After a few minutes of following her, I finally caught a glimpse of other angels walking along in the corridor. For all this time, I thought we were the only ones walking here.
But as I was looking at them, my gaze went as far as to the other side of the castle, where there was a corridor exactly like the one I entered, and in that corridor, I saw another woman.
She was walking slowly in that corridor, followed by a few angels behind her.
From first glance, I realized she had a beauty far beyond any other angel I had seen so far. Her smooth, shining skin, her smiling lips, and her elegant demeanor made me lose myself in her vision for a moment.
But for some reason, she didn't have any wings on her back like the others.
And at that moment, suddenly, as I was looking at her, she also looked toward me. Our gazes met, and I felt an awkward sensation in my heart as I looked at her.
In the next second, she offered a pleasant smile toward me, and in an awkward face, I tried to smile back with as much politeness as I could muster, but...
Thud!
"Ah!" At that moment, unknowingly, I bumped into another angel walking in the corridor, causing me to lose the box in my hand.
"No!" exclaimed as it fell. I jumped to catch it, but it already hit the ground and got destroyed, revealing the object inside.
"Shit!"
As the object came out of the broken box, it rolled toward the end of the corridor, where it would eventually fall to the lower floor.
"huh? Oh no!" Philsa and Keya looked back as they heard the sound and saw the broken box and Akiel, who had jumped to catch it.
The object, which looked like a beehive, rolled toward the end of the corridor and eventually fell towards the lower floor. Akiel, who was behind it, also jumped along with it, extending his hand to catch it.
This scene attracted all of the angels in the corridor, including the one on the other side.
"Those two put their trust in me. I can't let that be broken," I extended my hand, finally managing to catch the beehive-like thing. After that, I looked down and saw the lower floor.
Closing my eyes, I held the beehive tightly in my hand to protect it. But as I did, I felt something crawl from the beehive onto my hand.
"Huh?" I lifted up my hand and looked at the creature crawling upward in my arms.
It was a little snail-like creature, but upon closer investigation, I saw that this snail was extremely unusual. It had countless holes in its body, and from those holes, there were snake-tail-like things poking out, moving in a disturbing way.
And also, this snail was vomiting something green and extremely pungent as it moved up my arm. Even though I didn't feel any pain from it, it left a red, screaming mark in its wake.
As I looked toward it, I felt like it also looked toward me, fluttering its head. In the next second, it opened its mouth and bit my hand.
"Arghh!" I felt an extremely painful sensation in my hand. I hurriedly slapped at the snail, but I realized the snail was nowhere to be seen. Additionally, I saw something moving under the skin of my hand, like a worm.
"Urggh!" I felt an extreme, painful headache, and that pain alone caused me to lose my consciousness in half. In the next second, I felt like my body was on fire, a pain that made me want to somehow end it all. But at that moment, my mind felt numb, and I slowly began to lose consciousness.
While in that state, Akiel rapidly fell toward the lower floor. But right before he hit the ground, a set of white angel wings surrounded him, and he fell into them, bouncing a bit, like falling onto an extremely soft surface.
Through the wings, the figure of the woman he previously looked at appeared and grabbed him.
Looking at Akiel's face, she had a complicated expression.
Akiel saw the face of the angel, and he opened his mouth with a struggle.
"Help... me," Akiel managed to utter.
The angel stayed unanswered for a moment, and suddenly she lowered her head close to his ears and whispered, "Okay, but you have to be mine."
"What?"
Hearing her, Akiel fell silent, but he opened his mouth again as he felt like he was drowning in some ominous feeling.
"I'll be..." At the end of his words, Akiel closed his eyes, losing consciousness.
"Human," Philsa's voice reached him as she hurriedly flew down from the upper floor, followed by Keya who had Philsa's box on top of her own. Because of the suddenness, Philsa hurriedly placed the box she had above Keya and jumped to save Akiel, but it was already too late.
But while Philsa flew towards the lower floor, upon seeing the figure holding Akiel in her hand, she abruptly stopped.
Holding Akiel in her hand, the female angel stayed, looking at his face for a moment. At that moment, mustering up her courage, Philsa approached her.
"High Angel Jophiel," said Philsa.
"Is this someone you know?" Jophiel asked.
"He's a human we saved from fallens. He's supposed to be escorted to his home planet," lowering her head, Philsa replied.
"Well, that won't be happening, because he already belongs to me," Jophiel muttered, looking at Akiel's face.
Philsa looked towards the two of them, unable to understand the meaning of what was said and unsure of what to do next.
"Bulb!"
A sound, similar to someone drowning in water, reached Akiel's ears, and suddenly, he opened his eyes with a gasping breath.
"Guhh!"
"Where the hell am I?" , opening my eyes and standing up from the ground. I looked around, but I could only see darkness surrounding me, with the sun appearing to be in the midst of an eclipse. From the dark and ominous shine of the eclipse sun, I caught glimpses of a vision around me.
Apparently, I seemed to be in a muddy place, and around me, I saw a huge pillar that looked like a rib cage.
"Shhh!"
Suddenly, I heard a sound from the muddy puddle I was stepping in, and looking down, I saw a sight of a snake-like thing moving away from me quickly.
"Huh?"
But in the next moment, I felt all of the hair on my body stand straight. I looked forward and saw a dark figure standing a few steps away from me.
From the orange-yellow mix of dark shine from the sun, I saw that in the dark figure in front of me, there were countless worm-like strings continuously wiggling.
"Okay, who the hell are you, and where am I?" I muttered, mustering up my courage and asking the figure in front of me, but no answer came from it.
Aside from the creepy sound made by those wiggling things, there was no voice coming from it.
Feeling something unusual, I took a step back. The last thing I remembered before appearing in this place is that I jumped to catch the things in that box.
So, what happened after that?
As I took a step back, I suddenly realized that the figure in front of me was closing in towards me.
It's not like it walked; it's like it came close to me when I blinked.
I blinked once again, and again, and realized that with every blink I took, the figure appeared to be getting closer to me.
"What the hell?" I felt a creep in my heart, and to ease it up, I tried to talk to it, but it didn't work.
Suddenly, from the muddy ground, I felt thick worms crawling up my legs.
"Urgh!" I moved crazily, trying to lose the worms, but there were so many that it soon reached the point of my weist. At that moment, from the mud, a few tentacles suddenly rose up, holding my hands to the sides, which made me unable to move.
"Urgh, are you the one doing this?" I asked the figure in front of me, but as I looked at it, I realized it was slowly floating towards me.
Fear engulfed me as the worms kept crawling up around my body, already swallowing all of it except for my head.
"Is this it? Is this how I'm going to die, to a creep that I don't even know, in a place like this?" Akiel's voice trembled with utter fear as the worms dug into his body, beginning to eat him alive.
"Araghhh!" A painful scream echoed through the desolate land, but no one heard it. The worms kept eating his body while crawling upward, eventually swallowing his whole head.
The ominous dark figure slowly closed in towards Akiel and was inches away from colliding with his body.
Chis!
But at that moment...
Few worms that kept eating onto Akiel's face became crushed and spurted out blood.
And in the next second, am another rigidity of worms, and in the next second, am another.
Crunch!
From Akiel's face, the munching and chewing sound muted, and the worms in Akiel's mouth area suddenly got swallowed into his mouth.
The ominous figure in front of Akiel suddenly stopped its movement.
In the next moment, "Grahhh!"
Through the countless worms swirling in his body, Akiel lunged into the ominous figure and forced that thing onto the ground.
He lifted up his hand and dug his fingers into his face, dragging the countless worms down along with the skin and meat on his face.
As he did, the remaining parts of his face slightly tightened, but the same revulsion remained.
Most of his face was eaten by worms, and it was empty of blood. The inside of his face was clearly seen, along with half-eaten eyes.
At that moment, out of the two figures, Akiel's figure appeared more horrifying than the other.
"Argh, I'm not gonna die in a place like this, you damn creep!" Akiel's voice came from his worm-filled mouth. It was not his usual voice but a disturbing one.
In the next second, Akiel forced his head forward, trying to bite into the figure on the ground. But at that moment, from behind, one of the tentacles rose up, moved, and grabbed Akiel, pushing him away from the figure.