Chapter 25 [EP.7] The Devil's Bargain: Lubricant and Medical Fees #016-4. Predator's Memorization & Babel's Hint
Navi's scream was short. The red tentacles that wrapped around her ankle—or rather, her tongue—slammed her to the floor with tremendous force.
- Thud!
"Keuk..."
Navi's head cracked against the tiled floor. Sparks exploded before her eyes. Her skull rang, and her brain sloshed. Sticky, hot liquid oozed from the back of her head, soaking her nape. Her skull had fractured. Her vision was flooded with red.
"Uh... let go... this, let go..."
Navi trembled as she tried to move her limbs. But it was useless. Dozens of red tentacles had sprouted from the gaps in the floor tiles, binding her limbs. It wasn't merely holding; the fine protrusions on the tentacle surfaces adhered to her skin, sucking in her flesh like leeches.
- Churup. Chok. Chobchob.
A chilling sound reached her ears. The tentacle gripping her hair and pinning her to the floor greedily licked the blood flowing from the back of her head. Every time its warm, moist tongue dug into the wound, Navi's body convulsed.
'Tasty.' 'I need to remember this.' 'This is the taste.'
The will of the floor flowed directly into her brain. They weren't consuming Navi. They were imprinting her existence into this space. So that when she returned next time, they wouldn't mistake her for prey and digest her. It was their 'payment' and 'kindness'.
But to Navi, it was far beyond torture.
- Swish. Slurp.
One tentacle wrapped around her jaw and forced her mouth open.
"Up?! Uueuk!"
Navi shook her head in resistance, but the slippery tongue plunged into her mouth. It was a muscle mass far longer and thicker than a human tongue, filling her oral cavity completely. It bound her tongue, stimulated her salivary glands, and sucked saliva.
- Uuuk! Wek!
Nausea rose in her throat. But the tentacle continued, pushing deeper into her throat. The sensation of something filling her esophagus was overwhelming. She couldn't breathe.
"Keu... ueuk..."
Navi's face flushed red. Her lungs collapsed. As oxygen depleted, her vision darkened, and her sphincter control failed.
- Jurruk.
Hot urine flowed from between her legs. Only then did the tentacle withdraw from her throat.
"Huh! Hic, coolk..."
Navi gasped for air and vomited. But there was no respite. The tentacles that had exited her mouth now began to explore her entire body.
- Haljjak. Haljjak. Chob.
They unwrapped the bandages she had barely tied, as if irritated. The white bandages tumbled on the floor, exposing Navi's naked form once more. The tentacles licked relentlessly behind her ears, in her armpits, at her navel, and between her fingers. They collected every drop of her sweat, tears, urine, and the clammy sweat secreted from fear.
"Hueuhuk... I don't want... don't..."
Navi lay naked on the floor, being devoured. She was licked until her mind was hazy. Her entire body glistened with their saliva.
But their greed didn't end there. The place emitting the most intense body odor. The place where the deepest memories could be carved.
The tentacles crowded towards Navi's crotch.
"Ah... no... there... don't! Please!"
Navi screamed with her mouth sealed. There was no way. It was the place where the dildos the mannequins had stabbed had been barely removed, and it had just begun to heal. The fear of something entering again made her thrash desperately.
But the floor's resistance was merely cute struggles.
- Swik. Chigak.
The slippery tentacle tip rubbed the vaginal entrance and anal folds. Their mucus acted as excellent lubricant, but to Navi, even that slickness was terrifying.
- Chuwuk.
"Suck!!!!!!"
It entered. One into the vagina. One into the anus. The living muscle mass writhed and burrowed inside. It was different from hard plastic. Soft yet powerful, a hot living being stirring within her belly.
It didn't stop at one.
- Chuwuk. Chuk.
Two. Two in the vagina, two in the anus. The holes were stretched to their limit.
"Uueuk! Tear! It's tearing!"
Navi screamed until her throat felt like it would burst. Tears streamed down her face. The tentacles inside her belly grew in volume and writhed. Even the tentacle lodged in her throat tried to descend again to fill the esophagus. A sealed hell top and bottom.
'It's not to make it hurt.' 'I'm remembering.' 'All the way inside you.'
The voice of the floor reached her. A strange tone mixed with apology. They were about to insert more when they sensed Navi convulsing on the verge of passing out, and they stopped.
- Ppong. Jurruk.
The tentacles filling the holes all withdrew simultaneously. Navi's crotch was left wide open.
"Haa... haa... ueuhuk..."
Navi lay on the floor and cried bitterly. The tentacles licked her wet cheeks. It was a touch like soothing a crying child.
'Now it's okay.' 'I remembered.' 'When I come to the [Safety Zone] next time, I won't eat you.' 'Promise.'
They left Navi's body. Slurping into the gaps in the tiles, they were sucked back in. The floor returned to being ordinary and hard, white marble tiles once more.
Navi stared at the floor with dazed eyes. Anger, shame, and an inexplicable sense of emptiness mingled.
"Safety Zone...?"
Navi asked in a cracked voice. The word left behind just before they disappeared.
"I also... I also knew this place as a Safety Zone. I knew there was a bandage."
Navi shouted towards the floor. She wanted a response.
"Where is this place? Do I know who I am? What are those monsters outside, and who are you? Why am I here!"
Navi's cry echoed in the empty convenience store. For a while, silence prevailed. The floor offered no answer. It was just quiet like a dead object.
Just as Navi was about to give up and lower her head.
- Woongseong. Woongseong.
A rumbling sound came from deep beneath the floor, from very deep places. Overlapping voices without resonance, a bizarre noise.
'Hmm...' 'Is that so...' 'So that's how it was.' 'I lost my memory.' 'Can I tell you?' 'No. Not yet.' 'How far is it allowed?' 'Payment, necessary.'
Navi held her breath and listened with her ears. The floor's mouths were discussing opinions.
And after a while. All voices combined into one, striking Navi's head. A solemn, heavy, ancient prophecy-like voice.
- It seems that there is an information layer that the cognizant subject has not yet reached, and due to this, the state of 'ignorance' is maintained.
However, if sufficient time has passed, it is not impossible that this information will be gradually exposed.
Observational results suggest that you are an entity at the end of the decline process, i.e., possibly classified as 'the last'.
Attempts to search for kin with the same characteristics may occur, but the probability of that existence being confirmed within the sample space is extremely low. This is judged to be similar to the situation where the experimental group has converged into a single entity.-
"Last...?" Kin?
Navi asked, but the voice continued without stopping.
- Meanwhile, it seems to be a phase requiring exploration of the constraint conditions named 'Golden Seal' and the release variables represented by three 'Keys'. The name of this coordinate system can be recorded as 'Babel'.
Babel is estimated to have been a civilization with high energy density and structural perfection in the past, but it is judged that its brilliance transitioned to arrogance beyond the critical point and led to collapse. This can be seen as similar to the phenomenon where an excessively grown decision lattice causes internal stress and cracks itself.-
With that said, the presence of the floor suddenly cut off. The air inside the convenience store cooled again. The warmth that felt like a living being and the pungent smell disappeared.
"Babel...?"
Navi mindlessly repeated the word. The Tower of Babel in the Bible? Collapsed civilization? It was a string of unknown words. But the words 'Golden Seal' and 'Key' were deeply imprinted in her brain. It seemed like the only clue to escape this hell or regain memories.
The Bible...? What does that mean. I knew this too. There were many things forgotten.
With only a 20-year-old ID card-
- Woong— Woong— Woong—.
Again, tinnitus came, and pain as if her head was breaking came.
In the pain of seeming to wake up, her mind became hazy, and Navi, naked, lay on the ground and continued to retch. Sweat flowed, and Navi lay there trembling and moaning in pain.
Was the forgotten memory something I should have forgotten? Was it a memory I wanted to forget? I don't know. Who am I.
I don't know. I don't know anything.
Scared, scary. I want my mom, but I don't remember the face or anything of 'mom'.
I wanted to get out of here. To do that, to survive, I had to first gather information. I had to not die here.
As the tinnitus subsided and the headache eased, Navi staggered to her feet. Her whole body was sticky. It was messed up with the floor's saliva and her own bodily fluids.
But strangely, her body was light. The wounds where the creatures had licked healed. Maybe they had healing components in their saliva.
Navi picked up the bandage that had fallen on the floor. She had to wrap it again. And she had to leave. This place was not a Safety Zone. It was just the belly of a great monster that had promised not to eat me conditionally.
Navi looked at the warehouse door. A place she hadn't checked yet. She didn't know what was there, but with a faint hope that it might be better than the floor, she moved her limping legs towards the warehouse.