I think it’s about time to beat the everloving shit out of Nether’s King. Repay my dues, so to speak.

  Before that, however, I had to ask…

  How come I always end up like this?!

  I mean, yeah, getting tortured was part of the plan - stalling for time and all - but when is enough, like, enough?

  Twice now I had to endure absurd amounts of pain; first by the hands of Malrik, and then his father.

  At this point, it wouldn’t have been surprising if I were to develop a fear of flames.

  …As if I’m not mentally scarred enough, as is.

  Well, stories of my past can wait.

  I was sure that Kaela would make for a great audience member, plus I wanted to see her reaction:

  What kind of face will Kaela make when I tell her everything the king did to me, over the past hour?

  A fun prospect, assuming I survive to see it through, but damn - it was just one hour?

  Sure didn’t feel like it.

  Being honest with myself, I considered giving up. Actually, scrap that - I had given up.

  Even tried provoking the king, but it was all for naught.

  Guess I should be glad the provocations didn’t work..?

  Yeah, I don’t even know anymore.

  I chose not to care. Kaela succeeded, and that’s all that mattered.

  Though, I was currently a little bit blind. Like, entirely blind.

  What I’m saying is, I haven’t a clue as to how she’s doing right now.

  I did sense her essence nearby, and the demonic wave too.

  Therefore, I could only assume she was faring well.

  My eyes, which already barely functioned due to my mediocre thread manipulation skills, had been plucked out within the first twenty minutes of the interrogation.

  As for my essence reserves… Yeah, it’s not lookin great at all. Basically depleted.

  ‘Work with what you’re given’ might be a human-made phrase, but I could certainly get behind it.

  Because I was given a lot.

  So, so much food, all eagerly rushing towards me.

  Ain’t this just perfect?

  Though, in my current state it would be difficult to devour even one beast, nevermind actually filling up the whole essence reserve…

  …Is what I would say, if I weren’t the best, smartest man alive!

  The king probably thought I’d turned into a mess of threads as a result of his torture.

  And that was correct.

  But..! If there is exactly one thing I can take pride in, it’s my resourcefulness. Or, being pedantic, it’s my adaptability.

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  Look, I won’t claim that this has been my grand plan all along. Because it wasn’t, not even remotely.

  If I had to make an analogy, then I’d say I was served a massive plate of raw Gasopods - those foul smelling and tasting demons that made up the majority of Red Zone Forest’s river fauna - and found a way to make them ever so slightly more palatable with some herbs and spices.

  …Say, I think analogies may not be my strong suit.

  Right, adaptability or whatever I was talking about.

  Lets touch on the specifics briefly.

  At some unknown point during the king’s torture - not like I had the mental capacity to keep track of time - my essence began dwindling.

  At first, I did my best to sneakily weave the most vital of my organs back into some resemblance of a functional shape.

  The king had noticed, no doubt, but didn’t seem to mind.

  No, perhaps he even considered it advantageous, as a target that self repairs could be tortured with unparalleled efficiency.

  There’s a good reason most interrogators employ the help of powerful healers, after all; that’s a little factoid I’d learned from Kaela.

  So, taking his dismissal of my attempts at recovery as the go-head, I kept fixing my failing body, only for it to be destroyed in an endless, vicious cycle.

  Now, here’s the important part.

  Repairing my body wasn’t the only thing I did.

  Amidst my desperation, in seeking for any way out of this mess, a spark of insurmountable genius came to me.

  Uhh, I suppose it could’ve also been a deranged idea born from the brain damage I’d sustained.

  Regardless, I began doing something else - namely, sending threads of my body into the ground.

  Part of the reason was to move my nervous system as far out as I could, but not all of it.

  I would have loved to completely rid myself of the pain by detaching the receptors outright, but in doing so I’d have also lost the ability to control said threads.

  After all, I needed to feel what I was doing.

  Well, it is possible with eyesight to an extent, and there are a couple other workarounds, but for the most part it’s not something I’m capable of.

  To top it off, I make for a terrible actor; no chance I’d have fooled the king with fake whimpers of pain.

  With all that in mind, I could only reduce the pain I felt by two thirds, which was just enough to keep my mind operational.

  What made it a truly great plan, though, was the second factor:

  My inability to move.

  Specifically, I knew the monster wave would’ve taken a while to show up, and operated under the assumption that I will have lost most of my essence by that point.

  And would ya look at that - I was right.

  Fortunately, I managed to spread my senses out rather far:

  Like a massive network of tree roots, only infinitely thinner in comparison, essence deprived threads covered the nearest 100 meters around my main body.

  All of them were attached to the underside of it, orderly at first but more and more chaotic as the distance from my body increased.

  Looked really similar to the tip of a frayed rope, only multiplied manyfold.

  Using them as a sort of external sensory organ, I could effectively pinpoint the vibrations of even small, roughly fist sized critters.

  That’s real hard on my brain… Aha, is this what creatures with many eyes feel like..?

  Entertaining myself with such thoughts to avoid going insane from the ridiculous mental load, I laid in wait.

  *Crunch*

  As a random crackling sound echoed through the dry earth, my alertness spiked to the extreme for just a second.

  It’s just a lump of dirt, cracking in the heat - nothing more.

  Calming myself down in this manner, I remained cautious and vigilant while ignoring any potential distractions.

  It was starting to get really, really difficult to keep my focus, though.

  My heart wanted to pop outta my ribs from the sheer stress of it all - only, I didn’t even have a proper rib cage to speak of.

  *Thump*

  *Thump*

  For a moment, I mistook a repetitive, drumming noise that entered my senses with my own heartbeat, but…

  It became faster. And then faster still.

  Eventually, when a few more seconds passed, the intervals became so short that I could no longer differentiate between them.

  I think that’s it. Actually, I’m certain.

  Now then…

  Let’s set this shit into motion.

  The pile of meat - yours truly - grinning grotesquely, and the king with confusion blatantly plastered on his face.

  And the best part? You haven’t even seen the worst of it, my guy.

  Ahhh, but since I’m so damn kind - how about I show you?

  *Tsssaaaaa!!!!*

  In an instant, innumerable threads sprouted from beneath the earth. Though extremely thin, nigh invisible to the naked eye, the sound produced by the spontaneous movement of nearly a million of them - all rubbing against the hoarse dirt of Nether - produced a deafening cacophony.

  “!!!”

  The king’s face crunched up as he instinctively covered his ears.

  With a horrifying and enraged look in his eyes, he glared at me.

  Only now - it seemed - did he finally realize the reason behind my smile.

  But, heh, it’s too bad~

  You should’ve paid closer attention to me, dear king.

  I understood him, to an extent - he was too preoccupied with the demonic wave to heed the pathetic little ‘Ori’ any mind.

  ”Threadripper, you vile scum!!”

  That was your biggest mistake.

  And so, accompanied by the beautiful screams of a deadbeat father with anger management issues, my feast began.