NOVEL WEB Chapter 32 - Plan(t)s in Movement
Dungeon Day 42
Morning came to find that Dan had caved to his need to create. He was originally going to use the sharks and gators to knock out the frog people, but why use them when he could create something new?
His new monsters were something new, something he had yet to create. Not only in appearance, but their type and how they functioned were refreshing. First of all, they were not beasts. Instead, he had created his first plant monster. They were lily pads. Each one was the size of a person, though they were round, so more of a radius than anything. They all look like lily pads, except right at their center, where they had eight vine tentacles sprouting downwards and spreading outward like an octopus. Not only was his creation something amazing to look at, but he hadn't even given them proper intelligence like the rest of his monsters. The lilies were going to be simple creatures with their main purpose of capturing and holding frog people. As such, simple bestial intelligence would allow them to follow commands, which was more than enough for their task. This would be especially true whenever their usefulness came to an end, as they would just be allowed to float through the lake until his dungeon came to fruition. And even when his dungeon was up and functioning, the lily pads would mainly be nuisances for the adventurers to deal with and nothing else.
Dan had created 15 lilypads, which came out to 450 mana. Like the rest of his monsters, he would probably create even more by the time the lake conflict ended. However, he only expected a need to create up to 30 of any of his underwater creatures, except for maybe the sharks, for which he might add ten more. Even then, Dan was hesitant as he would need more ground troops than underwater troops after the lake conflict had ended.
Looking back at the stat block of his new plant creatures, Dan was still amazed by the innate abilities that they had gained.
🔷 Crystal Notice 🔷
🔷 Monster Statblock 🔷
Rank: Common.
Name: Octo-Lily.
Type: Plant.
Size: Medium.
Hierarchy: Minion.
Mind: Bestial.
Arcane Mana: 25/25.
Arcane Mana Regen: +1 (0 Outside of Dungeon)
Pure Arcane Mana: Locked.
Pure Arcane Mana Conversion: Locked.
Order Mana: Locked.
Abilities: 6.
Water Affinity. Plant Affinity. Water Control. Plant Control. Body Enhancement - Strength. Vine Wrap.
Innate Abilities: 6.
Blindsight. Vibroperception. Uncanny Stealth. Inattentional. Plant Counterfeit. Mental Resistance.
Respawn Timer: 1 Hour (2 Hours if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Respawn Cost: 15 Mana (30 if Death is Outside Dungeon.)
Original Creation Cost: 30 Mana.
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The abilities that Dan had given them, which were self-explanatory, were the Water and Plant Affinities, which would allow them to control water and plants. This would then allow them to use other plants as support or propel themselves through the water without actually having to use their vine tentacles. Then, body enhancement was for enhancing their vines so that they could use their wrap ability to firmly entangle things.
The innate abilities are when things get interesting. First of all, Blindsight gave them a radius around their main lily pad body to where they could naturally perceive everything that was going on. This blindsight also extended around their tentacles, but not by much; however, to make up for that, there was Vibroperception. That specific ability allowed them to sense ripples and vibrations through the water, allowing them to pinpoint where targets were much more easily.
The last three abilities were not as good individually, though each one was still pretty cool on its own if Dan said so himself. First was Uncanny Stealth, which allowed them to move through water so seamlessly that, from other creatures' perspectives, they remained somewhat in place. Dan placed this in the realm of how clouds moved through the sky if someone wasn't paying attention. One moment, you were looking at them, and the next, they were in a completely different spot.
Then came Inattentional. That particular ability made it so that creatures that were staring at the lily pad would easily place them in the background, thus making it easier to forget about them. Naturally, this would only work on creatures of the same rank as the lily pads, but it was still a nice ability when combined with Uncanny Stealth. Both abilities would essentially allow the lily pad to sneak up on a foe without them even noticing.
Finally, the last ability tied everything together and made it so that when the lily pad was not moving, it could pass itself as a regular plant. Dan didn't know how that would work specifically, but he imagined that it would have something to do with identify or maybe the senses of creatures.
Anyway, his new plant creature was fantastic, and it was time to put them all to work. The operation was going to begin with scouting, which itself would begin with Dan making teams go out and explore the part of the lake under enemy control. The lake was large, but his monsters were tireless, so he divided them into six groups.
Five of the groups had six sharks, three gators, and three octo-lilies. These were the groups that were going to be the main scouting force. Joining these groups were going to be ten frog folk warriors who could now easily fight in the front lines due to the added mental resistance provided by Dan.
The last group would have his boss, mini-boss, the chieftain, and 30 of his soldiers. This left their small village a bit undefended, with only 37 warriors left to protect it, but as they were going on the offensive, there was little to worry about. Additionally, as the day went on, Dan would make more gators, sharks, and lily pads as a defensive force.
The plan for the groups was relatively simple. The first five groups would split and search the enemy area to spot where the shard was hiding. While they did that, the group with his bosses would head straight to the town and attempt to take it over. Well, it was more like they would take it over, as he doubted much could pose a threat to his bosses.
His teams quickly spread out, and the search for the shard began. Dan knew it would take some time for any results to come back to him, but at least he was finally actively searching for it. Meanwhile, his two bosses and the 30 frog warriors made their way to the town, and surprisingly, they met no resistance as they entered it. That alone had shocked the chieftain, as before Dan came along, the town had-had some enemy activity. Naturally, the town being empty made Dan’s alarm bells go off. Obviously, the shard was watching their movements, at least to some extent, and knew they were coming towards the town. So either the shard knew it was no match against Dan, or it had simply retreated to return with a bigger force and permanently remove Dan’s troops.
Fearing for the worst, Dan decided to play defensively, and as the day continued, he began making more of his underwater monsters. By the time the sun started to set, Dan had made an additional ten sharks, five gators, and fifteen lilies, which cost him a total of 1105 mana. He would have rather spent that mana creating more land teams, but he would rather be safe than sorry when dealing with this clearly intelligent Shard. This whole thing reminded Dan of the last shard and how it was nowhere near the level of intelligence this new one possessed.
So, in preparation for the obvious attack that had to be coming, Dan sent ten of his lilies over to the town, with the rest staying in the small village where the rest of the frog population was currently staying at. The lilies would serve the same purpose in both areas, acting as an early warning system for any incoming attacks. However, unlike the lilies, Dan did not split his gators and sharks; instead he sent all of them to the town.
Dan was ready for an attack, and he hoped it would be decisive, where he could easily squash the enemy and quickly move in to seize control and absorb it.
Sadly, the night passed without incident. Not only had his scout team not found anything, but they had also not been attacked by a single fish. To be fair, they had yet to cover a quarter of the total area that the enemy shard had control over. The town had not been attacked either, and Dan used the extra time provided by the enemy to question the chieftain some more.
It was then that he learned some information he had come to overlook. First of all, in total, there should be around 1000-something frog folk. Dan had control over 600 and a bit; out of those 600, there were around 127 guards. So when he did the math, that meant that the enemy shard had control over at least another 50 to 70 guards, depending on how many had died. Adding to the guards was the fact that the chieftain said that a decent amount of the fish population still needed to be included.
Dan would have never thought about that as he didn't really question the fact that the lake seemed to be a bit low on fish. Dan honestly thought it was just normal. Maybe the frog people had eaten many of the fish, but instead, there was a good chance that many of the fish in the lake were under the control of the shard. The damn thing could have control over thousands of fish. Even if they were small, it still meant that the shard could summon a swarm of fish to its side, which could serve as cannon fodder.
At the very least, now that Dan knew of this possible issue, he could do something to deal with it. That something would be a new plant boss that would absolutely dominate the enemy's brains.