Zich’s severed leg began to be dyed in red. He poured mana into the remaining part of his leg and made it explode. Pop!
Many air bubbles formed beneath his feet and flipped his body upside down. He looked like he was out of balance for a bit, but he soon swam comfortably underwater.
‘It reminds me of the old times.’
As someone who had gone through almost all kinds of battles and fights, Zich had experience fighting underwater—moreover, fighting with one of his legs cut off just like now. Thus, he was able to get accustomed to the situation quickly. Yet, Zich didn’t have the time to rejoice simply because he achieved freedom. Not only were there enemies in his surroundings, but he was also still heavily injured and even missing a leg now; of course, Zich had no intention of living with just one leg.
Riiip! Zich ripped the clothes on his chest area. Since he didn’t have the time to take out the item in his belongings, he used this method to pop out the magic box from between his clothes. Then, he poured out mana from the bottom of his feet again.
Pop! Zich’s body shot up at a fast rate. As the Kraken’s tentacle passed him, Zich placed the magic box next to his severed leg. The box sucked his leg in.
‘All right, I got the leg.’ Zich continued to move. The fluid monsters were chasing after Zich with astonishing mobility. The Kraken also wiggled its tentacles knowing that it missed Zich. Even after recovering his freedom, Zich appeared to be in a hopeless situation. Yet, he didn’t think about retreating.
‘I have to kill the Kraken.’
If he combated with the meat clump later, the Kraken could interfere with their fight again. Although it was critically injured, the Kraken could heal all its injuries given the time, and with his keen observation skills, Zich was able to catch that it was already healing some of its injuries. Zich continued to advance forward. He swung Windur at the fluid monsters rushing at him, but he didn’t pay great attention to blocking them like before and focused on advancing forward. While receiving more injuries than before, he got close to the Kraken as he had planned. The Kraken wiggled its few remaining tentacles to capture Zich. Yet, its movements were different from the time it had all its tentacles.
Zich infused an abundant amount of mana into Windur. Then, he flushed out mana from the bottom of his feet again, and his body flew upwards like an arrow. His target was the injury on the Kraken’s head that it had gained from the meat clump’s magic.
Baaam! The Kraken’s soft, plushy skin was peeking open beneath its hard, outer covering. Zich landed a big blow on it. Yet, that was all—it wasn’t a critical injury. The wound was big enough to cover one or two people, but compared to the size of the creature, it wasn’t large at all. However, Zich was satisfied. He didn’t think he would have been able to cut off the Kraken’s life with just one slice, and the size of this injury was what he wanted to inflict anyways.
Whoosh! A shivering chill went down the back of his neck. It was clear that the fluid monster’s sharp attacks barely missed his backside. Yet, Zich didn’t turn around and continued forward. His body stuck onto the Kraken’s wound. An outsider might have mistaken that Zich accidentally landed there because he wasn’t used to swimming, but Zich couldn’t have moved more precisely. He pierced Windur more deeply into the Kraken’s wound.
Crash! Mana burst out the ends of Windur, exploded inside the Kraken, and dove in deeper. From the impact, the Kraken floundered wildly, making shockwaves that prevented the fluid monsters from approaching closer. To not get bounced off, Zich clutched tightly onto Windur which was stuck tightly to the Kraken’s insides. Then, Zich crouched with his remaining leg onto the Kraken’s fat and pushed his body deeper until it completely disappeared into the creature’s body.
‘I can finally catch my breath.’
The Kraken’s insides were cozy. Sticky body fluids, wiggling muscles, and fat was far from what most people thought of when the word ‘cozy’ came up; but considering what Zich had faced just a moment before, it seemed so. Yet, the peacefulness didn’t last long. When they realized that Zich wasn’t planning to come out of the Kraken’s body any time soon, the fluid monsters began to rush in again. They tried to burrow into the wound and attack him.
‘I am not going out, you idiots!’ Zich took out a load of potions from his magic box and threw them. Karuwiman’s highest quality potions landed on the Kraken’s injured areas and broke.
Shaaaa! The Kraken’s injuries began to heal at a fast rate. The fluid monsters that were trying to enter the wound were pushed away by the caving muscles and skin and disappeared. Since Zich was also a foreign body inside the Kraken, the wound’s recovery wasn’t all good for him. However, he solved this problem by burrowing deeper inside.
‘Haa!’ After finally catching his breath, Zich took out potions and poured them on his wounds and drank them. He also attached his severed leg onto his body and dripped potion onto it. Although there was a danger of him attaching it improperly, Zich wasn’t worried.
‘It’s not like I only did this once or twice.’ He looked at the cleanly attached leg with satisfaction. After moving all his toes from his big toe to his pinky toe, he grabbed Windur again.
‘I’m done healing. Should I go kill this guy now?’
Zich’s goal was the Kraken’s brain. Like a miner mining gold, Zich began wielding Windur and crushing the Kraken’s insides.
Buaaaaaaaa! The Kraken struggled in pain, covering its painful area with its remaining legs, but there was nothing the Kraken could do against Zich, who continued to climb deeper inside. Moreover, even the liquid monsters began to attack the Kraken; it seemed as if they were trying to also come inside the Kraken to kill Zich. However, this was a matter that the Kraken could not allow at all.
Of course, the Kraken resisted, and a battle between the Kraken and the liquid monsters began. In matters of power and battle prowess, the Kraken was still stronger than the liquid monsters, even with all its injuries. But there were a lot of liquid monsters, and they were also naturally hard to kill. As a result, the Kraken was slightly getting pushed back, but their overall strengths were pretty similar. Zich sensed their fight from inside the Kraken.
‘I was hoping for this, but it really did turn out according to my plan.’
A sly smile appeared on his mouth.
‘It really is fun to get my enemies to fight each other.’
The only disappointing thing was that one side was a monster and the other side involved mysterious monsters controlled by the meat clump, so there weren’t any emotional conflicts involved. Normally, his enemies would fight while shouting who betrayed the other first, or they would cry streams of tears while cursing the awful situation that made them fight each other. However, Zich couldn’t enjoy that type of entertainment this time.
‘Well, it’s fine. I don’t have the leisure to enjoy something like that anyways.’
Zich focused back on wielding Windur again. The Kraken’s frantic movements became more serious; it made a huge movement to its side.
‘Huh?’ At that moment, Zich thought of something interesting. ‘If I’m skillful about this, I might be able to comfortably go back to the place I was in.’
Zich withdrew Windur. As the pain disappeared, the Kraken’s movements became calmer; it merely fought off the liquid monsters that kept trying to get into its body. However, when Zich began to swing Windur again, it began struggling again and wriggled all over the place. After a while, pain began to erupt inside the Kraken and stopped again. After this cycle happened a countless number of times, the Kraken was able to realize one fact: when it moved in a specific direction, the pain didn’t appear.
The Kraken ignored the liquid monsters and began swimming in a specific direction. It swam faster towards the direction it didn’t feel any pain. Zich calmly closed his eyes and heightened his senses. ‘Stop.’
Pierce! The Kraken struggled in pain as Windur pierced its insides. However, it seemed to have learned from its previous experience as it moved in all directions. But soon enough, it swam towards the direction where it didn’t feel any pain.
‘Good. Let’s keep going like this. We’re both going to be comfortable this way.’
Like this, Zich quickly returned to where they used to be by controlling the Kraken.
* * *
Lyla’s surroundings were completely covered by the meat clump. The only thing protecting her were the barriers she made all around her.
Screeech! Screeeech!
A great number of arms that came out from the meat clump scratched Lyla’s barriers. However, they were unable to break Lyla’s barriers with just this amount of force. It was still a terrifying sight that would send chills down people’s spines.
–Why don’t you start giving up?
The meat clump put its hand on the barrier and said. The meat clump was now right in front of Lyla. It had thrown away its grotesque form and had returned to the human woman they first saw when they entered the space. However, its lower body was still attached to the meat clump surrounding Lyla, so it didn’t look completely like a human.
The creature was so close that it seemed as if Lyla could shoot off its head by breaking her barriers and sending out magic, but Lyla was unable to do that. It was very clear that her opponent’s skills were above hers. Even though their magical abilities were about the same, the tree was giving enormous strength to the creature.
“I have no plans to give up.”
–You’re going to resist in vain until the very end?
“Of course. I also don’t think it’s in vain.”
–Perhaps, are you trusting your companions to come back for you?
The creature laughed.
–One of them was dragged into the ocean by the Kraken and the others all ran away. Do you think that trash will be able to save you?
“You never know what’ll happen in the future.”
–Hmm, well, that’s true. I also never imagined that I’d be able to capture you.
“I haven’t been captured yet.”
–Believe whatever you want. I’m not so cruel that I’ll go out of my way to crush your pointless hope.
The meat clump began stroking the barrier as if it was stroking Lyla’s face.
–But I’m curious about your past. How in the world did you come to move like a human being when you used to only be part of the system?
“…You know about my past?”
–Of course. I remember everything. The day when you barged into this space with extremely powerful monsters and…
Thud! The creature slammed its fists against the barrier.
–The day you killed me!
The creature’s face was now frighteningly stiff.
“…I killed you?”
–Yeah. Even while I desperately told you that I didn’t want to die, you didn’t even blink an eye and killed me.
It stuck its face close to the barrier.
–I can still vividly recall your face that day. And the words you told me that day.
It opened its mouth wide and stressed the word out loud.
–Fake.
The creature moved its face away from the barrier.
–But you won’t be able to say that to me anymore, because I’m going to be real.
“…I don’t remember that.”
–Yeah, that’s probably right. No matter how you look at it, it seems certain that your memories have been reset. Well, fine. I’ll give you your memories.
“…Give me my memories?” Lyla asked in surprise.
The meat clump shrugged its shoulders. When it moved its shoulder, the surrounding meat clumps also wriggled.
–We were made for that purpose in the first place. Well, to be exact, we were made to steal your memories. But I’ll probably be able to implant my memories into your mind.
Tap! Tap! The meat clump put two hands on the barrier.
–See with your own eyes what type of person you were.
At that moment, Lyla’s body wavered.