#109. 28. Meat House (3)
An endlessly unfolding nightmare space.
The walls of flesh squirm and push left and right. The ceiling collapses and red tentacles extend. The tentacles extend and become sharp swords that pierce the body.
A scream erupted.
“Ahhhhh!”
If we continue like this, only destruction awaits us.
Run away. Run like crazy, turning your back on the collapsing world.
It’s no use. The world is falling apart much faster.
“Eww!”
I cried and cried. There was no other choice.
My colleagues around me are dying.
A multitude of tentacles strangle and pull out limbs. The floor and ceiling stick together, crushing the whole body. Bodily fluids float up and splatter everywhere. Everything is crushed, crushed, and bursting.
No matter how much I ran away, the nightmare did not go away.
The ceiling becomes the floor, and the walls become windows. Beyond the hole in the wall, another corridor opens up. A sea of blood overflows, swallowing everyone up.
Beyond all this nightmare, they are there.
Those who spread hell on reality and kill everything with cold eyes and an expression that shows not even an inch of mercy.
Just scream.
“Ahhhhh!”
It was the only freedom allowed in this fear and despair.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
***
“… …Why do we feel like the villains, this?”
Serati clicked her tongue as she looked across the hallway.
Karnak and Baros shook their heads.
“It’s my imagination.”
“That’s just a remnant of hellish thoughts. Not everything that screams is a living thing.”
The scene unfolding before their eyes now is this.
Winged monkeys and slime monsters madly pursue Karnak and his men, and soon they are crushed by a wall of flesh and a swarm of swooping tentacles.
“Kkiyaaaaak!”
“Ahhhhh!”
“Kaaaak!”
This area is completely under Karnak’s control. He can manipulate space as he pleases and slaughter the monsters.
Thanks to this, Baros and Serati had nothing more to do. They just had to follow Karnak around and keep watch.
Walking leisurely across the Skull Floor, Karnak admired his surroundings.
Unlike when she walked down the hallway of colorful sweets, her expression was completely calm.
“This is much more familiar and affectionate than something like a candy house, after all.”
Serati sighed.
“It sounds so ridiculous, but it’s funny how it really feels that way.”
I feel more at ease with this landscape filled with ugly bones and meat than when I am surrounded by colorful, pretty sweets.
It’s not that I particularly like this kind of scenery, but at least there’s no unpleasant sense of alienation or dissonance that I felt earlier.
Karnak continued to walk, concentrating his mind.
“By the way, where is Alius?”
His dominance was solid but not wide. Even though he could perfectly deploy the barrier-robbing technique, his command power was limited.
So I had to keep moving and searching. Of course, I had to keep taming the monsters in the meantime.
“Ahhhhh!”
“Kwaaak!”
“Kuaaaah!”
It was after walking for a while, leaving behind the incessant screams of the monsters.
“Oh, is this it?”
The scenery before my eyes distorted and swirled, and soon a huge entrance opened.
Beyond the entrance, a magnificent, beautifully decorated confectionery hall unfolded.
The cats in boots carrying trays began to howl in alarm at the sight of Karnak and his party.
“Meow!”
“Meow meow!”
“Oh my, why are those cats crying so loudly?”
Karnak responded to Serati’s question as if it were nothing.
“It’s because the distortion is too much.”
She blinked, still not understanding.
“It’s excessive, so why is it still okay?”
“Is that the normalcy of reality? It’s the normalcy of a fairy tale.”
Sure enough, instead of those cats in boots turning into slimy monsters, they were running away in all directions with their trays in hand.
And that too with two feet.
If you just look at what he does, he really is like a cat from a fairy tale.
“But I still don’t quite understand what you’re saying… … .”
Serati was just about to raise her head, looking confused.
“oh!”
Dozens of birdcages can be seen hanging in the air.
I was so obsessed with cats that I just discovered it.
——————
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In each cage, the missing people were trapped and screaming.
“… … !”
“… … ?”
Of course, the sound is blocked, so to Karnak and his party it just appears as them opening their mouths.
Karnak and Baros muttered calmly.
“Oh, you’re alive.”
“Even though they are all alive?”
“Why are there so many alive?”
“Why are you two just watching? We need to save them quickly… … .”
Just as Serati was about to head towards the cage.
“Just a moment.”
Baros stopped her and pointed around.
“Why is it still full of sweets here, Young Master?”
Only then did Serati sense something strange.
Still, the whole place was covered with sweets. Now that Karnak had arrived, it should have been transformed into a hideous hall of meat.
“I told you, the distortion is too much.”
The fact that his dominance no longer works means that the distorted image cast over the hall is that much stronger.
It also means that it is close to the subject of this field.
Karnak looked across the hall with cold eyes.
“The witch is near.”
An ominous voice echoed across dozens of cages.
“Kehelhelhel… … .”
It was the voice of an eerie old woman.
“What beautiful children you have.”
***
She was a truly hideous-looking hag.
He had a wrinkled face that gave no clue as to how old he was, a hooked nose, and he was dressed in a shabby robe, a wide-brimmed hat, and a broom in one hand.
Karnak thought, glaring at the witch.
‘It’s just like what I saw in the memory projection.’
This is the exact definition of a witch as they are called on the continent.
A female necromancer who wields the powers of darkness and death.
A woman who simply uses magic is not called a witch.
Just as one of the three archmages, Eleazar, is not called a witch.
The opponent was a hunchbacked old woman who was skilled in sorcery. Anyone could see that she was a flawless witch.
‘But I don’t know why this feeling doesn’t seem right?’
The witch approaches Karnak and his party.
Karnak shouted, slowly drawing his staff and aiming it.
“Hey, Granny! Are you a real witch?”
The witch made an impression.
“Egg, you all are so skinny.”
“Why did you catch these people? To eat them?”
“This old lady loves to eat plump, chubby children!”
It was truly exemplary nonsense.
Serati sent a message.
[… … It’s exactly the same as when I first met Lapiselle?]
No matter what I say, I just pretend not to hear it and even repeat the same thing I said.
[They are so similar, so does that mean someone else came over?]
[It looks that way to me too.]
Considering the situation, Serati’s guess was very reasonable. Karnak also agreed with it in his head.
[The feeling is screaming absolutely not true.]
I wasn’t expecting an answer anyway. I just did it to see the reaction.
‘I guess I’ll have to check it out properly.’
Then and now, his way of satisfying his curiosity has always been the same.
It’s violence.
“Right!”
As if he had been waiting, the blond knight stepped forward.
“yes!”
The witch also flew. Her robes fluttered and she came running right up to Baros’ nose like a ghost.
His expression hardened slightly as the speed was greater than expected.
‘Is it really that fast?’
The witch swung her broom. Baros also blocked it with his sword.
The stick and sword clashed, creating ripples.
Kwaaang!
The ripples shattered the floor of the cake on all sides, sending shards flying in all directions.
The shock wave was so strong that it shook all the hanging birdcages simultaneously.
Still, Baros did not back down an inch.
‘I won’t be pushed back to this extent.’
I slightly bent my knees and let the shock rush in, sending it crashing down to the ground.
At first glance, it may seem simple, but it was an advanced trick that even the most experienced Aura users could not even dream of.
The witch also did not back down.
“Kehelhel, what a disobedient child!”
But the reason was completely different from Baros’s.
I just held on with my bare body. Without any strength draining techniques or anything.
So Baros was wondering.
‘I’m sure your body is healthy and strong, but why aren’t you getting pushed around?’
It’s not particularly heavy, nor is it stuck to the ground. Something feels a bit off.
Serati immediately flew away.
[I’ll join too!]
He draws his sword and stands behind the witch. Then, out of concern, he says something to Karnak.
[Don’t give me the Hell Armor! I’ll fight with my own strength!]
The Hell Armor I wore when I fought Lapisel was certainly incredibly powerful, but it was also something that polluted my soul. I didn’t want to wear it before my life was on the line.
Well, I didn’t plan on giving it to Karnak in the first place.
[I won’t give it to you even if you ask me to. There are so many eyes watching me, so how could I possibly give it to you?]
There are dozens of people locked in cages watching this battle. They are not blocked from sight, but from sound.
[Oh, right.]
Baros and Serati surrounded the witch from the front and back, aiming their swords at her.
The witch threw down her broom and rushed at Serati.
He swings his long-fingered hands around wildly.
“Kehelhelhel!”
It was such an obvious attack that any Aura user could avoid it with their eyes closed.
Of course, Serati wasn’t stupid, so she kept her eyes open and carefully avoided it.
At the same time, a single blow to the witch’s shoulder with the throwing sword!
Taang!
Auror’s blade bounced off the fluttering hem of the robe, unable to penetrate.
Serati clicked her tongue.
‘Isn’t this the only way to go?’
It wasn’t that surprising.
I’ve already seen the battle between Leocold and Restain through the memory projection images. They are also Red Knights of the same level as her, but they couldn’t hurt her at all.
Something more is needed.
‘Then where… … .’
Serati dug into the witch’s arms.
‘like this…….’
He skillfully moves his blade, recalling the movements of Baros that he has been tired of seeing.
“Ta-at!”
The witch’s attack passes through her hair. At the same time, her sword stabs the opponent’s shoulder once again.
Phew!
This time, the robe burst open and black smoke flowed out like blood.
I aimed for a precise counter using the power of the witch’s rush.
It’s not like he pierced her shoulder with a sword, but rather the witch hit the tip of the sword with her own shoulder.
“This works.”
Serati smiled proudly. Thinking to herself, she did a good job this time.
Baros also looked quite satisfied.
[Oh, that was pretty good just now, Serati.]
The witch frowned and burst into anger.
“… … These kids don’t listen!”
***
Alyss was watching Karnak and his party from inside the cage.
‘I knew they would find us.’
His trust was rewarded beyond his expectations, as he came to his rescue much earlier than expected.
But there was something a little strange.
Currently, Karnak’s party does not have an interrogator to assist them.
‘But how did you find this place?’
The divine power he left behind was so faint that it could not be detected by the senses of Aura users or magicians.
There are only two cases where detection is possible.
Either a formally trained interrogator or… … .
‘If you’re a shaman, you might not know… … .’
