rpbooks Chapter 31 : Was Here
Chapter 31 : Was Here
Was Here"A powerful demon?"
After listening to the quest description, Cecilia was a bit speechless—why did it feel like the system was hinting at someone in particular?
菱-梦%〣 祁澪吧儛〉寺翏爸泣\⑺〱 The demon turned out to be me.
That description really made people feel uncomfortable.
She'd hesitated at first, but when Cecilia looked up and saw that the BOSS was already not far ahead, she gritted her teeth and decided to give chase.
It'd already been a week since the server had opened, and encountering a world-class boss was rare. Even without the equipment rewards, just for the final piece of material to craft her off-hand weapon, this tree that would flee—had to die today!
However, just as Cecilia was about to accelerate, system Miss's voice suddenly rang in her mind again.
"System notification: The Bloodletting Tree is creating obstacles. Please be careful and avoid them!"
What the heck!
What kind of racing game was this, with obstacles too?
Before Cecilia could react, a black trunk-like object, about as thick as a utility pole, suddenly sprouted from the ground roughly a hundred meters in front of her. It rapidly expanded in Cecilia's wide, blue eyes!
"Bang!"
With tremendous momentum behind it, Cecilia had no time to dodge or respond. She could only close her eyes, and with no deviation, crashed headfirst into the black tree trunk!
-27!
A red damage number floated above her head, and it felt like countless clusters of golden starlight exploded before her eyes, then quickly shattered.
She crashed through the suddenly-sprouting trunk, but even that didn't slow Cecilia at all; she curled up like a wheel and tumbled across the ground dozens of times before slowly coming to a stop.
At this moment, her vision was blurry, and a slowly spinning white ring hovered above her head—the sign of being stunned.
The ancient tree ahead also immediately stopped when it saw this, its top branches thrashing about like it was gesticulating, and then, with two root-formed legs, it hurriedly continued its frantic escape.
Even with equipment that reduced control effects, the stun from this collision lasted far too long. By the time Cecilia's headache eased and she could climb to her feet, five or six seconds had passed, and Dawn's Light and Yuewu had nearly caught up.
"Sister Ce, are you alright?"
Yuewu, being a Mage, moved a little faster than Dawn's Light, the swordsman, so she was the first to arrive. She stopped and knelt down with a face full of concern.
"I'm fine,"
Cecilia replied, her face gloomy.
Though the damage from the collision wasn't much, the humiliation was extreme. Up until now, she'd only wanted to complete the quest, but this moment truly triggered a murderous intent toward the tree.
Because of that short pause, the distance she'd closed had now widened again. Cecilia ignored Yuewu, fixed her gaze on the direction the ancient tree was fleeing, and summoned the Darkwing Demon Bat from her inventory.
"Little Black, stop that tree for me!"
Receiving the command, darkwing Demon Bat unfurled its demonic wings, shot into the sky, and pursued the Bloodletting Tree in the direction it was fleeing.
Cecilia followed quickly. Although her agility stat was now on par with the Darkwing Demon Bat, she had to stay constantly alert, dodging different stakes and vines emerging from the ground, so her speed lagged slightly behind.
To make it worse, the Bloodletting Tree would sow vine seeds along Cecilia's route, only triggering them as she passed.
Or it would hide tree-shaped objects, similar in color to the soil, just poking a few centimeters above the surface—almost impossible to notice while running at full speed, making it easy to trip.
If luck was on her side, she'd just eat a mouthful of dirt; if not, a mess of living vines would immobilize her for a long while.
She fell countless times, but stood up each time. Despite her dirt- and water-resistant maid outfit remaining spotless, Cecilia's pale face and glorious platinum hair were now covered in dark red mud.
Especially the spot of red mud on the tip of her nose, making her look a bit like a clown.
She felt her inner agitation was about to erupt—her murderous intent about to explode.
No idea how much suffering she endured before the Darkwing Demon Bat finally caught up with the fleeing Bloodletting Tree.
Without Cecilia needing to issue another command—maybe due to the battle instincts of world-class bosses—the Darkwing Demon Bat dove from the sky with a bang, slamming into the Bloodletting Tree, then tore at it with its sharp claws in a frenzied assault.
No matter how fast it ran or how many traps it set, in the end, the Bloodletting Tree was only a tree with no ability to fight back. Its stiff branches were completely useless against the Darkwing Demon Bat's attack—bright red physical damage numbers floated up in a steady stream!
The one-sided battle continued for several seconds before the Bloodletting Tree finally managed a counterattack: a dozen twisted vines sprang up from the ground like tentacles of a sea monster, tightly binding the Darkwing Demon Bat's wings and then viciously slamming it to the ground.
With the Darkwing Demon Bat pinned, the Bloodletting Tree struggled, trying to get back up. Watching her painstakingly-won quarry about to escape, Cecilia panicked and shouted, "Little Black! Bite! Bite its leg!"
The Darkwing Demon Bat, not as strong as Cecilia, couldn't break free immediately. It could only wiggle across the ground like a caterpillar, inching toward the Bloodletting Tree. Then, picking one of its thrashing roots at random, it bit down—hard!
Maybe the pain awakened new power in the ancient tree: with that bite, the Bloodletting Tree managed to stand, glanced back at the rapidly approaching Cecilia, its top branches shooting straight up, as it tried to flee once more.
However, the Darkwing Demon Bat refused to let go. The Bloodletting Tree's speed dropped significantly as it dragged the heavy familiar along, carving a long furrow through the earth.
As Cecilia closed the distance, her grin grew more and more twisted the closer she got. When only a few steps separated them, she deliberately slowed down, tossing her silver table knife in one hand as she admired the terrified Bloodletting Tree.
"Run—come on, keep running."
Even as she finished speaking, seven or eight vine-thick tendrils burst from the ground, lashing toward Cecilia's limbs like venomous serpents.
Her smile vanished instantly. Cecilia's figure blurred, arcs of knife light flashing as her silver blade slashed through the air. All the vines were severed at once; crimson sap spattered everywhere as if it were a rain of blood.
When the blood rain cleared, the Bloodletting Tree was still. Cecilia strode up, took out her table knife, and carefully carved a line of words into the trunk:
"Cecilia was here."