My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 136: Setting Sun

The vines around his arm began to entangle Dao's body. Once he was thoroughly within their grasp, they tossed him aside. While mid-air from the throw they whipped at his armour, slicing through the liquid to damage his body.

Dao groaned as his body bounced off the floor. 'How can he penetrate the blood armour? He wasn't capable of this a few minutes ago. Did his new form increase his power?' Dao was extremely confused. It should not be possible for Kace to increase his standards to this level just yet. Even if he was using some strange ability.

Kace, on the other hand, was not faring as well as he initially thought. After the initial merger, he began to notice a shift in his psyche. He was becoming more aggressive. His thoughts were no longer entirely his own. Instead, his consciousness seemed to have partially merged with Sylvans. It was as though all the rage and hatred that Sylvan kept concealed was slowly poisoning his mind.

'Sylvan! How do we stop this?' Kace asked as he grew concerned. His body was charging towards Dao against his own intentions. 

His question was met with silence. 'Is it because we're merged? Maybe he can't separate his thoughts from mine? Wait. Are my thoughts actually partially his?' This gave Kace a reason to be concerned. If Sylvan was no longer capable of communication, then he had no way to stop this himself.

Dao attempted to use the blood as a shield to prevent the incoming blow from Kace"s right fist. The vines formed a spear tip at the end of each long silvery claw. 'Fuck! He's trying to kill me!' The danger was all too real now. Dao immediately gave up on the idea of this being a test. He unleashed the full might of his hidden strength.

BOOM!

Dao's fist met Kace's, blowing the latter's wooden skin and vines into smithereens. From the elbow to the hand of Kace's transformed hand was now exposed in its normal state. The remaining vines and wood quickly regrew to overtake it again though. Dao's brows lowered as he realised this was not going to be easy. Such rapid regeneration would be a problem if he wanted to save Kace from what he had done.

Before the fight could progress and further Sonja stepped in. In one swift movement, she had already positioned herself to Kace's rear. With a single hand, she grasped the back of his head, then slammed it against the ground. Using her overwhelming strength, she pinned him in place. Easily swatting away the vines that attempted to assault her with her free hand.

'I guess he couldn't endure it. What a shame.' Sonja thought dejectedly as she prepared herself for the killing blow.

Her free hand lunged forward, towards the place Kace's heart would be. As she prepared herself mentally for the feeling of her hand piercing the metal that was his armour, she suddenly felt a dull pain in her ribs as she blasted off of him.

As she rolled across the floor, her gaze caught sight of a furious Eljein marching towards her. He was scattering strange seeds across the stone floor that were rapidly growing into trees and plants. One of these trees had formed a wooden pillar which was what had struck her before returning to its normal form.

'Damn it! Can't you see I'm only doing what has to be done! If the merger goes any further, it will be a disaster!' She screamed in her mind in outrage. She had too much respect for the Eljein for their part in the ancient war. So she already considered them as close allies. As such, she did not dare to use excessive force to deal with Grugda.

Before Sonja recovered, Sophia had also stepped forward and now faced off against Dao. She was worried that he might try to finish what her mother had started. 'I won't let either of you do it.' Although this was her true intentions, she was not stupid either. She already knew she was no match for Dao even when he was restricted. She also seriously doubted that Grugda would be able to contain her mother for long either.

"Leave him. To me." Grugda announced with a furious voice towards Sonja as he pointed at Kace. 'Watch her.' Grugda commanded the newly grown plants. They shook their leaves and branches in response. Grugda nodded his head in satisfaction. They had clearly accepted his order.

Sonja was stupefied by this request, no, order from Grugda. Clearly, he had no idea what they were dealing with. He was not taking this seriously at all! She took a step towards them, but in doing so, the plants closest to her opened their buds in full bloom. Their bright red and yellow petals would make one think of a raging inferno. They released a spore into the air that created a wall between Sonja and her objective.

Sonja hissed when she saw this. She had not seen these plants in centuries. Personally, she had thought that she had eradicated all of them. 'It seems the Eljein protected them! Why would they keep such a thing? To be used as a weapon against us?'

These flowers were called Setting Sun in the Eljeins language. However, the vampires had another name for them, Eternal Rest. The spores that these flowers produced would ignite into an unextinguishable flame as soon as they came into contact with any kind of undead. Their leaves could be processed into a poison that would be the end of a vampire within a few days.

She glared at these cursed flowers as though they were her mortal enemies. Which, in a sense, was true enough. Using these flowers against her kind was enough to spark an irreparable grudge, even if only as a deterrent. Just now she felt as though old comrades had betrayed her. 'I have to find out if there is more of these blasted things!' Sonja's anger was reaching its boiling point...