Chapter 52 Choices 3

The bald girl took advantage of Jay being off-balance, using the ability he feared the most.

Her entire mouth stretched wider than Jay’s head as it deformed, her throat and body stretched to impossible proportions.

Her white skin cracked apart as a slimy black skin was revealed underneath.

“Eugh!” Jay was disgusted once more, though he was muffled since his head was now half-way down her throat.

Without a chance to escape, the mouth slid down his whole body, working like a peristaltic pump, and Jay was swallowed completely.

Strangely, Jay’s Molodus coat felt different, thicker somehow, like it was going into defence mode – it was even noticeable while he was being swallowed, but right now he had to focus on other things.

Anya saw Jay’s legs being swallowed right after she finished off another leech.

“Fuck..” she murmered as she dashed over to the leech queen. Seeing Jay being swallowed was like seeing her protection go away. He was the one who controlled the skeletons after all, and to Anya, partying with Jay had been the fastest and easiest way to get experience, as teaming up with higher level people would have diminishing returns on experience and wouldn’t really be good for her long-term growth anyway.

The leech queen couldn’t hope to escape now as her belly had swelled to be five times as large as a pregnant woman. She could barely support her weight, her belly was touching the ground while her tentacle feet squirmed harmlessly in the air.

What creeped Anya out the most was the look of satisfaction on the leech queens face after she had eaten. She seemed to have a light smile on her face, as if she just ate a large feast.

Anya marched over to the girl with a stern expression, walking uncaringly through the battle raging around her as she used her unique class skill on the area.

“PROSTRATE!”.

An ancient, deep, and wicked voice shook the ravine as it commanded all to bow down. It was filled with divine authority that would not be questioned.

All the leeches, skeletons and all forms of life bowed before Anya, trembling in fear; a divine fear that reached their soul.

Even inside the belly of the queen, Jay was kowtowing. He wasn’t willingly doing it, but was under the spell’s effect.

The queen squeezed around on its belly as it bent down towards Anya, it’s face now kissing the ground before her.

Since it was a psychic spell, it lost five health without any damage mitigation, as well as being stunned and controlled for fifteen seconds.

Anya noticed that all the skeletons and leeches were bowing to Anya.

She glared at the skeletons and nodded her head to the side, giving them permission to move.

Since even the leeches were bowing down in their own way, the skeletons easily executed the last of them before circling the queen. They proceeded to slash at the queen but didn’t stab at it since Jay was inside. They would not harm their master.

Anya stabbed the queen right in her eyes as she taunted it.

“How’s it feel to be encircled?” She said, prodding it with her sword.

Realising the effect of her spell wouldn’t let it talk, she gave it permission.

“You may speak.” Anya said in a domineering royal tone, though her face was angry.

“AHH!” The queen screamed in a guttural roar “Mercy!”

“Why? You’re a monster. And you swallowed my friend.”

“I…I can spit him out.. Please, have mercy”

“Do it.” Anya commanded her again.

After some heaving and squirming, Jay was regurgitated, covered in goo and slime.

Anya noticed Jay came out of the leech still kneeling before her, so she quickly released him from her control.

“FUUCK! Every time!” Jay was pissed as he clenched his jaw, wiping the goo and bile from his face.

His whole body was covered in the slime; green, black and yellow coloured slime.

He was quite angry, as nearly every dungeon he went into or monsters he fought resulted in his face being covered by decomposing filth; even his own spells had done this to him on occasion – yet this time his whole body was coated. After everything, he still wasn’t used to it and he probably never will be.

Anya gave him a quizzical look, not understanding what his ‘every time’ comment meant, but without giving it much more thought, she kicked the leech queen as it continued to speak.

“I wasn’t always like this.” she sobbed “I became this way a few days ago… I couldn’t reach a mana conduit in time.” the monster began to cry “My parents told me that it was just a myth about having to touch one, that they used them to control people”.

Anya raised a brow while her face was much less angry now. Before her layed a mutated human that could even be considered a victim.

“Overnight I changed… my feet grew tentacles, I didn’t…” She sobbed, not being able to continue “I couldn’t do anything”

“My own father chased me off into the valley.” tears streamed from her eyes.

Jay’s skeletons stopped attacking, and for a moment, there was peace.

Anya halted her attack for a moment too, as Jay replied to the girl.

“I’m sorry… believe me, I know what that’s like – at least some of it.” He had a furrowed brow.

Jay was almost going to let her live since her story resonated with him. She was another unfortunate person with a monster class, much like himself – only her class caused physical changes too.

She couldn’t make it to a mana conduit since they lived so far out in the country, perhaps the others even told her that not getting a class would be fine.

At first, he wasn’t sure if he should let her live or slay her now…

“Perhaps I would let her live… a monster class doesn’t make you a monster… It’s your actions that decide that…” he reasoned to himself.

But Jay remembered the hamlet. Everything covered in slime after the leeches digested everyone in their path, her first victims being children.

She had no mercy as she swept through the village with a horde of leeches, swallowing children and draining people.

Jay made up his mind, having a stern expression as he replied to her, passing his judgement.

“You massacred the hamlet, killing everyone. We simply can’t let you live. Your actions have proven you to be a monster, now die as one.”

Jay was not entertaining her fake tears, after all, he was just inside her stomach getting digested.

Anya put a hand on Jay to stop him, but Jay still gripped his sword tightly as he turned to her, only saying two words in an angry voice.

“RUN ROSA, LIES”

Anya snapped out of it, remembering the note they read: RUN ROSA.

It wasn’t a note to warn someone called Rosa, it was a note to warn them about Rosa, the leech queen.

They both started stabbing the leech again, Rosa wailed in anger and pain.

A sly grin suddenly appeared on the leeches face even though her eyes were missing, some white spots appeared around her head, the queen’s voice changed from a girl’s voice into a deeper combination of voices as it sounded once more.

“You will SUFFER!”

“She’s changing again Jay!”

“Just keep stabbing! She’s nearly dead!”

Suddenly, the leech queen split apart into five more leeches. Four of them attacked while one was trying to get away. Jay could sense some sort of mana-connection between the leeches as he walked between them.

The four leeches were enough to stop them from chasing the escaping one, but the skeletons could easily handle the situation by themselves – the leech queen probably lost her normal vision some time ago since she didn’t understand the invisible force killing them wasn’t magic spells, but was actually the skeletons. They gave off no thermal signature, so in the dark environment, they may as well have been invisible.

They all began to kill the four leeches, while Jay sent Blue to kill the escaping one.

“Not gonna happen, bitch.” Jay was still pissed off, covered in slime as he fought like a mad man.

He wasn’t going to let a single one get away, especially after seeing the devilish grin on the leech queens face.

Two leeches died along with the escaping one, leaving two more alive. Again, one tried to flee, but it was promplty killed by Anya and Blue.

The last one couldn’t do anything as it too fell to the sword – though Jay still didn’t get any exp.

“Hmm… Anya, the light over here please.” she brought the luminous orb over, quickly adding more mana to make it a little brighter.

He looked over the five corpses they had just slain. It was almost invisible, but a small slime trail had left one of the corpses. Jay followed the slime trail until he found what he was looking for.

A tiny red leech was squirming away.