Chapter 69 Nothing Could Stop It

Vines as thick as an infant's arm slowly crawled their way toward Lucas' thigh.His face paled as he tried to pull his feet out of their way, but it was to no avail.

Lucas had always been proud of his strength—in terms of mundane standards. However, it was only at this moment that he realized how insignificant it was—truly—in the grand scheme of things.

In such an important time, his strength, which he was so proud of, could not even rip off the vines that it had entangled to.

As he stared at the vines, he could not help but notice that they were moving upward. Now, they had already reached his thigh, and soon, they would eventually reach his torso. The vines moved with intellect, as if they wanted to devour him whole.

With an ashen face, Lucas desperately tried to pull his body away from these vines. At that moment, he also saw the resemblance between these vines as well as the vines that bound the Cliff Borne Ram that he had killed inside that cave.

'They're here!'

Lucas shivered in fear as he realized that fact a little late.

The master of the bird beast, or the reinforcement they had sent, was already here.

And worse of all, they had already begun to bound him with these vines, without him knowing about it until at the last moment.

'Wait. Perhaps Spot would be able to slice them in half.'

At thought of that, Lucas hurriedly looked up to give Spot the order. However, at that moment, he realized that the same vines coiling around his feet and thighs had already crawled their way toward Spot too.

The degree of vines that coiled around him seemed even denser and thicker. From the ground, Spot's hind legs were bound in place.

His posture was still the same as earlier, when he was about to deliver the final strike toward the bird beast. Now, that posture was frozen in place as thick vines coiled around his hind legs, torso, and then toward his front legs that were still raised up in the air, ready to deliver the lethal and last strike.

That last strike, though, was bound to not be delivered.

Spot wailed in agony and pain. His face contorted, much like Lucas; he also desperately tried to move. To unbound himself out of the vines' clutches. S~eaʀᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

However, it was all to no avail.

Both the summoner and the summon were helpless against the vines.

Despair flooded Lucas' mind. Slowly, but surely, his whole body became immobilized.

Now, the vines had reached his chest. Thinner vines crawled and coiled around his strong arms, putting them in place, not allowing them to move, even just an inch.

The same case was happening to Spot; only the vines that bound him were trembling, as if they would be ripped to shreds in the next moment. However, it did not happen; instead, more vines rose from the ground, wrapping Spot even more, holding him in place.

Not being allowed to move, the summoner and the summon slowly succumbed to a vicious struggle to escape.

"It's you!"

Just then, an emotionless voice resounded in Lucas' ears.

He did not have to think too much to realize that it was the bird beast's owner that spoke those words.

The person gradually came to his view.

Dark brown hair with deadpan black eyes, his complexion pale almost comparable to a corpse. He showed no kind of emotion as he walked and then stood beside the bird beast that was still in front of Spot.

At this point, Lucas' whole body was already coiled by the vines, except for his neck and head. But feeling the tightness around it, he determined that it would not be for long before they succumbed to the vines' might as well.

His eyes were the only part of him that could move at this moment. Through it, he observed the summoner of the bird beast and determined it to be the one called Asher.

Like before, his face still looked as if it were devoid of any emotion. His pitch-black eyes looked as if they were lifeless and monotonic.

His presence here also meant that Lucas was truly done for. With the summoner being here, the might of the bird beast would increase, and not to mention it, the plant-like beast coiling around the arm of Asher seemed to be even equally harrowing and powerfully dreadful.

Although he felt hopeless, Lucas still harbored the thought of escape.

However, the question was how.

What should he do?

In front of a strong summoner, with two strong beasts, does he even have a chance to escape? Was two beasts even his limit? How strong was Asher exactly? How many contracted beasts does he truly have?

The more he thought about it, the more depressed Lucas became.

The more he thought about it, the more dreadful his situation became.

Was this truly... the end?

ROAR!

Just then, a defiant, beastly roar shook the entire surroundings.

Moving his eyes and perking his ears, Lucas realized that it was Spot who let out such a loud growl that it literally shook his ears and the surroundings.

Literally in front of Spot's huge mouth, Asher, the bird beast, as well as the plant beast on Asher's arm, took the brunt of that bestial roar.

Even though his face stayed still, Asher still took a step back as he covered his ears with his deathly pale hands.

Still frozen in place, hope reignited in Lucas' eyes once more.

'That's right. Spot is still here!'

Spot has never been a normal beast, even more so after he received the Hellhound Manifestation skill from the system.

That roar... doesn't seem to be a normal one.

'Was it a new skill? Did he rank up once more?'

As much as he wanted to check the logs of his grimoire at this moment, Lucas could not do so due to the vines binding him in place.

At the next moment, Lucas felt the grip of the vines loosen. Even though it was just a little bit, it still made him see a glimmer of hope.

'Maybe... Maybe there's still a chance.'

As the thought rose inside his mind, Lucas saw Asher and his beast, recovering almost in an instant from that bestial roar.

'Oh no…'

The emotionless face of Asher finally showed some subtle emotion.

However, Lucas preferred if he did not show any at all.

His brows contorted as his eyes glared at Spot with visible rage.

"YOU DARE!"

He let out an enrage bellow as he raised and then swiped his hands in mid-air.

As if directed by a conductor, the vines holding the summoner and the contracted beast in place seemed to tighten even more with each wave of Asher's hand.

Everything happened too quickly.

The reignited hope dwindled as each moment, each split second, passed like an eternity due to the harrowing pain that Lucas felt.

The vines tightened their grip. Lucas felt as if he was being squeezed or stepped by a massive elephant. Even breathing was already hard for him.

His vision focused ahead, his heart trembling in pain as he saw blood oozing out of the vines that coiled around Spot. Along with it were the whimpers and growls of pain that Lucas did not want to hear.

"Spo…ttt!"

His words were muffled. The vines had already reached his mouth and were slowly covering his eyes.

The last thing he saw was a thick and sharp vine raising itself in front of Spot. The sharp point was aimed toward Spot's head.

Lucas wailed, or at least he tried to. However, no voice escaped his mouth. In fact, he was not even able to open his mouth anymore.

At the exact moment his eyes were covered by the vines, Lucas felt a sudden pull behind him.

As confused as he was, Lucas did not know what was going on until it was already late.

Somehow, and unknowingly, a small gate—a small dungeon gate—had already opened behind him.

It was the gate itself that was pulling him.

The pull became intense as Lucas felt his body getting pressed by the vines.

At the next moment, though, the sturdy and thick vines crumbled into multiple pieces.

Lucas regained his vision as he felt free and out of the vines' entanglement. However, before he could rejoice, his body, with a forceful jerk, was thrown toward the gate helplessly.

At one corner of his eyes, he saw Asher's eyes widening in shock and bewilderment. His hands tried to reach out as vines rose, trying to pull Lucas back. However, the vines disintegrated and fell into pieces once more.

No matter how sturdy and hard they were when they bound Lucas and Spot in place, they were as brittle and as fragile as glass toward the force of the gate that was pulling Lucas forcefully.

Nothing could stop it.

Lucas' time inside the dungeon was up, and so he would be rejected and thrown out of the dungeon without a question.

Nothing could stop it.

Following right after him was the massive body of Spot that was also being pulled by the same force. The vines that held him in place also broke into pieces.

Asher bellowed as he clenched his fist in the air. The vines formed, or at least tried to form, to tangible or taut parts as he desperately tried to reach and pull Lucas and Spot back. But all of it was to no avail.

And then…

Lucas and Spot disappeared from his sight.