Chapter 241: Main Characters... Assemble [IV]

—THAADAM!!

A bone-rattling sound rumbled through the woods, followed by a series of ground-shaking tremors.

It felt like a small meteor had struck the earth not too far from us.

We nearly lost our balance.

The trees shook violently, giant leaves raining down from above.

The massive insects around us started chittering wildly — some even crawled out from underground and skittered around in full-blown panic.

It was as if the entire world had suddenly started trembling.

Then, after a few seconds, the earthquakes finally stopped.

Lily froze and turned to me with wide eyes.

The next words out of her mouth just had to be, "What was that? We should probably check it out."

’Why you, dumbass?! Why in the name of all heavens would we willingly walk toward the suspicious noise in the middle of a nightmarish forest?’

— is what I wanted to ask her.

I mean, honestly, it was like these main characters had zero survival instinct!

Like every horror movie idiot that dies in the first five minutes, they just

had

to act brave and go investigate the ominous thump in the woods.

As if death was just some optional side quest they could flirt with.

Because if they don’t do that... how else would the plot move forward?

I swear to god.

But then again, if there really was something that loud in the middle of this cursed forest... then the chances were that we’d find other main characters if we followed it.

I let out a long, broken sigh that could’ve easily been mistaken for a sob.

There was nothing more frustrating in the world than getting stuck in an arc clearly meant for the heroes.

But of course, I didn’t voice any of those complaints.

I just smiled politely. "Sure, Lily. Let’s go investigate the sound of doom. Maybe it’s a friendly bear monster tap-dancing on landmines."

Lily rolled her eyes and started walking without waiting for me, leading the way.

I muttered a few heartfelt curses under my breath and followed her.

We headed northwest, deeper into the woods.

The pitch-black trees grew older, thicker, and even taller — like the decaying bones of some long-dead god.

Vines hung like nooses, the grass rose to our waists, and twisted roots crawled across the ground like veins under diseased skin.

We walked on high alert for the next twenty, maybe twenty-five minutes.

Only the sound of our boots crunching on dead leaves and the occasional branches snapping underfoot filled the air.

Eventually, the ground sloped upward, and we found ourselves climbing a small hill hidden in roots and rotting undergrowth.

I pushed a branch aside... and stopped in my tracks.

So did Lily.

We stood at the edge of a high ledge, staring down into a steep, hollow chasm below.

And what we saw chilled me to the bone.

A wide canyon stretched out before us like a deep fissure in the earth’s surface. But it wasn’t empty.

It was

infested

.

Infested with hundreds of hulking Spirit Beasts, each one at least eight feet tall.

Their grotesque bodies seemed to be made entirely of wood and shaped like monstrous crabs with tall, vertical torsos covered in dry moss and curling red leaves.

They... they looked like

trees

.

Living, moving, very angry trees.

Their torsos — or

trunks

— were sheathed in bark-like armor, blackened and split in places, with sharp spikes jutting out of their backs.

They had four to five legs, each looking like hardened roots. And in place of hands — or

branches

, in this case — they had pincers the size of horse carts.

Their wooden faces were twisted and stretched into cruel grins, with sharp teeth lining their gaping maws.

And deep within their hollow eye sockets, something dim and hateful glowed. Like dying embers that refused to go out.

The canyon was lush and had a thin stream of river flowing through it in the middle.

At the far end, there was a single giant tree that dwarfed all others in comparison — both much taller and seemingly older than anything I’d ever seen in this forest until now.

Its trunk was as wide as a house, gnarled and grey like weathered bone, and its roots spread across half the canyon floor like a spiderweb.

Its massive branches stretched so high and wide, they cast long shadows under the red moonlight.

And right beneath it, a humanoid

thing

made out of vines and roots was sitting on a wooden throne.

Although shaped like a human, that thing looked

much

taller than any person even in a seated position. Its limbs were too long. Its ribcage too narrow.

Vines coiled around its arms like muscles, and leaves bloomed where its joints bent.

Moreover, the wooden throne beneath it wasn’t carved — it was

grown

. Grown

around

it.

As if the forest itself had birthed a king...

Its face was featureless, two glowing white flowers for eyes. It had a jagged slit where a mouth might be, and from that dark opening, glowing green mist slowly drifted out and curled into the air... like that thing was breathing.

Above its brow, a crown of thorny branches curved upward, dripping sap that looked far too much like blood.

That beast...

Just looking at it chilled me to the core.

It was strong.

Maybe not as strong as the

Solbraith

Cyclops, but still strong enough to pose a serious threat.

My every instinct told me to run.

Run away from here and don’t look back.

But we couldn’t do that.

Because... while the scene before us was already disturbing, I hadn’t gotten to the most terrifying part yet.

You see, that giant tree I told you about?

Yeah.

Its roots, each one as thick as a grown man’s thigh, slithered in and out of the soil like living things. And trapped under some of them... were people.

Cadets!

Side-characters that were mis-teleported here with us.

They were shackled to the ground by those massive roots that twisted around their arms and legs and torsos.

They were shaking. A few were twitching.

And one of them had a small tree growing from his chest — an actual sapling blooming from his sternum!

I felt the color drain from my face.

The realization hit like a punch to the gut.

These tree-crab things...

These monsters...

They weren’t killing them.

They were

breeding

them.

And not with them.

In

them.

They were laying eggs inside living flesh.

Turning people into... into

gardens

.

And not just people. I could see other types of Spirit Beasts trapped there too. Roots piercing through chitin and fur alike.

But the majority were our fellow Cadets — around seven of them.

Most of them were still alive and breathing.

...And slowly being hollowed out.

I saw one of the tree monsters click its pincers and plunge a needle-thin root into the side of a young man.

We watched in horror as the boy screamed in burning agony and his belly began to swell.

In the next moment, a sapling popped out of his sternum as well.

But like all the others, the boy didn’t die.

It looked like he couldn’t even scream.

He was

paralyzed

, forced to witness the horror being inflicted upon himself as fresh roots began to twist and burrow inside his body — slithering beneath his skin like blind worms hunting for marrow.

I didn’t even realize Lily had stopped breathing next to me.

My mouth was dry as well.

"Okay," I said, drawing in a deep breath. "Let’s get the fuck out of here now, please and thank you."

I moved a step back, but Lily caught my arm.

"We can still save them," she said.

I blinked at her. "Are you crazy?! Look at them, they’re being used like fertilized soil! They have nothing left to be saved."

"Not them," she shook her head, then pointed somewhere at the distance with her chin. "I mean those two."

I followed her gaze.

Across the canyon, just past a fallen log and trapped under a nest of tangled roots, were two figures.

They were still unharmed.

...At least, for now.

One was a white-haired young woman, tall and lithe and beautiful in the way a sharp blade is beautiful.

Despite the deathly situation she was in, she was so calm that you’d question whether her mental state was alright.

(It wasn’t)

.

The other was a petite, noble-looking girl, with a doll-like face that’d make you want to protect her on sight.

This one was currently unconscious, looking every bit a sleeping princess from old fairy tales.

They were, of course, Juliana Vox Blade and Alexia Von Zynx.

...Also, I know it wasn’t important right now, but I must tell you that they were wearing nothing but brassieres and skirts made of leaves.

Yes, like I said. Not important. Just felt like I should mention it.