Programmer in Another World

EPISODE 16 - The Witches of Haydel

It is very dark, barely anything can be made of.

Phize slowly regains consciousness in the dark place.

"W-What happened..."

He notices something wet on his hand.

"What is this wet thing?"

He retracts his hand and looked at his hand stained with the liquid. He was shocked by what he saw.

"Red," he examined.

"Is this..."

He inhales deeply only for him to end up covering his nose again from the stench.

"It smells bad here... what's going on?" he asked.

He examines his surroundings.

"WHAT?!"

Around him were children's skeletal remains, severed body parts, and large amounts of viscera scattered along the floor and walls.

"PHH! BLEGH!" he barfs to have witnessed something so unsightly.

He coughs.

"THIS IS BAD! THIS IS REALLY BAD!" he panicked.

He calms himself down, stands up, and explores the area to search for Pallitra.

"PALLITRA!"

"WAIT! I SHOULD LOWER MY VOICE! SOMEONE MIGHT HEAR ME," he thought.

He whispers, "Pallitra. Where are you?"

He digs through the corpses and skeletal remains of the children.

"THIS IS SICK! I FEEL NAUSEOUS... BUT I HAVE TO FIND HER!" he thought.

A young weak voice speaks out, "Help..."

"Huh? Where is that coming from?" he pondered.

"Please..."

The voice comes from the right corner of the room.

"There!"

He digs through the corpses.

"Where are you?"

Small tears come from his eyes.

"THIS IS SO SICKENING!" he thought in extreme disgust.

From the pile of dead bodies, a hand emerges.

"I found you!"

He pulls the child out.

"What happened he-"

He cut off his words and releases a gasp. He was shivering intensely from what he has just seen.

The little boy had a very bloodied, worn-out face, his shirt was torn and from his stomach, to his hips, a large apparent hole was visible where his insides were gushing out intestines, blood, and even the diaphragm can be seen.

Phize falls back and trips from the bodies. He cried in horror.

"AAHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"WHAT'S HAPPENING? I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" he shouted within his own subconscious.

Tears start to flow from his eyes.

He forced himself to calm down by saying a phrase over and over again. "I have to be strong! I have to be strong! I have to be strong! I have to be strong!"

His breathing was fast and it slowed down as he tried to calm himself down.

He approaches the little boy once again with a great sigh.

"W-What happened to you?"

"T-They t-told me... My... parts... not good..."

"Huh?"

"They... my insides... they took..."

"WHO? WHO DID THIS TO YOU?"

"W-Witches..."

"Witches?"

He looks closely at the child. More tears come flowing down his eyes.

"He's a goner... but I have to at least give him some sort of reassurance," he had in mind.

"Don't worry... I'll get you out of here."

"Leave..." weakly, he proposed, "now..."

The child loses all signs of strength, his lips were pale, his hands were on the pile of corpses and it didn't move anymore. 

"Hello? HELLO!"

"CRAP! WHAT SHOULD I DO?" he panicked in mind.

"Pallitra..."

"What if Pallitra ends up having the same fate?" he wondered.

"I can't let that happen."

"I'm sorry child, but I have to save my best friend. No, the one I love," he said so with a firm tone.

He sees a light coming out of an area where it represents something like a door. He approaches it, opens the door, and takes a peek.

The room in front of him is filled with blood and viscera, though not as much in quantity, as well as butcher knives scattered and a table with chains near its four corners meant to restrain people.

"Is this a butcher room? I see equipment that comes directly from a torture chamber," he speculated.

Sounds of wood creaking are heard above him.

"Someone's here," he thought.

"Where should I hide?"

He sees three old open barrels.

The one to the right is filled with organs such as lungs, bladders, and such filled with blood.

The two barrels to its left are upside-down so he decides to flip them.

He thinks very carefully about what to do.

He hears someone coming down from the stairs.

"I assume they are gonna fill these two barrels with the same things, so maybe I should hide in the leftmost barrel?"

"Wait, what if they end up checking all of them?"

"But I find the idea of going inside a barrel filled with the insides of a person sickening," he complained.

The door opens slowly.

"DAMN! I HAVE NO CHOICE!" he panicked in thought.

He hides inside the barrel to the rightmost barrel.

Odenna, the fourth witch enters the room.

"Geez, Zagia is such a mess she wasn't supposed to kill the children instantly. Not only that, Hagah wasn't supposed to put the live children inside the disposing room."

"PLEASE GO AWAY! I WANT TO LEAVE THIS BARREL NOW! IT'S DISGUSTING!" he screamed in thought.

She walks to the door where Phize came out from and goes inside the room.

"Now's my time!" he thought.

He gets out of the barrel filled with viscera and quickly opens the door where Odenna came from.

"Another door?"

He inspects the room to see utensils and several kitchenware.

He runs up the stairs.

"WHERE IS PALLITRA?" he asked in mind.

He arrives on the first floor.

"A living room?"

A table surrounded by 6 chairs is near him and a door that leads outside is in front of him.

"WAIT! DOES THAT MEAN THAT PALLITRA IS DOWN THERE?" he panicked.

He closed his eyes and thought carefully.

"Hold up... I haven't checked everything up here yet."

"I have to inspect," he concluded.

The door to the outside opens showing Zagia and the second witch.

"Man, I'm worn out," Zagia complained.

You finished early, I'm just about to drop my load."

"OH NO. I'm caught," he thought.

The first grabs his hand and pulls him to a corner.

She chants, "Open."

A pathway appears showing a corridor with 3 doors on each side. They go to the middle door of the left side of the pathway. They go inside the door and she pulls Phize inside the room. The pathway vanishes a few seconds afterward.

"Zagia, did you hear something?" the second witch asked.

"Hm? It must be Odenna down there preparing our meals."

Inside the room lays Phize and the first witch.

"WHA-"

She covers his mouth to stop him from talking.

"Be quiet."

Zagia catches sight of drops of blood coming from below the stairs.

"GIRLS! Why are there drips of blood coming from downstairs? Did someone escape?"

The first witch shouted, "MY BAD! I JUST GOT SO HUNGRY AND DECIDED TO EAT ONE IN ADVANCE!"

With a sigh, she answered, "YOU BETTER CLEAN THIS UP LATER, HAGAH!"

"GOT IT!"

He releases himself from Hagah's grip.

"YOU! W-Why did you bring us here?! And why did you save me? WHERE IS PALLITRA?!"

END OF EPISODE 16