"What do we do now!" Number One asked loudly, his tone filled with urgency.
"Let me try!" I gritted my teeth and spoke, the power of the Shepherd God enveloping my short sword as my aura surged outwards.
I gripped the short sword with both hands and plunged it directly into the very center of the vines.
This time, it wasn't to slash the vines, but to stab the ground!
At that precise moment, I felt as if my short sword wasn't piercing the earth, but rather a fleshly body.
The instant my short sword pierced, I unleashed the Shepherd God's power without hesitation.
An invisible force spread outwards!
I could clearly feel that something below had been severely wounded by me.
Then, all the vines retracted.
Seeing the vines suddenly vanish, Number One paused slightly, his face then breaking into an expression of ecstatic joy as he looked at me with a surprised expression: "We succeeded!"
"Don't celebrate too soon..." I retracted my short sword and carefully stared at the location where the vines had been.
Indeed, the vines did not regenerate.
"Let's carefully retreat..." I said.
"Okay!" Number One nodded and followed me, stepping back inch by inch.
We retreated all the way to the edge without encountering any further disturbances. Only then did we both breathe a sigh of relief.
"What was that all about?" Number One asked the same question again.
I smiled helplessly: "Honestly, I really don't know... this place is rather strange..."
Number One plopped down on the ground, panting heavily, a look of relief after escaping death on his face. "I thought we were going to die just now. Fortunately, I'm quite strong, otherwise, even if I didn't die, I would have surely lost half my life..."
I nodded earnestly. I knew very well that if we had truly been hit by that thing, neither of us would have had a good outcome.
"What do we do next?" Number One looked at me.
"Let's rest for a bit, recover our strength, and deal with other things later..." I said, taking out some dried rations.
These rations were also my suggestion. Deer meat, cut into appropriate sizes, marinated with various seasonings, steamed, then smoked, and finally sun-dried.
This process would cause the food to shrink drastically, making it both easy to carry and preservable.
We sat on the ground, eating the dried rations. Number One sighed dejectedly, "If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have come..."
"Perhaps there's a surprise here..." I said with a smile.
"I didn't see any surprises, but I certainly saw frights..." Number One shook his head. "That thing was too terrifying. I really don't want to experience it a second time..."
"Actually, if you think about it carefully..." I analyzed earnestly, "something like that couldn't be that simple. To transform into such a state, it requires a terrifying amount of power or some peculiar changes..."
"To be able to survive in a place like this means there must be something special here!" I said seriously. "This might not be a bad thing for us!"
Hearing this, Number One's expression eased somewhat. "Alright, we've eaten enough. What do we do now?"
"I feel like there's something beneath that central area..." I said earnestly. "I think we could try digging down..."
"What if we encounter that thing again?" Number One asked, casually placing his long saber in front of me.
I took a careful look and couldn't help but chuckle. The long saber was already chipped.
It was then that I realized the vines weren't not strong enough; it was because my short sword was simply too sharp.
"Now we don't have any weapons. If we encounter danger again, we won't even have anything to defend ourselves with..." Number One sighed. "What can we do?"
"Wait a moment, move a little further away from me..." I thought for a moment. "If there's any danger, you can run immediately!"
Number One hesitated, about to say something more when I stopped him. "Don't worry, my strength is greater than yours. No matter what, I can still protect myself..."
"Alright, I'll listen to you!" Number One nodded, not dwelling on the issue any further.
We sat there, ate some dried rations, and rested for nearly half an hour. Feeling our strength restored, I then walked towards the central area.
Number One stood up, thought for a moment, and then sat back down.
I walked all the way to the very center. This time, I found nothing unusual.
After the previous fight, the surrounding weeds had been completely destroyed, revealing a clearing of about five square meters.
I could clearly see that in this clearing, the soil seemed to be more fertile than the surrounding area!