Chapter 49: Host

A pillar rises from below saving Joselina from the hungry worms. The ship flies closer to the pillar.

"Now, that the unnecessary weight in not here. Let's finish this."

Hundreds of worms jumps at Karl. Karl spreads all of his mana around his body and phases through all of them. He doesn't stop there and runs to the top of the spike. Once there, he jumps straight into the main body. Inside, there is no light which reduces Karl visibility. 'Fuck. I can't see.'

He moves around aimlessly. It's like he fell into a bottomless ocean. Everything feels heavy. Currently, countless worms are trying to eat Karl but due to Karl's magic they are just going through his body which ended in worms biting and eating eachother.

Suddenly a bright purple light flashes, as Karl opens up his void storage. All of the worms around him are being sucked inside the purple magic circle. Karl looks up and sees the big black worm.

With his mana depleting faster than ever, Karl grits his teeth and runs towards the black worm. He pumps all of his remaining mana into his legs and he performs levitating steps. Karl flies past millions of worms.

Just then, he feels a sting on his right pinky finger. 'N-No!'

A worm bit a spot which opened up on his finger due to the lack of mana. Suddenly, this stinging sensation is felt all over his back. Numerous spots appeared on his mana covering. These spots cannot phase through the worms.

'Fuck! Fuck!' He fell just few metres away from the black worm. His entire body is being eaten by worms. But he doesn't scream or cry. Karl tries to get closer to the black worm. 'If that thing dies! I will be able survive.'

He struggles to get closer. His bones are being eaten. The flesh on his body didn't last for even a second.

'Come on!' Karl's hand just few centimeters away from the black worm. He hardly could be considered as a living being. With his last remaining consiesness, a bright purple light flashes. But before, Karl could do anything the black worm jumps at Karl. His last intact limb eaten away.

Back at the ship. Joselina punches the wall. "That dumbass!" Nia is sitting on the sofa behind Joselina, she is covered in bandages.

"What do you mean by 'trust' you? Who do you think you are?" She punches once more.

"You should have be optimistic in such times." Alessa says as she walks into the room.

Joselina glares at Alessa. "Lord chose him for a reason. Even young master, Ian has faith in him. Atleast trust their judgement."

"Judgement? That idiot just committed suicide, leaving this mess to us. How are we going to defend the city?"

"I think you should calm down." Nia tries to console Joselina.

"Calm? That beast is still alive and moving towards the city!" Joselina points at the Koraet through a nearby window. Everybody remains quiet.

"Ugh! I am the idiot that I came here with that suicidal bastard." She stomps the floor.

"He won." Everybody looks at the door. Ray who is half naked and covered in bandages walks in. There is a hole in his chest.

"Look here." He inserts a finger and pulls out a dead 1m long worm.

"My lord!" Nia and Alessa quickly stand up to assist their lord. Ray raises his hand and they stop.

"If this thing is not moving than Leonard did his part." Joselina looks at the half dead worm covered in Ray's blood.

"There!" Alessa points at the window. Everybody sees that the dome made of countless worms is collapsing in the distance.

"Nia! Gather the remaining knights." Nia bows at her lord's command. "Alessa! Take me to the centre of that dome." Alessa bows and leaves the room in a hurry.

Only Ray and Joselina remains in the room. "Do you think he survived?" Joselina asks while looking in the window."I hope so or my son is going to throw a tantrum."

The ship hovers direct over the dome. A rear part of the ship opens, Ray along with Nia and her remaining knights jumps down. "This is hell." One knight says as everyone walks through the bodies worms.

"Nia, take your mages and burn every worm. Don't leave a single one." Nia bows and walks away.

"Aren't you going down there?" Alessa asks Joselina.

"No. I don't want to."

"Atleast bring something back for his funeral."

"N-No. We are not that close..." Joselina's expression changes drastically. A image of Fen smiling alongside of Karl appears in her head. She sighs heavily. "Open the door." Alessa smiles at Joselina's request. The door opens and Joselina summons a pillar to walk towards Ray and Nia.

The remaining knights of Phirsecots have two groups. First group consists the knights who can wield fire element. They have formed a line and summoned their magic circles simultaneously to burn the worms. The knights have started from the most outer ring of the dome, cleaning every single worm in the area might take weeks.

Second group consists of knights who cannot wield the fire element. These knights are scattered all over in the outer and inner layer of the dome. Their task is simple, physically gather every worm in one place so they can be burned together. Nia is overseeing the work while helping the second group.

Ray standing in front of the collapsed main body. It looks similar to a broken cobweb. "Are you not going in?" Joselina asks Ray.

"It's not here." Ray answers with a grim face.

"What is?"

"The black worm. It's supposed to be here."

Joselina looks around and only sees white worms. "Maybe, it's inside this rubble?" Ray walks into the pile of dead worms.

"Ugh! It smells bad."

He grabs a handful of worms and searches for the black worm. "It's not here."

"Step aside, sir." Joselina summons her magic circle and a wall of rock surges from the ground. It moves the pile of worms around, clearing the area. Ray frantically searches for the black worm but among the white pile of worms his eyes spots something different. He runs ahead.

"W-Wait." Joselina dashes behind Ray. Ray crouches and picks up a naked body of Karl.

"No way." Joselina's eyes widens in shock.

There is not a trace of any wound on Karl's body. Ray touches Karl's neck. "He is alive!"

He quickly brings Karl back on the ship. While examining his body Alessa finds a black strip around his left hand. It starts from the middle finger and goes all the way to his neck. "Was that thing always there?" Ray asks.

"N-No. I don't know." Joselina answers.

Ray stares at Karl's unconscious body. "Your orders?" Alessa asks as she touches the mark.

"Summon backup from the castle and bring static chains." 

"Static chains? They are used to control wild beasts! He is human!" Joselina snaps. 

Ray turns back and glares at Joselina. "You don't know what we are dealing with."

Joselina take step back unconsciously.

"This mark is the proof that Leonard's soul is being suppressed by that parasite. He is dead!"

Joselina's back hits a wall.

"This the best chance of killing that beast. It will die with the body, no chance regenerating."

Ray grabs Joselina's shoulders.

"THINK! If this beast escapes, no-one in the entire block could stop it. Millions of people would die, if you just spare this thing!" Ray points at Karl.

"Will you take the chance? Because I won't. Not anymore."

Joselina is genuinely scared of Ray.

Meanwhile, Karl floating in a black ocean. There is no end. It looks infinite. Karl is just floating around, tried from swimming endlessly.

The calmness is addictive.

Unfortunately for Karl, something pulls him down below. He looks below and sees the black worm wrapping it's body around Karl. Karl struggles but he gets overwhelmed by the worm. Unexpectedly, the worm wraps itself around Karl's hand.

Then it stopped moving.

Karl holds its head in his right hand. Both just stare at eachother for a brief moment. 'H-Hey' Karl opens his mouth yo speak but no voice comes out of it. Suddenly, the worm goes inside Karl's half open mouth. Karl screams but no voice comes out. The worm tries to go fully inside Karl.

Just then, Leonard appears out of nowhere. He floats closer to Karl and grabs his left hand. Karl's left hand glows purple and the worm gets sucked inside the magic circle. Leonard grabs Karl's face and says. "Help me."

Karl's feels like it's about to explode. He screams once more, silently.

Alessa who is standing silently looking at her lord and Joselina 'conversing' sees Karl's body twitching. She runs towards Karl and scans his entire body with her watch. "A-Amazing!"

Ray and Joselina quickly turns their attention to Alessa.

"This kid, actually became a proper host of Koraet." Ray and Joselina sees the black mark on Karl's hand visibly shrinking.

After few seconds, it fully disappears. Before Ray or Joselina could say anything, Karl opens his eyes and gasps for air. His magic circle glowing brightly on his hand.

Ray quickly holds Karl down and Alessa grabs an oxygen mask and puts it on Karl. Joselina just simply stares at Karl's magic circle.

To be precise, she stares at the black worm like figure which appeared on Karl's purple magic circle.