blueteamnovel Chapter 79 The Tree and Cockroach? (edited)
Chapter 79 The Tree and Cockroach? (edited)
Why exactly was it around that percentile?
Was the item so powerful it could nearly kill anything with that much accuracy?
Was it the reason why the assassin family, Roselle, had been such an intimidating force in the underworld?
Or was it because of the Heroine's incapability to survive it in the early stages of the game?
The latter would be the most accurate.
In the entirety of the game, Marionette was seen only using this congratulatory javelin in the early stages. And only so when you have either antagonised or disturbed her enough that forces her to waste it on you.
For what deep reason did the creators have in mind for this? No one knew.
But what everyone knew was that in the early stages, the heroine was far incapable of dodging such a blitzing throw.
Lillian stared at the javelin that soared through the air.
Like a shooting star of trailing stardust, the javelin flew with silent crimson bloodlust.
It flew with such peak efficiency that one would think it was essentially gliding. And with speed beyond what the Parasitic Evergrower could perceive, it lodged itself into its eye.
Despite its overwhelming speed, it was incapable of piercing any further into the unnerving black and green eye of the Violet Tree.
However, it was more accurate to say it had stopped on its own volition.
The Parasitic Evergrower blinked at the metal splinter stuck in its eye. Its forest-green pupils constricted, and its neon-green veins glowed with hostility.
It wrapped one of its wiggling vines around the long spiked shaft of the javelin and tugged at it. Its expectations that the javelin would leave its spot in its eye were crushed instantly.
Like the barbed spine of a porcupine that was enchanted to never leave where it had stabbed, the javelin remained in its place.
And soon enough, something odd happened...
The Violet Tree's eye began to show wrinkles. It was small, unnoticeable at first to the very eyes until it wasn't.
Large dry chasms formed over the eye as it seemed to dry out at a rapid rate.
The bulb at the end of the javelin also revealed minor changes. Its tightly folded petals that were yet to bloom—bloomed at a gluttonous rate.
And like it was part of a complex clockwork, it eventually revealed an intricate scarlet rose that still had its metallic lustre.
Lillian stared at the blooming rose with wide eyes—distracted from what was happening to the tree behind it.
Its eye rose and fell in height perpetually. Its dark wooden body became slimmer before fattening up to its original width. Its leaves lose their shimmering shine and become a lifeless grey before turning back to its alluring violet again.
The Parasitic Evergrower was going through a constant state of dehydration and invigoration.
The longer this went on, the deeper the light that the runic symbols on the congratulatory javelin glowed.
Soon enough, strange, narrow spines began to grow out of the eye, just around the area where the javelin was embedded.
Just like the javelin, they were all dark green in colour. They were all covered in pointy thorns. And they all held a miniature replica of the same bulb.
These spines grew out of the Violet Tree with a metre or so gap in between each one.
It was like the Parasitic Evergrower was undergoing an intense session of acupuncture.
"And we only need to stay here for a few minutes, Lillian."
She then did what she had done during the exam and made herself an arm made of darkness, plugging her flowing wound.
Lillian still stared with concern before sighing, "I hope so..." She then went on to unlatch herself off of Marionette but was immediately pulled back.
Marionette wrapped her arms behind Lillian's neck, holding her in a soft embrace, which Lillian eventually leaned into after a few seconds of realisation.
She then sighed.
"I'm so glad this damned Trial is over..."
She then stared up at Marionette with a playful look.
"And you sure have gotten touchy over the past few days."
Marionette tilted her head cutely at her with a naive expression.
"I have?" she said while stroking the back of Lillian's head, "You could always tell me to get off you."
Lillian stared at her before pouting. She then buried her face into Marionette's chest before wrapping her arms around her.
"... I like you like this..." she quietly said—the tips of her ears turning slightly pink before red.
Marionette widened her eyes briefly at this before giving a short chuckle.
"Pfft...!"
"W-what is so funny? Hm!?"
Lillian stared up, revealing her blushing face, which she was trying hard to hide. Marionette stared down at her with an affectionate gaze.
"... You like me holding onto you like this. Hm?" her lips curled into a warm smile that seemed to brighten the world—a smile Lillian was briefly lost in.
'She looks way better with a smile...'
Then, with a playful tone, she said:
"Then I'll continue holding you by my s—"
Her words were then cut off once she discovered something standing next to them in the corner of her eyes.
It stood at a towering height of six feet.
It had an insect-like face, predominantly closer to that of a cockroach, which was coated in old, dried blood that clung to its hairy head and dripped over its sharp mandibles that were dripping in fresh ones.
The dried blood was painted over its round, hexagonal patterned left compound eye and stayed away from the right one that emitted a smoke-like substance from its empty eye socket.
It had a lean, blood-stained body covered in a hard carapace that was tinted slightly black and had small cracks at the edges—most likely from harsh battles.
Its arms, stained in crimson blood, dangled loosely by its side like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. At the end of its arms were slim, hooked claws that twitched tensely.
Its legs were also seen to be twitching—but it was more accurate to say they were shaking.
The muscles in its calf seemed to crawl around under the carapace that was hiding it like miniature snakes.
It gave it an odd and disturbing sight to look at, coupled with its eery appearance.
Lillian stared at it with a shocked and fearful expression, 'T-the Corrupted Catacomb Dweller...?'