章 4: The Torment Beyond Death
編集者: EndlessFantasy Translation
Pain!
This was the only thought left in Aiden's mind at this moment. The corners of his eyes were opened, his eardrums were pierced, and the tentacles in his nostrils and mouth went deep into his trachea and esophagus. What was even more terrifying was that every pore in his body was pierced. The pain far exceeded the most terrifying tortures in movies. It was extremely painful. He was even a little numb. A huge buzzing sound echoed, and his consciousness quickly began to fade. He might faint at any moment and never wake up.
"Ah!!"
The tentacles suddenly tightened again, and the suction cups on them even tore off a large piece of his skin. The intense pain suddenly woke him up, and he could not help but shout. However, in this remote place, other than his echo, his screams did not receive any response. Instead, it made the monster in front of him even more excited.
"It tastes so good, so delicious…" The monster shouted excitedly, its voice trembling slightly.
"If I swallow you, I can advance, but this taste, ah… I have to enjoy it a while longer…"
Aiden's body was like toothpaste being squeezed. As long as the monster exerted a little force, it could crush him into meat paste. However, the monster seemed unwilling to do so. It wanted to slowly squeeze dry this hard-won prey, squeeze out every drop of his blood, and let him taste extreme fear and pain before dying.
These despairing emotions made it feel unprecedentedly wonderful. Perhaps it would never encounter them again.
There was another reason why it had such thoughts. It discovered that Aiden's vitality was very tenacious.
It wasn't just him. Aiden finally realized this. Amidst the intense pain, a warm feeling surged out of his body and quickly spread throughout his entire body. In that instant, Aiden even felt that the pain that spread throughout his entire body had disappeared. His entire body became very relaxed and comfortable amidst that warm feeling.
The warm sensation didn't last long, but Eden felt that his body, which had been weakened by too much blood, had regained some strength.
However, this discovery did not make him excited. Instead, it made him feel even more despair.
Why? Was it done by this monster? What was its purpose? Was it just to torture him for a longer time?
Just like that, Aiden hovered on the brink of death, enduring the pain and recovering at the same time. What made him despair was that he couldn't even allow himself to die at this moment.
Just as his consciousness blurred, an intense light suddenly flickered in front of his eyes. Strangely, he subconsciously narrowed his eyes. When he opened them again, the light gathered and formed a word in the void in front of him: Priest.
"Priest, what is this?" Aiden was puzzled, but he had no time to think about it. As the word appeared, his fading consciousness condensed again, and the scene in front of him became clear again.
Countless tentacles crazily sucked his body, and a strong squeezing feeling filled his entire body.
'F*ck! Is he trying to make me watch myself get crushed and swallowed?!'
Aiden cursed in his heart. Originally, he was about to faint. Even if he was swallowed by the monster, he would die without any pain. But now that his consciousness was clear, he could even clearly feel the squirming tentacles under his skin.
Finally, after an unknown period of time, the monster's entire body trembled violently, as if it had obtained great satisfaction.
"Aiden, my love, I will always remember you. Now, give me everything you have!"
"Give me your blood, your flesh, your bones, and everything else!"
The tentacle loosened slightly. That was the sign that it was about to exert its strength.
Now was the time!
Aiden's spirits were lifted, and the thought of survival once again surfaced in his mind. Since he didn't know what had caused his vitality to become stronger, he didn't want to be tortured like this any longer. It couldn't be better if he could survive. Even if he couldn't, he had to end his own life. He couldn't be controlled by monsters anymore.
Seizing the opportunity, Aiden struggled with all his might, trying to shake off the disgusting tentacles. However, even though he was not injured, he could not break free from the monster's control. Furthermore, after struggling a few times, the tentacles on his body suddenly contracted.
A pressure several times stronger than before came from every part of his body. In the blink of an eye, Aiden's eyes turned bloodshot. At this moment, he felt as if he had turned into a human-shaped water ball that could explode at any moment.
"Am I going to die?"
Aiden's eyes revealed a deep sense of helplessness. It wasn't that he hadn't worked hard before, but reality had proven that his death was destined from the moment the monster appeared. However, after the helplessness passed, a sense of relief surged in his heart.
If he died here, he wouldn't have to suffer anymore…
This was good too…
Aiden closed his eyes and waited for death.
…
"Yes?"
Why am I not dead yet?
After an unknown amount of time, Aiden suddenly realized that the tentacles that wrapped around him no longer seemed to tighten. Instead, they began to relax. His consciousness, which was about to fade, gradually recovered. Even the pain in his body lessened significantly.
"Could it be that everything just now was a nightmare? And I'm awake now?"
This strange feeling made Aiden heave a sigh of relief. However, when he opened his eyes in anticipation, he realized that nothing had changed. He was still in the small forest in the park, and the disgusting and terrifying monster was still in front of him.
The difference was that the monster seemed to be under a spell. It stood rooted to the ground, its tawny eyes filled with confusion.
Whoosh...
The tentacle trembled slightly and then fell to the ground weakly. Aiden was completely free now. He fell to the ground and looked at the stunned monster in front of him in bewilderment.
"W-what's going on?"
Aiden couldn't understand why the monster in front of him didn't make a move when it could have crushed him like an ant. Instead, it looked like this. What was going on?
The repeated changes made him forget to escape for a moment. He stood on the spot and stared at the monster in front of him.
"What are you waiting for?! Run!"
-- 贈り物
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