Uhhhhh... So I know I said that I might not continue this, but I still wanted to give it a chance because the setting is completely wack. Turns out, it's actually cracked as well, I love it.
Do enjoy this chapter, I'll probably continue this even if it's not popular, I want to try and get better at writing original scenes without crack (*Looks at Stone-Cold Subaru*), so I'll probably use this story to get better at it. Yippee! Suffering for Subaru! I know all y'all nerds are here for that shit.
Entry # 12263
I've made a mistake. The humans have decided to turn to witches in order to deal with me. Usually, I'd use my protection to do away with this matter, but they've contracted the Witch of Greed, Echidna. Prior to this, I've had the displeasure of meeting her once before, and somehow she was able to counter my protection. Since she's able to counter it, I won't be able to stop conflict from arising between her and I. And if she were to employ her group of witches as well… Then I fear I may not be able to protect my children.
"Ah…? Where am I…?" Subaru groggily sits up and looks around.
"GHK!" His eyes shoot open in stark shock as he remembers what happened.
He jumps up to his feet and scans the area where he landed. A wide plains area is sprawled in front of him, littered with bumps and divots, with the occasional house. There's no mabeast or any living thing that he can make out.
"Haaa…" He lets out a breath and looks into the void that replaced the sky. Subaru had no way of describing it except as a hole in the sky itself; complete and utter darkness. Funnily enough, there were clouds strewn about that void as well. Wait, didn't he fall from the height of those clouds?
Subaru quickly checked his body for any damages. However, he found none at all.
"The hell? Didn't I fall for more than twelve seconds? I hit the ground at terminal velocity!" Subaru couldn't believe his eyes. He should have turned into a pancake and added his mass to the fleshy ground, but instead, he didn't even feel one bit of pain throughout his body. None of his limbs were bent the wrong way and even worked properly. Something was wrong with this world, even more than just the sights and monsters roaming, there were entirely different laws of nature here.
Everything I've ever eaten is here. The Witch of Gluttony's voice rang through his head. "Everything she eats… comes into this place?"
Subaru looks at the ground he's standing on and looks at the buildings in the distance. Something catches his attention in the distance further on and he looks on in disbelief. "Even entire mountains…? But she's only a bit taller than me!"
The Archbishop of Gluttony was able to eat people's memories and use their abilities after doing so, so couldn't she get an ability that has to do with physically eating something? Wait, how could there be Archbishops of Gluttony when the witch factor is still with the Witch from 400 years ago? Maybe it's because of the same reason that there's more than one person with the abilities of Gluttony? Maybe Daphne is just another member of that trio of monsters.
Speaking of, Daphne was talking about some… weird things. She wouldn't let him out of this hell hole, and instead told him that his only way out was to find his 'ideal hunger'?
"What the hell does that even mean!?"
Subaru shouted out in annoyance at the situation. First, he's able to beat the tower, but then he happens to come here? And Daphne said that he wanted to come here!? This was just too unfair! He can't remember even meeting her and yet she seems to have met him?!
She was also witchlike in the same sense as the witches in the tea party. Way too inhuman for his tastes, buuuut she did ask him if it was alright to eat him and respected his wishes when he declined. And judging by the fact that he can't remember how he came here, all he had to go on was Daphne's words. Did he really ask to come here? If he did, then wasn't she just respecting his wishes?
"She might not be that bad, after all…"
Subaru looks towards one of the houses that he sees off in the distance, "Might as well look for something useful…"
His feet start moving him in the direction of the closest house that he can see, the sounds of his shoes hitting the ground making disgusting slopping noises with each step. "Eh…?"
Subaru looks down at the ground he's stepping on and looks for the source of the noise, when he finds nothing, he decides to put a little bit of weight on the fleshy ground he's stepping on.
A yellowish pudge slowly seeps out and Subaru quickly takes a step back from disgust, his face contorting. The fleshy ground immediately soaks the pudge back up, making it look like the pudge was never there in the first place.
Subaru heaves and feels a bit of the content of his stomach escape through his mouth. The vomit from his mouth hits the ground and immediately vanishes into the ground, having been soaked up.
Subaru feels like his brain malfunctioned as he comprehends what he just saw. His vomit got sucked into the flesh just like that yellow pudge. He looks around and peers closely at the mounds that litter the area, and sees little bits of yellow pudge breaking through the bottom of the bigger ones. Subaru can barely hold himself back from vomiting again as he comprehends what he's seeing.
"FLESH AND VOMIT?! REALLY?!" Subaru curses the girl who made this world and her… eating… choices…
Subaru vomits onto the ground once more, to which the ground greedily drinks up.
The squelching of the ground was heard each time his foot touched it. It became an agonizing constant reminder that he was trapped in a world that resembled hell.
The house that he was treading towards was now close enough to see the smaller details that made up separate parts. It was… large, far larger than Subaru expected. From a distance, it's impossible to tell anything about the building, but now that Subaru was closer, he could see that it wasn't a house, but rather a mansion.
It wasn't as large as Roswaal's mansion, before he burnt it to the ground, of course. But it was still very impressive to see up close. It had two floors lined with windows, it was strangely similar to Roswaal's in that way.
Subaru would be compelled to call it beautiful, except for the small fact that the walls were covered in flesh.
"Seems like everything in this place is melded together with flesh… Has she really eaten that much? It seems a bit excessive… Though, I guess it's because she's 'Gluttony'."
Subaru looked around at the landscape around him and shook his head. He couldn't even hazard a guess as to how deep the ground beneath his feet was. Was this just a flat world with one foot of flesh before you'd dig out to the other side?
Subaru's thoughts stopped as he saw something peculiar in front of him.
Instead of the usual mound of flesh, it held some form of shape. He strained his eyes and looked closer, "...Eh?"
Subaru couldn't quite understand what he was looking at, so he walked closer, starting to feel the tiniest bit of anxiety. As he walked closer, the details became clearer and clearer, until he could tell what it was.
It was a lizardman with his torso half-melded into the ground feet first. He was missing an arm, and the bottom half of his body was in the ground itself, so Subaru couldn't quite tell if he still had it.
He had a frozen look of terror on his face with his last remaining limb clawing at the ground in front of him.
Subaru looked away and tried to push past it. He's dealt with death, pain, and especially terror before, so he wasn't going to let his thoughts be clouded because of someone's death.
It was regrettable, of course, but he knew that there was nothing he could do for the lizardman. Even if he used Return by Death, he might not make it here to save the lizardman, anyway.
Instead, he opted to give a small prayer for his soul to find peace and quickly moved past the body. Subaru's seen enough that the death of someone unbeknownst to him won't affect him much. But something like eating vomit does? He has nothing to say about his peculiarities.
Subaru felt something wrap around his leg and lost his balance, falling to the ground with a shocked shout. "-AH?!"
"Pl...ease… Eat… me..."
He heard a voice from the direction of his legs and quickly righted himself to see what grabbed him. "Uh? AH?!"
The lizardman had grabbed his leg with his only remaining hand and tripped him. The lizardman's lifeless eyes stared into Subaru's as he pleaded with him. "Pleas...e… Eat… me…!"
"WUAH! AHH!" Subaru screamed as he saw the lizardman still alive even with his bottom half missing. Both of his legs were gone, along with half of his stomach area, making his intestines spill out along the ground as he pulled himself towards Subaru. "Eat...me...Please…!"
"Let go! LET GO! LET GO LET GO, DAMMIT!" Subaru screamed at the lizardman as he was pulling on Subaru's leg, dragging him towards the corpse-like demi-human.
Subaru started bashing the lizardman's hand with his free leg, intending on forcing him to let go. But he wouldn't let go.
Several cracks were heard from his hand as Subaru bashed it with more and more power, the bones started to poke out of his hand and blood poured out of each hole made. But he still wouldn't let go.
"LET GO, DAMMIT! LET GO!" Subaru put more and more force into his leg, turning the lizardman's hand into mush, but his grip was that of a vice. "WHY WON'T YOU LET GO!?"
"Eat...me! EAT ME!" The demi-human wailed, anguish in his voice.
"GHK!" Subaru gave up on the hand and kicked the elbow joint with all the force he could muster. A crack resounding throughout the area as the demi-human's joint completely shattered with the bones showing outside of the scales that covered his body.
But he still wouldn't let go.
"Please...Just eat...me…" The lizardman's eyes welled up with tears as he pulled Subaru in with a great tug with his thoroughly destroyed arm. He looked deep within Subaru's eyes with a pleading expression, "Please…"
His pleading was met with a kick to the face with all the power Subaru could muster and the demi-human was sent flying backward, finally parting with Subaru's leg. He landed on his back with a pitiful cry, his arm landing in an awkward position and his intestines sprawling across the ground.
Subaru spun around and got to his feet in a flash. He started running with all his might. A cry resounded from behind him, "I JUST WANT TO DIE! PLEASE EAT ME!"
Subaru didn't know how long he was running for, he just wanted to get away from that nightmare. There was no way that demi-human was supposed to still be alive, not even mentioning the strength he held even with a thoroughly destroyed hand and arm!
EAT ME!
The lizardman's voice played in his mind over and over, making Subaru push his body further, far beyond what he would do if he were thinking rationally.
His mind wouldn't rest, this world was absolute hell. Were things like that common? How was that guy still alive? Why wouldn't be let go after I kicked him so much? I don't want to eat you, I don't want to see you!
Subaru forced everything out of his mind as he started to slow down, now a considerable distance away from where he was before.
"Haaah, haaaaa…" He kept gulping down big breaths of air and bent down; putting his arms on his knees to rest. "What… the hell… was tha-!?"
Subaru froze. He still felt something coiled around his leg, and he shakily looked down. "OOO-AHHHH!"
The lizardman's hand was still there, grasping his leg; severed, and yet still crawling up his leg.
Subaru grabbed the severed appendage with both his hands and ripped it apart; he quickly threw the hand as far as he could into the distance. "WHY? WHYWHYWHY?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PLACE?!"
Subaru couldn't hold it in any longer and he vomited once more onto the fleshy ground. His body was shaking erratically, and he didn't even want to think of what his face must look like right now.
He shakily stood up and looked at his blood-covered hands. There was a large quantity of the lizardman's blood that lathered his hands, not to mention his leg being covered too.
Subaru started breathing faster and faster as he couldn't contain his horror of what he just saw and felt.
That hand was severed, I saw it, I caused it. So why was it still moving?! I made sure of it, there was no way that hand should've been able to move! This world is fucked-EVERYTHING HERE IS FUCKED- SO WHY DID I COME HERE?! WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT THIS?! I wantoutwantoutwantout I WANT OUT!
His mind continued flickering back to the lizardman's crying face and destroyed body. His severed arm and body that was split in half. The intestines that were pouring out of his body, and especially the arm that Subaru himself had destroyed.
"HAAAH, HAAAAH, HAAAA…" His breathing grew rougher and more erratic.
THIS IS HELL, NO ONE WOULD WANT THIS! YOU GET EATEN BY THAT MONSTER AND COME HERE?! UNFAIRUNFAIRUNFAIRUNFAIRUNFAIR!
"DAPHNE! LET ME OUT!" Subaru screamed to the Witch who seemed proud of this world. He wanted nothing more than to break her teeth and force her to let him out. But she wouldn't show herself, Subaru was alone.
He was alone in this flesh world of hell.
Subaru had run towards the Roswaal-Esque mansion in his horrified state and walked the rest of the distance when he calmed down. Calmed down as much as he could've, anyway. There were even the double doors that he was so used to, and he unhesitantly grabbed the handles and pushed the doors open.
The interior was all that you'd expect from such a massive building. Beautiful carpet on the ground with beautiful artworks pasted all along the walls. Two spiral stairways on opposite sides of each other led to the floor above. Did they make every mansion in that clown's style?
"Gotta find something useful…" He reminded himself after his mind wandered off-track. Such a large building surely had a knife or some other tool that would prove useful in this world, right?
Though this was just a magnificent as Roswaal's mansion pre-fire, Subaru had no clue where to look. So he opted for the trial-and-error method of opening every door along the hallway.
Reach up, grab the door handle, open the door, look inside, become disappointed, and go to the next door. This was the process that Subaru devoted his time to, but every room he peered into was servant's quarters and guest rooms. Nothing of value.
Eventually, Subaru had opened every door on the first floor and had found nothing. He wasn't disheartened though, there was another floor, at the very least. Surely, something would be there, right?
Subaru's feet dragged him to the stairway that he'd seen when he first entered and began walking up to the next floor, but abruptly stopped. "That's… eerie…"
Some of the steps had broken in a pattern-like way as if something with immense weight or power had walked up them. If such a creature were still around, Subaru would have no choice but to run. He had faith in his running capabilities, but he didn't want to test it in this place.
Subaru weighed his options. He could leave the building and go to another one, but that carried some form of risk as well. If he encountered a mabeast or something similar in the open space, he may not be able to outrun it. He would have nothing to fight back with, and likely be unable to run.
But if he were to continue walking in the mansion, he could find something to fight with, a whip, hopefully, but that's likely not going to happen. Whatever monster that walked up these steps could still very well be up on the second floor, so he has a higher chance of an encounter.
Subaru continued walking up the steps, having made his decision. Even if there was a large monster, Subaru should have the advantage of the tight corridors and innumerable rooms, making it easier to flee. He'd rather have the home advantage than be in an open field with nowhere to go and hide.
"Well, here goes nothing…" He reached the top of the stairs and was met with broken-down walls and ripped-up carpet. There were fragments of the destroyed walls strewn about the ground and the floor was entirely bare in some places. It was increasingly evident that a battle had taken place here.
Subaru instantly makes a mental note to not make any sounds as he crept around looking into the massive holes made in the walls. The holes were easily larger than Subaru himself; it was like making an entranceway when you didn't want to use the door.
Subaru looked into the first hole in the wall he found, which was the room between the two staircases, and smiled. It was the kitchen, exactly what he was looking for.
Slowly creeping his head into the room, he made sure the coast was clear and quickly moved over to the drawers. One of them should be cooking utensils and should have knives in it, a cooking knife would be a blessing to have as he would no longer be unarmed.
He opened one, two, then three, and found not what he was looking for. He gritted his teeth as he opened more and more but found not one blade that he could use. "Tch,"
The one was empty save for the few bowls laying around, but they were completely cleaned out, but Subaru didn't care about that. The problem was that there were no knives in the kitchen for a massive mansion. They had to be around here somewhere, but if they weren't in the kitchen then there was only one spot where they could conceivably be. The dining room.
Of course! How could Subaru not figure that out before? When he was a butler he'd often set the table, placing eating utensils and whatnot for the diners. That would include knives!
Subaru immediately high tails it out of the room and started searching for the dining room, but that wasn't hard in the slightest. The dining room is rarely far from the kitchen for obvious reasons, and so Subaru found it by peeking into a few doors.
"Whew…" Subaru gave a quick breath of relief, so far, so good. But his eyes quickly narrowed as he noticed the destroyed room. The table was broken into pieces and there were fragments of broken plates all around the room. But he immediately jumped back as he noticed something in the middle of the room.
A Wolgarm, a mabeast.
Normally, Subaru would run for dear life at the sight of a mabeast, but he didn't when he saw this one for one reason. Its body was destroyed in the same way as the lizardman's was.
It was missing its legs and its belly was torn out, but the most egregious sight was that of its neck almost being completely severed. The neck was only holding on by a bit of skin, it looked like a child could just pull on it and it would rip off the rest of its body.
Subaru opted to walk past it, but then remembers what happened with the lizardman, and throws a broken plate at it. The plate lands harmlessly on the Wolgarm's side, but it snaps at it.
With no limbs, ripped open stomach, and semi-severed head, it snapped at the plate.
"That confirms it, then. You can't die in this world." Subaru had suspected it the moment he could think rationally after the lizardman.
There was simply no way that he should've still been alive. Subaru himself had dealt with such a thing before, he had once died himself when he got his stomach opened, multiple times. But the lizard man was missing most of his limbs too and was missing his lower half, and then Subaru also destroyed his one remaining arm. There was no way for him to still be alive.
Unless this world worked on another set of rules than the real world. Then things would make more sense.
The demi-human had screamed at him that he wanted Subaru to eat him and that he wanted to die. Then wouldn't the only way to die is to be eaten? A world of Gluttony indeed, this was truly a world for eating. But that also means that Subaru won't be able to rely on Return by Death if things were to go wrong. What would he do if he lost an arm? Eat himself to death?
"The mabeast's stomach looked like something ripped it open and ate it's contents… Was the other party what caused the destruction throughout the floor?" Subaru wondered to himself. If so, then he was lucky. Since the Wolgarm was still around, then the victor in their fight should still be around, but since Subaru hasn't seen it, then it probably left after it ate.
Looking around the room, Subaru a cry of joy as he finds what he was looking for in the first place, a knife. He rushes over and picks it up, it was basic, but of decent length.
Subaru turns to leave but reconsiders. "...I might as well test my theory…"
He turns back to the Wolgarm and it tries to move and nip at him, but there was nothing it could do without its limbs and neck. Subaru raises the knife and brings it down on the Wolgarm's neck separating its head from its body.
Even though its head was separated from its body, both parts still moved.
"I guess that confirms it…" Subaru looked at the abomination in front of him in disgust. There was no justifying this.
"There is the second half of my theory, though… But eating a mabeast is…"
Be sure to eat, Subaruun. Gluttony is the foundation of desire, after all.
Subaru stops and thinks about Daphne's words. It was eerie, those words. 'Be sure to eat' sounds like a warning of some kind, as if there's some kind of penalty for not eating.
His eyes look over at the defenseless Wolgarm, and then immediately banished the thoughts that reigned in his mind. "I can find something better than a mabeast, especially in a mansion like this."
"Besides…" Subaru continued looking at the mabeast and the sorry state it was in. "If I were to be attacked and lost all of my limbs… I still wouldn't die, would I?"
He cannot be allowed to lose any of his body parts or he'll end up a malformed creature like the lizardman and the Wolgarm. Subaru would take no chances with something like that.
Something flashes outside of the windows of the dining room.
"...?" Subaru walks over and looks outside one of the windows. "AH?!"
Subaru tried to drop to the floor but wasn't able to react in time as a dozen arrows pierce through his body and he's pinned on the wall on the opposite side of the room.
But the volley wasn't over.
Wind magic sliced apart the walls and fireballs incinerated it. The entire building shook with the impacts that they caused.
"Ghk!" Subaru broke one of his hands free and started ripping out the arrows that were pinning him to the wall. "...Ah?! Wait?!"
Subaru looked down at his body and gaped at the sight. There were at least a dozen arrows implanted into his body, with 4 of them being in his chest. But Subaru could barely feel it. By all accounts, he should feel lightheaded by the blood loss incurred by the arrows piercing his body, and then die as time went on and he lost more and more blood. But he was able to think coherently.
"Haha…! G-guess I'm n-not the exception…" Subaru hiccuped to himself. Peering into a hole in his arm, he could see the bones, the muscle sinew, the tendons that operated them, even the veins that spilled his blood. He clenched his fist and saw the muscles clench in accordance with his will; only dull pain was the cost of actions that would usually debilitate.
As childish it may be, Subaru had prayed that he was somehow different from others in this world, he may have even twisted Daphne's words to fit his agenda, but it was all for naught. Subaru wouldn't die in this world to conventional wounds. He would only die if he were eaten.
He ripped out the last arrow and fell back to the ground. He hopped a few times to test his body, and thankfully enough, it worked as well as it did before. "I guess the only way to deal meaningful damage is to completely destroy your enemies…"
He looked for the Wolgarm, but couldn't find it. Or, well, he could, but it was in innumerable pieces laying about the room, but each piece was still alive and writhing. A fireball had impacted it directly. Subaru shivered as he thought about what would've happened to him if a fireball had hit him instead.
"Speaking of…" Subaru looked at the arrow in his hand, it looked oddly familiar… This whole situation reeks of deja-vu, Subaru felt like he'd gone through this before. "The craftsmanship is the same as well….. Eh?"
Subaru felt his mouth move and speak on its own, it spoke on its own accord. The same craftsmanship? Had Subaru been pierced by these same arrows before? A piercing pain went through his skull, "Gah! I-I can't remember?!"
He can't remember, he's forgotten something entirely. What did he forget? Was it because of Daphne? Or did he forget because of chance?
"RAAAUGGGHH!" Subaru feels a rumble and a loud screech close to him. He immediately starts running to the first floor. Why didn't he think of the commotion that a massive explosion would have in this world of beasts? Of course, something would be interested and rush over to find out what happened, and that would mean that they'd find him!
"Dammit!" Subaru cursed his bad luck, he didn't even know what shot the arrows and fireballs at him! Luring mabeasts and the terrifying creatures he saw with Daphne right towards an easy meal; they meant to get rid of him!
Even with the many holes throughout his body, he was still able to run at top speed down the stairs and to the front door.
He flung it open and his eyes shot open in surprise. There was a mabeast in front of him, chewing on something. "Ah…?"
It didn't attack him while it was chewing, but it stared at him with purpose. Subaru was meal number #2, and there would be nothing he could do about it, because, "My fucking luck…"
It was a Guiltylowe of all things.
A fucking Guiltylowe?! Really?! Just my luck to have to face this thing again! This time all I have is a tiny knife that I can't even use properly! It's clearly intending on eating me the moment it's finished eating that… arm? Oh. It's the lizardman's arm… I guess he got his wish… Then the Guiltylowe must've followed the blood on my pants from his hand! How the hell was I supposed to wash my pants without an alternative to vomit?! That's the only 'liquid' in this place!
"TCH!" Subaru spins on his heels and rushes deeper into the building, intending on losing the mabeast on the first floor and escaping the building before more undesirables find their way in.
However, the mabeast cuts Subaru off before he could make it into the corridor and swipes its claws, intending on bisecting Subaru. But Subaru quickly rolls to the side, narrowly dodging its claws and expanding his life-expectancy for a few more seconds; landing in front of the stairway up to the second floor.
Gritting his teeth and making a split-second decision, Subaru sprints up the stairs three steps at a time.
The assassin mabeast makes no sounds naturally, but Subaru heard it following him as its weight cracked the wooden steps as it followed close behind him.
Subaru was barely at the top of the stairs when he turned around and threw the knife he picked up at the mabeasts head, specifically its eyes. If Subaru's learned anything, it's that you need to cripple your opponent if you want an advantage, pain does nothing in this world, so he needs to rid the mabeast of its eyes if he wants a chance of escape.
The knife sails directly into the Guiltylowe's eye, but it ducked its head in time to dodge the knife's intended route, resulting in a small cut above its eye, it looked up at the top of the stairs for Subaru, but he was already gone.
Dammit! Bad luck! Subaru cursed himself for blowing such a perfect opportunity, now that the mabeast knows what he's after, it'll keep its guard up against the same attack.
He quickly runs to the dining room, knowing that the mabeast will be behind him in a matter of seconds, and picks up as many arrows and knives as he can carry and exits the room in a similar fashion.
The arrows were a longer length than the knives, so it'll be of more use when stabbing the eyes, and hopefully, the Guiltylowe won't expect a longer weapon.
Subaru finds a closed-door and quickly opens it and rushes into the room, closing the door behind him. Subaru would rather not fight a Guiltylowe, because, to be honest, he has no chance. So he opted to hide instead. Sure, he was covered in blood, but his blood would be permeated throughout both floors and the Wolgarm's flesh as well. It shouldn't be easy to find him in a labyrinth meant for human hands. At least, that's what Subaru hoped.
He turns to see his worst fear, the window was covered in flesh. DAMMIT! Subaru had trapped himself in a tiny room with the exit being where the Guiltylowe was, he couldn't even jump out the window if he needed to.
An explosion resounded throughout the building once more as it shook incessantly.
Subaru felt sweat fall from his brow and he held two arrows together in one hand and a knife in the other. He wouldn't go down without a fight.
Another explosion, this time with a low growl. Subaru suddenly realized what it was doing. All the doors are closed, so the Guiltylowe had no choice but to crash through the wall or knock a door off its hinges and destroy the tiny door frame in order to get in the room.
Either way, it was going to cause a lot of noise. A rumble that Subaru had ignored at the beginning started getting louder.
Subaru didn't have much time to think as the door he was facing exploded inward, revealing the Guiltylowe once more. Its eyes locked onto Subaru as it looked at him in glee at finding its prey once more.
Its tail swished behind it as it walked through the destroyed doorway, slightly wary of Subaru's weapons, but it came towards him nonetheless.
Subaru quickly threw the arrows at the mabeast, and it jumped back, easily dodging the projectiles. Gotcha, the knife came after and sliced across the Guiltylowe's left eye, causing the mabeast to scream in pain. "I never learned how to throw arrows, so I had to hope you'd be weary against them as well."
Subaru quickly tried to push his way out of the room while the mabeast was screaming, but dodged back into the room again as the Guiltylowe swiped at him with his claws. The mabeast had no longer kept up its silence which gave it the moniker of 'assassin' and is now growling, but even that was overshadowed by the constant rumbling.
"Ah?!" Subaru lost his balance and fell onto his butt as the building started violently shaking. Something was coming. Something very big.
The Guiltylowe seemed to realize this as well, as it jumped back and tried to run down the corridor, but it was too late.
The floor exploded upward exactly where the Guiltylowe used to be. But even with all the distance it made from the doorway, the floor still exploded from underneath it. Naturally, that means Subaru was flung upwards as well.
Subaru flew through the ceiling, then the roof, he went far into the air. The Guiltylowe was nearby, but it was too far to attack Subaru.
The rubble spread apart and the dust cleared, revealing what caused the explosion. "Eh…?"
The creature used to be a mabeast that Subaru had encountered in the Augria Sand Dunes, a Sunamimizu, or giant sandworm. Though it was only the body shape that gave it away.
Why? Because of the innumerable human arms all along its body. Subaru shivered as he stared at the creature that was basking in the flying rubble. The end of the length of its body was still burrowed underneath the mansion, easily making it hundreds of meters long.
The worm smashed into the Guiltylowe, but it wasn't sent flying, it was ensnared by its arms. They clung onto the Guiltylowe with all their might, wrapping around its limbs and entire body.
It screamed and thrashed, ripped off arms and scattering their flesh around in the sky, but even as it destroyed appendage after appendage, it wasn't able to get away. The arms started dragging the Guiltylowe upwards towards the mouth.
The Sunamimizu stood rigidly in the sky, making a massive spire with its body that could be seen for miles. Subaru didn't have to think about what it was waiting for, it was obvious. Even as gravity took effect and he was brought plummeting to the ground once more, he didn't take his eyes off the abominable creature and its thousands of human limbs.
Each limb moved of its own accord and they were all unique. Small, large, frail, elderly, demi-human, and lizardfolk; The Sunamimizu had a vast collection of arms along its entire body, there were no bald spots without arms; Subaru only shivered as he thought about how it got them.
The ensnared Guiltylowe struggled even more as it was brought to the cusp of the Sunamimizu's mouth and finally released as it was dropped in.
Horrific sounds of bone being broken and flesh being torn up resounded in the sky. The Guiltylowes screams quieted and the worm stopped moving.
Subaru didn't speak a single word or make a single sound, if the worm didn't smell him, then the only way it could find him was sound. Even as he was plummeting to the ground, even when the worm dived back into the ground with an earth-shattering screech.
He didn't make a single sound.
One thought permeated his mind.
Yeah, this is hell.