A Rotten Jellyfish?
1070 Words
"What did you send them?"
"Nothing, I just told them to prepare. We need to get back now and bring the chairperson here."
I'm still shocked to know that Agony harbored some of her memories.
First, Eight's existence, and now this.
Why am I experiencing a blitz of revelations?
"Yukti."
"Yes, Eight?"
"I think there's something odd in here."
"What do you mean?" Agony responded to Eight with a brow raised out of confusion.
I could see why Agony doesn't know about it. Usually these guys, specifically the cult priests, often do surprises.
Great. Now that I think of it, it's about the time it shows up.
"Let me throw this guy first. I don't want this place to get wrecked", I said as I picked up the supposed dead body of that cult priest and threw it away outside. The window shattered, and the body did a soft "pomf" on the thick layer of the snow.
"Eh? Yukti... That's kinda overkilled."
"Nah, you'll see why I did that. Look."
I pointed at the frosted dead body of that guy after I said my words. Curious of what I meant, Agony and Eight peeped through the shattered window and were shocked to see the revelation of THAT thing's identity.
"This cult was infamous when I was active in service. Their operations were global in scale, and I, together with a certain someone, sniffed their trails and we were successful in destroying at least eighty percent of the whole cult. However, that doesn't stop the remaining twenty percent of cult followers and sprouted once more from the abysmal pits. One of their basic tropes? All of those THINGS impersonating as a person, or perhaps more like the possessing being or monster -- or whatever it is called, I don't care at all -- would reveal itself, yeah...just like what it is now."
The man's body bursts from the inside, from it, emerges a hideous being in the shape of a jellyfish.
"What's with that rotten jellyfish!?"
A "rotten jellyfish" huh?
Well, that description sounds right.
Its size is huge. It's so gigantic that it could cover half of the facility we were in.
"It indeed looks like a jellyfish. However, it's not. It's more of a parasite that invades someone's corpse and controls it with precision. The one who summons these jellyfishes are professional summoners. I'm still in a bind as to why these shits existed in such a way as to control a corpse and make it temporarily living flesh. I'm pretty sure that even the Undead race can't tolerate this desecration."
"How did they pass through checkpoints?"
"Eight. This cult we're against has its ways. And recently, I discovered that they made some of their rats infiltrate the Bureau."
I mean, even that co-founder and the Lore sisters' father is one of them. I wonder how big is the "rotten jellyfish" inside him now (well, if he does have one).
I may have only a few pieces of evidence, but it led to that conclusion. That fragment of memory coming from Agony supported my gathered evidence.
Casting that train of thought aside, I turned my sights to spot the usual weak point of this parasite.
"You see that gemstone just underneath its supposed to be its head? That's the only weak point it has. It may appear to be docile for now, but when hit by even a tiny ray of sunlight, it moves fast. I don't know why, but that's how it usually acts. Good thing this weather is perfect. Cold weather like this blizzard is its weakness."
"How come you know that much?"
"Experience. That's all there is. Anyway, that thing acts like a jellyfish too. It stings."
"Let me guess, you're basing it on from experience?"
"Yes. Now, I can't help you in this."
"Huh? You got that [Nightmare Requiem] right?"
"It only works on anyone who got brains. That thing certainly doesn't."
I turned my head at them and pointed at the jellyfish with my right thumb sticking out.
"You two need to do what you can to kill it off. Just consider it as a field exercise."
Eight could only cross her brows and squint her eyes. As for Agony...
"Sigh. You're always been like this. Let's go Eight."
"Eh? W-wait for me."
Sorry about that Agony.
I lied.
I can fend it off actually. But I'm sleepy to do so. I also hate the cold weather. Even if I'm unaffected, my body just reacts to it, and I became sloppy. I could even snooze in the middle of a fight if I don't fight against my sleepiness. That's why my air conditioner back home is always set on a little below room temperature. It does seem useless, but I can't help it. Even my sister makes fun of me.
Welp, let me observe what you guys can do. I didn't lie about that "field exercise" part, after all.
•••
"Sigh. You're always been like this. Let's go Eight."
"Eh? W-wait for me."
Yukti just told us that he won't intervene.
He did say that that gemstone floating about at the center underneath the bubbly head. Blood is oozing from its tentacles.
It was right to call these things "rotten jellyfish".
"Eight, do you know anything about this uh...this thing?"
"Unfortunately, no. It's my first time. I've been here throughout my life but I didn't saw this coming at all."
"Well then, Eight, are you ready?"
"I was trained to be one."
Daggers appeared from both Eight's hands. As for Agony, she used the same thing she used during that battle between ber and Liz, the estoc.
Now then, let's see what they can do about this together.
"Let's go."
"Just behind you, Eight."
•••
"Gah!"
"Wait no! Guh!"
I look at the two of them, lying on the floor, unconscious.
This isn't a good thing. For them to invade my privacy means that they mean business.
Just how big of an organization hides beneath the mask dubbed as the Bureau?
"I need to get out of this place, fast."
I, Annie Leblanc, sprinted with all my might to escape from their grasp.
I'll miss my home but it's fine. My life is a thousand times more important than a mere house.
"Mentor, we need to purge the Bureau as fast as possible, or else a dreadful future only awaits."
- Writer
