While the monster’s tentacles sought to injure Jay in any way possible and he moved to avoid that outcome, changes continued to take place inside his body.

Moving at great speed between bloodstreams and organs, the parasites did not take a moment to rest, continuing their task like diligent workers.

This would not have been possible before because Jay had used the [Overload], which had left them completely dry and with great fatigue weighing on them.

But thanks to the great control of ‘Jay’ and the new source of energy they had consumed, they were now working at more than 100%.

As to what it was they were working on, it was simple, they were following a design that had been shared with them through the [Mental Network].

A design to change Jay’s still mostly human body to one with a better chance of surviving this situation.

This was a far more profound transformation than any Jay had gone through before, with almost every part of his body needing to be fundamentally changed.

Such was the level of detail of the work that even if it were compared to when Jay had to treat Faith, that would be nothing more than mere child’s play.

The level of control was that different, though it was to be expected, after all, the one who was now controlling both the esper’s body and the parasites was not Jay himself.

Instead, it was something else that only came out when the necessary requirements were met, and something that possessed all the qualifications to be able to perfectly utilize the parasites as well as the knowledge to perform near-miraculous feats with them.

As for why it had decided to change Jay’s body so radically, it was due to a very simple reason.

It was the option they were most likely to be able to escape from the predicament his [Carrier] had gotten them into.

It was risky, as not only would the body be under incredible strain, but sudden and extremely painful changes would take place from one moment to the next.

If one took into account that while the change was taking place, one also had to be vigilant in continuing to guide the parasites and dodge the aberration’s attacks, this required an inhuman level of concentration.

Fortunately, the latter did not present a problem for what now occupied Jay’s body.

*Chak!*

Before long, the aberration’s tentacles, in its attempt to stop the transformation at all costs, had already dug into its foe dozens of times, leaving bloody wounds all over his body.

However, in defiance of what the aberration itself knew of humans, each time a wound was created, the worms appeared again and repaired the damage.Â

In all honesty… this was infuriating it even more._.

*TRSHH!*

At that moment, the aberration’s heavy, misshapen, slimy body trembled, the surface of its body bubbling, as if it were trying to expel something.

  *Bam!*

Without waiting another second, the base of the tentacles, which hadn’t stopped attacking Jay for a second, swelled enormously before this expanded to the rest of the tentacle.

Then, with the same speed as before, they launched themselves towards the human, covering all possible directions, including the ground.

This one, still having some wounds regenerating in process, was already prepared for this, and his body was ready to move and reduce the damage as much as possible.

“!”

But unexpectedly, when the tentacles reached his position, they did not attack him, but continued on, striking the area behind him.

As a result, now wherever he looked, to the right, left or above, a thick tentacle was present, creating a sort of cage with large openings.

*Swoosh!*

Without needing more, the human realized what the aberration was trying to do and jumped towards the largest opening present, which was the one at the top.

However, even though it took less than a second to move, the tentacles had become even wider than before, closing almost every other opening except for that one.

And the latter was not because the aberration had been benevolent or anything like that, but because the human, with his physique working at its limit, was holding the opening open with both hands.

With his muscles bulging to the max, his hands were exerting impressive pressure on these two tentacles, seeking to expand the opening further or flat out move the tentacles.

*Tsss!

Coming from the point of union between the human and the aberration, a sound of something burning together with a dark colored smoke could be appreciated.

This, of course, was the corrosive effect of the aberration, which just now more than ever was showing its full splendor.

“…”

Although no words came out of his mouth, one could see the amount of effort the human was putting into this task.

Meanwhile, the aberration, seeing that the human was trying to escape, apart from using even more force with its tentacles, presented a slight and gradual movement forward.

Although its body, which now measured more than 4 meters both horizontally and vertically, was extremely heavy and difficult to move, it was still possible thanks to the same thing that held Jay prisoner.

Using dozens of smaller tentacles beneath itself, the aberration, albeit slowly, was able to move.

If one took into account that its target was really no farther away than a mere 7-8 meters, then its speed was sufficient.

With this action on the part of the aberration, the human was once again involved in another situation from which it was difficult, or rather, almost impossible to get out of.

“…”

Still with an expressionless face, the pressure on the opening had only increased from the start, with the tentacles, despite having the physical advantage, even slowly giving way.

Without the need to even look in the direction of the aberration, the human was able to sense how it was getting closer and closer.

At this point, this had become a race against time, to see who was faster, the human to escape, or the aberration to arrive.

Finally, after a couple of seconds, a sound could be heard clearly.

*Chak!*

It was the indistinguishable sound of flesh being torn.

Unfortunately, this had had nothing to do with the tentacles, but with the human.

*Tap*

Dropping to the ground, still inside the cage, having failed in his attempt to escape, he could do no more than take up a position ready to face the aberration.

Bringing his hands forward, the source of the previous sound could be discerned.

In the midst of the struggle between the corrosive tentacles and the crushing pressure that the human was exerting, it was clear that one of the two, sooner or later, was going to give in.

In this case, presenting itself as a terrible wound where its fingers had been almost completely severed and were spurting blood by the bucketload, it was clear that it was the human’s body who gave in.

Faced with this, for the first time, the one who occupied the human’s body frowned, although the wounds were already regenerating, it was still dissatisfied with the fragility of this body.

This fragility… it was something it did not like at all.

*Trshhh!*

Letting black liquid drip as it moved, the aberration finally arrived towards where the human was, being practically a step away.

There was no need to look in any direction or try anything risky, the human knew, there was no escaping this cage.

Bringing his gaze upwards, the human prepared himself for the inevitable final confrontation.

“Come.”

With that one word from the human, the aberration, with its large body filling the entirety of the space the first mentioned occupied, launched a single large tentacle that stabbed into the latter.

*Bam!*

Immediately, with the great force behind the tentacle and nowhere to flee to, the human was pinned to the ground, with the tentacle piercing his chest.

Coughing up blood, he could do no more than grab the tentacle with both hands and begin to exert pressure.

This scene had made the feeling of discomfort that the aberration had been feeling, for the first time tonight, diminish.

Reminding it of when it held the same human by the neck, the aberration was no longer worried, for this confrontation was going to end the same way as the previous one.

The only difference in this case were two things, which while noticeable, would not really make a difference.

Firstly, the strength of the human’s grip was stupidly strong despite being mortally wounded and with both hands having been seriously injured just seconds ago.

And lastly, the thing that really bothered the aberration was the expression the human had.

While it had been an expression of despair before, now his face was devoid of any kind of emotion.

It was as if what was happening right now was not happening to him, as if it was happening to someone else.

As if he was someone completely oblivious to everything.

The aberration couldn’t deny that this seemed strange to it and made it uncomfortable for some reason, but now that the human was within its grasp, there was no need to worry anymore.

After all, it was only a short time away from extinguishing the life of this human being.

Tonight had served to make it realize that while it was exciting to encounter hard-to-hunt prey, it wasn’t something it wanted to do every day.

Fortunately, after finishing off this human, it could go on its way and continue to slowly feed on some weak prey without having to unnecessarily complicate its snacks.

*CHACK!!*

“!”

Suddenly, a painful tug awakened the aberration from its fantasy.

The source, none other than the tentacle that was crushing the human, now dripping black liquid from large open wounds.

These wounds were not tearing wounds, but were in the form of gashes.

For a moment, the aberration thought this had been done by the cutting wind the human seemed to be able to use, but upon closer inspection of the latter, it realized the truth.

The cuts had been made by the human’s hands, which, without warning, were no longer those of an ordinary human, but had changed to be something much more familiar to the aberration.

Starting from the forearms, the human’s skin had changed drastically, going from its olive hue to a sickly white tone which extended all the way to the hands.

Hands, which it should be mentioned, were now much longer than before, culminating in claws so sharp that they even seemed to be able to cut through rocks like butter.

For the aberration, it didn’t even need to think to make the connection, as it was able to feel it with every part of its body.

That skin, those hands, those claws.

All of them belonged to it.

The next moment, before the aberration could act, the human dug his claws into the thick tentacle, and without waiting any longer, he pulled with all his strength.

*SRASHH!*

Blood and flesh shot out all over the place thanks to the human’s brutal attack, which, apart from inflicting a good amount of damage, had also helped him to break free.

Then, standing up slowly, the human brought his hands to the wound on his chest, from which part of the tentacle could still be seen protruding.

*Chack!

With a simple motion, the tentacle was severed, with one part remaining inside the human’s chest and the other being taken in his right hand.

Immediately after, the aberration could clearly see how, in the chest wound, several of the worms began to devour the tentacle as the wound closed.

As for the other part of the tentacle it was holding, since the worms were apparently occupied, the human opened his mouth wide, with purple smoke serving as its breath, and took a bite.

“…”

Before, the aberration was sure that the being in front of it was human.

Although it was an unusual one that at first had managed to make it excited, and while it had later made it restless with his worms, it thought it was a human that had developed strange abilities.

It thought it was all part of the special abilities that certain humans had, being able to do things that would normally be impossible for them.

But it was only at this moment, that it realized it had been wrong.

Its instincts screamed and assured it, that the being in front had changed on a fundamental level.

Although it did not know what it was, one thing was certain.

The being in front and the one it was about to face, was neither a human nor a monster.

It was that which its instincts had warned to keep from coming to light, but which it had failed to do because of its own pride.

“GUOOOHHH!!!!”

Letting out a hellish shriek, the aberration then lunged at the being in front of it.