Cherreads

Chapter 24 - Conform

Suddenly, Matt takes some meat pies placed on a large porcelain plate out of a special compartment in his main counter. 

Lakyus, who was about to open her mouth to insult Matt, suddenly closes it. The other girls from Blue Rosees look at each other curiously, observing each other with somber faces. 

"Come on, Ninya made them. Don't you want some thick and hot meat pies?" Matt smiles, seemingly unaware of the problem with his words. 

Evileye raises an eyebrow, looks closely at Matt before setting her sights on the meat pies. She takes several steps forward, then raises her right hand to grab one of the meat pies before putting it in her mouth. 

"Hmph," the slight sound of chewing can be heard from under her mask. She narrows her eyes slightly, looks at Matt for a moment, holding the meat pie in her right hand, her frown invisible under her mask. 

"Saltier than usual, Sir Matt, but it's strange, it has a unique taste," Evileye smiled beneath her mask, then she looked at Ninya not far away cleaning a book, "Hmph, that seems to be the case," she muttered before Lakyus approached. 

"Sir Matt, we came today to find out the whereabouts of Sir Hiyama. Have you seen him before?" Lakyus says, placing a hand on Evileye's right shoulder, her intention obvious. 

"Eh, Do you mean the one who looks like a Japanese villain?" Matt raises an eyebrow, curious. 

"No, I'm sorry, I don't know his whereabouts, but he usually comes here on weekends to chat for a while," Matt nods, Tia and Tina not far away watch him curiously, a slight disappointment written on their young faces. 

Lakyus watches Matt for a moment before pulling a large strange coin out of her bag. "We are sent by King Ramposa III. You know, Sir Hiyama is an invaluable person. His power is..." Lakyus smiles, leaning in a little closer before placing the strange, slightly lead-colored, almost bright white coin with a beautiful sword engraving on the face on the counter. 

Lakyus smiles before resting her arms on Matt's counter. She looks into Matt's eyes, the expression on her face full of apparent joy. 

Ninya, not far away, watches this with wide eyes. In fact, she was cleaning a book so as not to interfere with Matt's conversation, but she couldn't help but turn her head when she saw the coin on the counter. 

She knew that coin, even though she had never had the opportunity to own it, or even touch or see it before: the platinum coin of the Re-estize kingdom. 

Not just a coin in itself, but a work of art made of a rare metal, whose price ranged between ten thousand gold coins. 

Ninya almost dropped the book in her hands, her eyes completely focused on the coin, but she was soon drawn to Lakyus. 

"Hmph," she sighed with displeasure as she watched the beautiful girl act cute. 

"Sir Hiyama is... someone who could be very helpful. Can you help us find him?" Lakyus finished her words and then pushed the platinum coin toward Matt. 

However, contrary to what Lakyus expected, Matt didn't even look at the coin, his gaze was more focused on... her breasts? 

Following Matt's eyes, she could see that those mischievous eyes, almost without blinking, were focused on her breasts, which were slightly exposed thanks to her visible cleavage. 

She opens her eyes before clenching her teeth in slight annoyance, "Ahem, so, Can you help us?" Lakyus returns to her upright position. After all, although she likes to play, she really doesn't like Matt, an ugly man, staring at her so intently. 

Matt gives a half-smile before grabbing the platinum coin on the counter and putting it in his pocket. "Actually, yes, in fact, I don't know where Hiyama is, that's the truth, but if he comes back, I can tell him that you are looking for him," Matt smiles. 

Lakyus narrows her eyes. She was actually hoping for more than just a promise from Matt. She was about to say something, but she simply shakes her head the next moment. 

"All right, then, we should leave," Lakyus says, turning around and heading for the door. The other girls do the same, except for Evileye. 

The vampire looks at the Meat Pie in her hand for a moment, the texture, the shine, the taste, all of which bring back some particular memories. 

"Sometimes telling the truth is better than continuing with a false lie that only serves to deceive you," Evileye says, focusing her gaze on Matt, smiling under her mask, and then leaving the store. 

A few days later, outside Re-estize.

A man swung his sword with great difficulty at the strange creature in front of him, his muscles, apparently as hard as rock, creaking at his sudden movement.

However, his sword could barely cut a few centimeters into the creature's skin. 

The man is Gazef Stronoff, who had received an order to help defend a small village on the edge of Re-estize's territorial border. 

Gazef narrowed his eyes in fear, swinging his sword with difficulty as he took several steps back. 

The creature, a faceless, limbless tentacle-like being, slithers across the ground like a snake and attacks ferociously, swaying its body. 

However, there is something strange about these creatures. The swaying of their bodies like a whip does not inflict physical damage, but rather pierces through the various peasants in the small village, passing through their bodies and causing senseless screams of pain and despair. 

Gazef clenches his teeth, his heart beating faster than usual, his tired body and overworked mind barely able to react to the sudden attack of one of the creatures. 

"Shit!" Gazef curses, taking a step back to dodge the attack of the tentacle in front of him, but all he manages to do is move away a little, the tip of the tentacle lightly touching his right hand and piercing through it. 

Gazef opens his eyes, his body suddenly invaded by a strange feeling that makes his world spin, everything in front of him suddenly darkens, blinding his vision.

A moment later, Gazef opens his mouth, a ghostly pain runs through his body as his mind is overwhelmed by feelings of horror and despair. 

Opening his eyes as wide as he can, Gazef sees only darkness, and in the darkness, he sees a strange creature emerge. It is gigantic, its body strange, its skin pulsating as several tentacles surround it. 

The creature stares at him with its giant eyes for a moment before Gazef's vision returns to normal. 

"Captain!!!" Gazef hears a man's cry in the distance, at the same time as he feels someone carrying him on their shoulders and starting to run. 

Lifting his head slightly, his eyes take in the surrounding scene. 

What does this mean? 

The small village is in complete chaos. The squadron he had come here to patrol with, following orders from Ramposa III, had been completely wiped out, leaving only one or two survivors. 

The friendly peasants he had met are now kneeling, screaming in despair, various fluids escaping from all their orifices as they slowly tear out their eyes, skin, and flesh. 

Gazef trembled, his will faltering, his tired body barely able to bear the weight of keeping him conscious, and he, as the most powerful man in the kingdom, was defeated. 

Gazef bowed his head, but in his mind, the image of those peasants completely devoured by madness could not stop shining, could not stop tormenting him. 

"Heh heh heh heh," Gazef lets out a few light, almost inaudible, broken chuckles, "Human life is so fragile," he murmurs, tears escaping from his eyes. 

The strange tentacles have not only begun to appear in Re-estize, but have also spread to Paradis and Heiligh. 

In Paradis. 

Levi, with a serious face, moves with great speed, his two powerful swords flashing like lightning, destroying and cutting the tentacles that approached the ruins of Paradis's outer wall. 

What is happening? 

Levi can hardly understand it. A few days ago, these strange tentacles began to appear, whose attack consisted basically of somehow piercing their victims with their bodies. 

It was not a physical attack, as the creatures' bodies seemed to turn into holograms upon impact with their victims. 

This strange attack, according to Levi, could drive its victims so crazy that they ended up torturing themselves to death before dying. 

Levi watched in the distance as several giant tentacles crawling like servants began to pierce the remains of the Maria wall. His serious eyes soon shifted to a strange creature among all the tentacles. 

It was a kind of mass with two legs, a blue body, walking as if it had an injured leg, with a fat body, no fingers, and a face reminiscent of a fish with several tentacles and three large eyes. 

"Is it a special one?" Levi sighs, flexes his legs, his body entering combat mode before he can use Haki to kill all these tentacles, the voice of the strange creature reverberating with a particular echo. 

"C'thun wants to make you his servants, obey sincerely and your lives will be spared!"

More Chapters