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墨書 Inktalez
Our clothes and pants were long, ensuring that our bodies remained covered. However, during this frantic escape, no one's clothing stayed intact; one of my sleeves had completely torn off.
I shifted the flashlight slightly towards my exposed arm, and under its beam, the arm reflected a strange, crystalline light. Just one glance nearly made me faint.
The entire arm was enveloped in a layer of something translucent, and I knew without looking that the same must be true for other parts of my body.
This was certainly not ice. Because close to the skin, there was a layer of crimson—my blood.
Under the light of the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight, I finally saw it clearly: my body was covered in bloodsucking insects.
I felt as if I were about to die, and I understood why my body temperature had dropped so drastically. I had never felt such fear and helplessness before.
These insects were about the size of a fingernail and were transparent when not feeding. They should have exoskeletons, but even under the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight's illumination, their transparent bodies made it difficult for me to determine whether they had exoskeletons; I could only make a rough guess.
From their backs, I could see several slender claws concentrated together on their abdomens, tightly gripping my skin, yet I felt nothing.
These insects were a swarm of vampires. They weren't just one layer but many layers stacked on the surface of my body. The layer underneath had clearly gorged itself; my blood formed a red abstract pattern within them and began to spread, creating a pool of crimson.
No wonder I felt heavier underwater and weaker; with such a burden added, it was a miracle I could float to the pavement.
My head felt like it was about to explode. My hair must have been standing on end; I had even lost the ability to think. Despair washed over me.
At that moment, I heard Jack's shout: "Kill them! Swim to the other side!"
Clearly, Jack had also seen my illuminated flashlight.
Kill them. Honestly, I had little hope for that; there were too many insects, and I didn't believe we could defeat them. Yet, I still acted out of sheer will to survive.
I slapped at one of the insects on my arm with all my strength. To my surprise, these insects were quite fragile; one slap was enough to crush a bunch. This gave me confidence, and soon both hands were frantically swatting at the insects on my body. Before long, both arms were free. Without the insects' grip, they felt lighter.
As I continued to swat at the insects while wading through the water towards Jack, I realized his situation was far worse than mine. Countless insects were attacking him; the water around him had turned red. He was killing the insects while stuffing them into his mouth and biting them apart. I saw that his eyes had turned red.
My despair largely stemmed from the fear of these insects entering my body because I had witnessed such a scene before.
As I watched Jack swallow those bugs whole, I shouted in panic, "What are you eating? Do you even know what those things are? Are they poisonous? If they burrow into your stomach, we won't be able to get them out!"
Jack's eyes were red as he replied, "These are cold-blooded creatures; they can't survive inside us. They suck my blood, so I eat their flesh."
His words reminded me of Fatty. Such a bold statement could only come from someone like him, a rough character. It was surprising to hear Jack, usually so refined, speak like this. Clearly, he was desperate after being tormented by these bugs.
The insects crawled all over my body and limbs, even on my face. However, like Jack's, they were sensitive to temperature and didn't try to crawl into my mouth. Still, having them all over my face filled me with terror. Realizing there were bugs on my face too, I hurriedly slapped at it. My strength was lacking; I had lost the ability to control my power accurately. I could only judge the force of my slaps by the sound they made, unable to control it properly.
The sound was loud, as if I were slapping someone else's face. Yet I felt nothing on my own face; it seemed these bugs injected something akin to anesthetic into my skin while sucking my blood.
There were too many bugs. Those we managed to crush formed a layer on the pavement, while the ones that survived hovered around us, ready to pounce and suck our blood. I noticed that Jack and I were attracting more and more of them.
We seemed trapped in a vicious cycle: if we didn’t swat them away, they would swarm us for blood; if we fought back, we couldn't swim toward the other shore.
The flashlight flickered wildly. I knew this path would lead to our doom; we had to swim toward the other shore—even if it meant going back—we couldn’t stay here.
At that moment, I saw a shadow flash by in the beam of the flashlight. It was fleeting. If I hadn’t been dodging threats from above and aware that there were larger creatures in the air, I might have thought it was just a trick of the light.
I cursed loudly, "Damn it! Those things are coming after us!"
Jack spat out a mouthful of crushed bugs and swung the flashlight toward the sky.
"Where? I don’t see them!" I exclaimed.
"Look."
I aimed the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight at the sky. My flashlight remained steady, illuminating one spot. In its beam appeared a bizarre scene.
Huge bats emerged within the light. Their appearance was so strange; they didn’t glide through the beam but suddenly appeared and just as suddenly vanished without any transition.
Jack looked up at the eerie sight and gasped, "Nighraler."
I nearly fainted at his words. Did he think we had crossed into the world of Nightraler?
"Dammit, that's a swarm of Giant Bats. It seems your black hole has a light-absorbing coating, but that coating is movable, right on these Giant Bats. The black hole might not be very deep; the reason we can't see inside it is probably because it's filled with these Bats."
Jack seemed to forget cursing those damn things as he stared blankly at the sky. I felt much the same; the dual assault from the water and the air filled me with despair. I was waiting for the Giant Bats to swoop down and tear us apart, thinking at least that would be a quick death.
To my surprise, the aerial attack never came. I quickly realized that these Giant Bats were afraid of the bugs in the water.
The number of Bats in the air was astonishing, and their cacophonous sounds made my blood boil, causing my heart to beat erratically and violently. It felt as if their sound waves could stimulate my heart or cause it to resonate.
"They're afraid of the bugs!" I shouted.
If they were afraid of the bugs, we could at least ignore them for now. Facing two groups of Monsters at once felt like something we couldn't handle.
Hearing my shout, Jack suddenly exclaimed, "I know how to deal with them." (To Be Continued...)
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