Zealth pressed forward.
There was no plan clean enough to call a plan anymore. No proper route. No safe opening. No clever angle he could exploit without being turned into a training dummy for the tree's roots.
But he had seen it.
The thing in the boy's arms.
Whatever the Rotbound Farmer held against his chest, the tree protected it more fiercely than the crystal. The roots did not simply attack Zealth when he moved. They shifted harder whenever he looked at the boy. They crossed tighter whenever he stepped toward that small bundle hidden beneath thin arms and green light.
That's it.
His fingers tightened around Cinderbrand.
That has to be it.
The boy floated beneath the broken crystal's remains, green eyes dim and exhausted. His mouth trembled with the same words, repeating like a curse that had forgotten how to stop.
"Kill… me…"
Zealth swallowed.
"Yeah," he muttered. "Working on it."
The roots struck.
He moved.
Cinderbrand flashed, cutting through the first black vine that aimed for his neck. Fire crawled along the wound, and the root recoiled with a shriek. Zealth pushed through, ducked beneath a second strike, then twisted sideways as a spear-like root shot past his ribs.
Three steps closer.
Then the ground erupted.
A cluster of thorned vines burst from beneath him and drove upward.
One pierced his thigh.
Another punched through his stomach.
A third caught his shoulder and lifted him off the ground before he could cut it.
Black particles spilled from his body.
The world darkened.
YOU HAVE BEEN DEFEATED.
Do you wish to Respawn?
YES
NO
Ganymede Candy available: 1728
The countdown began.
9
Zealth pressed YES before the number could reach eight.
Light forced itself back through him.
The roots shattered away. His body repaired just enough to function. His feet hit the ground again, and he stumbled forward with a sharp breath.
"Again."
The tree answered.
Roots came from the walls, the ceiling, the broken crystal bed, the floor beneath his boots. They did not attack like plants anymore. They attacked like a cage trying to rebuild itself around him.
Zealth cut one.
Blocked another.
The third drove through his chest.
He died again.
Ganymede Candy available: 1727
"Yes."
Revive.
Forward.
Cut.
Dodge.
Die.
Ganymede Candy available: 1726
"Yes."
The third revival left him closer.
The fourth destroyed his armor.
A thorned root caught his side and ripped across his chest plate. The metal tore free in broken pieces, scattering over the root-covered floor. Another strike crushed what remained of his shoulder guard. A third shattered the straps holding the breastplate together.
Zealth hit the ground, rolled, and came up wearing almost nothing above the waist but the torn undergarment beneath his armor. The thin tunic clung to him in ripped strips, full of holes, black particle residue, and scorch marks from Cinderbrand's heat.
He looked down at himself.
Then at the shredded pieces of armor lying around him.
His mouth fell open.
"My fifteen-hundred-Callis armor…"
A root stabbed toward his face.
He ducked, eyes wide with offended grief.
"That was fifteen hundred!"
Another vine lashed across his back, cutting through cloth and skin-like system material beneath.
Zealth stumbled, teeth clenched.
"You stupid tree! Do you know how hard it is to earn money?"
The tree did not care.
It killed him again.
Ganymede Candy available: 1725
Zealth pressed YES harder than necessary.
He revived on one knee, gripping Cinderbrand with both hands. His body felt heavy now, not from pain, but from repeated forced restoration. Each revival shoved life back into him like a debt collector kicking open a door.
His armor was gone.
His buckler was gone.
His patience was already on the tight rope.
Only Cinderbrand remained.
And the boy.
Still floating.
Still holding the object.
Still whispering.
"Kill… me…"
Zealth breathed hard.
"I heard you the first five times."
He moved again.
This time, he stopped trying to defend everything.
A root pierced his shoulder.
He ignored it.
Another stabbed through his side.
He kept walking.
A thorned vine wrapped around his leg, dragging him down. He cut it with Cinderbrand and forced himself closer, one ugly step at a time. His torn tunic fluttered in the hot wind from the burning roots. Black particles trailed from his body like smoke.
Two feet.
A wall of vines erupted between them.
Zealth swung with all his strength.
Cinderbrand burned through half of them before the rest pierced him.
He died.
Ganymede Candy available: 1724
"Yes."
He revived already leaning forward, as if death had only been a stumble.
One foot.
The boy's face was close now.
Too young.
Too tired.
Too familiar in the worst way.
Zealth saw the object more clearly.
Not a doll.
Not a pouch.
A seed.
Large for a seed, almost the size of a heart, wrapped in a cracked golden shell and pulsing faintly in the boy's arms. The green light from the boy's body fed into it. Or maybe the seed fed into him.
Zealth did not know.
He only knew the roots panicked whenever he reached for it.
A massive thorned vine stabbed toward his face.
Zealth lowered his head and let it tear through his shoulder instead. His left arm went numb. Cinderbrand nearly fell from his grip.
He clenched harder.
"Almost…"
The tree groaned.
The roots converged.
Zealth pushed off the ground and lunged.
Cinderbrand drove forward.
Not at the boy's head.
Not his throat.
His chest.
The place where both small arms hugged the golden seed.
The flaming blade pierced through.
For one breath, everything became silent.
The boy's eyes widened.
The seed cracked.
Golden light spilled from the wound.
Zealth froze with the sword still buried in the boy's chest, his own breath caught somewhere between horror and relief.
The boy looked at him.
Not angry.
Not afraid.
Only tired.
Then he smiled.
Small.
Broken.
Human.
"Thank… you…"
His body glowed.
Not green this time.
Gold.
The light spread from the wound, covering his arms, his face, his floating form. The roots around them trembled. The tree above gave a long, terrible groan.