Chapter 106 ‒ Ash and Lavender
Chapter 106 ‒ Ash and Lavender
Tyler lunged forward, his blades flashing in a blur, trying to push Frank back rather than slice. Each parry felt heavier than the last — Frank’s corrupted arms swung with monstrous force, the bark-like skin creaking as vines whipped from his elbows.
“Anne! I can’t hold him much longer!” Tyler shouted, sweat dripping beneath his helmet.
Anne’s eyes shone with panic and grief. She darted forward but hesitated, her shovel trembling in her hands.
“So? Are you going to kill him?!” she screamed, voice breaking.
Tyler hesitated mid-swing. “No! I’m just trying to subdue him, but Frank is—”
Anne’s gaze darted to her father, then to Tyler’s blades. Her lips pressed into a thin line, her hands white-knuckled around the shovel handle.
“Doctor Frank! And don’t you dare hurt him! He’s still my father!”
“Doctor Frank! Doctor Frank!” Tyler corrected quickly, trying to defuse her rage even as he struggled.
Anne’s face twisted in rage and sorrow. “Shut up and use that ink skill again!”
Tyler staggered backward, slipping a hand up.
[Activated Skill: Ink Cloud]
A dark mist spread across the grove, swirling around Frank’s towering figure. His pale, hollow eyes rolled wildly, momentarily disoriented.
Anne darted forward, knuckles white, her breath ragged.
She paused right before Frank, her fist trembling inches from his face. Her lips quivered, tears burning at the corners of her eyes.
“Sorry… Father…” she whispered.
Then, with a single sharp exhale, she slammed her fist directly into Frank’s jaw.
A sharp crack rang out, and Frank’s corrupted form staggered backward before collapsing into the grass.
She remembered tiny fingers gripping the hem of his coat, begging him to stay home instead of working late. “Father, one more story!” That small voice echoed somewhere in the back of her mind as her fist connected. Now, the same hands had to hurt him to save him. The memory scorched her heart like acid.
Tyler’s jaw nearly hit the ground. “What the—? You just—”
Anne turned slowly, wiping a tear from her cheek. “Why are you surprised? I knocked you out in a single hit too, no?”
“It took you two hits though —”
Tyler opened his mouth to argue, but Anne cracked her knuckles, glaring.
He raised both hands defensively. “Okay! Okay! Let’s just… get Fra- Doctor Frank back.”
Anne nodded, her expression still flickering between anger and heartbreak.
Tyler bound Frank carefully with [Spider Web], wrapping layer upon layer of sticky silk around his limbs and torso. Even unconscious, Frank’s corrupted body twitched now and then, as if something inside it squirmed against the bindings.
They carried him down to the river. Tyler summoned the battered boat again, dropping it into the current.
Anne winced. “Ugh… not this pathetic boat again…”
Tyler sighed, rolling his eyes. “It floats, doesn’t it? Stop complaining and get in.”
She hesitated, then climbed aboard, hugging Frank’s restrained form tightly against her chest.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Tyler pushed them off and jumped in. The current pulled them along, bumping and shuddering over rocks. Anne’s nails dug into Frank’s coat and into the sides of the boat with each jolt, her breaths shallow and quick.
They finally reached the settlement walls. Tyler leaped out first, scanning the surroundings. As expected, Blightspawns shuffled through the streets, hollow eyes searching for any glimmer of light.
Anne stepped onto the bank, dragging Frank onto her back with surprising strength.
Tyler set his torch alight, holding it high. Instantly, the Blightspawns twisted toward him, lurching forward in a swarm of snapping bark and writhing vines.
“Go!” Tyler shouted. He sprinted into the open square, leading the creatures away. Their pale eyes glowed, fixated on the flame like moths to a lantern.
Anne dashed through side alleys, vanishing into the shadows as Tyler’s echoes and footfalls led the horde farther and farther from her path.
Once she was safely inside, Tyler dropped the torch, vanishing into the dark alleys before looping back. When he returned to the house, he found Anne panting in the lab, Frank laid out on a wooden table, still bound tightly.
Anne rummaged through cabinets, tossing bottles and paper stacks everywhere. Her hands shook violently as she flipped through her father’s scrawled notes.
Tyler leaned against the door frame, catching his breath. “You always take this long to find things, or is it just today?”
Anne’s head snapped toward him, eyes blazing. “Shut up! You think this is easy?!”
Tyler raised his hands, a smirk threatening his lips. “Alright, alright. Frank’s papers aren’t going to read themselves—”
“Call him Doctor Frank properly!” Anne snapped.
Tyler’s smirk froze. “Doctor Frank, Doctor Frank! Happy now?!”
Before she could retort, a sudden lashing sound ripped through the lab.
Frank’s bound form twisted violently, a dark tendril shooting straight toward them.
Anne’s eyes widened. “Watch out!”
She lunged, shoving Tyler aside — the two tumbled to the floor, Anne landing on top of him. The tendril sliced through empty air, embedding into a cabinet behind them.
Anne’s breath stuttered, her palms pressed against Tyler’s chest plate. Their eyes locked for a heartbeat.
Then another tendril lashed forward.
Tyler twisted, throwing himself over Anne and taking the strike directly through his side.
A roar of pain tore from his throat, his entire body shuddering. He felt the black liquid searing into his flesh, a sensation like molten metal in his veins.
Anne stared at Tyler, trembling on his knees, blood soaking through his armour. Her breath snagged in her throat, a cold, electric dread surging through her veins.
In that instant, something inside her snapped — the terror, the grief, the flickering hope all funnelled into one brutal clarity: the creature in front of her was no longer her father.
With a strangled cry, she lunged forward.
Anne swung her shovel with both hands, her muscles screaming. The heavy metal head smashed into Frank’s skull with a sharp crack, sending his corrupted body collapsing backward, limbs twitching before going limp.
“Idiot! Why would you do that?!” she shrieked, scrambling toward him.
Tyler fell to one knee, his hand pressed against the gaping hole in his armour. With a sharp inhale, he activated his skill.
[Activated Skill: Undying Tenacity]
A blazing light flared across the wound. Black steam hissed into the air as the corrupted sap bubbled out. Tyler’s breathing steadied, though blood continued to ooze from the torn flesh.
Anne grabbed his shoulders, her voice trembling. “What would I do if even you got infected?!”
Tyler clenched his teeth, still holding the bleeding wound. “I told you… I’m fine. Though it’s a shame… this skill can only be used on myself…”
Anne glared at him, her eyes wet with fury and fear. “You mitigated the infection, but you’re still bleeding out like an idiot!”
She snatched a roll of bandages, wrapping them around his side with quick, rough movements.
As she tied the final knot, Tyler winced but forced out a shaky breath. “While you’re patching me up… did you find anything? About curing Doctor Frank?”
Anne’s hands paused for a moment. Then she pressed her lips together, voice low. “His research… it says that the corrupted sap drains a person’s life force — their vitality — until they’re nothing but a husk. If… if we could somehow substitute that lost vitality…”
Tyler’s eyes snapped open wider. He rummaged through his inventory with shaking hands, digging past weapons and supplies.
Finally, he pulled out a faintly glowing flower.
Anne stared. “What… what is that?!”
Tyler struggled to speak. “It’s… Chryso… Chrysop… dammit! The divine flower!”
Anne slapped her forehead. “You can’t even pronounce it properly, and you want to feed it to my father?!”
Tyler gave her a weak grin. “I don’t know if it’ll work… but it’s worth trying, right?”
Anne’s gaze darted between him and Frank. Then she grabbed the flower, tearing several petals free.
Frank’s head tossed wildly, refusing every attempt to open his mouth. Anne gritted her teeth and forced the petals into his mouth with one fierce shove.
A moment later, Frank arched violently, a ragged scream tearing from his throat. His body glowed faintly, cracks running through the bark that had grown along his skin.
His eyes turned a blinding white, his entire frame convulsing as if set aflame from the inside. Sap and black liquid splattered across the lab floor as his corrupted parts split and peeled away.
Anne clutched Tyler’s arm, her nails digging deep as she watched, her entire body trembling.
Frank’s cries echoed into the night, the sound raw and animal, echoing off the broken walls like a final funeral bell.
A foul stench, like burning resin and rotting wood, filled the room. The sound of cracking bark was sharp and wet, echoing like bones shattering underfoot.