Someone Has Arrived

After the violent explosions ended, the entire mine began to collapse. Before we could be buried beneath the massive boulders and metal fragments, Ding Dang used her super-plant-summoning ability again, sending everyone safely to the surface on countless indestructible vines and enormous flower buds. After jumping out of one of the giant buds, I found myself on a somewhat unfamiliar hill. The huge funnel-shaped basin from before lay a hundred kilometers away, slowly collapsing and sinking amid the continuous rumbling and tremors from underground.

Behind me came the sound of something huge writhing. I turned around and saw that the enormous plant mass that blotted out the sky was still continuously emerging from the massive hole in the ground. The sound of its vines growing rapidly was as deep and rumbling as muffled thunder. Two-meter-tall flower buds poked out from layers upon layers of vines, popping as they "spat" people out. I knew these things were very docile plants created by the little one, and I knew their lush green exterior was actually some mysterious substance tougher than warship armor. In many worlds, these vines were even worshipped as the roots of the World Tree, but... even so, could Ding Dang stop solving every problem with these disgusting things?

Being spat out by a pile of tentacles like digestive residue was seriously messed up!

Luckily, these things did not have the slimy properties of actual carnivorous flowers. Otherwise, I would have tied Ding Dang to a yo-yo and played with her all afternoon.

I looked up at the sky. Behind the dense, murky clouds, faint flashes could still occasionally be seen. Burning warship wreckage sometimes tore through the cloud cover, trailing thick smoke and fire as it fell toward the earth, but it was no longer as dense as when