“Follow the bloody trail.”

The red lines that guided Hatchling’s Red blade was the manifestation of pure instinct. They were red strings that dictated where the tip of her blade was inserted; how it slashed against the vulnerable flesh of her prey; and who it must be done to.

She slashed the sinew strings that held up the limbs of the spider-like entities, severing their ties with the cavern before she swiftly finished them off with her only remaining pale proboscis.

 

< Huntress’ Slash I Has gained a level >

< Huntress’ Slash I Has gained a level >

 

“More…”

Hunger for strength and nutrition fueled the hunt. She stood at only a 150cm compared to those two-meter spiders. But through devouring the stats of her enemies in the past, her AGI had already reached a point where she could easily leap two meters into the air.

She hunted them relentlessly.

 

< Huntress’ Slash I Has gained a level >

 

< Friends! Has gained a level >

 

“More…!”

After one leap she’d stab her blade into the ground to instantly halt her momentum. Then she would jump right back into the fray to remove the remaining strings. Still Unborn were salvaged by the Rock Bugs and kept close to the Still Unmoved.

Whenever she lost more than half of her HP then she’d allow the tenth Still Unborn to be reunited with their mother.

 

< Punch has gained a level >

< Punch has gained a level >

 

< Huntress’ Slash I Has gained a level >

 

“MORE!”

Five, ten – twenty. Perhaps even fifty of these things had fallen to Hatchling Red over the course of several hours. The fatigue was building up and she barely held onto a sliver of mana.

 

MP : 100 | 900

 

It was not even enough to activate [Huntress’ Slash], so when her blade became jammed into the steel exoskeleton of her prey, she relied on [Punch] to hammer it in like a chisel. Of course, this also meant being directly in the danger zone of sputtering lava.

But her HP had risen so high that she could endure it temporarily. Hatchling Red clasped onto her blackened arm moments before a pale light enveloped her.

“We’re getting in better sync now, Rockie!”

“*Happy chittering* *Nods*”

The Still Unmoved’s healing abilities were incredible. It didn’t seem like there was a limit to what it could heal. As confident as she was with this deduction there was no way she was going to test it.

 

HP : 1,500

 

“Speaking of which… We’re getting closer to the blue star now, huh.” Red wiped off her sweat as she finished off another Still Hungry with relatively easy compared to when they started off.

This was because she had been gaining their ATT stats with every Still Hungry she devoured.

 

ATT : 350 (+35)

 

By now the pale proboscis had melted away, leaving her with only the Hunt Must Go On.

“Even though I’m furious this thing isn’t getting any stronger. It’s just glowing like the nose of a reindeer! Reindeers have glowing noses, right?” She asked half-casually as she flicked the linger magma from the tip of her blade like how she would with blood.

“This thing’s ‘Affinity’ is Wrath. My own Affinity is Amalgamation, but my Attribute is Identity. How come these monsters have an Attribute too? Sorrow and Obsession. What’s the difference?”

 

< An Affinity is a universal encompassing cognitive concept >

 

< An Attribute is an immediately apparent concept relating to an Affinity >

 

“So that means an Affinity is the umbrella, and the Attributes are the things under it. Ok. That makes sense. Kinda. I think. Maybe… Can you say that again actually?”

No response as usual.

The number of Still Hungry had died down considerably. The stones carrying their Specific Nex chimed within one of her red coat’s pockets. The ordeal had steadily caused her coat – the Colorless Huntress’ Garbs – to grow as though its fabric was woven by the blood of her prey.

Not only that, but she had seen a slight height increase too. She had grown from a young adolescent into a late teen. She studied her appearance briefly using Rockie’s beady eyes.

“From Hatchling Red to Duckling Red. Heh.” She smirked, banging her blade against the head of her best meal – No, best friend … best friends do. “Think humans will accept me as their own?”

Rockie headbutted her as if to say, “Does it really matter when you have me?”. Of course it was all just in Red’s head, which caused her to wear a face that was split between disgust and a smile.

“… I think I need to get some sleep. But we’re so close now and it doesn’t look like they’re going to stop coming. Just a few more…” Red complained in a dangerously low tone. “… then I’ll take back my Fairytale’s Bane. I need it. That wolf bastard is still out there.”

The White Wolf was her only enemy. Everything thus far was just food. She brandished her blade and hopped atop the back of her trusty rocky steed, following the blue star that shone like a second sun.

“… you weren’t out there on that night. Night turned day in a split second. It was like a star just fell down into the world. Rockie. Do you think that’s right? That stars can fall down into the world and grant wishes?”

Red found some comfort in unloading her muses onto Rockie. Another few Still Hungry descended as they neared a part of the cavern where the red walls depend like blood, and the crimson pillars became pale as if they had turned to bone.

“I have a weird Blessing called the Blessing of the Star Child. I bet they were that light. How else was my wish granted? I don’t know why I’m telling you this. For all I know you’ll go selling my secrets behind my back…”

She flung herself forward, engaging immediately with the Still Hungry. She moved like a blur, splitting the strands of one before she moved onto another. They did not even care that she approached.

They were far too fixated on nothing but the Still Unborn.

“No. I think I know why I’m saying this. I wanted to reaffirm what I want the most.”

Their fixation repulsed her.

“To live as a human. To not be taken by instinct like them. But what does that even mean to someone like me?”

Hatchling Red did not follow the bloody trail. Her mana was far too low this time. Knowledge and combat expertise guided her like it was second nature.

Yet somehow –

 

< Huntress’ Slash I Has gained a level >

 

< Huntress’ Slash I Has become Huntress’ Slash II >

 

< (O) Huntress’ Slash II >

< Follow the bloody trail and deliver a guaranteed Critical Strike when using bladed weaponry. The bloody trail will extent to three unique entities. When total number of enemies outnumber this by 3x then you may follow the bloody mist >

< Inflict Bleeding Condition to all enemy types >

< COST: 100 MP >

 

– She had gained a level in [Huntress’ Slash].

“I will find my meaning!”

 

 

“And nothing is going to stop me!”

 

* * *

 

The tale of the Still Hungry was different from the Still Unborn. They were entities that were driven to sorrow because all they could do was feed. The sinew tethers that held them up were indeed a metaphor of their instinctual hunger.

A hunger that they could never deny not because they were starved. It was the kind of impulsive hunger that destroyed rationality. Sorrow was right. Their Attribute of Sorrow and Origin of ‘Trauma’ painted a bleak picture for her as she and her army of Rock bugs were enveloped by the light.

“Instincts drove you to do things you didn’t want. I know that feeling too. Being a Corrupted I never knew freedom until my wish was granted. Tch… Whose hell is this supposed to be?”

*Boom*

The cavern quaked. She could feel the warmth rush from within. The frigid air then returned all at once as a voice suddenly spoke from everywhere at once.

 

< “O Instinct. O Hunger. Wherein did our loved ones go when the veil was lifted from our eyes?” >

 

“… Agate?” Red whispered as blue veins ran through the red walls like the nerves of a living system. “Or is it you, Rockie? Who is speaking to me?”

The voice was cold and devoid of emotion. The air seemed to be the breath of this disembodied voice. She kept her eyes peeled as she darted her head in every direction. She still could not find the origin of the voice.

 

< “When the strings pull and we tug away why does the pain become so excruciating?” >

 

< “Free will was the nectar that kept us hopeful. O Hunger, why must you compel us to devour our most beloved?” >

 

She saw it and her heart dropped for the first time.

A great chamber unfolded before her. Entombed remains of massive spider-like entities ran up the walls like pillars. Their faces were that of humans wielding expressions of sorrow as their many legs crossed onto one another.

The blue strands she saw along the walls were connected to each hand of those unmoving decorations. They bled fountains of magma tears from empty eye sockets. Yet their mouths chattered and chomped, as even in death they could not escape the instinctual drive that was hunger.

 

< “Perhaps hunger completes us. To bring us whole. But even so…” >

 

There, in the center of the chamber where colossal pillars of bones rose dangled a deathly pale, ten-meter entity. Blue and red strings held it from the ceiling where the blue light radiated like a fallen star. It was a ten-legged spider with no body or eyes, let alone a mouth to let it speak.

 

< “… Why does it bring about this existential lament?” >

 

//////// < WARNING > ////////

 

< TRICKLE >

< THE ARBITER’S TRUMPET BECKONS >

 

Each leg of the monstrosity easily prodded the ground. They were barbed and had a razor-sharp tip that spelled danger for Hatchling Red. Its legs expanded in a way that resembled a bird’s cage.

And within that cage, embedded in the stone directly beneath it, was her Fairytale’s Bane.

It was clear that this thing was not going to let her retrieve it without a fight.

 

 

This was not a normal entity.

It was the source of every anomaly she had faced until now.

---