Chapter 33: The Storm

Elias hated his situation, he hated doing anything without proper planning, hated making a move that he had not tested a hundred times until it was perfect… he hated being so helpless, he hated the fact that he had to be forced to his limits and make moves that he could not yet understand, and yet a part of him loved everything that was happening.

He was frozen in place, unleashing the Green Swarm had not gone the way he thought it would, and he had only one choice: to use the power of the Commander. He was hoping that he would save it for whatever danger was ahead of him, but it would seem that he had to use it now.

However, he remembered the warning from the Commander; the power she gave him was like a bomb, he was to throw it and run as far away as possible. If he used this power now, then he would most likely be killing himself and everything around him, and that would be his last hurrah on his short journey of life.

’My body has no meaning, as long as my mind still remains, as long as I have a single shred of soul left in me, I will not stop trying.’

The thought of using the power of the Commander was suppressed, and Elias watched as the monstrous form of Josef shambled towards him. The fire had ravaged his body, and his original stone shell was almost gone. He was sharing the same fate with most of the statues here, but his appearance was significantly worse, because while they were just made of stone and black ichor, Josef still had his withered flesh underneath the stone.

However, the fire had boiled away most of the black ichor that coated him, leaving behind a cracked, charred husk. Large sections of his torso, arms, and face were missing, either blown apart or melted into slag by the explosive heat of the ignited ichor. What remains was pitted, blackened stone riddled with glowing fissures that still weep slow, tar-like blood.

There was no way that he should have been alive. The flesh within meant there was a constant stream of black ichor seeping from his body, so he should have been hit the hardest by the explosion, yet he had pushed through the devastation and was reaching for Elias with a hand partially melted, fingers fused into a claw-like mass.

“Little shit… Your evil magic has turned against you.” Josef chuckled, and the hand reaching for Elias paused over his face, and he bent down. He was twelve feet tall, and Elias’s head barely reached his waist.

Bringing his face that was as big as Elias’s torso near him, he would have gagged from the noxious smell emanating from Josef if he were able to move. The once-noble Asulon’s visage was shattered: the left side of his face, including half his mouth, was missing entirely, exposing a raw, hollow interior filled with writhing black flesh that should be dead but had been animated by an unknown power.

The right half remains, cracked down the middle and locked in that wide, jagged grin that was now frozen in place.

Elias thought that Josef was going to stab his mangled claw into his eyes, but the sick desires in his empty eye sockets that wept continuous streams of black ichor, but faint red pinpricks of light still burn deep inside, swept past Elias’s face, and he chuckled.

“I know you can still hear me. Why do you think I will not want you to see what I am about to do to you… But,” the red pinpricks of light turned to Elias’s left hand that had previously been cut off at the elbow. “It would seem that killing you is not a simple thing, and I can toy with you to my heart’s desire. First, I will take out all your glowing intestines and choke you with them. I want to know how long it takes for you to reach the edge of death with this, your body.”

His hand went lower until it touched Elias glowing stomach, and he paused as if he was waiting for Elias to be fully aware of what he was about to do to him, and then he slowly pushed his sharp claws through the skin… and unleashed a frozen hell.

“FWOOSH…. BOOM!!!”

It was as if Elias’ skin was holding back a tornado, and the moment that Josef’s claw had broken past his skin, an explosion of force so massive that it sent craters through the ground erupted from his body.

There was barely anytime for Josef to feel astonishment before his body was flattened and he was blasted away, his broken body rising into the air until it impacted the roof of the cavern, blasting apart stalactites, and the force on his body was still so great that it pushed him several dozens of feet into the rock, and his fate was unknown.

Elias’s stomach emitted a faint whistling sound as the claw mark on his stomach continued to widen, and a bright beam of green light was being emitted from within his body. At this point, it was as if Elias was not a man but a portal to a realm of extreme cold.

Cracks began to appear all over his skin, and with a loud tearing sound, his stomach burst open, and a green hurricane tore its way out of him.

Elias’s bones were crushed to powder, and his body flopped around like a wet towel in the grip of a fierce wind. He should have been sent flying back with his flesh and blood vaporized into nothing from the sheer force of the green hurricane that erupted out of him, but a force held his broken body in place like a puppet, and more power kept erupting from him, while his feet slowly left the ground.

The cavern vanished into a realm of green ice and wind, and Elias was aware of everything. His eyes, which were frozen wide open, could see, and in his head was a constant notification pinging from his Status screen, until it seemed to have reached a certain threshold, and the Status screen was forced to the fore of his consciousness.

Vitality:

007 / 147

Elias could feel his consciousness slipping, and he forced his mind to stay awake while he kept chanting in his head, ’My body is meaningless, my mind is all that matters…”

Vitality: 005 / 147

’My body… is meaningless…’

Vitality: 003 / 147

’My mind… all… matters…’

Vitality: 001/ 147

’My body…’

Elias was on the verge of darkness; the only thing he could see was his dwindling health, and suddenly, the storm stopped, and his health stopped falling.

His broken body fell to the ground, and Elias could only shudder as fresh blood, accompanied by unbelievable pain, began to pour out of his shattered frame. For the first time in a long time, it was as if a massive weight had left his body.

His Status Screen vibrated,

Vitality: 002 / 147

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