The beautiful sight reminded Angor of a story he read before, where a fairy living inside flowers was waking up.
But… as the woman in the flower revealed her face, every last bit of the beautiful fantasy in Angor’s mind shattered like bubbles and vaporized in the air.
Now, the woman in front of Angor convinced him that someone with a beautiful body might not be a fairy. It could be the deadliest devil in the realm.
This terrible creature… no. She was worse than a devil.
Swollen pimples had taken over half of her face. There were thin, worm-like creatures squirming between the pimples. Instead of eye sockets, her eyeballs hanged outside, connected by several white, fleshy organ parts.
The other half of her face looked better. At least it looked human. However, it was still decorated by several ugly slashing wounds.
As the flower fully bloomed, exposing the woman’s entire body, countless shiny green spots were scattered into the dark space by the twitching petals.
When it happened, Angor somehow heard a message from somewhere.
“The war has begun.”
War?
Angor was not sure where he received that message. Before he could digest it, he felt his own consciousness leaving the dark chaos and going away. Next, he found himself existing in… another dimension.
He was still on the arena, but… something was wrong. He could see the expressions of the audience, but they were not moving. It was as if time was frozen around him.
At the same time, Angor could see himself lying on the ground.
As well as the green light spots that appeared in his blood vessels.
He appeared as his soul, which lived in another timeline. At this moment, he could clearly sense everything, including what was going on inside his body.
However, he did not have the time to wonder why something like this was happening because his attention was fixed on the changes in his body.
The green spots appeared everywhere. His blood, his organs… they slowly took over everything inside him like bandits who just found a new settlement.
The same instinct from before told him that the green spots were pollens released by the previous flower, and he knew well what they were doing right now.
They were taking control of his body!
What was all this about? Green shadow, green flower, and the horrible woman. What were these things that suddenly appeared inside his body? Why were they doing this?
Taking everything into consideration, Angor looked at the body of Parasite Queen, who had been lying on the other side.
“It is you, right? Parasite Queen?” Angor could not speak, but he managed to send his thoughts through spirit ripples.
He never expected an answer. Surprisingly, another spirit ripple came flowing back.
“Mine. Mine! Bah-hahaha! It’s all mine! This body shall be mine!”
The spirit ripple was not directed at Angor. Someone was releasing a strong emotion into the air.
Angor quickly sensed the particular emotion as well as the meaning it meant to tell.
He did not do this by chance. Back in the Nightmare Realm, Angor had the same experience with the Glutton Flowers before. He even tried to communicate with the lord of those flowers.
“Parasite Queen?” Angor tried reaching out his spirit again.
“Ha! Mister Baroque said this is Sunders’ student. Wonderful! I’m so claiming this body for myself! Yes, YES! Quickly now… It’s all mine!!”
Angor felt the frenzied emotion again.
He was confident now that he could sense the other spirit, while the other party could not sense him in return.
Also, he could learn something from what he had sensed.
Baroque…
He knew that name. It was the braided old man who handled the lottery box at Level 13. That guy seemed like an important figure in Sky Tower.
Which meant… a mysterious spirit came to take his body under Baroque’s command?
And of course, it was Parasite Queen. She was the only fighter who was randomly chosen for Angor after he entered the lottery pool.
Who exactly was Baroque? And why was Parasite Queen trying to take his body? What did they want?? Angor got the feeling that the whole setup was some kind of plot against Sunders, while he himself was just a tool.
Angor did not know what was going on, nor did he care. The only thing he had to do now was to retake control of his body, and getting rid of Parasite Queen.
He saw the green pollens moving across his abdomen and slowly entering his legs.
When every corner of his body was taken over by the pollens, it would mean that he finally lost his body for real.
He tried to move.
However, his body felt really weird. It was as if he was now living in a completely different world from the one his body was in. No matter how hard he tried, Angor never sensed the presence of his flesh let alone controlling it.
“Weak. So weak! Like a mortal! No. This is weaker than a mortal!”
Another emotion came to him. Angor grew a little angry. He was sure he would sense his blood vessels pulsing on his forehead… if he had a forehead at all.
He watched as green pollens slowly condensed into his body while he could not do anything about it. While not being able to command his body, Angor only released all kinds of cursing words through his spirit. But no one could hear him. Not even the wizards around.
“This is miserable! Broken vessels… taints in the flesh… To hell with it! Why would Sunders accept this one as a student?!”
All of Parasite Queen’s thoughts reached Angor’s consciousness but Angor no longer had the will to retort.
“Maybe his talent is really good? No matter. This is all mine. I’ll figure out once I seize his soul.”
People used their emotions all the time as long as they were alive. Angor fully comprehended everything Parasite Queen was thinking about even though she was not trying to talk.
From what she just said, she would go for both his body and soul.
Angor felt so powerless when his entire body was almost lost.
Green pollens had filled up every corner of him. Only a small part in his brain remained untouched.
Angor had nothing to interfere with the situation. He watched as his body became Parasite Queen’s possession while he had nothing to direct his rage on.
The great rage slowly built up like a giant pile of stones. At a certain point, Angor sensed growing restlessness in his once tranquil mind.
Among the torrent of rage, he also noticed a strange ripple.
He never saw such a ripple before. Yet as his anger grew intense, the ripple began to show up from somewhere.
“What… is that?”
Something that looked both insignificant and majestic was shrouded in a lump of a dense, grayish mist cloud.
Also, he felt something familiar with it. But he could not tell why.
As he was attracted by the newly appeared ripple, Parasite Queen’s emotions came again.
“This body is now mine! Gahahaha! His soul, mine! Mine! Give me your soul!”
It all ended.
He had completely lost his body!
What he needed to do now was to fight for his soul.
“Where is it… WHERE IS IT! There you are!” The voice of Parasite Queen suddenly became louder.
Angor saw countless green pollens appearing around himself.
Not his body, but around his current consciousness.
“Yar-hahaha! Found you! Don’t mind if I do!”
Her emotion came from behind the pollens. Angor looked in that direction and saw the ugly woman sitting on the green flower she was born from.
That horrible woman was… the real Parasite Queen?
The realization looked so wrong considering Parasite Queen’s previous beautiful figure was still on the floor. Yet Angor somewhat fully believed his idea.
Since she could invade and take control of the body of someone else, maybe the pretty girl outside was just another of her shells.
“Such a beautiful soul. Too bad I can’t control human souls. No matter! Once I take over your mind space and retrieve your memories, I’ll just toss your useless soul into nothingness!”
Green pollens surged at Angor’s consciousness under Parasite Queen’s order.
Angor finally understood his situation.
He was not really his consciousness now. He had returned to his soul form.
This had to be why he could sense Parasite Queen’s emotions. When inside the Nightmare Realm, he moved around as a soul and that was why he could also comprehend the emotions of Glutton Flowers.
But he had nothing to defend himself against the pollens.
He could not move his soul now. Unlike what he went through in the Nightmare Realm, his soul was still trapped somewhere inside his body.
And he could only watch as the pollens came at him.
Desperate, Angor thought about the only thing he might do—releasing the strange ripple he sensed a moment ago.
The thick, gray fog slowly spread from his soul.
When it connected with the incoming pollen waves, the pollens stopped in their tracks as if bound by an unknown force.
Was he… safe? Angor had no idea what that fog was, but it did halt the pollens from advancing.
“Sh*t. What’s this?! You’re right there, right?! Baron Milk! Come out! Give me your soul like a good kid, or I’ll let your body rot away like dead worms in the dirt while keeping you alive to feel it!” Parasite Queen also noticed the sudden problem in her plan and began to release an angry emotion.
She also knew that when being as a parasite in someone’s body, she could not possibly talk with Angor’s soul.
Angor completely ignored her outburst. He was no less furious then Parasite Queen. He had to keep his soul safe at all cost. And even if he could not, he would drag Parasite Queen along with him when going into hell!
He never learned any soul-related spells, so the only thing that might help him was the strange fog now.
Angor attempted to manipulate the gray fog that suddenly appeared in his soul.
He slowly controlled his soul to reach out for the fog again.