The end was within reach.

  They followed an animal path leading towards the light. It bent at odd angles and looped around trees nonsensically as though they were haphazardly drawn into the ground.

  The trees gradually became thinner, as though their exposure to the incandescent light robbed them of their nutrients. Shrubbery, vegetation – any sembnce of greenery was keeled over and withered, like coral that had been left exposed to a toxin.

  Indeed. The scenery leading towards the final apple resembled a desote coral reef, with the trees appearing closer to tall stakes rather than pnts. Skeletons hung from those stakes, with rib cages infested with thorny brambles.

  Not even their marrows were left untouched.

  “Horrible…” Snow faintly uttered. “… They weren’t taken by the Queen of Sweet and Bitter Thorns. Were they left to die up there?”

  It wasn’t just one, two, or ten corpses. Over a hundred existed here, each bearing a faint, golden fruit within the center of the smashed rib cages. More than a dozen could even be found on a single stake, which rose upwards of twenty meters high.

  “For a Corrupted that wants to take over people, it sounds like a waste to let them die.” Red commented. “Maybe it wasn’t satisfied with them. Or… Wait, I think I’ve seen this before.”

  Red drew from the archives of her mind, pulling a book that carried the memories of her past battle with the Queen of Sweet and Bitter Thorns.

  “This must be where it first appeared. I remember a vilge ended up like this. Lots of people hung from stakes like skewers waiting to be cooked. You know, with this whole Trickle talk, the Queen of Sweet and Bitter Thorns was a lot stronger in the past. Just like me. I was uh… a Violet Hailstorm, I think that’s what they called me.”

  “That would expin why this Corrupted Zone is so abnormally rge. But still… You and I only recognized it as a Trickle Corrupted. We heard the Trumpet.”

  Snow went on to expin this further, perhaps as a way to keep her mind off the misery.

  Violet Hailstorm was one of eight Risk Cssifications that were used by the Guilds and the greater part of the world. These were: Green Trickle, Yellow Trickle, Blue Trickle, Red Hailstorm, Violet Hailstorm, Bck Monsoon, White Monsoon and finally – Eternal Night.

  The st was a category of Corrupted that required legendary-cssed Adventurers to sy, including those who called themselves the Incandescent Colors.

  For instance, there was the Red Baron who was known for his indomitable statute and martial arts, or the Green Composer who revolutionized music-based magic.

  Lesser but still widely renowned heroes such as the Bleeding Petal from the Larin Empire could take on a White Monsoon Corrupted.

  But there were no heroes here to help them.

  “Wait till we’re out here. It won’t be long before the world knows of Hatchling Red~!” Red punched the air, already envisioning a future where her name would be written in a book containing legendary heroes.

  “You might want to think about changing your name from Hatchling Red once you reach the level of a Color.” Snow managed to smile.

  “Vengeful Red~ Like my old name wouldn’t be so bad.”

  “Vengeful… A bundle of joy like you isn’t anything I’d call vengeful.”

  “Trust me, I can get pretty fierce! Like you saw! What about you, Snow? If you ever reached those heights, then what would your name be?”

  Snow’s mouth opened but no words were formed. They reached an incline as the terrain went from ft to unstable. It was impossible to keep a stable footing here. After sifting through the soil, Red unearthed the buried remains of what appeared to be a wolf.

  “… Rot…?”

  “Eh? Rot?” Red tilted her head. “As in White Rot?”

  “No... That’s rot. Wolves. The corpses of wolves.”

  It wasn’t just this particur pce either. Red dragged her heels along the soil, upheaving it to reveal empty eye sockets of rotting wolf carcasses.

  “Humans are impaled on stakes. Animals are buried like they’re unwanted… Red. You said you fought it before. What did it want?”

  “I couldn’t tell you. I’d say a killer of wolves is a friend of mine, but they killed innocent people too. And Mister Huntsman. What I remember fighting was bundle of brambles that vaguely resembled a human. Nothing like the reanimated corpses we’ve been fighting.”

  Wolf carcasses sprawled the area.

  Flesh peeled from the bone. They were rotting despite being so freshly sin. Red couldn’t determine when they died exactly, let alone how. Their bodies were so decomposed that any notable wounds were indistinguishable from the rot.

  “Impaling would be my guess.” Red fished her bde into various wolves.

  The slushing sound of wet, sticky meat caused Snow to gag. Despite being fine with seeing human remains, she was surprisingly sensitive when it came to animals. But Red was also affected by it.

  The stench was unbearable. It stung her nose almost immediately. Her eyes watered as she recoiled back.

  “Keh! Gross! Even I wouldn’t eat that! Or… maybe.”

  “Red… Please. Urgh…”

  Once they had stepped back enough for the scent to disappear, they realized that they were standing in front of what appeared to be a small hill…

  No… It was not a hill.

  The space had changed in the mere seconds that they were preoccupied with the wolf carcasses.

  And now, right in front of them, was a mountain of rotting corpses.

  Human corpses. Thony brambles kept them together. They were like a school of fish caught in a net and left to bake in the sun for days. That was both the scenery and the stench that emanated from the mountain.

  And there, above it all, was the golden light of the final Poisoned Apple.

  The faint silhouette of a small sapling held it, like the apple had devoured every ounce of nutrients from its nurturing tree. Then, as if it was not enough, it had devoured the entire forest and countless humans just to satisfy its eternal hunger.

  But Red knew this was not born from hunger.

  It was out of envy of the human vessel.

  “Snow… That light… reminds me of something I saw inside of the cave.” Red whispered.

  She took a step forward, and her boots treaded on melting flesh.

  It bubbled as it sank, stopping only when it reached her ankles.

  It wasn’t a steep climb, and the path was id bare for them to follow as though the Queen of Sweet and Bitter Thorns had rolled out a carpet for them.

  If anything, this mountain of flesh was its throne.

  Red, enamored by the light, continued:

  “The cave was made of flesh. Lava came out from the sides, and there were crying children desperate to be held by their mother.”

  “Brrr!” Rockie nodded.

  “All I know is that you were in the Timeless Ruins. I’m not sure what kind of light would allow that to happen. But the way the world is changing right now is unnatural. It’s as if we’ve stepped into an entirely different world.”

  In a world where there were no stars, that one light appeared like a beacon of salvation.

  But salvation in this world did not mean the same in others.

  They climbed the mountain of corpses. The closer they approached the light, the more defined the shapes of the humans became, as though they were preserved solely to welcome them.

  “… Red. As a Corrupted…”

  “I did. I had to kill people. I was compelled to. It was the only reason I existed.” Red knew what Snow was going to ask. “But I was nothing like this. I… never made anyone suffer. I helped people. Even as a Corrupted. I formed bonds with those Workers. I killed those who colluded with the Fairytales.”

  Expressions remained on those petrified faces. The looks of terror, grief – the suffering… It caused Snow’s mind to wretch. She csped at her heart, unable to bear the weight of this needless suffering.

  “Everywhere we walk, it’s same road to hell… paved by forces beyond our control. It’s same for Corrupted. I never knew that. But still… what purpose is there to do this?”

  Snow trembled. She csped onto the face of a petrified child. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She tried to heal them, evident by the white particles that failed to cling onto the child’s face.

  It bounced off and became one with the darkness overhead.

  “Corrupted… Monsters… The world has every reason to despise them. This… is nothing new. Emvita is hell. But out there, past the forests, the ke, the pins – is a pce where people can live happily ever after. The Nex Megalopolis.”

  The sloshing of meat stopped. Red turned around and saw tears tumbling down Snow’s cheeks. Her grief, and the combined horrors had finally penetrated her seemingly indomitable heart.

  And yet, as Red reached to gently hold her arm with both hands, she could not help but sense a growing rage within Snow.

  It was small. An insignificant spark.

  But even a single spark was enough to start a fire.

  “It’s unfair… Don’t you think, Red? People are subjected to these things beyond their control. Those same forces dictate what we are. Tch. Theron… Never stood a chance…”

  Red tightened her grip. Afterwards, she removed her coat and put it around Snow. Red didn’t have much to say to her. Unlike with Rockie who seemed lost, she didn’t know what to say to someone who had lost someone important.

  But if there was something she did know –

  “Snow. The first step to feeling better is to kill the one who killed Mister Huntsman. Didn’t I tell you? They called me Vengeful Red! Short for the Vengeful Red-Hooded Assassin!”

  She procimed cheerily.

  That smile she wore was ten times as bright as the light of the false star ahead.

  “Listen. If you hate this whole ‘light’ and ‘star’ thing so much, then how about rather than chasing after them or letting them light up your world and tell you where this is, that is, or who you are –”

  She took Snow’s hand, freeing her from the pitfalls of despair.

  Her boots, which had nearly swallowed entirely by the ground were lodged free with ease.

  Snow’s tears glistened as they fell. Her moist eyes reflected the stars that shone in Red’s confident eyes. They were boundless and were not restrained by the same fears as Snow.

  “– Then let’s kill those stars and light up our own path! You with me?”

  “… How… do you… tch… Ahaha… Haaaah. Red.”

  Snow opened her arms.

  She was about to reach for Red and embrace her.

  This time, not because she needed to look after her…

  But because it was what her heart was telling her to do.

  It was the only way it could calm down right now.

  At least she thought so.

  “Eh? Snow?”

  “I’m sorry… Um… I was just…”

  Snow retracted her hands as quickly as she had wrapped them around Red. She looked down at her palms, wondering what had gotten over her.

  “Heh. That means we’ve gotten closer, right!?” Red had no idea what this hug meant.

  < Friends! I Has Gained a Level >

  < Friends! I [7/10] >

  But it must have been something important.

  Syringe