Chương 352: Sleepwalker

After a while of turning the upper half of the monster's skull into confetti as it constantly regrew, the creature suddenly gained a burst of strength unlike any of the previous ones, but at the same time, I also felt the taste of proper flesh. This was flesh that could be stored–This pretty much marked the end of its endless regeneration, and as further proof of this, the blood marsh drained in an instant, all of it flowing into me in a single moment.

Whether it was intentional or not, the sudden intake of much flesh made me space out for a moment, combined with the enormous strength the monster had just acquired, it was able to break free from my deathly grasp, falling and rolling to the ground like an animal as it created distance, the top half of its skull now permanently missing as it snarled and screamed with enough volume to turn a human body into paste. I was surprised that it didn't immediately put its enhanced speed and strength to good use.

It definitely had enough of those to give me a hard time even without its regenerative abilities, but the monster simply didn't move in to attack. At first, I figured that it was because it no longer had eyes, but thinking about it, it never had eyes in the first place, only empty sockets, and its behaviour clearly showed that it knew exactly where I was–No, it might not emit any negative emotions, but that thing was afraid. It was scared of me. Now… I just put you through unimaginable torture for…

A handful of minutes at most. That reaction is a bit exaggerated, isn't it?

"Co–Come on. Don't disappoint me like this… You we–were giving me such a great fight before! If you get sc–sc–scared, then it won't matter how strong you are. You'll just be food" The monster howled at me, surging forth with incredible speed that I could barely react to. In the blink of an eye, my lower jaw was punched right off, sent bouncing against the stony ground as an unrecognisable hunk of steel. … As I said, though. An enemy that is so scared of its opponents isn't really an adversary anymore.

Especially one whose fear is so animalistic. The monster is just lashing out without thinking, acting like a beast driven into a corner. Thus, it left itself wide open after attacking, allowing me to drive both of my hands into its chest, tearing the foolish creature apart, but even ripped apart, it wasn't dying, forcing me to devour it bit by bit as its limbs flailed around uselessly. By the end of it, I was pristine. The monster was gone, but the space around me wasn't collapsing or spitting me out. … What gives?

The marsh is gone, the monster is gone, what else do you want from me? I'm still cut off from everything–Should I just start trying to break the ground itself, or… Or… Mmh… I remember Nara mentioned that the creatures of the blood ocean all used blood-themed magic. Basically, everything is full of blood in this place. Everything is linked to blood, and although I never tried something like this, perhaps this connection to blood could be of use to me.

I placed my hands on the ground and tried to remember what it felt like when I absorbed 'flesh'. I maintained this position for an embarrassingly high amount of time, but eventually, my fingers dug through the stone as if it were the feeble flesh of a small prey. Before I knew it, I was out of this strange place, but somehow, my situation got worse. … Nara, can you hear me? Of course! Alright, why am I sinking into the blood ocean? I don't know. You disappeared for a few minutes, and then reappeared there, sinking…

What happened? It felt as though you were struck by a spell, but I was unable to find a caster anywhere Don't worry, I dealt with the issue, but… Huh… Wait a minute. … That's not good I got out by focusing on my ability to absorb 'flesh'. This is something I had pretty much never done before, certainly not to such an extent or scale… Unfortunately, it seems like I didn't stop doing so after breaking free from this bizarre pocket dimension. There was a… Lapse? A cooldown?

I don't know, but apparently, when I focus so damned hard on devouring flesh, and I am met with a truly insane amount of flesh that I can theoretically absorb in one go, then it takes a little bit of time to actually… I guess it calculates just how much of the flesh I can absorb in one go? Anyway, it is too late for me to stop it. I am definitely going to black out instantly once it happens. Alright Nara. Don't panic if some giant beast swallows me whole.

The stomach acid will probably not melt me into nothingness before I wake up… Probably. But… With the Blood-Cursed Tree, you started wandering around on your own… What if you start doing things afterwards? It should be fine. It's not like I can swim in my 'Base Form'. I'm basically a skeleton made out of solid steel. I can't swim for crap, and I'm not anywhere near light enough to do anything other than sink, so… Don't worry, sweetheart. Right as I finished this sentence, it hit me.

I didn't get to see the result of my overconsumption of blood. I only met with the darkness. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

The blood ocean opened up, catching the attention of all due to the sheer size of the event. The Blood Squid was taken aback, and without anyone else understanding, it suddenly dived right back into the blood ocean despite not having been in a bad position yet. The Blood Eels and Blood Krakens also seemed to lose all will to fight, escaping if they could. The only ones left were the group from the nearby base and the smaller blood creatures.

"What the hell is happening? Any ideas, Holgod?" Jartscol turned to the blood mage, but found the man frozen in place.

"What the hell is this thing…" Holgod muttered something before lifting his mask just enough for him to puke on the ground.

"Hey! What the hell is going on?!"

"Something fucking horrifying just popped out of nowhere! That's what happened! I don't know what it is, but whatever just made that big fucking hole in the blood ocean got all the monsters that aren't completely frenzied running for the hills. Even the damned creatures of the deep are still. They are fucking scared" The big gap in the ocean caused tidal waves to form. Everything was illuminated by the glow of the blood itself, and no one could see anything out of the ordinary–But they soon sensed it.

A presence unlike anything any of them had ever experienced. Their minds flashed with feelings and experiences that did not belong to them… The pain and horror present within those felt real. It was as though they were experiencing it for themselves. Everyone quickly managed to do something to protect themselves, be it via a spell or something else. Nonetheless, this didn't bode well at all.

"The blood ocean is being consumed rapidly. Even if they are scared out of their wits, the monsters of the depths will have to act. We should just pull back and make ourselves as small as possible" Holgod spoke gravely, and no one seemed willing to put his words into question. Even just a short exposure to whatever presence this was was more than enough for them to know that they would rather not get into a fight with this thing. Holgod knew it better than anyone.

His main element, 'Fiendish Blood', was resisting being formed. Even a mere element of mana seemed to be afraid, but since it didn't seem to be occurring for elements not related to blood, it seemed like the creature bore a strong affinity for it. This meant that fighting it anywhere near this blood ocean would be a foolish move. Here, it would have absolutely advantage… The group retreated as far as they could, but nonetheless remained in a spot where they could monitor what was happening.

If the creature ended up coming toward the base, they would have to confront it no matter what. Running away did not seem like a viable option. … In the distance, amidst the raging blood, something emerged…

Nara was left utterly flabbergasted. Her big sister had indeed lost consciousness due to the blood consumption, but unfortunately, she wasn't simply left sinking… Nara could only look at the system panels that popped out of thin air. Congratulations on unlocking a new form! You have acquired 'Revenant Jack-Out-Of-The-Box'! A transformation without the 'Form' suffix. There weren't any deep reasons why any given form was named a certain way, but this particular one was ominous.

An information Nara couldn't communicate was that there were three 'Jack-Out-Of-The-Box' forms currently. This was the first to be unlocked, but it was perhaps the worst one to unlock when Mara was knocked out. Previously, when she had overindulged in something and blacked out, she had merely wandered around and performed meaningless actions, but that had been because the 'Base Form' simply had nothing to offer under such a scenario.

However, 'Revenant Jack-Out-Of-The-Box' did have something to offer, as it bore the effect of distorting the perception of its user. It would be fine as Mara could handle something so minor easily, but she wasn't awake to do anything about it, basically allowing the form to act on its own. Well… It still carried the personality of Mara, but the penchants it craved to push to prominence could be pushed without resistance.

Revenant Jack-Out-Of-The-Box - Acquired from the consumption of incredible amounts of flesh, from the consumption of several rare kinds of flesh, from meddling with the creation of fleshy life forms, and thanks to a penchant for sadistic violence It was rather unlucky that two of the conditions could be fulfilled at once because of a simple mistake, but others… It truly went to show that this form had something special.

It had actually hidden that it had progressed toward being unlocked from other actions performed by Mara. Almost as if it had a mind of its own and had been hoping to get an occasion to perform at its full 'potential'.

"I'll… Find you…" The unconscious Mara whispered something to no one in particular before holding out one of her hands, causing blood to rise from the ocean and toward her, where it was absorbed en masse. There was nothing Nara could do to stop this, but thankfully, she didn't need to intervene. The form might have a bit of a will, but Mara would inevitably wake up within a few hours at most, and besides, the form had her best interests in mind, even if it went about doing things in a bizarre manner.

'Revenant Jack-Out-Of-The-Box' seemed focused on draining the blood ocean, but its desire for violence and bloodshed distracted it. The Jack-Out-Of-The-Box stared forward, straight at the distant group made mostly of demons. Bone cracked as its jaw trembled, and it cracked further as it tried to open its eyes wider. All while continuing to draw blood to itself, it began moving toward the group at a slow pace, barely hovering above the ocean, allowing its feet to drag against the surface.

This leisurely motion didn't last for more than twenty seconds as several creatures burst out of the blood, including the Blood Squid from earlier. It had come back with more creatures of the deep, including something with a head resembling a cross between a shark and an alligator, as well as bundles of limbs from unknown origins.

The squid made the first move, letting go of a spell that it had clearly been preparing for several minutes, unleashing a condensed beam of blood mana straight at the 'Revenant Jack-Out-Of-The-Box'. The creature, both Mara herself and something else at the same time, didn't bother to dodge. The beam never even struck. It merely broke down as it reached the entity, the blood mana falling apart as each individual piece of mana seemed to be trying to run away, only to be pulled into the creature's body and absorbed.

"Filthy… Things… You drip with fear" The revenant was overjoyed by this…