111. Padix Kingdom (6)
111. Padix Kingdom (6)
"Uuuuum... Heut.... Whe, where is this?"
The Healer Adventurer muttered groggily as she opened her eyes.
She tried to raise her hand to rub her still-blurry eyes, but something felt wrong.
She couldn't feel her hand.
'Ah, I'm sure at the end...'
Realizing that her left hand had been severed and she had ultimately passed out, the Healer Adventurer tried to lift her other hand, but she couldn't feel her right hand either.
Sensing that something was terribly wrong, the Healer Adventurer's eyes snapped open.
"Huh?"
The Healer Adventurer lowered her head—which barely moved—and looked at her own body.
"What?"
A body with nothing on it. A body that was all the more exposed because of it.
A body with no arms. A body with no legs.
A body with all four limbs missing came into view.
"Wh, what is th—"
"You're awake?"
Just as she was about to scream, shocked by the state of her own body, a woman's voice rang out.
"Wh, who are you!"
The Healer Adventurer turned her head toward the direction of the voice.
"I'm Yui, appointed by the Queen to manage this place. Since I've been assigned to study you for a while, nice to meet you."
The moment she saw Yui looking down at her, the Healer Adventurer fell silent.
Goosebumps rose all over her body.
Frightened by Yui's appearance—human yet not human—the Healer Adventurer shook her head to clear her mind and then spoke.
"Wh, where are my companions?"
Only after coming to her senses did the final scenes come back to her.
Her eonni's upper and lower body had been separated, the Mage had been pierced through the body, and the Archer had been devoured.
All were injuries severe enough to be fatal, but since she herself was alive like this, it meant her companions could all be alive too.
Of course, she didn't expect them to be perfectly fine with their limbs severed, but as long as they were alive, there was still hope.
"Companions? Ah... those humans? They're all alive."
"Re, really?!"
"Yeah. It's true."
"Th, thank goodness..."
The Healer Adventurer let out a relieved sigh.
"I'm glad you woke up. I thought you'd never wake up for the rest of your life. First of all, your body hasn't fully recovered yet, so focus on resting for now."
Yui carefully held the Healer Adventurer.
Just like a mother holding a child in her arms.
She should resist, not knowing what Yui might do, but just seeing Yui's appearance made her lose any will to resist.
In that state, Yui brought a cup of water to the Healer Adventurer's lips.
The Healer Adventurer didn't want to drink it, not knowing if there was some kind of drug in the water, but she figured that if Yui had wanted to do something, she would have already done it, so she drank the water offered.
Her throat stung with every sip, as if she hadn't had any water for a long time.
"You must be disoriented too. What's about to happen will be hard to endure with a normal mind, so you need to rest well."
Yui fed her water and a little food, then left the room.
Only then fully coming to her senses, the Healer Adventurer looked around.
It looked like an ordinary room, but there was not a single window, and the door she had just exited through had disappeared, replaced by a mirror.
A mirror that covered an entire wall.
"Where on earth is this...?"
She wanted to look around, but with all four limbs missing, there was nothing she could do.
"Heut..."
Even though she had become an S-rank Adventurer through countless adventures and quests, having her limbs severed the moment she opened her eyes was a shock.
Tears welled up, but she bit her lip tightly and endured.
Crying wouldn't solve anything right now.
Even in this situation, she had to find something she could do.
Although her missing limbs severely restricted her movement, her mana and divine power had recovered to some extent while she slept.
Her body, once covered in wounds, was now completely healed.
It seemed that person named Yui had healed her.
'No, she's a creature in human form.'
The moment she first saw Yui, the Healer Adventurer trembled with fear. But showing that she was scared to the being in front of her might not be a good idea, so she pretended to be unfazed.
If the woman who ruthlessly attacked her companions made her cells tremble with fear just by existing, Yui gave off a sense of terror that was visually quite grotesque.
The flowers parasitic on her entire body, starting from her eyes, were both beautiful and grotesque.
What made it even more chilling was that those flowers seemed like living beings.
Normal flowers, unless in special circumstances, don't move and just sway in the wind, but the flowers blooming all over Yui's body seemed to have a will of their own.
'Did she not just pretend to be human, but actually become a creature? But even after becoming a creature, can she still use mana?'
Just from the brief hug, she could roughly tell how much mana Yui possessed.
She was a being with more mana than any other creature she had ever encountered.
With that level of mana, she could erase a small village with a single spell without any problem.
'This is huge information. I absolutely have to tell everyone.'
She had thought the enemy was terrifying because of their high weight class and sheer numbers.
But after seeing Yui, her thoughts changed.
Judging by Yui's condition, she was originally a mage who was devoured by a creature and became one itself.
The problem is that even after being parasitized by a creature, she can still use mana.
If that creature can use magic without any issue?
That means if the creature devours not just humans but various other lifeforms like monsters, demons, and demon races, they might be able to use the strengths of those beings themselves.
'I need to avoid that being, find out where eonni and oppa are, and escape together.'
The Healer Adventurer first tried to sit up from her lying position and lean her back against the wall.
But without legs, she had to support herself solely with her buttocks, and the bed was too soft to hold her, causing her body to slip forward and lie back down.
"Kkeung...!"
After several attempts, she finally learned how to balance and sat up. With her field of view now higher, she looked around the room once more.
'I'm sure she walked through the wall with the mirror and passed through. That means the exit must be right there. But I don't know if I can actually get out just by going there.'
Moreover, without legs, it was obvious she would be caught before she could even find her companions, let alone escape.
'Let's create legs with magic.'
She had never done it before, but right now, this was the only way.
Without her staff, she couldn't use magic properly, but this wasn't an urgent situation; she had plenty of time.
Closing her eyes, she calmly took the mana from her heart and used her hand to—
Ah, she didn't have hands.
'I'll think of my body as the staff.'
She slowly sent the mana from her heart down and focused it on the severed ends.
Legs slowly formed.
"It, it's a success."
The Healer Adventurer carefully got up from the bed and stood on the floor.
It wasn't easy to move the legs according to her will yet, but she had succeeded in standing.
The moment she took a single step forward, the gathered mana dispersed, and the legs disappeared.
Kwamg.
"Aaagh—!"
Without hands, the Healer Adventurer slammed her face directly into the floor, rolled her body around, and endured the pain.
If she screamed in pain here, Yui might hear it and come back, so she had to stay as quiet as possible.
'Alright. I think I can do it properly this time.'
The Healer Adventurer got a feel for it after one mistake.
She created legs with mana again, stood up, and even succeeded in walking. Imagining clenching a fist with her missing hand, she walked forward.
Arriving in front of the mirror, the Healer Adventurer carefully tapped the mirror with her created legs, searching for the entrance.
'As expected, they wouldn't let me out that easily, right?'
She stood at the spot she suspected was the entrance, but no matter what she did, she couldn't pass through, so she fell back into thought.
'That woman casually walked through the mirror as if nothing was there. That means there's a condition. What could that condition be? Maybe only creatures can do it? No, if that were the case, it wouldn't make sense for her to bring water and food here. Then...'
Think of it as a door with a lock.
Of course, there was no handle or padlock; it was locked with magic.
If that was the case, it was worth trying.
Though her mana couldn't compare to Yui's, the Healer Adventurer prided herself on her mana control being second to none.
Closing her eyes in front of the spot she thought was the door, the Healer Adventurer detected mana and found the lock.
She slowly inserted her own mana into the magically created lock, touching the magic circle as if picking a lock with tweezers.
Pat.
"I succe— mmph."
The moment the lock released just as she intended, she almost shouted, but she clamped her mouth shut again. The Healer Adventurer cautiously extended her magically created leg into the mirror.
Swiik.
As her leg passed through the mirror naturally, she slipped her entire body through.
Stepping outside the room, the Healer Adventurer realized the mirror wasn't just a simple mirror—it was one that allowed people outside to see into the room—and goosebumps rose all over her body.
'They were watching me?'
She hadn't thought it was an ordinary room, but seeing it like this, it looked more like a prison.
No, not even a prison.
It was like a place meant for people to observe what was inside the room.
'As expected, this place is extremely dangerous. I need to find eonni and oppa quickly and escape from here. And I have to report the information we've discovered.'
The problem was that from here onward, it was completely unknown territory.
Although she had come out of the room, the space beyond looked like a gloomy cave, and the Healer Adventurer gulped involuntarily.
'I can't stop here.'
Steeling her resolve, the Healer Adventurer took a step forward.