> "You do not enter the Cradle. The Cradle enters you."
—Unknown Survivor, Last Log Entry
---
48 hours passed.
In the Transition Zone, time was a thread unraveling in silence. When the countdown hit zero, the light shattered around Lian and his team like a glass mirror being struck by invisible fists.
Then came the pain.
It wasn't a portal. It wasn't a transfer. It was birth.
The world birthed them.
Lian gasped as he fell face-first into something soft, moist—and alive.
He pushed up. The ground pulsated beneath his hands.
Veins. Muscle. Fibrous strands.
The entire terrain pulsed like a massive biological entity. Trees were tendons, their leaves like stretched membranes. Mountains were spines of dead gods. Rivers flowed with corrupted blood.
Welcome to the Cradle of Thorns.
---
System Prompt
> [World Entry: Tier 3 – Level 5: The Cradle of Thorns]
World Type: Demonic-Biotech Hybrid
Main Objective: Destroy the Seed of Rot before it matures (Cycle: 28 Days)
Secondary Objective: Resist corruption for 28 days
Failure Consequence: Soul corruption, irreversible. No rebirth. No rescue.
> Special Note: All healing items now have a 60% chance of mutating the user. Proceed with caution.
---
Jayce dry-heaved behind him.
> "I think the trees are breathing."
Boom stomped the ground and scowled.
> "This whole planet's alive. And pissed."
Astra stood silently, her body wrapped in a shimmering aura from the soul-stabilizer. She looked thinner. Paler. But her eyes? Still sharp.
> "This world isn't a test. It's a punishment."
Melia said nothing. She was praying again, but softly. Like she didn't trust the words to come out right.
---
First Blood
They barely walked ten minutes before the first ambush came.
It wasn't monsters that attacked. It was terrain.
Vines lashed up from the flesh-ground, snapping like whips. One pierced Boom's shoulder, lifting him off the ground and slamming him into a tumor-tree. He screamed.
Lian acted without hesitation.
> Skill Activated: Coin-Thread Slash
Cost: 10 coins
Effect: Launch a condensed slash of coin-force, piercing up to 3 organic targets.
The vine dropped Boom and screeched like a dying beast. Jayce threw down a laughing bomb, illuminating the area in strobe flashes.
Then came the real enemies.
Bipedal things. Once humans. Now with mouths in their stomachs, blades instead of arms, and an endless scream echoing from their bodies. They smelled like diseased milk and bile.
One charged Melia.
She held up her staff—and hesitated.
Her faith was broken.
The creature's blade-arm slashed—only to be blocked by Astra.
She took the hit to her side, grunting, then drove her elbow into the monster's throat and stabbed upward with a concealed shard of pure timeline energy.
The thing died hissing, and melted into rot.
---
Aftermath
They won. But not without cost.
Boom lost 13% health. Melia was trembling. Astra coughed blood when no one was looking.
Lian felt the rot crawling at the edge of his mind.
He checked the system.
> Rot Level: 4%
Warning: At 10%, hallucinations may begin. At 25%, permanent mutation.
> Coin Balance: 19
"Damn it…"
They couldn't rest. The terrain pulsed constantly, alive and aware. No safe zones. No reprieve.
They walked until the skies turned black and thorned meteors rained from above.
They found a cave—partly collapsed—and hid inside.
---
Choices in the Dark
> "We need to talk," Astra said, barely able to stand. "This world won't let us survive by playing fair. We need to sacrifice."
> "Who?" Jayce asked, not even laughing. "We're not killing each other."
> "No," she said. "We need to start raiding. Other survivors. Other teams. We take what they have, or we die here."
Silence.
Lian stared into the fireless glow of his coin screen. His mind screamed against it. But her logic was sound.
The world would not let them all survive.
> [System Warning: Mutated Wanderer Squad nearby – Estimated ETA: 3 hours]
Decision Required: Escape deeper into biome, or prepare ambush and risk further corruption]
Lian had to choose.
Escape – safer, but the terrain would increase their rot percentage.
Ambush – higher battle risk, but potential loot and coin recovery.
He closed his eyes.
> "We ambush."
Boom nodded slowly. Jayce sighed. Melia said nothing.
Astra smiled.
> "Good. Then we survive the only way left—ugly."
---
End of Chapter 62