Chapter 70: Torture Room
Magnus frowned once he heard Cavrien's insanity-filled laughter fill the empty room.
It was weird that he was like that.
There was nothing out of the ordinary in the room. At least, Magnus could not see anything that could force Cavrien into such a state.
He glanced around.
Human blood and excrements could be seen in a few places, making Magnus retch slightly.
He got a closer look at Cavrien as he stepped forward.
Wounds covered the man's body. Some were fresh, some were new, and some looked to be just barely healed. His clothes were torn and his shirt was gone. All he had was his underwear, but that too was on the verge of falling apart.
Cloth could be seen scattered across the room.
"Tortured..." Magnus couldn't help but mutter.
His voice, however, was loud enough for the crazed Cavrien to hear.
"Ha, torture? TORTURE? THAT'S RIGHT! WHAT ELSE DO YOU THINK IT IS, HUH? IF YOU KNOW ABOUT IT, WHY AREN'T YOU DOING ANYTHING?!"
A great, desperate roar shook Magnus to the core. He heard the pain and the emotions that filled those words.
It gave him chills.
"I waited for seven days… Seven fucking days." Cavrien took a deep breath as he cried out, "But no one came. None! None, none, none! They call me their leader but they can't even help me after all that I've done for them?!"
'He's broken,' Magnus thought as he listened.
"Julius, Yttra, Laura, Pollings, Graft. Rie." Cavrien counted those names with his fingers as his bloodshot eyes locked onto Javelin.
"…At least you're here, little guy."
A manic grin appeared on Cavrien's face just as the room suddenly dimmed.
"YOU CAN SUFFER WITH ME."
.
.
.
Darkness.
Magnus felt his connection to Javelin weaken. He felt an immense weakness descend upon Javelin as the vague sound of screams echoed in the background.
"No no no no no no no no no no no no!"
It was Cavrien's voice.
"Fuc— AAAH! You— Grhkkkk!"
Blood could be heard gurgling within Cavrien's throat as he cried out in pain.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!"
Cavrien roared as if he was injected with a bout of rage.
—Snap! Crush!
The sound of bones crunching rang out.
"Khhk!" A bloody cough.
"Please... no more..." Cavrien's tone suddenly changed into one that pleaded for mercy.
Crack!
Another bone-breaking sound rang out, but this time it was infinitely close to Javelin's ears. A stream of pain was sent through the Hivemind, stunning Magnus for a moment.
Crack, crack, crack!
More bones were broken as Javelin crumpled to the ground.
But no wail left his maws.
'Is this the torture session?' Magnus thought in bewilderment, 'Why are my senses cut off from Javelin?'
The stream of pain that had been sent through the Hivemind was like a letter that arrived at Magnus' doorstep. Sure it told him that Javelin was currently feeling pain, but he himself could feel nothing.
Instead of causing trouble, the loss of connection was instead helping him.
But Magnus still frowned.
[ I can't have Javelin perish right now... ] He muttered from within the Hivemind.
Crack!
Another bone was broken while Magnus drowned in his thoughts. He perceived the streams of information that were being sent his way.
Pain, pain, and more pain. As if those receptors were magically enhanced, that was all that Javelin was supposed to be feeling.
But the sub-personality that Magnus created for Javelin was currently cut off from the body. It could not control the body, nor could it properly feel what was happening.
The current Javelin was like a puppet without strings.
As if noticing the lack of reaction from Javelin, the torturous bone breaking was given a bonus on top of it. Searing pain was sent Magnus' way.
[ It's tearing Javelin's skin off... Yikes. ] Magnus couldn't help but shudder as he touched upon the feeling that entailed.
He quickly threw away those signals using the Hivemind.
Thus, Javelin continued to lay there, motionless and reactionless. He was a doll with no mind of his own.
The something that commanded the torture seemed to be enraged by this lack of reaction. More pain signals were sent Magnus' way, but this time, the Master of the Hivemind ignored them.
He simply continued to watch as all sorts of horrid techniques were used on Javelin's tiny body.
[ This is gruesome... ] Klaris commented from the side as he watched with Magnus.
[ Indeed, ] Restiel nodded his nonexistent head.
[ It's a good thing that whatever is executing these torturous deeds doesn't seem to want to kill Javelin. ] Magnus added, [ Look, some parts of Javelin are being healed. ]
The darkness shifted back and forth, vaguely appearing as ghastly outlines of jellyfish with a hundred mouths and a thousand eyes. Tentacles at the millions all squirmed around, groping around Javelin's body and seeping into its flesh.
Magnus' nonexistent eyes flashed from within the Hivemind.
[ I can see them now... ]
He licked his lips as a great fire of vengeance burned within his gaze.
Unfortunately,
[ With my connection dulled, I have no way to get Javelin to summon me. ]
Magnus cursed silently. He wanted to see what kind of monster this was and if he was capable of defeating it.
[ That, and Restiel might be the best option to fight them. There are curses at work, and his Divine Energy is the perfect counter for it... ]
Time passed as Javelin was turned into mush and healed. Turned into a vegetable and then healed. Turned into liquid and then healed.
Cycles of pain constantly plagued him, causing Magnus a great amount of annoyance. It cost Spirit Energy to block off the signals being sent into the Hivemind. Although each time only cost a small amount, with how long this was going for, the total amount was building up.
Hours had already gone by.
And, just as Magnus was about to sigh in annoyance once more, he suddenly felt his connection with Javelin get restored.
[ Yes! ] He exclaimed happily as he hurriedly summoned his original body.
Cavrien was lying on the ground nearby, stark naked and gasping for breath.
"No... more... please..." Cavrien muttered.
But no one would heed these words.
Magnus gave Cavrien a look of pity as he approached the man.
"Hello, mister," Magnus floated up to him with a smile.
Unfocused eyes gazed back at Magnus.
Nothing came out of the man's lips as the two locked eyes for several moments.
"Hmmm," Magnus couldn't help but hum.
It was impossible to hold a conversation with the broken Cavrien before him.
"I'll leave you for later then," Magnus shrugged as he turned around and closed his eyes.
In a distant place, the Hivemind's Rie suddenly turned intangible and invulnerable.
Three words appeared in the Hivemind.
"Blobs of Torment,"
That was the name of the monster that seemed to live within the confines of this room.
Then, Magnus began.
"I am the cause of creation,
The maker of stars,
The sculptor of planets!"
A pulse of gravity spread out with him as the centre.
"Now, where are you all hiding?"
.
.
.
Magnus searched for an entire hour but he discovered nothing. Cavrien, who was nearby was having fits of laughter.
"There's no way out! No way, no way, no way! Haha! No way!"
Magnus could only ignore the man right now. He even debated whether or not he should simply end the man's life to stop his continuous suffering. He could also assimilate him into the Hivemind.
But, just as Magnus decided to do something to help Cavrien, he felt that something was suddenly caught in his gravity.
"Weird," Magnus muttered as he suddenly felt the world around him darken.
"Shit."
Magnus suddenly lost connection to his original body. The same applied to Javelin.
Another round of torture began.
When it was over, Cavrien was back to his pleading state.
The cycle restarted.
Magnus continued to search, but he still couldn't find anything to hit or fight. His brawns weren't applicable at this moment and the Hivemind's Rie was preoccupied with a puzzle.
"I'm going to have to wait for Restiel…" Magnus muttered as he munched on some food despite not needing to. The Blobs of Torment were capable of giving life to those who were on the verge of death. That included sustenance.
All to harvest more pain.
At least that was what Magnus learned.
He was only eating food to keep his body healthy and ready for combat. He was trying to see if he could break the curse that clouded his senses using Spirit Energy. If he could gain control of his bodies once again while he experienced the torture, he could have a go at combat with both Javelin and his original body.
He could go on a vengeance-filled rampage.
And so, like this, time passed.
A day swiftly turned into a week, and it was time for Restiel to be stolen back into existence.
But before that, there was the Hivemind's Rie to talk about.
.
.
.
While Magnus and Javelin were accepting rounds upon rounds of torture, the Hivemind's Rie was going through her fifteenth tower.
The pace was much higher this time than when compared to last time.
There was a pattern that Magnus was able to grasp while cheating through all the puzzles. It came to a point where the simpler puzzles were solvable without the need for State of Higher Existence.
He also learned that each tower contained something at the top of each floor.
Crystals.
Weirdly enough, many of these were crystals similar to the ones he had found with Javelin. There were also Spirit Beads that helped with his regeneration. Unfortunately, only a single Spirit Bead could be used at a time.
Thus, after taking the one that was equivalent to a 1.5-star treasure, Magnus stored all the weaker ones in his Storage Scroll. He could sell all of them later in present-day Thare. After all, regeneration was an important factor in the lives of the people.
No one would say no to being able to use their Blessings more often.
As for the crystals, the ones that Rie was able to take were related to the mind. It boosted one's mental capabilities by a slight amount each time.
It might have been something great for normal people, but to Magnus, it wasn't as effective as simply assimilating a new mind into the Hivemind. Nonetheless, since it was more or less a by-product of his search for the knife, he made use of it.
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