WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈

Episode 264: Room ???, Curse Room - ‘????’ (2)

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- Han Ga-in

I left the tent with the warriors and chased after the Gnashing Teeth. The desolate landscape, once filled with short weeds and crumbling gravel, had somehow transformed into a forest packed with pitch-black trees that blocked my view.

Fear showed in the movements of the warriors who had boldly stepped forward. How had a forest that should have been full of abundant fruit, clean water, and fat prey become such a terrifying place?

As if calling us out once more, the culprit let out a high-pitched cry from the west.

--- Oooooh!

“You said the Gnashing Teeth can't fly, right?”

“Yes. They kick off the ground and move like the wind-”

“No! I saw it climb a tree, then fly through the air!”

“You idiot! It didn't fly. It just jumped from the tree with great force.”

“Hey, I clearly saw it flapping-”

“Sorry, but can both of you shut up?”

What kind of monster was it if they couldn't even tell whether it flew through the sky or crawled across the ground?

--- Crack!

At that moment, a tree shattered somewhere in the forest, and a massive shape came faintly into view. The warriors following me backed away in terror, but still raised their crude spears and began shouting.

--- Screech!

This time, something wriggled on the opposite side. Were there two of them? There might have been more. Conditions weren't good. I couldn't make out their exact forms, and finding them in the dark forest this late at night was a task in itself.

Old Wolf Claw shouted beside me, and the warriors formed a defensive line around me with their spears pointed outward. Their intention to protect me was admirable, but the raised spears blocked my view. That would interfere with the Grimoire.

“Lower your spears!”

“Pardon? Divine Human-”

“I said don't block my view!”

“Aaagh!”

A dull howl came from behind us, and a man standing slightly outside the formation was caught by a mass of flesh that shot out of the forest. Before anyone could even think of saving him, he began to be eaten alive.

I was sorry to say it, but thanks to that, I got a clear look at part of the monster's body.

The long tentacles resembled enormous tree branches, but they were covered in black, coarse fur. Countless strange, sharp things like teeth protruded from them. Now I understood why they called it the Gnashing Teeth.

Gripping the Grimoire, I focused my mind on the tentacle and took over the monster's body.

As expected, despite its immense strength, it wasn't a being of particularly high rank. It couldn't resist Possession. If I killed myself now-

...

I couldn't see or hear anything.

The body I had taken over had no eyes, ears, nose, or any normal sensory organs. All I could feel was endless hunger within its writhing flesh. At the same time, there was boundless pain, as though my soul were being sliced apart alive.

“Ghk! What is this?”

“W-what's wrong? Weren't you trying to control it?”

There was no time to talk. I pushed the old man aside and glared into the forest again. Perhaps it had taken what happened earlier as a threatening attack, because the monster had already disappeared deeper into the woods.

“... That's not one creature.”

“Pardon?”

“Is each tentacle a separate living thing? Then where's the main body? No, are they even really a main body and parasites?”

Earlier, I hadn't possessed the monster itself, but a single tentacle growing from it. The Gnashing Teeth was, absurdly enough, a kind of colony organism.

Yet through that brief Possession, I had learned something even stranger.

“The tentacles are eating the main body too? Is it just a mass of flesh trying to devour everything it touches?”

Old Wolf Claw didn't seem to understand what I was saying. Fortunately, he had enough sense to silently control the warriors without bothering me with pointless questions.

The fight wasn't over. The forest still radiated murderous intent and a savage presence that made people shrink back. No matter what, I had to take over one of those monsters' main bodies. Controlling a single tentacle wouldn't be enough.

“If another mass of flesh comes flying at us, pin it down with your spears! Understand?”

Looking into the eyes of people who no longer showed even a trace of the Courage they had when leaving the tent, I worried whether they would do as I said. Still, this time, they had to do their part.

Like one enormous hedgehog, we slowly moved forward with every spear pointed outward. Trees collapsed, a foul stench stabbed at my nose, and three shadows swayed in the darkness.

Fortunately, the three monsters were not coordinating a joint attack against us. From the brief time I had possessed a tentacle, I knew that while I didn't understand the main bodies' minds, the tentacles attacking us didn't have that level of intelligence.

--- Screeech!

“Ghk!”

“Pin it! Pin it down!”

It wasn't easy.

The strength of each tentacle the Gnashing Teeth extended wasn't enough to shatter the thick wooden spears like toothpicks and reach those of us inside. Thanks to that, the spear formation was doing its job well enough.

Pinning the tentacles down with spears was another matter. Even those who managed to stab a tentacle were dragged along like children until they lost their grip on their spears.

“If one person pins it, the others pin it too! Combine your strength!”

At last, I heard something being driven into the ground. Turning toward the sound, I saw a particularly large warrior gritting his teeth as he struggled with a tentacle. The other warriors nearby rushed over, and soon several spears had pinned it to the ground.

“Move aside.”

“Huh? Yes? All of a sudden-”

I ran. With the tentacle pinned down, the main body wouldn't be able to move easily either. The warriors' eyes widened when I suddenly started running.

At that moment, another tentacle sliced through the air between the swaying trees. Strangely, I felt its path.

The sun had already set, leaving only traces of itself in the sky. I couldn't see properly, yet I somehow knew the movement of the incoming tentacle. Its path through the darkness and the location of the main body struggling against the warriors came to me as clearly as if I could reach out and touch them.

I lightly bent at the waist, and the simple path drawn by the mass of flesh passed over me. This time, I jumped slightly upward. The low-intelligence tentacle wasn't coming at me from some complicated angle or using feints, so there was no need for flashy movements.

I twisted aside and dodged once more, then took five steps forward.

Now.

With the sensation of my navel being sharply pulled, my body crossed the forest in an instant.

The main body I finally faced was a mysterious creature, with an animal's head and a grotesque torso covered in branch-like tentacles. It looked as though someone had clumsily combined an animal and a plant, then stabbed branches all over it.

“Give me that body.”

The wave called Han Ga-in slowly consumed the monster's flesh. Before long, I found myself looking down upon everything in the forest.

The first thing I did after taking over the monster's body was protect Han Ga-in's human body. As I had confirmed earlier, this monster was a colony organism. Just as controlling the tentacles didn't mean controlling the main body, controlling the main body didn't mean controlling the tentacles.

I stopped the branch-like tentacles growing from my body from devouring the human body lying unconscious in the forest. Next, I bit down on one huge tentacle struggling against the warriors and tore it off.

An unbearable, hideous instinct boiled up inside me. Had such a trace remained even after I took control of its body? The urge to chew and swallow every mass of flesh around me filled my mind.

Impulse. Impulse. Impulse.

An incomprehensible appetite, ferocity, and violence that no natural creature could possess surged in like a tidal wave. Fortunately, there were other beings in this forest that could absorb that violence.

Senses far beyond those of a human detected another shape lurking deeper in the woods. Without hesitation, I kicked off the ground, smashed through trees, and charged. The other two Gnashing Teeth that had been targeting humans until moments ago seemed startled as they put distance between themselves and me.

Unfortunately, their escape failed. It wasn't because I was too fast, nor because they were too slow.

There were beings that had no desire to avoid battle.

The tentacles sprouting from the two Gnashing Teeth ignored the wishes of their main bodies and began tangling together wildly.

Soon, the two beasts coveted each other's flesh. Since it wasn't my body anyway, I ignored defense entirely and stretched out my jaws to tear away the other's belly fat. As I held down something that might have been its neck or torso with my front paws and bit into it, I realized the other creature was eating my hind legs too.

We tore, swallowed, ripped, and bit.

The bright full moon was already shining in the sky. Before long, a fitting end came for the two beasts tormented by uncontrollable hunger.

* * *

“Mm... My head hurts a little.”

“You're awake?”

When I came to, warriors with worried expressions were gathered around my body. It seemed they had protected my defenseless body well while the beasts fought their bloody battle.

“Right. I think I dealt with two of them. What happened to the other one?”

“It appeared to run away.”

It was a little disappointing that we hadn't killed all three, but there was nothing to be done. These certainly weren't the only monsters in this horrific world, so I needed to recover my strength anyway.

“Let me see the monster corpses for a moment. The more I think about it, the stranger this is.”

It really was strange. The doubts I had when possessing a tentacle had only grown worse after possessing the main body. At first, I thought it was a giant monster with tentacles. Then I realized the tentacles were separate living creatures and suspected it was some kind of colony organism.

Only after possessing both did I vaguely understand its true nature.

The closest comparison for the Gnashing Teeth was cordyceps. The tentacles were alien organisms parasitizing the massive beasts' bodies and endlessly filling them with unbearable hunger, thirst, and violence.

What were those tentacles? I would bet my hand they weren't the result of natural evolution!

They were surely creations made by some thoroughly evil being. Someone had created the tentacles and scattered them across this primitive world. As a result, horrific monsters that could never exist naturally now filled the world.

With the help of a warrior beside me, I got my stiff body up and began walking through the forest. Then I felt the warrior supporting me tremble.

“What? What's wrong?”

“Y-you are!”

“Hm?”

“You truly are a god! You aren't human. Divine Human, you are truly an absolutely invincible being.”

I looked around once, and everyone immediately fell to their knees and prostrated themselves on the ground. Tears began falling from some of their eyes. Others started crawling across the ground.

... Honestly, it didn't feel very good. It made me feel strange. Part of me even found it unpleasant.

Old Wolf Claw lightly grabbed my arm from behind.

“Didn't you say you wished to examine the Gnashing Teeth corpses? Let's go.”

“Ah. Right.”

“... Congratulations. The entire tribe will remember today's great feat for generations and turn it into a song.”

“A song?”

“Of course. Tomorrow, we'll hold a small feast. Haven't you always enjoyed songs? You enjoyed them because they contained the tribe's history.”

“A song containing history.”

This was a clue.

Footnotes:

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