Chapter 12 The True Torment Begins

===========Random pov==========

"Help me, please god help me!"

"Nononononono"

"AAAAAAAAHHH!"

All hell had broken loose, it was absolute chaos as everyone panicked and tried to survive the best they could while trying not to be eaten alive by the swarms of wildlife that poured out from within the jungle. I had been the same way until just a moment ago when the ground close to me buckled and sank downwards to reveal a dark ominous pit. I had almost, almost fell in but I managed to save myself  by digging my fingers into the dirt, unfortunately the person next to me wasn't so lucky.

I could only watch in horror as the poor bastard's screams for help turned into desperate and distorted gurgling as swarms of insects poured out of his eyes and mouth in sporadic waves, their mandibles clicking together in hunger as they tore at his flesh. I could only watch as the light slowly faded from his eyes, however I knew very well that this wasn't the end of his suffering, I had seen far, far too much at this point already to believe that death would release him from this living hell we had all found ourselves in.

I sat there shaking like a terrified child unable to say anything, let alone give him any kind of aid. I knew what was going to happen next but I couldn't look away no matter how much I may have wanted to.

I watched, horrified out of my mind as his body turned into shimmering particles that floated upward. He then seemed to almost reform as the particles quickly coalesced into a humanoid shape, his body hanging limpley in the air over the pit that he had previously fallen into moments ago. For a moment he just hovered, a look of confusion plastered on his face as if asking if it had all just been some kind of twisted nightmare, however the realization soon crossed his face as his body began to fall back down. I hurriedly covered my ears in a feeble attempt to block out the screams and begs for death as the thousands of insects once again began to burrow their way into his skin and devour him from the inside out.

"Save me! Stop standing there and save me already!"

"Get away from me! Stay the hell away!"

"I'm so-sorry" I couldn't take it any longer, I just..I just couldn't. So in the end I shakily stood up and ran ignoring all of his cries for help, however no matter how far I moved I could not escape from the screaming, the horrible, horrible screaming that echoed out from all around me.

As I moved forward I tried my best to ignore the similar things that were happening everywhere I looked. Men torn apart and devoured while they still breathed, digested alive by massive monstrous plants that use their roots to inject acid directly into the bodies of their defenseless victims, forced to watch helplessly as cancerous like diseases spread throughout their bodies turning them into things that couldn't even be described as human anymore. Truly this place was some kind of living hell. 

In fact some men just went completely insane on the spot and attempted to kill themselves in any way possible. They did this in hopes for any kind of escape from this place but in the end they would just reappear moments later and be dragged off into the jungle by some unseen force.

I don't know how long I ran for, I don't know for how long I watched as my comrades were forced to die over and over and over again, I just don't but at some point I started laughing. I don't know why but I couldn't help but find this whole situation funny, in a twisted kind of way.

"This had to be some kind of sick joke right? It just had to be" I said through my sobs and laughter. 

I honestly couldn't stop, even though I was literally starting to suffocate from lack of oxygen I just couldn't stop. I continued to laugh as my sanity shattered into pieces, I continued to laugh as my jaw ached and my lungs begged me to breathe, I continued to laugh as the ground began to shake violently and I continued to laugh as the very earth below me caved into itself to reveal a massive chasm filled with tens of thousands of smiling, agony filled faces that were all attached to a mountain of wriggling, rising flesh.

=============Suu pov==========

"Hmmm...well this is odd" I muttered under my breath as I looked at the three holographic maps in front of me.

"Why is it that most of them are acting how I thought they would in this kind of situation while a small minority isn't?" The reason why I was so confused is that most of the enemy was acting how you would expect when faced with an endless loop of torture but a few of them didn't show any real reaction at all.

"Honestly, the cultist had more of a reaction to pain then some of these guys and those crazy bastards seemed to be numb to most kinds of pain or stimuli" I mused as I crossed my arms under my chest in contemplation.

(For now let's just move a few of the more lifeless ones...actually it feels more accurate to call them Husks at this point. An-anyway, I'll just move some of them into a different pocket for later interrogation...well I say interrogation but I'm just going to rip the memories I need straight out of their heads but the point still stands) I thought as I snapped my fingers sending several of the Husks into a new blank space made up of nothing but a small white room, a wooden sign that says "Welcome to hell" and the ever-present sound of obnoxiously loud elevator music playing on loop in the background.

"Right now I need to focus on this" my interest in the strange group of enemies quickly vanished to the back of my mind as I refocused back on to my original objective.

There were now only three maps or zones that had my attention, I had long since removed the fourth one as it no longer served any use to me. As for the three I was now focused on, well each one of them was completely different from one another.

The first was seemingly split into five very unique halves, one was a rain forest filled with deadly wildlife and diseases, another was a volcanic wasteland were it literally rained molten metal, the third was an ice covered mountain range that was surrounded by a constant blizzard, the fourth was a barren desert filled with the bodies of thousands of different creatures and the final one was a large open sea with scattered islands that seemed to constantly be moving away from everyone trying to get on to them. Each one of these environments was inhabited by varying types of monsters and wildlife, in fact I was actually using this zone to test out how well I could simulate various environments as well as different types of ecosystems.

The second zone was far more simple in design overall, there was a fortress built around a mountain with various defenses and other such things, as for the surrounding area it was incredibly hilly and covered in sharp jagged rocks. The soldiers had been placed into the fortress and were currently being forced to fight ever-growing numbers of my illusions that not only grew in number over time but also in power as well. I was pretty much using this zone to see just how far I could push this skill and how powerful I could make the illusions within it.

And finally the third, it was by far the most psychologically brutal in my opinion. It was an endless grassy field covered in thick rolling fog, what made this zone special was not any kind of mass illusions or environmental hazards, this place was meant to fuck with your mind. Currently there were hundreds of people who seemed to be dealing with extreme emotional whiplash while also having no bloody idea where anyone else was, mostly because I was altering the way sound works here. 

For an idea of just what the people here were being forced to deal with let's look at an example shall we. One moment some poor sap is crying like a lunatic about who knows what, then not even a second later they are screaming in rage while foaming at the mouth and finally they start shrieking with horror while desperately trying to claw out their own eyes. Basically I want to see just how well I am able to affect a person with my Miseria, Lord Of Sorrow skill, I am looking to see how effective it is at altering a person's mind and psyche.

"Seems things are going as I planned" I hummed as I summoned a chair just behind me and sat down.

"I've been rapidly speeding up the time in all of the zones, so for them it's been several days at this point" I said to myself while yawning rather loudly.

"Maybe I should bring things to an end soon, what do you think?" As I asked, I took a moment to look over my shoulder at the man who was restrained by chains that were wrapped around his arms and legs. I was a little surprised to see that he had no intention of responding to me.

"Really? You're not going to say anything to this? I'm torturing your subordinates and all your doing is sitting there with a blank expression on your face" I said with a raised eyebrow before shrugging in defeat.

"You really do know how to spoil the mood don't you"

"Well it doesn't matter anyway, you will get your turn in all the fun soon..." my eyes narrowed as I said that.

"So please, just wait a little longer"