A Horror Novel’s Supporting Character Wants to Live as a Human

Chapter 225

He hurriedly ran following where Tika led.

Upon entering the forest, Tika began to fall behind little by little.

Even though he couldn't run that fast, seeing her behind him,

It seemed she had used up all her strength running to him.

"Just a little more to go!"

Still, thanks to her giving directions from behind, there was no worry of getting lost.

The place they barely reached was a yellow flower field.

A place where sunlight came in well through the sky opening in the middle of the forest, where even small plants could live.

But no matter how much he looked around, Shan was nowhere to be seen.

"Tika, is this the right place?"Walking to the middle of the flower field, he could see traces of picked flowers and the picked flowers abandoned just like that.

What had they seen to abandon even the flowers they had bothered to pick and run away?

But there didn't seem to be anything threatening nearby at all.

Looking around carefully, his gaze suddenly went to the edge of the clearing where the flower field was.

Something was hidden among the tree shadows, well-grown weeds, and wildflowers.

When he approached and examined it, it was.

"...A leg?"

It was the leg of a large insect with a smooth shell tinted pink.

It seemed thicker than an ordinary person's forearm, showing how big it was.

Not only was the insect pink, but it was also strange that only the leg was inexplicably lying there separate from the main body.

It wasn't like a snake that had molted, nor like a lizard that had cut off its tail and escaped.

Moreover, where it should have been connected to the torso, sticky, foul-smelling viscous liquid was attached.

Ugh. What the hell was this?

Why were only alien-like creatures remaining here?

Surely they hadn't run away just from seeing this.

"Tika, what did you see that made Shan run away... Tika? Where are you?"

He stood up while holding the leg and looked around.

Surely she had been following behind him, hadn't she?

Or had she finally fallen behind on the way? But there was no way she wouldn't have shown herself until now, right? Had she gone somewhere else?

While wondering, the moment he looked down at the heavy insect leg,

There was something that briefly flashed through his mind about the faintly glowing, vivid pink shell.

Had Tika originally used informal speech with him?

Right at the next moment,

Along with a sound like a watermelon bursting, his vision went dark.

*

Shan and Tika stood on their heels, choosing to step only on places where grass hadn't grown much.

They had to leave the forest making as little noise as possible.

Whatever they did, they just needed to get to Yesung.

With that thought, the two who had been earnestly keeping low and walking stealthily froze at a sound they suddenly heard.

-Rustle, rustle.

Was it that thing? That insect?

It had definitely been standing on legs at the very back earlier. Then could it walk instead of flying?

Shan and Tika held their breath and listened carefully to where the sound was coming from.

-Rustle, swish. Rustle. Swish.

There was also a sound of something being dragged.

Shan was frowning at the somehow familiar sound when his eyes widened.

"This is."

When Shan whispered, Tika also tilted her head as if she had noticed something.

But her expression wasn't very pleasant.

The two hurriedly approached the bushes and began peering across.

Through small leaves and twigs, a red-haired person wearing Shambhala clothing was walking slowly.

Shan whispered again.

"Yesung has come. He must have known we were in danger and came. We need to go tell him we have to get out of here quickly... Tika?"

Tika's hand was gripping Shan's clothes tightly.

She too was peering across like Shan, but her complexion had turned pale.

Tika whispered.

"No."

"What do you mean no? It's Yesung."

"No. The clothes, Yesung's clothes were shortened by you in the desert so they wouldn't drag..."

Shan looked at Tika then peered at Yesung again.

He remembered shortening the hem in the desert after seeing Yesung's clothes dragging to make it easier for him to move.

Come to think of it, the current Yesung wasn't carrying the red book he always had with him either.

He was just slowly trudging around, going in circles around one spot as if looking for something.

That pale complexion and thin arms were definitely Yesung's.

Yet because of Tika's observation and an inexplicable fear, he couldn't readily step forward.

At that moment,

The Yesung over there opened his mouth.

"Where is... everyone? I... have come."

Clear but strangely slow speech.

An empty face with no emotion remaining, and the behavior of opening and closing his mouth while turning his head this way and that.

Everything was wrong somewhere. It wasn't natural. He couldn't think of it as a person.

Chills ran through him.

This unpleasant and disgusting sensation was a first. Someone in his head warned him.

He had to leave here quickly.

That wasn't the real Yesung. He had to go back quickly.

Just as the two were quietly moving away from the bushes and about to turn around,

A 'snap' sound was heard from someone's feet.

It was a thin twig that had fallen from the bushes.

But the moment they realized this, Shan and Tika felt ominous and looked up.

Yesung, no.

The 'something' pretending to be Yesung had somehow approached here and was looking down at them.

Only then could the two see its face clearly.

The face, clothes, and skeleton were perfectly Yesung's, but only the eyes were different.

Instead of brown eyes, dark gray antennae protruding like small bumps.

The antennae quietly tilted toward the two.

In an instant, Yesung's entire body twisted and began to writhe beneath the thin skin.

-Rip, tear, burst.

What came out tearing through the fragile human skin was,

A pink shell insect that had torn off all the legs it had definitely possessed.

The antennae that had been protruding instead of eyes all extended in all directions at once, and the huge body attacked Shan.

"No!"

"Shan!"

Screams mixed together.

Shan couldn't stop Tika from jumping between himself and the shadow attacking him.

It's over. Now we'll be devoured by that insect.

Thinking that, just as he squeezed his eyes shut.

"[The 'Fungal Entity from Yuggoth' suddenly realized. The fact that the original owner of the skin it had worn had come to collect the price. Unless it killed the newly appeared obstacle, it wouldn't be able to take the interesting samples before its eyes.]"

*

Perhaps because he had died and awakened after a long time, his legs were shaky and his head was dizzy.

Moreover, he felt like someone was pressing a branding iron against the back of his neck.

This was the first time a Mi-Go had approached so cowardly from behind and smashed his head.

It was fortunate that there was a leg the Mi-Go had cut off itself where he had died.

If there had been nothing to eat, he wouldn't even be able to stand here now.

Still, he couldn't collapse disgracefully here.

He forced strength into his legs, straightened his back, and closed the book.

"It would be better to stop, Mi-Go. No... Fungal Entity from Yuggoth."

[How can you communicate? Are you of the same kind?]

"That's not for you to know. What's important now is that those two in front of you are my companions."

[Are you claiming ownership?]

"Similar. Don't you know about business ethics? I'll overlook that you smashed my head and skinned me to act like me. Since I also ate your leg, let's call it even. But if you lay a hand on them, you don't know how I'll react."

[This is a settlement of the experimental subjects that left our city. We want to study how the experimental subjects maintain their species.]

"Strictly speaking, as scientists, I know that you Fungal Entities from Yuggoth contributed nothing to their birth. But now you're questioning the experimental subjects' origins?"

Yurik had entered the Elder Things' city that had become the Mi-Go's and created them there.

The materials used to create the Shambhala people were himself and the garbage dump the Elder Things had left behind.

It was true that the Mi-Go had not contributed to Shambhala's birth.

The being called Mi-Go and Fungal Entity from Yuggoth approached him step by step.

Since it hadn't yet fully shed his 'skin,' feet identical to his own gaunt ones stepped on the grass.

[Do you know the one who invaded our city? After we drove out that one, we maintained the experimental subjects. The one who came to retrieve the experimental subjects made an agreement not to invade our territory in exchange for taking the experimental subjects. But the experimental subjects are here now, and the agreement is broken. They are ours.]

"Why is this your territory? Before you, there were the Elder Things, and before the Elder Things came, there was Yog-Sothoth. You're just an alien species that happened to parasitize this land, yet you dare claim territory?"

[The Elder Things were defeated in war with us. We are an intelligent scientific species.]

"And the impulses and curiosity that even that intelligence couldn't suppress will prophesy your species' downfall."

[You, a being no different from these humans. How do you prophesy? Planets without masters are rare. All gods and all species will flock here.]

"Want to make a bet if you're curious?"

The book was still open in his hand.

He was ready to write at any time, but the Mi-Go was not.

"I'll bet my head that in the future, an age of humans like me will come. If it's judged that I was wrong, you can come and cut it off."

The Mi-Go said nothing.

Instead, it just stiffly pointed its gray antennae-like eyes in his direction.

The Mi-Go, a creature obsessed with science by nature, seemed to be pondering whether to collect old experimental subjects,

Or seize the opportunity to collect new specimen samples.

Finally, the Mi-Go clicked and said.

[We will never disappear from this planet. The perpetuation of our species will be eternal. Feel the weight of the words you've wagered and wait. Everything will be revealed after precise and fair experiments without deception.]

"Go ahead."

After the Mi-Go pulled its remaining feet from the skin, it spread its wings and flew at low altitude.

As soon as the Mi-Go returned, the bet he had made would be shared with all the fungal entities.

Probably even tens of thousands of years later, the Mi-Go would not forget the bet with him.

When the Mi-Go completely disappeared from view, he stopped glaring at the Mi-Go and collapsed on the spot.

He really couldn't take it anymore.

His vision was spinning.

When he staggered and fell, Shan and Tika, who had been standing dazed, came to their senses and rushed out of the grass, shouting.

"Does it hurt? Did you fight? What is it? What was that?"

"Is that the problem now? Go get Yesung's clothes hanging over there first! He's sweating terribly!"

Tika carefully brought only the clothes from the torn skin.

Shan helped him put back on the clothes that had been taken from him while he couldn't control his body.

Even in the midst of this, Tika asked with disgust.

"Yesung, what is that skin? It's so gross! It's not real skin, right? Right?"

[Tika truly hated it. If that was Yesung's skin, then who was the Yesung before her eyes? If that was really 'human skin,' she would surely faint on the spot...]

Behind her, a description he hadn't seen in a while flowed down.

Moreover, the red number floating above her head was blinking anxiously and fading.

Ah, damn. This was driving him crazy.

"...Isn't it a disguise? Probably."

"It's a disguise, right? It's not real skin, right? Yesung's face is properly attached, right?"

Fortunately, the conversation between him and the Mi-Go didn't seem to have been heard by the two.

He shouldn't reveal the truth and waste Tika's mental strength.

While Tika kneaded his face, Shan adjusted his clothes from behind and tied knots.

Suddenly his touch paused for a moment.

"...Why? Is there something?"

"Yesung, this... I don't know if I should mention it."

His words were soaked in bewilderment.

Shan swallowed dry saliva once and asked.

"There's a severe wound on the back of your neck, and it's even continuously bleeding now. It looks like a picture. Something is being drawn... What the hell is this?"