Mysterious Cave - Flower

After a couple more {Fire Ball}'s there was finally a change in environment, the cave continued to widen out while the vines thickened, making them harder and harder to burn to death.

Eventually the growth reached a climax when the cave led into a massive cavern.

Its height reached at least 30m, while he couldn't tell its width, it was definitely massive, at the centre of the cavern was a 5m tall hill of thick vines that pulsed with blue, leading of from the small hill were hundreds of vines, a portion of which led to the cave he had walked through and then split up into smaller vines and covered the walls.

Following the other portions, he realised there was more than just one entrance to the cavern, just from what he could see, he counted at least 10 different tunnels that all led up, most likely to the surface.

The instant he took a step into the cavern, he seemed to have set off an alarm as another one rang in his mind.

In an instant, Atlas shot in front of him, although speed was not its strong suit, its recent upgrades meant that it was still impressive, almost rivalling his own.

A massive vine lifted from the blue hill, its thickness rivalling a bucket, however its speed was just as shocking, it whipped forward, smashing into Atlas, "Boom!", a small shockwave was released as it collided into Atlas's chest.

Its hands clamped down as it was forced to take a step back, it then used its weight to hold the vine still as best he could as it attempted to wriggle free.

Whatever controlled the vines seemed to sense it struggling as another just as thick vine shot forward, just to be met by Ares in a similar fashion.

Surrounded by 2 massive wriggling vines, Osirus realised he had to act quickly before more vines were sent his way.

'{Fire Ball}', he simultaneously fired off 2 fire balls, each one attacking one of the vines before they broke free, 2 loud booms reverberated in the cavern, followed by a blazing flame igniting the vines, it quickly travelled along its body.

However before it could reach the hill, Osirus was shocked to watch the 2 vines severe themselves from the main hill, causing them to instantly lose their blue glow as they collapsed to the floor dead.

Although the flames wouldn't reach the hill, it didn't stop spreading the opposite way, the flames spread across the entirety of the vine, even following it as it split apart and entered the caves.

Watching from afar, Osirus saw 2 of the many tunnels light up in a blaze, the flame soon disappearing into their depths.

Osirus was most shocked at the intelligence this vine creature had displayed, to even be able to sacrifice parts of itself for its survival made it a truly frightening foe.

However, he wasn't deterred, quite the contrary, a smile spread across his face, an enjoyment of fighting starting to grow in his heart, this was what he wanted to do, not toil away behind a screen until his death, but see wonders of the world and fight creatures of fantasy.

This was what living truly was.

The creature started to see Osirus as a true threat after the death of two of its vines, and it acted as such, instantly 4 massive vines shot forward, planning to kill him in one go.

However the Golems strength was nothing to scoff at, the 2 stepped in front of the vines path, each taking on 2 each as they withstood the full brunt of the attacks, with a vine under each armpit, the mighty Golems held them in place.

Acting quick, Osirus fired off 2 volleys of 2 fire balls, incinerating the vines. Much like before they were broken off the main hill, but that didn't stop another 4 tunnels to become hell incarnate.

Osirus felt that his Mana Core had lost a substantial amount of its solidarity after firing 6 consecutive {Fire Balls}.

Although it was quickly regenerating, it wasn't anywhere near fast enough to match his expenditure, especially considering it was only going to get worse.

The vine hill finally came to the conclusion that the being in front of it was able to threaten its existence, this time it didn't just send a couple vines, but all of them.

More than 10 thick blue vines whipped towards him, completely surrounding him, blocking any escape routes.

"Shit."

Thinking insanely fast he came to a decision, crouching down, Atlas and Ares stood either side, what happened next was as shocking as it was comical.

With Osirus at the centre, the 2 Golems gripped each other tightly, completely encasing him in their soft, durable bodies.

Just as he had been enclosed in the Golems he felt a massive force smash into him, launching the Golem ball across the cavern, luckily their super force-absorbent bodies stopped him from receiving any damage.

As he hit a wall, he made the Golems release the grip now that he was out of harm's way, however he knew he wouldn't be for long as he hurriedly fired of a {Fire Ball} towards the main hill, given him enough time to enter the Golem ball again as the vines were delayed in protecting their heart.

After a moment, he felt a massive force collide with the ball, smashing it into a wall, however this time he didn't get out, but rather stayed inside, allowing his Mana to recover, after all he knew the vines couldn't put out the fire, so all he had to do was set one alight and wait.

After 10 minutes, enough Mana had recovered as he waited to be hit away before jumping out and firing off a fire ball, instantly setting another thick vine alight.

He continued this hit and run over an hour, continuously whittling down its defences, by now, only 5 vines remained.

Jumping out of the Golem ball, he launched a fire ball at one of the vines, however this time he didn't retreat back into the ball as he had no need to this time, furthermore, he saw something interesting.

Evering vine that died, shrunk the hill down bit by bit, its once towering height of 5m had been reduced to barely more than 1m, and another vine was burnt to a crisp, it shrunk one again, however this time, an flower was visible for a split second before it was quickly covered up.

Osirus froze, he had never seen such a shocking flower, it seemed to be the very essence of ethereal, it had tranquillity rivalling an archaic lake and stability rivalling the heavenly mountain, it was just…perfect.

He was forced out of his daydreaming as another vine shot towards him, however Atlas easily caught it, stopping it from escaping as Osirus set it alight with another {Fire Ball}, it seemed he had fired 20 of them while exploring the cave as he felt he was able to control 3 at once.

It wasn't long before only a single vine was left uncharred, although not for long, a blistering ball of flame smashed onto its side, spelling its demise.

Osirus realised that although whatever controller the vines had intelligence, it was very basic as it severed off its last remaining vine, leaving the heavenly flower completely exposed.

After waiting for his Mana to regenerate just in case something happened, he had Atlas and Ares stay ahead of him as he slowly approached the flower, ready to run away the moment {Threat Detection} warned him of something.

But it never happened as he stood directly in front of the flower, its entrancing nature only increasing.

It was a delicate lotus with light blue veins that travelled across the petals, slightly pulsing. In its entirety, it was only about 20 cm across, yet it held such a pure and immense Mana that Osirus felt his cultivation improving by just breathing in the air around it.

Osirus realised that those vines were more likely its roots spread across 10s of kilometres collecting nutrients for this tiny little flower, and now its roots were severed, there was nothing keeping it in place.

However he didn't pick it and leave straight away, as he didn't know if that would kill the flower and ruin all the precious Mana, instead he sat down next to it and entered a meditative position.

With Atlas and Ares on watch, he felt reassured as he closed his eyes and begun focusing on the flower, now he was at the 8th Level of {Mana Cultivation}, it was much easier to control and absorb Mana from the surroundings, thus it didn't take much effort for him to spread his control over to the Mana abundant flower, and begin absorbing.

"Whoah.", Osirus had never felt such a pure amount of Mana, it barely took any effort to slowly guide it into his body, he felt a wave of calmness and serenity wash over his body, his mind reached a state of zen he didn't think possible, even if the world collapsed around him he felt he would stay unperturbed.

This state continued as Mana continuously flowed into his body, the majority spreading through his body before being absorbed into his cells while a smaller amount flowed directly into his Mana Core.

Even after absorbing 30 minutes, he felt like he hadn't even begun to touch just how much Mana was in this flower, thus he began to slowly increase his absorption speed.

Osirus hadn't noticed it but as he absorbed it into his body, its calm and tranquil properties began to fuse into his very cells, slowly changing his aura into something else, something peaceful and unshakable.