Chapter 117
Chapter 117
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Translator: Mod7
Chapter: 117
Chapter Title: Chapter 11 - Charge
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It was a reckless act, but I wasn't insane.
Even if I reached the temple, I couldn't get in. I had to deal with the sandworm, here and now.
And then, I had an idea.
If the temple was truly impenetrable,
Perhaps I could use a larger, more powerful weapon to break it down.
I had to solve two problems at once.
The locked door,
And the enraged sandworm.
“Gasp- cough-”
The sandworm, startled by my sudden movement, seemed to be choking, trying to spit me out,
But I plunged my knife deep into its gullet, using it as an anchor.
“Gurgle- groan-!”
Sticky saliva and regurgitated stomach acid tried to push me back, the stench and the texture a repulsive combination.
But I pushed forward, into its gullet. The baleen-like teeth scraped against my skin, but reaching its throat was more important.
The throat was surprisingly small, considering the size of its mouth. Perhaps, being a carrion eater, it simply ground down the rotting flesh with its teeth, swallowing it like a slurry.
That's why I wasn't dead. And Jenny and Nefer, somewhere down there, weren't dead either.
“Agh!”
But I couldn't go any further. The sandworm closed its mouth, its throat constricting, preventing me from entering its stomach.
It probably thought, “You’re not dying yet! You’ll suffer, you’ll be baked to a crisp by the sun!”
But I had no intention of dying like that.
No matter what they did to me,
No matter how much they broke me,
I would overcome, I would endure. That was my promise, my only path to atonement.
I didn't believe I was here by chance.
I was,
On this desolate planet,
In this godforsaken desert,
Surviving, for all of humanity, for all my crewmates.
Thud-
“Keeeeagh!”
Between its mouth and its throat,
I began carving into its flesh with my knife, and the sandworm screamed, the pain finally registering.
The fleshy walls of its throat vibrated with its screams,
But I held on, gritting my teeth, pushing deeper.
The sandworm, trying to dislodge me, slammed its mouth shut,
But that was a mistake.
It actually helped me. I could now reach the other side, the parts I couldn't reach before.
Thrust- thrust-
With each stab of my knife, the sandworm thrashed and writhed. It had finally realized that it couldn't simply spit me out.
And its next move was predictable.
I had seen it during Jenny’s fight with the other sandworm.
Rumble rumble rumble-
The sandworm began to move, its speed increasing rapidly.
My body was thrown around, lifted into the air,
And a torrent of sand poured into its mouth, the grains like tiny blades against my skin.
Unlike Jenny, who had burrowed into its hide, I was experiencing this frenzied [charge] from within its mouth, and I had to endure the onslaught of sand.
I thought my skin would be flayed from my bones. It was already raw, bleeding.
A searing pain, as if I were on fire, washed over me,
But I pushed myself deeper into the wound I had created, seeking shelter from the sand.
I didn't need a seatbelt. I just had to hold onto the torn flesh, the raw sinew.
“Keeeagh!”
The sandworm screamed, its voice a deafening roar.
The entire desert seemed to shake. The universe itself trembled with its frenzied charge.
I felt like a blood sample in a centrifuge, the dizziness and nausea overwhelming, but I kept stabbing,
And carving,
And digging,
And cutting.
“Ugh-”
The sandworm, realizing its life was in danger, moved even faster, its movements more desperate,
But a parasite, once attached, was a relentless foe, its will to survive overpowering any immune response.
Crunch-
I finally reached its skull. If I could get inside, I could inflict permanent damage to its brain, its nervous system.
The sandworm, in this moment, must have been experiencing a terror it had never known.
A nameless parasite, slowly eating its way to its brain. The host, driven mad by fear, thrashed and writhed, its movements becoming more and more erratic.
Its immune system was useless against this [human] parasite. No matter how much it vomited, it couldn't dislodge me.
“Retch-”
It stopped running and began to vomit, expelling everything in its stomach. Jenny and Nefer, both unconscious, were thrown out, their bodies tumbling across the sand.
Good. They would be safe.
“Keeeeeeeeagh!”
But the sandworm wanted me. And since its continued vomiting hadn't dislodged me, it resorted to a new tactic.
It stopped moving,
And, finding a nearby rock formation, began slamming its head against it.
BOOM-!
A simple, yet effective method.
BOOM-!
It was trying to crush me, to dislodge the parasite that was burrowing into its brain. It was smarter than the other sandworm. Or perhaps, it was simply learning, its desperation fueling its intelligence.
BOOM-!
I felt the impact with each blow. The parasite, without a seatbelt, was being crushed along with its host.
BOOM-!!
I clung to its tendons, its blood vessels, but my exhausted body couldn't withstand the repeated blows.
BOOM-!!!
Blood splattered everywhere.
My blood,
And the sandworm’s blood.
We were both a mangled mess. But we were both still fighting, our wills locked in a deadly embrace.
I could barely open my eyes,
We were both on the verge of collapse,
But neither of us would back down.
“Keeeagh!”
BOOM-!
I was the first to fall.
The sandworm, with a final, desperate slam, dislodged me. Like a child trying to dislodge a water drop from its ear, it had repeatedly slammed its head against the ground.
“Gasp- cough…”
“Groooan…”
We were both covered in blood. I opened my eyes and saw the sandworm’s maw, its teeth shattered,
Its mouth a mangled mess,
Blood, thick and dark, pouring from its wounds. It was dying.
And I wasn't much better off.
“Ugh… gasp…”
I scrambled to my feet and stumbled towards the temple entrance,
But, as expected, it was locked, sealed.
“Open… o-open up…”
I pounded on the massive iron doors, but there was no response.
Yes,
I couldn't open it with brute force.
“…”
Realizing this,
I turned and faced the dying sandworm.
It was still filled with rage. A creature on the brink of death, its body flooded with adrenaline.
“Әйҙә, һин монстр! (Come on, you monster!)”
In this final, bloody moment,
I shouted, using the alien language it had undoubtedly heard before.
“Yes, I’m sorry… come on, come on…”
Its sense of smell was likely gone, but it would remember my voice, the voice of the creature that had burrowed into its flesh.
It would hear me, even through its thick hide.
My voice,
And my trembling.
Rumble-
It turned, its gaze fixed on me.
And then,
With a speed it had never before possessed, it charged.
“Faster… faster…”
With all its rage,
With the desire to tear me limb from limb,
Like a runaway train…
“Come on! Bring it on!”
I had to dodge before it reached me.
If I missed my timing, I would be crushed.
Trapped between the locked door and the charging sandworm,
I would become a mangled mess of flesh and bone.
But,
I had to do this.
“Keeeeeeeeagh!”
Now.
Yes, right now.