Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 32

Player Who Became a Constellation – Episode 32

No. 32

The mercenary patrolling the inner walls of the castle walked cautiously, even as rain lashed down.

Normally, he would have skipped guard duty to sleep, but a strange unease kept him awake.

Heavy rain, a dark atmosphere, and a deserted village.

Everything felt ominously unsettling.

The creeping anxiety might be more than just a feeling.

“…Please, let the day pass without incident.”

He wore a waterproof robe and carried a lantern instead of a torch. The lantern’s glass was fogged, likely from the cold rain. The light was faint, but it was better than nothing.

“Hmm… Do we really need to patrol near the walls?”

The mercenary shook his head at his companion’s words.

“You never know. Besides, this village… it’s strange.”

“…Don’t say things like that. You have an uncanny sense, so when you say you feel uneasy, it makes me nervous too.”

The companion had been with the mercenary for a long time and trusted him deeply. Therefore, the mercenary’s words made him feel uneasy as well.

The mercenary who mentioned the strangeness of the village shrugged jokingly.

“But it’s just a feeling. I admit I have a good sense, but it’s not always right. Besides, if something happens, they’ll give us a warning from the gate or the walls.”

The gate and the walls were the best places to observe the outside situation.

However, on a dark night like this, with the moonlight and stars hidden by dark clouds and heavy rain, it was difficult to see anything.

Darkness obscures vision, and rain numbs the senses of smell and hearing. Nature could easily render humans helpless.

The mercenary looked around with his lantern and suddenly flinched.

“…Hey, look at this.”

He pointed the lantern towards the wall.

It was a stone wall. Built long ago, it was cracked and looked unstable, in need of repair. But what the mercenary found wasn’t the wall’s weakness.

There was a large hole in one side. And something thick and gooey was smeared there.

The mercenary and his companion tilted their heads, looking at the black liquid on the wall.

The mercenary reached out, touched the surface of the wall, and lifted his hand.

It stretched like cheese. In the stretched black liquid, something like a reddish earthworm was wriggling.

“…What is this?”

As the mercenary tilted his head, he felt a sharp pain in his hand.

The red earthworm had burrowed into his finger.

“What…! What is this!”

The mercenary panicked and shook his hand.

The pain disappeared instantly, and even the trace of the wound vanished. As if he had seen a hallucination, only the black liquid remained on his hand.

“…Did I… did I see that wrong?”

The mercenary looked at his companion and asked, but seeing the companion standing far away with a pale face, he wore an awkward expression.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

The companion looked at him, his face ashen, and backed away.

“D-Don’t come closer.”

“Why, what’s wrong?”

As the mercenary took a step forward, feeling uneasy, the companion drew his sword.

“……!”

“…Stay where you are.”

“What…! Don’t joke around!”

“I’m not joking! If you come any closer, I’ll kill you!”

The companion looked around.

Confirming that no one was there, he took out a small flute from his pocket and blew it to call for help.

The ‘peep-!’ sound echoed around, and the mercenary became even more pale.

Judging from his atmosphere and actions, it didn’t seem like a joke at all.

“What’s wrong… Ugh!”

Suddenly, the mercenary felt sick to his stomach. His head spun, and his legs lost strength.

“Uh…? What’s happening? Ugh…!”

He vomited everything in his stomach. No, he vomited even more than that.

As heavy clots of blood flowed from his mouth, the mercenary became as pale as his companion.

“W-What on earth… is going on!”

His whole body throbbed with pain. His head was so dizzy that he could barely think.

Fluids flowed from his eyes, nose, and mouth due to the pain, and soon blood began to flow from every orifice.

As if all the blood in his body was draining out, his skin turned pale, and worms wriggled all over his body.

The mercenary cried out for help in terrible pain.

“S-Save me….”

Thud!

But the hand that reached out didn’t save him; instead, it took his life.

The sword pierced through the mercenary’s mouth.

“I’m s-sorry! Sorry! I’m really sorry!”

The companion, with a pale face, painfully shoved the sword into the mercenary’s mouth. Then, he pulled out the sword.

The mercenary’s body collapsed as if he were dead.

“I have to tell them! This is… a plague! Why is the Worm Feast here…!”

The mercenary trembled with fear.

Worm Feast, a plague that creates the dead.

The plague that parasitizes the human body lays countless eggs inside the body as soon as it infects, kills the host, ‘takes over’ the body, and controls it.

Once that happens, they move with only two instincts.

One is appetite. The other is reproduction.

They strangely recognize only ‘humans’ as food and devour them. And if they are full, they bite the opponent and lay ‘eggs’ in the wound.

It has a lethality that dominates the host in less than 10 minutes after infection.

“I know why there are no people!”

If such a plague broke out, everyone would have fled without even packing their belongings, and there would be no corpses.

Because they suck them dry, leaving not a single drop of blood!

“…The Order! I have to inform the Holy Order! If the plague has spread, quickly send the Holy Knights…!”

At that moment, the mercenary’s ankle was grabbed.

“……!”

The mercenary who had been infected with the plague looked up at him with dead eyes and smiled.

He mercilessly crushed his ankle.

***

When the sound of the flute rang out, Lapilta looked at the fortress in surprise.

As the guard at the gate, he couldn’t help but wonder about the flute sound echoing from the inner walls of the castle, even though there was a perfectly good main gate.

“What’s going on! What’s wrong!”

Lapilta shouted to the mercenaries on the wall, but the mercenaries shook their heads, as if they didn’t know either.

Then, a scream rang out.

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”

“……?!”

The mercenaries on the wall were also flustered and shouted hastily.

“Go down and check it out. If anything happens, blow the flute immediately!”

The mercenaries on the wall disappeared, and Lapilta flinched and looked ahead.

From the village below the hill, a group was gradually coming up.

They walked steadily through the rain.

A group of monsters with dark red skin and human shapes.

Lapilta’s face turned ashen when he saw them.

“Worm Feast!”

***

With the sound of the flute, followed by the scream, Loki frowned.

The mercenaries who had been asleep woke up one by one, hearing the sound.

Azar jumped out of the room in surprise.

“What’s going on! What about my slaves…!”

He was worried about the merchandise first and repeatedly asked the mercenaries.

The mercenaries, who hadn’t fully woken up, looked at Loki.

He was in charge of patrolling the castle, so he would know more about the situation than they did, who had been asleep until just now.

“What’s going on?”

Albert also woke up and raised his sword with a tense expression. Paul was asleep next to him.

He had been patrolling the castle, but Loki, who had just dealt with the mercenaries who had tried to steal the slaves, didn’t know anything.

“…I’ll go take a look.”

Loki left those words and stood in front of the door, grabbing the handle.

Just as he was about to open the door, he felt a presence beyond the door. And….

Crack!

The door shattered, and a hand reached out and grabbed Loki’s neck.

“……?”

Loki blinked in surprise inside the crow mask and looked at the hand.

He barely felt the presence. Moreover, the speed was unusual.

‘…It’s not human? Besides… the grip is strong.’

The hand covered in red leather gripped Loki’s neck tightly.

The muscles wriggled as if trying to tear him apart with all its might and pierce Loki’s neck with its nails.

But no matter how much force it applied, Loki wasn’t even scratched.

“What!? What is that…!”

The panicked mercenaries jumped up.

Loki grabbed the arm that was holding his neck and twisted it.

Snap!

The arm twisted in an unnatural direction, and the black, rotten bone pierced through the skin. And along with the thick, rotten blood, an unknown threadworm flowed out.

The threadworm stuck to Loki’s arm and tried desperately to pierce through his skin, but it couldn’t.

“Disgusting….”

Before Loki could finish speaking, the door completely shattered, and a monster jumped out.

The melted face and torn mouth opened wide.

―Kuaaaaaaak!

It stretched out as if to swallow Loki’s head in one bite, beyond what could be explained by human jaw structure.

An unknown black something wriggled in its mouth, along with a disgusting rotten smell.

Loki punched it away.

“…You.”

The monster’s skull shattered, and rotten blood and threadworms flew everywhere. Among them were earthworms thicker than fingers.

The body of the monster, which had lost its head, fell to the floor, but the remaining hand continued to move, trying desperately to grab and break Loki’s ankle.

Loki stepped on it, but an earthworm crawled up his leg.

Loki, looking at the repulsive thing, stepped back.

‘What are these things…?’

He wasn’t scared, but disgusted.

Feeling the sensation of crawling on his body, Loki felt disgusted and gave strength to his hand and wiped his body. The threadworms that were crawling on his body burst and died.

‘…I need to wash later. What is this anyway?’

“…Worm Feast….”

Loki turned around at someone’s shout.

“How could the plague…!”

“G-God… save us!”

“R-Run away…!”

“No, before that, that Nord…!”

The mercenaries’ faces turned pale.

Paul, who had barely woken up by the mercenaries’ shouts, looked back and forth between the mercenaries and Loki with a dazed expression, and his face turned pale when he saw the thick, rotten blood smeared on Loki and the red worms wriggling on it.

“…He’s infected.”

Infected? What is he talking about?

Loki looked at the threadworms.

Is that what he’s talking about? But….

‘Infection. Is that what they call the plague? But this is more like….’

Loki looked at the corpse.

‘…Parasites? With a little bit of magic….’

The threadworms wriggling in the corpse.

Very weak, but there was magic in it.

Considering the size, the magic was quite enormous. The fact that it could easily penetrate human skin must be because of the magic.

They tried desperately to pierce Loki’s skin, but it was skin that even sharp nails couldn’t penetrate. There was no way such skin could be pierced by bugs.

‘Could it be… if these things get into my body, I’ll become like these guys?’

Ha, no way.

This isn’t some third-rate zombie movie….

Loki smiled awkwardly and shook his head.

“But….”

Loki frowned and focused his senses on the castle.

It was hard to hear because of the rain, but there were already many monsters rampaging in the castle.

‘…I didn’t notice? Why?’

Even if the sound and smell were masked by the rain, how could I not feel the presence to this extent…?

“Is it because these guys aren’t alive?”

The headless corpse in front of him moved, but it couldn’t be said to be alive. However, the bugs were alive.

To sense them, I have to sense the presence of the bugs.

“…H-He’s infected!”

“What do we do?!”

“Kill him! Kill him!”

The mercenaries raised their weapons and pointed them at Loki.