Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: Mod7
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Chapter 5 - Carnival
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The grotesque creature made from Vergo’s remains released me from my restraints and began dragging me away.
“No! Don’t… sob…”
Isaac’s frail voice cried out behind us, but he was too weak to shout any louder.
He was emaciated, having been deprived of food and water. It was a miracle he was still alive.
“Isaac, it’s okay.”
I looked back at him, offering a small smile.
“I’ll save you.”
“Keeek-”
Vergo’s dead mouth made a threatening sound.
But I felt no fear, no disgust, only a deep, burning rage.
“Juho…?”
Isaac swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on my hardened expression.
His clouded gaze was filled with worry and concern.
Isaac, who remembered me as the youngest on the ship, was taken aback by my sudden change in demeanor.
“Gyaaagh-”
[What was once Vergo] urged me forward.
It wanted me to walk on my own.
“I’m going. Stay still.”
But,
It cowered, avoiding my gaze, when I glared at it.
It was afraid of me.
Had something changed in my eyes?
They ached.
Looking at this pathetic, repulsive creature, I felt a mixture of sorrow and disgust.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Kyaaagh- screech-”
A burning sensation stabbed at my left eye.
My body trembled, overwhelmed by the intensity of my emotions.
“Vergo didn’t deserve this. He was a friend of a friend.”
…This wasn't Vergo.
It was just a grotesque monster wearing Vergo’s skin.
The thought intensified the burning in my eye. I had felt this sensation before.
The fingers,
That ominous presence.
“Vergo, I’ll make sure you’re avenged.”
***
As I walked through the nest of the flesh-lumps, or rather, the Blood Beasts, I felt a sticky residue clinging to the soles of my shoes.
A thick, viscous substance coated the entire nest. A grotesque mixture of crimson and black.
After walking for a few minutes,
I reached the deepest part of the nest.
“Ugh-”
The stench of decay was overwhelming.
A massive, pulsating flesh-lump dominated the space. It looked like a rotting heart.
“Aaah-”
It regarded me with a cautious curiosity. It didn't attack, didn't try to kill me.
“អ្នកគឺជាបុរសនោះ! (You are the one!)”
It simply expressed its pleasure.
It was overjoyed to have captured me.
“កុំបារម្ភ។. អ្នកមិនទាន់ស្លាប់ទេ។. (Don’t worry. You are not dead yet.)”
I didn't understand its words,
But I understood the unspoken tension, the silent confrontation.
A rotting heart,
Or a fetus, curled up and lifeless…
I saw its black eyes, staring at me, a grotesque smile twisting its fleshy lips.
I didn't know how to describe it. Only vague, abstract images came to mind.
It resembled Jenny,
But its reproductive organs were grotesquely enlarged, swollen like an overripe egg sac.
It looked almost… infantile.
But,
To distinguish it from the other monsters,
I would call it the [Leader of the Blood Beasts].
“លុតជង្គង់ចុះ។. (Kneel.)”
It spoke,
And two of the creatures approached me, forcing me to my knees, then returned to their positions.
Nine creatures,
They sat near the Leader, as if granted a special privilege.
They looked like Jenny, but their faces were inhuman, distorted and grotesque.
The crudely stitched-together flesh-lumps weren't allowed to participate in this sacred gathering. They simply milled around outside the nest, squeaking and hissing.
“…”
I remained silent, my gaze fixed on a familiar shape in the center of the nest.
A fleshy cocoon…
“Jenny.”
I glared at them, my fists clenched.
I finally understood why they hadn't implanted their offspring in me, why they had brought me here.
After the explosion,
My body, shattered and then healed by Alraune, had remained unconscious for a long time.
How long? A day? Three days? A week?
They must have found me while I was unconscious.
So,
Both Jenny and I had been dragged here by the Blood Beasts.
“អ្នកស្លាប់ដោយកណ្តាប់ដៃរបស់កូនស្រីខ្ញុំ។. សម្រាប់ម្តាយពិត, កូននេះផ្តល់ជូនអ្នកដល់ខ្ញុំ។. (You will die by my daughter’s hand. For the true mother, this child offers you to me.)”
The Leader spoke again.
It would punish the male who had stolen its child, and reclaim its beloved daughter.
Perhaps it saw something special in me, the one hated by the moon.
It considered me a treat for Jenny.
A rare delicacy…
“កូនស្រីលឿនបំផុត។. កូននេះប្រាកដជាទៅដល់ព្រះ។. អ្នកនឹងក្លាយជាគ្រឹះ។. កូននេះប្រាក… ណាស់… (My fastest daughter. This child will surely reach godhood. You will be the foundation. A fine foundation… those burning eyes, for my daughter…)”
Tears of joy?
The Leader let out a series of disgusting gurgles and clicks, sounds that grated on my ears, triggering a visceral revulsion.
I averted my gaze,
Focusing on Jenny’s cocoon, displayed prominently in the center of the nest.
The speed of her transformation was remarkable.
It was a miracle. The cocoon pulsed with an incomprehensible power.
Jenny was special.
The small creature,
The one that had been feeding on Ralph, had likely been born in a similar manner.
So were the nine monstrous females surrounding the Leader.
But based on my observations and analysis, their development required a significant amount of time.
There was a reason why they kept their hosts alive for so long.
Isaac being alive wasn't an accident. Nor was the relatively fresh state of Ralph’s corpse.
Ralph had likely been kept alive and tortured, and Isaac’s survival was due to the Blood Beasts’ careful preservation of their food source.
They slowly broke down and digested their prey, absorbing their nutrients and even their characteristics.
But Jenny,
She had crawled out of Dan’s body and immediately begun searching for her parent.
And that parent, unfortunately, was me.
I, who had been closest to Dan at the time of his death, had witnessed the small creature’s emergence.
“Jenny…”
And now,
In this moment,
With all the grotesque Blood Beasts,
And the monstrous females,
And the incomprehensible, black Leader watching,
Crack-
A sharp claw, stronger than any I had seen before, pierced the cocoon. The nine sisters recoiled, sensing a primal threat.
Even though they were siblings,
They instinctively recognized the predator-prey dynamic.
“Aaaaaah-!”
The black heart,
The giant fetus,
The Leader of the Blood Beasts, rejoiced.
We were witnessing the dawn of a new era.
“វាស្អាតណាស់។ (She is beautiful.)”
A masterpiece of the Blood Beasts, born wet and glistening. A predator capable of consuming and digesting anything.
“ហេតុអ្វីបានជាអ្នកដេកក្បែរបុរសនោះ? អ្នកត្រូវតែនៅខាងម្តាយនេះ។ (Why are you crouching next to that male? You must stay by your mother’s side. I am your only parent.)”
Jenny, newly born, locked eyes with her mother. I saw the back of her head, her form now as tall as me, and called out to her-
“Jenny!”
But she simply wagged her tail,
Without turning around.
Was the massive creature before her more important now?
I had trusted her,
But the Blood Beasts had dug through the rubble faster than I had anticipated. Or perhaps I had been unconscious for longer than I thought.
They had dragged Jenny and me back to this nest,
And they had been waiting for her transformation.
“Jenny! It’s me, I’m here-!”
I called out to her, my voice lost in the growing excitement of this grotesque carnival,
Thwack-
But several of Jenny’s sisters slammed me to the ground, silencing me.
They wouldn't tolerate any disruption of this sacred ritual.
I, the male, was simply food for Jenny.
The male, hated and envied by the moon,
Soon to be consumed and claimed by Jenny.
“នៅតែល្អ! ធ្វើជាព្រះអង្គសង្គ្រោះដែលនឹងលេបត្របាក់ព្រះអាទិត្យដ៏ស្អប់ខ្ពើមនោះ! (It is good! Be the savior who devours that hated sun!)”
The entire nest trembled with excitement.
Jenny’s presence was powerful, overwhelming.
“ដែលនឹងលេបត្រ! (Glory to the moon!)”
But amidst the grotesque fervor,
Amidst the emotional turmoil and the powerful energy surges,
I saw something that shouldn't exist, something I could only see with my burning eye.
A phantom, a hallucination.
A familiar sensation.
Like when I had been intoxicated by Alraune’s honey,
A sticky, repulsive wetness enveloped my mind and body.
“Къач, инсан. (Flee, human.)”
Spectral fingers, formed from countless writhing tendrils, appeared before me, its gesture a warning.
I couldn't see anything with my left eye,
But my right eye, burning and aching, clearly saw the fingers.
I wanted to ask how I could possibly flee, restrained and helpless,
But the fingers weren't interested in conversation.
It formed a V shape with its index and middle fingers.
“2”
A countdown.
It explained calmly, matter-of-factly…
“Экиси кетмеге къалды. (Two remain.)”
And then,
It vanished, as if it had never been there.
Jenny approached the Leader.
Her sisters knelt, their heads bowed, worshipping this momentous reunion.
“កូនស្រីសូមឱបម្តាយនេះ។. ទីបំផុតខ្ញុំកំពុងឱបអ្នក។. (Embrace your mother, my daughter. Finally, I hold you in my arms.)”
I clung to the fingers’ words, enduring the burning pain in my eye.
“ញ៉ាំអ្នកនោះនៅទីនោះ ហើយត្រឡប់ទៅដៃម្ដាយវិញ។. (Consume him, and return to your mother’s side.)”
The fingers were helping me.
Trying to tell me something.
At first, I had thought it was urging me to escape this nest,
But that didn't make sense.
“Aaaaaah- aaaaaaaaaah-!”
Suddenly,
A chilling, otherworldly scream echoed through the nest.
An ancient being, who had likely never known fear, screamed in terror before its own daughter.
Thud-
Jenny plunged her tail into the Leader’s face.
And then,
Before everyone’s eyes,
She began to devour her own mother.