The reason Huskflies couldn't be taken out of a person until they matured was that the egg attached to your entire circulatory system through the black bulging veins. Trying to cut it out would cause massive, fatal hemorrhaging and kill the infected instantly.

One had to wait until the larva fully emerged out of its cocoon, before now looking for a way to get it out of their body.

It wasn't easy to get a Huskfly out of one's system even after it matured. Most people failed and ended up being mindless puppets of the Huskfly, while many who tried died during the aggressive process. It was more of a desperate, fifty-fifty chance, as the only way to expel a Huskfly was to aggressively destroy the host's body in order to create a hostile environment for the parasite.

If the Huskfly left the system before the host died from the inflicted damage or biological shock, then it was considered a success.

It was absolutely critical to have a healer or a powerful healing elixir ready so that once the Huskfly came out, the infected could immediately cure the systemic damages inflicted on themselves.

Right now, I decided to destroy my body using poison. The more potent the poison, the better. My only hope was that the creature would be expelled before the fatal dose claimed me.

I looked away from Aika and leaned my head back against the wall, sighing deeply.

For someone like me who had such a low tolerance for pain, this entire ordeal felt like an unending, personal hell.

In fact, the only reason I had not already buckled under the pain was because the pain mitigation effect of Gamer privileges was currently active.

"The pain will get a lot worse after it matures, you know?" Aika muttered in a really low voice breaking the silence.

I turned to her and forced a strained smile, then said hoarsely. "You are really bad at consolation."

Aika finally gave a small smile. She stared at me for a moment, then said. "I'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere."

I looked down at my body that was still bound by the rope, then chuckled. "Very funny."

She stood up, dusted the dirt from her dress, and turned to walk away. But just as she took the first step, she halted, and then her voice suddenly echoed sharply in my mind:

'Please hang on, until I get back.'~~

She ran a hand through her hair, and then quickly strode away.

For a moment after, I stared blankly at the fire, and then I began to cough and gasp for breath in my agony.

***

Over the next few hours, the pain grew worse and worse, reaching a peak where I could no longer suppress my groans of pure agony.

Even the pain mitigation was no longer enough for me at this point.

My vision had become permanently hazy, leaving me unable to distinguish anything clearly. And though I wasn't completely deaf, I could only hear the muffled noise of my teammates' voices. I could no longer recognize what they were saying.

When I tried to speak, it felt like something large was compressing my throat, and so all I could do was just groan.

While I kept writhing in agony, I could feel something like a cool, wet cloth pressed against my forehead. I presumed one of my party members was trying to ease the searing heat of my spiking fever. However, it did little good as the heat inside me kept mounting, relentless and burning.

Then, after a long while that felt like eternity, I finally felt it.

I felt something large and bulbous suddenly crawl from deep inside my neck, starting precisely at the inflamed bite mark. It moved with a sickening, slow friction, migrating past my collarbone, down my chest, and settling heavily over my sternum.

That was when I knew that the husk fly had finally matured.

But right at that moment, my hazy vision suddenly began to recede into a tunnel of black. My body slowly grew limp, and it felt as if the core energy supporting my life was being abruptly withdrawn.

I tried to hold on to my fading consciousness, but the darkness rushed in faster than I could fight it.

I tried to speak, to warn the others to be wary, but my throat refused to obey; only a wet, useless choke escaped.

With the last vestige of my consciousness, I called out mentally, 'Aika, I don't think I can hold on any longer.'~

…Then my light finally went out.

***

Celeste dipped the small cloth in water, then placed it back on Cedric's head.

She had been doing this for a while now in the hope that it would ease his fever. Her shoulders were slumped with exhaustion and her expression was one of deep, helpless worry.

Just then, Evelyn dropped beside her and placed a supportive hand on the arm Celeste used to hold the cloth.

"You should rest. You've barely slept all night and it's almost dawn."

Celeste turned to face her, then after a moment of hesitation, she finally nodded.

She turned and was about to rise when suddenly, Cedric's eyes snapped opened and a loud scream tore from his throat.

She immediately spun back to see him thrashing violently, struggling to free himself from the rope that held his arms tight against his body. His eyes kept flicking from deep pools of intense black to normal and back.

This continued for a few tense seconds, and the members watched in frozen horror as Cedric continued screaming in a guttural voice while thrashing up and down like a trapped animal.

Then something finally caught their attention.

Evelyn moved cautiously closer and began to carefully undo the buttons of his shirt. When she finally pulled his shirt aside, exposing his chest, everyone's eyes snapped wide as they all saw the horrifying sight of a bulbous object, as large as a tennis ball, visibly moving beneath the skin on his chest.

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