At this moment, Blore's pupils contracted in the darkness, and the afterimage of the previous second was still burning his retina - those things, those things that should not exist in cognition, like transparent jellyfish as towering as mountains, suspended above the sea of blood.
The tentacles were as slender as silk and stretched out gracefully, but beneath every inch of the seemingly soft gel-like skin, there were countless fine sharp teeth, like crushed glass shards, flashing coldly in the dim light.
But in the moment he blinked, darkness swallowed everything.
No, it wasn't the darkness that consumed them—they themselves turned black.
The sea of blood surged, and something suddenly jumped out from the sticky waves. It looked like a plant, but also like a living thing.
Dark red vines, no, more like a mixture of blood vessels and thorns, grew wildly from the scarlet sea surface and entangled those huge tentacles.
The jellyfish's limbs struggled, but it seemed to be suppressed by some higher-level power and could not break free.
The vines squirmed like hungry parasites, staining their tentacles crimson inch by inch.
Then, the red color also began to change.
Tiny bumps appeared on the surface of the infected tentacles, like tumors, and then—exploded. Black mist erupted from the rifts, like countless tiny insects, quickly obscuring the entire field of vision. The air was filled with the smell of rust and rotting seaweed. Broll's throat felt like it was being strangled by an invisible hand, and every breath was a bloody sting.
There was a strange feeling under my feet.
He lowered his head, but could see nothing.
But his feet could clearly feel that he was not stepping on the ground, but on countless tangled chains. Each bronze link was covered with a sticky film, like rotten fish gills or peeling skin.
The chains squirmed beneath his feet, making a wet, squishing sound, as if he were treading on the spine of some enormous creature that was still not quite dead.
Something was wriggling between the cracks in the chains.
Tiny, translucent tentacles emerged from between the rings and gently wrapped around his ankles.
They had no temperature, but had a strange sucking sensation, like a hungry baby testing whether it could eat.
Blore paused, afraid to move, as he suddenly realized—
These chains may not be chains at all.
But the intestines of something older and more indescribable?
The darkness had no end, only blue dots of light floating in the thick black fog—they were not lights at all, but countless translucent blue-eyed jellyfish, slowly wriggling with chains wrapped around their glowing tentacles.
The "road" formed by the chains is breathing.
Every seven steps, a dull metallic heartbeat could be heard underfoot.
The chain monsters that were coiled into "trees" began to ooze mucus, and blood vessel-like scarlet lines appeared on the bronze surface.
Something was imitating the sounds of the tree—the crisp sound of branches breaking was actually the trembling of chains suddenly tightening, and the rustling sound of leaves rubbing against each other came from the resonance of countless tiny iron rings.
The sound of dragging chains came from the fog.
When he looked back, he saw that the road he had walked on was dissolving, and tiny copper rust buds were growing in every inch of his footprints.
Nooses began to hang from the tops of the "trees", and on the iron hooks at the end of the nooses hung crystal droplet-shaped objects - they were thousands of shrunken human brains, appearing translucent under the blue jellyfish light.
The sound of chains suddenly tightening came from all directions.
All the "trees" bloom at the same moment, unfolding a canopy woven from chains, each end of which is connected to a beating heart.
The surface of those hearts was covered with a fine verdigris, and the coronary arteries turned into rusty red metal wires, making a tinkling sound like wind chimes with the pulse.
The swarm of jellyfish suddenly went out simultaneously.
In the absolute darkness, he heard the clatter of chains above his head, as if some multi-legged creature was crawling among the treetops.
When the blue light came on again, all the hanging hearts turned into empty birdcages, each containing a melting blue-eyed jellyfish.
Blore did not stop.
His footsteps seemed to be drawn by some invisible will, step by step, stepping on the squirming chains.
The bronze rings groaned wetly under his feet, as if every step was crushing the bones of some living creature.
The chains wrapped around his calves, cold and slippery, like snakes, but also like something even more ancient - they swayed gently, not as a restraint, but like some kind of morbid attachment, as if they had known him for thousands of years.
He is not afraid.
On the contrary, a strange sense of familiarity seeped out from deep within my bones, as if I had met someone after a long separation, or as if... I had finally returned to where I should be.
Then, he saw it.
Coffin.
Huge, heavy, ancient and almost hideous, its entire body was pitch black, like an entity etched out of the night.
It stands quietly in the center of the forest of chains, as if it has been waiting here since the beginning of time.
There were no lines or carvings on the surface of the coffin, only a pure, all-consuming dark color, as if even the gaze would be chewed and swallowed by it.
A murderous aura surged like a tide, and the air suddenly froze. Blore's skin felt prickly, as if countless tiny blades were scraping his pores.
Sudden--
The wind rises.
A violent wind carrying the smell of metal swept in from the direction of the coffin. The forest of chains screamed in the wind. Millions of chains trembled wildly and made shrill whimpers, as if countless wronged souls were wailing at the same time.
The black mist was torn apart and dispersed, and Blore felt a brief sense of relief, as if something that had been parasitic in his lungs had been temporarily removed.
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