Red Sea

One of the most terrifying places of The Pit.
Not a place, not a plant, not a sickness and not a being, and yet all of those four at once.
Its very name wakes terror in the hearts of the people.

The Red Sea is a name given to flesh-like growth that spreads and consumes everything in its way.
From what scientists say it is some type of fungus and just as fungus, it's really hard to get rid of it.
The most effective way to stop its growth, for now, is fire and blowing up the parts of layers it tries to spread to.
Most Fire Crystals (Elemental Crystals) found in the Pit are delivered to that frontline where humanity fights with this beast.

The landscape it covers looks dreadful.
The ruins of places that existed long ago covered in a blanket of red flesh.
The sky crimson from the spores filling the air.
The smell of the decay.
The eyes.
Moving through the area requires specially manufactured hazmat suits adapted to conditions prevailing around the Red Sea.
There are, however, very few people able to travel there completely safely.
For some reason, the flesh finds them disgusting and moves away from them.
However, it likes to talk to them, taking the form of the Skulls.
They still have to leave through decontamination outposts, as spreading the spores of the Red Sea would bring catastrophic consequences to any life in the Pit.

Red Death

Even temporary contact with any part of the Red Sea without specialized protection is lethal.
The moment such contact is made, it takes from 5 to 20 seconds for Red Death to take place.
During Red Death, the body of the host is covered by rapidly growing tissue of the Red Sea and then completely digested.
We know now that the Flesh is storing some parts of the knowledge of the people it kills as if it is looking for something inside their heads.

Skulls

When the Red Sea can't digest someone, it feels mostly anger.
But also curiosity.
When it is curious, it forms small parts of its body into humanoid creatures resembling the last people it killed.
Those forms are capable of speech and keep the mannerisms and some memories of those they look like.
The Flesh uses them to talk with those it finds interesting.

The Red Sea can also create Skulls when it wants to kill those who aren't immune to its influence.
In that case, it creates swarms of Skulls in order to catch and rip off the suit of soon-to-be-food.
Skulls can't live outside of the area where the Red Sea grows, and if for any reason they leave it their bodies turn into wet pulp.
If said pulp isn't reconnected to the rest of the body of the Flesh before it dries completely, it will decompose and turn into harmless ash.

Alternative Name(s)

Flesh, The Red

Type

Badlands