Grim Reaper in the Apocalypse: Reaping Immortals

The next day, Atlan woke up to his Modify Memory Spore LifeSkill advancing to the 3rd stage Student realm.

He spent the 3000 required experience to advance it to the next stage. After its 7 days of consolidation period, it would become a 4th stage LifeSkill.

—Bard: (SR) Modify Memory Spore

——— Consolidating the 4th stage

———— 4x F class fragments

As usual, he went directly to the Garden Club after finishing his morning duties. He didn't mind walking 10 minutes every day because it gave him a good look at the happenings around the HeadQuarters.

As he reached the rusted gates, he saw no paper posted near the door.

Is he here today?

And as he opened the door, he saw Geminus with his white coat and signature haggard look on his face. As usual, he was watering his lilies in the pond and didn't notice Atlan approaching.

"You're here today."

"OH! You scared me there."

Atlan walked next to him. "You didn't tell me there was someone else in the club other than us two."

Geminus looked confused at first but suddenly remembered who he was talking about. "Ah! Yes. I forgot. She joined the club about a month ago and I seem to recall her begging me to let her take care of the Chronobloom. I haven't seen her all that much so I forgot she even existed."

So it's a she…

"Does she only come at night?"

Geminus nodded. "Yes. She's quite the shy little thing. I guess she's busy with a lot of things other than the garden club, so she can't come during the day. But now that you're here, you can be the one to take care of the Chronobloom while the sun's up."

Atlan was fine with that arrangement. It was assuring to know that there was someone else taking care of the Chronobloom while he wasn't in the garden.

So that's why she was able to respond to my entry so fast. She's only active at night. Speaking of which, I wonder if she wrote something in the notebook.

Atlan put his hands on his mouth and whistled for the Big Vine to come get him. But when he looked around, he couldn't see the vine anywhere; it wasn't wrapped around the giant tree nor was it slithering through the bushes.

"Our resident Big Vine is sleeping right now. It usually does this once every week, so you'll be able to summon it tomorrow. But for now, we'll have to walk to the greenhouse."

Geminus walked away from the cobblestone paths and onto the grassfields.

"Come on! You won't be able to get to the greenhouse without my help."

Atlan followed Geminus through the thick and lush vegetation of the garden. Perhaps, that wasn't the right word. It was more like a wild jungle than a garden in the middle of a City. It was as if he was transported to a different planet.

Every step he took, he felt different kinds of tangled mass and undergrowth in the soil. The dried leaves and roots almost made him trip a couple of times with how uneven they made the terrain.

The air was thick and humid. With the dense canopy above composed of the leaves and crowns of giant trees, the temperature dropped quite a bit, bringing with it a cool wind that bombarded Atlan and Geminus.

He was even surprised to see waterfalls and cave systems as they journeyed through the overgrown garden.

He wondered why he hadn't seen a single animal despite how big the ecosystem was. He half-expected to see monkeys swinging through vines the first time he saw the forest.

Atlan followed behind Geminus as they waded through thick and colorful ferns. And after they passed through the maze-like tall grasses, they came across an open field.

"Wait. Don't move."

Geminus's warnings stopped Atlan in his tracks. He looked ahead and saw black lotus flowers growing from the ground.

"This is the Ballistic Lotus. Be careful. Don't get near any of them."

But that was easier said than done. They were in a field of these Ballistic Lotuses with no other way forward. The space in between the lotuses was just barely enough for one leg to pass through.

"Oops." Even though Geminus was the one who warned Atlan to be careful, his leg accidentally brushed past the black Lotus stem.

"Take cover!" Geminus screamed as he ducked and covered his head.

BOOOOOMM

The Ballistic Lotus exploded with a magnitude equivalent to a small dynamite, creating a small crater from where it was.

Its petals flew out and carved through tree bark like it was nothing.

In the aftermath of the explosion, small seeds rained down on the field of black lotuses, which sprouted more Ballistic Lotuses in a matter of seconds.

Geminus peeked out from his cover and heaved a sigh of relief.

"We got really lucky there. It could have started a chain explosion—"

And just as he said that, ten more Black Lotuses exploded in succession. Atlan dodged the black petals raining down on him by weaving his upper body away from their trajectory.

If it weren't for his enhanced physical strength and senses, those petals would have pierced through his body.

After a few seconds, more black seeds rained down on the floor and created more Ballistic Lotuses instantly, further overpopulating the field with these dangerous plants.

I could use my Angel Wings…I'll just have to erase Geminus' memory about it.

But before he could manifest his Angel Wings, Geminus spoke up.

"I'll teach you how to deal with these plants in case you have to traverse through the plains without me."

Geminus ducked down and observed the roots of the Ballistic Lotus.

"The thing with plants like these that seemingly multiply endlessly is that they hide a big secret."

Geminus slowly walked over to the thick crowd of Ballistic Lotuses in the distance. The ground was barely visible with how many black lotuses there were. There must have been hundreds of them in that bush.

If just one of these Ballistic Lotuses exploded, it would create a chain reaction that could potentially destroy the whole field and everything in it, including them.

"The more there are, the harder they're trying to protect something," Geminus muttered under his breath.

He ducked down and clawed the brown soil underneath the first row of Ballistic Lotuses. He dug until he saw the connection of roots underneath the ground.

With one swift move, he took out a potato-like object with thousands of roots connected to it underground.

Using both his hands, he crushed the 'potato' into mush.

And in an instant, thousands of Ballistic Lotuses turned limp and white. In just a few seconds, it lost all its moisture and dried out.

"And that's how you deal with those!" Geminus said with a smile.