The moment those words left her mouth, the withered branches on both sides of the stone path seemed to be provoked, rearing up violently.
The ghost hands that had previously only been tapping against the edges of the stone slabs suddenly lunged forward in unison.
The writhing branches twisted tightly together, growing even thicker than the roots that had first attacked them, and they were even covered in thorns.
Rena was the first to move.
Holding her staff lit with Holy Light, she pushed off the ground, darting forward like a low-flying arrow.
The restless roots and ghost hands along the roadside seemed to receive a command, pouncing toward her all at once.
Kolo's heavy axe swept out right behind her, shearing through a large swath of branches. Black sap splattered onto the stone slabs with a soft sizzle.
“Go!”
Reece shouted from the rear, and Milo clutched his short crossbow in one hand, scrambling to follow in a panic.
On the narrow road, the five wooden chests lined up and slid forward along the stone path.
Ryan raised his bow and let loose an arrow.
The arrow grazed past Kolo's shoulder, pinning a thin vine that had shot out from the mist.
Ryan controlled his breathing, keeping every shot incredibly steady.
But this path was narrower than any segment before. The withered branches on both sides were no longer just testing them; they pressed in layer by layer, leaving absolutely no room to breathe.
There were also withered roots creeping through the cracks in the stone slabs. They didn't attack the party members, choosing instead to coil around the corners of the wooden chests.
They seemed to have realized that killing was not the only way; as long as they dragged the cargo away, the caravan would still fail.
“Left rear!”
No sooner had Ryan's voice fallen than Reece spun around and slashed downward.
His broadsword severed the black root wrapped around the third cargo chest, but another root sprang up from beside his foot, whipping viciously against his calf and leaving a deep gash.
Reece let out a muffled groan, his knee buckling, but he forced himself to stand firm.
Rena, at the very front, didn't stop, but she still noticed the situation behind her.
She pulled a low-grade healing potion from her bag with one hand, quickly spun around, and threw it with perfect accuracy at Reece's calf.
The potion shattered, and the torn flesh quickly stopped bleeding and began to close.
Her gaze did not linger. Kolo's left arm had been grazed by twigs, and Ryan had several cuts ripped open on his body as well.
Isolde quickly analyzed the situation. The potions in her hand had to be saved for critical moments. As long as the injuries didn't affect their movement and weren't fatal, they could be ignored for the time being.
Milo, running in the middle of the cargo chests, was already on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.
As he ran, panting heavily, he stared at the dense swarm of ghost hands on both sides, his lips trembling violently.
“There are more and more of them...”
He raised his short crossbow and shot at an incoming branch, but because his hands were shaking, the bolt missed entirely.
Seeing this, Kolo immediately rushed over and smashed it to pieces before turning around to dive back into the battle on the other side.
She split open a blocking withered branch with her axe. Just as the blade fell, three thick roots suddenly shot out from underground, slamming toward the first cargo chest at the same time.
Kolo's pupils contracted, and her body shifted sideways almost instinctively.
Sweeping her heavy axe upward, she blocked two of them.
The third one, however, slipped past the underside of her axe handle, tightly coiling around the wooden chest.
The wooden chest was violently jerked, tilting sharply as half of its base slid off the stone path.
“The chest!” Milo screamed.
Ryan notched an arrow, but the root was wrapped around the chest, and its base had not completely crossed the boundary yet.
His fingers tightened, and he hesitated to release the string.
If he made a mistake, the damage would backlash onto him.
But if he didn't shoot, the chest would be dragged off the path.
Bloodshot lines crept into Ryan's eyes. Just as he was hesitating, a white light flew out from Rena's sleeve, wrapping around the end of the root.
The Soul Thread suddenly tightened, freezing the root in place.
Taking advantage of that split second, Kolo spun around and chopped down with her axe, severing it from the corner of the chest.
The wooden chest slammed heavily back onto the stone path. Ryan whipped his head toward Rena.
At that moment, he finally saw the flash of silver-white thread beneath her cuff.
Rena didn't look at him. Acting as if nothing had happened, she swept away the twigs with her staff.
“Keep moving!”
Ryan's Adam's apple bobbed, but in the end, he didn't ask.
Now was not the time.
They were getting closer and closer to the Contract-Devouring Treant, and the dark-red light pulsing inside the tree's cracks grew brighter and brighter.
In the mist, the faceless corpses of the death caravan began to move.
Pushing broken-wheeled carts and carrying rotten wooden chests, they stiffly closed in from both sides, pushing their own carts, chests, and broken wooden poles toward the edge of the stone path.
The path was squeezed narrow. Kolo smashed open a rotting cart with her axe.
The bones inside the cart rolled all over the ground, and thin roots wriggled out from the gaps in the bones, coiling toward her ankles.
Ryan shot through a root that had crossed the boundary. Just as he was about to notch a second arrow, the hem of his coat was grabbed by a corpse from behind.
Relying on his combat instincts, Ryan immediately spun around and drew his bow, aiming at the corpse's forehead. But when he saw the person clearly, his movements froze.
“Severn...”
Reece also quickly looked back, his pupils suddenly contracting.
That was indeed Severn.
Half of his face had been gnawed by the mist, leaving only pale bone. His skin was torn, revealing the skull beneath. His chest had collapsed, and his robe was riddled with holes.
He was already dead.
But now, he stood among the death caravan, like an undead monster that had just crawled out of hell.
Severn slowly raised his head.
In his empty eye sockets, there was not a trace of emotion belonging to the living.
In the next moment, he raised the root in his hand, stabbing it like a spear into Ryan's abdomen.
Ryan's body stiffened. He looked down at the black root impaling him and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Bright red blood splattered onto Severn's face, making his expression look even more hideous.
“Ryan!”
Seeing this, Reece immediately lunged forward, slashing his broadsword at Severn.
But Severn's corpse reacted first. He stiffly reached out, grabbing Ryan's shoulder, his fingers digging deep into the flesh.
Ryan grit his teeth and raised his bow, wanting to shoot.
But the root in his abdomen suddenly twisted, causing his fingers to completely lose their grip.
The arrow fell onto the stone slabs with a sharp clatter.
Severn's corpse dragged him toward the edge of the path. Reece severed the blocking root with a sword strike and reached out to grab him.
“Grab me!”
He locked his hand around Ryan's wrist, veins bulging on the back of his hand as he struggled to pull him back onto the path.
More of the death caravan closed in.
Several rotting hands grabbed Ryan's clothes, hair, shoulders, and legs all at once.
The black roots wrapped around their hands were like countless ropes growing out of dead bodies, dragging Ryan's body outward bit by bit.
Reece was dragged down, half-kneeling on the stone slabs. He plunged his broadsword into the ground with his other hand, gripping the hilt to keep from being dragged off as well.
“Kolo!” he screamed hoarsely.
Kolo had just split open the wall of branches ahead. Hearing the voice, she looked back, her expression behind the mask changing instantly.
But she was too far away, with five cargo chests still in between them.
Rena raised her hand, the white light of her staff expanding to push back the death caravan.
Several corpse hands were burned and let go, but Severn's corpse suddenly raised its head, its empty eye sockets staring straight at Ryan.
It slightly opened its mouth, as if silently calling his name.
Ryan's eyes flickered.
At that exact moment, more black roots reached out from the mist, wrapping around his waist and violently pulling him backward.
Reece's arm jerked, and he was nearly dragged off the stone path.
Through the agonizing pain, Ryan saw the cargo chests in the rear wobbling as they were dragged by roots, and his mind suddenly cleared.
Using his last bit of strength, he ripped the wooden plate from his waist and threw it fiercely back onto the stone path.
The wooden plate hit the ground near Milo's feet, rolling half a turn before stopping.
“Go!” Ryan's voice was hoarse. “Don't worry about me!”
As the words fell, his wrist slipped out of Reece's grasp.
The death caravan completely dragged him into the black mist.
Rate on N.U.
