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Chapter 30 - Eyelids (3)
“Huk, huk.”
It’s difficult to breathe, and it feels so scary. The fact that this is a game didn’t even sit in my mind. Eyeballs floating in the glass bottle watching me, too many wrists on the desk, and the rusty hacksaw that feels like it’s constantly telling me that I would lose my mind!
In this empty room, self-imagination was torturing.
‘I need to get out. This isn’t about the game character. I might actually go crazy if I stayed any longer in here.’
Perhaps thanks to the newly acquired [Extreme Regeneration], the injured part regenerates at a fierce speed. In a little while, what was cut was growing fast.
‘When the spine regenerates, all the sensation of pain will overtake me. And if I want to escape, I need to be able to move first.’
This is a terrible build. If I escape, I will have to suffer physically; if I won’t, I will suffer mentally. Was this intentional? If so, why?
‘Why? Because he is a wizard!’
Wizard. A profession that is also called the flower of RPG games because of its powerful ranged attacks and splendid eye-catching scenes. The percentage of those who chose that is around 2.5%,
It is not a mistake; it is really 2.5%.
It is a well-known tradition that wizards are sensitive and picky, but in GG’s worldview, they are crazy enough to curse at them. And not like a dark mage or a mad wizard, but just good ones.
Among the players, a madman didn’t become a wizard. But the madness of a wizard is notorious enough to creep in. There are good ones, but there are no good ones too.
Among the wizards, I got captured as a test subject by someone who looked like a low-class one.
Tuk!
“Uh! Ahh! Uhh!”
My spine. Finally, the nervous system around the spine began to function, and the sensation of my whole body returned back with pain.
“Kuak! Ack!”
What did I plan earlier? I should run when my senses come back?
That is a vain dream. The pain, the sensation of tingling nerves, and the burning feeling in my body are just…
[Get… up…]
Clack!
In the midst of that terrible pain, a harsh but soft voice pierced through. The restrained arm began to pull the chains.
[Move… for your mother…]
Clack! Crush!
The sickeningly sweet aroma gently tickled my nose. Right. I can move. I need to move.
Naturally, I felt strong and pulled the restraints, and less healed wounds began to burst. I have a broken spine and wasn’t sure if I could move, but what?
I am moving!
Clack!
The shackles that restrained my body weren’t coming off, but fortunately, my body seemed suitable for such times. When force is given to this fragile body, it will swiftly disintegrate.
Crack!
Hot blood splashed on the floor. My hands are still tied, but now I can move my arms. The chain around my waist is a bit long, so if I rip off the rest of my hands and ankles and can get the neck saw on the vest, Mother, just for a while—
Clack!
“Huk, huk! This! It is late!”
Who?
A person with nobody. A memory. A cane in puffy clothes. White bead. Ah, the wizard? It is strange. My whole body screamed and took the information my eye didn’t want to accept. That annoying scream interrupted the call of Mother, but it was fine. The owner of the body is asleep.
‘A bloody apron, a rusty hacksaw, a man… old man’s voice.’
It is him. the one who made me like this, the wizard.
“The spine has already regenerated. I painstakingly smashed it. How come the speed is getting faster…”
“Mother… moved…”
“Have you grown enough to think for your own? Maybe… I do not have time then…”
‘The hand of a man. Water, water lump of water? Window?’
Water in the shape of a man’s hand, waving the fingers, moved.
“I am sorry, but you should go back to sleep, Mute.”
Crack!
With a terrifying sound, the consciousness he had fell into darkness.
Tuk
Dark. The darkness was so dense that the limbs couldn’t be distinguished. In the darkness, where nothing could be felt, only the sound of dripping water confirmed that I was alive.
’… tired?’
Someone’s voice. It’s a voice I have not heard in a long time. But as time passed, the voice which added more weight and importance came.
Mother.
There was a small gap in the empty place. Following the leaked light through the opening, I swam towards the black water surface, pushing away the darkness that felt like it was grabbing onto my ankles.
‘Seeing you smile… after… a long time. After a really long…’
Mother. There are so many things I want to talk to you about. 5 years have passed since that day, and I have been through a… lot.
My heart is anxious. I stretched out my arms at this unknown anxiety.
Mother, why are you making such a face?
Extend your hands to the light. As she lifted her head out of the water and breathed, her face drenched in darkness could be seen; the darkness from within her eyes reached out to me.
Grip
It felt like my head was being torn.
Monster.
A monster in the form of a human was holding my head. From the mouth of that was the familiar smell of Wasteland.
‘Oblivion. Forgetting to live. You always take the easy way.’
’…’
‘Are you happy? Do you think this is fine? So, did you actually forget it?’
‘Be quiet.’
‘I miss your voice… disgusting! If you are going to miss me like this—if you are going to blame yourself like this, then why did you make that choice back then!’
‘Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!!!!’
Screams came from deep within my lungs and only lingered in my throat.
The face of this laughing monster and the face of Professor was reflected on the surface of the water. A weeping monster and an indifferent-looking Professor.
The only difference between the two faces was their expressions.
The crying Professor looked at the blurry Professor.
‘Erasing the memory doesn’t erase the results. Keep that in mind. Every breath you take is proof of your guilt.’
From the expressionless Professor’s mouth, a scream which couldn’t come out came a sentence.
‘I just wanted to live. I really didn’t know it was going to be like this!’
At his words, the smile on the monster deepened, looking at the struggling man. He grabbed Professor’s head and spoke.
‘That ignorance is your sin, you idiot.’
Chak!
A hand full of scars plunged Professor’s head back into the darkness.
Swish!
“Uaaah! Ughhh!”
“Um? Ooh, back awake already?”
“Huk! Huk!”
“Now, now, take it slow. Take a few breaths. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.”
Professor took breaths according to the instruction. His spine must have been snatched again because his body couldn’t sense anything, his spine must have been snatched again.
‘Before the pain comes, I need to understand the situation.’
While catching his breath, he observed.
First of all, the place was the same as the horrible room. The location was the center of the room. Then there will be no change in things binding him.
The only thing that has changed is where he’s placed, which feels like a wooden bathtub.
The bathtub was filled with dark red liquid. A pungent red smell. Without even looking at it, he knew what it was.
‘It was good that I put down the broadcast in advance. If this had come out, everyone would have left.’
Most people who come to watch the show are here to heal from life in Wasteland. What if he presented some hardcore blood-splatter movie? It doesn’t end at the line where the broadcast is ruined, but they would witch-hunt him.
It felt strange; I got up and checked the system window, ensuring I was in a peculiar room… what happened?
‘I don’t remember.’
There was no memory of when I lost consciousness. The last memory…
‘The voice, those sweet whispers, and losing my mind. The Mute cells… moved in my body.’
“Hmm. Seeing your breath go normal, you must be the real one. No, how many of these do you see?”
As if he had been waiting, the old wizard, who was writing something, waved his finger in front of me, who woke up.
‘For now… I should follow him. I am not sure, but this wizard did something so that the infection in my body didn’t fully progress. Until I figure it out, I will pretend to be obedient.’
When I was silent. Wizard looked a bit confused.
“This. Have you not recovered enough to count? Then…”
“Three fingers. My name is Professor. I was a member of the Silver Cry Mercenary Guild and participated in defense of Turan. Now, would this be enough answer?”
At my fast reply, the wizard smiled.
“Perfect. It hasn’t been long since you woke, and you are already sane.”
“Do you mean…?”
“The Mute cells. It spreads into your body.”
Professor saw the blood gushing below the neck. Even now, the body was trembling, but it didn’t feel like his.
“It is a situation that needs a lot of explanation, but we are running out of time. I will take care of what has to be done first and explain later.”
“What… do you mean?”
“Treatment.”
The old wizard held the hacksaw in hand and looked at the rusty blade as he shook his head and pulled a new hacksaw from the apron pocket.
“Mute cells are really poisonous, not only to living things but also to non-living things. Metal stained with Mute’s blood starts to rust like this, so it won’t last long. Now, I will cut your hand off, so don’t be too shocked.”
Uh. Um. Which part am I not supposed to be shocked about? The part where you said you would cut off the hand? Or how casually you said it?
“W-what? You will cut my hand?”
“It is fine. It is fine. I’ve already taken measures, so it won’t hurt at all. The liquid mixture that fills the bathtub you are in is quite expensive, even if it looks disgusting at first glance. Mute’s blood was mixed with medicinal herbs, powerful anesthetics, and a little holy water. We have increased the percentage of anesthetics from last time, so it will be a bit while for the time being.”
Clack!
The wizard shoved the gloved hand into the barrel and pulled out the chained arm of Professor.
“… did everything get healed? If that’s the case, It will be level 4… no, surpass a level 3, I think.”
“W-w—wait! Treatment! What good with that treatment even do… It doesn’t do a thing!”
Professor screamed at the approaching blade, which made the wizard displeased.
“Hmm… I am the type of person who cannot do both simultaneously. Can I cut and then explain?”
“Stop joking!”
“This isn’t a joke… well, fine. Then I will explain first.”
Putting the hacksaw back in his pocket, which seemed to be what he needed to cut the hand, he returned to the chair he had been sitting in and said, “How much do you know bout Mute’s infection system?”
Professor shook his head. Mute’s infection system. In this world, there are three types of infection. Certainly…
“Infection begins upon contact with blood or saliva. Infected people must be purified by the priest immediately; if the infection has progressed too much, the purification will not help. When one turns fully infected, it moves to the Queen in the north as if possessed.”
“Ooh, that is pretty good! You know a lot more than an average human! Is it because she is the one who brought you here?”
“She?”
“Dame Agat. Dame Agat, Charlotte de Agat, that stone lady carried you all the way to the temple.”
Come to think of it, I read a message about friendship with her earlier. After the battle, it was said she moved me to the temple.
“Then… this is the temple?”
“Why are you speaking like a crazy man? If a temple looked like this, it would be like they were worshiping an evil god. This is my house, my lab, to be precise.”
‘Then what are you doing, decorating the house like some evil temple?!’
Professor’s mind, more and more, began to doubt the situation of this wizard being a dark mage.
“Continuing my explanation, the temple was reluctant, but since the one asking was her, I put in a lot of effort, I used a lot of holy power, but it only slowed down a bit and had little effect.”
Yeah. It had to be a holy power. ‘Purification’ is a spell that removes the things which inhabit and harm the body.
As soon as more Mute cells are in the body, removing them causes more significant damage to the body. It depends on the church, but since the general spell doesn’t work in a way that harms the people, its effect must have scattered.
“Right, you were destined to die right there. In a matter of minutes, the infection spread to your brain and was destined to be ‘saved’ by the knights of the temple.”\
“… and you are the one who got me out.”
“Correct! I was passing near the temple when I just stopped by Turan for research, and I happened to be acquainted with Dame Agat.”
“Treatment… I don’t know much about magic, but these days people call this as treatment?”
The old wizard smiled as I pointed to the cut-off body parts inside the bottles.
“Even in his circumstance, you are tough and caustic; you have some personality. This is, believe it or not, a treatment. Infectious agents have two primary characteristics. Regeneration and erosion. It erodes the portion which dug into it and connects with itself, ruling everything in rhythm with the human and treating it as if it were its own. I concentrated on that bit. There has to be a limit, no matter how well-known an infection is, right? Experiments had previously shown this. It couldn’t get past the mana-filled knight, and it couldn’t even get past me. It could not be passed on to a well-trained body.”
The wizard pointed to my wounded body and said, “Then I thought, what would happen if I confused that power?”
“Power…? Infectious Mute?”
“Right. As I said, the Mute factor cherishes the body like its own because a body is good. What if I constantly inflict wounds onto the body, causing the Mute to power all its regenerative power into the wound?”
“Huh!”
Slash!
The wizard cut off my wrist without a moment’s notice.
“Damn it…”
“F-focus on it! Look at the cut part!”
The wizard raised the arm, which got cut. The cleanly severed wrist and blood splatted, and the healing happened instantly as a round flesh began to form.
“The color…!”
“You see it too! Unlike other infected and dark red parts, the regenerating part is flesh! Actual human one!”
This was unbelievable that the skin was cut, and the flesh regenerating looked human. If the Mute cells are receding, then the original skin color could be seen.
“This is how I have been protecting your body for the last month. When it regenerates, I hurt it again and again. Then, as the Kingdom’s superiors gradually realized that the situation wasn’t normal, naturally, my research was brought to their attention. Wasn’t it just 4 months ago? I dug a shallow moat into a fortress wall and set fire a little higher; the weak Mute, which burned itself, turned strong enough to capture the city and defeat the best knight of Rodrik alone? I got an order from the royal family a few weeks ago. They will fully support the research I am doing and to find out anything I can about the Mutes, and if possible, find a way to use the Mute’s infestation to strengthen the soldiers.”
Tap
He wiped my hand that he had cut out from my earlier and put it in a bottle.
“So that is what happened. Dozens of royal wizards here in my mansion are working with your body. It isn’t so bad to have many people, right? We need to injure you to stop the infection from spreading, and we can also get some experimenting materials.”
Professor felt dizzy at this fact. An experiment. Parts of his body that kept growing like a fruit on a tree were constantly plucked by wizards.
It seemed like he should be angry, but he decided to put up with it.
‘Be calm for now. In the first place, I need to think about how to deal with this crazy man. Keep calm and get most of the information from him…’
“I am personally very impressed with your body. Regardless of type, as long as blood is provided, it can be used indefinitely, and it is as soft as a trained body, so quite amazing from experiments. As the regeneration is fast, the metabolism is active, so the results of the experiment are coming out quickly. What an ideal body for research! This was no exaggeration to say you were born for this research!”
… information… information…
Creak—
“Um, did the sample come out well?”
Professor could feel it. That these people wouldn’t treat him as a human. No, even if they could save him, they wouldn’t.
At that moment, Professor’s reasoning collapsed.
“Ahhhhh! I will kill you! I will kill you ALLLL!!!!”
“Huh? Right, you must be angry. I understand. But as someone who studies your body, I am telling you to calm your anger.”
“Take it off! I will get rid of all of your rotten head—ugh!”
Thung!
In an instant, a strange sound echoed in his head, and a sweet fragrance spread.
“This is why I told you to calm down. You have no hope as the infection is already in your brain, and if you lose your reasoning, the Mute will break into your mind and try to devour you.”
“Uk, Uhhhhh!!!”
“Calm your mind. You are strangely resistant to the mind of the Mute, so we have hope for at least a few more months. That will make you a great test material.”
“You, YOUUUU!!!”
“I am helping you. Please endure it.”
Tack!
As he turned into a raging beast, the joints were being cracked, and drowsiness poured in.
“N-Name. Name…”
“Um? Ah, this. Look at me. You don’t even have a full name!”
As if he forgot to bring his wand, the wizard answered Professor with a calm tone and greeted him.
“6th rank of Reed Flow Academy, Sir Isaac Mandalius. Embarrassingly in recognition of the merits of this research, I have risen to Count.”
“Isaac… Madalius…”
“Ah, I know your name, Professor. Dame Agat had told me to take good care of you.”
“Isaac… Isaac…”
At the falling consciousness, he continued to ponder on the name.
‘I will kill you. No matter what, I will kill you, you fucker!’
Until he fell asleep, he constantly repeated the words in his mind.