Dawn broke bloody, the sky streaked crimson like someone had slashed it open and let it bleed. I hadn't slept. Couldn't. The hellfire peppers still smoldered in the field, tiny wisps of smoke curling from their glossy skins, and the air tasted like charred bone and victory. The scarecrow stood sentinel again, arms drooping innocently, but I knew better now—it had tasted blood once, and it remembered.
I was gathering the ash from the demons—black, glittering dust that smelled faintly of sulfur—when the ground started trembling.
Not like before. Not a polite rumble.
This was deep, angry, hungry.
The horizon darkened. Shapes poured over the ridge—dozens at first, then hundreds. Beasts. Twisted things born from the Cataclysm's leftover rage: hulking wolf-things with bone plates for fur, serpents with too many heads, boars the size of wagons with tusks like blackened steel. Their eyes glowed red, drawn by the demonic essence I'd just unleashed like a beacon in the night.
A horde.
Coming straight for my field.
Sprout Quill zipped up to my face, leaves trembling. "Host! That's not a patrol—that's an extinction event! We're fertilizer!"
I stood slowly, silver hair whipping in the sudden hot wind they brought with them. The plants around me went rigid, whispers turning sharp and urgent: *They come to take. They come to burn. Protect us. Feed us their corpses.*
I smiled.
"Then let's feed them."
The first wave hit the edge of the field—three massive boars, tusks lowered, charging like living battering rams. I didn't run. I reached down, yanked a hellfire pepper free, and hurled it like a grenade.
It detonated on the lead boar's snout. Crimson flames roared outward, engulfing the beast in a screaming inferno. It thrashed, collapsed, and burned to ash in seconds. The other two skidded to a halt, snorting, confused.
I didn't give them time to rethink.
I crushed two more peppers between my palms.
[Essence Pulse – Demonic Barrage]
Crimson light exploded in a wide arc. Hellfire vines erupted from the soil—thick, thorny, blazing—whipping through the air like living whips. They lashed the boars, wrapped around legs, dragged them down. Peppers burst on impact, turning flesh to char. Screams filled the morning air, high and animal and terrified.
The horde didn't stop. They never do. More poured in—wolves now, leaping over their burning kin, jaws snapping.
I moved.
I darted between the rows, silver hair flashing like moonlight on steel. A wolf lunged—I sidestepped, grabbed a radish the size of my forearm, and drove it into the beast's eye like a stake. The radish pulsed once, then detonated inside its skull. Green essence sprayed outward, mixed with blood and brains. The wolf dropped, twitching.
Another came from the side. I spun, kicked it in the jaw—essence surged through my leg, bone cracked—and followed with a tomato straight to the throat. It burst on contact. Soul-rending essence ate inward. The wolf convulsed, eyes rolling white, then went still.
The field was alive now. Every plant fought.
Vines rose like serpents. Scarecrow swung scythe-arms in wide, brutal arcs. Tomatoes detonated in clusters, turning groups of beasts into smoking craters. Radishes swelled and burst, launching essence shards like arrows. Peppers rained fire.
I laughed—wild, breathless, exhilarated—as I harvested mid-battle. I ripped a radish free, bit into it raw. Power flooded me.
[Stamina +40%]
[Divine Essence Absorption: +0.45%]
[Seed Whisperer → Level 3]
[You can now command basic plant actions in combat]
The whispers became orders.
*Strike left.*
*Bind the serpent.*
*Burn the pack.*
I obeyed.
A massive serpent reared—seven heads, venom dripping black. I pointed. Hellfire vines surged upward, wrapped every neck, pulled tight. Peppers detonated along its length. The heads screamed in unison, then charred and fell.
The horde thinned.
Bodies piled—ash, bone, smoking fur. The ground drank it all, soil turning richer, darker, greedier. My plants grew taller with every kill, leaves spreading wider, fruits swelling fatter.
Then the last beast fell—a lone wolf, limping, eyes wide with something almost like fear.
It looked at me.
I looked back.
I raised one last hellfire pepper.
It whimpered.
I lowered my hand.
The wolf turned and fled, tail between legs, disappearing over the ridge.
Silence returned.
Smoke rose in lazy spirals. The field was a battlefield of corpses and glowing crops.
I stood in the center, chest heaving, silver hair streaked with ash and blood that wasn't mine. My overalls were torn, hands black with soot, but I felt… alive. More alive than I ever had in my previous life.
[Mass Harvest Complete]
[Beast Essence Absorbed ×87]
[New Function Unlocked: Fertilizer Conversion – Beast Corpses → Nutrient Surge]
[Farm Expansion: +20% Area]
[New Companion Unlocked: Potato Golem (Level 1)]
The ground rumbled again—gentle this time. A mound rose near the shed. Soil parted. A hulking figure emerged: broad, lumpy, made entirely of potatoes fused together with glowing green veins. It stood twice my height, arms like tree trunks, eyes two glowing radish slices.
It looked at me.
Then it bowed—awkward, potato shoulders creaking.
Sprout Quill floated beside me, voice soft with wonder. "Host… you just turned a demon-attracting massacre into a loyal pet. And a farm upgrade. And dinner for a month."
I reached out, pressed a palm to the golem's chest. It thrummed warmly under my touch.
"Welcome to the family," I whispered.
The golem rumbled—a low, contented sound.
Far beyond the ridge, the fleeing wolf paused, looked back once.
Then kept running.
And in a distant palace of shadows and blood, Kael Nocturne paused mid-stride, nostrils flaring.
He smelled smoke.
He smelled power.
He smelled her.
A slow, dangerous smile curved his lips.
"Soon," he murmured to the empty hall.
"Soon."