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

Chapter 232

When Shan regained consciousness,

A bright full moon was floating in the sky, looking down at him.

His limbs were spread wide and wouldn't move at all. From the way his arms and legs were tightly constricted, it seemed he was tied up.

He could clearly feel a cold, hard sensation against his back. At the same time, there was a strong smell of wet grass and water.

[■Done■!]

[This■■come■!]

Where was this?

Why was he here?

His mind was confused. When he barely managed to turn his head to the side, his whole body stiffened at the sight that met his eyes.

There were many gray children.It was difficult to simply call them a 'group.'

Countless children on stones, on trees, munching on moss, looking at him, pointing at the sky, shouting something.

Each and every one of their appearances was eerie and bizarre.

Crackling, grating voices echoed here and there.

[■■■start■■!]

[Look■■■■! ■■■■!]

"What, what is this, what are you doing!"

The gray dwarfs approached where he was tied and poured what they had been carrying in their arms onto his stomach.

Shan, who had been terrified, momentarily became dazed when he saw what they had placed on his stomach.

Mushrooms, dried grass, white shining stones, fish bones.

What were they planning to do by placing such trash on his body?

But the dwarfs were clearly delighted as they competed to pour grass scraps.

Shan screamed because of the foul-smelling fruits that were poured even on his face.

But no one listened to him.

The more he writhed trying to escape, the tighter his limbs were squeezed, causing sharp pain.

Escape was impossible, let alone struggling,

And he couldn't know if Yesung or Tika could come to such a place.

When Shan was desperately trying to pull his wrists with what strength he had,

One of the dwarfs jumped onto the huge stone slab where he was tied.

"Hiek."

The dwarf's small eyes gleamed.

In its threatening hands was a stone that had been broken and sharpened.

Shan's breathing quickened.

What Yesung had said came to mind only now in this situation.

-You will die.

What he had said was right. These creatures were filled only with thoughts of killing him.

What could be more futile than dying without even knowing the reason?

It might have been better to end his life peacefully in Shambhala.

Did Anutara know that the outside of Shambhala was full of such things?

Shan squeezed his eyes shut at the stone knife that was raised high, aimed at his neck.

"Get away- move aside-! Get lost! Shan! Shan!"

This voice was.

As soon as Shan opened his eyes, something came running and collided with the dwarf on the stone slab.

The fairly heavy dwarf flew beyond the stone slab and fell, letting out a strange scream.

The person who climbed onto the stone slab instead of the fallen dwarf was dripping with sweat, with hair stuck to their face.

"Get a hold of yourself, Shan. You can't just space out! You can recognize me, right?"

"How did you get here? Why on earth?"

"You came here being dragged like a dead scorpion on the ground!"

Tika picked up the stone knife the dwarf had dropped.

She tried to cut the hard vines that bound Shan's hands,

But before she could, dwarfs came running from behind and began clinging to her.

"Get off, get off!"

"Tika!"

No matter how small the dwarfs were, when several attacked together, she couldn't handle them.

Tika was forcibly dragged down from the altar and rolled on the ground.

Unable to overcome the weight of the dwarfs on top of her, she struggled while lying face down, but there was nothing she could do.

Meanwhile, the dwarf that had fallen from the altar climbed back up, full of venom.

When sharp claws deeply scratched Shan's chest, blood gushed out.

Along with a painful scream, Tika cried out desperately.

"Shan-!"

The hot, fresh blood of the sacrifice symbolizing the dwarfs' devotion.

The blood that spurted from his gasping body flowed down his ribs and soaked the stone altar.

The dwarfs shouted. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but the eerie and ominous words felt chilling.

Around the time Shan's blood was dripping down to the floor,

Suddenly black clouds gathered and covered the moon.

The sky covered with dark green clouds was pitch black.

The forest, where not a single point of light entered, became quiet for just a moment.

The moment when the dwarfs' loud voices, Shan's screams, and Tika's sobbing all stopped,

The sound of shuffling footsteps could be heard through it all. Tika barely raised her head.

Had Yesung come?

She thought that for a moment, but something seemed strange.

The sound was too light and fast to be made by Yesung. Moreover, the sound kept circling around the clearing.

A light breeze spread carrying a rotten smell.

Tika trembled with unnamed fear. The dwarfs, sensing something ominous, muttered.

Right after that.

[No.]

-Pop!

A dwarf standing somewhere burst its thin, hard gray shell and pink liquid in all directions, becoming a handful of blood.

Something whispered. It wasn't a dwarf, nor Shan or Tika.

Then the dwarf next to it also collapsed with a disgusting sound.

Seeing their comrade disappear in an instant, the dwarfs all began fleeing from the clearing where the ritual had been performed.

But it was already too late.

Something was unilaterally massacring the dwarfs in the darkness.

Thud, thud, smash, pop.

The whispers denied and denied again. It swept over dwarfs, burst them, swept over other ones and burst them.

When Tika barely managed to raise her powerless body,

She intuitively knew that 'terrible thing' was in front of her.

Faint jingling sounds and scratching, colliding noises came from beside her ear.

A warm, damp texture licked from her shoulder up to her face. Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck.

She needed to get up. She needed to run away.

Cold breath touched her ear as she was gripped by fear. A seductive, youthful voice whispered.

[What a beautiful body. A living body made of warm flesh and blood.]

"-!"

[Won't you offer yourself to me? Say you will serve me. If you do that, the 'Mother of Darkness' will dwell in you and let you enjoy infinite glory.]

Tika couldn't answer properly.

She didn't know who the owner of this voice was,

But the stimulating smell of decay was paralyzing her nose and reason together.

Something damp crawled all over her body. The sensation of it licking her forehead and cheeks felt unpleasant.

"I, I am, I, I."

[Say you will serve me. My cute child, become my minion...]

"I..."

[Of course that's what will happen. I have chosen you.]

A creepy touch gripped her neck.

An unknown bitter liquid flowed into her forcibly opened mouth.

Even after filling her mouth, it overflowed and soaked down to her chin. The taste was so strange that she tried not to swallow it,

But because of her unstable breathing as she gasped in fear, a few drops went down her throat.

Tika scratched at what was gripping her neck with her fingernails.

She couldn't breathe.

As her blue eyes lost focus and shook, the strength slowly drained from the cold hands.

Just before she collapsed, she heard a voice calling her name from somewhere far away.

Thinking this might really be Yesung, she relaxed and lost consciousness.

*

It was strange.

The dwarfs had been particularly quiet today.

Until a few days ago, there had been quite a few who would get angry and hiss when they saw him, or lurk around the house.

Recently, it had been strangely quiet.

Since he hadn't encountered any dwarfs even by chance,

He looked down at the stone in his hand and scratched his head.

Was it because he had smashed too many heads?

Had they finally realized they should avoid him?

It would be good if he had taught them a lesson this way, but what if not?

He threw the stone into the grass and decided to return home.

He might be able to rest well for the first time in a while today.

He returned home with expectations, but.

"...Shan? Tika?"

The door of the house was wide open.

The room, where not even embers remained, was lit only by cool moonlight.

There was no one left inside.

As soon as he saw this, he came out after gathering his book and pen from the corner.

Faint footprints and traces of unknown origin remained on the path.

They had gone out.

They had gone out. With whom? It didn't seem like Shan and Tika had voluntarily gone out together.

If that were the case, there wouldn't be traces left with grass all broken like this.

While running frantically, the sky over the area turned completely black.

Dark green clouds gathered and writhed, forming shapes.

On land where neither moon nor stars could be seen, he could predict what would happen.

The traces of something heavy being dragged stopped abruptly in front of a forest that was far beyond their territory.

When he stepped into it, he soon saw a clearing covered in darkness.

The sight spread before his eyes was horrific.

The small clearing in the forest was stained with pink bodily fluid everywhere.

Pieces of half-burst dwarfs got caught under his feet,

And the rotten smell that still remained wafted thickly.

One step, another step.

On one side of the clearing stood a large altar made of stone.

Shan's chest, tied on the altar, was deeply gouged. Blood that had flowed from the wound had stained the gray stone, but it had stopped now.

Shan's face was pale as a corpse.

He turned his head and found Tika lying in the middle of the clearing.

Her clothes were also stained with dirty pink, but at least no visible wounds could be seen on her.

Other than that, no traces remained.

But he thought he could understand what had happened here.

The dwarfs had summoned something.

Unlike Ig directly descending to the planet and creating snake-people to serve him,

The dwarfs that had originally been here had instead tried to summon beings greater than themselves.

Surprisingly, the dwarfs understood the basics of rituals to summon 'beings' that weren't here.

A place to perform the ritual, sacrifices to attract the being, and intense prayer.

It was his mistake.

He had acted arbitrarily without properly telling the two.

The two were the ones who would suffer direct damage, but he had moved first.

Because he wanted Shan and Tika to remain ignorant of such dangerous matters.

"...That shouldn't have happened."

He should have moved more diligently.

Even if it took time, he should have thought of a way to eliminate all those gray dwarf bastards at once.

Why had it come to this?

The reason the two had come here, the reason it had become like this, was because he had underestimated the dwarfs.

He untied the hard vines that bound Shan on the altar and pulled him down.

He laid the cold-bodied Shan next to Tika,

And wiped Tika's wet chin while saying.

"I didn't expect them to come readily just because some dwarfs summoned them. Moreover, to covet even what wasn't offered. Isn't that crossing the line?"

He opened the book and found a blank page.

When he turned his back, someone was already standing at the edge of the forest.

"'Mother of Darkness.' ...Or should I call you 'Mother of Sorrows'? Idra."

The 'Mother of Sorrows' that Ig had mentioned, who had settled on this planet early.

She smiled with blood-red lips.