20. Understanding Things
The quaking of the forest was not caused by a stampede. Instead, a more sinister foe appeared from the guarding line of trees in the distance. It was the One Thousand Eyed Bird, and it had co to judge the newly ford Accused.
Frost’s heart sunk when she saw it in its entire completeness. The black ball of feathers, and the elusive one thousand eyes was a sight to equally fear as it was to behold. Her blood froze all over as she vividly rembered being at the cusp of death because of this thing.
But she was not the sa weak person anymore.
All this did was fuel the flas in her heart.
“JURY! DO IT NOW!”
Frost was in no position to back away now. They were so close to freeing the Hanged Jury. Additionally, their AGI far outclassed the One Thousand Eyed Bird, so they had a good chance of escaping if things went south. Also, they were not the ones being targeted for judgent this ti.
< Decision of One Thousand Juries Pending >
The Hanged Jury’s eyes glowed with a mysterious light, as did all one thousand eyes of the forest. Frost's companion launched herself into the air like a missile and with one slash – the branch around the Hanged Jury’s throat was severed.
The body fizzled away into a blinding light, as if its soul had been released from its miserable existence. Frost’s eyes instantly seared with a burning pain. A part of those fleeting particles flew directly into her body as she turned to run while cupping her eyes in agony.
< Decision of Nine Hundred and Ninety-Nine Juries Pending >
She was blind.
None of her visual senses registered no matter how many tis she tried to ‘see’. She felt Jury’s hand take a hold of hers as she dragged her straight towards the safety of the tree lines, all the while Frost scread out at the top of her lungs.
The pain was different. It was not like the pain of being stabbed, cut, skewered, or ripped. It could only be described as a pain that endlessly reverberated within her soul. It began at the eyes and spread like wildfire to every region of her body.
She didn’t know what was going on. Did she receive so sort of negative stack? A condition? Frost’s mind was nearly reduced to mush as she dug her nails deeply into her skin, trying to overpower the imnse pain until it suddenly subsided, like it never existed at all.
< Stats from the Hanged Jury Gained >
< Unique Ability Gained >
< ABILITY : Their Innocence >
< See what all cannot >
Nothing but exasperated breaths left her lips. She could see again. More clearly this ti.
Jury seed surprised when she removed her hands. The woman peered closely, infatuated with her eyes for so unknown reason. But Frost was too anguished to notice that sothing about her eyes had changed.
She instinctively knew that sothing was awry. However, there was no way of checking. Even Jury’s eyes couldn’t easily reflect hers.
“Frost good?” Jury tilted her head, oddly calm about the situation even though they were in terrifyingly close proximity to the One Thousand Eyed Bird.
“I’m… I’m good. Urgh… We’re safe now, aren’t we? Thank you, Jury.” Frost managed to weave a smile, still rattled by the experience. “… I will never get used to this. Good work. We completed half of it. Tch. It’s still there…” Frost peered again, watching the giant mass of eyes stand before the lone Accused.
< The One Thousand Eyed Bird Enacts Judgent on the Skewered Beast >
She couldn’t see anything differently. Just clearer. So much clearer in fact that it felt like she possessed another eye. Frost was stunned by the sensation, almost as much as the gaping maw that ford across the body of the oversized bird. Thousands of jagged teeth lined its mouth and with a single gulp, the Accused disappeared.
… 10,000 damage. It’s slow. Terribly slow. But it’s an instant kill.
Frost hardly felt sorry for the bird. It was a Corrupted through and through. Yet there was a part of her that begged her to care.
< Judgent has Been Enacted >
The One Thousand Eyed Bird lumbered away. It looked much slower now that Frost’s AGI was more than triple of the level 150 Corrupted. It still ssed with her mind as to how she was supposed to take out sothing of that insane caliber.
Her attacks were destined to do the bare minimum damage, so unless she could find a way to hit it 300,000 consecutive tis then she was not going to kill it anyti soon.
But as these thoughts circulated in her mind, and as she prepared to restart her battle with the Righteousness, sothing strange happened. The hundreds of black birds turned white. They had transford into doves.
It seed like she was the only one who could see this unfold before her very eyes, as Jury remained unfazed by all of this.
“J-Jury, can you see anything different? At all, over there?” She quickly inquired and pointed towards the white mass.
“Frost?” Jury wondered what she was talking about.
Frost checked their statuses and her eyes widened.
These birds were nad ‘Innocent’.
< Righteousness has Declared the One Thousand Eyed Bird’s Judgent as Prejudice >
< There Was No Skewered Beast >
The Righteousness inexplicably opened fire onto the One Thousand Eyed Bird. It rely managed to eliminate 300 of its HP before the creature itself began to bleed from unseen wounds.
Righteousness | HP : 0
The giant bird did not seem to care or notice the attack. The thorns were stuck along its body as it wandered off into the depths of the Black Forest in search for another skewered beast to judge.
Frost slowly approached the carcass of the creature. It made little sense to her as to why it died so suddenly. She could only imagine it was so sort of effect caused by the One Thousand Eyed Bird.
Though she noticed sothing peculiar upon crouching over its lifeless form.
“… There are probably another nine hundred and ninety-nine of these left. The number went down after I sohow consud the Hanged Jury. The 300 damage doesn’t seem like a coincidence either.” Frost stated as she began to feast on her latest prey. “A thousand of these attacks perfectly matches with the bird’s HP.”
It felt strange eating these creatures all of a sudden.
She couldn’t exactly point out why, but it beca disturbing in an entirely different sense than the bloody, grueso nature. As she and Jury shared the al together, Frost spoke again in between mouthfuls.
“System. This whole thing feels like a fever dream. I’ve probably said that a thousand tis over. But it’s starting to make so sense. There was prejudice. An unfair judgent. I guess you were right about the criminals. It’s strange that this place which was known for executions would have ‘innocents’ being wrongfully judged. It’s like… how do I put it?”
She struggled to put the pieces together. Her mind had deteriorated from all this madness, so thinking about these complex things beca a struggle for her.
“Like a twisted retelling of this forest’s past. Perhaps the truth of it.” The System pieced it together for her.
The sound of munching could be heard as a long silence settled in. Jury happily munched on the creature as Frost stared down at the blood in her hands.
“… I want to ask one more ti, System. What the hell are the Corrupted?” She finally asked.
“I unfortunately do not know. I believe the Beholders may have a better understanding amongst themselves, but you may be the closest to anyone ever truly unraveling their origins.”
“You say that like I can actually back you up. I have no clue at all either. But…”
She had a thought suspended in her mind.
“But?”
Frost sighed right as she received her latest ability.
< Stats from the Righteousness Gained >
< Unique Ability Gained >
< ABILITY : Our Justice >
< See what the heart sees >
< TEMPORARY EFFECT : Enact Judgent. Temporary effect depreciates after judgent is enacted >
“I want to believe that the Corrupted here harbor a piece of the people that this whole tale of the Black Forest is about.”
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