PFC Chapter 39 Plant Monster Girl
Chapter 39 Plant Monster Girl
The golden lantern flower, similar to the silver and withered ones, is yet another landmark in the Silent Forest.
And these flowers indicate the direction to the hidden area of this maze.
In the game's lore, that hidden area is the core of the forest, but its appearance rate is so low that most players overlook the existence of such a place in the maze.
Yu Che had farmed the Silent Forest quite a few times in his past gaming career, but he had only encountered it once.
"Did she run into the hidden area?"
You Che hesitated for a moment before following without looking back.
Looking back now, the escape route of that plant monster girl was always very clear. Her initial destination was probably the hidden area, and I was able to find this place by following her.
If we miss this opportunity, not to mention the future, we definitely won't be able to find the hidden area during this exploration.
As I crossed the intersection, the surrounding environment changed once again, and this time the scene that appeared before my eyes was completely different from what I had seen before.
You Che opened his eyes and found himself standing in an open space.
This open space was unusually free of dark foliage and towering ancient trees that obscured the sky, and the ground was covered only with lush green grass instead of layered shrubs. Rays of sunlight shone down, illuminating the open space, and occasionally magical specks of light floated gently in the air.
From Youche's perspective, one can see huge skeletons, half-buried, scattered all over the ground, some of which are covered with green grass and moss.
However, despite the large number of skeletons in the open space, it did not give off a gloomy feeling. On the contrary, the entire meadow was surrounded by a tranquil and wonderful atmosphere, which made people feel at ease.
What was even more surprising was that as soon as You Che stepped into the meadow, he felt a lightness in his body, and the heavy pressure he had felt in the forest disappeared.
This means that magic can be used here, although it doesn't mean much to him.
"This is it... Dragon's Graveyard." Yu Che looked around and nodded to himself.
This tranquil cemetery is the true heart of the Silent Forest.
As for where this cemetery came from, that's a long story, dating back to the ancient dragon era, the oldest period in the Dark Fantasy universe.
To summarize in the simplest way possible, it would be like this:
In the ancient Dragon Wars, the intelligent races of the continent united to drive out their former rulers and expel the vast majority of the dragons to the Dragon Islands overseas.
However, some of the Gu Longs did not travel overseas with the main group for various reasons, but stayed on the mainland.
When these ancient dragons reached the end of their lives, they chose the Silent Forest as their final resting place so that their peaceful sleep would not be disturbed.
As for the reason, some speculate that it may be due to the tranquility of the Silent Forest, far from the hustle and bustle of the world, and its unique property of suppressing magic. However, others believe that the uniqueness of the Silent Forest comes from the many dragons who died there.
Yu Che didn't know which one was correct, because the official setting book gave the ambiguous statement mentioned above.
Just as the boss of this maze is called the "Graveyard Guardian Dragon," so too does this hidden area—a genuine Elder Dragon graveyard.
According to the NPCs' legend, the Dragon Graveyard in the Silent Forest is protected by strange magic, which causes those with malicious intent to subconsciously overlook the place and thus get lost.
However, this protection is limited to this; it does not exert any strong influence or interference on people. As long as someone guides you, or you are simply lucky enough, you can get here.
You Che saw that under several skeletons in this area, there were traces of someone digging up dragon bones and picking herbs. Some of them were not particularly old, probably only a few years old.
"Looks like there are some lucky people after all." Yu Che wasn't too surprised. "As long as it doesn't interfere with my material gathering... huh?"
Logically speaking, the rare plant Dragon Blood Flower is supposed to grow only when it is imbued with the magic of dragons or even soaked in dragon blood, so there should naturally be many of them in this cemetery.
...That's how it should have been.
However, when You Che looked around, he saw that there were indeed dragon blood flowers growing near the scattered dragon remains, but the largest one was only a small flower bud, and it was still a long way from being released.
Dragon's Blood Flower is a plant with an extremely long flowering period and almost never withers naturally.
You Che couldn't help but press his forehead: "I'll fucking do it."
How could this happen...? Do you even need to ask? It must be because there's some guy who can come and go from this cemetery at will, and he comes here to eat flowers whenever he wants!
—Just who is that guy?
Just as You Che was having a headache, his wandering instincts suddenly sent him a very subtle, needle-like sensation.
Someone attacked!
You Che suddenly turned around and saw that behind him, in the bushes at the boundary between the forest and the grassland, the plant monster that had previously looked like a girl was silently emerging, with two vines extending from its arms approaching him!
Her movements were truly silent; if it weren't for her instinct to wander, You Che would never have noticed her.
But now that they were prepared, things were different. You Che reached out and grabbed the two vines before she could react, pulling her out of the bushes with a strong tug!
Monster girl: "!!"
You Che seized the opportunity, grabbed and spun around, and knocked the strange monster to the ground, firmly suppressing it.
"Got you...tsk, don't move!"
The monster girl instinctively struggled and resisted, but Yu Che gripped her arm even tighter and held her down.
"Trying to launch a sneak attack again? You..."
Yu Che subconsciously looked at the monster girl's face, and the struggling monster also happened to be looking at him, its emerald-like eyes meeting Yu Che's again in that instant.
The two of them suddenly fell silent.
Yu Che did not see the malice or hostility he had expected in the clear eyes of the monster girl.
There was no ferocity, no resentment, and no other malice. Those eyes simply stared at him with a slight tension, their gaze so clear that for a moment he was reluctant to look directly at them.
Upon reflection, the feeling I had just experienced from my wandering instincts was quite subtle, much weaker than the previous times.
Therefore, it can be seen that the monster girl's sneak attack was not intended to kill, and the attack was not fatal.
So Yu Che subconsciously loosened the grip on his hands.
The monster girl seemed to sense the change in Yu Che's attitude. The slight panic and tension on her face gradually faded, and what appeared next was obvious curiosity.
"……ah?"
The sounds coming from her mouth were somewhat like a baby's babbling. You Che looked at her again and finally let go of her completely.
The monster girl immediately got up, neither fighting back nor running away, but just sitting on the grass, looking at Yu Che.
It was only at this moment that You Che truly saw what she looked like for the first time.
She had a delicate and beautiful face like a young girl, yet her expression revealed a distinct childlike innocence; her skin was a light green like the new buds of spring, and her ears resembled those of an elf, but were even more exquisite and petite.
Her slightly messy short hair was a grassy green that was a shade darker than her skin, with a hint of reddish-brown.
The monster girl was covered in vines and leaves, and even her head was covered with flowers and vines.
However, upon closer inspection, most of them are actually camouflage or disguises she uses; only a few extremely fine vines and a few uniquely shaped leaves are parts that actually grow from her body.
"Hmm...it really should be Anawain, right?"
After noticing these details, a thought subconsciously popped into You Che's mind.
"...No, that's not the point."
Yu Che mentally berated himself before looking at the monster girl again. He was also unsure what to do with her.
"you……"
He tried to communicate with the monster girl, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a muffled roar like thunder echoed across the entire meadow!
"roar--!!"
You Che was startled: The Graveyard Guardian Dragon!?
Why is this maze boss running around again? Could it be because it sensed someone entering this graveyard?
You Che leaped up from the ground, intending to run away, but the roar of the earth dragon came from outside the only entrance to this area, directly blocking his escape route.
He definitely couldn't run that way, but as for hiding, there was almost nowhere on this grassland to conceal his figure.
You Che began to think of a solution at lightning speed, but before he could come up with one, a green figure had already stood in front of him.
"Um?"
Yu Che was still a little confused, but the monster girl had already grabbed his hand and pulled him quickly towards the depths of the grass!
The monster girl dragged him to a dragon skeleton that was larger than the others and had a different color.
However, before Youche could observe carefully, the monster girl suddenly pushed him, sending him into a pit about half a person's height next to the dragon skeleton.
Immediately afterwards, the monster girl pulled off the flower and leaf vines that she was wearing and draped them over Yuche.
Yu Che now understood that the monster girl wanted to help him, but the pit was obviously too small to completely cover his body.
The monster girl was taken aback when she saw that Yu Che had revealed half of his body; she clearly hadn't expected that.
As the heavy footsteps drew closer in the distance, the monster girl suddenly had a brilliant idea and pressed herself against the clump of "shrubs"!
You Che's vision immediately went black.
"Ugh...!!"