The duo marched onwards without the Huntsman.
His clothes were kept inside of Snow’s Dimensional Storage so that he could be buried outside of the Corrupted Zone.
Their progress had increased now that they had nothing slowing them down.
< 40 Poisoned Apples scour the Forest of Everlasting Envy >
< Punch I Has Gained a Level >
< Punch I Has Gained a Level >
< Punch I Has Gained a Level >
10 were taken down in a single day. Tracking them down was mindless work now that they had revealed themselves thanks to them broadcasting their light through the forest.
The cycle of hunt, kill, eat and rest was endless.
< 30 Poisoned Apples scour the Forest of Everlasting Envy >
< Punch I Has Gained a Level >
< Punch I Has Gained a Level >
< Punch I Has Gained a Level >
And through it, Red honed [Punch] since [Huntress’ Slash] wouldn’t level up. However, into the fifteenth day, she finally gained one last level in [Huntress’ Slash] after accidentally slashing a regular tree to reach the heart of a Sweet Thorn.
< Huntress’ Slash II Has Gained a Level >
< Huntress’ Slash II Has Become Huntress’ Slash III >
< (O) Huntress’ Slash III >
< Follow the bloody trail and deliver a guaranteed Critical Strike when using bladed weaponry. The bloody trail will extend to five unique entities. When total number of enemies outnumber this by 2x then you may follow the bloody mist. AGI is increased by 25% while within the bloody Mist. Inflict Bleeding Stacks and the Bleeding Condition >
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“YEAAAAAAAH! HUNTRESS’ SLASH! YES!” Red celebrated with a triumphant cry.
Her baby, her one and only [Huntress’ Slash] had three big ‘I’s next to it. As much as she wondered why an ‘I’ denoted 10, she figured that it was probably because Agate was too lazy to add the extra zero.
“Like true Blessed. A single level up calls for celebration, hm.”
“This isn’t just any level up! This is the level up! Hatchling Red gets closer to her old strength with each passing day! Hahahahaha!”
“Haha…? By old strength, I’m guessing you mean your ‘Corrupted’ self?”
Red nodded like a trap door with a broken hinge.
“Yup! They called me the Vengeful Red-Hooded Assassin! The best of the best! Violet Hailstorm by the way!”
“… I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that last part.” Snow gulped, knowing well just how powerful a Corrupted at that level was.
For comparison, a Trickle Corrupted was considered strong enough to cause minor or major harm to a village at most. Many of these Corrupted were not even deadly at all, which made the Queen of Sweet and Bitter Thorns an enigma.
As for Hailstorm Corrupted – this was the next stage after Trickle and was capable of levelling villages and causes mass destruction in a fortified town.
The death of the Sweet Thorn banished the Bitter Thorns. As their bodies decayed around them, Snow couldn’t help but to wonder what level Red was.
“Uhm… Three. No four… Wait, why am I counting on my hands? Status thing! Agate! Show me the blue light!”
Hatchling Red
LEVEL : 52
< ACTIVE SKILLS >
(O) Huntress’ Slash III [0/10]
(O) Punch I [8/10]
(S) Friends! I [6/10]
(E) Appraise Object [8/10]
“Level 52!” Red held out a hand with five fingers spread out and another with two pointing upwards.
“Haven’t you experienced your first Profession Milestone? I’m assuming you have over 25 levels in a Profession by now.”
She was right. Red nearly had 50 levels in the Huntress Profession.
(O) OFFENSIVE
HUNTRESS: 48
Red was just as confused as her. Agate had told her that every 50 levels she gained was a Milestone. And yet here Snow was telling her that it was half of that.
“Total Levels are for major Milestones. Once you hit Level 50 then you’ll reach the First Milestone.” Snow explained.
“Huuuuh!? But aren’t I–!?”
“Uuuup! No, Red.” Snow pointed into the darkness above the skies again. “No Nexus, no Milestone.”
“I MISSED IT–!?”
This time, Snow cupped Red’s mouth with the palm of her hand to shut her up.
Her kind, motherly smile remained.
She’s surprisingly agile. Was her hand in my blind spot?
“As long as you’re in view of the Nexus, then it’ll retroactively grant what you missed. As for your Profession Milestones – that’s what I’m more confused about. Then again, you do get stories about people not receiving anything until the First Milestone.”
“Shwow Imw pwactawy undwapwowawd? (So I’m practically underpowered?).
“That’s the Law of the Nexus.” Snow sighed, removing her mouth. “Ugh… Ahaha…”
“I licked it clean! No more wasting mana with [Cleanse]!”
She wiped her saliva-ridden hand on her garbs.
“So, how do you know about it if you’re only Level 25?”
“I had friends who knew.”
Snow sighed, pinching Red’s cheek.
“Oh!? Where are they now!?”
Suddenly, a wave of palpable sadness washed over her.
“I like to think they’re up there in the Nexus too.”
* * *
< 20 Poisoned Apples scour the Forest of Everlasting Envy >
On the sixteenth day, they reached the last twenty Poisoned Apples.
The end was in sight now. Bitter Thorns no longer had high enough DEF stats to resist Red’s blade with her whopping 660 ATT.
The terrain shifted from a spacious landscape to land riddled with gigantic karst, making navigation difficult. The sheer number of dark, rocky outcrops concealed the light of the Sweet Thorns, requiring them to scale along the edge of 50-meter chasms, and hop over precarious gaps.
The land eventually flattened out in this elevated place. Red imagined that they were on some sort of tabletop in the middle of the forest, but gazing out into the darkness revealed nothing but a sea of black.
It was as though the forests and marshlands they trekked did not exist and was merely part of a sixteen-day hallucination.
“Annoying. How deep is it now?”
Red hurled a small stone down the ledge where they climbed from. The darkness ended just about where the ground was estimated to be, and yet, the stone never made a sound.
“Endless. Trickle, the Blessing believes. I wonder what the Augurists will think. If it’s one Trumpet then I don’t know if I can believe anything again.” Snow murmured.
It kept on going, and going until eventually, Red’s attention span wore out, and she was already searching for the next interesting thing.
“Watch your step Snow~! Unless, how about I carry you?”
“I’m still bigger than you by about another full head.” Snow giggled. “If anything, I feel like I should be the one carrying you. You’ve been doing everything for me.”
“It’s cause I like you!” Red smiled innocently.
The attack caused Snow to gasp. Just as she was about to say something–
“Huh!?”
“SNOW! WATCH YOUR STEP!”
–Snow slipped on a loose stone. It flipped her on her back. She dangled off the side of the cliff, her ankle held on by the little Red above.
“I WARNED YOU DIDN’T I!?”
“I’m… sorry…”
“DON’T GET FLUSTERED BECAUSE I SAID I LIKE YOU! WHAT, IS THERE A VERSION OF ‘LIKE’ I DON’T KNOW ABOUT!?”
Snow should have known better than to believe that Red meant the other version of like.
“… I feel like an idiot…”
Yet despite this, her cheeks wouldn’t stop burning.
* * *
After an hour of traversing through deadly gaps, the two noticed a wall of trees in the distance.
“Finally! We’re getting somewhere!” Red exclaimed.
“Another forest? I’m starting to get sick of it. Haaaah.” Snow deflated. “Anything but another forest.”
Then, as the two were crossing over a large gap, the sound of explosions ripped through the forest ahead.
“What was that!?” Red cried.
She squinted and noticed bright red streaks of light illuminating the forest.
Dozens moved from one end to the other–
–And accompanying them was the ever-familiar roar of a firearm.
“They’re here already.” Snow began.
“Who? You know them?”
“People who deal with the Corrupted. Those people are…”
Snow’s face went pale as though her blood had just been drained from her body.
“… Scarlet Logic. Their Fodders are here.”
14 Chapters ahead over on the
Discord! We have cute Vengeful Red emotes!
