B3 | Chapter 67 - The Stomach
Just how did I even end up in a place like this?
I repeatedly curse whoever designed this place in my head as I swim, hoping it will take my mind off of it. Although the parasites are doing a decent enough job of that as it is. So that\'s a plus at least. Especially since they\'re still feeding me EXP.
Might even stay in this place longer just for that EXP. And when I say \'in this place\' I do not mean in the blood. I\'ll absolutely be leaving the blood as soon as I can.
But after swimming through the blood for several hours, the monsters change. And so does the blood, actually. It seems to take on a deeper shade of crimson, with some random blotches of black here and there.
The black blood doesn\'t seem to do anything to me though. Which makes me wonder if it\'s poisonous or something.
But since I\'ll never find out, I guess it doesn\'t matter if it\'s poisonous or not.
The monsters, on the other hand, finally begin to use magic.
Some sort of magic that begins to mutate me whenever they bite me with that annoying inner mouth of theirs. Something they can actually do now since they\'re using magic.
Which scared the hell outa me when they first did it.
It was not pleasant to see and feel my arm turning into a fish\'s fin.
Fortunately for my sanity, I reverted the damages immediately. And no damage was left.
I didn\'t even realize the monsters were different when they first changed. But that was a clear wakeup call that they were, in fact, different creatures.
Higher level ones too.
Even if they look the exact same, other than a slightly different hue in their coloring. Slightly paler.
And the moment they start appearing, my easy albeit disgusting EXP field trip comes to an abrupt halt. Replaced with a stressful and disgusting EXP field trip. Since they are still easy to kill. I just have to make sure they don\'t bite me. Which makes things more stressful.
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I also have to start using my soul again. Since I was avoiding using it to save up my soul while fighting the weaker ones.
No point in wasting it when they couldn\'t do anything to me and were swarming me like vultures to a corpse.
I continue making my way through the blood with the parasites levels gradually rising along with my own. Meanwhile the patches of black in the blood gradually grow larger and larger as I navigate through the slowly narrowing little \'tunnels\' in here. Tunnels that I get the feeling may be some sort of blood vessels.
Eventually, though, I finally find an exit. One that has me immediately teleporting into the air after falling out of since it is high in the air above a large pool of… stuff.
Uh, is this a stomach?
I tilt my head while being very thankful for my nose plug.
There is one thing I really have to question about this \'The Horror\' thing.
Just how did it get so many parasites?
Like, seriously. There has to be thousands of them down there…
I fold my arms under my chest as I look down at the massive sea of yellow and black liquid. Liquid filled with chunks of what appear to be undigested food and partially digested creatures. Along with a bunch of parasites swimming around in it.
Although these parasites are slightly different in appearance than the others. These look longer, and they have eyes. Pitch black eyes, but eyes nonetheless.
Also, they have arms. Which is creepy.
Just random arms sticking out of their otherwise-worm-like body.
Their identify shows up as parasites still though, so they are parasites.
{Horrific Grappler Parasite – Species: Fallen Horrific Grappler Parasite – Level 941}
Literally just tacked on the word \'grappler\' to their name. Rather… literal… I guess.
I teleport down lower while making absolutely sure to keep my mouth shut. Only to eventually remember that there are no smells in this place.
Right. Forgot because I was using the nose and ear plugs to make it so that I didn\'t get the thing\'s blood in my nose or ears.
In that case, I go ahead and take them out. And, fortunately for me, there are still no smells here.
I frown at the things as I continue teleporting to stay in the air, not keeping my momentum as I do so.
Judging by how fast their levels are rising, I\'ll probably end up at the final boss within a day or two.
But that also leaves the major issue here.
How do I kill this thing when I can\'t even pierce through the walls of its blood vessels? And I really tried. Brought my blade down on them, and it didn\'t do anything. Tried blasting it with Quantum Bolts, and it didn\'t do anything.
So figuring out how to kill it is important.
One thing comes to mind though.
Its heart.
Hearts tend to be rather weak organs in general. And even if I can\'t damage it, I might be able to figure out how to stop the blood from pumping into it or something.
It\'s so weird to be trying to figure out how to kill a monster I\'m inside of though.
Then again, I could always just level up to the cap of Tier 4 and just try hitting the walls or organs again. Would probably work.
Might take a while of massacring parasites to do that though.
Well, anyways, time to go down and test out these parasites.
And considering that it\'s most likely stomach acid down there, I should be careful about touching it. Who knows what it could do to a living creature, considering the dissolving monsters I see down there. And I can tell that some of those bodies are monsters. Not just animals.
Big ones too.
I grimace as I begin letting myself fall lower.