released a Pulse of Perception to scan his immediate area and instantly saw that three more Hunters were making their way toward him, all coming from the direction of the Wood Meteorite.
Is it not attacking because it judged it can’t beat me alone and is waiting for backup? Jake questioned as he once again prepared himself for a fight.
Yet when the three Hunters arrived, they proceeded to just join the first one in looking at him. It was honestly eerie as fuck, having four large creatures made of vines and stone constantly just stare at you without doing anything. They even stood entirely still when Jake didn’t move, only adding to the creepiness.
Deciding to just say fuck it, Jake proceeded toward his target. The four Hunters followed along as Jake got closer and closer to the Wood Meteorite and the army that surrounded it. While he wasn’t confident in beating them, he was confident in escaping should things go south, as while the Hunters were the strongest Lunewood creatures he had seen, they were still low-tier.
Soon enough, he reached the Wood Meteorite. Jake entered a large clearing created from the impact crater of the Wood Meteorite, finally laying eyes on the thing. It honestly looked a bit like a spherical spiky pinecone, except it was utterly massive and pulsating with power, as blueish veins covered the entire meteorite.
Through his sphere and with another Pulse, he also saw how extremely long vines extended down from the Wood Meteorite, piercing many kilometers into the moon. These vines spread like the roots of a tree in the immediate area, but they primarily reached downward in a pretty straight line, going directly for the core as far as Jake could see.
Yet he didn’t feel as if the Wood Meteorite was actually siphoning any energy out of the core, making him guess it hadn’t reached it yet. Even if it did, Jake wasn’t sure it would be capable of absorbing anything, as the moon’s core remained a lot more powerful than this meteorite.
Checking with the four Hunters, who had now been joined by five more who had been chilling around the Wood Meteorite, Jake saw the nine of them still didn’t seem interested in attacking. To check further, Jake floated into the air as he made his way toward the meteorite, but even as he approached, they didn’t make any moves.
They clearly knew he didn’t fit there, and yet they didn’t see him as an enemy for some reason. It didn’t make any sense at all. Was it that they didn’t judge him a threat? Or because he hadn’t attacked them or destroyed anything yet? Or were they broken somehow? They hadn’t even alerted all the other Lunewood creatures to his presence, and Jake felt that it was only the Hunters who even knew he was there due to the peculiar nature of Unseen Hunter.
Once more, trying to ignore them, Jake studied the Wood Meteorite more closely as he flew right up to it. He felt it pulsating with energy, sending waves of its corrupted life energy into the world. This energy also tried to affect him, but he had made sure to cover his body in a few layers of stable arcane mana to ensure his own safety.
Reaching out, Jake touched one of the spikes of the meteorite. The moment he did, he felt a pulse of energy enter his body, but more than just energy; it carried some kind of... desire. Jake felt something go for his soul, as he allowed just a little bit in to understand what was going on. He felt as if he heard a faint whisper telling him to accept it.
The spike Jake was touching then broke off, and he knew what it wanted him to do. It wanted him to take it and absorb it into his body, allowing the Lunewood energy to take over his body and become one with the forest like all the other creatures there.
No... more than that.
It wanted him to become the Lunewood Forest. To merge with the meteorite and be its host. Perhaps it instinctively understood its own shortcomings, and it wanted something to help control it and grow. Jake wasn’t sure why, but it seemed to believe he was a good option to make that happen.
Jake was confused, though. Why did it need him? Sandy hadn’t mentioned anything like this. According to the worm, these Moon Meteorites didn’t have any ego or control at all but were more like a natural force only seeking to expand, and-
It was wilting.
He finally remembered. At the edges of the Lunewood Forest, it wasn’t expanding, but the grass was wilting. That’s also when Jake understood why it wanted him. A Wood Meteorite only sought to spread its affinity and grow, but this one was broken, and it needed something. That something being Jake.
Needlessly to say, that wasn’t anything it could have.
Jake let go of the meteorite that had broken off and let it rest on top of another part of the meteorite. Once more, a pulse of energy was released, and Jake felt a rudimentary soul attack that once more tried to compel him.Nêww chapters will be fully updated at (
Shaking his head, Jake turned as he looked at the nine Lunewood Hunters who still stared at him. He still didn’t feel any traces of hostility, even as he walked away from the meteorite. They just kept staring creepily, even as Jake began to explore the rest of the crater, finding many smaller Meteorite Fragments he assumed were from slain Lunewood creatures.
There were a lot of them. Thousands, at least, meaning something had killed them, right? Or was this the fragments it made new creatures from? As Jake was thinking this, he saw something in his sphere. A Stalker was approaching him, walking with steady steps.
Turning, Jake was prepared for it to do something, but all it did was jump on top of the pile of Meteorite Fragments. The second it did, its entire body wilted away in seconds, making another fragment fall atop the pile.
”It’s losing energy,” Jake spoke out loud with a serious look on his face. The forest was already dying by itself for some reason.
”Leave,”the message echoed again.
”Going!” Sandy responded as they turned around and began flying toward the exit of the core room.
”Leave... now.”
Sandy got a bad feeling and picked up more speed as-
”LEAVE NOW!”
The telepathic message itself carried so much malice that Sandy temporarily froze up as vines flew out of all the walls, seemingly summoned out of nowhere. Reacting quickly, the worm teleported forward to avoid them as more vines moved to block the worm off, making Sandy curse.
”Did you want me to leave or not!”
There was no answer, as a massive vine was summoned out of a wall, slamming into Sandy’s side, sending the giant worm reeling as they were blasted away. While flying, Sandy did two things... finally managed to land an Identify and sent a message to their Patron to be passed along to Jake.
[Ghostvine Sovereign – lvl ???]
He had to get away... because there was no way they could fight this thing. Sandy felt the blood run down their side as the worm’s thick skin had been sliced open, and powerful energies of death were seeping in.
This isn’t good.
Jake reacted instantly, despite not having any sense of danger yet, as he flew into the air. This proved to be a good decision, as only a moment later, he felt it. An aura washed over him as if something had spread out its presence to where he was.
He saw the Wood Meteorite practically shiver as all the Lunewood Hunters, for the first time, diverted their gazes from him as they instead stared at the ground. Jake released a Pulse of Perception, trying to feel for what was coming, but there was nothing but an odd energy permeating this area of the moon, and nothing that should-
Suddenly, a vine shot out of the ground below, aimed straight at Jake. His eyes opened wide, as he barely managed to dodge due to the forewarning from his danger sense. The vine extended many kilometers out from the moon and swung as it tried to whip Jake again.
That’s when the Lunewood creatures made their move. All of them moved at once, attacking the vine with all they had, the hunters throwing stones infused with energy, with the thousands of Stalkers, Keepers, and Vipers also attacking.
The response from whatever the fuck attacked Jake was to release another dozen vines, all seemingly summoned out of nowhere. They just sprung up from the moon despite seemingly not coming from anywhere. It was like they had just been stuck onto the moon’s surface, only attached with a bit of energy.
These new vines didn’t attack Jake, but instead, they attacked some of the Lunewood creatures. Jake saw how the vines whipped a Stalker, leaving a deep gash... that then began to rot, as Jake felt the unquestionable concept of death within the attack.
With a single whip, the stalker wilted away, dying. Jake was alarmed as he’d stopped mid-air. Something that proved to be a bit decision, as that had only led to the continued ire of what he was now certain was the B-grade.
The presence all around him intensified as Jake felt a shiver run down his spine. Below, the Lunewood creatures were getting slaughtered, but they did manage to tear apart many of the vines. But as the atmosphere intensified, they all froze up, and Jake’s eyes opened wide.
A wave of energy washed over him as the moon’s surface erupted with vines, as far as he could see. Thousands... no, tens of thousands of vines shot up from the moon, seemingly not targeting anything or anyone in particular.
Then, right below Jake, floating just above the treetops of the Lunewood Forest, mana gathered as a giant eye dozens of kilometers in diameter formed, staring straight at Jake as it sent a powerful telepathic message slamming into Jake’s head and making him reel backward.
”Begone!”
Jake didn’t hesitate as he used One Step to repeatedly teleport upwards as vines chased after him. Once he got far enough up, they stopped chasing, but Jake still kept going as he wanted as much distance as possible. Many thoughts ran through his mind, but one more than any other:
What was happening with Sandy? He still had a Mark on the worm, and he felt that they were still deep down inside the moon and-
It disappeared... and he instantly knew:
Sandy had died.