With a leap, I covered a great deal of distance between the creature and . It still seed to be in the process of forming, and I wasn't going to give it the chance to finish its transformation.
Slash!
My frost sword took a horizontal swing, cutting it in half. But the next instant, as the blade made contact with its flesh, it latched onto the sword itself.
KRUUUUUUUSK!
A very disturbing sound ca from it. I ducked just in ti as a claw swung over my head. Manifesting massive lances of frost, I sent them hurtling toward the creature. The lances impaled it and slamd it against the wall, but more hands suddenly ford from its sides, pulling out the lances as if they were nothing. It then rushed toward at blinding speed.
I braced myself for impact, but then—
What?!
I felt sothing grab my legs from behind. Turning my head, I found two grotesque hands clutching , erging as if from beneath the table itself.
"Damn it!" I cursed as the claw slamd into the broad side of my frost sword, throwing backward. I crashed into the wall with a deafening boom. Before I could recover, hands erged from the wall itself, wrapping around and holding tightly from behind. I couldn't even pull my arm free to defend myself.
Looking forward, I saw the grotesque mass of flesh before . It had one enormous eye at its center, like a cyclops. Its body was humanoid but grotesque, with two arms on each side.
Whoosh!
It rushed toward , and I gritted my teeth.
CREAK!
I forced frost to erupt from every pore of my body. The hands restraining froze solid, shattering into pieces. But at that mont, the beast had already appeared directly in front of .
BOOM!
Its claw drove straight for my chest. Luckily, I had managed to form a hard plane of ice just in ti, reducing the impact. Still, the panel shattered, and the claw tore into my flesh.
"Damn it!" I growled, infusing my body with ether to force my hands free. With great effort, I broke loose from the frozen hands. My arm swung down on the mass of flesh, freezing its surface instantly.
KRUUUUUUUUUCK!
The creature let out a horrifying cry. Was it in pain? I wasn't sure, but I capitalized on the mont. Manifesting another frost sword, I slashed through the grotesque mass.
Slash!
The blade cut cleanly through it, and I froze the severed sections completely.
BAM!
I kicked the creature, landing on the ground as it collapsed.
But then—
BOOOM!
A hand ca hurtling toward my throat. This ti, it wasn't made of flesh. It was the hand of a human corpse.
Instinctively, I slashed at the arm, severing it. But just then, sothing grabbed again. I looked down to see what remained of the mass of flesh clutching .
Wait.
Did it just get bigger?
How?
I turned fully to the corpse. Extending my hand, I conjured a massive spike of ice that drained a significant amount of ether and impaled the corpse. But the mass of flesh had already grown larger.
Oh, fuck.
BOOM!
It slamd into , smashing against the wall with such force that it knocked the breath from my lungs. I scrambled to my feet, turning to the side.
WHAT THE FUCK?!
More corpses were appearing. It was like a scene straight out of a zombie movie, except these creatures—
WHOOSH!
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
—could use magic.
"Damn it!" I cursed, raising both hands as a barrage of magical attacks ca hurtling toward . A cocoon of ice enclosed just in ti.
BOOM!
The ice cracked under the sheer force of the attacks outside. Falling to one knee, I struggled to hold the barrier together. It was clear, though, that it was only a matter of ti before it crumbled.
Desperately, I manifested multiple sniper-bullet-sized icicles, ready to fire the mont the attacks reached their peak.
But then—
"ARGH!" I scread in excruciating pain. Sothing had torn a massive chunk of flesh from my side.
I looked down in horror to find multiple clawed hands of flesh erging from the floor, ripping into .
I can't keep this up much longer.
My ether—it's almost drained completely.
FUCK THIS!
Letting the cocoon collapse, I unleashed my ice bullets in every direction.
BOOM!
A hand slamd into , tearing more flesh from my chest. I collided with the wall again, staring forward in shock. The mass of flesh was still growing.
It was…
It was…
"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!"
Summoning every last ounce of ether in my pool, I extended my hand, manifesting a lance of ice twice my size. It had to end here. The creature had begun rging with the corpses, its grotesque form twisting further as it tried to assu a shape beyond comprehension.
I wasn't going to let that happen.
BOOOM!
The ice lance slamd into the monstrosity, but I didn't wait to see the result. I bolted toward the door. Before I could reach it, sothing grabbed . I stumbled, glancing down to find yet another fleshy hand.
Cursing, I materialized a frost sword and sliced it off, getting to my feet. Reaching the door, I slashed it open and stumbled through.
At this point, I was practically running on fus. I was pretty sure the ether I was using was drawn from my reserves. But there was only so much I could do with so little ether, especially while avoiding mana pool combustion.
And that was damage I couldn't afford to bear.
DOOM!
Sothing—like a charging boulder—slamd into from behind just as I reached the living room. The force flung into the air. I looked ahead and saw the wall rushing toward , its surface writhing and twisting. Suddenly, it morphed into a mass of flesh, then shifted again—this ti into sharp, pointy edges, like a thousand spikes.
DAMN IT!
I shut my eyes and forced ether out of my body once more, coating myself in a suit of ice.
BOOM!
"Argh!" I cried as two of the spikes managed to pierce through my abdon.
DRIP
DROP
DRIP
DROP
I glanced down to see my blood dripping onto the floor.
But…
Sothing was wrong.
The more blood spilled onto the floor, the more the floor itself began to transform into flesh.
Wait.
Wait a damn minute.
I think I've been wrong about everything from the very start.
That mass of flesh—it isn't the true form of the creature responsible for all of this.
It isn't even the creature itself.
No wonder it didn't die, even after I froze its head solid.
I see now…
That mass of flesh is just a puppet.
The sa goes for the countless corpses.
The true creature…
…is this house.
I looked up, and there it was—two massive eyeballs staring straight at . Suddenly, the lower part of the wall morphed into flesh, curling into…
…a nasty grin.
Oh god.
Everything started unraveling before my eyes.
The tables, the furniture—they all began writhing and twisting before transforming into masses of flesh, rging seamlessly with the floor, which had also turned into flesh.
The door suffered the sa fate. Even the basket of fruit wasn't spared.
Wait.
It all makes sense now.
Perhaps everything was a huge mass of flesh from the very beginning, but because of the creature's mind-manipulating abilities, it appeared as a house.
Is that why there was food everywhere?
It wanted to eat sothing, knowing that doing so would condemn .
Damn it!
But what about those visions I saw?
The mirrors… No, the mirrors might have been another attempt by the creature to ensnare .
But my room? The plane? The diary…?
Or…
…was it just seeing my mories from a third-person perspective?
But then…
That plane.
I shouldn't have a mory of that if it's the case.
So what's really going on here?
Could the plane have been a dream I had but couldn't rember?
"Tsk, I need to focus," I muttered to myself, pushing those thoughts aside.
I froze the spikes of flesh and shattered them, freeing myself.
There was no longer a door to break through.
It was all flesh now—like I was trapped in the belly of a beast.
"Haaah," I sighed.
The ether I had recovered in those few seconds wouldn't last long. My reserves were depleted, and if I kept forcing my mana core to absorb more ether… things wouldn't end well.
"Haaah," I sighed again.
Then, I felt it.
…That feeling.
A strange sensation in my chest.
That power.
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