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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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I didn’t die.
Not because of Alraune’s healing abilities,
Nor because of my will to survive.
“Cough-”
I regained consciousness. Damn it, I was getting tired of fainting.
I had been on the brink of death countless times, but I couldn’t get used to the sensation.
Nausea churned in my stomach, the world spinning. My sense of balance was gone.
“Ugh, cough…”
My body screamed in protest, every muscle aching. I tried to move, to struggle, but…
“Wh-what… what is this…?”
I was completely immobilized.
Unable to move even a finger, a wave of panic washed over me.
The only thing I could control was my gaze, desperately searching for any visual clue, any sign of hope.
My vision was red.
At first, I thought my eyes were bleeding,
But it was the cave,
Or rather, the nest, that was red.
The nest’s walls were coated in a glistening, viscous, red fluid. A grotesque structure, resembling dried blood.
The metallic stench of decaying blood filled the air, making my stomach churn.
The grotesque interior shattered my composure.
“Please, please…!”
I thrashed, desperately trying to free my arms and legs, but it was no use.
…Escape was impossible.
“Hic, sob, hic-”
A strange sound, adding to my distress, reached my ears.
Two meters to my left, another familiar silhouette, also immobilized in the same disgusting substance.
“Hic- sob-”
“Ralph?”
I knew his name.
I had seen him talking to Dan a few times.
It was impossible. He had been part of the security team, part of the rescue team sent to retrieve Vergo.
I couldn’t believe he was still alive. But there he was, beside me, chuckling softly.
“Hee hee-”
“Ralph! I-it’s me. Juho!”
Seeing another survivor, after so long, brought tears to my eyes.
Too bad we were trapped in this disgusting place.
“Ralph, snap out of it. Where are we? What happened?”
I blinked back the tears and asked him.
I wasn’t going to die here. I still had a glimmer of hope.
“Ralph! It’s me, Juho! Look at me! I’ll get you out of here. Okay?”
I had protected Jenny. I had bought us some time, and the monsters would struggle to find her.
She was inside her cocoon, undergoing a transformation.
A miraculous, rapid evolution, a mystery of the universe.
“Ralph! Look at me! It’s Juho! Snap out of it!”
I believed in her. When her transformation was complete, Jenny would come for me.
I just had to hold on until then.
I could save Ralph,
And if there were other survivors, I could save them too…
“Hic- sob-”
Save them…
Ralph,
Turned his head and looked at me.
“…Oh, fuck.”
His eyelids fluttered open.
But his eyes were dead.
His clouded gaze was fixed on something above and to the side. And from between his eyelids, a strange, tentacle-like appendage twitched and writhed.
[What was once Ralph] opened his mouth, revealing the new creature within.
Like opening the doors to its home,
A grotesque being emerged from Ralph’s decaying mouth.
“Fuck! Wait, wait…!”
The chuckling sound,
Was the sound of it devouring Ralph’s flesh and organs.
Dried blood crusted around its mouth.
The stench of decay filled the air as its mouth opened.
“Ugh- retch…”
I turned away, unable to bear the sight.
But the other side was no better.
There, another human corpse, its head missing, lay preserved.
“Ugh, groan…”
The gruesome sight made my stomach churn.
The creature, having finished with Ralph, now seemed interested in me, its tail slithering towards my neck and cheek.
“Aaaaagh! Fuck! Get away! Get away from me!”
I screamed, unable to tolerate the disgusting sensation.
I wouldn’t let that monster inside me. Just kill me. I didn’t want this.
The creature retreated, slithering back into Ralph’s body,
Resuming its gruesome feast.
“Squeal- hee hee-”
I wanted to cover my ears,
But my arms were restrained.
I had to listen to Ralph being devoured.
“Juho…?”
An unbelievable voice reached my ears.
From the far end of the nest,
Another captive male.
“You… the… young biologist… the one with… Reyes…”
“W-who is that? I can’t see you…!”
His voice was weak and raspy, suggesting an older man.
I knew who it was.
He had been part of the first rescue team,
And if he was old enough to have that voice…
“Not… the rescue team…?”
“Isaac? Isaac, is that you?”
“Yes… it is…”
Our positions and the angle of the nest made it impossible to see each other clearly. But we could still communicate.
“Juho, the rescue team…”
Isaac,
Male, 40s,
Security officer on the Paradise,
Skilled with machinery, friendly with the engineers, a heavy smoker, but not a talkative man.
“Not coming…?”
Isaac’s soft words echoed sadly through the nest.
The joy of finding another survivor was quickly replaced by a shared grief.
“Hee hee-”
The only sound in the nest was the gruesome chewing of the monster feeding on Ralph’s corpse.
There was no hope here.
Only despair.
I forced myself to speak, trying to dispel the suffocating sense of defeat and helplessness.
I had been reunited with a fellow crew member, and I wouldn’t let these monsters ruin this moment.
“Isaac, i-it’s okay… just hold on a little longer. My friend is coming. She’s not a rescue team, but she’ll help us…”
“…”
But Isaac didn’t respond.
I sensed his despair.
He didn’t believe me.
Like the other crew members, who had died screaming and babbling incoherently,
He probably thought my trembling voice was just another desperate plea before death.
Isaac, trapped in this crimson nightmare for over 60 days, was exhausted.
But I was grateful to find another survivor.
“Juho…”
But Isaac’s emotions were different.
“Bite… your tongue. Keep bleeding… you have to die quickly…”
This tearful reunion in hell,
Was a cruel reminder of Isaac’s guilt and helplessness.
“I’m… sorry… I’m sorry… I can’t do anything…”
We were the only ones alive in this nest of corpses.
Isaac had witnessed the deaths of his crewmates, the slow, agonizing demise of every creature brought here.
“So please, listen to me… die on your own terms… don’t resist…”
But I wasn’t going to die.
I wouldn’t die. Not here.
My eyes darted around, frantically gathering information.
The creatures’ reproductive methods,
The habits of the offspring feeding on Ralph,
The layout and structure of this disgusting nest…
And,
The rifles, discarded near some of the bodies.
“Isaac, we’re not going to die. Never.”
I gritted my teeth, my body straining against the restraints.
“Never…!”
I had to escape this disgusting substance.
“Fuck! I’m not going to die! You bastards…! Grunt…!”
All the rage and resentment I had suppressed exploded outwards.
My body, coated in the warm, sticky, foul-smelling substance, burned with a feverish intensity.
I wanted to kill them all,
I couldn’t stay still,
My pent-up fury erupted.
It felt like being trapped in a sauna, wearing a heavy winter coat. I wanted to rip off my clothes and run.
“Grunt…!”
I could break free.
With my enhanced strength, thanks to Alraune, I could tear through these restraints and escape.
I wouldn’t forgive these monsters for killing my crewmates.
I wanted to grab one of those rifles and unleash hell…
“Screech- hiss-”
But,
It wasn’t time yet.
“Hiss- screech-”
I couldn’t let my rage control me.
I had to remain calm, to maintain my composure even in the face of my crewmates’ gruesome deaths.
“Screech- screech-”
One of the creatures entered the nest.
“No! Not him! Take me instead…!”
Isaac pleaded, using the last of his strength.
He was old and tired, ready to die, but to the creatures, he was worthless, too old to be of any use.
“Damn it…”
I looked at the creature.
Amidst the mangled flesh and grotesque features, I saw a familiar face.
“What did you do to Vergo…”
Like the other flesh-lumps,
Vergo had become one of them.
“You don’t just use them for breeding. Do you…?”
Observing them up close,
I finally understood the reason behind their grotesque appearance.
“What do you think life is, you monsters?”
And I understood why these creatures, in particular, retained so many human characteristics.
They grafted human parts onto themselves, creating something new.
Something,
Almost human.
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