LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 264
The purple reflection that refracts around the crackling ice stares up at me, its visage distorting in all manner of strange contortions. I call for the stranger, but they don’t respond, perhaps having sunken too deeply beneath the ice to be saved. The prismatic shimmering of the crystals which fill the floor bounds off of the sleek ice, bounds off of a single aquamarine, slimy body behind me and casts a green silhouette onto the ice as it projects through her. Green is the color of envy, you know? Yet also the color of life and rebirth. It’s an odd contrast at first really, until you think about it.
When you do, you see that life always wants more. More food. More water. More sustenance. I feel my heart beating fearfully in my chest, yet I don’t know why. What am I afraid of? What is causing my hands to shake as I lean forward over the edge, looking closer at the vague, green light-born silhouette that is trapped on the surface of the ice. Life wants more nourishment. Nourishment. I blink, trying to find the strangers beneath the ice, but they never seem to return to me. I am unnourished. I can feel it. I can feel the hunger. I’m missing something. Something inside of me is gone. It’s simply not where it should be and I can feel the hole, the yearning expanse in my core. The…
- Wait.
Am I getting distracted? Why is there ice here? There shouldn’t be ice here… I think? Something is pulling on me, but I ignore it. I watch the ice, I lean in closer as I stare at the stranger beneath the surface. Where are you going? Where do you think that you’re going?! You think I’ll just let you go?! Just like that?! WITHOUT A FIGHT?!
My fist smashes against the ice, sending a crack down along the sides. Crystal fragments of the frozen mass fly out in all directions, as my metal fist breaks the surface. I scream. Lifting my hand again I smash into the ice again and again as I push through with violent pummels, as I break the top layer. My body hangs forward as I lean over the edge, as I wail down at the silhouettes below. You fucks! Get out of there! Get out of that ice this instant! You disrespectful little shits!
I jump up, grabbing the lance as I rise to my feet. With a wide arc, I smash the blade down against the frozen water. A loud crack reverberates through the floor, shooting out like the whip of screaming thunder as the ice splits in half, the disturbance pressing down the entire length of the frozen channel. Something is pulling on me and I shove it away as I scream as I beat down against the ice again with the belt. Get out of there! Get out of there! You can’t be in the water! You can’t! You can’t! You can’t!
I howl, flailing as I lash at the silhouettes beneath me, but the more of it I smash away, the rougher the surface of the ice becomes and the more the reflections seem to fade and vanish. Don’t. Don’t! Don’t leave me here alone. I don’t want to be alone. Stop it. Stop it!
The others in the ice don’t bother answering me, both of their silhouettes simply vanishing as the ice regrows, patching over the rough surfaces. Something pulls on me. STOP IT!
Aquamarine droplets of slime fly through the air as the back of my heavy gauntlet strikes through her face, her head twists to the side from the sudden impact of the force of my strike. She collapses down into a puddle in an instant as her body loses the ability to hold itself together in a coherent form for a moment. As the arc of my arm comes to a full stop, I realize in horror what I’ve done. I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was you! I swear!
I step forward, reaching down for her but she crawls back, her slime collecting in a tight collection as she glares up at me with those two soapy yellow eyes of hers.
“Stupid jerk!” she yells, distraught. “I hate you!”
Huh?
She pulls back, further away from me as she wraps herself protectively around the egg, protecting it… from me? “I hate you! I hate you!” she yells.
I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean t-
“I HATE YOU!”
My outstretched fingers that reach for her shake before me as they hang limply in the air, as they reach but never manage to touch. It was an accident. I swear, please don’t be mad at me. I’m not a bad person, I swear! I was just -
“Go away!” she yells, wrapping herself tightly around the egg. “You’re bad! Bad!”
I’m not-
“BAD!” she yells, her voice mixing in with the squelching I hear coming closer and closer. Her goo bubbles in agitation as I try to move closer, as she wraps herself protectively around the egg.
There is a loud shattering as the crystals that are half submerged in the water crack and split in half, the temperature sensitive constructions breaking apart from the frozen water compressing them together. As I feel my hand shake, as I watch my hand shake, I sense the vibration of my rattling fingers moving up my arm, moving up my breast as it snakes towards my heart like a trickling poison that festers in my veins. The serpent coils around my heart, sinking its fangs into it as I hear it. I hear it. I hear it.
My arm rattles, my body rattles, my boots rattle against the stones as I feel the heavy vibration. As I feel the constant pulse of the deep-set magical energies that have once again found their way to me, as the corruption has once again found its way to me. As if drawn towards me. Pulled towards me. As if I were a beacon for it. No… no… it is as if I am the source of the corruption. The malignancy. It’s me. I’m bad. I’m bad. I’m bad. Nobody could ever want to be friends with me. With me. It’s because I’m bad. With… with… with…
My chest heaves as I can barely get enough air, as I breathe frantic, panicked breaths. The world shakes, it vibrates, my body, my eyes they buzz with an energy that goes BMMMMMMMMM-
“GO AWAY! I HATE YOU! YOU’RE BAD! BA-!”
It reaches. Thick, meaty tendrils shoot out of the stones, shoot out of the depths of the world. The maggot presses itself out of the rock, its disgusting, twisted maw pressing up in the air as it breaches, as it reaches, as it swallows her whole, together with the egg. A thousand tendrils flail around, slapping against the stones as they then reach for me, as they sense my rattling armor and begin to crawl my way, goo and yolk dripping from their tips.
