Chapter 5: Bedeviled

Neil went through a distorting experience as his body got sucked into the portal.

His mind was all confused and unfocused as he stumbled into a completely new place.

COUGH COUGH

And in the next instant, he vomited, which was quite a normal experience for anyone crossing through a portal the first time.

As Neil came to his senses, the stench of blood hit his senses, and his gaze finally became focused.

’Ughh Where… am I?’ Feeling his head spin, Neil gazed at his surrounding

He found himself in the midst of a large forest, trees hundreds of meters tall towering over him and grass almost reaching his shoulders.

The air was filled with drifting spores that were glowing like auroras, spread all over the place.

’Huh? Aren’t those spores related to… Phaged?’ Remembering the lessons from back in academy, Neil recognised the spores.

The stench of blood was really thick and unpleasant.

He felt like an ant in such a setting.

CRACK

But then he heard a loud crunching sound, he glanced to the side as a message suddenly popped in front of him.

『

[Phaged]: Worm Kong

[Origin class]: 1st Gold

[Description]: A grief stricken mother Kong infected by phage, who ended up devouring her own newborns.

』

As Neil’s gaze settled at the entity in front of him, his body froze, mind ringing in warning.

It was a creature which looked like a large gorilla with the left side of its body looking burnt.

Almost as if something was sprouting from within.

Its height reaching nearly 10 feet, and even one of its eyes was covered by the strange wriggling flesh.

’G- Gold? This is a realm containing… Diamond class domain?!!’

Neil’s mind and body refused to respond, if this was a gold creature then, was he thrown into the Diamond level realm?

The ranks of these realms represent the rank of the domain they contain and after the domain has been claimed they just disappear.

Before being claimed however, the class of each domain represented the combined power levels of all the beasts residing within it.

As a result, the level of the strongest beast was typically one or two classes lower than the class of the domain itself.

So, if there was a Gold class creature then the Domain was certainly of Diamond class.

Not to mention, there shouldn’t be any Phaged inside an uncleared territory.

But now Neil wondered if it really is a realm containing an unclaimed domain or if they had thrown him into some random space.

And if this is really such a realm then wouldn’t they give it to someone talented from their race?

But again, the humans thrown here were all of lowest talents so thrown in such a place, their death was evident.

Neil just remained frozen as he stared at the ugly monster, countless thoughts going through his mind.

The creature noticed him too as it turned, revealing the half-torn corpse of Lukas that it was feasting on.

The same boy he talked to not long ago was already in pieces.

The limbs and flesh of other teenagers were piled up in front of it, a face visible in the pile still had a terrified expression plastered on.

KRIIIIIIIIEEEEEHHKKK

The Phaged let out a guttural roar, as it threw Lukas’s remaining corpse to the ground and jumped in Neil’s direction, a pus like stench emanating from its body.

Facing such a creature for the first time, Neil couldn’t move an inch, the large monster was just too fast for him.

’R- Run… I have to r-’

He wanted to escape, but his body refused to move.

Not that he could dodge that sort of attack.

WHOOSH

BANG

A shadow flashed before his eyes and in the next moment excruciating pain erupted throughout his body but for a moment.

The world spun as the claws of the Phaged ripped him clean in two.

Blood splattered around as his body limply fell to the ground.

Neil’s gaze turned blurry and breathing became impossible, the last thing he saw was his own torn body.

Countless emotions erupted in his mind, despair, betrayal, hate, pain but soon life completely disappeared from his blank eyes.

…

[You died.]

[Analyzer Activated.]

[Replaying the encounter.]

With what seemed to be his last bit of consciousness, several messages popped in front of him.

[Analyzation complete!]

[Would you like to start again?]

[Yes/Give up?]

Absolutely nothing was making sense, Neil wasn’t even sure if he had actually died, as the strange lines floated in the midst of complete darkness.

But he knew one thing, giving up most probably meant death so after a moment, he chose the option Yes.

Though before that he took a few moments to calm his mind down, all of it had happened way too fast.

Neil was really on verge of collapse.

[You have returned!]

Instantly, it was like life was flashing before his eyes in reverse, he saw his own death, the movements of the Phaged and even things he didn’t notice before.

In the next instant, Neil stumbled into the forest, barely stopping himself from vomiting.

Returning to the moment, when he had just passed through the portal.

He quickly looked to the side and saw the creature munching on Lukas’s flesh, and after a moment came the crunching sound of the bones breaking.

CRACK

’What the fuck?!!’ Neil felt as if he had just seen a dream but the memory of the pain still made him shiver.

It certainly wasn’t fake or a dream, every bit of it was real, that pain itself was the evidence.

Like before, Worm Kong, who had just sensed his presence, turned around, displaying its burnt wriggling skin.

Although experiencing the same thing twice, Neil once again felt his body going numb, the sight was just as terrifying.

KRIIIIIIIIEEEEEHHKKK

Letting out a guttural roar, it pounced towards him again, raising its claws to tear him apart.

Neil bit his cheek from inside hard, as the metallic taste of blood filled his mouth and then he threw himself to the side with all his might.

WHOOSH

BANG!

Neil just barely managed to dodge the strike, as the claws struck the ground, creating a small crater and blowing away leaves and dust.

Quickly getting a hold of his body, Neil looked towards the large creature, who seemed a bit surprised but then began to charge towards him again.

ROOAAAARRRRRRR

It felt like a scene straight out of a horror movie. Breathing heavily, all Neil could do was push himself back, there wasn’t even any time to get up.

THUMP THUMP

CRACK

Before the Kong could have attacked Neil again, the sound of trees breaking sounded from behind and the land shook by heavy footsteps.

The shadowy surrounding lit up as the trees started catching fire.

The Phaged Kong instantly seemed to panic, it didn’t even glance back as it tried to flee, ignoring Neil completely.

But just as it took a couple of steps, the heavy foot of the creature just so happened to press over Neil’s head.

Neil only saw a shadow cover half his face, before the foot descended, his reaction speed was completely useless here.

BANG

SPLASH

Before Neil could have even understood anything, his head exploded into a bloody mess of brain and flesh as the Phaged stomped over his head while escaping.

[You died.]

At least the death this time was painless, Neil couldn’t understand how he could survive against such terrifying creatures.

[Analyzer Activated.]

[Would you like to start again?]

[Yes/Give up?]

’So this was not a one time thing.’ Before making a choice, Neil took a few seconds to let his mind rest.

Everything seemed to be moving too fast right now.

Useless talent, breakup, getting kidnapped by Lizzard men, phaged and now this abnormally miraculous skill.

Phage belonged to the Phantom planet, the creatures of which are the enemies of all the life forces, countless planets had already been destroyed.

Phage was just one of the dangerous entities that Phantom planet released into the world, bringing chaos.

They are microscopic biochemical spores drifting through space; carried by light, radiation, or even sound across the void.

Any creature infected by the phage undergoes a huge transformation, just like the Worm Kong, turning them into grotesque hybrids.

Some call it infection, some call it parasites.

Neil had limited information about such things, since not much was told back on earth, so the kids won’t be scared even before their journey had started.

He was supposed to get much of such information after arriving on the Zoratian planet.

Finally he chose yes, yet again.

There was no way he would give up, even if he had to die for it.

…

Neil stumbled out of the portal as he barely managed to stop himself from falling, then first he took a few steps back and gazed around to see any way to escape.

CRACK

After a moment, the same sound reverberated and only then Kong glanced back, still munching over Lukas’s corpse.

KRIIIIIIIIEEEEEHHKKK

Then throwing it away into the pile, it screamed and charged towards Neil, the distance between the two was different this time, giving him a few moments to respond.

Unlike the previous two times, Neil was able to get a hold of his body without even inflicting any pain, he directly jumped behind one of the trees.

WHOOSH

BANG!

The Phaged’s claws struck the tree, breaking it in half as it wildly charged forward.

HUFF HUFF

Neil felt adrenaline rush, his body moving at the fastest, jumping and dodging yet another strike, albeit barely.

Right then, the familiar scene happened again.

THUMP THUMP

CRACK

Trees broke, some even caught fire and a big shadow appeared over the large area, as both Neil and the Worm Kong froze.

Then an enormous figure whose body was covered with magma became visible, its size was over 10 meters (over 30 feet).

It had two big horns over its head and triceratops like body structure, though its moving speed was quite slow, and it looked rather lazy.

『

[Beast]: Magma Bima]

[Origin]: 1st

[Class]: Diamond

[Description]: A lazy Bima who was lucky enough to devour a fire attributed heart, evolving into a hybrid.]

』

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