"Nope, nope, we're running away!"
Ash ran as fast as his feet could take him.
His berserk skill was on, and he used twitchstep twice to get out of the area as fast as lightning.
He was running away from an immobile tree. Something that shouldn't be able to even chase after him.
But holy mushroom, that tree did give Ash enough warning signs in his head to kill off any common sense that he had.
Croaks came from the sky above. A louder, more urgent sounding than caws.
"Run, Ash, run! And don't ever get close to this area ever again if you have a half working brain!"
Keen flew matching Ash's speed, a tad slower than he liked after seeing such danger, but he flew as high as he could, making sure his life was not in any danger.
While the doppelganger ran at the backmost of the group. He was kind of left behind due to not having any wings or a physical enhancement for speed.
Fortunately, it didn't have any feelings. Or any that Ash was aware of. Ash just apologized to it while his feet were already making a run for it.
The trio had just met the Titanbark. One of the rulers of the forest that Ash had told Keen and the doppelganger about.
Just like the image he had in his mind, the Titanbark was similar to the carnivorous Steelbark tree that Ash had found before.
But comparing the Steelbark to the Titanbark was like comparing a pet snake that was barely long enough to become a necklace to a titanoboa.
First of all, the number of vines they could shoot out was significantly different.
The Titanbark was able to shoot out triple the amount of vines that the Steelbark was able to.
Rendering even the crimson vines helpless with the sheer number of thorny vines attacking Ash.
And was that all? Just more vines?
How Ash wished that were the case.
As if having a dozen vines was not enough, the damn Titanbark could even move its underground roots just like the vines.
The annoying part, the roots were not visible as they moved underground until the last moment.
Bursting out of the ground and threatening to skewer Ash with more than 4 roots at once.
The roots might not have the venom like the thorny vines, but the cursed thing was covered in titanbark, the stronger and more flexible version of steelbark.
His crimson vines were completely useless against it.
The only reason he could even detect the roots moving through the underground was due to his impulse to add the echolocation ability of the bat cave before.
The violent vibrations underground practically blared the alarms in his mind to run away.
Ash couldn't even get close.
He probably could with the berserk skill and twitch step, but no way in hell he planned to do that now.
He needed more preparation.
And having the super regeneration of the slug as his base DNA would be one of them.
Just in case he was skewered, he would be able to heal the damage almost instantaneously.
He didn't plan to get any plant parts inside him, but just in case something went wrong and his virginity was taken by them, Ash would live to tell the tale.
'Now I understand Keen's and his plantphobia a little…' Ash thought in his mind.
He only stopped running when he could no longer see the huge, a dozen-meter-tall tree, and tripled the distance over.
The viney doppelganger appeared a few seconds later, doing its best to keep up with the bird and the supercharged human.
Keen flew back down, perching on Ash's shoulder.
Avoiding any tree branches for now, after what he had just seen with his eyes.
"I'm hungry." He cawed.
Keen had the super regeneration DNA from the slugs, so he was even immune to fatigue.
But the price for it was an increase in his appetite.
The more parts of his body needed regeneration, the more food he needed to consume.
Ash stared at the sun barely peeking over the horizon. The night was near.
"Alright then, let's get your meal and my upgrade."
They were travelling quite deep into the forest, and they would need some time to reach the place where Ash found the slugs.
He could reach it faster if he continued using his berserk skill, but the slug wouldn't even be there if he arrived too fast.
Besides, it was a good time to recharge his mana that he had wasted in his overreaction.
When the sun disappeared, and moonlight descended onto the forest, the trio arrived at the fallen tree trunk where the slugs were found before.
There was barely any tree trunk left. The slugs were apparently very hungry creatures.
Looking at the almost disappearing tree trunk, and recalling his memories with the slugs, Ash understood,
'I guess it made sense that they were considered one of the rulers.
They took care of recycling the dead flora and possibly fauna in this forest.
They ate the tree trunk, then they willingly gave a part of their bodies to their predators.
They kept the ecosystem going in here. Keeping the forest alive.'
The group waited a little longer for the slugs to show up. But since there was less food now, the slugs seemed to not be as spirited than before.
Even after the sun had completely disappeared, none of them came out of the ground to feast on the trunk.
Fortunately, Ash didn't need to wait for them to completely burrow out of the ground now.
Tapping his feet a few times on the ground near the fallen tree trunk, Ash got an image of the ground beneath him.
Which also contained the slugs who were making their way over to the tree trunk.
His echolocation came in clutch to save him time.
Several of the slugs seemed to freeze in place when Ash tapped his foot, sensing the vibration themselves.
But none of them retreated deeper into the ground. They just stood still, believing they wouldn't be found underneath the grass and dirt.
Alas, pulsing crimson vines picked them out and plucked them out of the ground.
The new DNA enhancement Ash got from the cave bat kicked into play as they absorbed the nutrients from the slugs.
Filling Ash's whole body with energy almost instantaneously.
'Blood is indeed the superior way of absorbing nutrients…' He began agreeing with a quote said by a vampire in the stories he had read before.
Ash yanked several more slugs, sending them Keen's way as the raven happily caught them and started chopping them into bite-sized pieces.
Caw. "I wish I were bigger so I can just swallow them whole…"
"Oh? Is that a wish for Genie Ash? I will definitely grant them! Maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday, it will happen!"
Caw. Caw. "Really? Can you also do that? Please do! And please make me big enough to eat those weird wolf plant creatures!"
"Yes! Yes! In time! My soon-to-be big friend!"
The slug Ash captured first had stopped moving. All the nutrients in its body had been sucked dry by Ash.
The necrotic venoms did their job as they prevented the super regeneration from keeping the slug in a state of perpetual pain.
Neither dead nor alive.
Ash activated the seed. The mycelium began doing its job
He was in a hurry to save Keen from pain, so he only focused on the super regeneration part before.
But this time, Ash took all the time he needed, learning every part of the slug that he could add to himself.
After seeing the Titanbark, he realized he needed all the benefits he could get.
And his patience was rewarded.
Aside from the super regeneration, there's something else in the slug.
Something that might be useful to deal with the Titanbark.
Something that was related to the slug's role in the forest as a detritivore.