Published at 28th of May 2026 7:24 am

Chapter 210: A Bloom In The Dark

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Chapter 210: A Bloom In The Dark

All around them, the walls and floor spasmed in uneven waves. The clearing rapidly stretched outward, the wet flesh pulling back until the walls became distant shapes in the dark. At the same time, thick roots burst free and twisted together overhead, forming what looked like a gigantic ribcage spreading across the cavern ceiling.

Looking up at the expanding structure while warm air rolled down from above, Snare snarled.

Broodfather, what is this? Who's speaking?

The distorted voice continued, each word echoing through the chamber hard enough to vibrate the flesh beneath their feet.

Murderer. Filth. Impure. Die. Death. Failure.

Both Bahamut and Tiamat snapped at the air, hissing violently as the shifting walls finally settled into place.

When I was still an imp traveling through the Maw, I came across a flower.

Seo-jins voice stayed calm despite the pressure building around them.

Its called a Cradlebloom. A relic of Hell capable of spawning entirely new demon species. I ended up eating it. Its actually the main reason you three are standing here right now. Consuming it let me access my current class.

Glancing toward his brothers for a moment, Snare absorbed the information and slowly nodded.

What happened when you ate it?

A grin tugged at Seo-jins mouth at the question, though he quickly buried it.

It tried to take over my body. It failed.

His eyes shifted toward the walls.

Looks like it wants another try.

A low rumble started deep in Pains chest, while Panic went unnaturally still beside him, the kind of quiet that made the air feel violent.

Then, high above them near the center of the massive root sternum, a knot of roots began to twist and swell. Wet fibers bulged outward until a heavy pod hung from the structure, slick with fluid. The pulsing green veins running through it quickly darkened into a deep violet while gold veins spread across its surface like cracks.

The instant the color stabilized, the bulb suddenly expanded as though something inside had detonated. A deep, guttural roar followed, shaking the entire cavern. The hatred inside it carried a familiar note.

The voice changed with it, climbing into something closer to a scream than speech.

Purpose! Fulfilled! Prove! Superior! Devour!

Killing intent flooded the chamber like heat from an oven. All three broodlings answered immediately, bloodlight and flames erupting from their bodies.

Eyes glowing, Snare stared at the throbbing bulb overhead.

Then is that a new species?

It was the exact thought running through Seo-jins head. He had no idea how long the flower had been growing before he ripped it free, but one thing was obvioushe had interrupted something. Whatever demon the Cradlebloom had been creating never got the chance to be born because of him.

Now he was pretty sure he was about to meet whatever he'd stopped. Or maybe something worse.

[You are correct.]

The moment the familair voice of the system filled his head, a smile tugged at the corner of Seo-jins mouth despite the heat rolling off the pod.

What took so long?

[Miss me?]

Just tell me what the fuck is going on.

With wet tearing sounds, Butchers Wrath split free into his hands.

You three, go see if you can slow it down.

All three brothers nodded, baring their fangs before surging forward. Skittering up the massive root ribs posed no problem for any of them. Watching Pains huge body move across the roots like flat ground was still a ridiculous sight.

[Your instincts are correct. The Cradlebloom somehow hijacked your class quest. It somehow put up a firewall, so the signal between us is extremely weak. Took me a while to break through, and even now I only possess communication access. All my other functions are currently blocked.]

"So what the hell is that?"

Pointing one blade toward the swelling bulb, Seo-jin felt dread rolling off the thing in waves. It only got worse when the broodlings attacks failed to leave even a mark. Even Pains flames slid across the surface without effect.

[Most likely the demon the flower was originally creating before you stupidly ate it.]

Thinking back on that moment brought a flash of irritation with himself. Back then, hed devoured the flower because he was terrified something else would steal it first. He hadnt even known if eating it would ruin it. His greed had won.

And staring at the swollen pod overhead, he started to think the flower had taken far more from him than he ever noticed.

Has it been feeding on me?

[I cannot see another way it continued gestation. It must have been siphoning part of your kills]

Twin beams of bloodlight suddenly erupted from the Twinback Serpents, slicing through the roots supporting the bulb. The attacks barely missed the broodlings as they carved clean through. The pod tore loose, slammed into the ground, and shook the entire chamber hard enough to throw dust and wet debris into the air.

[Little upset?]

Im fucking pissed.

Heat spread through the handles of Butchers Wrath. The blades were furious too. The Cradlebloom had fooled both of them.

It almost killed me, fucked with my class quest, and now I find out its been feeding on me this whole time.

His grip tightened until the handles creaked.

This time Im gonna eat it and make sure I shit it out.

His ego burned almost as much as his anger. Not some ancient monster. Not some hidden god. A fucking flower had nearly killed him. Worse, it had hidden inside him, manipulated him into feeding it, and nurtured a threat inside his own damn body.

He felt violated.

Walking forward, bloodlight spilled from Seo-jin in waves. High above, sparks rained from the root ceiling as his aura ground against the killing intent pouring from the Cradlebloom.

Beast. Killer. Weak. Tainted.

And you still ended up in my gut. You already lost to me once. Killing you a second time wont be hard. Youre a fucking weed.

The three brothers landed around him and fell in just behind his back. They could feel the mood rolling off their father. Whatever was inside that pod, the Broodfather wanted first blood.

They were roughly twenty feet away when the pod split open with a wet gasp. Now that he was closer, Seo-jin realized just how massive the thing really was. Nearly seven feet across, the swollen bulb sagged under its own weight, leaking steaming fluid down the roots beneath it.

Pain, roast it.

Without hesitation, the broodling sucked in a deep breath, chest swelling wide before he unleashed a roaring torrent of fire. Heat blasted through the chamber as flames engulfed the bulb, his horns and the mark on his chest burning bright.

While the fire washed over it, Seo-jin closed his eyes for a moment and slowed his breathing. He focused on the cleavers in his hands, feeling for them instead of gripping them. Slowly, he reached for that familiar connection, remembering the weight, the pull, the shape of them...

A quiet shift traveled through the blades.

Smiling, he opening his eyes and released the weapons from his grip. Tendons snapped taut as the cleavers reshaped into two spiked maces.

Swinging both, he spun them faster and faster until they blurred through the air, then with one violent motion he hurled them skyward.

Feeling for the skill again, he activated [Rend].

Both maces swelled midflight. And with one hard yank down, two massive spiked boulders screamed through the flames and crashed down like burning comets.

B-BOOOM!

The impact blasted fire, flesh, and steaming fluid across the chamber.

Shit!

Because the weapons were symbiotic, Seo-jin feltit immediately. He missed.

Yanking Butchers Wrath back toward himself, the tendons snapped hard into his arms

Your le!

Snares warning came too late.

Out of nowhere, before Butchers Wrath could finish returning, a shadow appeared beside Seo-jin. Something slammed into his ribs hard enough to fold his body sideways and send him skipping across the slick meat floor until he crashed through one of the root ribs and tumbled to a stop.

Before the broodlings could even process what happened, all three were blasted away in different directions in sprays of blood. Missing the ribs entirely, they ragdolled across the chamber and vanished into the dark distance.

Fire burned through Seo-jins side. Blood ran warm down his stomach from several deep cuts while both serpents shook violently, trying to clear the daze from the impact.

Its fast.

[Focus!]

He was barely back on his feet when the shadow hit again.

This time Tiamat and Bahamut snapped out in front, intercepting the attack just before it connected. Barely.

The twinbacks locked rigid like crossed swords, but the force still tore Seo-jin off his feet and hurled him back again.

Taking most of the hit, the serpents went limp instantly. Their bodies dangled uselessly as he flew through the air. Pulling them back into himself, he twisted midflight while reeling Butchers Wrath into his grip. Clawed feet and the spikes of the maces dug into the flesh beneath him, carving trenches through meat and blood until he finally skidded to a stop.

Too fast!

Drawing in a sharp breath thick with the smell of burned flesh, he crossed Butchers Wrath in front of himself and roared with everything he had.

The timing landed perfectly.

The instant the weapons took another impacthard enough to quake through his arms and launch him backward againthe soundwaves from his roar smashed directly into the shadows face.

A scream of pain and surprise ripped through the chamber and chased after Seo-jin as he righted himself midair and landed hard.

Not sure if the attack had actually stopped it, he braced for another hit, muscles tight and bleeding hands flexing around the weapons, but none came.

This time, he finally saw clearly what had crawled from the pod.

Are those supposed to be the twinbacks?

[Looks like it.]

A shiver of rage tore through his guts.

Standing there dazed and shaking off Seo-jin's attack, the thing crouched low on eight jagged legs that dug deep into the meat below, each step cracking wet flesh under its weight. Purple-black armor covered its crab-like lower body in layered plates streaked with glowing gold veins that pulsed like blood through rotten arteries. Steam rolled from between the gaps every time it moved.

Its upper body was almost human. Almost.

Pale muscle stretched tight across a massive torso with four long arms hanging at its sides, every movement too smooth, too deliberate. Veins of gold crawled beneath its purple tinted pale skin, branching from the flower fused into the center of its chest. Above the neck floated a crown-like halo of thorned gold wrapped around a single vertical eye. The slit pupil narrowed the moment it locked onto Seo-jin.

And from its back

Seo-jins grip tightened.

Two long worm-like bodies rose over its shoulders. Thick as pythons, their flesh looked wet and half-grown, covered in twitching violet plates split apart by glowing gold cracks. The ends peeled open into circular mouths lined with rows of rotating teeth. Saliva and black fluid dripped steadily from them as they swayed through the air as if searching for movement.

They looked like malformed Twinbacks ripped apart and stitched back wrong.

The thing inhaled sharply. Finally steadied.

Then worm-mouths locked on Seo-jin and opened wider. Matching their movement, the flower in its chest opened as well.

Then all three spoke together.

Inferior.

The word shook the chamber hard enough for slime and wet chunks of flesh to rain from above.

Letting his shoulders loosen just a little, Seo-jin forced his breathing under control and started searching for weaknesses through the things shifting posture.

You can speak. Is it only one word at a time like momma?

Its body straightened slowly, pale muscle tightening beneath cracked gold veins.

Inferior species are not worth the effort. Just die.

Inferior? You think!

CLANG!

He had been waiting for it. The instant one of the legs twitched, Seo-jin snapped Butchers Wrath up and caught the crab demons fist. The impact still launched him backward, claws tearing bloody trenches through the flesh before he landed cleanly this time.

He wasnt surprised when the demon didnt immediately rush him again. Its attention had shifted to the green blood dripping down its arm. When it struck, Seo-jin had angled one of the mace spikes directly into its path.

Thats your blood. Now, no matter what happens, Ill always be the first one to make you bleed. Lets find out if Ill be the last.

The creatures giant eye turned from its wounded hand and locked onto Seo-jin.

Pathetic. I hurt myself.

The bleeding had already stopped. As its fist tightened, the vertical pupil flared with gold light.

He saw nothing leave it. No beam. No projectile. But a split second after the eye flashed, Seo-jim felt heat bloom across his chest like someone had pressed hot nails into his skin.

Looking down, he saw dozens of thin vines forcing their way from his torso, writhing through torn flesh across his chest and stomach. More pushed through his arms and ribs, slick with blood. The second he tried scraping them away, he realized he messed up and got distracted

He wouldnt make the block in time.

Bracing himself, he dug his feet in...but instead of pain...it was Panic.

Flying like a javelin, the broodling intercepted the demon mid-charge, slamming into its face like a cannonshot. The collision cracked through the chamber and sent wind blasting across the clearing.

At the same moment, a torrent of fire washed over Seo-jin just as a massive shadow stretched across the ground beneath them all.

The Brood had finally arrived.

And they were pissed.

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