The full moon was high in the sky and the night was now halfway through its journey into the day. Although he hadn't established a specific time to meet Therion, Yoichi knew he had little time to find a quiet place to dip his hands into the Tear.
The strong smell of wild plants continued to surround him, coming mostly from inside the cave. He only had to pay attention to the details to notice that the entrance of the natural cavity was sprinkled with colorful orchids identical to the first one.
So many carnivorous flowers of various shades and sizes all had the same task. Their stems were unfurled on the ground all the way into the cave as if they were electrical wires in a backstage area.
Feeding on islets and sometimes even small mammals, they were nourishing something larger, perhaps a more impressive flower or some strange, intelligent plant.
Yoichi stroked Ichiro's back, letting his hand slide between its ears and over its nose, trying to gain courage. "I'll see you in a bit, Ichiro. Wish me luck," he said, pronouncing its demonic name in a low voice and beckoning it back inside the Demon Tooth.
Unlike the first few times when Kenji's summoning caused him a sharp pain in his chest, now Yoichi was perfectly capable of changing demons, switching between Kenji and Ichiro and vice versa as needed.
The switch could be made in a matter of seconds, and even in the middle of the fight, it could be crucial for victory.
The young tamer summoned Kenji and the stream of hot air released by the small dragon touched the surrounding vegetation, approaching the orchids and giving a small taste of its power.
When Kenji was summoned, Yoichi brought his new homemade torch closer to it, waiting for his Oracle to use the fire to ignite the wad of moss. The dragon flame, unlike the normal one, did not need any fuel to burn and continue to shine.
The outside of the flame was deep red, while the innermost part was blue, almost purplish as if it were combustible gas. Anyone who had looked at that torchlight more closely would have noticed the diversity of its fire.
One foot after another, trying not to step on the green roots that connected the orchids to their main, hidden body, Yoichi kept on walking along the muddy road, pointing the torch forward and illuminating the surrounding area.
Kenji's feline footsteps, as usual, were not the least bit audible thanks to their pads, which cushioned the weight of its lightweight body. The little dragon's red eyes looked around, trying to scan what was hiding in that damp darkness.
One hand tightened on the torch, the other one on Takamori's faithful dagger. With that equipment, Yoichi climbed over the natural step that marked the beginning of the cave. The heat of the torchlight frightened the insects nestled near the entrance, forcing them to fly away to safety from the human intruder who had dared to disturb their sleep.
The inner walls of the cave had been shaped by rainwater, whose flow was made possible by some holes in the ceiling. They connected the internal area with the outside as if they were the vents on the back of a whale.
Because of the veil of water, the humidity inside that place was much higher than in the rest of the swamp and the omnipresent moss had chosen to grow only in a few small spots, surrounded by strange, probably poisonous mushrooms.
Yoichi tried to follow the green roots on the rocky floor, being careful not to slip or trip. The lower layer of the cave had also been affected by karst action, where water had dissolved the more soluble spots of the rock.
*tktktktk*
"Uh? Who's there?!" Yoichi suddenly exclaimed, sensing a sound he had never heard before and pointing his torch in that direction. "Grrr!" Kenji growled, signaling its tamer of impending danger.
In the final part of the small cave, what was connected to those deadly orchids was staring at the adventurer and his Oracle, making a sound similar to a wooden stick hitting another woody object repeatedly.
That cry was eerily similar to that emitted by a cricket's legs crawling over each other, only woodier and shorter.
Yoichi swallowed the air, building up his courage and taking another step forward. Yet another drop of sweat slid down his forehead to his chin, eventually falling to the floor and feeding the small puddles in the porous rock.
*plop* - At the exact moment the drop touched the floor, the air inside the cavity suddenly moved and a large green and brown mass stirred in front of Yoichi, coming out into the open.
*TKTKTKTK* - It moved forward on mighty arms made up of thick, curved woody roots, dragging the main body, which was made up of a heavy greenish muddy mass.
Yoichi and Kenji took a few seconds to distinguish the body parts of that anomalous demon, struggling to identify which was the mouth and which were the limbs. The central mass, made up of seaweed and shattered shrubs compressed one on top of each other, opened up like an oyster.
Between the top and bottom of the mouth, disgusting strands of slime gave off a piercing, rotting stench similar to that emitted by a crate of vegetables left in the sun for months on end.
Above the crushed, greenish head, now illuminated by the torchlight, smaller, pointed twigs moved in a row, banging against each other and making the characteristic sound that had caught the lone adventurer's attention.
The demon in front of Yoichi and Kenji had no eyes, no clear body. The only visible parts were the central cluster and the large roots that allowed the monster to crawl sideways, picking up the scent of the two intruders with its large nostrils, hidden somewhere under the shrubs.
"This thing is... it's huge!" Yoichi gasped, holding his breath and avoiding breathing in the putrefying air that had come out of the wild demon's mouth. As he suspected, the orchids in the trees outside the cave were all connected to that huge carnivorous plant, whose surface swayed like a beating heart.
If he wanted to use the cave to spend the rest of the night, Yoichi would have to pass yet another test. Would Takamori's dagger blade be enough this time as well?
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