"Hmm, hmm, hmm."
A cheerful humming brushed past my ears.
With empty eyes, I followed the source to find its owner placing a rope in front of me with a wide grin, clearly pleased about something.
Should I be grateful I'm not dead? No, anxiety overwhelmed me as I contemplated what might happen to me here.
My legs were fine, but I didn't try to escape.
It wasn't just that I lacked strength—I feared they'd crush my legs too if I tried to flee toward the light. That option wasn't available to me.
Besides, the collapsed Wall would inevitably be rebuilt under the Ramiris family's direction. Unless I was inside the Wall, I had nowhere to go.
I certainly didn't want to play tag with Strange Ones in the barren wasteland beyond the Wall.
Considering I'd barely made it this far alone, taking advantage of people's carelessness, I'd clearly be caught within ten seconds if I tried to run, probably right at the cave entrance.
Perhaps my body had adapted to the consistent pain, because as I calmed down somewhat, I groaned at the throbbing sensation.
Both my hands were crushed. They dangled uselessly, all bones seemingly forgotten. My left arm was bent outward in an unnatural direction, while my right arm was completely destroyed.
"...Ugh."
I wondered if they could be healed.
Honestly, since the novel mainly focused on Yoon Ha-min, I'd never read about anyone being injured this severely.
Usually, the story only showed trials faced by overpowered characters. Descriptions of someone being this broken were rare outside the final scenes.
But rather than worrying about that, I needed to focus on whether I could survive and return from here.
If not, I'd need to find the least painful way to die.
"Does it hurt? If you'd been honest from the start, you wouldn't be in this much pain~"
The playful voice sounded like a child speaking innocently.
The disconnect I felt from this Strange One who committed such acts so casually—it was the natural revulsion any human would feel.
Besides, I knew those words were nonsense.
She probably knew it too.
Her promise to spare me if I revealed how I knew everything was empty, but after I saw through it, she seemed to find me interesting and kept bringing things before me.
First it was rope, and second was a monster.
The monster screeched "Keegik!" and resembled a bird, but seeing a human-sized bird hopping toward me was terrifying.
"Don't be too scared. I don't plan to kill you."
That's what made it more frightening.
Leaning against the wall, I stared at the red-eyed beast looking down at me from above.
Its beak and talons were as sharp as any bird of prey.
Even a normal eagle would be scary enough when pecking at something, but this monster looked like it could peck out a human heart.
And that prediction seemed accurate as the Strange One's lips curled upward.
"You can eat."
With those words, the beak lunged toward me.
Thinking it might gouge out my eyes, I jerked my head away, but the beak struck beside me.
Crack.
"AAAAHHHH!"
I writhed in pain.
Realizing it had targeted my shoulder from the beginning, I tried to escape.
But the monster had no intention of letting me go. It pulled back its head and pecked at my shoulder again.
Like a woodpecker, it repeatedly hammered my shoulder against the wall, causing tears to flow uncontrollably.
Even as I struggled and screamed, it was truly heartbreaking that no one would come to help me.
"AAAAH!"
"Stay still."
How? How could I?
Blood spurted out. The monster seemed to enjoy the taste and continued devouring my arm.
Even if it had become useless, this was too much.
It hurts, it hurts so much, please stop.
The pain was so intense that my body collapsed.
Despite my desperate struggles, my arm had disappeared after a few pecks from the beak.
I could feel my body growing numb as blood gushed out.
How devastating to have no hands to stop the bleeding.
How agonizing to have my arm not just severed but devoured and mangled.
This was completely different from the times I'd simply thought "that must hurt" without experiencing it firsthand.
My vision was turning yellow.
"...Gurk, kuhuk!"
My right arm was gone.
I rolled on the ground in agony.
The Strange One, seemingly disgusted by the sight, sighed and stepped on me to keep me from moving.
"Ugh..."
Hearing my groan, she let out a deep sigh.
"Human bodies are so fragile. That's what I like about them. They break easily. But it's a bit disappointing when humans I don't want to break quickly also break easily."
Sharp teeth appeared with her grin.
I trembled at the sight of those red eyes in the dark cave.
Snap—her fingers clicked.
At that moment, I felt something invading my body.
"Kuk, kuhuk, kehuk!"
"We've met before, haven't we?"
When I heard those words, what flashed through my mind was the purple-feathered entity.
I trembled as I realized the mana flow was somewhat similar.
Even though I knew about it, even though I'd encountered it before.
The energy merely emanating from a totem couldn't be compared to mana that seemed to crawl directly through my body.
"Huu, aah, AAAH!"
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
An unpleasant scratching sound passed through my ears as if something was digging into my flesh.
I wanted to struggle.
But with my stomach pinned down, moving only made the pain worse, so it was better not to move.
After hearing that unpleasant sound repeatedly, my fading consciousness suddenly stopped fading.
The gushing blood had stopped.
"...Ah."
I gasped for breath.
Along with the instinctive joy of survival came the rational fear that they might be planning to cut off all my limbs.
The bird, its beak stained with blood, pulled my arm out from between the tattered uniform, put it in its mouth a few times, and swallowed it.
I watched blankly, lowering my eyes in resignation.
There was no point in continuing to watch such things.
Where my arm had been attached until just moments ago, only the sleeve of my blazer dangled.
I felt a sense of emptiness.
At least the bleeding had stopped and the pain had subsided enough for me to catch my breath.
Cold sweat soaked my body.
Now I was left with just one arm, bent in the wrong direction.
The monster didn't immediately attack again.
It was simply waiting for the Strange One's command.
Breathing raggedly, I looked at her with haggard eyes. She removed her foot from my stomach and approached me.
"This is somewhat entertaining. But are you really not going to talk? I'll truly spare you this time."
"..."
I was too exhausted to properly assess the situation.
Honestly, even with proper judgment, it would be difficult to gauge the sincerity of her words.
She might be testing me again, or she might have genuinely changed her mind.
But when I didn't know what was true or which choice was correct, it seemed best to stick with my initial decision.
"Don't... know..."
When I spoke with a dying voice, the Strange One hummed and nodded.
"Hmm, really? Alright. Honestly, you'd need to know at least that much to interfere with me. But it's strange."
The Strange One gently grabbed my chin and lifted my head.
"...It's a bit surprising that someone who seems so helpless knows something."
Hearing those words, I almost flared up unnecessarily.
It wasn't wrong, so there was no reason to get angry, but something about it infuriated me.
As an Awakened Being, my abilities were useless. I wasn't physically strong either, and I wasn't particularly intelligent, busy maintaining my position at the bottom of the class.
She grabbed my jaw so forcefully it felt like she might crush it.
The joint felt like it might dislocate from her tight grip.
"I like that. When someone who can't do anything struggles desperately."
That grinning face, those narrowed eyes laughing with glee, looked even more terrifying.
"That look of despair when you belatedly realize your own incompetence, that emotion is so thrilling...!!"
It seemed fitting for a Strange One who fed on people's intense emotions and reactions.
Despite her chilling voice, all I could do was widen my eyes.
As she said, I was incompetent, but I had tried to accomplish something.
And this was the result.
"Eat."
With one command from the Strange One, my left arm—bent backward and already immobilized—met the same fate as my right.
"Eat."
"Eat."
After those three commands, I lay on the cold cave floor, left with nothing—no arms, no legs.
I had screamed so much that my voice was hoarse, and I had cried so much that my tears had dried up.
The dried tear tracks on my face itched, but I couldn't even scratch them—that was my reality now.
The Strange One looked at me and giggled.
"How does it feel? Good? I'm enjoying it."
I was not enjoying it.
I was only devastated by the fact that I could no longer walk on my own feet.