Chapter 115 ‒ Crimson Thunder, Pink Dawn
Chapter 115 ‒ Crimson Thunder, Pink Dawn
Tyler sprinted toward the looming silhouette of the Verdant Blight, each step echoing like a war drum against the blood-soaked earth. Sparks of red lightning coiled around his shoulders and arms, crackling in anticipation, feeding off the storm raging inside him.
The corrupted titan sensed his return. Its few remaining branches shivered and twitched like broken limbs desperate to regrow, scraping together with hollow, creaking moans.
Tyler’s visor glimmered under the moonlight, his breath harsh and ragged. The containers of Purification Essence pulsed in his arms, their glow seeping through cracks in his armour, casting eerie patterns on the churned ground.
“This time… I won’t falter.”
As he reached the trunk, Tyler leaped high, a violent arc that cut across the moon’s pale face. Red lightning arced from his swords, painting jagged scars into the night.
He came crashing down with a roar that split the air, his blades digging deep into the corrupted wood. The trunk shuddered, cracks splintering through layers of bark like thunder rolling across mountains.
With a guttural growl, Tyler dragged his swords downward, carving a gaping wound through the trunk. Chunks of blackened wood tumbled away, crashing to the ground with echoing thuds.
He kept pulling, his muscles screaming, sweat and blood dripping down his neck beneath the armour. The trunk split nearly halfway down, a jagged chasm glowing with faint, pulsing darkness.
Inside, he saw it — a vile, pulsating black core. It writhed like a living heart, veins of tar-like corruption snaking across its slick surface. The air around it rippled with noxious, sulphurous heat, each pulse sending thin fumes upward.
Tyler’s breath caught. A low tremor rattled his chest, echoing like a distant bell.
“That’s it… The source of all this filth…”
Without hesitation, he raised one sword and stabbed it deep into the core. The impact sent a sharp vibration up his arm, the entire tree shuddering violently.
As the blade sank in, the core convulsed, expelling thick black gas with a screeching hiss that clawed at Tyler’s lungs.
Coughing, he grabbed the first container and poured it down the embedded sword. The pink liquid spiralled down, hissing as it met the core, immediately boiling into violent steam.
The core recoiled and spasmed, shrieking. Its pitch-black surface blistered and cracked, releasing waves of foul stench so strong that Tyler’s eyes watered.
I have to keep going… Don’t stop now!
He grabbed the next containers — second, third, fourth — pouring them one by one. Each time, the core writhed more frantically, belching thick plumes of gas that turned the air into a choking fog.
Tyler gagged, vision blurring, but his fingers moved mechanically, uncorking and emptying each vessel.
Fifth. Sixth. Seventh.
His knees buckled, but he stayed standing, using the hilt as a crutch. Every breath scorched his throat, each gasp dragging more poisonous vapor into his burning lungs.
Eighth. Ninth. Tenth.
His fingers trembled, slick with sweat and pink residue. His heartbeat pounded in his ears like distant thunder.
Eleventh. Twelfth.
Tyler’s vision tunnelled, the world’s edges dark and wavering. His free hand clawed at the containers.
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Thirteenth. Fourteenth.
Each container felt heavier, the glow now faint. But Tyler’s eyes burned with unwavering resolve.
Finally — the fifteenth.
He emptied it fully, the final rivulets trickling into the core like the last rays of a dying sunset.
Tyler ripped his sword free, stumbling backward. The core convulsed, splitting along hidden seams. Cracks bloomed across the trunk, glowing with radiant pink light that poured outward like sunrise over a battlefield.
A grinding crack echoed. The massive trunk shivered once… twice… then split down its centre, a massive fissure growing wider.
Tyler dropped to one knee, gasping. His visor fogged, each breath scraping his lungs.
With a final thunderous groan, the two halves tore free, crashing into the earth with earthshaking booms, scattering ash and bark into the air.
As the trunk dissolved into thick black smoke, a searing column of pink light burst forth from the heart, shooting skyward. The glow painted the night, casting stark, wavering shadows across the ruined square.
Tyler shielded his eyes, squinting into the radiance. His body swayed, balance slipping.
Slowly, the light began to shrink, spiralling inward and condensing as though inhaled by the earth. The suffocating darkness drifted away in curling wisps, leaving the space eerily clean and silent.
When the last breath of light settled, Tyler forced his head up, every muscle screaming.
At the centre stood a tiny, delicate sapling. Its slender trunk glowed faintly, each leaf shimmering with bright pink luminescence.
Tyler’s cracked visor reflected the light, a fragile glimmer across his face. His ragged breath shivered in the air.
A gentle chime sounded, almost like a distant bell. A system window flickered into view:
[Sapling of The World Tree] [Level 1]
Tyler stared at the words, chest rising and falling unevenly. His fingers twitched around his sword.
For a heartbeat — just one fragile, trembling heartbeat — he felt as though he could finally breathe.
---
Silence stretched across Ashborough’s square, fragile as the thin pink light still shimmering around the tiny sapling. Then, a single voice broke through — a wavering, astonished cry from a young woman near the edge of the clearing.
“It’s… gone! The corruption… it’s really gone!”
Another voice joined, followed by another, and soon a chorus of relieved, half-choked cheers rose into the smoky air.
The townspeople began to emerge from behind broken barricades and damaged lantern posts, their faces pale and tear-streaked, but glowing with awe and cautious joy. Some fell to their knees, heads bowed toward the sapling in quiet thanks. Others hugged each other, their shoulders shaking with sobs they had held back for too long.
Frank stood slightly apart, hands trembling over his heart. His eyes were wide and shining, tracking every glowing leaf on the sapling. A shaky, breathless laugh escaped him as he stumbled forward to kneel in the dirt.
Around the sapling, the earth itself seemed to breathe again. The ashen ground softened into dark, moist soil, faint green shoots already curling up to greet the pale moonlight. The air lost its heavy, sulphurous choke, replaced instead by a sweet, grassy scent tinged with the subtle floral note of the divine flower.
Tyler watched quietly, his visor glinting in the gentle glow. His shoulders slackened, and for once, the weight of the world seemed to ease from his back, even if only for a fleeting moment.
A soft shuffle of steps approached from behind. Tyler turned as Anne stepped forward, her fingers fidgeting nervously around something hidden in her palms.
She paused a few paces away, her cheeks flushed and her gaze darting between him and the sapling.
“Hey… [Player],” she began, her voice smaller than he had ever heard it. “Now that everything is over… do you really… have to go? Couldn’t you just… stay here? With us?”
Tyler looked at her for a long moment. Then, he lowered his head slightly.
“I have a family,” he said quietly. “A home that isn’t in this world. I miss them… and I think they must miss me too. I have to return to them.”
Anne’s lips pressed together. Her fingers curled more tightly around the object in her hands. With a quick breath, she stepped forward and thrust it out toward him.
It was a crudely carved wooden medallion, shaped like a heart but with awkward, jagged edges and sharp corners. In rough, uneven letters, it read:
[You saved me and my dad, so thank you. Dumbass.]
Tyler stared at it, then a low, warm laugh rumbled from deep in his chest.
“Thank you… I’ll hold this dear, truly,” he said, a gentle smile tugging at his lips. “But… as much as I like it, I can’t wear it. It’ll tear my neck and chest to shreds with those rough edges.”
Anne puffed her cheeks, her eyes narrowing, but she didn’t snap. Instead, she looked away, fighting the corners of her mouth twitching upward.
Then, suddenly, she grabbed both of Tyler’s hands in hers. Her grip was tight, her palms warm and trembling.
“I… I’ve been wanting to say this for a while now…” she began, her voice wobbling with a strange mix of determination and embarrassment.
Tyler gulped. His mind raced, wondering if she was furious over his teasing, or if she had finally snapped from exhaustion.
But before he could piece together any explanation, Anne leaned closer, her cheeks now bright crimson and a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“I… I wanted to tell you… that…”
Tyler’s heart pounded violently against his ribs. He watched her face, frozen in a mixture of dread and something he didn’t dare name.
“I… I want… I want you to…”