The lord of the forest, Papa Bear, has arrived.
There was no way I could handle a ten-meter-tall bear alone.

So I immediately decided to call for help.
Yes, distress signal, go–!
Help me!

I lifted my vines high toward the sky.
I was calling for my bee knights. There was no way I could beat Papa Bear by myself.

He was looking at me like I was just some weed growing by the roadside. He didn’t even acknowledge me as a living creature. It wouldn’t even be a real fight.

Wait. Something is wrong.
The bees aren’t coming.

They always fly to protect me right away, yet they are nowhere to be seen today.

Just as I thought that, my knight finally appeared.

One bee headed toward Papa Bear from behind.
Where were the others?
One bee alone cannot possibly win against that thing.

But then, in the next moment, I learned where the others were in the worst possible way.

Reacting to the approaching bee, Papa Bear turned around.
And on his back, there they were.
The bees.

The bee squad was already there, dozens of them lay frozen.
Each one had their stingers embedded deep into Papa Bears back.
They were all dead.

My knight brigade had already been annihilated.
My lovely lily garden was destroyed by that awful monster.
Without me even knowing, the forest circle was already gone.

No way.
The bees were defeated. Just when we had become such good friends…

My only ally left was that one surviving bee.

Even one ally is better than none. With the two of us together, we might be able to drive Papa Bear away.
We are partners after all. We will fight that jerk together.

In the next moment, Papa Bear twisted his head at lightning speed, cracking his long horn like a whip.
Hit by the attack, the last bee was blown apart into pieces.

Ah……
My allies were gone.

I want to run.
But I can’t. Because I’m a plant.

Why? Why don’t plants have legs?
Why must I have roots?

Do plants really love the ground that much
If only, long ago, plants had evolved to be mobile, none of this would be happening.

I have no choice.
I will just have to give it my all. This is my last stand.

If I can win at all, it’ll have to be with a preemptive strike.
I need a surprise attack.

Go, vine whip!
But it seemed to have no effect on Papa Bear.

I sprouted many man-eaters along my vines and had them bite him.
Then, I turned my vines into tree trunks and swung them like clubs.
No good, His hide was too thick. My attacks aren’t damaging him.

What should I do? He is on a different level entirely.

But I still have a trump card.
And I know it works as I already had tested it.

I released toxic pollen from my flower crown toward Papa Bear.
It took down that honey-loving pervert bear in one hit. Papa Bear is from the same species. It should work

After being hit with the pollen, Papa Bear rubbed at his eyes and sneezed.
Then he continued advancing like nothing happened.

Huh? That’s it?
I just gave him a mild seasonal allergy.
But that was supposed to poison you to death though.

Maybe the dose was not enough. A giant like him requires a larger amount than the cub after all.
I continued releasing pollen.
Eventually, the entire area became covered in a toxic fog.

Surely even Papa Bear couldn’t handle this much, right?

Just as I thought that, a force slammed into me like a hammer striking my stomach.
Papa Bear had pulled a tree from the ground and thrown it like a spear.

It struck the bulb that served as my lower body, bursting my chloroplasts apart.
A huge hole opened beside my mouth and digestive fluids began to spill out.

This was the worst pain I had ever felt since becoming an Alraune.

Having my vines cut was nothing compared to this.
Vines are like fingers or nails. There are many of them.
But the bulb is different.

It is not an exaggeration to call the bulb my true body.

A fatal injury to the bulb like this one would kill a normal Alraune.

But I am no ordinary flower.
Mimicking the usage of recovery magic, I forced the damaged area to grow rapidly.
Ok, I’m back to my original form.

Of course, the fatigue after recovery was huge.
I need water.

When I came too, the poison fog had cleared.
And standing before me, having moved there without me noticing, was Papa Bear, towering over everything.

The poison had not worked.
He was crying blood from his eyes, but still standing strong.
He’s unbelievably stubborn.

Then take another dose.

…Huh? Nothing’s coming out.
The hole in my bulb and that large-scale regeneration must have drained everything. There is nothing left to release.

What now? I have no more weapons.
There are no options for me to play.

Papa Bear was drooling heavily while glaring at me with those bleeding eyes.
There was no chance he would let me go.

…Drool?

Papa Bear’s nose twitched as he let his drool drip onto the ground like a dog.
I recognized this behavior.

It’s the same as that honey-obsessed pervert bear.

Papa Bear’s goal is nectar.
I just noticed, but his eyes are completely glazed over. He has lost himself.

He’s also a pervert.
Like father, like son.

Wait, could it be he hasn’t realized I’m the one who killed his cub?
That’s good news, but also bad news.

He wants to eat my nectar, not necessarily eat me.
Regardless, I’m still getting attacked.
He won’t kill me though, right?

Papa Bear, who had been looking down at me, opened his jaws wide.
A pale pink tongue emerged from behind his vicious fangs.

Shockingly, a bear’s tongue is much longer than I expected. Several times longer than a human’s.
Its shape was built perfectly to reach for nectar deep inside honeycombs.

The tongue lowered toward me.
And that tongue, it was bigger than my entire upper body.

T-this is too scary.

Paralyzed with fear, my mind went blank and my mouth hung open, with nectar dripping out of my mouth like drool.

Papa Bear moved instantly.
Before I could react, his tongue swiped across me in one swift motion, licking my face clean.

He savored my nectar.
His thick drool clung to me, the sticky, unpleasant sensation making my whole body shiver in disgust.

He must have been a nectar enthusiast for decades.
His tongue technique was one thing, but the smell was far worse.

Papa Bear wanted more, and there’s no way I could refuse. At this moment, my very fate was literally in his hands.

Papa Bear continued licking me.

Such humiliation!

As a former saint, getting licked by a wild bear was unbearable.
I could feel my temper boiling. Even though I have no blood now.

And because of that rage, I forgot something important.

Raub bears have the habit of impaling food on their horn and bringing it home.
Papa Bear must’ve enjoyed the nectar so much that he decided to take me home.

He started pulling me right out of the ground.
No good, if my roots left the soil, there would be no coming back for a plant like me.

My roots began to lift and tighten in panic.
An alarm echoed through my entire body, warning me not to leave the earth.
If my roots were pulled out completely, it would all be over.

My flower would wither and never recover.
Being uprooted is the same as being killed, and once I left the soil, my life as an Alraune would be over.

Deep down, I finally understood that this was death.

I screamed, but Papa Bear showed no mercy and kept lifting.

My vision dimmed as the roots tore free.

As a plant, I was about to be killed.

***

Author’s Note:

Two updates are planned tomorrow as well.

Next time: Have You Ever Imagined What Happens to a Weed After It Gets Pulled Out