"Do you still have that antidote of yours?"
Inase stretched his arms, warming up his body—he was preparing for a hard battle.
His eyes didn't leave the red haze. It surrounded the tree like a protective barrier, so they'd have to breathe it in if they were to walk closer—it'd be too easy otherwise, right?
"Mm."
The scientist rummaged through his belt, plucked a glass flask, and tossed it for Inase to catch.
Without a word, they both drank it. Bitter medicine burned down their throats, leaving behind a metallic aftertaste.
Next, Hosen tore a strip from his long coat and handed half to his buddy. Inase tied the makeshift mask across his face and smirked.
"We look like outlaws preparing for a robbery."
To which Hosen shrugged. Seemed like long clothes were useful during their missions after all.
"So what? Shall we burn it up?" The blonde continued as he tugged a glove tighter.
Hosen pondered the guy's odd idea. With what?Did he smuggle a lighter or something…?
"Don't think creating a spark is a good idea." From the way the poisonous mist stenched, it was laced with flammable chemicals. "I smell sulfur in the air. One stupid move and the entire forest will go up in flames. Us with it."
He tightened his belt so his vials wouldn't rattle loose.
"Well then." Inase rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles. "Guess we gotta go the old route and beat the shit out of it." His grip steadied around the hilt of his knife.
"Indeed."
Standing up, Hosen dusted off.
The forest opened up into a clearing where the Upas tree loomed. Overhead, the canopy broke apart, revealing a colossal tree that swallowed the sky in the very middle.
The sheer immensity of it could not be contained in a single glance. Only when their eyes tracked upward—higher, and higher—did they feel the weight of its overwhelming scale. Their silhouettes, two men against a giant, seemed almost laughable.
Still, they had to do it.
A suffocating stillness hung in the air, charged with menace, as though the world itself was holding its breath. It did not move—yet its presence pressed down on them, vast and immovable.
They exchanged a glance.
"Let's get to it." Inase sneered.
At last, ready and prepared, they took their first step forward.
The mist thickened the closer they drew. Scarlet coils wrapped around their throats like phantom hands. Every breath tasted like rust. Thank the universe they had protective measures against it.
"..."
At first, the tree did not stir. Then, the ground tremored.
Feeling endangered, it woke in full. Its branches twisted free, turning the flower-maws to face them.
"Here they come."
Swoosh—they lunged at once with terrifying force, maws snapping shut, chewing through stone and splintering nearby trunks.
Inase sprinted ahead, dodging between roots with feral agility. His blade carved into the nearest one, severing bark and sap in a single strike. The twig recoiled while the air rattled the canopy.
Hosen ducked under another, just as it snapped past his head, tearing through the earth where he'd stood. His boots slid across loose, swamplike soil, but he stabilized himself. Looking ahead, he was still far from its thick, swollen trunk.
More came alive. They slammed, they wrapped, they lashed. Like a serpent's nest of wood and teeth, but his eyes were locked onto his target.
Above, Inase vaulted—he blurred through the storm of branches. He climbed, leapt, rebounded off writhing branches as if the tree were his personal playground. Dashed into the chaos with reckless grace, springing from one appendage to another.
Coils lashed with violent force around him in an attempt to ensnare, crush, and squash him like an annoying fly, but the blonde met them head-on. He pressed forward, his motion a feral precision, hacking and slashing until the air reeked of iron and rot.
He ducked beneath a whipping tendril, hurled onto another, and used its own momentum to fling himself up, driving his blade deep. His feral agility surprised even himself.
Each strike of his blade severed another wooden limb, climbing higher.
A maw snapped open at him, so he twisted mid-air, his blade plunging into its flower. It unraveled, its petals revealed a bulging eye in its center, ripping like a forbidden fruit.
He swung to poke out the eyeball. But the tree retaliated faster.
A thorned branch lashed across his chest, slamming him into the spiked trunk. His skin was skewered with thorns—pinned to it like a butterfly on display.
"Argh!"
Pain ripped through him as the bark's jagged spikes bit into his skin, sinking deeper and hooking into him.
But Inase only gritted his teeth. Clinging to the jagged surface, he pushed himself off again with reckless fury—tearing flesh from his arms and shoulders.
"Damnit, thing's got thorns everywhere!"
However, to him, it was nothing; he had been through worse.
He didn't stop. Scrambling up the spikes of the wide trunk, he kept dodging the whipping branches like a mad acrobat. Higher and higher, his knife tore through the carnivorous blossoms, using more spikes along the way as a stepping stone. All to strike at its crown.
His knife plunged into the eyeballs as if he were popping balloons at a birthday party. Fun. Each strike released a burst of toxic pollen, choking the air in crimson clouds that were thicker and heavier, coating his skin in sweat and blood.
Meanwhile, below, Hosen broke off toward the trunk's base, slipping out of sight after Inase drew the monster's attention.
His mind raced, smashing the empty antidote vial against a root until its glass bottom shattered clean, jagged edges glinting ominously in the haze.
Steadying himself, he climbed atop the bulging undergrowth. With the improvised blade, he pressed his hand against the bark, aiming the sharp edge of the flask straight at the trunk.
Without hesitation, Hosen jabbed it in and carved out a rune. The same one he used against the flying polyps.
This should work—he thought.
But it didn't. When he finished, the rune glowed faintly. Then it fizzled—the bark resisted his spell entirely.
Unlike its illusions, the tree rejected his craft.
"Shit-"
His mind panicked when—
A shadow loomed. A massive branch swept across, faster than thunder, slamming into him before he could move.
"Gah-!"
The impact threw him across the swampy ground, ribs cracking as he rolled. His skull struck stone, his vision spun violently.
"Ugh…"
Dazed, he raised a trembling hand to his temple—magenta blood smeared his fingers. That disgusting color again; the only one that stayed with him all this time...
In the crown, Inase soared between the thrashing branches like a feral Tarzan, holding onto them with his thick gloves and carving into the bark to expose the tree's vulnerable spots. Warm sap bled onto his kerchief.
"Too easy," said confidently, until the air suddenly shifted.
The tree felt endangered—the ground convulsed, wiping that mischievous smirk from the blonde's mouth. With a hollow crack, thick roots tore free, peeling away from the soil's steady grip.
"Uh-oh."
The colossal trunk heaved upward—leaving a massive hole where it stood. A chorus of groans and splinters echoed as it straightened, towering unnaturally on its tangled, wooden appendages—its makeshift legs.
The canopy swayed with a sick grace. Bark cracked, revealing inner veins swollen with bloody sap.
The Upas tree walked.
In that moment, it was no longer a mere plant, but a wandering nightmare, severed from earth.
"You couldn't be creepier, could you."
Inase's brow twitched before he slid beneath a crashing offshoot, blade slicing clean through.
The tree's anchors moved.
Instead of dodging the next strike, the blonde sprinted alongside it, using the massive arch as a bridge. He sprang high, flipping over branches, and drove his blade deep into the crown. He tore through blossoms in a wild frenzy, scraping down the trunk as if he was skinning it alive—until he reached the bottom.
"Don't you dare run away, coward!"
There, he continued his onslaught, knowing he had to stop it from walking.
The best way to do it? Cut them all off.
His steel flashed, biting through root after root as if carving through muscle and sinew. The forest thundered with the sound of splintering wood and cracking earth, but even as he tore through the writhing mass, more rose to take their place.
"It's no use, huh." He clicked his tongue.
Too many. His attempts would slow it down, but it wouldn't kill it.
Inase turned his head in the direction of his partner.
"Hey, doc!" he shouted through the choking fog, landing in a crouch on one of the higher branches, "Any bright ideas? Because I'm running outta steam over here!"
His voice rang in the white-hair's dizzy mind. Blood obscured his vision in the nasty shade of pink.
Think, Hosen. Think. How to destroy it?
"The tears of the forgotten…" Through the pain, he barely recalled the nineteenth-century diaries left by some high-ranking military officers on their expeditions. "A tree that fed on sorrow could be undone by grief deeper than its own."
Of those erased from history—spirits of no name, no grave, no memory… Of beings such as the Elk Goddess herself. She, who was forgotten by her own people, was a perfect candidate. They could ask for her tears and defeated it with these—
"No. It's pointless." His head shook, realizing a crucial detail. "She would have already tried it."
She couldn't hurt another being that belonged to her without paying a price for it—such was her burden.
"Which means, she had failed."
And not able to end it herself, she approached them for another solution.
But what did she need from them exactly?
"I don't know..."
Hosen wasn't able to guess what this unreadable being had in mind, nor was he a member of her cult to hear her telepathic thoughts. His respect toward her was one thing, but joining her in devotion was out of the question. He wasn't that insane.
The scientist staggered to his feet, mind reeling, jaw tightened, head bleeding.
What did she whisper before she left?
Ah, he remembered.
"Vra'hnal… Thae Asul'neth, Thae Drog'hath."
The words burned in his head.
Vra'hnal… blood. Thae Asul'neth... the Untainted. And Thae Drog'hath…
His teeth clenched, refusing to finish deciphering.
He didn't like it. That name she had used, again and again—its weight pressed on him. But there was no time to dwell. It was this—or nothing; the tree was moments from escaping.
Hosen looked up at the Inase, who still danced between the roots, and made his choice.
He snatched the shattered vial from the ground and lunged forward, weaving between roots and scrambling onto the trunk. Pausing at the top, he pressed his lips tight, readying himself for the searing pain to come.
Hosen's hand was already in a terrible condition. His fingers trembled, but... he had to do it.
He drew the sharp edge to his palm, and sucking his breath in, he pierced it through in one clean swipe.
Pain spread through his nerves as magenta blood welled out, cascading like a waterfall onto its thick, moving roots.
"Give me your blood!" through clenched teeth, he called out to the other, "We don't have time."
Above, Inase scrambled up a flailing branch, hanging upside down as another maw snapped beneath him. He barked a laugh at the scientist's bold move, remembering the last time he needed his blood.
"You're into weird stuff—but fine!" said the guy who got off on danger.
He sliced his palm open with his own knife without so much as a wink, since he didn't have a single doubt in Hosen's words.
Letting go of another stem, he slid down the trunk, dodging the flowers with reckless ease. A branch swung for him—he launched himself straight into it, vaulted from its tip once again, before he came crashing down beside Hosen.
The tree thrashed, sensing their killing intent. Its tendrils battered the ground in fury, desperate to squash them before they could act.
A massive root surged high, its shadow swallowing them as it arched overhead, poised to crash down with the weight of a mountain.
As they were about to dodge, Inase and Hosen didn't realize that thin, wooden tendrils wrapped around their ankles. They had nowhere to run—pinned between coils and trunk, the strike would pulp them where they stood.
The roots tightened like a vice. The air itself seemed to thicken with the tree's malice, suffocating and final.
"Get ready for impact, doc." Guided by instinct, Inase swiped the knife along his ankle and severed the ties, even though he knew it was too late—the killing blow was already falling. "It might hurt a little-"
Muscles straining, eyes closed—they braced themselves.
But suddenly—an arrow cut through the wood, whistling with divine force. It struck the bark, and, splitting it in half, it revealed raw flesh beneath.
The vine-crafted bolt whistled through the air, piercing the trunk and splitting the space between the two with precision.
The mark of Yhoundeh spread onto the tree, binding it in place.
"She… helped us," Hosen muttered in disbelief, knowing the arrow had cost her dearly.
She couldn't hurt her own kin, and yet, here she was... Acting against the weight of her burden, against the price she had sworn never to pay again.
A high risk and a higher price.
The tendrils slackened for a heartbeat. Just enough.
"Then we can't waste this chance!" Inase whipped his bloodied hand around.
Seizing the moment, they clung to the wounded bark. Pressing their cuts against the exposed innards.
Crimson seeped into the ridges, trickling down to the sinews, until it sank into the monster's veins. Mixing together, it glowed faintly.
The Blood of the Untainted and the Cursed—united. A paradox of purity and corruption, turning the poison against itself.
The reaction was instant.
The tree's movements faltered, each thrash weaker than the last.
The glow spread deeper into the trunk.
An inhuman howl echoed, which made the forest recoil.
The Upas tree tremored. Convulsed. Branches snapped, trying to tear themselves free. Roots fractured into sharp splinters. Blossoms withered in bursts of colorless rot from within.
Then, its bark cracked open. Groaning, the massive pillar shriveled, collapsing in on itself.
In its final gesture, a lone bloom burst across its crown, scattering thousands of crimson petals into the air, as if it exuded all life force from itself. Gorgeous cascade of flowers drifted down like a bloodstained snowfall, carpeting the ground in a hauntingly beautiful shroud.
The air carried the scent of iron and wilted flowers.
"Whoa…" Inase gasped in awe.
The last view before the tree turned to ashes captivated their eyes. The two stood on the ground made by a thick coat of red carpet.
And with a final shudder, the Upas tree fell.
A blast of poisonous fog expelled from its corpse, forcing the two to pull on their kerchiefs.
Soon, a gust of clean wind rushed through the clearing, sweeping away the red wave.
Then came silence. The forest seemed to hold its breath. Every sound—the rustling leaves, the distant wind—fell silent.
...it was over.
Hosen pulled his hand back, blood still dripping from his palm. The glass shard trembled in his fingers.
Inase stood beside him, watching the monstrous trunk sag in defeat. His chest heaved, sweat stinging his eyes, but his grin—sharp as ever—did not falter.
"What a cutie." He chuckled with irony. "It's giving us a warm farewell."
"If only it were this docile from the beginning," Hosen muttered grumpily.
Yet, even as relief washed over him, a weight pressed against his thoughts—something left unfinished.
The canopies of the surrounding trees swayed, hiding a whisper with a rustle. Soft and elusive, drifting as it bounced from leaf to leaf.
Somewhere in the bushes, the faint outline of Yhoundeh flickered, weaker than ever—barely visible to mortal eyes. She lingered for a moment, as if watching them, before she faded away.
She had paid her price.
"Veyruk'tah…"
The voice of the goddess sounded… but the two men couldn't recognize it anymore. Whose was it?
***
In the end, they couldn't even pinpoint the exact time they had been thrown into. A shame—but sometimes, that was just how it went.
Inase and Hosen stood in silence, shoulders heavy, wounds burning. They didn't even have the energy to while away the time with chatter.
The only challenge left was the way home. They had to return to the place where they'd first been dropped—the portal would reappear there, as it always did. Until then, all they could do was wait.
Behind them, the corpse of the Upas Tree leaned in crooked stillness. Swept up by the wind, its ashes disappeared forever.
Their steps carried them back through the rainforest (Hosen refused to call it anything else) until the portal yawned open before them.
"Heh…" Inase chuckled hoarsely, "Here's our ride."
And as their feet crossed the shimmering border, Inase's grin lingered, crimson-smeared, as though mocking their ordeal.