Frontier Online

Root & Stem Part 38

"Urginok-!"

"I know!" Urginok's shout briefly interrupted his taunt, letting the vines go after Rydr once more. 

Rydr cursed and left the recovered cocoon on the ground, a short distance away from where Urginok continued his distraction.

As Urginok regained aggro- the monster's active aggression- Rydr crossed the chamber. The giant came up with a new plan on the fly. 

One by one, the Titan went around the underground space and wrestled the cocoons free of the wall. In total, nearly twenty cocoons rested on a bed of vines in front of Rydr.

By the time the giant finished his task, the plant-beast had managed to trap them within a giant cocoon completely. Once the last bits of light began to disappear, Rydr activated [Aetheric Eye] to better see.

In an instant, the vine trap lit up in a brilliant display of red Aether. Every Rydr looked Aether weaved itself around them in endless bands. 

As the giant whipped his head around, he caught sight of an enormous bundle of Aether, of life energy, just beneath the bed of vines. 

A light went off in Rydr's head.

The core is under this space! Its goal was to bleed the NPC's into the dirt and drink them dry to level up!

While that answered his immediate question of how he might kill the beast, there were more pressing problems.

Rydr looked back at the small field of cocoons. A faint, hoarse voice came from within one of the green bundles.

"Let me out! I'm a guard! I can fight!" 

In response to the guard's call, four other voices shouted from within their prisons.

"We can fight!"

"I'm a guard!"

"I can help!"

"Let me at them!"

Rydr crossed to the first cocoon and planted his foot in the center. With two fistfuls of thorny vines, Rydr ripped the sides off the first cocoon.

The giant singled out each of the guard's cocoons in quick succession and repeated the maneuver, bringing his health bar back down to eighty percent. Finished, the giant stepped back, allowing the guards to rip themselves free from their constraints.

Each wore the same uniform, soaked through with blood where the plant monster was drinking them dry. 

However, one of them was familiar to Rydr.

"Amos? What are you doing here?" Rydr grabbed the guard's shoulder, surprised to see the sardonic man in this pit. 

"Rydr? Is that the intrepid adventure I knew as a little pup, all grown up into a legend now?" Amos flashed a grin at the giant through the mask of blood on his face. 

Rydr huffed and shook his head, relieved to find the guard alive, even if he wished the man weren't here at all. 

The giant shook his head to focus, "The creature has us trapped in this cavern with hostages. I plan to tear a hole in the roof and jump the hostages out one at a time."

Amos held his hand up to stop him, "Say no more, we'll protect the civilians while you get them out. Pull us out last." The other guards stepped up behind Amos and performed a salute in perfect unison. 

Rydr looked them over and realized none of them had their weapons.

"You're unarmed-"

"Does that somehow change our profession?" Amos lifted one eyebrow, staring up at the giant.