CHAPTER 140: CHAPTER 140 - QUEEN OF THORNES

Lucie’s breathing came in with sharp gasps as she sprinted through the bushes and branches along the riverside.

She poured mana into the ground, quickly using her shadow element to vanish and travel at lightning speed through shadows from several other trees.

Reappearing on the surface again, she had overtaken both Anthony and Adam.

’Keep going!’ she thought, gritting her teeth.

Suddenly, a loud scream tore through the air behind her.

She glanced back—and her eyes widened.

Adam, who had been all the way at the back, had stopped running.

He had both of his hands raised by his side as he glanced down at his stomach.

A thick, thorn-covered vine had pierced clean through his stomach, the bloody tip twisting around in the air in front of him.

"Ha... haha..." he laughed, his voice choked with disbelief and despair, as blood gushed from the hole.

Anthony and Lucie stared at him in horror, unsure what creature could have done this.

Before either of them could react, a second vine shot forward, penetrating his head.

Then, both of the vines pulled back at a speed that sent shivers down their spines.

As Adam’s body hit the ground, a green humanoid creature emerged—thorny vines coiled around her arms, a wide grin spreading across her face as her glowing eyes locked onto them.

She was beautiful in a strange, unnatural way—her whole body a smooth shade of green, with a blood-red rose blooming from her hair.

’’What is—’’ Anthony started quietly.

But before he could finish, a thorny vine shot forward from the woman’s arm.

The last thing Anthony could see was a flash of light, before his head exploded as the vine pierced through it.

’Fuck,’

Lucie thought, quickly jumping into another shadow. ’Fuck, fuck, fuck.’

’I’m going to die here.’

She crossed several dozens of feet in seconds, before she was forced out of the shadow again.

’I’m going to die.’

The second her head appeared above the ground, her eyes met with the humanoid plant creature that now stood in front of her.

The humanoid plant creature grinned at her and placed her hand on top of her head.

Lucie wanted to scream, but... she couldn’t.

From the plant creature’s hands, dozens of small thorny vines grew.

They bore into her head, ending her life in an instant.

’’Delicious,’’ the creature muttered, licking the blood off her fingers.

Then, her smile faded for a second.

She slowly looked up, eyes narrowing as she sensed someone watching her from afar.

A smile spread across her face before she turned toward the dungeon entrance.

Hidden high in the branches, Logan didn’t move a muscle.

He had watched it, from the moment Adam screamed to the instant Lucie’s body went limp beneath the creature’s touch.

The vines... the screams... that thing’s smile.

His stomach twisted.

’’What did I... unleash?’’ he whispered, almost forgetting to breathe.

Logan’s heart pounded in his ears.

’’No...’’

He watched in silent horror as Adam’s corpse twitched, vines bursting from his body and coiling around his limbs like a puppeteer’s strings.

Finally, a red flower bloomed from his head, glowing faintly.

One by one, the others followed.

Lucie.

Anthony.

Every single one of them stood up again.

’’Un...dead?’’ he whispered.

His stomach churned.

This wasn’t just some ordinary creature. This was a catastrophe.

And he had woken it up.

’’I need to move,’’ he muttered, forcing himself to stay calm. ’’I need to use the chaos to escape.’’

His eyes locked on the creature, which seemed to slowly be making its way over to the dungeon entrance herself.

She walked slowly and gracefully, several thorny vines swirling around her arms with each step she took.

All around her, the dungeon had gone insane.

The treants that had reached the dungeon’s entrance tore up nearby trees, smashing the walls and even cracking the mana barrier set up by humankind.

Other C-rank creatures seemed to have lost any rationality, thrashing around the place wildly and colliding with the dungeon walls.

’They’ve completely lost it,’ Logan thought, slowly moving closer to the dungeon entrance.

Even the ground felt alive, shaking beneath the force of tens of thousands of enraged monsters.

But the vine creature... she moved calmly through it all.

’It’s like she’s a queen... but she’s not leading them,’ he realized, cold sweat evaporating on his back. ’They’re just... destroying everything.’

One of the wolves lunged at her, only to be turned into a cloud of blood at speeds that Logan’s eyes couldn’t follow.

The treants seemed to have more rationality, taking a few steps back as she approached the dungeon’s barrier.

’’What is it trying to do?’’ Logan whispered, jumping into a tree near the dungeon entrance.

The creature walked to the mana barrier slowly, extending her hands to the ground.

Suddenly, dozens of vines shot out from the ground, dripping in purple liquid.

The vines hit hard against the cracked barrier, shaking the entire dungeon.

With one massive explosion, the barrier, meticulously set up by several high-ranking hunters from the Alvarez family, shattered.

Logan’s mouth hung wide open.

’’Shit,’’ he muttered.

A deafening shockwave rippled through the air as the barrier shattered like glass.

Logan clung to the tree as tightly as he could.

Down below, the forest erupted.

The treants let out guttural roars, the wolves howled, and the serpents screeched.

The berserking creatures had found their exit.

And they didn’t hesitate.

Dozens, then hundreds, charged through the shattered opening.

Some climbed over rubble. Weaklings were trampled to death.

And the queen?

She simply walked through the breach, her thorned vines dragging behind her as the creatures dashed around.

Logan’s eyes scanned beneath him.

’’If I go now, I’ll die,’’ he muttered. ’’But if I stay... it won’t be much different.’’

There was no clear path to leave the dungeon, far too many monsters for that.

It was a gamble with death.

But what other option did he have?

With their attention locked on the exit, this was the only opening he’d get.

He took a deep breath, eyes narrowing.

’Now or never,’ he thought, clenching his fist.