Chapter 800: So That's Why You Dare Not See Me?

The flesh had once again deformed and expanded, swelling to nearly double its previous size.

The massive underground space could no longer contain the congested mass of flesh tissue and the malformed husk.

Every nerve seemed to bring immense pain and torment.

And her drifting consciousness hadn't noticed at all.

Above her.

In the crowded, dark strata of the earth, that ball of flame that kept fold-jumping toward this place.

Perhaps it wasn't in a hurry.

But this world always had those few people who, driven by either rational or emotional impulses, tried again and again to resist the chaotic curse.

"Quill!!"

As if at that very instant.

A gritted-teeth roar.

Once again thundered through the dark space, just like every time before, like a cat that seemed indifferent to the one it kept driving away.

Yet it carried an unyielding persistence.

Time and time again, it tried to reach her side!

As if in that instant.

When she lifted her bloody mass of flesh through agonizing separation, she saw the figure wielding a giant scythe emerging from the blood-red mist.

He appeared out of nowhere, and in the glow of the fold-jump, she could even clearly see the gritted-teeth determination flickering in those pitch-black eyes.

Once again.

Once again!

"Go away!!"

She once more let out a piercing shriek at that figure.

But the lessons of countless previous attempts made Lynn accelerate suddenly at that moment. Clenching his teeth, he hovered above her, and amidst the massive storm, he fiercely reached out his hand toward her.

In every previous attempt, he had been repelled at exactly this step.

But not this time.

He refused to be driven away at this moment!

And at that very instant, when the frantic hand of fate was about to scrawl the words that would banish him once more upon the page—

He finally, through the raging wind, vaulted to her side.

At the last moment.

He grabbed hold of the frantic quill that was writing destiny.

"Quill! It's me! I'm here to help you!"

He used every ounce of strength he had, yanking hard on the blood-soaked quill, but what greeted him was another shrill scream from the massive mass of flesh.

Whoosh—

An eruption of tremendous force.

His body was instantly sent flying backward, slamming heavily into the ground and carving a long trench across the floor.

But he struggled to his feet, opened his hand, and there it was—the blood-soaked quill, now firmly grasped in his palm.

"It's alright, I'm here now, you won't have to—"

But before he could finish his words.

The expression on his face froze solid.

The blood-soaked quill lay in his palm as if it carried no trace of life whatsoever. Completely unlike its usual self, he could feel no flow of consciousness from it at all.

As if...

This had always been an inanimate object.

And in the distance, he slowly heard the faint sound of sobbing drifting over.

It was as if he suddenly realized something. His mind exploded with a deafening roar, and he jerked his head up to look at the bloated, grotesque mass of flesh and blood vessels that seemed fused with the entire Alternate Dimension itself.

That low, sobbing cry.

It rose from the cystic swellings and writhing chunks of flesh.

In that moment.

Lynn felt as though he had suddenly grasped the sheer absurdity of this world. He also finally understood why she had screamed at him to "not look," why she had made rational judgments and choices, yet still driven him away time after time.

Could it be that...

"Quill..."

Lynn stared blankly as he picked himself up from the ground, looking at the blood-soaked quill in his hand, then raised his gaze and murmured toward the colossal Flesh Calamity.

"It's not your true body... You are the real quill. You are the real Writer, aren't you..."

The massive flesh growth sprawled grotesquely all around him. Lynn murmured as he gazed upon it, facing the enormous, twisted calamity, he instinctively took a step forward.

"Don't come any closer!"

A sharp, piercing cry.

The twisted mass of flesh frantically tried to retreat, the huge chunks desperately attempting to curl in on themselves. A strange power continuously rippled across the surface of the flesh, trying to render those twisted limbs into nothingness. But under the immense backlash and the maddened Gaze, she couldn't hide her cruel, tangible form.

As if she wanted to hide.

As if she was desperately trying to curl up so he wouldn't see what she truly was.

And Lynn finally understood.

It wasn't that she didn't want to communicate with him—it was that she didn't want him to see her like this. Because at least before, she had still been that clean quill that only wanted a quiet desk.

Yes.

The quill was merely her external manifestation. She had always used the power of her Authority to hide her ugliest side. But actually, Lynn should have realized from the very beginning—the moment she was in her cat form, held in the arms of that void power—

He should have already been able to tell.

She actually had a body of her own.

It was just.

He couldn't see it.

"Please, just go back. Let me stay here alone. After the backlash ends, if you have questions you want to ask, we can talk properly then. But for now... please leave."

From within the twisted flesh and blood vessels, that trembling, nearly tearful voice emerged.

Every exposed blood vessel seemed to quiver.

Desperately hiding her body in the darkness, not wanting him to see.

That voice was practically pleading.

And Lynn had never seen her like this before. Because every time he quietly pushed open that door, what he saw was a serene quill, lively and playful, scribbling freely across paper like a recluse.

She had always seemed to carry the purest innocence, writing countless fairy-tale-like stories.

Even though she knew he was always human.

Even though she had recorded every experience he'd had in the Cursed City from afar, she had used her whimsical strokes to adapt his story into an amusing adventure tale of a cat.

Lynn held the quill, gazing quietly at her, and his entire being calmed down from the sheer absurdity of it all.

But he didn't leave.

The moment he realized the truth, he also understood the suffering she had endured.

"You're afraid I'll see what you really look like, so that's why you dare not see me now, is that it?"

Lynn stared at her steadily.

As if he hadn't heard her plea at all.

He took a step.

Gripping the quill.

Step by step, he walked toward the enormous, curled-up mass.