The Price of Obsession
“I’ll... I’ll definitely save you.”
Thud! Thud!!!
“Ughhh....”
The lizard was trapped inside a translucent triangular pyramid. It spat black smoke from its mouth, glaring at me with venomous eyes.
“Aila, this thing won’t break, right?”
“Yes. But I cannot say it is absolute.”
True, there is no such thing as absolute in this world. I nodded. Since it seemed unable to escape that cage for the time being, I decided to wait a little longer until its transformation wore off.
‘So, it turns into a dragon when it goes berserk...’
High HP, great durability. If I just threw it into the middle of an enemy camp and triggered the berserk state, it would fight well enough on its own.
“Kugh.. Keu-heuk...”
After watching for about five more minutes, the creature vomited a bucketful of blood and reverted to its original state. However, seeing it stagger and collapse after returning to normal, it seemed there was a penalty for the berserk state ending.
I approached Aran, who couldn't even catch its breath properly. The creature looked up at me with great difficulty and asked.
“The others...?”
“Some committed suicide, and the rest decided to become my slaves.”
“Is that so... Ha... As expected, they were just a ragtag bunch without me, the strongest...”
On the way back to the base, I heard from Killian that this guy’s reckless rampaging was the reason things turned out this way... Does this bastard have no conscience? Well, I suppose one shouldn't look for a conscience in reptiles. Ah, Botamilli is the exception. She is a god, after all...
Fortunately, the Evil Gods weren't observing me right now, so my inner thoughts likely hadn't been transmitted. I don't know why, but I couldn't feel their gaze. Perhaps the benevolent gods of the Pantheon, which had been utterly ruined by the deaths of Nick and Michael, were urgently requesting a dialogue.
I need to crush that Roy bastard quickly and offer him to Indikron... but since there’s still no word, I’ll have to kill some time until then. Perhaps by tormenting this lizard bastard.
“So, what will you do? Will you die? Or will you live? Choose.”
I pulled a scalpel and gardening shears from my pocket, my face brimming with anticipation. I planned to cut, slice, and have a fun time.
‘Wait... this guy didn’t even die from a laser gatling, will torture with these even work? I feel like I should smash it up a bit more roughly... Ah, should I have brought a sledgehammer?’
But no matter how I thought about it, a scalpel and shears didn't seem right for someone who could tank a laser gatling with their bare body. I felt like I should be smashing it with a paper cutter from a butcher shop and a sledgehammer stolen from a hardware store.
At that moment, Aran, who had been staring blankly at the items in my hand, opened its mouth.
“I... I cannot die like this!”
It seemed to have misunderstood something. It must have thought I was going to torture it to death. That’s why it was saying it couldn't die. If it had said it wanted to die, I would have killed it cleanly in one go. Since it wanted to live, I felt free to play rough.
Then, Aran hurriedly added.
“If I die in this state, I will regret it even in death!! So please, let me fight that woman one more time... If you do that... I will become your subordinate. If it’s then, I will have no regrets even if I die! Death! I do not fear it!! I only desire a rematch with that woman!!”
“If you mean that woman... you mean the one without an arm, right?”
“Yes... that woman... her sword... I want to taste that sword once more... Surely... if I can learn to receive that sword... I will definitely be able to reach a higher place.”
Aran, desperately wanting a rematch with Pharus. It said it didn't care if it died during the duel; it just had to take Pharus’s sword. It seemed this guy wasn't afraid of torture after all. It was more afraid of the fact that it wouldn't be able to fight Pharus again if it died.
I’ve never seen a guy like this. To fear not being able to fight more than pain or death... It really is a madman.
‘What a shame...’
I had come here thinking about how to torment it, but now that I was here, the opponent surrendered quickly for a strange reason, and my excitement deflated.
I had planned to spend about 12 hours showing it the wonders of human anatomy... It felt frustrating. I didn't feel satisfied. It seemed that I had not only become accustomed to torture that was initially just horrific, but I had even started to look forward to it. My sadistic urges and desires must have grown without me realizing it. Should I get a mental evaluation?
“Fine. I’ll let you have your duel with Pharus someday. Until then, you’d better follow my orders obediently.”
“Good... I don’t care what the order is. As long as I can taste that woman’s sword, I will follow anything.”
I pressed my seal onto Aran’s forehead. This guy hadn't surrendered to me out of fear of pain or death. It had entered my service solely for the desire to become stronger. It was a slightly different reason from the ones I had broken until now, so it was fascinating. Killian’s reason was fear of pain, and Dante’s was fear of being thrown into chaos after death... but Aran didn't care about death at all.
After branding it with the slave mark, I left Aran, who had fainted—perhaps because it had used up all its strength—and called for Bella, the older of the twin sisters.
“Is the preparation finished?”
“Yes. I have prepared perfectly.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
I decided to pour all of this pent-up frustration onto Roy.
Not an inch ahead could be seen. Furthermore, he couldn't even grasp how much time had passed. He just waited for this painful situation to end with a dazed mind. Of course, it would never end easily.
“Fourteen... fifteen... sixteen...”
Roy now counted numbers out of inertia. He knew now that even if he successfully counted to ten thousand, the opponent wouldn't let him go. Yet, despite that, he just counted on endlessly. It was because he felt like he would go insane if he didn't do even this.
“Hehe. Roy oppa. Aren't you hungry?”
“Ah, I’m not hungry. I’m fine. Hahaha...”
Ella, who was eating something, asked him. Roy had to force a laugh while sweating profusely. He had to laugh even if it killed him so that his thighs wouldn't be smashed to pieces by Ella’s whims. Only then would Ella laugh back and stop the violence.
In truth, his mind had completely broken because of the priests who entered the room from time to time to heal him and then disappeared. He was on the verge of madness, knowing that there was no one on his side here and that he couldn't escape. He felt even more insane because of Ella, who giggled every time his sister asked if he was okay.
Every time Roy grew impatient, thinking something terrible had happened to Helen, Ella would mock him and shove a spoonful of salt into his mouth. It was so salty that his throat hurt and his mouth felt parched. Ella kept feeding him salt without giving him a single drop of water.
Because an awl would be driven into his thigh or palm if he spat it out, Roy couldn't dare spit the salt out. To avoid the pain, he had to force himself to swallow so much salt that his tongue stung. Seeing Roy in pain, Ella clapped her hands and showed him the sea salt piled up in the corner of the room. After his blindfold was removed for a moment, Roy no longer asked questions about his sister after seeing the pile of salt. Even if he asked, no answer would return anyway. Instead, it was certain that he would just have more salt shoved into his mouth until his tongue stung and his head spun.
In the end, he just waited endlessly. Believing that they wouldn't just leave him like this.
‘Haa... water... I want to drink water so badly...’
Roy, who had been subjected to food torture with salt, heard Ella gulping down water and wanted to quench this thirst, even if it was just one sip. He constantly thought about wanting to drink water. Perhaps sensing Roy’s desperate heart, Ella asked casually.
“Roy oppa. Do you want to drink water?”
“Huh? Uh... that is...”
“Won't you tell me the truth? Are you going to lie?”
“N-no. I want to drink. I want to drink. Really.”
“Really? Hehehe. Then should I let you drink?”
“Huh? R-really...?”
Roy suspected that crazy bitch might be setting a trap. However, as if Ella had no ulterior motives, she obediently brought the bottled water in front of him and shook it so it made a splashing sound. He couldn't see it clearly because of the blindfold, but Roy was so thirsty he felt like he would die, so he didn't care what it was.
“Here, let’s drink water.”
“R-really...? You’re just giving it to me...?”
“Yes!”
Roy doubted Ella’s intentions... but the urge to drink water was too strong. In the end, he opened his mouth and tilted his head back so she could pour the water in.
-Gurgle..
“Kugh.. Keu-heuk!!!”
What Ella poured into Roy’s mouth was the gastric juice that had been flowing down from the flesh walls. Seeing the yellowish liquid spewing out of Roy’s mouth, Ella giggled.
“Ugh, Ugh-we-eck!!!”
A taste he had never felt in his life. Roy felt like he wanted to rip his tongue out. The gastric juice from the flesh walls instantly rotted Roy’s mouth and ruined his gums and teeth. Also, the small amount that went down his throat melted Roy’s stomach and caused abdominal pain. Roy frowned and complained of abdominal pain from the agony similar to stomach cramps.
Roy, who had instantly become a person complaining of abdominal pain.
“Geu-aaa....”
His head spun at the fact that he had been toyed with by Ella once again. Tears welled up in Roy’s eyes at the thought that he had become Ella’s toy. It was impossible to understand what he had done so wrong to deserve such harsh humiliation. He probably wouldn't know even after he died.
The fact that Jojun hadn't intended to torture him to this extent either. This was just a play. A play Jojun had prepared for Indikron. Roy, who had been designated as the actor, had no choice but to suffer. His past actions or behavior didn't matter at all. He was just in pain because he had been designated as a living sacrifice.