Transmigrated as the Cuck.... WTF!!!-Chapter 189. Peace

The scene had pieced itself back together.

The shattered terrain was now whole again. And then—

WHOOOSH.

A jagged rupture split the air—space itself cracking like glass under pressure. Out from the rift stumbled Art.

His divine, radiant image from before? Gone.

Now he looked like a beggar at best. Clothes in tatters, face caked with ash, eyes dazed and hollow. There was no lingering divinity to be found—only weariness clinging to every inch of him.

I tilted my head, expression impassive, voice devoid of inflection. "What happened to you? A moment ago, you were pretending to be a god. Now you look like something I’d scrape off my boot."

Art let out a dry, humorless chuckle—self-deprecating and weary. "Yeah, yeah. God, huh? What a fucking joke."

He slumped to the ground, exhaling as if he hadn’t breathed in years.

"That thing... whatever it was. That wasn’t just a monster. It wasn’t a being. It was something else entirely. I don’t even think it noticed me. And if it did, I was just... a toy. My powers were like a child’s toy compared to it. It played with me, broke me, laughed at me. The sheer difference in strength—it’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life."

I rolled my eyes. "Don’t be such a wuss. You’re alive. That’s what matters. Let’s just get the hell out of here. The monster horde should be gone. That... thing is gone. We’re safe."

Art glanced around, as if confirming that reality hadn’t shifted again. Then he sighed, a long, heavy sound from deep in his chest. "Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. We’re alive. That’s enough. But still... why did it disappear?"

He paused. Then shook his head, scoffing. "You know what? Never mind. Whatever thoughts were rolling around in its head—if it had one—I don’t want to know. I’m just glad it’s gone."

With nothing more to say, we made our way back to the camp.

When we arrived, silence greeted us. Not tension—no, something else entirely. A strange, eerie calm.

The students were all scattered around the grass, lying on their backs as if they were basking in the warmth of the evening sun. Some had their arms tucked behind their heads, others were just staring at the sky with dumb, blissful grins.

There was no panic. No fear. No trauma. Just quiet joy, spread across every face like a veil.

I spotted familiar figures: Mia, Verena, Amelia, Zyon, Lilith, Freya, Evelyn, Celeste... all of them alive. All of them unharmed. Their expressions were pure, radiant—stripped of all pretenses.

Art, still smelling like ash, zipped ahead gleefully to disturb their peace with his presence.

Meanwhile, I found myself being approached by Kaelira.

Her gaze was sharp—too sharp. It dissected me without a scalpel.

"Hey," she said, her tone low. "What happened to you?"

I didn’t respond at first.

"You seem... different."

My eyes narrowed for the briefest moment, then I forced a lazy shrug and masked the reaction with a half-smile. "You’re imagining things. People don’t change in a few hours. Change takes time—years, sometimes. A whole load of suffering and reflection. I’m the same."

She hummed, unconvinced, but dropped it. "Yeah, maybe. Still, your vibe’s off."

Then she reached into her inventory and pulled out a leather-bound sack, grinning. "Anyway, want something to eat? I gathered some berries. They’re pretty good."

I paused.

’Now that I thought about it, my hunger had been nearly non-existent. Even when I had eaten earlier, it was more out of routine than actual need. A reflex. Something ingrained into me from copying human emotions for so long that it had become mechanical.’

Still, I ignored the thought. Letting it pass like wind through a torn curtain.

I nodded. "Sure. Let’s find somewhere quieter. This place is a little too... crowded."

She handed me a plump crimson berry. I bit into it—it was tart, a little too sour, but not unpleasant.

Kaelira walked beside me, her stride calm. "Yeah, I don’t like crowded places too but I don’t mind crowds that much. I’m not an introvert or anything. I can talk, manage conversations, survive parties. I just don’t crave it."

"Hm," I muttered in reply, chewing.

Then I glanced sideways. "So, what happened? The monsters—how exactly did they vanish?"

Her face tightened, ever so slightly. "It was... surreal."

She looked up at the clouds, as if the answer were written on their shifting forms.

"There was this ripple in space. Just a single tremor. Then they shattered. Shattered, like porcelain hitting concrete. All of them. At the same time. We don’t know how it happened or who did it. But—"

She glanced back at me, her voice quieter now.

"Some students say they saw a thing. A... glob made of flesh and slime, covered in stretched human skin. No face. No form. Just a living grotesque."

She shivered.

"Others said they saw a figure of light—blinding, illusionary. But it was crawling with maggots. Endless, squirming things falling from its body."

She lowered her voice.

"And some just... screamed. One final scream before their vocal cords snapped. Bursts of blood. Nothing else. They died without any monster even touching them. Just the presence... that was enough."

I didn’t speak.

She didn’t say anything else.

Not a word passed her lips as she continued nibbling on her cherry, silently following beside me. Eventually, we slipped away from the noise and people, wandering deeper into the grove until the murmur of voices turned to nothing but muffled wind.

The trees here were different. Sharply different. They weren’t just dead—they were wrong.

Unlike the others we passed, these stood with hunched backs and blackened bark, clustered unnaturally close, their limbs contorted like skeletal fingers reaching out to claw at the living. The air grew still here too.

Kaelira didn’t seem to notice at first. Her attention was still on her fruit. She took another bite of her cherry, her expression bored, eyes half-lidded.

But then, she looked up.

Her eyes widened, pupils shrinking slightly. A shiver ran down her spine—I saw it happen. The corners of her lips parted, just faintly, and she instinctively reached out to grip the edge of my hoodie.

A sharp gulp escaped her. The sound echoed strangely, unnaturally. Like the air here was too empty, eager to carry even the smallest sound.

"...This place," she whispered.

I didn’t respond. I just nodded once, slowly, eyes flicking over the trees with growing unease. There was something... off here. A wrongness that felt familiar, that subtle shift in reality itself. Like before.

Another entity, maybe. A presence masquerading as normality.

Without thinking, I took her hand. "Let’s head back."

But she didn’t budge.

Her eyes were fixed ahead, locked on the twisted trees. She wasn’t panicking anymore. She was... captivated.

Then she looked at me with a lazy sort of half-smile. "Hey... if you don’t mind, can we check them out? The trees, I mean. I don’t know why... but they seem interesting."

"Interesting?" I raised an eyebrow.

"No reason," she added quickly. "They’re just... weird. In a good way."

I stared at her. Then at the trees. Then back at her.

She was being her usual whimsical self again. But despite the eerie pressure hanging in the air, something in me relented. Mainly because I wanted to look into it too.

I let go of her hand and gave her a light nudge on the back.

"Okay, fine. Let’s go poke the haunted tree. Sounds like a wonderful life decision."

Her eyes lit up. She spun on her heel and started walking forward, tiptoeing like a kid sneaking cookies. I followed closely behind.

Sweat formed on her brow, and her breathing turned shallow. She was excited, yes, but also tense.

Still, she didn’t stop.

She reached the nearest tree—twisted and tall, its bark darker than coal—and slowly raised her hand. Gulping once, she pressed her palm flat against the surface.

...

Nothing happened.

Kaelira blinked. Then her nose scrunched up.

"...What the hell?"

She slapped the tree with her palm. "That’s it? So much for the spooky build-up! It’s just a regular-ass tree with arthritis! Damn it, I was excited!"

I rolled my eyes. "What were you expecting? That it would eat you? I didn’t realize you had masochistic tendencies."

"Shut it." She glared. "I was building suspense, okay? Some mystery. Drama. All of that gone to waste."

"I feel bad for the tree," I muttered. "All that build-up and it still managed to disappoint you."

"Oh, fuck you!" she snapped. "You and this stupid tree can both go rot. God, this world hates joy. It’s allergic to happiness. I’m filing a complaint with whoever is running this hellhole."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You’re a child. A literal child trapped in a cherry-devouring goblin’s body..."

I looked at her, at her height specifically. Then mumbled. "An orc’s body..."

"Maybe," she said with a pout. "But even they deserve happiness. This world? It’s wretched. Utterly wretched. Nothing but a sadistic playground."

I was about to respond with another retort, but I paused.

Something had caught my eye.

I took a step back—then another—eyes narrowing as I scanned the forest from a broader angle. And then, slowly, a realization dawned.

The trees weren’t just randomly placed.

Their positions... the way the branches twisted... the shadows they cast even without sunlight—it all formed something. A shape. No, a symbol.

Not clear from close up, but from where I was standing... it started to make sense. Something bizarre, a fragmented glyph.

And at the very center of it all... was the tree Kaelira was touching.

My eyes gleamed.

"...Wait."

Kaelira tilted her head. "What?"

"There’s something here," I murmured. "These trees. They’re not just twisted. They’re arranged. Deliberately. Like... like part of a greater design."

She stared at me. Then at the tree. Then back at me. She just stood there—wide-eyed and quiet.