"Is it me, or is the fog getting thicker?" Zech asked. "I can't see as far into it as I could before."

"It's getting thicker," Nyz responded, highlighting something on several of his monitors and saving them, telling the beetle's systems to track and analyze them. "It started growing thicker about ten miles after we left Norulb, and-fuck, I just highlighted a rock. How do I delete that?"

He heard some chuckling from the Scavengers as Wys gave him an amused grin. Nyz promptly began looking through the files on the highlight and track system.

"Wait," Gabe said. "The fog's been growing thicker for ten hours, Nash, and you didn't tell us?"

"Is it an issue?" Nyz asked. "I've never had any problems when the fog grew thicker on a mission."

"I've never heard of the fog density changing," Gabe told him. "Only how high up it goes."

"Oh," Nyz said. "Yeah, the fog sometimes gets thicker the further you get from civilization. Naturally, that means fog monsters have more power at their disposal. It also allows for the formation of stronger monsters, sort of like the one we've been passing by since about three hours ago."

There was silence at that, and a brief glance at the pair of monitors showing their faces told Nyz there were all looking confused.

"What monster?" Lyan asked.

"This one," Nyz tapped on one of the things he had been highlighting, telling everyone's walkers to highlight them on their own screens. "Oh, so that is how I use a single tap to highlight everything with the same magical signature."

"That's what I told you, like, twenty minutes ago!" Wys laughed.

"Is it?" Nyz asked. "Oh. Anyway, that's a monster."

The 'monster' was a series of roots that ran along the ground, occasionally disappearing beneath the soil. Some where thin, more akin to the roots of grass or a herbs, while others were thicker, like a tree's. Some roots, however, were larger, reaching up to five times as thick as the roots of a tree. They were dark red in color with lighter red streaks through them, and since they were idle, Nyz was using them to figure out how to work some of the beetle's systems.

"Nash," Gabe said. "Not to doubt you or anything, but that just looks like roots of a really big plant. I've seen similar things before."

"I mean, it is a big plant," Nyz told him. "The biggest one I faced over on Satrune was about five hundred feet tall. It has especially strong fog powers, and doesn't grow anywhere the fog isn't especially thick. It's weird that there's one here, on Nepunat, so either a flying monster brought it over or it's something produced by the AMF. We'll probably come across the main body tomorrow, sometime after we set off."

"If it's a monster," Harn said. "Shouldn't we start taking out the roots, then? Weaken it?"

"That's not a good idea," Nyz told him. "The sap that runs through the roots turns into a toxic gas upon contact with the fog-"

"Which we're protected from," Kacy pointed out. "We have both our combat suits and the walkers."

"That's also somewhat corrosive, and will affect the air filters," Nyz continued. "And enough of it will even start to corrode the alloy making up the armor of our suits, beetle, and walkers. It's why Kal wishes he could figure out the formula for orichaclum – it would be resilient to the gas."

"Couldn't we freeze the roots, then?" She asked. "Then break them?"

"Sure," Lyan said. "Just be prepared for the gas once the roots thaw, since the sap will be in contact with the air. I take it we can't burn them either, Nash?"

"Correct," Nyz answered. "It evaporates the sap, which then interacts with the fog and becomes the toxic gas."

"So we have to leave the roots alone," Gabe said. "How do we deal with the monster, then? What does it do?"

"Erm," Nyz said. "Well, my usual style doesn't really work here. I was planning on calling Kal once we reached the way station and letting him know about it."

"What's your usual style?"

"Not something any of you would survive," Nyz answered, then looked at Wys, who was giving him a cheeky grin. "Well, except for Wys. He'd survive."

His usual method of killing the monster was to chuck fire-type magic bombs at the main body until it died. Or, in the case of the one which had eaten him, to blow it up from the inside. As both of those resulted in lethal effects for other people, Nyz wouldn't be able to do it unless he wanted to kill the Scavengers other than Wys. It would also result in the mechs being unusuable, and he didn't plan on hiking back to Honlar.

"Anyway," Nyz said. "Once we settle down for the night, I'll be contacting Kal to ask him what we should do to deal with the plant."

"What should we do if it attacks us?" Zech asked. "If it's a monster, I'm assuming it will probably do that? Why aren't we going around it?"

"You'll see bright red flowers on the roots from time to time," Nyz said. "Those are poisonous to eat, but appealing to herbivores. Most things that eat them end up turning into fertilizer, suffering from an accelerated decay while alive."

"That sounds horrible," Harn said.

"It is horrible," Nyz said. "Leave the flowers alone. While the tops of them can be eaten without drawing out the sap, if you get too close to the root when taking them out, there's some of the sap that hasn't been converted into poison yet.

"Other things to look out for," he said. "The roots wiggling around, the lighter red streaks glowing, and the ground shaking pretty hard."

"What's it mean that the ground's shaking?" Gabe asked. "The monster's moving towards us?"

"No, just that there's something really large and heavy coming our way," Nyz answered. "I once had to fight a gorilla monster that was fifty feet tall and had an extra pair of arms. That thing shook the ground pretty hard with every step it took. I don't remember how much Kal said it weighed, but I know it was at least a couple of tons."

"Dude!" Wys laughed. "He was asking about things relating to the plant monster. Everyone knows that if the ground's shaking, it's something massive moving around nearby."

"Or an earthquake," Nyz said.

"Or… yeah, an earthquake works, too," Wys chuckled. "So why aren't we taking a detour around it?"

"Notice the direction the roots are going in?" Nyz asked. "And how they're getting thicker the further we travel?"

The Scavengers gave him their affirmations of that.

"It's in the same direction we are," Nyz said. "And the roots tend to stretch out for dozens of miles if they're this small this far after they're first visible."

"This is… small?" Zech asked.

"Quite," Nyz answered. "If we were right up by the thing, the roots would be thicker than the beetle. That was for the biggest one I'd faced, though, but even the smaller ones had rather thick roots closer up."

He decided not to tell them that according to the database comparison to the previous encounters, there was a good chance that one was much larger than any of the others he'd faced before. The mana saturation in the roots was already four times greater, and he remembered Kal telling him that the more mana in the roots, the larger the plant.

"So we'll have to take a detour of a week or more if we want to go around it?" Gabe asked.

"I don't think it's possible," Nyz admitted. "I'm not Kal, so I can't say for sure, but it is in the direction we're headed, and it's following the established paths, even if nature did start to reclaim them. Even if we have about a hundred and fifty miles left on this journey, there's a strong possibility the roots are in Virtul."

"That's not 'dozens of miles', Nash," Gabe said.

"I mean, it's about twelve dozen miles," Nyz said. "So… that's still dozens, right?"

Several of the Scavengers groaned at Nyz's comment.

"Anyway," Nyz said. "The larger one I faced on Satrune was only about five hundred or so feet tall, but its roots stretched out around fifty miles in all directions."

"What my dork of a little bro is trying to avoid saying," Wys said. "Is that according to the readings on his screen, this one is bigger than that one."

"Why does something that small need roots that big?" Kacy asked.

"Kal said something," Nyz said. "About the roots being a form of filter created by the AMF, and the plant evolved into a monster in order to protect its core."

"A filter for what?" Kacy asked.

"I dunno," Nyz answered. "I'll ask him the next time I talk to him. Even if the plant doesn't reach all the way to Virtul, there's a benefit to traveling among the roots."

"Which is?" Kacy asked.

"When's the last time you saw a monster other than this guy?" Nyz asked.

The Scavengers all thought over it.

"Since about two hours ago," Wys told them. "I was wondering if there was a connection."

"There is," Nyz confirmed. "Many monsters avoid it, though we'll still see stronger ones from time to time. And no, it doesn't explain why we were facing more and stronger sooner than expected. This thing's probably been here for decades. The big one I faced had been around for about sixty years by Kal's estimates. This once might be more than a century old. As long as we don't disturb the flowers or break the roots, we should be fine to travel all the way."

"Still, though," Lyan said. "The roots seem excessive for something that small. Dozens of miles, just for a few hundred feet? It doesn't make sense."

"Dragons can fly despite their body weight being much too great for that," Nyz stated. "Normally, something that heavy should crush itself. Things don't always have to make sense when magic is involved."

"Dragons aren't real," Lyan said. "Though the theory is that if they were, they'd use some form of body-enhancement to prevent their weight from crushing them and a spell to fly. Most behemoth-size monsters use body-enhancement spells naturally to prevent that. It's used in larger mechs, too, to keep them from destroying themselves from their weight."

"Dragons are real," Nyz stated. "Anyway, traveling along the roots is safer than attempting to go around it, just make sure not to break them open or disturb the flowers, okay?"

"Okay," the Scavengers responded.

"What's the plan for once we get near the body?" Harn asked.

"Nash said he's contacting someone to find out once we stop for the night," Lyan told him. "We'll find out more then."

"Got it," Harn said.

"Keep alert," Nyz said. "Even if there are much fewer monsters, we won't have a completely clear journey. We'll still find some stronger ones in our path."

"How should we fight those?" Gabe asked. "Since shooting is dangerous here."

"Use bullets rather than magic shots," Nyz answered. "The roots are sensitive to magical damage, but resilient to physical."

"Got it," Gabe responded.

They continued their journey, reaching the way station two hours later. When they arrived, they found it entangled in roots, a dark green goo oozing out of it.

"Well, then," Gabe said. "Looks like it's nothing comfortable tonight, guys. Nash, are we staying here, or going further away?"

"We'll stay here," Nyz answered. "Do whatever you guys do for the watch."

"Got it," Gabe said. "Kacy, Harn, you two are up first. Transfer to Lyan and me after. Miyak and Zech, you two will have third watch tonight."

"Copy that," the Scavengers responded.

Nyz settled the beetle down, setting it to alert mode as Wys stretched. His friend left the cockpit, which Nyz then locked. After making sure he had muted his comms to everyone else, Nyz called base. The call attempt went on for ten minutes before it was answered, Sen appearing in his vision. Her hair was in a ponytail, as usual, and she wore a dark gray sweater that time.

"I was trying to contact Kal," he said.

"I know," she said. "He called me up and said to get the call because you were being persistent and he can't stop what he's doing unless it's an emergency."

"I need to ask him something," Nyz said.

"He told me to find out what you wanted," she told him.

"We're encountering the venarus flower," Nyz told her. "I wanted to know how to deal with it in a way that'll preserve the mechs and the lives of the rest of the people here. But mostly the mechs."

"Give me a couple of minutes," she said, then left, leaving him with a video feed of an empty chair.

Nyz stared at the chair until she returned a minute later.

"He said," she told him. "That he'll call you in about half an hour. He also wanted me to ask if you've been recording data regarding it."

"I have," Nyz answered.

"Okay," she said. "It might be a little longer than half an hour, he said that if you have, he'll analyze the data first."

"What's he doing?" Nyz asked.

"I don't know," she answered. "I was calling him from the hall when I stepped away. I don't even know where he is."

"He does that," Nyz said.

Though never during a mission, which annoyed Nyz. It wasn't the angry sort of annoyance, though, as Nyz still trusted Kal and saw him as nothing less than a friend.

"I'll wait for his call," Nyz told her. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she responded, and Nyz ended the call.

He then sat there and waited for Kal to call him, accepting the video call almost immediately. His friend was sitting in the cockpit of a mech, shirtless, with a smear of grease across his forehead. He was also wearing a blue neckerchief around his neck, and the accessory told Nyz that Kal was working on something serious, especially with how much grease it had on it.

However, the presence of grease confused Nyz, as none of his equipment needed it. Magic ensured everything ran smoothly and without friction.

"You've abandoned me for a mech?" Nyz asked.

"I already told you I was working on something," Kal told him. "And that I was doing other stuff as well. I'll be back to mission control in the next day or two. Anyway, I've improved the air filters and purification for the mechs, walkers, and Class S combat suits. The gas won't damage them anymore. The armor's a bit trickier since I can't just slap on purification enchantments and there's a limit to how much durability and resilience enchantments materials can hold."

"So they'll be able to breathe in a gas-filled area," Nyz said. "But still decompose because it'll eat through their armor."

"Basically," Kal told him. "Once I'm back to mission control, I'll transport some cases into the beetle. I actually came up with a counter-gas for it. If you expect to damage the roots, use the grenades I send to you. I've already set one of the workshops to producing them."

"A counter-gas?" Nyz asked.

"Yes," Kal responded. "If it mixes with the venarus gas, it'll neutralize the venarus gas. It's actually part of the reason I needed the condensed AMF fog you got me last year. I've had it in storage in case we needed it for something, and this is one of them. As long as you use the anti-venarus gas grenades before damaging the roots, fight only within the gas, and let the gas neutralize all of the venarus gas, then there won't be any damage to the mechs or suits."

"Okay," Nyz said. "Can the walkers shoot grenades? Or will we need to have people out of the walkers?"

"Those walkers are fully designed for combat," Kal told him. "But no, they cannot shoot grenades. The beetle, however, does have a pair of grenade cannons, one on either side on the top. They're normally retracted."

"Grenade cannons?" Nyz asked. "Don't you mean grenade launchers?"

"You can call it that if you want," Kal said.

"So if we end up fighting it," Nyz said. "Use the grenades first?"

"Yeah," Kal told him. "But it's better if you avoid fighting it altogether. Damn, that one promises to be a tall one. The fog there reaches over five thousand feet in thickness, and my sensors aren't picking up the plant outside of it, so it's not taller than that."

"Okay," Nyz said. "Can I come back and kill it once I'm not with these guys?"

"Uh… sure?" Kal responded. "Just remember that it processes the fog and filters out the AMF to convert into liquid magicarite. As big as that one is, the pool of it below is probably going to be rather massive."

"Oh, right," Nyz said. "That was what it was a filter for."

Kal snorted and rolled his eyes at Nyz's slight exclamation.

"I knew I was forgetting something about it," Nyz said. "Wait, why is that important?"

"Because your method of killing them generally results in you causing the pool of liquid magicarite to blow up when it's something we could harvest and sell," Kal told him. "But we can discuss that more when you go to actually kill it."

"Okay," Nyz said. "Anyway, I'm turning in for the night. Good luck with… whatever you're doing."

"Thanks."