Chapter 66
The Fox Mask was the same red color as her hair and had to be fastened to her face by tying the strings. Since its effect would activate the moment she put it on, Cynthia decided to save it for later and placed it in her inventory.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Cynthia took a deep breath and lifted her head.
Unlike the Spring Flower Garden, the Moon Flower Garden was draped in a dark, gloomy night sky, and an eerie air filled the space.
If the Spring Flower Garden was full of blue skies and all sorts of beautiful spring flowers, the Moon Flower Garden created a terrifying atmosphere with thorny bushes, trees with needle-like dry branches, and grotesquely twisted flowers beneath a pitch-black sky.
As she walked along a path shrouded in darkness, so strange-looking it made her doubt whether any of this could even be called a garden, creatures began to appear. Cynthia quickly hid herself behind a nearby twisted tree.
A gigantic snake with a white body covered in blotchy black patterns was slithering slowly along one corner of the garden. Soon, it raised its midsection and lifted its head.
Where the snake’s head should have been was a massive, writhing red mass of flesh.
Kkeugeugeuk, kkoguk…!
To be precise, it was a tangled mass of flesh-like tentacles.
Compared to the white plant tentacles that had toyed with Cynthia just before she escaped the Spring Flower Garden, these were on a whole different level. The wildly writhing red flesh was grotesquely revolting, even just to look at.
The squirming mass soon split apart into many thin strands, like threads of flesh. Because of this, the inside opened wide, almost like a freshly-bloomed flower.
A giant eyeball popped out from inside, scanning ahead. At that very moment, a Ghost Rat that happened to be passing in front of it turned to stone on the spot.
Kkeugeugeuk…!
The snake, known as the ‘Gorgon’, slithered slowly toward the petrified Ghost Rat, extending thread-like flesh tendrils to wrap around it.
The eyeball disappeared inside, and in its place, sharp teeth emerged, chewing up the petrified rat like it was nothing.
Cynthia didn’t keep watching the disgusting scene any longer. She had been hoping that the creatures here would be dead as well, but unfortunately, they were all alive and well. In fact, these things were even more horrifying than those in the Spring Flower Garden.
‘Looks like that mysterious helpful being was a little late getting here. I almost miss Sellie.’
At that moment, the Gorgon was busy eating, and its eating pace was very slow. Cynthia took the opportunity to quickly pull out the Fox Mask and put it on.
She had to get out of here before the time ran out.
Recalling the internal layout of the Moon Flower Garden she’d checked on the map, Cynthia knew the Gorgon’s territory was vast. Once you escaped a certain area, it wouldn’t appear again, but if you were noticed even once, it would relentlessly chase you until you left its territory.
Luckily, because Cynthia had the Fox Mask on, she hadn’t been detected by the Gorgon.
‘If Sellie were here, he’d slice that thing in half in an instant.’
Cynthia felt her separation from Segleninde all the more acutely in that moment.
She was careful not to let even her clothes brush against the Gorgon’s long body as she passed by. The Gorgon, having finished its meal, slithered slowly away, seemingly unaware of Cynthia’s presence.
Relieved, she muffled even her footsteps as she crept past the Gorgon, heading for the exit of its territory.
She slipped past a large, black, twisted tree and rounded an old, dilapidated fountain—when, the moment she accidentally touched the fountain, a stream of blood-red water suddenly spurted out.
“Eek!”
At the sound, the Gorgon turned from afar and started heading in her direction.
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