“There must be something wrong,” Evan thought to himself.
Evan attempted to halt Alister. The latter had obviously been enchanted by the terrifying monster.
However, when he grasped Alister’s arm, the wet, soft, and slippery sensation involuntarily made him tense up.
That’s not a human arm.
That sensation was unique to soft-bodied organisms.
Almost subconsciously, Evan released his grip, and Alister’s tentacle slid out of Evan’s palm with a soft “squelch”.
In the unusually murky and dim light, Evan’s constricted pupils reflected a weak, boneless tentacle covered in light green mucus.
The tentacle was wrapped in Alister’s now-tattered mage robe and seemed to possess a will of its own, dangling down to the red-haired apprentice mage’s knees and writhing continuously.
At this moment, while Evan remained in shock, Alister had already approached the monster.
Swoosh…
Evan watched helplessly as a pair of slender arms pierced the cocoon that was already stretched to its limit. Mucus sprayed from the cocoon, emitting a strong fishy odor.
Evan couldn’t help but step back, but then abruptly halted – he did not miss the few spherical “things” floating in the mucus. They were small eyeballs that had likely been inadvertently shed from the monster’s skin.
The eyeballs immersed in the mucus were far from lifeless. Slender appendages resembling blood vessels trailed behind them and they swam around, accompanied by gurgling noises.
Evan instinctively understood that contrary to the “stragglers”’ ping-pong sized crimson eyeballs, they actually detected prey through the vibrations of their movements.
This realization compelled Evan to stand rigidly in place, still and silent, despite his nausea and dizziness.
The constantly wriggling eyeballs continued writhing in the shallow pool of mucus that did not even cover Evan’s feet and circled around his ankles.
As for Alister, the red-haired mage had become entirely engulfed within the shadow of the entity that one could not stare directly at.
Evan felt as if he’d been immobilized.
The monster gave off a strong, overwhelming sense of suppression. Though this oppression was formless, it manifested as a tangible presence, suffocating him.
The countless slimy tentacles surrounding it exhibited a turbid luminescence on their surface, resembling the mold that covered every inch of the laboratory. They navigated Alister’s body nimbly, skillfully penetrating the red-haired apprentice mage’s mouth, nose, and ears.
Alister’s body convulsed violently, appearing fragile and ruined against the backdrop of that monster.
Evan suddenly had a peculiar feeling. As he watched Alister’s body contort into bizarre shapes, he strangely felt as though Alister had abruptly lost the characteristics that made him “human”.
Indeed, Alister no longer looked like someone of the same species as Evan. He looked like some other entity — something more lowly and more worthless… like a discarded toy or the remains of the experimental animals that mages tossed aside without a second glance after using them in cruel experiments.
Evan feared that Alister might perish this way; the latter appeared on the brink of death.
The tentacles’ contours were starkly visible beneath the ghastly parlor of the young man, and a trickle of dark red blood emerged from behind the red-haired youth’s bulging eyeballs.
Then, Evan heard a familiar voice.
“Evan…”
Which monstrous entity was speaking?
Which terrifying monster that Evan dared not look at was speaking?
Evan never thought that he would one day be faced with such a horrific scene: the monster’s limbs encircled the corpses of its brethren, yet its mouth spoke human language.
“Evan… cr… *&%#… I… @&^%…”
Alister’s voice resonated in the eerie, murky light.
The clearest word was “Evan,” while the remaining syllables resembled a cacophony of noises.
The monster’s lips were swollen, akin to a cadaver that had decayed for days. When it spoke, the dense clusters of eyeballs inside its mouth constantly rubbed against each other, bursting like blisters, emitting viscous, gray-yellow pus. Yet, new eyeballs would emerge from the cavities, each more bloated than the last.
“I… love… (*%#… I love…”
“I love you.”
Evan finally came to realize that the monster was currently rifling through Alister’s soul.
It had stolen Alister’s voice and speech, and now, it endeavored to communicate with Evan.
Every eyeball on its body focused intently on Evan, their slender pupils embedded in the bloodshot whites of its eyes.
“I love you, Evan. I am willing to love you in silence and void, beyond the stars’ demise and the fall of the gods,” it said.
After a brief adjustment, its unsightly mouth produced the deep, raspy voice the red-haired young man had once possessed.
The voice was almost pleasant to the ears, and was oddly seductive.
Yet, against the backdrop of the grotesque scene consisting of the monster and Alister’s tattered corpse, that voice was just as repugnant and horrifying as it was lovely.
“No… no…”
Evan found himself pleading unconsciously.
His face was drenched in physiological tears streaming from his eyes due to intense fear, and his body trembled like a patient afflicted with a scorpion’s poison.
The monster’s numerous eyes fixated obsessively on Evan.
It moved slowly, writhing its massive, grotesque, and indescribably swollen form, attempting to extricate itself from the shattered cocoon and inch closer to Evan.
“I love you, Evan…”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
It continued to mechanically repeat those words.
Under its gaze, with its confession ringing in his ears, Evan felt as if the last thread of reason in his body was unraveling.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I won’t, I refuse, you disgusting monster, seed of filth, I refuse, I refuse, no, no, no—”
A scream, like that of a beast on the brink of death, erupted from Evan’s throat.
Unbeknownst to him, the final words in his previous statement were not spoken in human language, but in a more ancient, more obscure, and more evil language.
Rustle…
Almost immediately after his screams, Evan lost control over his body.
He pivoted and sprinted like a madman toward the laboratory door.
In that moment, all he could think of was escaping from this overwhelming terror. He trampled countless “stragglers” underfoot without hesitation (or one could even say without awareness), but the greater danger did not lie beneath his feet.
Upon hearing the ancient language escaping Evan’s lips, all the cocoons within the laboratory, regardless of whether they were mature or not, became agitated.
The cocoons of varying transparency ruptured one after another, and pallid, contorted limbs eagerly extended, shrouded in mucus.
The things that emerged from some nearly mature cocoons resembled Mage Milian… with a shape like a bloated serpent or a rotting worm…
Yet, what terrified Evan the most were the others — those wretched that had just entered the gestation state.
“Help… help me…”
The voice came from a young man with a youthful visage. He even looked a little familiar to Evan. His shoulders and arms still retained a human shape, but his skin had paled to the hue of a corpse.
The area beneath his ribs, however, had already rotted. To be precise, it had been wholly digested. This was not the end, but the beginning of a more gruesome transformation. His white ribs were encrusted with mold-like mucus and peculiar muscles.
Bulbous pustules interconnected like clusters of grapes nestled within the muscle fissures. At this moment, the young man barred the laboratory door with outstretched arms, crying out to Evan in despair.
Yet Evan proceeded without hesitation, crushing the young man’s arms beneath his foot easily and forcibly tearing open the door.
The young man’s cries grew increasingly distant in the wake of Evan’s footsteps… but the squelching friction sounds and the clicking of claws that followed were not far off.
Evan didn’t need to glance back to know that “it” was closing in.
“Evan, I love you.”
Alister’s voice lingered like a specter. The continuous, tightly packed friction sounds nearly drove Evan to faint with fear.
He continued to sprint wildly through the dark and desolate corridor at the fastest pace of his life.
Perhaps due to his extreme nervousness, the corridor seemed endless, and the floor grew damp and yielding beneath his feet.
Finally, after a particular corner, Evan could no longer control his aching and throbbing leg muscles and crumpled to the ground.
“Evan.”
Alister’s voice was alarmingly close.
“Come to me. I love you so, so deeply… you shall taste darkness and eternity by my side…”
Only this time, the tone subtly changed.
It grew sweet, husky, twisted.
Each syllable was drenched in a malevolent and suffocating possessiveness.
“No—” Evan stammered.
He forced himself to prop up his body with his hands, attempting to stand, but a frigid yet gentle touch coiled around his ankle.
“Ugh…”
Evan quivered violently, his strength vanishing as though under the influence of some arcane magic.
He tumbled to the ground once more…
The tentacles wound around his ankles and gently pulled him backward.
In his despair, Evan took a quick glance back.
A massive human head, nearly occupying the entire corridor, fixated its gaze on Evan with a slobbering anticipation.
This monstrous entity had borrowed Alister’s face — and only his face. The once-dashing features had grotesquely expanded, resulting in a particularly distorted countenance.
Its mouth stretched wide, as if it were attempting to shout something, and it held another slightly smaller head within its maw. That head still resembled Alister, but the deformations were far more pronounced.
In a similar manner, this additional head opened its jaw to the extreme, holding yet another similarly twisted and horrifying head in its mouth.
Each head contained another, and the final head finally returned to a normal human size. However, after countless subtle mutations, the face on the final head was completely different from Alister’s.
It appeared human yet not human. Even the most formidable demon in hell would shudder upon glimpsing such a visage.
A long, sinuous, and wet crimson tongue extended from its mouth — the exact same appendage that coiled around Evan’s ankle.
Saliva trickled along the length of the tongue, moistening Evan’s calves.
“Let me go… let me go…”Evan whimpered.
Fear and hopelessness permeated his voice.
He shoved his fingers into the crevices between the stone slabs that made up the floor to resist being drawn directly into the monster’s maw, but his struggles appeared futile and feeble.
Its tongue slithered upward from Evan’s calves to his waist, then his arms…
“No, no, no…”
As the wet and sinuous appendage methodically peeled Evan’s fingers from the crevices one by one, and he felt his entire body being enveloped by something cold, moist, and sticky, Evan finally started wailing in despair.
In the dim scarlet-hued realm, the sensation of being watched became stronger.
Evan’s teary pupils abruptly contracted as he met a cluster of densely packed eyeballs.
Every single one had its gaze fixated on him, obsessive and ravenous.
“No…”
Evan let out a final wail.
He realized with great horror that this indescribable monster wasn’t merely covered with eyeballs on the surface of its body; every inch and every corner of its form was encrusted with eyes.
Everywhere, both inside and out.
“Evan, Evan, Evan, Evan—”
The monster that had swallowed Evan let out a joyful and crazed roar.
It repeatedly called out Evan’s name, but the tone of the sound grew increasingly distorted, eventually transforming into a screech capable of piercing time and space, causing all intangible and tangible things to quake.
“Evan—”
“Ev—”
Thud, thud—
Then, that sound appeared.
Thud, thud…
Thud, thud…
In his groggy, near-comatose state, Evan clearly heard that sound.
No, that wasn’t it…
It had not “appeared”. It was just that Evan had only just “noticed” it.
Amidst Evan’s utterly chaotic thoughts, he made a judgment with the last vestige of clarity remaining.
The voice had been there all along.
It was not a projection, but rather the call something real and horrific in a place far, far away.
Yet, before this, Evan had instinctively, or subconsciously, blocked it out.
However, within the projected creature’s body, Evan could no longer ignore the relentless expressions of love. At this moment, Evan finally recognized its omnipresence and omnipotence.
It wasn’t just a simple sound, but rather a form of erosion that directly acted upon the soul.
The frigid, metallic scent transformed into a thudding sound. The slick and supple touch upon his skin transformed into a thudding sound, and even Evan’s own heartbeat seemed to resonate and merge with that thud, thud sound.
When Evan finally realized this, he found himself inexorably opening his jaw beyond its limits, his tongue extending beyond his lips, and from the depths of his throat emerged a twisted howl, familiar yet alien.
He realized he was involuntarily responding to that voice with an almost crazed desire and joy using the same ancient, shapeless language.
The regular rhythm intensified.
Evan felt as if something was taking form within his body.
He had never experienced such an exquisite sensation, not even when he first successfully channeled magical energy from the air into his body through spells and magic circles. It couldn’t compare to the ecstasy he presently felt.
He couldn’t breathe or think. A substantial force from a higher realm was descending… descending into his body.
The magic and wisdom bestowed by the goddess of magic now seemed as insignificant as dust in the face of “Him.”
The same went for any form of desire and satisfaction that the fragile human body could experience.
Evan couldn’t comprehend what was happening; he even felt as if he were melting.
Thud… thud… thud…
Thud… My love… love… My star…
What was once a bizarre and distorted friction sound gradually became clear and solid in Evan’s world.
The high notes and sonatas which sounded chaotic when heard from afar, gradually coalesced into a smooth and beautiful melody as they drew nearer.
Evan finally understood the profound meaning contained within that call.
My beloved, my darling, my death star.
Respond to me, accept me, love me until the end.
Human language, so shallow and crude, couldn’t encapsulate the malevolence and fervor surging within it, nor the almost glorious concern and affection.
Evan felt extremely terrified and lost, but at this moment, his fear and confusion stemmed from his regret and hatred at having ever been human.
The human parts of him were melting and disintegrating under the erosion, and Evan was bathed in the intense emotions of “Him.”
His body perfectly synchronized with “His” rhythm.
If anyone had witnessed this spectacle, they would have likely descended into utter madness due to what they beheld.
Evan’s appearance liquefied… His skin turned pallid, translucent, as supple as jelly or some form of colloid. Only within his body did certain human organs remain.
However, these organs did not escape the chances either. They sprouted numerous tentacle-like blood vessels on their surfaces which rapidly extended, pierced through Evan’s skin, and merged with the monster’s sticky and murky body.
Evan and it… no, the correct term would be “He”, were merging.
His eyeballs, the pupils that Alister once believed were emerald, had completely shrunk and transformed into mucus.
Yet Evan felt that his vision was broader and sharper than ever before.
His eyes were so sharp that he could clearly see that, at the far end of the boundless universe which even light would take billions of years to reach, two colossal stars, turbid red and yellow, were hurtling through the void towards the blue planet where he resided.
Surrounding these stars were countless contorted and shapeless Favored Ones, their bodies and souls perpetually ablaze, their screams forming the perfect accompaniment to “His” call.
Those dark and horrifying lights were the bouquets that “He” had prepared for Evan.
Immersed in these sights, sounds, and sensations, Evan plunged into irrational and crazed ecstacy.
“AHHHH… Thud, thud, thud… %##… coming, He is coming, coming…”
Evan writhed, floated, and wildly screamed, then lost consciousness in the midst of his overwhelming emotions, only to awaken once again…
This process seemed to last for millennia.
Finally, at a certain moment, Evan, still trapped in his trance, heard a faint voice screaming deep within his core.
Evan! Wake up! Wake up!
Evan!
Ev—!
Evan.
Thud thud thud crackle hee hee hee hee thud thud thud *&#% Coming… &*##@ thud thud thud…
My name is…
@#%&* thud thud thud…
My name is Evan Reeves.
Thud thud crackle thud crackle thud thud @#%&*…
I am not a Death Star.
Thud thud…
I… am not a believer of that indescribable entity… Thud… thud… let alone… thud… this irrational and frenzied monstrosity.
After that subtle, fragile gossamer-like thread of sanity slowly returned, excruciating pain ensued.
Evan had never experienced such overwhelming fear and malevolence.
He never fathomed that the world could manifest before him in this manner.
He couldn’t comprehend it, let alone accept it.
Every inch of his being convulsed violently, even his soul. After the numbing sense of crazed ecstasy, the agony of being penetrated seared vividly.
Many times, he felt as though he had been torn apart. Each fragment of himself shrieked in pain and fear.
If Evan could have screamed, he would have screamed until the entire mage tower shattered from the sound waves.
But he found himself without a voice.
The soft, metallic tentacle remained firmly lodged in his throat.
For the same reason, he couldn’t even cry out.
He almost wished he could return to the state of mindlessness from before… At least then, he could escape this extreme agony.
But the last remnants of his soul within his body told him that if he descended into that murky abyss now, he might never return in human form.
The desire and claim of the indescribable deity in the void were no illusion. Every drop of Evan’s soul would be completely squeezed out and stored in a priceless vase.
Evan endured this agonizing torment for an interminable duration until, finally, in a moment of fortune—
This isn’t real.
A thought pierced into Evan’s mind like a sharp blade.
He wouldn’t have allowed the projected entity to take Evan into its body.
In other words, him being swallowed by the monster… him dissolving… him being invaded by the descent of that deity and driven to madness…
It… wasn’t real.
Everything was just an illusion.
“Huff…”
Almost the instant Evan grasped this truth, the intense pain and the maddening sensation of being consumed and dissolved vanished.
It was like an all-too-real nightmare that dissipated into nothingness upon awakening.
Evan suddenly opened his eyes.
i lowkey feel like throwing up now 💀
Huh.. Where is this going. I hope it was just an illusion and he will come bk to reality. Or is the ML dead rly?
Woahhh that was such a trippy chapter 🫨🫨