For I Am A Side Character - 140: Walking To His Heart

[Soril’s Death is near…yet his faith still lingers…awake him from his slumber. Awaken my Messenger.]

“Soril’s…Death?…Messenger? Wait…is this what I think it is…Are you God?” having connected those two simple words…Jessica quickly knew who it was, that she was talking to.

Yet as she turned her head to the man in the white attire, she found that he was no longer in sight.

“…” but even with God’s disappearance, her eyes who were filled with curiosity just moments ago, turned to a solid determination.

“…He’s telling me that Soril is in trouble…dying…and yet, he calls for someone like me. Someone who isn’t so significant like the rest…”

even as it seemed as though she was doubting herself with her own words…

Just simply the fact that she was informed of Soril’s condition, she knew then and there that nothing else mattered.

She did not hesitate to take action.

There was no time to waste…she had to act…

But with where she was standing, she was unsure of where she could activate the portal using the artifact she had in hand.

The abomination above was so confusing in its construct, she didn’t know where to place an entrance for her to pass on top.

So the next big thing she could manage was to get closer…but in a more distant position.

without thinking too much, instead of opening a portal just on the skin of the infant, she opened a portal higher than where the abomination was found elevated. The moment she stepped in, she quickly found herself falling from a place higher than the head of the Red Factory.

“…” as she fell, she had a calm expression put on her.

Despite the grotesque sight of what was below her, she could not care less for what it was…

All she had in her mind was the fact that Soril was near on death’s door.

Her lover…the person who she cared for more than anything…was on death’s clutches.

So instead of feeling fearful, she was agitated…enraged even…

Whoever it was that caused this situation, she would never forgive them.

“Ugh-!!” as she was quickly falling closer and closer into the Abomination, she quickly noticed the decaying smell that was surrounding the Red Factory. Added to that, she could see bits of bridges and walls and other constructions were built into the flesh of the abomination below her…seeing everything, she then found the a few places that seemed like an entrances she could use.

One was a large 20 meter door that was built around the left ear of the infant head. From there, she noticed that a few flesh giants were posing as guards to protect the factory. Around a dozen flesh giants were standing around carrying all sorts of weapons.

The second was it mouth, yet as she caught a glimpse of it, she saw that in that location, the red factory was using the mouth as the passage for a flesh-tube-like object to pass through, while half of it’s mouth was being used to excrete some of the molded giant flesh-soldiers down to the forest. She could see below that the forest was quickly being conquered by those flesh giants. They were killing monsters and animals all-alike. No mercy was being given. All was equal to the evil they were giving.

Then the last entrance she noticed was one found by the right shoulder. A hole was found in that right shoulder as if a giant maggot had eaten through the flesh-like abomination. Beside that hole, she could see that the left arm was torn apart as if it was forcibly pulled away by a mechanism…and what replaced that left arm was what seemed like a hanging tumor that extended like the trunk of an elephant. That trunk was then connected deep into the very core of the forest down below, sucking away the very resource of energy in a pacing nature. It was pulsating like a heart, yet, she could tell that it was nothing like a heart or any body organ at all. That hanging tumor by the factory’s left arm felt ominous in all the ways that she could see…

And picking her options, she chose that the best option she had at the moment was the left ear entrance. That place felt like the most safest she could use to enter the abomination that was keeping Soril in place.

So having made up her mind, she used her artifact again and manifested a portal just below her.

As she went through, she quickly pulled her sword open and quickly took action against the flesh giants before her.

Despite their menacing size, she showed no fear in acting to massacre them through like weeds. But to her unbent determination, she did not realize just how powerful these flesh giants were.

The moment she came to contact with the first flesh giant, she quickly took out her rage, but as she slash her sword at their rotten flesh, she was quickly halted by the fact that her abilities were shattered instantly by the pure power made in the image of these monster.

“!?” her sword…a sword that could have cut through iron like butter…a sword capable of even cutting a diamond…it was not strong enough to cut through the boney nature of these giants. Although her sword passed through their flesh, it could not get past their thick armoring bones.

She quickly halted her actions and tried reassessing her situation.

‘How do I get past these bastards?’ she thought.

At one look, she could see that they were strong. All were built in the same structure of image. Boney, skinny and tall. They were strong enough to be capable of causing the same destructive power as she could, but they were not as fast as she was. That in of itself was a relief on her part.

She thought of maybe avoiding them altogether, but they were fast enough to be troublesome on their own right. Fast like a cheetah in action.

And what’s more, their numbers was the problem. A dozen flesh giants…taking them all on her own felt suicidal.

She could not take into consideration the fact that she could just run past them. She had to think hard of wwhat she had to do…

As she thought hard, the giants didn’t stand idly still. They came at her and started attacking altogether. In unison.

Some carried bows and arrows, some carried a sword or an axe, yet none carried a shield. That factor was replaced with the fact that their bones were harder than diamond itself.

Altogether, they attacked…and Jessica struggled.

“Khk…this is annoying! You guys are fucking annoying!” she said.

And to her rage, something inside her suddenly activated.

[The passive skill – Adaptive heart.]

And like so, the nature of her skill made her quickly adapt against the enemies in their actions.

She was quickly calculating through each and ever fiber of movement those giants madde against her. Five minutes into the battle, she had them read like a book. They could no longer touch her even at their highest peak of performance.

And although she could not pierce through their bones, one other fact that could help change the situation was through cutting their muscles tendons instead. If she cut them down, she can move forward. So little by little, she started cutting them down until finally, the dozen giants were finally immobolized.

It took her ten minutes, but finally, she coul move forward.

As she went towards the door, she was meet with another situation. The door was blocked and could not be opened by her pure physical prowess alone.

“…Maybe I can cut it down?” she asked herself.

But right before she coul consider taking action, all of a sudden a blue flame appeared from behind her and smashed itself straight into the door.

*BOOM!*

The door’s fragments scattered everywhere, yet none came to touch Jessica’s body.

“!?” she was caught off guard by this…but the flames that showed itself in arrival, she recognized it.

What stood before the door that was forcibly destroyed was none other than Jason himself.

“…” he was standing quietly by the entrance with a stiff expression.

“…J-Jason, what are you doing here?” she asked.

But to her question, he simply ignored her and made his way into the inside of the Red Factory in a slow walk.

His arrival was quite a surprise to her, but knowing who he was based off of Soril’s knowledge, Jessica could only assume that Jason was acting on instinct from his nature and anger towards the existence known as demons.

‘He must be here to destroy this thing we’re standing on right now.’ she thought to herself.

Thinking that way, it didn’t seem like he was going to pose as a threat to her…

So she didn’t bother to reason with his arrival. Instead, she followed him inside, with a nervous eye to the situation they were in.

As they both entered the red factory, the silence didn’t last very long. Not long after their intrusion, many more giants came about running in the path they were on. And what’s more to this, it wasn’t just around the dozen.

“!?” Jessica was taken aback by a tsunami-like sight of flesh giants coming abouttowards their direction.

And seeing that, she wanted to run away, but right before she could step away, Jason raised his hand forward…and he manifested a blue flame from where he stood.

With a deep breath inward, he showed his power and forcibly against the wave of flesh giants. And because of his great compatibility against the demons in simple nature, the blue flames easily were able to destroy everything that was in his way.

Like that of a flame coming out of a rocket’s system, his flames were so condensed and so powerful, it didn’t take long before the flesh giants were wiped out all too easily.

After that, a bit of sweat fell from his cheek, and Jessica could tell that that alone took a lot from him.

“…Are you okay?” she asked.

But to her question, Jason simply shook his head and continued walking deeper into the Red Factory.

As they continued to walk deeper, it was not long after that Jessica realized that she did not know where Soril was being put. In that moment she panicked.

‘Shit…I don’t actually know where he is right now.’ she thought.

But as she panicked, Jason, in his appearance, assured her.

“…Just walk and follow me.” he said in a stiff voice. Almost as if he had a sore throat.

“…Wait, what do you mean?” she asked.

“You’re looking for your boyfriend right?” he asked.

“…Yeah.”

“Just follow.” he said.

After his words, he continued on.

Looking at him out of curiousity, Jessica noticed that despite his weird arrival, and his continuous leading through the darkness in the factory, she could see that in the way he was leading, it felt like he was just as clueless as she was in their path…

His eyes felt uncertain…

Yet every action he made felt so direct.

It was as if he was being lea by a guide of some sort.

When they came about an intersection, he didn’t hesitate to go right or left. When they came to meet with a few monsters in the way, he mowed them all down with no hesitation at all.

It was as if he was following orders.

Even when he came to a few injuries from the flesh giants, he continued on.

Something was wrong about him…

‘Is he in the same position as I am? Is God guiding Jason because of his fate as the protagonist?’ she thought to herself.

But that couldn’t be the case.

She knew that from Soril, Jason has always acted out of his own will. Nothing about a guide or a system was helping him throughout his journeys. Soril told her himself that Jason was a free man.

All his growth and actions were made through his own way.

So something was wrong. Jessica could feel it herself.

He was uneasy in a way that made it feel like he had no sense of freedom. As if he was being lead like a puppet…as if he was being used as one.

But she kept that question to herself…and simply followed Jason deeper into the darkness of the Red factory.

As they continued on…

About thirty minutes later, Jason came about a door made of flesh and veins…

“…He’s inside.” he said.

“Are you sure?”

“…” but to her question, he did not say anything.

That made her feel uneasy again.

But trusting him, they passed through that door.

And the moment they came inside the room, Jessica witnessed two things.

One was an exposed heart found inside a transparent orb…

She knew quickly what it was…and who it belonged to.

And the second thing she noticed was the sight of an infant child laying on top of a stone slab. It was as if the baby was put on that slab to be displayed like an art piece.

And connected to that infant were tubes made of flesh and tubes made of metal…

Some passed through the center of its stomach, and some tubes passed through its heart…

The sight alone made Jessica shiver in fear…

Whoever this infant was, it was clear to the two of them that it was connected to the entire Red factory.

The sight alone made the infant feel so delicate. Jessica felt that if she were to touch the infant, the infant would quickly break apart…as if it was made of the most delicate glass.

A breath alone to its face would probably break the infant apart.

It was such a sad sight…almost heartbreaking.

But she didn’t have time to understand who that infant was. She hadd to turn her head back to what mattered in her heart the most.

And that was the heart put inside the transparent orb.

“W-what do I do now?” knowing that she was now in front of Soril’s heart, she didn’t know what to do next. But in her hopeless moment, the screen which appeared before her once, appeared again. And now it came with a different message.

[Pray with Faith.]

As she was staring at this message, Jason on the other hand was also staring at a message that made him pale.

[Take the Child’s Life to defeat the Red Factory.]