I moved my head, the only thing I could move, and tried to shoo away the larvae. But they didn’t stop because of that, instead sticking to my limbs in an instant.
My right arm, injured by Miroslav, was easily devoured. The larvae relished where the blood was dripping.
Glancing, my toes had disappeared. They had eaten my left arm down to my wrist.
I could feel the larvae that had entered my body through the wounds gnawing at the bones of my limbs.
Normally, I should be writhing in intense pain. And it wouldn’t be strange to go insane.
But still, I remained sane. There was no pain. On the contrary, every time they devoured my body, a sensation akin to pleasure coursed through me, and my spine trembled.
It was probably a skill of the larvae. Just as mosquitoes suck blood and inject a substance that blocks pain, the larvae must have released something that blocks the sensation of pain while they eat the flesh.
As a result, they are alive in a situation where they should be dying.
It tests the fear of being devoured alive. On instinct, the king of the flies must know that “Prey tastes better when it’s alive.”
Otherwise, this ability would be meaningless. Moreover, I couldn’t explain why they didn’t attempt to eat the parts essential for living, such as the face and torso.
However, no matter how much pain is eliminated, there is a limit to how long one can live while losing so much blood.
When I realized it, the larvae, each the size of beans, were gathering around my face.
A small group of larvae sometimes moved away and then approached again, repeating this several times as if they were playing.
They were much smaller than the other larvae, possibly consisting of newborns.
Are they waiting for me to weaken? Or are they playing with their feeble raw food?
Then I thought.
If all the larvae here become kings of the flies, the Kingdom of Canaria would be destroyed more than the city of Ishka.
Then, the swarm of king flies would attack the Adastela Empire—but, there is no doubt that the users of the Illusory Sword style from the Mitsurugi family, the protector of the Empire, would take care of that.
The fact that the human called Mitsurugi Sora became prey of the king of the flies will never be known, and I will melt into the earth.
And those who will be above the ground, the voices of my father, my brother, and the users of the Illusory Sword style will continue to resonate vividly.
When I thought about that, fear, anger, dissatisfaction, and despair, along with something murky, welled up from the depths of my stomach like a spring of water.
My physical wounds are fatal. Even if I don’t feel pain, the blood loss is definitely lethal.
Even if help were to come, the chances of survival would be zero.
Perhaps if there is a priest among the rescue party who can use “Healing.” Or if an adventurer has a multipurpose potion, it might be possible to survive.
But I would only survive. My lost limbs would never return.
I heard that the pope of the Holy Kingdom in the south can perform a miracle called “Restoration,” but for a lost adventurer like me, it amounts to nothing.
I would never be able to wield a sword again. I would never be able to walk on my own two feet.
I would have to inform my mother, who told me I could be anything I wanted, that I was devoured by larvae.
Ah, how pathetic…
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Unable to bear the despair, I screamed like a madman.
“Stay away! Don’t eat me! I don’t want to die in a place like this! I don’t want to die!”
I wildly moved my head, screamed, and tried to rid myself of the larvae that were still chewing on my body.
However, the paralyzing effect of the king of the flies was incredibly strong, and no matter how much time passed, I could only move my head.
It seems the larvae knew that, so they didn’t react to my voice and continued devouring me.
How much time had passed while I was screaming? I pressed my face against the ground. I screamed with the sensation of the cold earth against my cheek.
“Curse… Why? Why is this happening…?”
Should I have left the adventurer’s path as soon as I was expelled from the adventurers’ guild?
Should I have returned to Ishka following Lars and the others’ advice when we met?
No, in the first place, was it a mistake to become an adventurer five years ago?
When I was expelled from the island, if I had chosen another path… if I had let go of my sword at Ayaka’s advice, I wouldn’t have wasted these five years. I could have continued my life without going through all of this.
…However, it would contradict that oath.
At the moment I was practicing in the dojo, my mother collapsed, and when I ran to see her, she had already passed away.
I swore while looking at her in that state. I will become someone as great as the sky, as my mother wanted. I swore.
A pledge to master the Illusory Sword style, to defeat monsters, to protect people, and to become someone respected by all.
It was a vow to become someone like my father, whom my mother loved.
After being expelled from the island, I chose the path of an adventurer to fulfill this oath.
If I am a nobody, then I can be anything.
That’s why I became an adventurer. I worked hard for five years. To become a man like my father. And also, to visit my mother’s grave someday with my head held high.
But is this the end? To be devoured by larvae? No way. Not like this…
“I haven’t lived all this time for something like this!”
It was a moment when my uncontrollable regret exploded into words.
Unexpectedly, the movements of the larvae changed.
While making an unsettling sound, they rushed toward my face, which they had never tried to eat before.
“Guh!? S-Stay back! Enough!”
To my eyes, nose, mouth, ears—I desperately shook my head to keep them away.
However, the larvae kept advancing regardless of my resistance
I could feel them crawling into my ears and nose. Their actions were different from before.
Surely, they had decided that I could no longer survive.
Now was when I would taste the most delicious. Let’s devour him as we please—those seemed to be their intentions.
Finally, they seemed to want to enter my mouth, but I desperately closed my lips.
They also approached my eyes, but I squeezed my eyelids shut.
However, they ate my lips. They ate my eyelids.
“———————–! —————! Huh!”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
I let out a voice that was not a voice.
Did I want to scream in anger? Did I want to ask for help? Or perhaps, did I want to beg for forgiveness?
I kept screaming without knowing.
I knew that no one would answer, but I kept screaming.
–At that moment, I heard a voice. A response that shouldn’t be there, I heard it.
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