The Fungi continued, gazing at the dark red flowers blooming among the words. "When I left home, flowers like these covered the whole place. Each one represented a life that had passed away.
They grew in clear lakes, in fertile soil, in my home, and in my friends' homes.
They were everywhere. The world had suddenly lost all its color, becoming murky and foul."
Of everyone listening to the Fungi's description, Apep felt it most deeply, because it described what things had once been like inside her.
The Fungi's sorrowful tone suddenly shifted.
"But it's all right. The essence of our lives—the elemental energy—is still in those flowers. After the Traveler clears the Withering Zone, I'll quietly go near them. If I sense my companions' elemental energy, I'll take it with me."
"Then the effects of Forbidden Knowledge will..."
"It's all right, Dendro Archon. That doesn't matter anymore. I only hope they can all go home in the end.
"Staying here in this form until they vanish into nothing is just too pitiful.
"Now that we finally have a chance to go home, I'll be happy even if I can take just one more of them back."
The Fungi's fierce determination to return home was deeply moving. The Traveler and Nahida worked together to clear the Withering Zone without a hitch.
The Ruin Machine lurking in the Withering Zone, along with the Ruin Drake, also astonished the people of the Douluo Continent.
Even a Titled Douluo probably couldn't defeat the Ruin Drake with ease.
If they saw the huge Ruin Machine in the desert, they'd likely be even more dumbfounded. Even a god from the Douluo Continent might be blasted to smithereens by one of its cannons.
After the Withering Tumor was cleared, a clump of residual elemental energy returned