Chapter 5: Subjugation!

It was as if the deer-headed butcher had sensed the murderous intent radiating from Ye Mi. Suddenly, it lifted its hollow deer skull, turning toward the spot where Ye Mi was concealed. With a violent motion, it seized the great blade from the ground and let out a piercing, mournful howl.

“So, I’ve been discovered.”

Ye Mi no longer bothered to hide and stepped slowly out from the shadows. The Rusttide King’s form glimmered with a faint red light, casting a strange, otherworldly hue—like a top-tier predator closing in for the kill.

The deer-headed butcher neither hesitated nor wasted words. Its massive blade, wreathed in icy wind, came crashing down with deadly force.

Ye Mi was ready. Her venomous spear parried the blow with precision, while her left hand transformed into a razor-sharp blade, darting toward the enemy’s chest.

A sharp clang rang out—a familiar sound of metal striking metal—echoing even more clearly by the silent, deserted pool than it ever had within the forest.

But this time, things were different. Now that Ye Mi was fully attuned to her opponent’s tactics, she held nothing back. Each strike of the Rusttide King aimed for a vital point, and silvery liquid flowed ceaselessly from her weapon, seeping into the enemy’s body.

The deer-headed butcher’s movements grew sluggish, weighed down by mounting fury. Its attacks became wilder, abandoning all pretense of defense. Mistaking Ye Mi’s measured assault for mockery, rage overwhelmed reason, and it sought a fight to the death.

Yet Ye Mi’s intentions were misunderstood. All she wanted was to sap its strength until the wounds left it powerless to move. After all, she couldn’t kill it with a single blow—unless she intended to parasite a corpse, which was hardly advantageous.

“It’s over.”

Blinded by rage, the deer-headed butcher left itself open. Ye Mi seized the opportunity—her venomous spear pierced effortlessly through its chest.

After a few feeble struggles, the creature collapsed to its knees. Ye Mi ceased her assault, allowing a tide of silvery liquid to surge into the body, taking full control in an instant.

She tested her new, battered vessel, stepping across the thick, resilient vines toward the center of the pool. Miraculously, the wounds inflicted on the deer-headed butcher by the Rusttide King began to heal, slowly but surely.

During this process, Ye Mi noticed something remarkable: the fruits dangling from a nearby sapling pulsed with the same energy as the Light Ruins.

The yearning for Light Ruins energy emanating from the butcher’s body was achingly familiar. This mysterious element was hastening the healing of its wounds.

Earlier, Ye Mi hadn’t detected any change in the concentration of Light Ruins energy nearby. Although the faint red glow struck a familiar chord, she hadn’t thought much of it. She’d simply never encountered energy in the form of fruit before.

Now, with this realization, she looked closer. She noticed that all the Light Ruins energy in the area was being drawn into the three fruits on the sapling, in a way so subtle as to be almost undetectable.

“Tch.”

Ye Mi was intrigued. She studied the fruits carefully—they were each as large as a grown man’s fist. Once absorbed, the dark red Light Ruins energy was purified, transformed into pearls of brilliance that shone with vivid clarity.

That was likely the reason the deer-headed butcher could heal so quickly beside them.

After all, Ye Mi had never heard that Light Ruins energy could actually mend wounds.

“In that case... let’s call you Healing Fruit for now.”

Ye Mi had always named things with blunt, practical clarity.

As she waited for the wounds to close, she closed her eyes and let the fragments of the deer-headed butcher’s memories wash into her mind.

As the adventurers had guessed, it was once a human being.

The deer-headed butcher had been the chief priest at the Grand Cathedral. When the Light Ruins descended, she was in the midst of preaching. Struggling to survive amid the catastrophe, she prayed desperately for divine aid. In a cruel twist, her prayer was answered by the appearance of a monstrous, mutated deer. She fought for her life and survived, regarding it as a gift from her god, and ate its flesh—thus becoming mutated herself.

The price: her current state, neither human nor ghost.

Unable to resist the alien will that accompanied the mutation, she eventually “awoke” to the realization that the mutated deer might have been a demon’s trap. In her final days of lucidity, only two thoughts remained: a fervent prayer for divine protection, and the resolve to offer sacrifices to her god.

Twisted by the abilities of the mutated deer, her consciousness warped. Sometimes she was lucid; other times, all that remained was instinct, imprinted on her very flesh.

The urge to return to the cathedral drove the deer-headed butcher. Guided by obsession, she made her way back, only to discover, by accident, the Healing Fruit hidden in the forest. She offered it up as another divine gift and took on the role of its guardian.

Thus was born the “ritual” Ye Mi had witnessed in the cathedral. Subconsciously influenced by the deer’s mutation, the butcher saw humans as her greatest enemies and often went out to hunt. The monsters she gathered she considered kin, keeping them on the cathedral’s outskirts to protect its secrets. She allowed them to feed on human prey, believing, from personal experience, that consuming corpses would grant the monsters their victims’ powers and make them stronger.

And so the legend of the deer-headed butcher was born.

After absorbing all this, Ye Mi offered a frank assessment: “…Well, from the perspective of protecting nature and preventing the looting of treasures, humans really are the greatest threat.”

But if one’s strength isn’t enough, nothing can be guarded forever. Guiltless yet doomed by fortune, a jade uncut invites its own misfortune.

After so long guarding the Healing Fruit, the deer-headed butcher was ultimately outmaneuvered by Ye Mi.

Yet this was a mere windfall; Ye Mi’s true target had always been the butcher. Fate had simply run its course.

“It seems I’ll be staying here for a few more days.”

Ye Mi turned her gaze to the distant spire of the cathedral. The night wind whispered through the leaves.

From the butcher’s memories, she knew the Healing Fruit was nearly ripe. She had no objection to waiting here for the harvest before continuing her explorations.

No one would willingly leave a treasure behind.

Ye Mi, controlling the butcher’s body, dressed it once more in its black robe and seated it quietly beside the Healing Fruit.

The deer skull hung low, like a mysterious guardian statue—eerie, yet tinged with elegance.

She decided to leave this body here for the time being.

Her consciousness returned to the Rusttide King. She had no time to idle. Turning away, she vanished into the shadows of the dense forest.

Passing through the thick woods, Ye Mi quickly moved beyond the cathedral’s borders. Beneath the moonlight, the monsters she’d tamed still patrolled, but none could see the Rusttide King, masked with the visage of a god.

She ignored them, heading straight toward Paradise Isle.

Time was short and her mission urgent; she couldn’t afford to linger.

Now, it was time for the next step: to forge an alliance with the Grey Fox Gang if possible, or at the very least, ensure they learned the Defense Bureau’s plans. She had no intention of making things easy for the Bureau.

But before she could negotiate, she needed power—enough to wield true deterrence.

So Ye Mi set out for the most likely place in District Two to find a Rusttide swarm—and bring them under her command.