Under the combined stimulation of nutrients and Veylin's power, the Bloodsucking Vine seeds grew even faster, countless tendrils bristling with sharp barbs piercing the seams in the Many-Armed Folk warriors' carapaces.
This unconventional attack left their opponents momentarily at a loss.
Two warriors quickly lost their balance.
Their limbs tightly bound, they crashed into the murky water.
The vines did not stop. They constricted, burrowing into flesh unprotected by carapace.
Blue-black blood seeped from the wounds, blooming like ink in the water.
The infested warriors let out furious shrieks. They tried to fight back, but had already missed their best chance to break free. Now they could only struggle futilely in the water, each twitch drawing the vines tighter into their flesh.
The other three Many-Armed Folk warriors reacted far more calmly.
Two of them gripped their trident-shaped glaives in reverse and aimed them at the vine roots on their chests.
Bzz-
The three shells set into each glaive's tip vibrated at high frequency.
Ripples spread outward in rings.
The molten bloodsucking vines clinging to their bodies trembled violently under the sonic resonance, then shattered piece by piece and fell away.
But this came at a price.
The high-frequency vibrations also shattered their symbiotic carapaces. Webs of cracks spread across the two warriors' chest armor, and seawater mixed with blood poured from the fissures.
The last warrior was even more ferocious.
He discarded his weapon, sharply curling the four tentacles on his back to seize the vines on his body with their sucker-lined undersides.
Riiip!
He tore the vines from his body by brute force, even though they had already begun rooting in his flesh.
Large chunks of flesh came away with fragments of symbiotic carapace, exposing violently writhing muscle beneath.
He paid it no mind and hurled the torn