novelraw Chapter 118 : Caught!
Chapter 118 : Caught!
Volume 3: High School Arc - Mirror Game
How should I describe this face before me...
The completely pupil-less eyes felt like two white holes, and the entire face was twisting in a chilling way.
This kind of distortion was like a funhouse mirror, yet far more grotesque.
Its right cheek was entirely deformed, with no fixed shape left.
The cheek twisted, nearly merging with the eye, which now stood upright.
The left side of the face was almost completely sunken, with only one slanted eye remaining.
The nose had three bends, twisting downward.
That mouth was bent in seven directions, with jagged teeth protruding out and curling back, almost like saw blades.
And its right arm didn’t match the rest of the body at all.
For a body only about two meters tall, its right arm had become extremely thin, like a bamboo stick, over three meters long.
But its left arm had become incredibly short, less than ten centimeters.
Each finger was almost as thick as my wrist.
There was almost no upper body — it was basically legs from below the neck down.
Two meters tall, with legs a meter ninety long — it had no torso.
And just now, the hand I was using to hold the doorframe...
Was now resting on its bamboo-stick-like right leg.
Its head had not a single strand of hair, pitch black...
What the hell is this thing??!
If someone had just drawn this thing for me, I might not have found it so terrifying.
But seeing this strange, semi-human figure standing right in front of me — my scalp instantly exploded!
Without a second thought, I turned to run.
But before I could take a step, my left shoulder was suddenly grabbed.
An immense force made my shoulder let out a strained sound.
‘Ka!’
It didn’t break... but it dislocated!!
The moment the pain reached my brain, I realized my left shoulder was dislocated.
Instinctively, I tried to reach into my pocket with my right hand.
But before I could pull out the substitute doll, a strange smell wafted from behind.
Before I could make sense of it... my right shoulder suddenly felt like it was caught by pincers.
The sharp blades of the pincers dug straight into my flesh.
“Arghhhh!!!”
The searing pain instantly overwhelmed my senses.
I couldn’t control myself — a scream burst from my throat.
‘Riiip!!’
With the sound of leather being torn apart, a large chunk of flesh was ripped from my shoulder.
I could feel the icy sensation from the exposed flesh that should never touch open air.
And I could feel the nerves being torn — a pain so sharp it left my mind blank.
‘Glrk! Glrk!’
The monster behind me was chewing on the flesh it had just torn from my right shoulder, bite by bite.
Am... am I going to die?
The searing pain nearly wiped my mind blank.
And with my scream, I thought I heard rustling sounds all around — something rapidly approaching.
No… I can’t die here.
This new life has just begun, it can’t end like this!
At that moment, time seemed to slow down drastically.
Everything around me felt like it had come to a halt.
I barely forced my eyes open and saw another twisted figure approaching not far away.
This figure was different from the one that had eaten my shoulder.
Its face was also distorted, but the distortion was in different places.
And its body twisted in a completely different way too.
It was like looking into a mirror, one where water had distorted part of the reflection.
Its body was uneven in size — a bulging stomach, a sunken chest.
One leg was long and thin, the other short and thick.
Both arms were their original length, but the right arm was thick at the top and thin at the bottom.
The left arm was the opposite — thin at the top and thick at the bottom.
The most unsettling part was that the thickness wasn’t from muscle.
If it were muscle, it might even look cool.
But this was a grotesque, twisted kind of thickness.
Are the monsters in the mirror all just twisted versions of something?
I tried to move the fingers on my right hand.
Just the thought of moving them made the shoulder scream in hysterical pain.
But I couldn’t wait any longer.
If I waited until the second monster reached me, I’d be done for.
Clenching my teeth, enduring the pain, I forced my right hand to move.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my shoulder.
The torn ligament had less than half still connected.
The rest had been ripped apart completely.
I could even see the jagged edges of the torn ligament.
Holding my breath, I forced my right hand downward.
The ligament shifted slightly through the blood-soaked bone seam.
Just a little more… just a little more!!
The Evil Spirit Form was useless — that much had been confirmed the moment it bit me.
At that moment, I let go of the Evil Spirit Form and tried with all my strength to attack it.
But my attack passed right through its body like a shadow.
It didn’t affect it at all.
In other words… the Evil Spirit Form and this creature were not even in the same dimension.
They couldn’t perceive each other’s existence.
And that… was why I hadn’t managed to pull out the Substitute Doll in time.
My arm had no strength left.
The fingertips could barely feel anything anymore.
Watching the crimson muscle at my shoulder struggle to move in the blood, I was going insane.
The second monster was just about to reach me.
Its outstretched hand was inches away from touching me.
One of them had already wrecked my right shoulder, and its immense strength had dislocated my left shoulder too.
If the second one reached me…
I probably wouldn’t have any chance left to resist.
Substitute Doll, Substitute Doll!!!
At that moment, I couldn’t even see where my right hand had gone.
The fingertips were completely numb, devoid of any sensation.
I could only judge from the response of my arm whether my hand had reached my pocket.
Right before my eyes, the second monster’s hand reached toward my abdomen.
Those twisted fingers looked like they had been gnawed by a dog — fleshy in some places, bare in others.
It was like a grotesque mutated disease, sending chills up my spine.
I can’t die here.
I won’t die here!!
Suddenly, a slight spring-like sensation came from my arm.
In that instant, it felt like someone had handed me something.
A distinct feedback as if something had been placed in my hand.
What… was that feeling?
But there was no time to think.
Gritting my teeth, I raised my right hand.
Just below my eye, I caught a glimpse of that old, worn little doll — now soaked in blood, clenched tightly in my hand!
Got it!!