Doomsday Wonderland c1-855

by N. Heller

  After the three Chinese characters had been activated, they fell to the floor with a few clanks before disappearing.

  "Hey, can you hear me. I'm not Soulsqn…"

  As expected, Jade Zhang's ability was related to her blabbering mouth. [Fearsome Hearsay] was an ability which was very odd and difficult to defend against. After Lin Sanjiu had only exchanged blows with Jade a few times, she had already been hit by the ability a couple of times.

  Unfortunately, the panting woman with bloodshot eyes couldn't hear a single word she said.

  Jade's dress had been badly torn by the rocks and hung on her body in strips. There were blood, sweat, and tears on Jade's face. There were white foams frothing from her mouth. She bit her own cheeks. In her consciousness, Lin Sanjiu was already dead and she had been surrounded by the Souls like a trapped prey.

  Under Soulsqn's command, all the other Souls, except AYU who was carrying her fleshy comrade, dispersed outward surrounding both Lin Sanjiu and Jade loosely. They blocked all possible escape routes. It was very apparent that though Soulsqn could "create realities", it did not hinder her ability to create illusions. Even though Lin Sanjiu wasn't affected, Jade Zhang was already spellbound.

  From her previous experience, Lin Sanjiu knew that the effect of each Chinese character didn't last for long. They lasted only around 30 seconds. However, Soulsqn had been glaring at Lin Sanjiu with a predatory stare and she did not give Lin Sanjiu any chance to catch her breath. She suddenly raised her finger and pointed to the sky.

  "It's here!"

  Just when Lin Sanjiu looked up, Mrs. Manas shrieked her warning. A white lightning bolt which was almost 100 meters long lit up the gloomy skies. It broke through the clouds without any warning and struck the spot where Lin Sanjiu was just standing moments before. The scary lightning bolt came out of nowhere. Even though Lin Sanjiu closed her eyes, she could feel the bright light in front of her. The humid air suddenly became scorching hot. Even the hairs of Lin Sanjiu's back stood up due to the static in the air.

  Lin Sanjiu twisted her body, along with her frozen wings, violently away from that spot so she managed to avoid the fate of being struck directly by that bolt of lightning. Despite that, a layer of black soot covered the front segment of her white wings.

  Wrapped in a layer of fats—even if it was just an illusion—made Lin Sanjiu's movement much slower. The imaginary "fats" on her t.h.i.g.hs and arms wobbled and slapped against her body as she moved. Her body was c.u.mbersome and "soft". There were a few times when she nearly lost her balance.

  "Words! Words!"

  With Mrs. Manas yelling at her, Lin Sanjiu panted exhaustingly while she watched another flurry of Chinese characters flying toward her.

  Jade Zhang had evidently planned the sequence of her attacks. After her opponent had lost half her mobility, the next series of characters show the true potential of the damage that her ability could deliver. With a sweeping glance, Lin Sanjiu already saw the word "Rend" and "Injure". However, as she couldn't move her wings and she was in a confined space. Just as the series of Chinese characters were about to hit her directly, Jade even heaved a small sigh of relief.

  Yet, the next second, a strong gust of wind suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It whistled as it spun, creating a mini tornado. The grasses along the path of the tornado were uprooted. The wind picked up the rocks, mud, and grass as it took the Chinese characters head-on. All the Chinese characters were pulled into the tornado and tossed into the sky. At the same time, once Lin Sanjiu felt that her wings had been released, she immediately leaped up and regained the freedom to move.

  She knew that was a fluke as she held her [Tornado Whip]. If she didn't notice the Chinese characters falling to the ground like rocks, she wouldn't have thought of this idea. Luckily, she made the right gamble. The words created from [Fearsome Hearsay] were tangible.

  After escaping Jade Zhang's attack, Lin Sanjiu rushed toward Soulsqn without even batting an eye.

  "I already warned you," as Soulsqn spat out those words, the cliff islet began to quake. The large rock formation suddenly burst forth, as if it had a life of its own. It formed a barricade between Lin Sanjiu and Soulsqn, "You don't have the ability to stop 'reality'."

  Other than that bolt of lightning, Lin Sanjiu paid no heed to these rock formations. She roared angrily and accelerated. Her shadow flashed erratically as the air particles vibrated along with her trajectory. With that sort of speed, it was nearly impossible to catch a glimpse of Lin Sanjiu's whereabouts, let alone defend against her attack. The rock formation and strong gale missed her over and over again. The Chinese characters which had escaped the tornado fell straight into the rocky ground. Yet, this obstructions did little to hinder her speed.

  Her opponent might be the Queen of the Souls, but her physical combat ability and constitution wasn't that much stronger than her kinspeople. After all, those weren't the strengths of this species. Lin Sanjiu was very confident that once she was in close proximity, she had quite a few ways of maiming Soulsqn.

  When Lin Sanjiu was right in front of Soulsqn, the latter only had the time to shake her head, as if she had not even processed the fact that Lin Sanjiu was right in front of her.

  When Lin Sanjiu activated her [Mosaic Censorship], she felt her hands pressing lightly on Soulsqn's lower abdomen.

  AYU had mentioned that after they eat a human's innards, they would grow into a similar shape. In other words, their heads were the most important and vital part of their bodies, just like humans. Lin Sanjiu had intentionally avoided the creature's head as she still wanted to interrogate Soulsqn to get more answers.

  Unfortunately, her [Mosaic Censorship] which never failed her suddenly didn't seem to work. It was so unexpected that she even froze for half a second, thinking that pieces of skin would burst open in front of her. However, she found a dark gaze peering through Walter's eyes, looking calmly at her.

  "I created a reality where you can't touch me," Soulsqn said softly. Her cheek muscles were raised, Lin Sanjiu couldn't even call that expression a smile. "Haven't you realized?" Soulsqn asked.

  Lin Sanjiu looked down blankly. There was a fine gap between her hand and Walter's waist. No matter how hard she tried to get closer, her hands wouldn't move forward. It was as if the gap between them was filled with just molecules of air but a huge mountain.

  "I am now creating a reality where your body is deteriorating from old age."

  Lin Sanjiu who had just recovered from "obese" state, suddenly felt as if her body had been emptied. The strength and energy surging in her body disappeared as if they had evaporated into the air through her pores. She blinked her eyes slowly, this was the first time she felt a little tired while fighting.

  "You are growing older and older. You are growing weaker and weaker. Your body is in a state which spells your death in one week's time," Soulsqn spoke as if she was just narrating an irrelevant story.

  Lin Sanjiu's leg muscles withered away, her dry shriveled skin clung to her calves. The weight of her body was supported only by her skinny leg bones. Her joints hurt badly as they rubbed against each other. She wanted to take a few steps backward but the wings on her back never felt so heavy before. It had never been so difficult to just stand straight. Lin Sanjiu blinked her eyes again. Now, she couldn't even see anything clearly.

  "How is it? Do you still want to fight?" Soulsqn extended her hand with a grin. She touched the skin on Lin Sanjiu's face. Even though her senses had become dull due to age, Lin Sanjiu could still feel the goosebumps on her back. "I am the only one in our species that have gender awareness. I need a corresponding female body… It is truly convenient now that I have you."

  "No way…" Even her thoughts were becoming slow. Lin Sanjiu held on to these words in her mind.

  "If Soulsqn could really create any reality that she wanted, why would she need my body? Could she just create a body for herself?"

  "Walter" grasped Lin Sanjiu's wings with one hand. The grin on his face grew wider a
nd wider. Lin Sanjiu wanted to retaliate but just after she called out her [Vibroblade], it fell to the rocky ground with a thud because her frail hands couldn't handle its weight.

  Another thought surfaced in her mind slowly, as if even that thought needed its own walking cane.

  "If this is really 'reality', that would mean that Soulsqn would have to wear an old woman's body that is more than a hundred years old… Would it even make sense for her to wear this body?"

  The muscles on Walter's face suddenly quivered abnormally. His head suddenly became soft and floppy. It made Lin Sanjiu feel sick just looking at that. A smooth, moist dark red flesh slipped out from the back of Walter's neck as if it was taking off its clothes.

  Compared to the normal Souls, Soulsqn's appearance was even more… terrifying.

  It looked like an amalgamation of multiple skinless muscles. That dark purple-red blob of flesh was at least one size larger than the other Souls. It had a humanoid face. There were two black dots where a human's eye socket would usually be. As Walter's face hung flaccidly over his neck. After each part of Walter's skin lost its structure, it became formlessly. Soulsqn shook her fleshy body in the air excitedly, flinging a few drops of body fluids everywhere.

  "She… wants to eat me alive…" Lin Sanjiu's thought as her body turned icy cold.

  Lin Sanjiu waved her hands trying to swat Soulsqn's arms. However, she lost her balance instead and fell to the rocky ground with a thud.

  The dark red piece of flesh had already taken off her skin around her waist. If the punctured head was strange, one glance at her body was vomit-inducing.

  "It's great! It's great…" AYU's voice came from afar. Lin Sanjiu turned her head strenuously to look at the woman. She saw AYU carrying two Souls in her arms, that woman was so excited that her voice was trembling. One of the Souls was the one that possessed Redhead Ol' Jack and the other was the Soul that had fallen out from the ch.i.p.s tube. Jade Zhang was kicking her legs and swearing crazily behind AYU but she was still subdued to the ground by two Souls. Her screams were very sharp but Lin Sanjiu could only hear her hazily due to her aging ears.

  With Lin Sanjiu current body condition, she couldn't retaliate physically. She turned back and saw that a purple-red strip of flesh was touching her neck.

  Soulsqn seemed extremely delighted. Her body quivered non-stop, the moisture on her body glistened.

  "If you can… you can make me age instantly," when Lin Sanjiu spoke, her voice was so deep and hoarse that it even shocked herself, "why do you have to manipulate those rock... rocks and lightning…"

  "Look. Look. I can't even hold a knife…" Lin Sanjiu gasped for a mouth of air. Her c.h.e.s.t was like a bellow, making loud wheezes as she breathed. She was betting her life and Jade's life on this, "but I can hold this…"

  The purple-red stripe of flesh, the queen of Souls, couldn't resist looking at Lin Sanjiu's right hand.

  There was a red card lying silently in Lin Sanjiu's right hand. Under the overcast skies, the card had a deep, dark red color, as if it had been soaked in blood and decorated with little dazzling dots of light.

  [Nostradamus's Card]

  Note 1: When a particular "doomsday element" is a living organism, this card cannot absorb them like radiation.

  Note 2: However, when the card user is affected by any ability generated by this organism, the card can absorb the effect like radiation.

  Soulsqn froze for half a second, it was like she couldn't comprehend what that card was. Lin Sanjiu wasn't going to explain anything to her. When Lin Sanjiu's [Nostradamus's Card] flashed, the small battery on it showed a 29%. Lin Sanjiu's body was immediately filled with her usual seemingly boundless energy and strenght—

  All the Souls stopped moving when they heard a sharp shrill. They turned their blank gaze to their queen as if they couldn't understand what they were seeing. Just a few seconds ago, their queen was just about to wear that human...

  Numerous white sharp bones surrounded that piece of flesh like a cage. Soulsqn's "head" was firmly stuck within that small area. Lin Sanjiu stood up and looked down at the card in her hand before smiling faintly.

  "I already figured out your bullshit reality," she smiled icily. "Do you have any other techniques?"

  Chapter 315 - A Dangerous Dog

  Captain Marlon had been operating his airship service on this flight route between Free District and Cape Howling for quite some time. He had seen all sorts of people. Yet, when he opened the side door of his airship today, it was different. When he saw the three women and one man on the islet, he suddenly shivered; he couldn't tell if it was because of the cold sea winds.

  No matter how he looked at it, these people were in some bizarre situation.

  The loud rumbling noise generated by the engines of his small airship sounded as though they were going to die on him soon. As the airship vibrated noisily, the flimsy airship door shook continuously. Captain Marlon seemed all too accustomed to these little details. If he didn't see the expressions of the passengers who just boarded, he would have almost forgotten the dilapidated state of his small airship.

  The person leading the group was a tall woman. She frowned as she examined the small airship and looked as if she was unsure if her white skeletal wings could fit through the airship's small entrance. She took a step forward after a slight pause. When she walked closer to the door, those two menacing wings didn't look like they were going to enter the airship but rather tear the airship apart.

  Even though Marlon found it very difficult, he tried his best to avert his gaze from that woman's hands and pretended like he didn't see anything.

  A man was tied up by a black leather rope. It wrapped around him so tightly that his body was deformed and looked like a broken rag doll. Two empty feet trousers dangled in mid-air as the tall woman held this misshapen man with her fingers. If that man's eyes were closed, Marlon would have thought that was just a corpse.

  A plump woman in a green dress followed close behind this couple. She seemed very frightened of the last person walking behind her and jogged a few steps to stay close to the woman in front, leaving the last woman behind. The last woman walked very slowly, but Marlon wasn't sure if that was because she was carrying a humongous belly.

  "Aren't there supposed to be ten people?"

  Marlon immediately regretted asking that question because, when he walked closer and looked at them, he noticed that the four of them were covered in wounds. They had blood stains and dirt on their skins and their clothes were torn and tattered.

  He did not know what had happened between the ten passengers but from what he observed, that battle must have been pretty crazy...

  Since he had already received their transport fare beforehand, Marlon zipped his lips since no one was paying attention to him. Surprisingly, the tall woman was the first to speak after they had boarded the airship.

  "Excuse me, could you arrange our seats together?" Under the sunlight, her light amber eyes made a striking impression. As she spoke, she shook the black rope in her hand, "As you can see, we can't be apart."

  The black rope had a slight sheen, the woman had wrapped one end of the rope once around her wrist. The other end of the rope coiled like a snake around the dark blonde teenager's neck. When Marlon first saw that, he couldn't help loosening his collar. Though the leather rope looked thin, it seemed very strong. The rope was so tight around his throat that his neck was like a tied sack of floor. The rope dug deeply into the teenager's skin, creating countless creases making one wonder how he could even breathe.

  As if sensing Marlon's gaze, the teenager looked up with his pair of dehumanized eyes. Marlon shuddered again.

  As Marlon's airship catered specifically to passengers who want to travel along the route between the Free District and Cape Howling, it had all the essential equipment and furniture expected. He arranged four sofa armchairs so that they were facing each other and conducted a quick briefing. When the single-arm woman walked past him, Marlon's heart quiv
ered.

  It looked as though someone had folded up a few a.d.u.l.t humans and squeezed them inside her. Her belly looked larger than her whole body frame. Her clothes had long been torn and the skin had been stretched so much that it was just a very, very thin layer. It was uncomfortable to watch her body which looked overstretched and deformed, almost on the brink of bursting. Anyway, from the looks of it, the things inside her belly were definitely not fetuses.

  Being a person who managed to reach Red Nautilus despite being from an E-level world, Marlon was very highly aware that he should not get himself involved with. Without saying a word, he quickly disappeared from the passenger lounge.

  After he had left for quite some time, the airship gradually ascended. Thereafter, someone in the strange group finally spoke:

  "I… I still don't understand what happened." Jade Zhang closed her two hands into fists. She fixed her gaze on the two people in front of her, interchanging. Her skin was still slightly red. As she watched them, the two people did not make a single sound. The teenager still had a smile plastered on his face, but somehow, that smile seemed to hold some agitation and malice.

  For a moment, no one replied.

  "What do you want from me?" when the teenager uttered those words, his throat did not move a single inch. Lin Sanjiu knew that the fake human voice was produced when Soulsqn rubbed her two little fleshy appendages. It sounded nothing like Walter's original voice. The wasn't a male voice, but it wasn't a female voice either. "You should know better. You can't bind me forever using this rope."