blueteamnovel Chapter 75 Bleeding Tree? (edited)
Chapter 75 Bleeding Tree? (edited)
She shakily listened in on the monster's steps towards her. The constant chattering of its teeth unnerved her to no end. The scraping of its legs against the ground caused shivers to run up her spine.
Drip... Drip... Drip...
The more her blood dripped, the more light-headed she felt—enough to where she tripped just before the dirt hill, slamming her body into the ground roughly and causing her already serious injuries to worsen.
She gave a painful yelp, raising her face up weakly.
What met her was a pair of black leather shoes.
"Huh..."
Why were there just some random pairs of shoes before her eyes? And when did they get here?
And why did they look so familiar...?
That was when... the voice of a certain black-haired woman with an awful sense of direction quietly resounded above her.
"I admire your ability always to receive the most dastardly of wounds, Lillian."
Lillian widened her eyes and quickly raised them up with enough speed that it could threaten to snap her neck.
Above her was a pair of beautiful red jewels situated on an equally beautiful still face that stared down at her with a tilt of her head. It was Marionette... she's alive!
"M-Marionette!" Lillian yelled with tears threatening to spill out of her eyes in large torrents.
Marionette raised an eyebrow at her and crouched down.
"Yes?" She asked in a stoic voice, which didn't bother Lillian at all.
Lillian's words then split out of her trembling lips, "I-I'm really glad to see you..."
"Is that so... I'm glad you do," Marionette answered, continuing to stare down at her with her usual still face. She then looked over Lillian's wounds and asked:
"Do they hurt? You're quite calm for someone who has two broken arms with shattered bones sticking out of them."
Her words caused Lillian to remember the shocking pain and caused her to wince painfully. This pain then suddenly increased with Marionette's hand gesture.
Around Lillian's broken arms that were miraculously still intact, a black shadowy cast formed around them, pushing them back into place and putting Lillian through another torturous session.
However, she was briefly distracted by the soft patting on the head. She stared up at Marionette, who had a soft smile on her face as she patted Lillian with her right hand.
Marionette then began to speak in a rhyming tone.
"There there... I'm here now... don't worry about the pain no more... I will make the pain go away..."
While her words did manage to soothe Lillian a bit, she couldn't help but think curiously about how it felt that Marionette was possibly reciting a nursery rhyme.
She then watched as Marionette moved her left hand towards her face, summoning a small vial filled with a reddish liquid that seemed to have golden glitter mixed into it.
The vial was slim and long. Around its glass exterior, it was patterned with illustrations and had a unique bottle shape that made it look like a smaller and much thinner version of a conical flask.
Lillian widened her eyes.
"I-Is that..."
Marionette nodded her head.
"Yes. A high-grade health potion," she stated in a casual tone, "A potion that cost my family a few dozen thousand or so to have made."
Lillian pulled herself up with Marionette's help.
Marionette then answered in a nonchalant tone:
"I made some parts of myself still solid so that it would do so."
"But why!?" Lillian yelled, "Why would you do such a thing?!" backing away from Marionette with a look of betrayal.
"So you just watched me get tossed around and get put at near death's door?!"
Marionette stared down at her hand, which Lillian had pulled away from before looking up and into Lillian's eyes with silence. She then breathed a sigh before approaching her.
"Please do not get the wrong idea, Lillian," she said, reaching towards Lillian's right hand with her own and raising it, interlocking her fingers with it.
"I did not have any impure intentions towards you. Quite the opposite, in fact."
"And what would they be that would elicit me having to have both my arms crushed and my rapier destroyed?"
Lillian stared down at her hand that was held tightly but gently in Marionette's hand.
"While the destruction of your weapon was an unexpected development, I say it was needed in your growth," Marionette answered, staring down at Lillian due to her taller stature.
"Huh... growth?"
Marionette's eyes then softened.
"You may berate or even hate me for not helping you, but people do not grow unless subjected to situations that threaten their livelihood. You will go through more of these in the future, Lillian."
She then unlocked her fingers from Lillian and pulled away, "If you would like an apology, then I apologise for making you believe that I had died and, I suppose, the loss of your rapier as well."
Marionette then turned around and began her ascent up the tall, curved dirt hill. She then glanced down at Lillian, "I suggest moving far away." before making her way up towards the violet tree.
Lillian, breaking out of her stupor, stared at Marionette confusedly before doing as she said and began to walk towards the side.
Having reached approximately 3 metres away from the hill, she then turned back around and yelled:
"Is this far enough?"
Marionette stared down at her for a bit before making a shooing gesture with her hand.
"A little further," she yelled back.
Lillian raised an eyebrow and began to step further back, reaching 10 metres away from it. After getting the confirmation that it was far enough, she then watched Marionette swing her arm to the side.
Marionette stared at the tree with furrowed brows, and her right arm stretched far to the side.
In her hand, a large, mighty battle axe of darkness manifested itself into reality before having its shaft gripped by two slender hands.
With a twist of her body, she swung the battle axe with enough force that its sharp edge had managed to cleave through the curved body of the tree, causing the upper half of it to slide off and collapse with a loud thud.
Lillian watched as the canopy of the tree rolled down the hill, with its branches snapping along the journey of its descent.
"What was that for, Marione—"
Just before Lillian could finish her sentence, the entire dirt hill suddenly began to tremble.
Marionette stared down at the stump, specifically at the reddish veins inside it that leaked out a reddish liquid.
It was bleeding...