He and It Chapter 86: Dark Sky Sanctuary (21)

If you want more of this novel, we are accepting donations on Ko-Fi for sponsored chapters. https://ko-fi.com/exiledrebels

Thank you Komaeda for the donation! Glad you are liking this novel and the author!

Addis note: This book ends with chapter 104.

Chapter 86: Dark Sky Sanctuary (21)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Deathstar was confused and silent for a while, then chose to throw out a question which he couldn’t figure out himself. He said in a deep voice, “Including me, eight of my compatriots have already been freed from Angola’s bondage. The power of the dead is not cut out for me, so Bloody Butcher and I alone can completely conquer Angola’s capital. What do you think?”

Falchion mused, “Death and war? From the sound of it, it does sound like the time has come for revenge.”

“Begin your journey towards your destination,” said the herd’s chief. “We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

On the other side, Yu Mengzhou took off his apron and put the tools into boxes one by one. Since he came here, his toolbox had seen the world with him.

“I can’t live without you, man,” he muttered, as he lovingly snapped the plugs back on. He was about to stand up when one of the lights beside him flickered a few times and suddenly went out.

The thick blackness suddenly engulfed the space once illuminated by it by inches, and in the afterglow he seemed to catch a glimpse of something flickering by.

“Mom!” Yu Mengzhou couldn’t help but shudder. “What the fuck passed here?”

“What?” Having heard his voice, Gao’er immediately stuck his head out, the brass rings on his ears tinkling. “What happened?”

Yu Mengzhou stood up with his toolbox and took a step in his direction. He looked at the pitch-black wilderness with uncertainty. “It’s just that…There seemed to be something there just now…”

“Something?” Gao’er was on guard. He stepped in front of Yu Mengzhou, and everywhere he looked, the darkness felt as if it had been brought to life and transformed into a solid wave that fluctuated noisily through the night.

He was a Demon Horse born from the shadow of the earth’s core, and the Demon Realm at nightfall was equivalent to his country. However, Gao’er sensed carefully and did not find anything out of place.

“Nothing unusual.” He rubbed against the human’s arm. The herd had mastered the correct amount of power when it came to humans. “It’s probably a night-walking ghost that you’ve gotten sidetracked by…”

“Night-walking ghost?” Yu Mengzhou unconsciously raised his voice.

“Ah, no night wandering ghost! No, no, no!” Gao’er hurriedly backtracked. “The plains are clean, there’s nothing!”

Yu Mengzhou was relieved but bewildered.

“Maybe I didn’t rest well during the day.” He rubbed his eyes. “When people get sleepy, they tend to hallucinate…”

Gao’er nudged him gently. “Just hurry up and go to bed. I know humans need a good night’s sleep.”

Yu Mengzhou walked sleepily into the fortress, but instead of rushing to follow, Gao’er stamped a hoof on the lamp that had suddenly gone out.

Bad lamp.

It was night, and Yu Mengzhou was half asleep when he sat up in a daze. He felt that his mouth was dry and was ready to drink some water then lie down.

He stroked Falchion’s warm fur, braced himself against Noel’s neck, stood up crookedly and started over the hill toward the water bottle.

However, there was something strange. In the past, when he opened his eyes, Falchion would follow, raise his head, and ask him what he needed, but tonight, the herd was silent, as if they had fallen asleep…

Yu Mengzhou even made a point of observing them. Their breathing was even, their eyelids were loose, and their bellies rose and fell regularly…They did look like they were asleep.

Having risen in the middle of the night, his mind still wasn’t quite clear, so he didn’t pursue that not particularly abnormal issue. The youth walked over to the table and held up his glass of water first-

A wisp of slightly cool night breeze blew through the hot, dry air and reached his ears.

Yu Mengzhou froze.

This was a building that had long been abandoned by its owner and inhabitants, basically one-third of its composition was left, the rest collapsed by the endless winds of the wilderness. The only remaining large hall is still intact, with a main door, so it was also a shelter where the wind didn’t blow and the rain didn’t enter.

The fact that he could feel the wind meant that the gate of the fortress was open.

The wisp of wind woke up his hazy brain. Yu Mengzhou carefully put down his water cup, probed downward, and tightly clutched the grip of the toolbox.

Getting burglarized on his doorstep and not a single horse was awake. He remembered that the Demon Horse on watch tonight was Ether. Just what kind of ability could make even the war machine located at the apex of hell fall into a deep and sound sleep?

He could sense something, at that moment, standing at the front door of the cave!

“…Falchion,” he called out the herd chief’s name, but like a stone dropped into a deep well, he couldn’t hear anything. “Falchion!”

Yu Mengzhou gripped his toolbox tightly and took one step back toward the prone herd.

He had a feeling that what was in the doorway wouldn’t dare to go deeper into the hall, which was stuffed with sleeping Demon Horses, so that it was like he was surrounded by heavy thorns. If an outsider tried to reach out and grab him, they would be cut to ribbons by the thorns’ spikes.

“Human.” The creature in front of the door snapped, then asked a question, “Why are you avoiding me? Know that you are not in an uneasy position.”

The creature’s voice was as slippery and confusing as a slime-covered snake, and made people sick to their stomachs.Yu Mengzhou let out a dry retch and sunk his foot into Iron Ccepter’s belly, attempting to stomp it heavily and wake it up.

He clenched his teeth, not wanting to answer or talk to the other, but the creature wouldn’t let up, and proceeded to ask a seductive question, “You’re in danger. You think they’re all Demon Horses, but why don’t you take a look at me? My form, my appearance, is the true face of a Demon Horse, while they are a twisted mass of limbs, scattered and disorganized pieces of flesh…”

Yu Mengzhou paused.

Along with the uninvited voice, everything in sight melted and flowed like butter. The solid horses writhed and rippled and combined into angles impossible for common sense. He lowered his head, and it was amazing how these warhorses he had spent so much time with had instantly and unbearably become unfamiliar.

No, this wasn’t right. Was this his hallucination? Or was it the magical charm powers of the thing at the door?

“Fuck off!” Yu Mengzhou shouted out. “If you don’t, watch out for me beating you up!”

“Why don’t you look at me?” The voice from the doorway got softer, as if it was going to stubbornly burrow all the way into Yu Mengzhou’s brain. “I’m the one who is your Demon Horse. I’m the real one. If you want to take a look at me, the truth and the answers will appear in front of your eyes of their own accord. Why are you running away from me?”

The buildings that flowed into all directions also emitted a drumming sound, and they repeated the persuasive words thousands of times.Yu Mengzhou wanted to pounce on the herd and cover his eyes with their manes, yet fear couldn’t help but erupt from the bottom of his heart – Why had he not realized before that the Demon Horses were creatures with such a grotesque images?

Their eyes, their pair of ears, their four leg bones…How in the world could such an unnatural structure and limbs be created? As he clutched his toolbox, he couldn’t help but take a step back, as the bizarre impression became more and more entrenched in his mind, every line, every hint of color, all chaotic, and in his perception, psychedelic beyond words.

Yu Mengzhou’s stomach turned over. He wanted to vomit, but even some long-digested food kept rolling around in his stomach, and made it impossible for him to vomit at all.

“I’m your Demon Horse, I’m the real one…” The voice from the doorway became more and more pleasant and light, like a black hole attracting people’s attention. “Look at me, look at me…”

Yu Mengzhou staggered back. He knew something was wrong, but he had completely lost the ability to recognize right and wrong, while his senses were like a boat spinning wildly inside a storm, unsupported and on the verge of disintegration. Subconsciously and futilely, he groped around in his toolbox. Those alloy instruments were his greatest asset, the tools of his trade, the stable anchor of his life.

He finally saw the “thing” standing at the gate.

Its five eyes blinked in harmony, its body was a combination of tentacles, claws, and spider-legged arms…Yes, there was no doubt that the Demon Horse he remembered possessed such an elegant and simple appearance; but its rugged and bulky body that stretched into the depths of the night…Yes, the demon warhorse was indeed due to swift-as-lightning muscular power after years of running.

“Look, am I your Demon Horse?” it questioned in an unmistakable voice. “There’s nothing wrong with that. If you could come to me, everything would be perfect. There’s nothing more perfect than that…”

It was a strange feeling, and Yu Mengzhou knew that it was right, but the hairs on his body were standing on end, and the alarms of his subconscious were screaming madly at him, as they ordered him to stay right where he was and not to move.

But what had gone wrong? In the doorway stood his Demon Horse, while sleeping soundly in the hall was a pile of meat that he didn’t know what to do with, that he couldn’t understand. I should have walked over, I should have mounted the horse in front of the door and gotten the hell out of this place…What went wrong?

In a difficult tug between his ego and his subconscious, Yu Mengzhou approached the gate in fear and uncertainty. Sweat soaked his shirt while his fingers wriggled in weak spasms inside the box, trying to find the one thing that would anchor him to reality.

After an unknown period of time, he finally stood slowly in front of the “Demon Warhorse.” The hideous monster revealed a sweet smile of triumph, then cracked its huge mouth full of sharp teeth and swallowed Yu Mengzhou whole.

At the same time, Yu Mengzhou’s fingers were able to touch a cold and hard hoof trimming knife.

He pinched the handle of the knife, drew it out in confusion, raised his hand in a trance, and gently knocked on the creature’s teeth.

“No fidgeting,” he mouthed calmly, although it came out as gibberish, “Behave yourself while I trim your hooves.”

The unknown monster froze in a flash.

The white light emanating from the hoof knife was like a sharp axe splitting rotten wood. From the teeth that were knocked in the beginning, fine cracks then spread all over its body in a destructive trend. Compared to its silent slowness when it invaded, the speed with which it collapsed could be described as swift, almost like dominos tumbling down, and in the blink of an eye, it was transformed into wreckage scattered all over the ground.

Yu Mengzhou blinked his eyes. He finally woke up as if from a dream, realized what had just happened, and then–

“Vom-!”

He then held onto the door panel and vomited the food he had eaten that night, outside the fortress.

It was so disgusting! This garbage thing actually managed to twist his common sense, making it impossible for him to recognize what was normal and what was bizarre!

Yu Mengzhou finished vomiting and wiped his lips and bleary eyes.

No, I’ll hurry and wake up Falchion and the others. It’s just too dangerous tonight, I…!

 

However, before he could straighten his body, he yelled out in pain – the banshee that attacked from above twisted Yu Mengzhou’s arm and brought him abruptly up high into the air!