"I had to go to great lengths to make him understand the situation. There was something wrong with the minds of these new converts—they gradually became sluggish and witless—but in the end, he understood what I meant and lay down on the bed."
"Then... as if he had seen something terrifying, his eyes flew wide open. His expression grew more and more frightened, and his body began struggling without stop." Jeremiah paused. His pupils slowly dilated, and his voice turned somewhat hoarse.
"I sensed something was wrong, so I stepped forward and grabbed his shoulders, trying to wake him up. But no matter what I did, he wouldn't wake up, and he... Damn it. I've drifted at sea for decades. There's no way I could mistake it—he was clearly drowning!"
"Right in front of me, in his own bed, that man was fucking drowning!"
Jeremiah gripped the hilt of his curved blade tightly. Confusion and terror mingled in his eyes, making them look especially murky.
Josh and Ken shuddered involuntarily.
"He kept retching, trying to breathe, but his face gradually turned blue. After realizing that nothing I did could wake him, I prepared to leave first. Then..."
Jeremiah's brows knitted together, and his curly beard trembled slightly.
"That man... no, he was already a corpse. Like someone who had drowned at sea—I had seen plenty of them—his pale body slowly began to swell..."
"Finally... he gradually turned into a monster. A monster unlike anything I'd ever seen, with an enormous head and sharp teeth, but absurdly tiny hands and feet. There were webs between its claws as well... I drew my curved blade and struck it once. It didn't move at all, like a corpse."
"That monster was too bizarre, too terrifying. I can't remember much of what happened afterward.