Chapter 51: Eyelids (23)

Chapter 51: Eyelids (23)

[Wake up.]

Drip. Drip.

The sound of water dropping echoed around him. It was a space of emptiness where he couldnt feel anything.

Parasite did you drag me back into this place?

As I growled towards the emptiness, the black smoke-like parasite appeared out of thin air with his chin resting on his hand. The parasite had a sort of refreshed face compared to its normal sneering grin.

[What an idiot. Oh, how my kindness was repaid with such ungratefulness.]

Stop the BS and tell me why you brought me here.

[Me? Bring you? Here?]

Swoop

The guy floated down to the ground. On the things black smoky hand were two pale, flesh-colored fingers that stuck out from his entire body. The index and middle fingers that the body in my consciousness didnt have. The two parts of the body it had complete control over.

Pat.

It placed his right hand, which had two fingers, on my shoulder.

[Stop blabbering nonsense and wake up. It doesnt look like you have much time outside.]

Outside? What was this guy saying?

He was about to shake off the hand of the guy who was saying things he couldnt understand, but then, in the corner of his eye, he saw one of the black, smoky fingers disappear and get replaced with a pale one.

[Oh, and Im taking this.]

Professor jumped in surprise and looked at his left hand. It was gone. The ring finger on his hand that was just there moments ago. It moved over to the parasites hand.

W-Why did you?!

[Dont be so salty. This is a real cheap price for what I did. I even added a discount. If you see what I did outside youll be thanking me.]

Crack

Light started to seep through the crack that appeared in the space of void.

[Sigh, youre finally waking up. You slow vessel bastard.]

W-Wait! Give me a moment! Tell me what happened!

The parasite completely ignored Professors shouts, and instead, scratched the inside of his ear with his new finger.

[Youll know when youre out. If youre so thankful that you want to repay me, you can let me use your body once a week.]

Damn it! Say something that I can actually understand!

Whoooosh!

As the crack widened, the black void filled up with light, and Professor woke up.

The first thing he felt when he opened his eyes was, of course, pain. He was dizzy and he had a headache, along with a pain that felt like his insides were being twisted into knots.

What was I doing before I blacked out?

The first thing he remembered. Soft lips. Uh, hm.. what was after that? There didnt seem to be anything really important after tha

Know your place, beast! You are not worthy to even speak to me!

Isaac!

Rustle!

Professors hazy mind cleared up instantly. He was then finally able to see his surroundings. It looked like the place had been hit by a bomb, and there were several system messages that were red and flashing his eyes. The chat was moving at a crazy speed, and Isaac was in a corner muttering to himself while clutching his arm.

To Professor, it looked like his arm just had a little bit of ash and a small wound, but Isaac tried to rip something off of his arm, then clutched his head again, screaming something out.

Gahhhhh! No no! Get off of me, please! The nightmares The nightmares are going to come true! I need to stop it I I. need to stop it!!!!!

Splat!

The back of Isaacs neck swelled and ruptured with his last frenzied scream, as a centipede-like creature came out and crawled up his face.

Wait! Thats an insomnia crab. There was a mute in his body?

Insomnia crab. It was a special type of mutant, similar to the burrowing worms and Pale Face from that one time. Theyre considered about a level 56 mutant, but its only about the size of a persons palm with no fighting ability, and the Queen still has to produce them herself, so the profitability isnt that high, making it close to trash.

It only had two abilities. To weaken the hosts mind and plant the image the Queen wants, and when the host loses consciousness or is unable to fight

Kreeek! Kreek! Kreeeek!

Stab! Stab! Stab!

To come out and stab its antennae into the hosts body to take control.

Ahh! Ahhhhhh! Aghhhhh!!!

Once the antennae completely entered the brain and took control, a horrifying cry came out of Isaacs mouth, and water started to gather around his body. One difference the insomnia crabs had compared to other infected mutes was that they could use the knowledge their host had to an extent.

Hydro grrrk, ball!

Vwoooooom!

Thats a Hydroball? The same spell that I used?!

Even if the insomnia crabs could control the body, they must not have been able to use the full awakening of a level 6 mage and instead used the most basic spell, Hydroball, instead. But the scale and strength of the spell were on another level. The ball above its head gathered all of the water near the body, making it more than just massive.

I dont know exactly what happened after I got knocked out, but my body is in shambles.

Its the sign of magic usage. It. Probably happened before I got back to my senses. Then does that mean Rakshasha made that strong of an attack by herself? But she was just barely holding off Isaac when I was still awake.

The Isaac that Professor last saw was feeling immense terror. To the extent that he was seeing hallucinations and was in complete panic.

Is this.. mage panic?

A mage was a person who could project their images onto the world and was that much more sensitive to mental triggers. If a negative image or trauma entered that sensitive mind, those images would also become reality to them, and they would fall into a panicked state.

But Isaacs not just a level 1 or 2 trainee mage. How can someone even affect a level 6 mages image to that extent?

Rakshasha. Was the person who made Isaac like that you?

Shake shake.

Then. did we have someone else helping us?

Shake shake.

Then who could shock a level 6 mages solid mental.

Poke poke

Hm?

Rakshasha interrupted my question and looked at me as she poked my cheek. When I pointed to myself with my finger, she nodded her head.

Me?

Nod nod.

I did?

Nod nod.

How?

[Well, he is a level 6 mage, but he spent all of his life just studying and experimenting. His mentality was built high up to the sky but that sky was of a small ants. He must not have had much life experience because he was more of a scaredy cat than I thought.]

While Rakshashas expression responded to my question with a How would I know that? The voice in my mind answered the question.

.I did that?

Shake shake.

Then. You did?

Nod nod.

The rhythmical tapping of three fingers reminded me of what had happened.

[So be more careful with that body of yours. We really almost died this time, you know that? Even if you could regenerate, it was a dumb move to destroy the brain that contains consciousness. Of course it would regenerate. With all of the infectious agents moving into the empty space in that brain of yours. I tried really hard to just watch, but I almost died from the idiocy, so I used the body while you were asleep.]

You. moved my body?

[Yeah. Why cant I? Its an unconscious body, and I was just another consciousness that filled up the empty spot. Hey, if it wasnt for me, you and that woman would have been made into meat patties by that old man over there!]

No, that wasnt the problem. This was a much bigger problem than that.

Realistic Mode basically meant that the users consciousness was projected directly into the game. There was no delay when moving the character, and it was basically as if the users soul was transferred into the in-game world.

But a consciousness in the game moved my character?

Then, doesnt that mean the consciousness in the game can affect my body in reality?

[Oi, why so serious? I gave you back the body! You look really serious right now, but to think that you still didnt thank me!]

Shut up for a sec, parasite.

I needed to check exactly what happened while I was knocked out. Thankfully, I had people who were watching my every move even while I was unconscious.

-professor: Soybar, jokasss, nacho, Speedwagon.

-Soygaybar: come to the Dome.

-professor: I assume everyone knows the current situation. Can someone explain what happened?

-Soygaybar: I know you dont like that place, but just quit that game. Come to the damn Dome and get to a hospital!

The chat was full of the viewers messages. From the countless messages that showered him with praise and admiration, he narrowed out the messages from the familiar IDs, which led him finding a bunch of messages from the users expressing their concern.

-professor: Soybar, calm down. I know something weird is happening, so Im here right now to ask. What the heck happened?

-Soygaybar: Do I look like Im about to fucking calm down! You, you have that! The thing!

-Speedwagon: Ill explain it. Is that okay?

-Soygaybar: .

-Speedwagon: You look confused, so Ill summarize it with three lines. You were unconscious, And regained consciousness, And started to act like another person and called yourself Hyde.

.Hyde?

[You called? Kekekek, how is it? Isnt it a nice name? Dr. Jekyll?]

-Jokasss: We dont need to explain to know what happened to you, right? You, the Professor in the game, was just controlled by a separate individual going by the name Hyde. Like many of the other players that played Realistic Mode, you were just possessed. You know what this means, right?

-professor: ..right.

Professor muttered to himself as he looked at the three fingers that were moving by themselves even now.

The individual inside the game is starting to affect me in reality.

[Vessel, I wanted to ask you since a while ago, but who is the thing youre talking to sometimes?]

But in his case, it wasnt the Professor in the game. but another weird something.