It was unclear whether she even heard Lynn’s words.
“Heehee—heehee—”
In an instant.
Her body swayed slightly, then vanished from Lynn’s sight.
Lynn’s eyes widened in alarm.
Fast!
So fast!
Even faster than when I moved last night!
Is this the true combat form of the Blood-Clad Wraith?!
Damn, that’s badass!
Almost in the blink of an eye, a flicker of crimson light—then, right in front of the monster, a twisted grin stretched across a disturbingly cracked face.
No one had seen how she got there.
“Heeheehee!”
A split second.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Razor-sharp, jet-black claws slashed through the monster’s flesh like giant blades, leaving behind ten terrifying wounds.
Countless frenzied tentacles writhed behind her, launching a flurry of vicious, almost imperceptible attacks on the creature.
Lynn could barely catch a glimpse of a flickering blood-red shadow.
Her grin widened, growing more and more twisted, her gaze filled with crazed delight.
Like a predator locked onto its prey.
Her ten clawed fingers moved in a blur, slashing wildly—blood splattered in every direction as the monster’s body was torn apart.
“Kill! Kill! Kill! Hahaha—heeheehee!”
Her deranged laughter mixed with the relentless assault of her blade-like claws, turning her into a living meat grinder, rendering the monster unrecognizable within moments.
Lynn was in complete awe.
As expected of a ???-rank monster’s combat prowess!
If there was ever a time to shout 666, it was now!
Eyes shining with admiration, Lynn roared:
“Incredible! Absolutely insane! My lady, you are the epitome of badassery!”
“Perfect! That was the most flawless offense I’ve ever seen! Damn! What a move—right in the weak spot!”
“Unbelievable! Unstoppable! My god! Look at those mesmerizing tentacles—straight to the heart! And those claws! Perfect! Sharp! Too damn cool!”
The little one in Lynn’s arms clenched her tiny fists, eyes wide.
“Ora ora ora!”
The sheer energy of the moment was intoxicating.
Lynn didn’t hold back, stacking every praise he could think of and throwing them all out at once.
Whether it made sense or not, every single word of praise was unleashed.
【Blood-Clad Wraith’s favorability +1】
【Blood-Clad Wraith’s favorability +1】
“Threat level of Secondary Target increasing… Initiating secondary countermeasures…”
“Highest-priority target… Primary Target One…”
“Hunting…”
Buzz—
The monster, now mutilated beyond recognition by the Blood-Clad Wraith’s onslaught, suddenly had a strange glow flicker within its enormous pupil.
In the very next moment—
Layers upon layers of thick exoskeleton erupted from its torn flesh, instantly shielding it from the Blood-Clad Wraith’s wild slashes.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew as her claws scraped against the reinforced carapace.
The creature’s shattered vertical pupil suddenly swiveled—contracting sharply.
Its gaze locked onto Lynn.
Buzz—
Lynn felt it immediately—
That same overwhelming curse energy as before!
The cursed gaze!
His excitement froze.
No way!
You’ve been slashed to ribbons, and I’m still your target?!
Just how much do you love me?!
Without hesitation, Lynn clutched the little one tightly and took off running at full speed.
“Madam! I’ll leave this to you! For the sake of your daughter’s health, I’m making a strategic retreat! But don’t worry! I’ll be back to see you soon!”
At that very moment—
The curse was activated.
But at the same time—
The Blood-Clad Wraith’s crazed grin twisted further as she leapt between Lynn and the monster, the massive crack in her face splitting open into a horrifying wail.
Whoosh—
Countless faces, like spectral moths, burst out from the rift, colliding with and negating the cursed gaze.
“Primary Target… Executing highest-priority devouring directive…”
“Priority kill order… Engaging…”
In an instant—
The grotesque monster’s many arms writhed like demons, growing wildly in every direction.
Its massive form charged straight toward Lynn, completely ignoring the Blood-Clad Wraith, moving with the persistence of a leech latched onto flesh.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Enormous hands howled through the air, reaching out to encircle Lynn from all sides.
“You’re fighting me, heeheehee—”
And just as it shifted its attention away from the Blood-Clad Wraith—
Her elongated neck shot forward like a coiling serpent, twisting tightly around its body.
Her deranged, grinning face locked eyes with the monster’s singular pupil.
Whoosh—
The ground beneath them shattered.
Countless barbed tentacles surged upward, spiraling around its legs and rapidly coiling upward like constricting serpents.
In an instant—
A barrage of tendrils exploded outward, intercepting the incoming arms in midair, engaging in a brutal, frenzied struggle.
She abandoned slashes entirely, opting instead to strangle it with raw strength!
“Heeheehee—heeheehee—”
The twisting mass of tentacles writhing around the monster’s body took on the appearance of grinning children’s faces—
Like specters relishing a feast.
The ghostly faces ignored the monster’s armor entirely, sinking their ethereal teeth into its flesh from the inside out.
Yet—
Even as its body was being consumed, the creature moved like an unfeeling machine, its damaged frame still fixated on Lynn’s retreating figure, its limbs creaking and shifting.
“Threat level of Secondary Target escalating… Highest-priority… Primary Target One…”
“Movement restricted… Initiating tertiary countermeasures…”
“Hunting…”
In an instant—
The massive pupil shattered.
Chunks of its fragmented eye fell to the ground like viscous pearls, plopping against the dirt.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Then—
The shards twisted and reformed, transforming into countless normal-sized eyeballs.
Their target remained the same—Lynn!
Lynn whipped his head around, just in time to see—
The scattered eyes flipped over, turning in unison to stare at him, their undersides writhing as they sprouted tendrils—
And then—
They lunged.
Lynn’s face twisted in horror.
“You’ve got to be kidding me?!”
The little one in his arms clenched her fists.
“Ora ora ora!”
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Many of the eyes were torn apart mid-flight by the Blood-Clad Wraith’s flailing tendrils—
But a large number still broke through, swarming toward Lynn.
Lynn skidded to a halt, turned sharply, and gritted his teeth.
There was no escaping this.
If that’s the case…
In an instant—
He reached into his coat and pulled out his demon-hunting revolver, raising it toward the incoming wave of eyeballs.
His expression sharpened, his two spectral eyes glowing as they locked onto each and every target.
Then there was only one choice left.
Time to shoot them down!
Click—
The trigger was pulled.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ding! You have slain an Eyeball Organ x1. Your Firearms Mastery +1.
Ding! You have slain an Eyeball Organ x1. Your Firearms Mastery +1.
Ding! You have slain an Eyeball Organ x1. Your Firearms Mastery +1.
Lynn swiftly snapped his revolver shut.
With the giggling child still clutched in his arms, he retreated rapidly. Right now, he could only fire six shots in succession before needing to wait several agonizing seconds for his ammunition to replenish.
And those seconds were the most dangerous of all.
"More limbs... I need more limbs!"
Lynn fished out a vial of Flesh Proliferation Serum from his coat and downed it in one gulp.
Since he had already mutated beyond recognition, there was no need to care how many more grotesque appendages would sprout from his body.
Immediately, the blood drained by the Faceless Heart was replenished at an accelerated rate. At the same time, the four severed tentacles from before began to wriggle and grow once again, fed by the serum’s potent effects.
Then, the system prompts rang out in his ears:
Ding! Your body has undergone a Level 1 mutation!
Ding! Your body has undergone a Level 1 mutation!
Ding! Your body has undergone a Level 2 mutation!
A wet, slithering sound filled the air.
From Lynn’s body, fresh tendrils of flesh burst forth with unsettling vigor, twisting and coiling like ravenous serpents. Compared to the monstrous, city-block-long tentacles of the Blood-Clad Wraith, his were far more compact—almost... cute.
Lynn spun around abruptly, securing the grinning child onto one of his tendrils like a bizarre, living sling. His face instantly turned serious.
A gun in one hand.
A blade in the other.
His newly regrown serrated tendrils snapped to attention, pointing at the approaching wave of writhing, pulsating eyeballs.
His gaze sharpened.
With a roar of gunfire, Lynn strode forward, cutting through the sea of twitching orbs. The boning knife in his grip sliced through ten, twenty, thirty eyeballs at once, their gelatinous insides bursting in a shower of vitreous fluid.
Meanwhile, his tentacles moved independently, impaling and popping the squirming eyeballs like grotesque balloons.
Ding! Combat Experience +1.
Ding! Combat Experience +1.
Ding! Combat Experience +1.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each bullet found its mark, blasting through pupils and shattering corneas.
Thanks to the Eldritch Sight, his marksmanship—though still lacking—was vastly enhanced by supernatural targeting.
Besides…
Against these fodder creatures, this was the perfect grinding opportunity.
With a wet squelch, his blade swept across another cluster of eyeballs, splitting them cleanly in two.
Ding! Combat Experience +1.
Ding! Combat Experience +1.
"Ora ora ora!"
The child—dangling gleefully from Lynn’s tendril—waved its tiny arms in the air, laughing wildly.
At some point, the child had managed to grab hold of an eyeball. Without hesitation, it bit into the gelatinous mass like a crisp apple, releasing a sickening squelch.
Before long, the tide of roving, twitching eyeballs was completely decimated under Lynn’s relentless assault.
From above, the Blood-Clad Wraith, still engaged in a frenzied aerial battle, turned to glance at him.
With half of her face contorted into a manic grin, she cackled with approval.
"Look at you, boy! Getting bolder, aren't you?"
Lynn bisected another eyeball with a swift slash, then flashed a grin, his teeth gleaming ominously.
"Eh, small fry like these don't scare me."
The tide of battle was shifting in their favor.
The weaker eyeball creatures were helpless against him.
And the main entity—a grotesque, towering meat-puppet abomination—was being firmly suppressed by the Blood-Clad Wraith.
At least… that’s how it appeared.
Time marched forward.
Lynn, panting slightly, wiped some gore off his face and shouted toward the sky:
"Lady! How's your side of things?!"
The mass of wriggling, ensnaring tendrils wrapped around the meat-puppet tightened. Blood seeped from the gaps in the entangled mass.
From within, the Blood-Clad Wraith's gleeful, deranged voice echoed:
"Hehehe~! I'm burrowing into its core! These flesh-puppets always have a weak spot—take out the core, and it's nothing but a pile of rotting meat!"
Deep inside the twisting, writhing mass, something pierced forward—a barbed, black spike, writhing with malicious energy.
Little by little, it wormed its way deeper, searching, probing—until…
Contact.
A manic grin spread across the Blood-Clad Wraith’s half-formed face.
The barbed spike shifted, morphing into a taloned hand.
Its claws pressed into the pulsating, beating core of the abomination.
Shhk.
Her fingernails sank into the meat.
And then…
A cold, mechanical voice rumbled from deep within the creature’s core:
"Second target analyzed... Generating countermeasures..."
"Countermeasures for Eldritch Entity initiated..."
"Curse Dispelling Protocol activated..."
"Adjusting highest-priority target... Designation: Subject #2."
"Executing Maximum Termination Directive..."
"Commencing simultaneous Predation, Countermeasures, and Deconstruction..."
A wave of pure, primal dread surged through the Blood-Clad Wraith.
And then—
From within the mass of tendrils, something began to shift.
Lynn's eyes widened in alarm.
Something’s wrong.
Suddenly—
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!
Hands.
Countless human hands erupted from inside the Blood-Clad Wraith’s tendrils, clawing their way out like drowned corpses dragging themselves from the abyss.
The hands latched onto the ensnaring tendrils, forming a reverse containment web—trapping the Blood-Clad Wraith within its own bindings.
Lynn's chest tightened.
No…
Had the meat-puppet abomination been stalling for time this whole fight—just to analyze and counter the Blood-Clad Wraith?!
Had it been adapting all along?!
"Shit!"
Lynn lunged forward. His breath hitched.
But it was already too late.
From within the web of grasping hands, the sickening sound of flesh grinding, twisting, being devoured filled the air.
The tendrils sprouting from the ground convulsed wildly, as if something was tearing her apart from the inside.
A shrill, agonized scream split the air.
And then—
From the nearest tendril, a new Blood-Clad Wraith emerged.
Only… something was wrong.
Her flesh was bubbling, warping, sprouting countless miniature hands—as though something inside was devouring her, mutating her from within.
She let out a shuddering, manic giggle.
"Hah... Haha... I was wrong… hehehe…"
"It wasn’t afraid of me… It never was… It just… didn't see me as a threat at all… Hehehe…"
And as she laughed, she was torn apart from within.
"As I devour it… it is also… analyzing me…"
"Hee hee hee… this is really not an easy opponent to deal with. Hee hee…"
Crash—
Amidst that manic, sickly laughter, the blood-clad wraith, twisted into form by writhing tentacles, was instantly devoured from within by countless tiny arms.
It disintegrated into a wriggling mass of flesh, resembling a swarm of maggots.
"Madam!"
Lynn dashed forward in urgency.
"Hunt… devour… generate… deconstruct the curse… absorb… assimilate…"
In an instant, before Lynn’s stunned gaze, a massive, blood-drenched tentacle burst forth from the ground, blocking his path.
Crack—
The tip of the monstrous appendage suddenly split open, revealing rows of razor-sharp barbs. At the same time, countless vertical eyes snapped open across its grotesque surface.
【Warning! Crisis level rising rapidly!】
【Warning! Current crisis level: 70】
【Warning! Current crisis level: 87】
This wasn’t the blood-clad wraith’s tentacle.
It was something that had already been assimilated—
The very flesh of that monstrous entity!
"Retrieving highest priority command… Analyzing Target No. 1… Analyzing Target No. 2…"
"Target adjustment delayed… Highest priority: eliminate… Target No. 1…"
And at the very moment that voice echoed, the massive tentacle lunged toward Lynn with terrifying force.
But just as it was about to strike him, two identical tentacles suddenly erupted from the ground with a loud crash, tightly coiling around the attacking appendage.
"Go!"
A twisted, rasping voice burst from within the monstrous entity.
It was the blood-clad wraith!
She wasn’t dead!
She was still fighting inside that creature!
"Madam!" Lynn shouted.
But before he could react—
Boom!
The tentacle controlled by the wraith slammed into him with immense force.
His pupils dilated.
His body was sent flying, hurtling through the darkness of the distant street.
Layers of thick black mist swallowed his vision.
His outstretched hand grasped at nothing.
The world blurred, pulled further and further away.
The only sound left in his ears was the howling wind.
Thud—
Lynn hit the ground hard.
He scrambled to his feet, breathing heavily.
How did this happen?!
Everything was under control—how did it suddenly spiral into this?!
Without hesitation, he gritted his teeth and sprinted back toward the battlefield.
But then—
He stopped.
"No!"
His head snapped up.
He knew.
If even the blood-clad wraith was struggling against that thing, he was charging straight to his death.
But was he supposed to turn and run now?
To flee like a coward and wait for an opportunity for revenge?
"Like hell I will!"
Clenching his jaw, Lynn bolted forward again—but not toward the fight.
Instead, he swerved into his apothecary, rushed straight to the backroom, and tore through his hidden stash.
The next moment, he grabbed every last vial of his Flesh Growth Elixir.
"If she can hold on, there’s still a way to save her!"
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly froze.
A thought struck him like lightning.
Spinning around, he dashed to the cellar entrance, breathing hard.
"Right! That thing—Teacher’s pet! It can help!"
Clang!
Lynn yanked open the heavy cellar door.
A wave of putrid stench rolled out.
"Hey!"
Teeth clenched, he shouted into the darkness:
"I know you’re faking dead! I also know you hate my guts for feeding you expired potions every damn day—but this is an emergency! I don’t care what the hell you are, I need your help!"
"Teacher is in danger! That monster came straight for us—if I die, you’re next! You’re part of Bloodsaw Apothecary too, aren’t you?!"
"Hey! Do you hear me?!"
Lynn bellowed and hurled a few rocks into the darkness.
【Ding! Tiny Darling’s favorability -1】
【Ding! Tiny Darling’s favorability -1】
Hissss—
A serpentine, menacing sound slithered from the depths of the cellar.
Then—
Whoosh!
A massive, writhing shadow shot up, engulfing Lynn in its presence.
His eyes widened in shock.
"This is…?"
【Tiny Darling】
【Level】: ???
【Faction】: Lawful Evil
【Species】: ???
【Combat Ability】: ???
【Description】: A… tongue, lurking beneath the Bloodsaw Apothecary. It appears to be a severed part of some unknown entity, willingly kept as a pet for reasons unclear. It utterly despises expired potions—and the human brat who has force-fed them to it for two years…
"Tiny… Darling?" Lynn murmured.
Hisssss—
The enormous tongue loomed over him, its tip splitting open to reveal another, identical tongue inside—within which, yet another tongue slithered endlessly.
A grotesque, surreal sight.
It glared down at Lynn.
And somehow—Lynn understood exactly what its hissing meant.
"Hissss (fuck you)——"
Lynn: (艹皿艹)
He grabbed its slimy surface and yanked.
"Say that again?!"
"Hissss (fuck your mother)——"
Lynn gritted his teeth, (艹皿艹), and pulled harder.
"Fine! Curse me all you want, but my friend is out there fighting that monster, and I’m telling you—it’s coming for us!"
"You’re ugly and a coward, but you’re still part of Bloodsaw! I raised you with my own hands!"
"Think about it! If my friend dies, and I die—who’s next?!"
"That’s right! You, you ugly, cowardly, oversized tongue!"
Lynn roared.
【Ding! Tiny Darling’s favorability -10】
【Ding! Tiny Darling’s favorability -10】
"Hissss (eat shit)——"
"……"
"……"
Lynn (艹皿艹) tightened his grip.
"It wasn’t shit! It was medicine! Expired, sure, but still legitimate medicine!"
"Hissss, hissss (you eat it, it’s still shit)——"
Lynn, furious (〃′皿`)q, clenched the tongue harder.
"Fine! If you come with me, I’ll feed you top-grade potions every day for the next two months! The kind that’ll make you feel amazing! How about that?!"
Silence.
Then—
"Hissss (deal)——"
【Ding! Tiny Darling’s favorability +0.001】
The enormous, serpentine tongue instantly slithered forward, unfurling from the depths.
In the blink of an eye, it coiled around Lynn and shot toward the battlefield.
—
Street.
In less than five seconds, Lynn and Tiny Darling were back at the scene.
And the sight before him sent a chill down his spine.
The entire street was unrecognizable—shattered ground, remnants of battle everywhere.
At its center, the monstrous entity—wrapped in countless writhing arms—was pulsing and swelling.
"Total assimilation progress… 54%… 55%…"
"Target No. 1 detected… Highest priority elimination… Switching targets…"
Whoosh!
In an instant, massive tentacles covered in glaring vertical eyes burst from the ground.
Tiny Darling: "!!!"
It immediately turned—
To flee.
"Three months!!" Lynn (艹皿艹) grabbed its tip and yanked.
"Rescue my friend, and I’ll give you high-grade potions every single day for three months!
【Ding! Tiny Darling’s favorability +0.01】
"Hissss (deal)——"