133 Deadly Flora. (1/2)

Unaware that Raven had killed Brud back with the group, Ozul woke up next when he felt something tugging along his prosthetic arms.

*Yawn*

He opened his eyes and looked at his arms in wonder. He noticed that the vines of the tree were actually bound to his arms!

Not only that, but the vines were still pulling his arms, trying to get him down the tree as if they were alive! When Ozul tried to sense what was wrong, he noticed that this was one of the trees that felt different from others!

When he moved his arms, the vines tightened their grip and stayed still as a snake does to their prey after coiling around them.

Having no other choice, he made a blade with Ball of Purity and cut away those vines. After freeing his hands, he jumped down the tree to look at his surroundings.

From its outer appearance, the tree looked just like a usual tree with a thick canopy in the jungle. However, when Ozul tried to sense it from his ability, the tree felt different from the ones in the surroundings. It felt more alive?

Ozul then looked at the vines that he had just cut off earlier and saw that they laid their lifeless, not moving anymore.

He neared the tree and touched it to see if there was any reaction. He waited for a couple of seconds, but there was nothing.

”Hm. It obviously wanted to take me away, so why is it not moving now?” Ozul wondered out loud.

He also noticed that Jinx was sleeping on the same branch that he had been on. For a more precise understanding, Ozul tried to sense anything else that also gave the same feeling as that of these strange trees.

Although seeing was difficult due to the fog, feeling things wasn't. So as he felt everything around him, Ozul couldn't find anything until he started observing even the small plants.

In this jungle, the trees mostly had thick trunks, and their roots were all entangled above the ground, so it camouflaged the plants.

It was only when he observed those almost hidden plants did Ozul noticed something out of the ordinary. Some of the plants, just like the strange tree with alive vines, felt more alive than others!

He went near one such plant and observed it from up close. There were only some flat leaves with a bunch of flower buds here and there.

Only around the leaves, he saw that there were thorns. And not just any thorns, but they were oozing out a white liquid as well!

”No wonder...” Ozul said in an understanding tone. It all suddenly clicked in his mind now.

And it all made even more sense when he realized that these strange plants surrounded all the strange trees!

”These plants are hidden to the point where even professionals wouldn't notice anything after a casual look at them.” Ozul tried to look at his surroundings like someone obvious to all of it would.

The white liquid was probably a lethal poison that rendered people useless. The victim would most likely fall unconscious or dead around the tree in the middle. The tree's vines would then wrap him after confirming that it was not moving.

That was Ozul's conclusion after taking note of everything. It made sense if he took into account that the vines stopped after he had started to move.

But the question still remained that why were the vines wrapping around him just now? He had been sleeping here for some hours already.

At this moment, Jinx woke up, stretching her legs for a long while before she sat there looking at Ozul.

”Hmm? Did you move here in the middle of the night?” Ozul asked while looking straight into her eyes.

”. . .”

”That could probably be the reason then...” Ozul muttered after seemingly getting his answer from Jinx's silent stare.

He figured that the tree probably sensed that something was moving around it, so the vines did not start to do their work. Only when it was morning, and it had been a while for Jinx to stop moving, did the vines begin to wrap themselves around him, thinking that everyone was unconscious or dead.