Chapter 31: The Nest of Vines

Words : 1017 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

Chapter 31: The Nest of Vines "Louis. I’ll leave it to you," Dominic replied. "Talk closely with Segoy and the others and come up with a good plan." "Got it." "I want to go see the summoning site with my own eyes," Dominic said and turning to Shiao Yi. "Can you take me there?" "I can’t take you close. It’s too dangerous." "That’s fine. I won’t do anything reckless." "In that case, Dominic. Give me your hand." Dominic took the hand that Shiao Yi offered as he stood up. "What? You’re going right now?" Louis asked, surprised. "Captain!" "Captain Dominic!" He could hear Louis and the others calling out, but the moment the sound of the air being pulled in echoed through the room, their voices and figures vanished completely. They materialized just beyond the forest, at the site where the Dalmasca army’s camp used to be. The teleportation itself happened instantly, but Shiao Yi noticed that Dominic stood frozen, he was stunned and unable to move. Everyone who experienced teleportation for the first time reacted like that, so Shiao Yi waited silently until Dominic’s mind caught up and processed what had just happened. The mechanics behind teleportation had been studied in many ways, but no clear explanation had ever been found. For those who could teleport, it was something as natural and unconscious as breathing—trying to explain it would only lead to confusion. Shiao Yi had aimed to materialize between the broken remains of the temporary barracks, just far enough to avoid the glowing circle of fire. The site was exactly how they had left it earlier that morning. A short distance away, a pillar of fire still burned, standing tall. From their perspective, it looked like gas might have been leaking from underground and igniting—there was no other reason why the flame would rise so narrowly and so high. Dominic scanned the area around them and instinctively tightened his grip on Shiao Yi’s hand. Right—he had been holding Shiao Yi’s hand the whole time since they teleported. Dominic treated him so naturally like a child that somewhere along the way, Shiao Yi had stopped feeling awkward about it. Not that it should have been that normal—Shiao Yi had said it many times already, but he was eighteen now. "I want to take a closer look at that flaming magic circle," Dominic said. "There’s a barrier just before the flames," Shiao Yi replied. "I couldn’t see inside it." The two of them began walking toward the direction of the fire. Shiao Yi could still feel that heavy, unpleasant aura spilling out from the area. "Hmm... The magic circle still seems to be active. Even through the barrier, I can feel something evil leaking out from within," Dominic muttered. So he felt it too. Shiao Yi squeezed the hand he was still holding in a silent gesture of agreement. "Don’t worry. I’ll protect you." Maybe Dominic had taken that squeeze as a sign of fear. He leaned in close and, in a gentle voice, whispered those words—then unexpectedly kissed Shiao Yi’s forehead. "W-What the hell?! This isn’t the time for that!" Shiao Yi shouted, quickly shaking off Dominic’s hand. Why the hell did that make him blush and panic? Every time he was with Dominic, his rhythm got thrown off. Something always felt off balance. Dominic watched him with soft eyes and a gentle smile on his face. The sunlight hit his golden hair, making him look disgustingly handsome. Damn it! He really was so good-looking. Shiao Yi averted his gaze, turning his head away in frustration. But in the direction he turned to, something caught his attention. It was several clumps of blue-violet vines. His eyes widened in alarm. Earlier, it had been too dark to see clearly, but now under the sunlight, Shiao Yi could finally see just how many there were. It wasn’t just fifty—there were far more than that. Next to him, Dominic seemed to notice as well, and Shiao Yi heard him gasp. "So those are the blue-violet vines you’ve talking about... That’s an insane number. Does that mean they’ve absorbed the magic power of that many people?" Dominic stepped forward, approaching one of the clumps. "Be careful, Dominic! This area is a nest of vines!" Just as he reached out and began pulling at the tangled mass with his hand, the ground beneath him split open. More of those blue-violet vines shot upward from the earth at his feet. "Dominic! Watch out!" Shiao Yi rushed toward him and shoved him out of the way. But in doing so, another vine lashed out and coiled around Shiao Yi’s ankle. At that same moment, it yanked him off balance with terrifying force and dragged him across the ground. "Ugh—!" He tried to tear it off using telekinesis, but more and more vines wrapped around him, dragging him toward the barrier. Were they... learning? Had they figured out that he couldn’t move inside the barrier? Were these things intelligent? As he was pulled along, the vines began crawling up his entire body. He couldn’t teleport now—if he did, he’d end up taking the whole vine mass with him. This could be bad. Really bad. "Shiao!" He heard Dominic shouting his name. But Shiao Yi couldn’t even respond anymore. The vines writhed, trying to force their way inside him—through his mouth, his nose, every opening. He was barely managing to hold them back with his telekinesis. "Ah—hot! It’s burning!" Suddenly, the vines caught fire. The grip on him loosened, and Shiao Yi flung them away from his body using a blast of telekinesis. "Are you alright?" Dominic ran over while scooped him up, and took off at a sprint. He didn’t stop until they were back near the remains of the camp, where he gently set Shiao Yi down and immediately started checking him for injuries. It seemed Dominic had burned the vines at their roots using fire magic. Shiao Yi had gotten slightly scorched too, but that was a small price to pay. "Yeah... I’m alright. You saved me again. Thank you, Dominic."

Chapter 31: The Nest of Vines

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