Soul Eater Of The Rebellion Chapter 7

Live Prey

「…Where…am I?」

When I came to, I was lying down in an unknown place.

Hope filled my chest when I realized that I was able to wake up for a second time, since I had expected to never wake up again after that.

Although it was pitch dark around me, at the very least, there were no signs of the Fly Lord nearby.

While feeling relieved from that fact, I tried to get up.

However.

「…Huh?」

My body did not move. A strong numbness was preventing me from moving my limbs.

I could barely move my neck, but not even a finger was responding below that.

It was a feeling that I've never felt before. It was frightening.

Speaking of which, what are these sounds that I've been hearing for a while now?

There's some crunching noises coming from what sounds like something hard getting crushed.

There's a faint sound of some soggy chewing.

…And there were some sticky slurping noises.

For some reason, those sounds made me s.h.i.+ver inside.

Adding on to the fact that I couldn't see anything at all, fear began to overtake me.

I tried desperately to get away from where the sounds were coming from, but my numb body did not respond at all.

It was at that moment-

A light had unexpectedly come into my field of vision that was covered in complete darkness.

The light was s.h.i.+ning down from the moon that was pa.s.sing by from above.

Illuminated by the moonlight, the whole picture of this place started to become clear.

I was in a s.p.a.ce about the size of a large house.

There was no evidence suggesting that the rugged rocks around me were moved in a way that resembled any architecture, so I thought that this should be the inside of a natural cave.

But if this place was truly a cave, I could not see any side openings that resembled an exit.

If I wanted to leave this place, I would have to leave through the hole from above.

However, that hole is quite far up from the ground. I would only be able to leave through there if I could fly.

If I think about that in a different perspective, that means whoever uses this place must have flying capabilities and they come in and out through that big hole.

That means…

「…The Fly Lord's nest」

I muttered in a groaning tone.

Any of the hopes that I had of being saved spilled out of my chest like a pile of sand.

No, but more importantly, if this was the Fly Lord's nest… then the sounds that I've been hearing…

I fearfully moved my neck to look…

I knew that I would surely regret it if I look, but I couldn't choose not to.

Then, I immediately regretted it as I expected.

「……..* Híííííí  *」(squealing)

There was another adventurer there. From what Lunamaria had told me, he was probably one of the adventurers that had gone missing.

He was in extremely horrible shape.

Both of his arms were already lost up to almost the point of his shoulders.

His legs were gone up to his thighs.

A countless amount of maggots were all running all over his wounds. His bones and red-colored flesh were exposed.

Maggots from the size of a finger to the size of a fist were all competing to gnaw on the adventurer's bones, chew his flesh, and drink his blood.

「…* Híííí *?!」(squealing)

That wasn't all. Maggots the size of a rice grain were also flooding the adventurer's nose, mouth, and ears.

Only his eyes were safe. Or so I thought at the moment, then–

—Our eyes met.

Even though he looked to be at the edge of madness from the horror and despair, I was sure that at that moment, we had recognized each other's existence.

The proof of that was his eyes were opened wide at that moment as he tried to open his mouth to tell me something.

…But what came out of his mouth was not words, it was a large amount of maggots.

「*AHHHHHHHHH*!!」

He was still alive. He was still conscious even though his limbs were eaten. Even though his nose, mouth, and ears were being violated.

A Fly Lord captures its prey alive and brings them back to their nest to feed its larvae.

And the larvae of the Fly Lord take and consume the live prey in a manner that doesn't immediately kill them.

So the information that I've learned from the data that I've read before was true.

This horrible scene that I was witnessing in front of me will become my fate in the near future.

When I recognized that fact–

「NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!」

I screamed out as I couldn't take any more of it.

As if the surrounding maggots took that as a signal, they all came swarming at me at the same time.