The al worked wonders on Johnn’s stamina. Fueled by the nutrient-dense breakfast, he felt a surge of vitality that cleared the last of his morning grogginess. He stood up, adjusted his gear, and looked toward the dense treeline with renewed fire in his eyes.
"Today’s the deadline, Maddy," he said, his voice firm. "We find the Bloom today, or we don’t find it at all. I’m not letting that father down and her daughter."
He began to carve a path through the brush, his blade swinging with fresh vigor. He was a whirlwind of motion, dispatching wandering Mandrakes and clearing tangled thickets before they could even twitch. He was more determined than ever, driven by the belief that he had to be the one to protect Maddy and complete the mission.
Maddy, anwhile, trailed behind him with a look of mounting apathy. To her, this was like watching a child try to mow a lawn with a pair of safety scissors. Every monster Johnn "heroically" defeated was a low level nuisance she could have vaporized with a thought. The "faking it" was becoming a chore, and the repetitive cycle of Johnn’s protective posturing was finally grating on her nerves.
"I need a change of pace, she thought, her golden eyes flashing with a wicked glint. "And I need to see how this new trait handles a live subject."
She focused on her new Distant Intervention and Active Forest Art. She didn’t move a finger; she simply nudged the mana in the ground ten ters to her left.
Suddenly, a thick, gnarled vine, infused with her own subtle will, shot out from the loam like a striking viper. It didn’t aim for her throat or her chest; it coiled around her ankle with calculated precision.
"Ah! Johnn!" Maddy let out a perfectly pitched, startled cry.
She allowed herself to be yanked off her feet. To Johnn’s eyes, it looked like the forest had suddenly developed a personal grudge. The vine retracted with violent speed, dragging Maddy backward into the dark, tangled depths of a particularly thorny thicket.
"Madelaine!" Johnn’s heart nearly stopped.
He didn’t hesitate. He pivoted on his heel, his face contorted in a mask of pure panic.
"Hang on! I’m coming!"
He sprinted after her, oblivious to the fact that the "monster" currently kidnapping his partner was the very woman he was trying to save. Maddy, being dragged through the dirt with practiced ease, kept her expression one of "terrified damsel," while internally, she was already calculating the best place to lead him for the next stage of her ga.
Maddy leaned into the role with a commitnt that would have won awards in any theater guild. As she was dragged, she let out a series of frantic, high pitched gasps, flailing her arms like a helpless F rank novice who had never seen a weapon in her life.
Internally, every fiber of her being was screaming in protest. The "damsel" routine was like sandpaper on her soul; she had spent centuries evolving beyond the need for protection, yet here she was, playing the part of a fragile prize.
"I can’t believe I’m doing this," she fud silently. "If the Wood Wizard could see now, he’d probably die of embarrassnt all over again."
Johnn, however, was living the climax of a hero’s epic. His eyes were bloodshot with adrenaline, his face twisted in a mask of desperate resolve.
"I’m almost there, MADELAINE! Don’t let go! I won’t lose you!"
His overwhelming "hero energy" was starting to make Maddy’s eye twitch. The more he shouted about saving her, the more irritated she beca. To her, his sincerity felt suffocating—a reminder of the very gender roles she found so utterly beneath her.
To kill the irritation and force the scene to its breaking point, she decided to dial up the realism. Using Active Forest Art, she commanded the surrounding flora to join the assault. More vines surged from the undergrowth, thicker and more aggressive. They didn’t just pull her; they began to wrap around her wrists, her waist, and even snaked across her jaw, effectively "muffling" her.
She allowed herself to be hoisted into the air, suspended in a web of shifting greenery. To Johnn, it looked like a nightmare—his partner being slowly consud by the forest’s gluttony. He saw the vines tightening over her mouth and hands, and he felt a cold spike of failure.
"No!"
He scread, his voice cracking as he swung his blade with reckless abandon, hacking through the decoy branches she threw in his way.
Maddy, hanging from the canopy and expertly feigning a struggle, watched him through half lidded eyes. Part of her wanted to just snap the vines and end the charade with a single punch, but the scientist in her was curious: how far would this man go for a girl who, in his mind, was nothing more than a liability?
She let out a muffled, convincing whimper behind the vines, silently counting the seconds until he reached her.
"Better make this good, Johnn," she thought darkly. "Because the mont this act is over, I’m never using vine, in this way again."
The "kidnapping" escalated as Maddy’s self made vines dragged her deeper into the thicket, where a massive, pulsating shadow awaited. To Johnn’s eyes, it was a horror beyond comprehension—a gargantuan, tangled sphere of thorns and rotting vegetation, resembling a Giant Creeper Ball. Its center opened like a moist, dark maw, and Maddy was being pulled inch by inch into the "stomach" of the beast.
Lucy joined the roleplay:
[Maddy, your heart rate is too steady for a damsel. You should add so dialogue. Perhaps a plea for his strength? It would really sell the ’F Rank’ aesthetic."
"Shut up, Lucy! This kidnapping thing is enought!"
[But you’re the one who wanted a scene. Why half bake a masterpiece?]
"Fine!"
Maddy took a sharp breath, making her voice pitch up into a desperate, lodic wail.
"Johnn! Help! It’s cold in here! This thing... it’s digesting ! You have to end this fast or I’m g-gonna be plant food!"
Johnn skidded to a halt in front of the massive, undulating vine-ball, his face pale.
"What in the hell is this thing? Is that... a Giant Creeper? Stay calm, Maddy! I’m coming for you!"
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