Free Web NovelChapter 78: _So Much Pain
Ringing...
Nothing could be heard except a sharp ringing, drawn out in a torturous pitch. Smoke blurred out the area for hundreds of meters.
And Ambrose?
He couldn’t feel his legs. Couldn’t feel his fingers. He couldn’t feel anything.
Gathering his thoughts was a herculean task but once he did, he immediately tried reaching out to the system. ’Aura? Aura, are you there? What’s going on?’
This... feeling...
He couldn’t see anything. Not exactly darkness. But a vast expanse of cold, nothingness. He couldn’t smell. It was so similar to how he felt before transmigrating.
’No,’ he refused to believe it. ’Aura, please. Don’t tell me I’m dead.’
He tried to scream but couldn’t feel his mouth, let alone find his voice.
No—this couldn’t be.
What now? Would he get taken to another world? Would he cease to exist? Or shit—was there an afterlife his soul would end up in?
After all the crap he’s been through, he hoped it was somewhere he could rest without worrying for a second. But then... his life as Ambrose Hale.
Devon. Orion. All of it.
Was he really ready to let all that go?
Guilt flowed through him when he remembered promising Orion that he would be back. The poor kid. He never got to find out what happened to his future timeline.
Wait—guilt?
Could he feel something?
[Host body in critical condition.]
[Initiating soul lockdown.]
A dull blue light appeared in his vision finally. Faint. Small. Then it started growing and getting brighter. A sharp pain throbbed through him, a pained gasp escaping him.
That’s when he realised his actual situation.
He was lying on the floor, still in the Grey Desert. The air was even more arid than before, every breath like he was taking in fire.
When he tried lifting his fingers, a sharp sting made him stop.
Pain. So much pain.
[HP: 423/1100.]
Well, shit.
That tracks.
A few seconds passed before he was able to gather enough gripping strength to feel one of his blades in his right hand. As for the other one—he couldn’t find it.
’Aura...’ his mental voice was weak. ’Tell me that damn thing is at least dead.’
[Negative.]
’That better means its life is in the negatives.’
[No—it means it is still very much alive.]
That gave Ambrose enough kick to sit up. Every bone in his body screamed, the wounds on his arms and side still sharp with pain.
Sure enough, through all the smoke, soot and fog a figure rose off the ground several meters ahead. Its limbs swayed around lazily, its body straightening slowly.
Once it was standing upright, Ambrose’s heart skipped a beat.
Yep.
Definitely alive.
[Your other blade is stuck to its chest and dealing burning damage.]
’Can you give an estimate of how much effort I’ll need to kill it?’
[That would be cheating now, wouldn’t it?]
’Of course,’ he resisted the urge to curse out the AI, clutching his bleeding ribs with one hand while the other hand stabbed the dragon fang blade into the sand. ’... How much more EP do I have left?’
[756.]
That was barely enough for shit.
He gnashed his teeth hard, crawling until he was up on his feet. He staggered, vision blurring at the edges as his eyes narrowed on the approaching apparition.
It soon walked into the light, making its body visible. Two glowing scorch marks were on its stomach and chest respectively. The one on its chest still had a blade sticking out of it, cracks spreading through its porcelain-like body.
Flames sparked to life around his wrists but then blew off just as fast. However, they soon took form, coating his dragon fang blade.
[If you expend more of your aether energy and it proves insufficient, the blade might start draining directly from your HP. Your life force.]
’I know.’
[You could—]
"Die?" He snapped out loud this time, his eyes twitching with rage. "Yeah. You should have given me the heads-up before teleporting me to this place."
The system paused. Longer than usual.
[The black key teleported you here.] Aura finally said. [My objective is to ensure you—]
"Your objective is to shut," he gripped the blade’s handle with both hands now, readying himself with a stance, "the fuck... up!"
He roared, pushing his body to its absolute limit. He charged toward the apparition, blue flames rising out of his skin like an aura. The beast also moved, slower. Calculated.
"Predict this motherfucker!" He pressed one foot hard into the ground, rocketing himself nearly ten meters into the air. He pinned the apparition with his gaze, diving down with everything he had.
The beast arched its head skyward, but it was already too late.
Ambrose’s blade drove right through its head, simmering with searing blue flames.
The impact jolted through his entire body, rattling bone and nerve as the blade sank deep.
The creature froze for a fraction of a second.
That was all he needed.
Ambrose’s other hand shot forward, fingers curling around the hilt buried in its chest. With a snarl, he yanked it free—grey fragments cracking apart as the blade tore out.
Then he stabbed.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
And again.
Each plunge drove deeper, faster, more desperate. Blue flames roared violently now, licking up his arms as he hung from the blade lodged in its skull, body swinging with every brutal strike.
"DIE!"
The apparition’s body trembled. Cracks spread.
But then—Its arm moved. Its hand wrapped around his neck.
Ambrose choked, the air ripped from his lungs as he was lifted slightly off balance. His grip faltered, vision flickering as darkness clawed at the edges.
"Ghk...!"
Still, he didn’t stop.
His arm moved on pure instinct, stabbing again, pouring everything he had into the flames.
[EP: 312... 201... 97...]
[HP: 423... 301... 188...]
His body screamed.
His vision blurred.
But the fire only grew hotter.
"Burn...!"
BOOM!
The creature exploded.
A violent surge of force blasted outward, ripping Ambrose off and sending him flying. His body slammed into a massive skeleton, bones cracking beneath the impact as he crumpled to the ground.
Silence fell. Heavy.
Ambrose lay there, unmoving. Blood pooled beneath him, breaths shallow—barely there.
Everything hurt, fading in waves that made it hard to tell where the pain even started.
A weak exhale left him.
He thought he was going to lose his life for good. No footsteps approached to save him. No door appeared leading out of here.
Just quiet.
Until—
Ding.
[Mission Completed.]
His eyes twitched faintly.
[Final Entity Eliminated.]
A pause.
[B-Rank Evolution Commencing.]
Ambrose’s pupils dilated. "...oh... you’ve got to be—"
Darkness swallowed him whole before the sentence could spill out fully.
