The Girl With The Red Cloak, The Knight With A Grass Armor

"Maybe I shouldn't be killing the stuff in here…."

Though I could tell that the creatures here were inflicted with the strange orange goo disease they still held a semblance of thought. Ever since I had let go of the little guy I had tried to turn into my pet I had taken more time to analyze my enemies. And they were different.

They still attacked on sight, just like the ones at the crossroads, but these ones were not devoid of thoughts. From what I could see, they were capable of retreating and attacking in ways other than a mindless strike. However, just like the ones at the crossroads it was impossible to reason with them. It was as if they couldn't hear or understand my words.

After letting another off the moss chargers run away I stumbled into the girl with the red cloak looking at me from a little farther ahead once again.

"Heya, if we are gonna keep meeting, we could at least introduce each other. My name is Ghost." I said as I waved my hand in the air.

"..." She simply stared at me through her mask in silence.

"Not much of a talker, eh? Well, that's no problem. I'll call you Blanchette, you remind me of that name with the red cloak."

The girl slightly shook her head for a moment.

"No? Alright, do you mind if I approach you?" I asked as I put my hands up to indicate I wasn't dangerous.

At those words the girl finally spoke.

"Come no closer, Ghost. I know what you are. I know what you'd try to do. I can't allow it."

Keeping my hands in the air I asked.

"You do? I don't even know what I am doing. I am just kinda wandering around if I am being honest. I mean, I am trying to get better at fighting for self defense but that's about it."

The girl stayed quiet for a moment before grabbing the strange needle-like weapon from her back.

"You are different that the ones that came before you. But all that means is that you are even more of a liability. You're not fit for the mission you were created for, you are farther from it than the others I have met."

"...Ok?" I answered a bit confused.

The girl stared at me quietly for a second before jumping down from where she was and meeting me at eye level.

"Take off your mask." She said in a firm tone.

I was starting to feel the signs of danger. And I could feel my muscles being to tense in anticipation of a fight. But I decided to take a leap of faith and remove the mask from my face. And the very next moment I saw her needle flying like an arrow directly at my face.

I threw my body backward causing me to fall down. But using the momentum I rolled on my back and grabbed my nail as I readied for a fight. Yet when I looked at the needle I realized that it had stopped in the air right before where my face was.

The needle returned to the girl as if it was a yoyo and she grabbed it in one swift movement.

"You flinched…" She said with a bit of confusion.

"They never flinch." She muttered to herself.

She looked at me for a moment before speaking.

"I will let you live. But if you keep following the path I expect you to, I will be forced to fight you, and kill you." She spoke with a cold tone before turning around to leave.

"And what path is that exactly?" I asked as I felt the danger around me disappear.

"The same path all of your siblings have followed. The less you know the better. I will keep an eye on you, Ghost." She said as she threw her needle in the distance.

Turning around one final time she said.

"My name is Hornet."

With a tug of the thread around the needle, she suddenly flew away as if she were some weird spiderman.

"..."

I was a bit stunned for a moment. I guess I have siblings now. I wonder if I will ever meet one. From what Red Riding Hood just said they must be a bit weird. Or well I guess I am the weird one according to her.

"Alright then." I said to myself before standing up and putting my mask back on.

I wasn't really sure what to do about the girl, so I was just going to throw it in the back of my head. For now, all I can do is grow stronger so that I will be able to prevent myself from getting killed.

Moving right along I saw her making her way up in the distance and looking at the path ahead of me.

'Alright, I guess I am not going that way…' I thought to myself before heading straight ahead.

— — —

'Alright, I guess I am.'

I had tried to go through two different routes instead of this one, but one had a gate blocking the way and the other had a bunch of thorns that I would be able to cross through unless I learned how to fly.

So the same way as Hornet it is. While I could turn back I felt it would be a waste not to go that way. I mean, she did say she wasn't gonna kill me as long as I didn't do the same thing as my sibling, and it would be kind of stupid to lead me where I am not supposed to go.

So I am going up, up, and away!

The whole trip was pretty easy thanks to all of the vines and conveniently placed platforms on the way. And even though I had stopped my kill everything in sight spree I was still able to somewhat neutralize the creatures in my way with some good hits in the back of the knee before rushing ahead.

When I finally made my way up I saw a huge pile of leaves in front of me with a helmet on top of it.

'Really, it does get a bit obvious when every person around here uses grass as a disguise.' I thought as I began to charge up a vengeful spirit.

Putting all of the soul I had into it I created a massive ball of soul that fired from my hands directly hitting the pile of leaves.

A large humanoid creature let out a loud cry of pain before standing up to reveal his grass-covered armor, nail, and shield.

"A knight?" I asked myself before rushing forward towards it.

The knight took a fighting stance, something I had never seen any other infected creature do, which made me hesitate for a moment.

"Can you understand me?" I asked as I readied my nail.

Yet instead of answering, the knight swung his nail in my direction. Yet the movements proved to be a bit sluggish after the vengeful spirit had done some damage to his insides. Parrying the strike with my own nail I saw his body become exposed for a second before he regained his standing and blocked with the shell in his hand he was using as a shield. But now I was close enough to see the faint orange glow behind his helmet.

"Listen, I don't know if you are in there somewhere, but if you can understand me give me some sort of sign. Let out a scream or something!' I shouted as I saw the knight raise his sword before moving it with skill in my direction.

The strikes held determination within them, they had all been precisely directed towards where it would be the most deadly to strike.

It didn't make sense, they were aware, they had thoughts, yet they seemed to be in some sort of trance. At first, I decided that the infected were a lost cause since they had no rationality in their actions. But Greenpath had shown me that I was wrong. And if there was a chance to revert whatever had caused this I wanted to look for it.

"Ok, big dude, let's do this. Maybe I can knock some sense into your head."

~AN~

I wanna write more because I really like the story but I am so damn busy. See ya all as soon as I can.