บท 320: Chapter 237: Hot Pot
Cough! Cough!
The distance from the imposing and majestic Stone Pillar that was surrounded by the same imposing but foul lake of blood that glowed with foul crimson light and the Doctor and Adryan was still quite long, at least 30 minutes at the rate they were going as far as the redhead could tell.
The first mentioned was in no hurry to arrive and whistled peacefully as he dragged the redhead along. This gave Adryan enough time to recover.
'What an idiot I was! If the other gangs were catching people left and right it was obvious Blood Moon wouldn't stand still!' The Fire Mage criticized himself, even though his nose had already gotten used to the smell he still felt the aftermath of the impact.
His watery eyes and mind that was still somewhat cloudy were the ones that were bothering him the most.
"I've never been so grateful to lose my sense of smell." Flora spoke, her voice was strained and had a great discomfort dripping from it. She may be over 200 years old, but nothing in her 2 centuries of life came close to the horror she was seeing.
If she could have swallowed saliva she would have.
"Adryan whatever is going on in that tomato of a brain of yours better be good..." Flora whispered and the redhead clicked his tongue internally but for obvious reasons didn't respond.
Blinking rapidly to wipe the tears from his eyes, Adryan looked at the lake of blood that was getting bigger and bigger but only a second before his attention shifted to his sides.
His eyes moved around the huge cavern and his brow furrowed slightly.
Again, there was no guard anywhere. And he couldn't feel any eyes on him either. Even his instincts were quite quiet.
The only ones in this cave were him and the Doctor.
And now that he was looking better at the cave, he noticed several things that made him frown.
From the location of the pillar to where they were there was a brutal drop and he could easily see that it wasn't natural.
'It's like what happens when a meteor hits. The point of origin is the Pillar...' Adryan frowned.
Had the Pillar fallen from the sky?
'That would mean that this cave at some point was open to the sky, and the passage of time buried whatever that Pillar is?' The red-haired man theorized but due to the almost nil information he could not come to a conclusion in which he was satisfied.
Again it all came back to the lack of information...
Returning his attention to the Doctor's back. Adryan clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"No guard seriously? With the way you were pumping up this Anniversary, I had already gotten the idea that we'd have a good crowd. You know, cakes, posters, even gave me the idea of a small band playing some classical piece. But this? It's certainly disappointing for such an important celebration don't you think?"
Looking sideways at the red-haired man, Doctor laughed quietly.
"Oh don't worry Mr. Kenway. Everything you say is missing is already in place, just waiting to be called for curtain call." The 'man' commented amused and with a sideways grin as he looked at Adryan with eyes full of satisfaction, as if he knew something he didn't.
At that, the red-haired man narrowed his eyes.
"And speaking of the public..." The Doctor paused for a few seconds before letting out a small chuckle.
"Hehe... Don't read anything into that. We will have extremely special guests!" The man exclaimed with a smirk as his gaze filled with madness, his crimson eyes dancing everywhere with no apparent aim.
After a few seconds, his eyes refocused on the redhead, the madness replaced by genuine pity.
"Though it's a real tragedy that you won't be able to witness it." Shaking his head with a sad expression, Doctor let out a long sigh.
"You've got a screw loose." Adryan grunted as he tried to squirm away but again, the ivy thorns wrapping around his body drained all his strength before he could do anything of value.
A smile bloomed on the Doctor's face again at the redhead's words.
"Thank you for the compliment Mr. Adryan~" As he finished saying that he sighed sadly again, "I will miss our conversations. You are a pleasure to be around."
Smiling sideways from his position on the ground, Adryan snorted mockingly.
"Well, I won't. If death is a way to get rid of a cock eater like you I will embrace her and kiss her cold lips with pleasure. My bet is they taste like grapes, what's yours?"
Raising an eyebrow. The Doctor looked curiously at the redhead, they had almost reached the pillar.
"For someone about to die, I must say you are extremely calm Mr. Kenway. It's a little scary you know?"
Where was the fun if his pet didn't squeal when he whipped it?
"The only thing I'm afraid of dying is that Death is not a beautiful lady dressed in black but a bald old man and even then he wants to give me his classic cold kiss" Adryan commented while his smile grew a little.
At such words, Doctor burst out laughing. A loud laugh echoed loudly in the cave with the only witnesses being the red-haired man and the Pillar.
At no time did the sideways smile leave his face.
"Hahahahaha! Oh, Mr. Kenway you really do say some very funny things!" wiping away a tear that fell from laughing so hard Doctor smiled amusedly at the redhead.
"And if Death is truly a beautiful woman. What will you do if she refuses to embrace you?"
Adryan's sideways grin sharpened instantly showing his sharp canines. In the near pitch blackness of the cave that was barely illuminated by the tongues of flame that poured from the pillar's crevices, his scarlet eyes glowed like them.
"Then I'll crawl out of hell and take you to her. It is wrong to waste a lady's time you know? Perhaps by taking your cold body to her, she will forgive me any offense I have done to her."
"I'll ask you the same question Oh! Great Doctor."
"Are you afraid of dying?"
"..."
The smile on the Doctor's face tightened for a second before disappearing. A flat expression instead that showed no emotion.
"What happened? Not so much laughter now? The hunter got your tongue?" Adryan sneered again but the Doctor said nothing, just turned away and continued on his way to the Pillar.
After a few long seconds of silence, the Doctor's footsteps stopped and in a cold voice he announced.
"...We have arrived Herald of the Hunt."
"Thanks for the heads up, if you hadn't told me I would never have noticed." The red-haired man commented sarcastically but his voice was strained. Sweat covered his entire body and he could already feel his mouth dry.
He felt like he was in front of a melting furnace!
The heat was almost unbearable, and lying on the ground with no clothes on he could feel his skin burning from being in contact with the rock.
'A normal person would have passed out and died from the heat by now.'
Being so close to the pillar also meant he was near the lake of blood and up close it looked worse than he thought possible. Something he had failed to see the first time.
The lake was boiling!
The hot blood was constantly releasing bubbles that gave off a horrible smell of rotting flesh.
'Surely they keep the blood here with some ritual. Otherwise, it wouldn't be in such a liquid state...' Adryan thought looking at the blood before his eyes went to the island of flesh.
The bodies of the people who were not under the boiling blood were with their arms outstretched in all directions as if trying to anchor themselves to anything to escape their torture.
Through their lifeless white eyes, he could feel how those thin, maggot-eaten hands seemed to be reaching out to him, to grab him and never let go again.
Cold scarlet eyes looked back into the white eyes.
The smell at this point was practically unbearable but thanks to him always being in rotten, horrible-smelling places thanks to his time in East Borough and his constant outings as James Holmes, Adryan could 'tolerate' this smell quite well.
The only exception was a few moments ago but that was because he hadn't been ready for it.
'If some Pyromaniac with no experience of horrible smells were here in my place he would no doubt faint with just a small portion of this.' The red-haired man thought feeling his mind become a little more turbulent.
Even someone as experienced in this field as he was, he still felt that if he took a very deep breath he would end up fainting.
"Here we say goodbye Mr. Kenway."
The Doctor's calm words snapped him out of his turbulent mind. Glancing back at the man, scarlet collided with crimson.
The Doctor's expression reflected serenity and tranquility, but Adryan could see how in the man's eyes shone an enormous excitement, an uncontainable desire to witness what was to come.
Scarlet eyes returned to the lake of boiling blood that could not see its bottom. Then they moved to the large stone beside it.
"...Shit." Adryan growled giving himself an idea of what was coming.
Why dying could never be as simple as a shot to the head or a stab to the heart?!
'Did it really have to be boiling while drowning? What tremendous sons of bitches...' the red-headed man complained in his mind.
"Awww Mr. Kenway don't worry. You'll only be conscious for 5 minutes before you pass out." Seeing that the surprise had been ruined and returning to his previous attitude, Doctor 'consoled' with a mischievous grin.
"T-This is the moment where we make our brilliant escape and throw that pervert in the pot right?!!!! Right?!!!" Flora asked anxiously.
Ignoring the worm demigod, Adryan's eyes returned to the Doctor.
Letting out a long, exasperated sigh, the red-haired man shook his head.
"I would have preferred the classic dagger to the chest."
"Don't be ridiculous Mr. Kenway. We gave up that ancient method centuries ago." The Doctor replied with a smile as he grabbed the chain of Adryan's necklace and began wrapping it around the stone from before.
With the ivies still wrapping around his body, Adryan could only watch helplessly as the Doctor finished wrapping the chain around the stone.
Clap Clap
Clapping his hands together to wipe off the dust. The Doctor gave a satisfied look at his work.
Placing his right hand on the stone and his left in his pocket, the man's gaze returned to the lying Adryan, his lips lifting in dark pleasure.
"Any last words?"
Snorting, Adryan gave a sharp smile.
"Nah."
"Huhu I should have guessed" Barely containing his laughter, the Doctor began to push the stone that despite being just as tall as he was, he didn't seem to have any trouble pushing it but before it fell into the lake he stopped, a thoughtful look on his face.
"Oh, by the way, I almost forgot. Mr. Kenway, I have a correction to make. I can't let you die with wrong information..."
"FUCK ADRYAN DO SOMETHING!!! I DON'T WANT TO BE A BURNING WORM!!!" the demigoddess shouted.
Raising an eyebrow and ignoring Flora's shouts, Adryan looked at the man without saying anything. His face was extremely bored, it almost didn't even look like he was about to die one of the most painful deaths possible.
"You are wrong to think of this Anniversary as a celebration." Shaking his head, the Doctor added.
"It's a curse."
With that done, he gave the final push to the stone which fell into the lake with a resounding Plop!
Still wrapped up in the ivy and limp, Adryan Kenway was dragged along but before he fell into the lake, he took a deep breath of air.
Plop!
Adryan immediately felt it as his body was enveloped in blood, it felt like he was being embraced by it, an embrace that burned his skin and was cooking him alive.
The deeper he sank the hotter the blood became and the more it hurt. But no darker for even beneath the blood the cracks in the pillar illuminated the depths.
This pain he felt was the closest he felt when he touched his body in that limbo but that did not make it similar.
'It's still far away!' Adryan shouted in his mind as he clenched his fists.
Even though he could feel his body being cooked alive his mind was still sharp!
But he knew this wouldn't last long, the lack of air would eventually knock him out.
So using the air he had inhaled earlier, he opened his mouth and as the hot blood rushed in and burned his tongue he spoke...
Of course, being submerged would make it impossible for anyone to understand him. If a normal person could see him they would think he was drowning and not trying to talk.
But that was a normal person but right now he was talking to a Demigod!
Sure even a Demigod would find it hard to make sense of what he was trying to say but not a Parasite!
Flora who up until now was yelling at him to do something as they fell into the depths of the lake immediately noticed what the redhead was doing.
Extremely confused but knowing what the man was trying to do, she deciphered what he was saying.
And if she had eyes they would have opened as she deciphered what the man was saying.
"Wait for me Flora! Even if I die I can revive! I will come back for you so hold on!"
Flora right now was feeling many emotions, Disbelief and confusion the greatest of these. But she could only swallow these emotions as this was not the time for it.
No matter how ridiculous and impossible what this lunatic was admitting sounded, she had to trust the redhead. Since...
What other choice did she have?
Knowing there wasn't much time, she spoke seriously.
"When you die I can only survive a few hours in your body. I don't know if what you say is true, a delusion, or if that torture really broke your head but what does it matter now?"
Letting out a loud sigh, Flora lamented to herself.
How low she had fallen...
'He is the blessed of a God... Surely resurrection wouldn't be too crazy, would it?' Jacob tried to console herself as she once again regretted parasitizing someone so wretched.
Despite the pain and discomfort he felt in his body, Adryan smiled sharply.
He immediately raised his hand and tried to plunge it into his chest to kill himself but the ivy that enveloped him drained his strength and prevented him from a quick death.
'Of course'
Without wasting another second and thinking fast, he let out all the air he had left in long exhalations at the same time as he tried to inhale the blood.
His body was heat resistant so being boiled alive would take a long time. Also drowning would take much longer due to his large lungs and the strong body of Sequence 7.
If he couldn't stab himself then he would drown himself!
The mere fact that the blood made contact with his tongue made him vomit. The taste was worse than the smell by far. As if someone had mixed chicken skin that had been marinating in the sun for months, maggots that had been eating off that same chicken and blended it with pig's blood. The rotten taste was horrible and he doubted he would ever forget it in his entire life.
Even though he was trying to kill himself. The body's survival instinct was strong, but even though it refused to listen to its owner, Adryan felt his mind go light and his vision blurred. He could feel the grip the ivy had on him weaken but it still held him tightly, refusing to let go until he was dead.
As the curtains of the darkness of unconsciousness began to embrace him, only one thought passed through the man's mind.
'You're up... Hunters Hallow...'
With the bet made and after a few seconds and with the stone finally touching the bottom of the lake, Adryan Kenway passed out.
...
Watching as the man disappeared into the blood. The Doctor's body began to tremble and he leaned down hugging his sides.
Unable to hold it in any longer, he exploded in a mighty, terrifying cackle.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Falling to his knees, tears began to fall from his eyes. Tears of ecstasy.
Raising his eyes to the sky and with a smile of complete madness on his face, the Docor continued to laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"DESPAIR! PAIN! HATE! DEATH!"
"WHAT DECISION WILL THE SO-CALLED PROTECTORS OF FALSE PEACE MAKE?!"
"WILL THEY BE ABLE TO DO IT OR NOT?! THE SACRIFICE TO KEEP THIS FALSE PEACE?!"
"THEY CALL THEMSELVES PROTECTORS BUT THEY USE HUMANS AS PAWNS! THEY ARE NOTHING BUT FALSE GODS! DEMONS DRESSED AS SAVIORS!"
"MAY THIS DAY BE MARKED WITH BLOOD IN THEIR MINDS AND SOULS! THE DAY OF YOUR GREATEST FAILURE!"
"TODAY WILL BE REMEMBERED AS THE DAY BACKLUND FELL!"
With an expression of pure ecstasy, the Doctor looked up at the sky with a blurred gaze.
"And one step closer to you descending... My Bloody Moon..."
After a few long minutes of staring into nothingness, the Doctor got up from the ground with a smile, he calmly wiped the dirt off his knees, and with a handkerchief that he took out of his pocket he wiped his face.
After doing that and putting the handkerchief away, the shadows enveloped him and he disappeared into them and then reappeared at the entrance where 3 men were waiting for him.
"Everything is ready sir. The Rose School forces are in place just waiting for the signal." Wraith Steve reported. He was still dressed in his tuxedo and blood-red coat.
"Magnificent. Let's get out of here, this place won't be safe anymore." Doctor commented as he walked towards the entrance being followed closely by Wraith Steve, Devil Joseph, Zombie Jason, and Werewolf Tyre. The latter had their heads down due to their failure to capture the target.
Joseph turned and looked at the lake of blood in the distance for a second before returning his attention to the front. A somewhat sour expression adorned his face.
"Don't worry Joseph you will get your new toy but that will be later, now we have work to do. Later some men will come to take the body away so take off that long face." Without looking at the devil, the Doctor replied.
Joseph's eyes lit up and he nodded. "Thank you, My Lord."
If that bastard's body was damaged then his Lord could restore it so he was much more at ease now.
As soon as they passed the entrance they walked on for a long while. Passing the empty cages and going deeper and deeper...
...
Back to the Pillar.
Watching as after 10 minutes of drowning the redhead's heart finally stopped. Flora let out a sad and tired sigh, she 'closed' her eyes and went back to sleep. If she wanted to last the hours she promised she needed to save her energy.
"You better hurry Adryan..." The Jacob murmured in a weak voice as she fell into a deep sleep, but not before leaving a failsafe that would wake her once her companion's heart started beating again.
At the same time that life left the red-haired man's body, the cracks in the Pillar slowly stopped releasing tongues of flame...
After 15 minutes, the last tongue of flame died and darkness filled the entire cavern.
The sound of something cracking echoed, pounding the void like drums.
At the same time, the darkness of the cavern was dispelled by a crimson light coming from the ever-growing cracks in the pillar.
The lake of blood began to quake and the bodies of the people hugging the base of the pillar began to writhe like worms...
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