"Ahhhh!" One of Grove's teammates screamed in pain. A tree branch was growing at the side of his neck. He wasn't the only one affected; there were many others. "Captain, please save me." The male player cries out.

'Now that you are in trouble, you choose to recognize me as your captain?' Grove inwardly scoffs. He didn't want to be nice to those who haven't always been his supporters. Now that they were dying, he had no reason to coax them over with kind words for their support.

"Wait for the healer. You aren't the only one that has been affected by this strange disease."

The male player screamed again as he tried to move his neck that had been bent to the side because of the growth.

"Don't be a baby!" Grove scowls and scratches the back of his calf that had been itching him badly for days now; his right arm also gave him a bad itch. Seeing how disgusting those around him were made his skin crawl and his itching bad each day. He had thought of just killing those that were affected and then taking a proper bath; that would make his itching skin go away. But Grove couldn't kill anyone because too many eyes were watching him; the others won't be silent if he turns his back on those who are sick.

"Captain." A healer runs over to Grove in fright.

Grove didn't understand the worry expressed in the healer's eyes until he looked at the healer's palm, where something was poking out of it after ripping his skin apart.

"I have been infected." The healer cried out.

Grove scratched his right arm and took a measured step against the healer as he faked a worried expression when the only thing he wanted to do was use his blade to cut the infected player down. "How? Was it from trying to heal those who have been affected?"

Hope drained out of the male player's eyes, who watched the healer showing his infected palm; without thinking, he took out his sword towards the branch poking at the side of his neck and fearfully cut off a part of it.

The sound of the metal blade caught Grove's and the healer's attention. Grove thought the player was about to put himself out of his misery by killing himself, but he didn't. The tree branches cut out of the player's neck grew back immediately with violence, creating other tree branches that made the player look as though he had two heads.

Grove cringed at the snap sound of the player's neck. He thought the annoying infected player was dead, but he was still alive. Saliva poured helplessly out of his mouth, and he made choking sounds as he stretched his hand towards Grove in a plea for help.

"What are you trying to say?" Grove lowered his head towards the player sitting on the ground, his sword forgotten as he choked and tried to touch Grove but stopped when he noticed the small crooked smile on Grove's lip. Betrayal fills his eyes as he frowns and chokes more aggressively.

'I'm glad that his voice is gone.' Grove thought and avoided the player's hand, rising to his feet.

"From what we have seen, it's best we inform others not to try something as stupid as cutting the growth coming out of their skins. The results." He glanced at the struggling, choking player and shook his head. "It kills all hopes of saving them."

The healer beside him nodded; he was in thought. "Captain, I think the one who did this to us is that bitch, Lila. If we can just find that hateful bitch and kill her, I'm sure that everyone will be back to normal."

Grove stroked his chin; the same thought had crossed his mind. He regretted not keeping a close eye on Lila. Since the day she disappeared, no matter how much he searches, he can't find her. Although, if Grove was being honest with himself, he didn't do much searching for Lila and had hoped that she ended up dead somewhere with her strange disease.

"Do you think that bitch is still alive?" Grove asked.

"I'm sure that she's still alive," the healer answers in anger. "Let's search for her before things become too late for us."

Grove controlled himself from chuckling out loud; he was amused by the healer's word, because for him, there was no 'us.' He wasn't infected, and he intended to protect himself with magic to make sure that he never got infected.

After half an hour of searching for Lila, Grove felt his consciousness slip away. "Devour!" He heard the chants of countless voices around him and wondered what kind of weird dream he was having. "The Master wants to devour!"

Grove felt himself floating; the ache at the back of his head made him snap his eyes open. He wasn't dreaming, and the only reason he felt himself floating was because he was being carried away. His hands and legs were held in a tight grip.

Fear filled Grove's heart when he turned to his left and realized that he was being carried away by monsters. He angrily wondered if his teammates left him behind, but his thought process stopped when he saw human flesh on one of the monster faces that wasn't fully covered by roots yet.

'Wait. These monsters are my teammates.' Grove thought. The root on the healer's face was growing slowly, swallowing his flesh, while he kept muttering "devour" with the other players who had turned into monsters.

Magic flames cover Grove's hands and feet, burning down those who held him.

"Ahhhhh!" Grove screamed from immense pain as he finally noticed the tree growth in his right arm and the calf of his leg that wasn't itching him anymore.

'These bastard.' Grove gritted his teeth in rage. He suspected that his teammates, who he went on a search with, were the ones who put him to sleep and infected him with their strange disease.

"I'm going to burn every one of you to the ground." Hot flames came out of his hand in the form of a huge wave, which he released on his teammates, but in their monster form, they used their various magic to block his attack while chanting the same words, "Devour! The Master wants to devour!"

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