After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 2135

Chapter 2135: Herbivores vs Plants

First of all, those were not like her vines. Her vines were thick for a climber plant, but not that thick. Its weight was also her limit of comfortable control, which also limited its power and durability, but it usually gets the job done.

This vine...well, thick could not even begin to explain it. It was as thick as a big man’s thigh, and its length should be tens of meters long, at least.

It seemed particularly sturdy, too, since level 18 or 19 young orcs couldn’t destroy it completely. At most, it would be wounded, releasing some sap, but it barely even slowed down.

The two orcs did not seem entirely helpless; they fought, kicked, and slashed, but in the end, the vines were strong and seemingly unstoppable, soon winning against them.

The vine wrapped around them, and then the climber started puncturing them with thorns and then releasing its sap on them. It probably worked like a Venus flytrap that released acid to slowly consume their prey.

Althea looked at the so-called prey. One was a male goat orc, and the other was a female deer orc. Considering their features, they seemed quite young.

Don’t be angry at Althea for just watching. First of all, only a couple of seconds in reality had passed since she arrived at this spot. Her brain just moved much faster than most.

Second, it was...fascinating to watch.

She could tell nothing was controlling the vine but itself. And it wasn’t just a reflexive action like touch-me-nots. She could tell with the way it moved and how it reacted. For example, once hit from a direction, it actively avoided it!

Did vines have nerves? Or was it simply taking away its damaged part and avoiding further damage?

...is it sentient?

Well, probably not, at least not exactly. It could be just a reflex. But...plants with this level of reflex? It was different from thigmonastic plants like touch-me-nots and Venus flytraps.

Those only had a few sets of movement and reactions in their genes. This one was much more flexible and reactive. She had never seen something like this before.

Interesting, interesting

"AHHH!"

"I can’t breathe!!"

"HELP! HELP!!!"

Althea flinched, remembering there were people dying nearby.

Althea wasn’t quite sure what to do, so she simply raised her palm and emitted wood elements from it. It would either attract the vine or repel it.

She willed that it stop whatever it was doing, though it was purely by instinct and she had no idea if it would work at all.

She watched as the moving vine paused its movements, loosening up a bit, and thus giving a chance for the two orcs to escape. It so happened that her [Woodland Camouflage] expired that time, and the plant’s hold loosened even more.

They gasped, eyes red from pain and shock, looking at the odd creature who appeared. "Go, go!"

The deer and the goat rushed towards her, pulling her away.

Interestingly, not only did they not think she could be behind the loosening, but they also thought to protect her. It was just a bit awkward because they pulled her with an arm each, so she was pretty much getting dragged along in the middle of them.

Still, the concern for a stranger was a bit touching, but it also meant her concentration was broken and the vine snapped out of its confusion.

Slap!

They watched as the vine snapped towards them. Fortunately, they managed to hide behind a large tree to protect themselves. They ran farther and saw...the vine following behind like a giant snake!

!!!!!

What in the world—

"Follow this path!" she told them, pointing at the clearing created by the large monster, the one she had been following since before. However, instead of heading deeper to where she suspected her husband was, they went to where she came from.

This was the first time she had seen such a plant—a deadly one, at that—so she naturally couldn’t continue heading deeper into the unknown. Perhaps she could figure out a few more things through these two rather than going into the unknown completely blind.

"We have to leave this forest!" they said, and it was then that Althea realized that the pseudo-sentient plant could’ve been an existence related to the Hollow Forest.

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