“What… does that mean? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?”

“LEAVE THE HEALER ALONE!” A man slapped the woman away. “She’s just as clueless as we are! You know the Corrupted! How can you expect a Healer to know how a Corrupted thinks or behaves when they defy all reason!?”

Snow dug into her diary. After reading a few short lines, she embraced it and announced:

“But! It’s only a Trickle Corrupted! We can still get out of here! Its Corrupted Zone should not be strong enough to trap us!”

“Then what are we waiting for!?”

“If that’s the case, then there’s no difference from waiting or leaving. We’ll go! NOW!” The Huntsman announced. “RED! On my signal! You’re fast enough to reach us before the horses enter full speed!”

Red nodded, flourishing her blade before resuming her hunt. By now over a hundred had broken through the tree lines, and hundreds more marched behind them. She dove straight into an opening created by Rockie, activating [Huntress’ Slash].

This time, to her shock, her instincts told her to strike the vitals of one of the nearest Bitter Thorn.

“Help… me… Please…”

The plead of a woman caused her blade to stop just at the throat of a Bitter Thorn.

“You’re alive…?” Red could not process this, nor could she bring herself to kill another human.

She retreated instead, avoiding various spines that arose from the earth, attempting to entangle her like what it did to the humans that were puppeted before her. In her split second of weakness, a single thorn lacerated the side of her waist.

Sweet Thorn

LEVEL : 5

ATTRIBUTE: Obsession

ORIGIN : Trauma HP : 100

ATT : 10

MAG ATT : 0

AGI : 8

They were slow, weak, pitiful and easy to kill.

But they were living humans.

Just like Red.

How could a human take the life of another? It was absurd to her. Humans were perfect beings in her mind. This hesitation caused yet another bramble to sneak up on her, resulting in a second attack that cut her thigh.

“Tch… I don’t believe it. How low do you have to be to use humans as shields!? I’ll get you out of there! And I’ll hunt every single one of you Thorns down if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do!” Red promised, shifting gears as she focused on the brambles of the Sweet Thorns.

Just like the Envious Brambles, they were easy to cut. Black blood squirted from the hollow brambles with each blinding flash of red light. Her blade’s tip grew red as her emotions heightened, further increasing her blade’s power until she was able to cut even through the Bitter Thorns.

“REEEEEEEED! GET READY TO RUN!” The Huntsman called out at the top of his lungs as the roar of horses marked their escape.

Red had one chance to save at least one person.

She dragged one of the Sweet Thorns with her, swiftly cleaning off the brambles as she carried them on her back. Their arms flopped over her shoulders as she felt their cold, clammy body shiver behind her.

“ROCKIE! HURRY UP!” She cried. Rockie folded itself into a giant ball and began chasing down the wagon. “I got you! It’ll be alright! I’ll come back and save the rest of your friends! I promise! Cause that’s what humans do! Snow can save you!”

Snow held out a hand, preparing to grab Red’s hand as she approached.

She was only just meters away.

Suddenly, the hope in Snow’s eyes turned to despair.

“Snow…?”

“WATCH OUT RED!”

The hands that hung over her body suddenly constricted her. In the next instant, she felt a chunk of her shoulder disappear. Her legs slowed, and Snow’s outstretched hand eventually disappeared into the darkness alongside the wagon.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!”

Her words were unclear like an underwater shout.

Something was tampering with Red’s cognition.

//////// < WARNING > ////////

< The Queen of Sweet and Bitter Thorns’ Poison Begins Its Infection >

< Its Brambles Scour the Forest For the Most Perfect >

There was one thing Red had forgotten.

The status of the Sweet Thorn was just that.

They were a Sweet Thorn.

She had never received the stats of a human.

Therefore, they were not human to begin with despite their appearance.

Indeed, the reason why she had lost a part of her shoulder, and why she was suddenly constricted was because of the Sweet Thorn she had mistakenly believed to be human.

It was a mistake governed by emotion rather than rationality; the enemy of a huntress.

And she paid the ultimate price for her lapse of judgement.

“I… Just wanted to save another person… another human…”

Red lamented, dropping to her knees.

She could no longer feel her body.

All it took was a single cut to be brought down.

The Sweet Thorn clumsily attempted to turn Red’s body over as she felt, wanting to see her face.

“Help me…”

“Save me…”

“… I want to live…”

“… Is this apple tasty?”

It spoke as it clambered onto her. Since its legs and arms were made of branches, its movements were stiff. Both arms impaled the ground beside Red’s head as it reeled its upper body back.

A jagged thorn emerged from its mouth, preparing to impale Red’s face.

There was nothing Red could do anymore. Her fingers twitched but she could not muster enough strength or will to fend for herself. Still, she remained defiant until her last breath.

Just then, a tiny bark caused her eyes to widen.

“Three Paw…?”

The tiny wolf lunged at the Sweet Thorn, knocking it off Red.

“Why are you… still here? The wagon… Hurry and get back to the wagon…!”

It approached Red’s face, staring at her pitiful form.

“… So you’re gonna eat me now? I knew it. You’re just like every other wolf…”

It licked her face. She expected its teeth to sink into her flesh.

But it just sat there, comforting her as Rockie stormed the battlefield, trying to keep the swarm away from her. She figured that they had no interest in it solely because it was a Rock Bug.

“Most perfect… Are they talking about humans…?”

Sweet Thorn

< Observation Level 1 >

< The result of ‘Perfect’ beings caught by the Envious Brambles. Perfect beings are able to resist the transformation into a Bitter Thorn. The beings within the brambles are considered imperfect apples >

“Apples…? Just like what I saw earlier.” Red saw an apple exit the mouth of the Sweet Thorn beside her. “Are you… also trying to become human too…?”

Red’s words could not reach them.

These entities were Corrupted – the same kind of thing Red once was.

A mindless being hellbent on a purpose only they could understand.

Rockie could not reach Red any longer. The swarm came like a tidal wave, erasing the burning homes of the village she wished she could have continued to call home.

It was all taken away in an instant.

All that happiness disappearing like the grains of an hourglass.

Three Paw tried to comfort her.

“… there are a million wolves out there, but there was just one that killed my grandmother.” Red uttered, her mind hazy from the poison. “But maybe out of a million more… there could be one that would’ve licked her hand like a good pup. You got left behind again, huh.”

Three Paw whimpered.

“At least you got someone to stick by you to the very end. Celebrate that. Just don’t come back as a Corrupted if you die… But that won’t happen. Just run… you runt. I’m not going to die here… I’m not –!”

A thorn suddenly impaled her chest from beneath the ground.

“… Going to die…?”

Three Paw was swept away by the swarm of Corrupted. Its fate was left in the hands of the world. A sudden prompt appeared before her eyes, causing her to sigh one last time.

< Bond Level with Three Paw has risen >

< Fellowship >

< Three Paw | Lvl: 10 >

* * *

//////// < WARNING > ////////

< The Queen of Sweet and Bitter Thorns’ Poison Has Taken Effect >

These words appeared before the eyes of Red.

Ragged breaths were taken through pierced lungs. A horrible croak left her bleeding lips as she desperately gasped for air. No words could leave her lips.

There was so little she knew to begin with aside from the hatred she bared.

“… live… wake up… and die now…?”

Her broken words were accompanied by the pain that spread through her body.

A living root grew from the side of her, reaching for the moonlit skies like a hand. Tendrils spread across her body like poisoned veins, hardening as they gorged on her flesh.

< Your Body Corrodes >

< The Bitter Thorns Are Envious >

For the first time she experienced unimaginable pain.

Her memories of hunting creatures like herself reminded her that this fate was inevitable. Her red-hooded cloak became saturated with blood as she stared at the moon with fading eyes.

“… I… have to kill the White Wolf… who ate grandma…”

Only nonsensical words could leave her lips.

“… the monsters… that hurt people… that make them sleep forever…”

The girl’s aspirations had hit a dead end.

And she aspirated on them in her last moments, hearing a phantom howl and the sound of distant explosions. The dead trees of the woodlands shivered. The leaves never sat still to mourn her.

Once again, she’d be sent into the darkness of the void.

All alone to be left suspended in a sea of emotional torment for no reason of her own.

“I… was born as a monster… but I helped people… I thought good people… don’t die… is it because I’m a monster…?”

Soon, the growing thorn blocked the light of the moon as it bared a purple fruit.

An apple hung at the top, made from the fluids it had stolen from her.

It was different from the golden apples.

Death’s call neared; their scythe held against her throat.

The end was near.

But even so, her heart had not yet been vanquished. Vengeance: a blazing wrath replaced all fleeting sensation as she marked the Corrupted entity – the Queen of Sweet and Bitter Thorns – for elimination.

Indeed.

She remembered exactly what this entity was.

Before she was plunged into that sea of darkness, a message suddenly appeared:

//////// < CAUTION > ////////

< You Have Accumulated 1 Nemesis Token Against the Queen of Sweet and Bitter Thorns >