Agent of Seraphim-Chapter 62: Altar of Worm

The worms in the chamber slithered aside as Brand and Ruby walked into it. Strangely, there was not a single hiss or growl coming from them, unlike the worms outside the ruin.

The worms watched him closely, observing. He had a peculiar feeling that worms were judging him.

As the worms slowly dispersed, they revealed the altar to him.

[Altar of Worm.]

There was an object on top of the altar that caught his attention. It was purple, with a matte surface, carved from the same material as the altar.

It was a statue... of a worm.

There were strands of silk covering the statue, enveloping it as if they were trying to form a cocoon for the worm.

A soft chime echoed in his mind.

[Mission: Retrieve the Worm Statue]

[Reward: Continuation Quest Unlocked, +15 Karma]

Brand blinked.

"That’s it? Just... take it?" He muttered.

This was too straightforward, without any further explanation from the System. But what made him wary was the reward on the Karma Points. It only gave him that much when what he was doing involved the Nano Machine.

There was no other way to know, other than following the instructions in the notification message.

’Would there be traps? Like some weird demon would appear and try to ambush me like the vampire earlier?

’A mission as simple as this, shouldn’t be giving that much reward. That is if it’s only taking it from the altar.’

His worry had grown. He even thought that the ruin might collapse after he removed the statue from the altar.

"What about the statue broken by Karl and the others?" Ruby called out to him, expressing her concern. "Were there two Worm Statues?"

’Or maybe they were different to begin with.’

As he moved closer, the worms moved with him, sliding in a circle around the altar. They had blocked out Ruby to prevent her from approaching any closer. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"It’s alright, wait for me." He told Ruby that he would return soon.

The worms were watching him... with anticipation...

A voice echoed in his head.

-’Find him.’-

There was no sign of hostility in the voice. More like anticipation. Sounds like a request, even.

A tingling sensation ran down his arm, and before he could fully process the feeling, scarab shells grew out from under his skin. It was spreading quickly, covering his hand.

"I didn’t call you out..." he muttered.

Strands of scarab shell lifted his arm, extended out towards the altar, reaching out to the Worm Statue.

’Should I fight against the scarabs?’

’I do need to eventually take the statue... but I don’t like the feeling... as if being forced?’

He eventually let go of his resistance and let the scarabs reach out to the statue of their own will.

’This is the first time the Scarab Shell shows a will....’

He slowly reached toward the statue...

Slowly reaching...

Slowly...

The moment his fingers touched the worm statue... everything changed.

The scarab shells shattered instantly into thin, black strands. They spread out like dark fibers, enveloping the worm statue.

A violent pulse struck the back of his mind.

He blacked out.

***

His reality melted, finding himself sinking into the black puddle, as if everything in the world dissolved and turned into this vile lake.

There were black threads shooting out of the surface, grabbing onto his limbs and attempting to drag him down into the lake.

Even when he tried to fight against the threads, he couldn’t gather any strength in his arms. Eventually, he let the threads pull him down, landing his face first into the lake.

Some of the vile liquid went into his throat. He tried to expel them by coughing, but the liquid was extremely viscous. He found it hard to even breathe as some of the liquid had stuck in his mouth.

’Does this space behaves the same as the tutorial space manifested by Seraphine?’

Back when he first arrived in this world, under the pretense of guiding him, Seraphine had created an alternate pocket of dimension. It felt like an alternate reality back then.

This place has a similar trait, as the sensation he felt was oddly real. However, this place was different compared to Seraphine’s space.

It feels like he’s in his own mind.

’No... not in my own mind...’

He could feel an entity observing him in this space, where there was nothingness but black water. The entity watched over him silently. He felt a similar pressure as he had back then.

"Why do you bring me here?" He cut to the chase, went straight to the point. "Are you the one who requested me to find ’him’?"

The voice he had heard earlier when touching the worm statue.

"You have to at least tell me who I should be looking for!" He tried to reach out to the hidden being. He had the same feeling as the secret chamber in the ancient ruin, where he met Seraphim.

This was enough to cause traumatic shock in him.

But he braced through. He had to use whatever chance he had to try to communicate with this being.

’I knew it... these egoistic bastards never cared to properly explain things, and had the mindset of making a statement first.’

Rather than letting himself get needlessly tortured, it’s better to let them know he had the intention of cooperating with it.

’Even Seraphine said this place was under the rule of Demon God, right?’

"I’ll tell you first, I’m a cooperative person!" He tried to appeal to the unknown being in the void.

Suddenly, a low rumble trembled through the air.

He turned to the source of the tremor, and found a massive serpent emerging from the depths, uncoiling its body over the dark space. It was so enormous that it encompassed the entire dimension of space.

Its body towers over the sky. The whole body was covered in shimmering pure white scales, which was a great juxtaposition to the black lake.

With the appearance of the giant serpent, the space had turned bright, as if it were day.