At some unknown moment, the passage ahead of the jester, Eren, became eerily strange.
"Tap... tap..."
Accompanied by a series of footsteps.
From the cracks along the corridor, thin streams of liquid suddenly began to flow.
At first, these trickles of water were clear and pure, but they soon turned crimson—red like fresh blood, a thick, overwhelming red.
The color of the blood reflected in Eren's eyes, painting his nearly frozen gaze in a sinister glow.
"This is..."
No.
It wasn't just the cracks along the corridor.
Even the corridor itself seemed to be undergoing some unknown transformation.
The upper part of the passage, which had been relatively clean and orderly until now, had inexplicably turned old and mottled.
The walls, as if soaked in blood, were covered in bulging, swollen patches.
Within those bulging patches, something dark red seemed to flow.
It was as if, behind those lumps, there wasn't air, but pools of foul-smelling, putrid blood.
Above, the lamps that should have been lighting the way—now extinguished due to damaged wiring—seemed to hold cold, malicious black pupils within them, staring icily at Eren as he prepared to step deeper into the corridor.
In front of this increasingly bizarre passage, Eren came to a halt.
Even his face, hidden beneath the mask, lost its last trace of a smile.
"This feeling..."
"Why does it feel so familiar?"
As he stared at the eerie corridor before him, a flash of realization struck Eren's mind.
"Potion loss of control..."
"Flesh mutation..."
"Eldritch corruption..."
Damn it! Why does this resemble those incidents where people lost control due to potion failures and mutated?
Or could it be that this was another place tainted by the aura of an eldritch god?
As he recalled the source of this familiarity, the corner of Eren's mouth twitched involuntarily.
Hell.
First, there was that eldritch god priest, then that incident at the textile factory with Sloan—fine, whatever. But now, even Kingpin, a mere gang boss, had this kind of Lovecraftian horror going on?
Damn it.
Is this still the Marvel Universe I remember?
Could it be that, aside from those supervillains who constantly try to destroy the world, eldritch gods are now also stepping into this universe?
Or rather...
Have these ancient horrors already extended their claws into this world long ago?
As he recalled the strange and unnatural things he had encountered one after another recently—things that shouldn't even exist in this world—Eren's gaze grew serious.
Taking one last glance at the half-buried corridor behind him, destroyed by explosives, Eren shrugged.
"Since I'm here, I might as well see what the hell is going on with Kingpin!"
Taking a deep breath—
Eren moved forward once again.
However, upon closer observation—
One would notice that, this time, every step he took was much more cautious.
"Splish!"
With each step forward, Eren's toes landed in a shallow puddle of blood, sending up small splashes.
As one blood-red splash after another bloomed, ripples spread outward from his feet.
And as he ventured deeper—
The blood coating the passageway became thicker, more viscous.
Even its color darkened into a near-black crimson.
At the same time, the air grew heavier with the scent of blood and decay.
It felt as though he had walked only a short distance.
Yet, it also felt like he had spent an eternity trudging through this nightmare corridor.
Up ahead—
A dim, yellowish-brown light appeared at the corridor's depths.
"An exit?"
With a flick of his fingers, Eren sent a thin paper talisman flying, where it stuck to a corner of the corridor's ceiling.
Then, he strode toward the glowing exit.
With each step forward, his foot sank into the blood-soaked ground, leaving ankle-deep imprints.
When he pulled his foot out, the thick, dark red liquid took a long time to settle, as though on the verge of coagulating.
In this way, Eren left behind a trail of clear footprints in the passage behind him.
Meanwhile, the walls around him seemed to come to life, forming vein-like patterns of flesh.
The bulging patches on the walls had now fully transformed into rotting, putrid slabs of meat.
Above, in the ceiling, grayish-brown, lifeless eyes stared unblinkingly at Eren's back, radiating an indescribable malice.
"Whoo..."
The moment he stepped out of the corridor, Eren's vision suddenly widened.
A massive dining hall came into view.
A luxurious black-and-gold marble dining hall. A long, extravagant stone table. Rows of enormous crystal chandeliers.
All of it appeared before Eren's eyes.
But everything—
Was cloaked in an eerie, blood-tinged light.
A thick, sticky crimson liquid coated the vast carpet in the center of the hall.
As his gaze traveled upward—
He noticed the dining table, the chairs, and even the grand chandeliers hanging from the ceiling—
Were all wrapped in a grotesque network of veins, forming a web of pulsing, blood-like tissue.
The once-bright crystal chandeliers, now ensnared by these blood vessels, emitted an ominous red glow.
Turning what should have been a lavish banquet hall—
Into a scene of pure, blood-drenched horror.
What's more—
The tangled, vein-like blood vessels, forming the grotesque web, seemed to have begun rotting, as countless black, mold-like filaments sprouted across their surfaces.
Eren's gaze swept across the room, quickly memorizing every detail of this horrific scene.
Then—
His eyes shifted to what lay beyond the dining hall.
Chapter 181: Flesh Monster (Part 2)
Hanging above, the sign bore the words Slaughterhouse, yet the interior was nothing but an abyss of devouring darkness.
As Eren stared into that all-consuming void, an eerie, suppressed voice suddenly echoed from within.
"Didn't expect you to be the one to make it out of the corridor. Seems like Bullseye ended up dying at your hands after all. What a shame... If I had known—"
With the abruptness of that voice, Eren, now wearing a finely crafted monocle over his right eye, slowly let his gaze pierce through the dense darkness.
At last, he saw the massive figure lurking within.
Taking in the grotesque form reflected deep in his pupils, Eren let out a sharp inhale.
It was hard to describe the monstrosity's appearance.
Its entire body was a grotesque mass of flesh, seemingly composed of countless lumps of raw, festering meat. Deep, rotting wounds covered its form, from which twisted, reddish-brown veins slithered outward—like countless grotesque tentacles, writhing madly as they extended.
These blood vessels burrowed into the blood-drenched corpses strewn across the slaughterhouse, continuously drawing some unknown substance from their decaying flesh.
In places where the rot was especially severe, the thick veins acted urgently, violently dragging a robust corpse into its own decayed form, forcibly stuffing it into the rotting gaps—
As if attempting to fill the empty spaces left by its own decomposition.
Among the bloodied corpses—
There were the massive carcasses of pigs and cattle.
But there were also...
Pale, human bodies.
"If I had known he would die by your hands, I should have made him a part of me sooner. Truly become one with me."
As Eren took in the horrific sight, the bloated, monstrous head at the center of the mass let out a regretful sigh.
"What a waste... Bullseye's body was far stronger than these useless scraps..."
Mid-sentence, the enormous, grotesquely swollen head abruptly lifted.
From the depths of its fat-encased eye sockets, a ferocious, savage light burst forth.
"Since you killed my most loyal subordinate, you'll take his place—by becoming part of me!"
As the creature spoke, something emerged from the mountainous mass of flesh—
A finely crafted black cane.
With a sharp Zzzzt!
A searing beam of energy shot forth from the tip of the cane, aimed directly at Eren, who stood at the passage's entrance.
"Wow, a laser. So scary..."
Eren exaggerated his expression in mock fear.
Yet, almost as soon as the cane locked onto him, his body flickered sideways, dodging in an instant.
The laser punched through the wall behind him, leaving a deep, smoldering crater.
"Hmph!"
Seeing Eren evade his attack, the massive flesh abomination flared with anger.
The black cane swung outward in a violent arc—
The continuous energy stream transformed into a blade of pure light, sweeping horizontally toward Eren.
"So terrifying, so terrifying..."
Eren kept up his exaggerated cries, but his body bent backward in an almost boneless motion, executing a perfect limbo to dodge the slicing beam.
As he straightened, his wrist flicked—
A black throwing knife, looted from Bullseye, arced through the air like a shooting star.
Ding!
It struck the black cane with pinpoint accuracy.
In that instant—
A nearly imperceptible glimmer flashed across the knife's surface.
And then—
A deafening explosion erupted.
BOOM!
The force of the blast—comparable to a C4 explosion—instantly obliterated the cane.
A wave of searing heat and shock spread outward in layers.
And the abomination, standing at point-blank range—
Was struck directly.
Squelch!
Its rotting flesh was torn apart by the sheer force of the blast.
Chunks of putrid, reeking meat were blasted into the air, spraying everywhere.
In the blink of an eye—
The massive flesh monstrosity, which had filled most of the slaughterhouse, now had a half-meter-deep crater blasted into its body.
As the smoke and heat wave dissipated—
A fat, bloated hand extended from beside the creature's massive head.
Wiping away the blood splattered across its face, the swollen, grotesque head let out a chilling laugh.
"Bullseye's explosive knife?"
"Heh... A little toy like that won't kill me."
As the monster chuckled, twisted crimson tendrils erupted from its wounded flesh, surging outward.
In mere moments, the tendrils stretched seven or eight meters, quickly wrapping around the bloodied corpses scattered across the room—
Dragging them back toward the gaping wound in its body.
One by one, the corpses were forcefully crammed into the gaping flesh.
As the blood-red tendrils wriggled and pulsed, grotesque appendages seemed to grow from the corpses themselves—
Within moments, they were fully assimilated, becoming one with the monster.
Then—
The faces of the absorbed bodies—whether pigs, cattle, or humans—
All lifted their heads in unison.
Their dead, vacant eyes locked onto Eren, filled with an unnatural, icy malice.
"Huh?"
Eren let out a curious noise as he observed the still somewhat rational monster before him.
"Even after mutating into this grotesque mess, you can still resist further corruption and maintain some level of intelligence? Your willpower is actually pretty impressive."
"But if you have such strong willpower, how did you lose control and turn into this in the first place, Kingpin?"
Despite its hideously deformed and mutated state—
From its words and that recognizable cane—
Eren had already confirmed that this monstrous abomination before him was, without a doubt—
Kingpin.
"Become one with me, immortal jester. I can sense the immense power within you. Once I devour you, I will grow even stronger."
With Kingpin's furious roar—
The entire, corrupted slaughterhouse seemed to quake.
The next second—
Wriggling, blood-red tendrils shot forth from all directions—
From the furniture, the floor, the walls, even the ceiling.
The web of veins that had once simply coated the space—
Now came alive.
Like countless bloodied spikes—
They surged toward Eren in a frenzied, all-out assault.
(End of Chapter)
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