The Man-Eater's Maw

"Dude! He's on my tail! Cover me, Arc, Brielle!"

"Roger!"

"Understood!"

"Dammit! Toss your smoke and blind the idiot!"

"How do you know it's an 'it'?!"

"Just follow the focking order, ya bastard!"

"Hoo-yah!" Bard shouted, pulling the pin from a smoke grenade and hurling it at one of the mandrakes. "Fire in the hole!"

For the uninitiated, a mandrake is a tree-like creature with a woody torso and a multitude of branch-like arms. According to Cutter's book, they were once ordinary trees before a wannabe Dr. Frankenstein conducted experiments that twisted them into the monsters they are now.

Alright, enough exposition. Back to the action.

The smoke bomb struck the ground, and a thick gray cloud billowed out, completely blinding the mandrake. Its limbs, like brutal wooden maces, swung about in a mad frenzy.

Cutter parried one of its wild blows with his cutlass.

The mandrake then wrapped its arms around Bard, attempting to crush him. He resisted, digging his boots firmly into the earth to hold his ground.

"Damn you!" Bard roared. Pinning the creature's limbs with his left hand, he slashed down with the modified trench knife in his right, severing them. The knife, a silver M9 Bayonet with a custom brass-knuckle grip, had been a gift from his father, an OSN officer, when he’d passed the selection for the OSN Sea Dragons Unit Six. He called it the 'Brass Bayonet'.

With its arms severed, the tree monster was helpless. "Taaaahh!" With a final battle cry, Bard lunged forward, driving his blade deep into its woody flesh. "Cap! Finish him!"

Leaping onto the mandrake's back, Cutter appeared behind it. "Hell yeah!" he yelled, bringing his gleaming cutlass down in a powerful slice. The creature splintered apart, collapsing into a heap of desiccated wood.

While my squadmates finished off one monster, Brielle and I took on the other. I used my katana, Getsuei, to block its relentless assaults. I leaped back to evade a strike, but one of its limbs slithered out like a woody serpent, catching my ankle and yanking me off my feet. Just as it began to drag me closer, a luminous musket ball, glowing like a supernatural tracer, slammed into its trunk.

The impact forced the mandrake to release its hold. I surged forward, a stream of green light trailing my blade as I moved. With lightning speed, my Getsuei blazing, I severed all of the mandrake's limbs. We knew from Cutter's book—and Brielle's own experience—that they were severely handicapped once disarmed. They could regenerate, but the process took over three hours.

With all its arms gone, I shoved my katana deep into the mandrake's 'torso'. The creature groaned in agony but was powerless to resist. A second later, a sharp bayonet pierced its back, and it crumbled into a pile of wood. Brielle called it a 'drop item', though it looked like ordinary firewood. Great for campfires or torches, she'd explained. I felt like I was trapped in some twisted RPG, collecting loot from fallen monsters.

"Nice work, Arc!" Brielle complimented me with a grin.

"You too, Brielle," I smiled back. I couldn't pinpoint when I'd started smiling so much, but I suspected she had something to do with it.

"Hey! You two finished making eyes at each other?" Cutter beckoned. We both shot him a look. He added with a playful smirk, "Shite, I think you two would make a good couple."

Our faces turned crimson, almost matching the fiery red of the Brit's hair. "We're not—! And we aren't—! We're not a couple! R-right, Arc?" Brielle stammered, her words tripping over each other.

My own words were stuck in my throat, so I could only manage a stiff nod.

"Hehehe, just kidding," the Captain chuckled. "By the way, gather the wood. We can use it for a fire later." He then turned and walked away. Cutter was like a male version of my geeky, childlike sister, Chiyoko—always teasing me about girls, even though he was much older. I had a feeling I’d be calling him Aniki soon enough. Heh.

I secured the wood with a rope and packed it into my Assault Pack—a much cooler name for a rucksack. Slinging it over my shoulder, I said to Brielle, "Let's go. We need to find a place to camp before nightfall."

"O-okay," she replied, and we started moving to catch up with the others.

Bard was watching us, his hands clasped behind his head. "Hurry up, lovebirds! I don't fancy sleeping in this creepy forest because you two are slowpokes."

Brielle flushed a deep red again. "Muuu! You—! We are not in love!" she yelled at him from across the clearing.

"Sure you're not," he replied simply, blowing a bubble with his gum.

"Uuuu!" She let out an adorable groan of frustration, puffing out her cheeks.

"Quiet, you bitching Yank!" Cutter snarled from the front of the column.

Bard sighed. "Okay! Okay!" We jogged to catch up with the Captain, and our trek continued.

The sun was sinking toward the horizon, but we still had time to find a decent campsite. We moved in a silent file formation. I was surprised to see that Brielle had already adapted to the covert tactics our special forces units used back home. It was a swift transition, especially since we'd thought people from her era considered surprise attacks dishonorable or cowardly. Clearly, she wasn't bound by such customs.

Cutter broke the silence. "Vance?"

"Yes?" She was at the head of our group and glanced back at him.

"You know a good place to rest?" he inquired without turning, his right hand gripping his G36C while his left rested on the hilt of his cutlass.

"I do. There's a waterfall not far from here. It's where I usually rest when I pass through this forest," she said. "We call it a safe zone."

"So, where is this waterfall?" I asked.

"I'll show you the way," she said, her usual upbeat tone gone. She paused, her expression turning serious as she faced us. "But be prepared for a fight unlike any you've had before. That area is patrolled by A-class monsters, and they attack without warning." Her admonition sent a wave of tension through our group.

Cutter halted and turned to us. "You heard the girl. Stay sharp and don't let your guard down." We all nodded in unison. He turned back to Brielle. "Vance, lead the way."

"Yes, Captain Thorne," she replied and stepped forward. Cutter aimed his rifle ahead, flicking off the safety. He gave a low wave of his hand. "Move up." We followed his signal.

We formed a wedge formation and advanced behind Brielle, covering every angle. All chatter ceased as we focused on moving silently.

But we had no idea that Bard had just unwittingly stepped on what looked like a harmless vine. An abrupt snap echoed, followed seconds later by a heavy thump.

"Whoa!" I heard Bard scream. We spun around to see a monstrous plant standing where he had been moments before. It resembled an enormous Venus flytrap. "Mom! Help me!" A muffled cry emerged from the plant's 'stomach'. It had swallowed him whole!

"Nolan! Hang on, buddy! I'll get you out!" I yelled. Cutter was already firing, sending a stream of 5.56 rounds into the beast on full auto.

"It's a Human-Trap Plant, a rare A-class monster. I've only seen one twice in my life," Brielle remarked, her eyes wide with shock.

"I don't care what it's called!" Cutter shouted as he emptied his magazine into the plant. He slammed in a fresh one. "Just tell me how to kill it before Bard becomes plant food!"

"We can only kill it with a large explosion, something only powerful casters and sorcerers can create."

My jaw tightened. I yanked a frag grenade from my CRAS armor, pulled the pin, and threw it at the carnivorous plant. "Frag out!"

The grenade detonated nearby, but the blast and shrapnel only seemed to infuriate it. Its leaf-like limbs whipped through the air toward us like heat-seeking missiles. "Incoming!" Cutter shouted, and we dove for cover as the appendages crashed into nearby trees with thunderous thuds. "We need a bigger explosive!" Cutter yelled from behind a tree.

Then I saw it—a green tube lying on the forest floor. A pipe. No, wait... it was more than just a pipe.

"Brielle! Cutter! Keep it occupied!" I shouted as I sprinted toward it.

"Roger that!" Cutter retorted and resumed firing.

"Okay!" Brielle answered from behind a bush. She stood, loading a new clip of musket rounds into her Springbright rifle. I heard her chant something under her breath just before she aimed. "Cluster blast!" she shouted as the musket ball sped toward the monster.

The ball shattered into a cluster of smaller projectiles that peppered the creature, exploding on impact. It did nothing.

"Damn, what does it take to destroy that thing?" she mumbled, her knuckles white from gripping her musket. "...Brother…" she whispered in desperation.

I reached the tube—it was Bard's M72 LAW, which he must have dropped. I snatched it up, extended the launcher, and flipped open the dust covers. The sights popped into place. I shouldered the weapon, aimed for the plant's core, and squeezed the trigger.

The 66mm rocket launched, struck its target, and erupted in a massive explosion, obliterating the plant and splattering a sticky, purple liquid everywhere. As the smoke cleared, I saw Bard lying there, his uniform soaked in the remains of the carnivorous plant. "Bard!" I cried, rushing to his side.

"Arc?" he asked, trying to sit up. I ignored the strange purple goo and pulled him into a hug. "Eh?"

I released him only to punch him in the gut.

He grunted. "Uuugghh! What the hell was—"

"Idiot!" I cut him off. "Couldn't you have been more careful? What would I tell your father if you came home in a body bag—or didn't come home at all?"

He just smiled at me. "Doesn't matter, my friend." Ever the jester, he snickered, "At least they'd give me a Purple Heart."

I let him go and we both looked over at Brielle, who was gaping at us. "How in the world did you do that? Are you a sorcerer?" she asked.

Bard gave me a curious look. "I used your LAW to destroy that monster," I told him. He nodded in understanding. I turned back to the stunned musketeer. "I used an M72 Light Anti-Armor Weapon. That thing can take out a tank with one shot."

"What the fuck?!" Bard suddenly shrieked in horror, staring down at his uniform. "What the hell is this stuff?!"

Cutter knelt beside him and patted his shoulder. "Calm down, mate. You won't die from that gunk. I think that's the Human-Trap Plant's drop item—a rare antitoxin." Cutter dipped a finger into the liquid on Bard's uniform and sniffed it. "It's a chemical the plant uses in its stomach to neutralize poisons in whatever it eats. Think of it like our own hydrochloric acid, but for breaking down toxins. They say this stuff can counteract almost any poison, even the deadliest ones."

"Oh," was all I could manage.

"How do you know that, Captain?" Brielle asked. "Even I didn't know that."

"Book," he said simply. "Arc, Vance, help me collect this antitoxin. Could come in handy." Brielle nodded and pulled a few empty bottles from her pack. I used several empty syringes to gather what I could. Cutter turned back to Bard, who was still looking at his goo-covered uniform in disgust. "Let's move it, people. We've got some uniforms to clean."