WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈

Chapter 57: Pulsating Ruins (2)

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Several scenes from inside the ruins appeared across the small monitors, like CCTV footage from Gerik's previous life. The entrance, the corridors, and all manner of unidentifiable sections.

As Gerik studied the screens with keen interest...

"Kuhk...!"

Agonizing pain surged through Gerik's chest again. It was on a completely different level from before. Not daring to even turn his head, he coughed up a gush of red blood over the panel.

"Huff... Huff..."

Covered in a cold sweat, Gerik hurriedly wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

Squirm. Squirm.

The panel, suddenly splattered with blood, began to wriggle. Worse still, it greedily absorbed the blood that had fallen onto its surface.

In the blink of an eye, the blood vanished as though it had seeped into flesh.

"What the...!"

A chill ran down Gerik's spine. He stepped back, his face pale.

Even though his body had already been damaged beyond measure, he instinctively raised his relatively unharmed left hand and tightened his grip on his longsword, preparing for anything.

Fortunately, contrary to his fears, this unidentified monster that was also a structure did not harm him.

Instead, using the blood it had absorbed, the thing began displaying something on the screen for Gerik to see.

"!?"

A bizarre humanoid figure appeared on the monitor.

It had the head of a cephalopod and looked vaguely human at first glance, but its limbs ended in clusters of grotesque tentacles, making anyone who saw it shudder.

'Could that be... a representation of me?'

It looked so different from a human that Gerik had not even considered it might be depicting him.

But after observing it for a moment, Gerik saw the red-colored portions of its body and realized that the monster was, in fact, a representation of himself.

Its shattered right arm was darkly colored. Its cracked left arm was lightly colored. Its internally injured abdomen was somewhere in between. It was as if it had diagnosed his condition and displayed it on the screen.

'Did this device read my condition through the blood it absorbed earlier?'

As Gerik stared intently at the screen, one of the monitors that had been showing the vessel's interior suddenly changed.

It began flashing at a particular section, as though telling him to move the figure representing him there. It even kindly displayed the route to that place on the screen.

The moment Gerik saw it, a thought flashed through his mind.

'A healing facility...!'

There could only be one explanation for something that read his injuries through his blood and guided him to a specific location.

'What should I do...?'

Under normal circumstances, Gerik would never have entrusted his body to an unknown mass of machinery. Especially not one made of ominous, living flesh.

But Gerik had no choice now. He was dying from fatal injuries, with no means to heal himself and no one to help him.

He had only two choices.

Die, or cling to a faint possibility and hope for a miracle.

'Let's go.'

Having made up his mind, Gerik used his longsword as a cane and slowly began making his way in the direction shown on the screen.

'This isn't good...'

His wounds seemed to be worsening. Unlike before, Gerik could feel his condition deteriorating moment by moment as he walked.

His vision blurred, and he repeatedly swayed as though drunk, unable to keep his balance.

'Just a little... A little farther...'

Normally, he should have given up and collapsed. But since even a single possibility had been presented to him, Gerik desperately endured and kept walking.

After a struggle that felt like an eternity, Gerik finally reached the place indicated by the screen.

"Huff... Huff..."

Before him was a huge, swollen, round mass of flesh. It was a machine unlike the fleshy devices he had seen before.

Like a massive tumor, it was covered in countless vein-like strands and pulsed faintly, making Gerik nauseous.

'There should be... something...'

Gerik forced his increasingly heavy eyelids open and slowly examined the area.

Then he spotted a flesh panel that looked somewhat familiar now. It resembled a smaller version of the huge panel he had seen at the entrance.

Drawing on his experience with the previous panel, Gerik brought his trembling hand to the disc.

Squirm!

Flesh began wriggling across the disc. It covered his hand and caressed it.

The bizarre and horrible sensation, unlike anything Gerik had ever experienced, sent chills through him and sharply cleared his mind.

At the same time, the huge mass of flesh began to change. As though it were alive, it swelled and shrank repeatedly.

After a while, it stopped moving and slowly began splitting in half.

Inside was a space filled with sticky fluid and countless tentacles. It was just large enough to fit one person.

Lukewarm liquid sloshed inside the opened mass of flesh, while tentacles of all sizes writhed within it as though they were alive.

'Am I... supposed to go in there?'

Despite being certain it was a healing facility, Gerik hesitated before the split flesh.

His instincts were screaming at him even now.

Do not go inside.

Then...

Slide.

Several tentacles silently descended from above behind Gerik. They settled neatly against his back, then pushed him forward.

"!!"

Gerik's eyes widened at the sudden attack. He tried to resist, but his body was already too broken to fight against their strength.

Having lost his balance, he tumbled into the split mass of flesh.

Splash.

The opened flesh quickly closed the moment Gerik fell inside, cutting off all contact with the outside.

Gerik was trapped, unable even to escape.

Terrified by the sudden enclosure, he ignored his pain and flailed his hands, struggling to get out.

Slither...!! Slither...!!

As though mocking his struggle, dozens, then hundreds of tentacles poured out from inside the flesh and began probing his body.

The sensation was utterly horrifying. Panicking, Gerik screamed and thrashed wildly, desperately trying to tear them off himself.

"Kuhk, gak...!"

But the more he struggled, the more disgusting liquid flowed down his throat, hindering his breathing and draining his strength.

Meanwhile, several thick tentacles rose and bound his limbs. Before long, Gerik's arms and legs were tied down, leaving him completely unable to move.

Slither...!! Slither...!!

The remaining tentacles, large and small, moved busily and began expertly removing Gerik's equipment one piece at a time.

Starting with his ruined brigandine, they removed the scabbard being used as a splint and his weapons. Before long, he was completely naked.

Slap!! Slap!! Slap!!

Countless small tentacles began attaching themselves to Gerik's completely helpless body.

With his clothing gone, the sensations became even more exposed. Terror overwhelmed Gerik, and he let out a cry.

"Gurgle...!! Aaaah!"

The tentacle covering Gerik's mouth split into two inside his throat. One strand entered his airway toward his lungs, while the other traveled through his esophagus toward his stomach like an endoscope.

"Urk!! Ugh!! Uuurgh!!!"

As though invading him from the outside was not enough, tentacles now entered the inside of his body. Gerik's eyes widened as if they might burst.

Even thinner tentacles emerged from the one that had entered his mouth, attaching themselves to his organs while spraying strange liquid. Gerik felt indescribable fear.

But then something strange happened.

Whatever the tentacles inside him had done, the pain in Gerik's chest suddenly vanished as though it had never existed. His breathing, which had been difficult because of blood and phlegm, returned to normal.

The liquid they sprayed also seemed to have a painkilling effect, because his pain began to fade.

'...Huh?'

Then Gerik felt something unbelievable.

The bones in his right arm, shattered by the impact of his fall from the cliff and difficult to treat even with emergency care, began returning to their proper places one by one.

Once the broken bones had set, his torn and swollen muscles began to heal.

Kindly enough, even the unknown mucus sprayed from the tentacles inside him seemed to keep him from feeling pain.

As Gerik felt relief at his improving condition, the small tentacles began approaching his face.

"Ugh!! Ugh!! Uuurgh!!"

Gerik now understood that they were trying to heal him.

But he could not overcome the instinctive revulsion they inspired. He kicked and struggled, refusing to let them approach.

Slap...!! Slap!!

As though laughing at Gerik's resistance, a thick tentacle gripped his neck and forced his head straight again.

He could no longer resist at all. The small tentacles, which had been waiting right in front of him, began covering his face.

"Ugh!! Urk!! Ugh!!"

Horrifyingly, the tentacles entered Gerik's nose and ears. They even began to enter his eyes. The sensation of them seeming to rummage through his brain sent Gerik into another panic, and he cried out.

Wriggle, wriggle.

For some reason, the tentacles that had entered Gerik's eyes and ears now began directly rummaging through his brain.

'Aaaagh!'

A completely different kind of pain shook Gerik's mind. It was unlike the pain of torn flesh and broken bones. It felt as though something was scraping at the deepest part of his mind.

The bizarre sensations churning through his brain began burning Gerik's consciousness white.

In the end, unable to endure the terrible pain, Gerik lost consciousness.

How much time had passed?

Gerik slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed after regaining consciousness was that he was still surrounded by countless tentacles. They covered not only his face and body, but also his internal organs, including his brain.

'When is this going to end...?'

The strange, disgusting foreign sensation in his eyes and ears made Gerik feel as though he were going mad. He tried to move, but he was still firmly restrained and could not move at all.

Giving up on resisting, Gerik stopped trying to escape. Instead, he tensed different parts of his body to check whether he had recovered.

'...Huh?'

Just as Gerik felt that most of his body had returned to normal and was about to feel relieved, he sensed a strange sensation he had never experienced before forcing its way into his awareness.

The sensation began at the back of his head, or more precisely, the occipital region. For some reason, whenever Gerik desired something, that spot tingled.

'What is this...?'

The strange sensation made Gerik uneasy. It was a sensation in his brain, after all. He feared that the countless tentacles that had entered his head might have done something bad to it.

At least it was not painful or unpleasant.

If he had to describe it, it was more like an unfamiliar stimulation whenever something heavy filling the back of his head became active.

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