The wind over the ruined plaza suddenly stopped.
The abruptness of it was like a symphony at its climax having its throat brutally squeezed shut.
The currents of air that had been howling through the broken walls and shattered ruins froze completely in that instant, and even the ash dancing across the sky hung suspended in midair.
What replaced the hysterical shrieking of the wind was a sticky, writhing sound that made scalps crawl and stomach acid churn.
It sounded like countless slick venomous snakes frantically tangling together in a dark, damp swamp, and like the stomach of some enormous monster digesting rotten flesh and blood.
"Hiss—hiss—"
He knelt in the center of the ruins, his back arched into a bizarre curve, and the place where his spine lay was undergoing some change that defied all reason.
First, fist-sized lumps bulged up one after another beneath his skin, as if something was frantically squirming underneath it, searching for a way out. Those bulges traveled upward along his spine, and with every inch they moved, the crisp crack of shattering bone rang out.
Thick black blood, dark as ink, streamed down his mangled spine and dripped onto the cracked bluestone slabs, instantly corroding the hard stone into pitted holes amid wisps of white smoke.
Eight thick dark purple tentacles, each as sturdy as an adult's thigh, finally broke free of the prison of his flesh and spread wildly through the air.
The surfaces of these tentacles were covered in dense dark-red tumors, each one pulsing violently in time with Tang San's faint breathing. At the tips of the tentacles, terrifying mouths split open, filled with interlocking fangs, greedily devouring the stench of blood and Shadow Spores permeating the air.
As the devouring continued, Tang San's originally sunken chest actually began to