Chapter 124: Extreme Situation (4)

Elisha leaned back against a jagged rock and placed a cigarette between her lips. “Phew!”

From afar came the monstrous roar of a demonic monster, one she suspected to be Behemoth.

“So, it’s begun.”

It was a clash between the King of Monsters ruling over the third floor of the Abyss and the disciple she held especially dear.

She shook her head with a bitter smile. “Disciple, huh.”

What right did she have to call him that? She had never really taught him anything.

Elisha flicked her fingers lightly. Dale had pleaded with her again and again not to enter the restricted zone before three full days had passed.

“But I can’t just sit here twiddling my thumbs.”

If her role was to rescue him, then at the very least she needed to know how things were unfolding.

From her fingertip, a thin strand of spider silk slithered across the ground like a snake, sliding into Behemoth’s domain. Through the thread, the faint vibrations of the air sharpened, and the monster’s roars grew clearer. With the Blessing of Insight activated, the full outline and form of the monster etched itself into her mind.

So, that really is Behemoth, she thought.

It was a monster with the head of a bull, the horns of a devil, and the tail of a dragon. From its massive head gleamed twelve eyes, each glimmering with an ominous light. It was a twelve-eyed demonic monster. She had seen ten-eyed demonic monsters before, but never one beyond that. Only records from the Demon God War five hundred years ago ever mentioned such creatures.

Elisha swallowed hard, clenching her fists. Even an eight-eyed demonic monster was nearly impossible to face unless one was a true Ranker. But this thing had not just one, but two more pairs of eyes. And if Dale was right, that each additional eye exponentially amplified a demonic monster’s power, then only someone like the Archbishop of Madness could oppose it.

And Dale is fighting that?

As she ground her cigarette between her teeth, her expression twisted. No matter how strong Dale was, even he had to know there was no way to defeat something that could overwhelm an Archbishop. Yet, he had stepped willingly into Behemoth’s lair for one reason alone: to push himself past his limits.

Dale had told her plainly that to awaken the Primordial Flame within him, he had to drive himself into the most extreme of circumstances. If another being like the Archbishop of Madness ever attacked their academy again, he needed the strength to stand against it. That was how he had convinced her.

But still, no matter the reason, is this really necessary? she wondered.

Through the spider thread came grotesque sounds: those of blood gushing, flesh being mangled, and bones shattering. Just imagining the agony Dale was enduring sent a shiver down her spine.

“Dale…”

She wanted to scold him for hurling himself into the very jaws of hell just to gain power. But when she remembered the past he had confided to her, she couldn’t. Even she, who had heard everything, could not begin to fathom how harrowing his existence had been. The only thing she could do was pray that such desperate self-torment would be rewarded.

Please, let him obtain what he’s seeking.

Elisha ground out the half-smoked cigarette and sank to the ground. Through the silk, the battle raged on in her senses. Behemoth’s savage roars thundered, and Dale, with his body broken again and again, kept rising to his feet.

Initially, he seemed to be enduring well, but the moment the flames cloaking his body sputtered out, the battle tipped sharply against him. His attacks left nothing but shallow cuts, while every strike from Behemoth ripped him apart mercilessly.

“Three whole days like this,” Elisha muttered.

Dale had brushed it off as if it were nothing. But three days was no short span, especially when every second was a fight for his very life.

Elisha closed her eyes, slipping another cigarette between her lips, and its tip glowed red.

And so, one day passed.

“Guhh! Gahh! Aaaagh!”

Through the thread, Dale’s screams of anguish poured in. The battle remained brutally one-sided; he was slaughtered every ten seconds, only to revive again. Behemoth was never tired, and it never faltered. It only reveled in killing him again and again.

Then came the second day.

“Grrrrrr!”

At last, even Behemoth began to slow. Its movements dulled, and its breath ragged. But as a mindless monster driven by only destruction and slaughter, it did not stop. Dale had died and returned hundreds of times, and the monster continued rampaging. Again, and again, and again, Dale kept rising, sword in hand.

Then the third day.

Behemoth’s movements had undeniably dulled compared to the start. Its breathing grew labored, and countless cuts crisscrossed its obsidian hide, well over a thousand by now. The battle had gone beyond desperation, into the realm of sheer tragedy. Bleeding profusely, the monster still clung to its duel with Dale.

Elisha let out a faint, bitter laugh. “At this point, I’m not sure which one of them is truly at their limit.”

Dale had claimed he was seeking an extreme crisis, but after three days, it looked more like Behemoth had been pushed into one. However, that was only how it appeared on the surface.

“Dale…”

She could feel it. Even through a thread thinner than a hair, it reached her—the endless deaths he was enduring, the relentless pain, and the bottomless despair.

“It’s enough now. You can stop.”

Even stubbing a little toe on the doorstep could make a human howl like a child. Even government agents, hardened through brutal training, carried poison in their mouths, afraid that they could one day break under torture.

“Isn’t that enough?”

But Dale didn’t even have that final escape. Death had come too many times, pain was beyond counting, and yet his life refused to end. That was the life of the hero known as Dale Han.

“Send the signal already!”

For the past three days, she had waited without sleeping, hoping Dale would send a distress signal. But nothing came, no sign, no flare, and no cry for help.

Elisha bit her lip in frustration, swearing under her breath. “Damn it!”

Who would’ve thought she would be this restless, this anxious, over a cadet? A few months ago, she wouldn’t even have imagined it.

At first, it was only curiosity. She wanted to see what kind of man was the cadet who had defeated her prized teaching assistant in a single strike. When she peered into him using the Blessing of Insight, she saw an enormous, incomprehensible power dwelling inside. From then, she felt a spark of interest. What woman wouldn’t? He was a young man with a dazzling future, not to mention he was handsome, and his personality wasn’t bad either.

Yes, that was all it was. Someone too precious to simply give away, but not worth the effort of chasing after herself. That was “Dale Han” in her eyes. But then, the words he said had affected her.

“I think it’s beautiful.”

“What?”

“You said earlier that it was a hideous scar. But now that I look at it up close, it suits you.”

The nerve of him, saying such things so casually, as if just for her. It shook her, if only slightly. She thought, maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be so bad to try a little.

Then, on that day when she had given up on everything, he had reached out his hand.

“Listen carefully.

“I’ll tell you how to fix this common occurrence.”

Another thought had bloomed in her heart. She wanted him, and she wanted to be by his side. Yes, to put it bluntly, she had fallen head over heels for him.

She was the great Elisha Baldwin, the Cursed-Eye Spider, ranked ninth among heroes. Yet, she had lost her heart to a mere cadet who hadn’t even graduated.

Elisha pushed herself away from the rock she had been leaning against. “Damn it!”

She couldn’t just stand there waiting for his rescue signal anymore. She was going to save him. And so, she stepped into Behemoth’s territory. The instant she crossed the boundary, the very air seemed to change, as if she had entered another world. The stench of blood stung her nose.

“Urgh!”

Covering her mouth and nose, she pressed forward toward the battlefield where Dale and Behemoth clashed. Ash-gray smoke rolled like heavy mist. It was the smoke released whenever Dale’s Blessing of Resurrection activated.

For the smoke to cover the entire area, it meant he had died and revived countless times. Elisha bit her lip harder and quickened her pace.

Faster, she told herself.

The thought of having to face a twelve-eyed demonic monster herself didn’t even cross her mind anymore. Her head was filled with just one thought: drag Dale out of that endless cycle of death.

Then, through the haze, she saw the raging flames. “What in the world?”

She had seen Dale conjure fire many times before, but this, this was different. This was a fire that could consume the world itself. It was feral and apocalyptic, like the Primordial Flame that once scorched the Tree of Creation. However, it was now burning within the ash-gray smoke.

Elisha pushed through the smog, running toward the inferno. “Dale! Where are you?”

When she arrived, there he was. Engulfed in ashen flames, he stood before the mangled corpse of the monstrous creature.

“Haa!”

She said, “Dale, you…”

Dale looked back and gave her a faint, wry smile. “Didn’t I tell you to come in only after I sent a signal?”

Elisha’s face stiffened as she looked down at the creature’s remains. Crushed, flattened, as though a giant had stomped it into the ground. The so-called King of Monsters that had ruled the third floor of the Abyss had been beaten into a pulp, becoming unrecognizable.

“This is…”

It looked as if an annoying fly had simply been swatted by a hand.

A laugh slipped from Elisha’s lips, half disbelief, half awe. “Heh.”

How could anyone, with sword or fist, do this? Especially to a creature over fifteen meters tall.

“Did you do this, Dale?” she asked.

Dale shrugged. “Who else, if not me?”

He walked toward her. The flames that had cloaked his body faded, and the smoke scattered. The sight revealed shocked Elisha. Dale was stark naked, not a single thread on him.

Elisha swallowed hard, her eyes drifting downward. “D-Dale.”

As the smoke cleared, something else, another beast, was revealed. Her cheeks flushed red. She said, “Ahem! Well, that’s… concerning.”

Dale asked. “What is?”

“If I were to… share a bed with you one day, I’d have to face that, that ferocious thing, wouldn’t I?”

Dale blinked at her, utterly baffled. “What?”

Then his eyes widened in realization. “The fuck? What the…?”

He looked down at his bare body and screamed, “Clothes! Do you have clothes? Anything at all! Rags, a scrap of cloth, something, anything?”

Snap!

“Wait, what the hell are you taking pictures for?” he shouted.

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