With a trembling hand and blood pouring from her side, she did her best to swing the sword. The blade traveled slowly through the air with how little strength Eleanor had, and yet, the monster remained in place, looking down with its spasming body as the sword got closer and closer. And one moment later, the blade cut through the monster’s body, but just like last time, it phased through it as if it wasn’t there at all.
It continued going up and up, until it was at the top, where Eleanor finally let go of the blade and sent it flying through the air with as much strength as she could muster. I felt disappointed, since it simply wasn’t enough to reach the stalactite in the ceiling. It would be better to declare this girl as another victim of this monster, just like every other body in this dark place, if she didn’t do anything else.
To my surprise, however, she managed to create a small but powerful gust of wind right under the flying blade, causing it to burst upwards through the air and right in the direction of the stalactite, much faster than her initial throw. It seemed like Eleanor was capable of doing more than just sit and die.
As the sword approached the ceiling, the monster’s arm snapped from its place and pierced Eleanor right through the side of her stomach, and exactly when the blade hit the stalactite. She screamed in pain, blood poured out of her back, with a mouthful of blood pouring out of her mouth.
The monster slowly lifted Eleanor up, and she looked up at the many bloodshot eyes that were looking at her with the desire to devour her. Her face froze in a mix of both terror and despair as the monster’s gape opened to reveal the many bloody teeth still smeared with her arm’s blood. This was going to be it. There was no way out now, and I couldn’t save her either.
As her head got closer and closer to the monster’s mouth, the stalactite broke down, and in the moment that the monster distracted itself to enjoy the last moments of suffering of Eleanor, without it realizing what was about to fall on it, the large and sharp piece of silvery rock fell right on its head.
This time, the monster’s body didn’t react the same way as when Eleanor attacked it, as the rock exploded the monster’s head and continued down its body, sending puffs and mists of darkness everywhere until it finally crashed on the floor. Rocks flew out and the sharp stalactite buried itself half-way into the ground.
The arm that had pierced Eleanor violently shook down when the monster was pierced, and she was sent flying back from the movement. She fell on the floor on her back, and the monster’s arm turned into a black mist that disappeared in the air soon after, just as the monster’s body did, disintegrating into nothing.
She had done it. She managed to not only survive the encounter with this thing but also kill it; however, she was mortally wounded and bleeding out. There was no time to celebrate, but this gave her an opportunity. If this monster was the same as every other being of this world, then she should be gathering the monster’s power into herself, and with that power, she might just be able to live.
The monster’s black mist swirled in the air for a moment and disappeared from sight. But, I could still sense the movement of power. It was looking for a new body, for the one that liberated it. In no time, that power turned to the dying Eleanor, and just as fast as it flew in the air, it buried itself in her body.
She screamed in pain once more. It seemed like someone like her wasn’t fit to absorb such a great amount of power with ease and in one go. It was going to be painful.
I was still here, and even if I didn’t have access to all of my Godly powers, I could still manipulate a few things, like the power coursing through her body, and the part of that power that also recognized my existence and contribution in the monster’s death.
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As a God, I had no use for such a meager amount of power, so I simply hopped from the spot to land right next to the struggling Eleanor. Her remaining arm was gripping the rock floor, her eyes were shut tight as she tried to take in the power going into her body, and the blood pouring from her wounds continued to dye the floor red.
I placed my summon’s cat-like paw on her wounded arm. Normally, someone with this kind of injury would react to the touch, but it seemed like the pain she was suffering was enough to ignore it, which made things easier for me.
I wrestled control of the power trying to settle in her body, and commanded it to my will. I might not be a healer, but I knew how to fix this.
From the wound of Eleanor’s missing arm, a mist of darkness, just like the one that composed the shadow monster, started flowing out. Slowly, I shaped it, giving a symmetrical appearance to her remaining arm. Length, width, and the details of her fingers were being formed under my guidance.
She continued to struggle in pain while I did this until the final nail on her finger was formed, which is when I turned the remaining power back to her body. There was still a hole at the side of her stomach, but since I didn’t need to rebuild everything from scratch, in this case, the power managed to regrow the losing parts and patch the hole with new skin. A scar still remained, but with this, she should be able to survive.
Finally, I released the power and helped it settle in her body. Since she didn’t have the proper body to handle this much power, I spread it evenly everywhere I could, and whatever remained, I left in her new arm; one that looked just as jet-black as the shadow monster that she killed.
As the power calmed down and her body got used to it, her struggling subsided, and her breath and movements calmed. She still remained with her eyes shut, and as I turned my attention to her face, I noticed drops of sweat pouring down her face, and blood now drying all over it.
After letting loose one sigh, her body completely calmed down and stopped struggling. I waited a moment to see if something else happened, but she remained motionless with her eyes shut and a steady breath. She wasn’t dead. It seemed like after everything that happened, she simply passed out.
It wasn’t a good idea to remain vulnerable like this in place with so many corpses and darkness in every direction, so I tapped her face a few times to wake her up. She remained sleeping, and eventually, I tried something more forceful by slapping her with my summon’s paw. Her face moved to the side, but she remained sleeping…
Could it be that absorbing that much power did some damage to her? It couldn’t be. I was very careful in my handling of the power, so she should be able to wake up… Perhaps I should try something harsher to wake her up, but I then, again, as a mortal, this might just be her mind shutting down and her body trying to rest.
“Kyun…” I let out that strange sound as I tried to sigh.
I gave her body one final look as I walked around her. Her dress was a mess, there was blood all over it, and there were a lot of places where it was ripped, like the hole in her stomach, and the hem being shredded, revealing her legs more than before. I could still sense a bit of power lingering in the air, power that was still looking for a place to settle with me.
If it wanted to be of use, then I was going to give it use. I took that power, passed it through my body, and then threw it back out once more. A black thread was formed in the air. I took that thread and weaved it over Eleanor’s destroyed dress, mending the pieces that were damaged. After a few moments, the dress was mostly back in a proper shape, fitting her even better than before. With the thread that I made it, it should be stronger than just the cloth that it was—perhaps not more than a powerful Knight’s Armor, but enough for her to withstand a few stabs.
I looked at the now black dress and the soundly sleeping girl. I did everything I could to ensure that she could survive and that perhaps with everything I did, she could even stand up and fight ahead, allowing me to have a better look of this place, if she had the desire to survive and get out of here.
But for now, there was nothing else I could do besides just wait and see if she woke up again. I moved to the side, sat beside her, and just looked at the depths of the darkness of this Void Dungeon. Hopefully, nothing strange popped out again, because this time, I wasn’t going to save her.