CHAPTER 24 – DAVID AND GOLIATH

The beast cried in agony, unable to comprehend what had just happened, I aimed towards the second leg, and as though on a silver platter, the monster continued to turn around, bringing its other leg, my target, right towards me.

I leaped into the air, holding my blade in reverse, aiming at the runes on the right knee. I could hear the beast already chanting the spell it used after getting my blade struck deep into its weak points...

⌈【Blaze Blossom】⌋

...Except it didn't. Wasn’t the spell name blaze bloom!? I have a bad feeling about this.

Contrary to the grandiose explosion of Blaze Bloom, this time, what came forth was something even more bizarre. Following the words of the blazing beast, an event only describable as obscure unfolded before my very eyes. Heat began to gather, and a flower began to bloom from energy seeping out of the runes of the beast, the petals of the flower being searing red flames.

In mere fractions of a second, the flower had multiplied in size and kept on expanding. After having reached a meter in radius, the flower wilted as if the flames were compressing and folding upon each other. The color brightened from blazing red to pale orange. It’s creating another bomb, isn’t it!? 

I could feel it in my very bones. This was going to hurt a lot more than the previous one.

My heroic, yet awfully timed charge towards the final weak spot on the limbs of the beast came to an end, and the black blade I brandished pierced the through into runes on the monster once more. But before I could celebrate my success, the crackling sound of burning and the howling sound of wind both halted...

For a split second, absolute silence overpowered everything and dominated the plains as a shockwave preceding an inevitable doom blasted across the fields.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

In that short moment of golden solitude, I could hear my heart beating heavier and faster than it ever had none more than three times. 

As if a countdown for an explosion, on the fourth beat, crimson flames emerged from behind me, and engulfed everything within without restraint, as they expanded across the plains in a glorious crimson explosion of scorching death.

I was blown away immediately. I lost my hold the moment the explosion resounded. I was rag-dolled across the mellow hills that expanded endlessly into as far as the eye can see, nearly passing out on each crash landing and rebound.

I must’ve broken something.

Scratch that, I must’ve died. This amount of stress, both mental and physical, was enough to kill me over ten times.

But by some miracle, I was still alive.

I laid down on the grass, lifeless and unable to see, hear or feel.

But regardless of that, I was still able to think... I think?

It somehow felt like a tremor, far stronger than the beasts fist hitting the ground, had just shaken the earth, though I’m not all too sure about that.

Not that it matters though. Maybe I could take a little nap... Surely the beast wouldn’t go anywhere, right? And it’s not like I have a time limit either…

I’ll be able to go back to the capital after this and sleep on the comfortable bed of the inn.

Maybe eat a nice serving of the juicy forest hare stew for breakfast after I wake up.

Maybe Seth’ll say something stupid again, and Grace and Brigid will laugh at it. Or me...

Lumi would probably call me a pervert again, for some reason or another, though maybe that would be justified if I got to talk with Violet again...

Goddammit, I want to go home.

Home..?

Yeah, home…

…

⌈*…er!*⌋

Huh..?

⌈*Ma…!*⌋

⌈*Master!*⌋

Please stop yelling, it’s irritating. Just let me rest for a while…

⌈*Don’t…*⌋

⌈*…give up.*⌋

My entire body began to feel warmer and warmer. But I couldn’t feel any pain...

Don’t tell me I’ve actually died. Ah, not that it matters. This feels good. I suppose this is just what I wanted... It reminds me of taking a warm bath in a hot tub after a long day of work at the construction site. Maybe the afterlife is far more forgiving and is still waiting for me after all…

⌈*Master! If you can hear me, please respond!*⌋

Wait. No…

⌈*I can still feel you barely breathing. Please, don’t give up yet.*⌋

I slowly but surely regained my lost senses. For now, I could hear Lime's worried voice piercing into my mind. Goddammit. For a second, I actually felt kind of happy as I thought I had died.

In hindsight, I’m also an enormous idiot. But I suppose that's nothing I didn't know yet...

⌈Li…⌋

I couldn’t speak. The words won’t come out. Actually, I find it hard to breathe too. The warmth still remains though. Speaking of which, is it just me or isn’t it getting kind of hot in here?

⌈*Master! Please wake up! Your clothes are on fire!*⌋

Oh… That’s what the warmth was… And I couldn’t breathe because the flames were robbing the air of oxygen.

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I finally opened my eyes, as I came to. And my brand new garments from the spring collection were blazing brightly. So much so, that I temporarily managed to blind myself as soon as I opened my eyes.

Stop, drop and roll? Well, I had already stopped, dropped and been rolled around several hundred meters by the miniature nuclear explosion, but the flames still persisted. How stubborn.

I started to roll around in the grass... Had I witnessed the event from another perspective, I probably couldn’t have held myself back from laughing. I had the most lifeless look on my face as humanly possible, as I lazily spun myself around in the grass for a good while until the flames finally dissipated. My leather gear had a cool charred black look now though.

I’d honestly just rather have died. It was way more comfortable.

⌈*Master... Please drink this. It might not be enough to restore your health completely, but you should be able to get better.*⌋

Lime held the potion in her slimy mitts, and poured the atrocious death juice, that somehow ended up being mislabeled as ‘health potion’, down my throat. Thankfully, my senses were still rather dull and I couldn’t really taste anything. Although, somehow it still managed to feel downright repulsive. I felt a sharp pain around my left clavicle and right shoulder... I can only imagine how much those would've hurt later on, had I not accepted the health potion.

Soon after drinking the vile contents of the health potion, my senses came back in full, and I was finally able to stand up and walk. Though not much else. Well, actually, not that much either.

I stood up, only to immediately fall on my knees again. 

A sharp pain radiated from my stomach throughout my beaten body. As I fell down on my knees, a torrent of blood and vomit gushed out of my mouth. Unable to move, breathe or speak, I kept on disgorging until nothing more would come out. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I realized that I was once again helpless and at the mercy of circumstance once again...

⌈*M-Master?*⌋

⌈...?⌋

I responded to Lime with but a miserable gaze.

⌈*Please... don't give up.*⌋

⌈...⌋

Fueled by the few sweet words of encouragement, I decided that I've had enough.

'Fuck it!' I thought to myself, stuck two fingers right down my throat, and forcefully got rid of any remaining blood or vomit that I might've had in my stomach. 

I stood up, took a deep breath of fresh air. Though my lungs felt like they were about to rupture, I grit my teeth and lived through the pain. I wiped to blood dripping from the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand and turned my back towards Lime gazing into the horizon as my white hair and ashen scarf gently fluttered in the wind.

⌈I won't... Not today.⌋

Goddamn, that must've looked so cool.

Before Lime was able to bring my head down from the clouds, I made my way towards the ground zero.

I now saw the culprit behind the tremors I felt while still laying down. The giant evergreen, under which the fight was hard fought, now had a large chunk of its trunk missing, and it had been felled by the massive explosion. The previously green field of luscious grass, that had managed to withstand the multiple waves of fire emitting from the beast, had now become but a barren wasteland. And in the middle of the lifeless ground, laid a limbless carcass of The Great Blazing Woodland Spirit. However, the Trail was yet to be cleared.

I slowly made my way towards the lone torso that was laying down on the ground. On the way I saw numerous small scrapes on the ground, gradually decreasing in frequency, yet increasing in intensity. Probably the aftermath of yours truly getting smacked around.. Walking the distance I flew really put things into perspective.

I shouldn’t be alive right now, though I guess I shouldn’t have been alive for a while now...

The great thundering howls of the towering beast had been reduced to small, pathetic whimpers, devoid of all life. It seemed to have sustained major damage from the explosion too. The wooden plates covering its chest had burst into pieces. The origin of the runes, and the source of the beast’s energy, the heart, now laid exposed.

I stood triumphantly on top of its chest. As I brandished my blade, ready to strike one last time, right into the heart of the beast, I yelled out with the power of a thousand suns.

Within my entire life, I had achieved nothing, really.

Each day I lived in wait of the next one. I was alive, but did I really live? No. Not really.

I never even tried to do anything. Was it because I was afraid of failure? Or perhaps I didn’t do anything, because it was too much effort? I don’t honestly know. It was just the norm for me. And I was bad at change.

All I know is that my life had been but an empty meaningless existence.

Now, however, I experienced something unlike ever before. I felt as if I had been broken free from the chains that held me captive in the cycle of insignificance. Those chains being nothing more, nor nothing less, than me myself.

With my mind overflowing with a sense of pride and accomplishment after fighting against all odds and coming out on top, I thrust my blade deep into the exposed heart of the beast.

The response from the beast was faint, yet my scream of success got louder and louder as I twisted the blade in the pulsating, crimson, crystalline heart, cracking it in two.

That instant, I was enveloped by blinding light that escaped from the now shattered heart. With its last breath, the roars it let out endlessly echoed in the plains. The massive lifeless body disintegrated into bright particles of light and slowly dispersed into the air.

I fell on my back and began laughing uncontrollably.

⌈Ahahahaaah! Lime, come over here...!⌋

Surely enough, she came without delay.

⌈Gotcha!⌋

I yelled out as I caught Lime and hugged her as tightly as I presently could.

⌈*Master~!*⌋

⌈We did it! You lovely dumb blob! We fucking did it!⌋

——————————

Once more, in the realm above, yet this time in a room much more confined... Two figures eagerly spectated the spectacle unfolding in front of their very eyes.

⌈Would you look at that, Gaia!?! The dude actually went and toppled the beast! Such burning fighting spirit too!⌋

The amazement of the man clad in robes of red only kept escalating after witnessing the young man felling the monstrous blazing beast.

⌈Igni, I told you to stop with the fire puns already. They’re not funny and they haven't been in the past twenty or so years... But anyhow, that child managed something unthinkable. I’m pleased with the result.⌋

Even the young girl found herself impressed at the feat of resilience.

⌈Gaia, don’t tell Chrono. I’m going to do a thing!⌋

The man proudly declared.

⌈You’re going to do a thing. Very elaborate...⌋

⌈An unique accessory isn't worthy of such amazing performance! Chrono might get pissed off if I encourage the dude a bit, but that isn't going to matter if he isn't going to find out! I really want to see more of where that came from!⌋

⌈I see your reasoning is still solid as ever. Whatever, do as you please, but remember. I had nothing to do with it…⌋

Realizing that she had no chance against the spirit of the man, she sighed and let him do what he wished for.

——————————

【 Underneath the Blazing Evergreen – Status: Clear】

›Exterminate: 1/1

›Rewards:

›【□ □ □】

›Shard of Knowledge:

›【□ □ □】

Contrary to the usual, where after completing a trail, the rewards would materialize in a similar manner that monster corpses dematerialize, this time, the rewards were nowhere to be seen. Not that I really even care anymore. Downing the colossus was plenty fulfilling for me.

Fuck you and your stupid glitches!

⌈Oh! Sorry about that, dude! Here you go!⌋

Suddenly, an extremely loud and energetic voice, brimming with youth, but not without a hint of wisdom, thundered down from the heavens above.

⌈O-Oi... Lime? Did you grow up?⌋

⌈*I didn't!*⌋

Then who the hell was that?

…

›Rewards:

›【Fusion Ring】

›【Fission Ring】

›【Amp Ring】

›【Berserk Ring】

›【Bulwark Ring】

›【Vanguard Ring】

›Shard of Knowledge:

›【Forbidden Knowledge: Universal Classes】

Excuse me? Did I break the damn thing?

【Fusion Ring – Rank: Peculiar – Rarity: S – Effect: Fusion】

【Fusion: Able to fuse Mana】

What’s this?

【Fission Ring – Rank: Peculiar – Rarity: S – Effect: Fission】

【Fission: Able to fission Mana】

What’s that?

【Amp Ring – Rank: Peculiar – Rarity: S – Effect: Amp】

【Amp: Able to amplify Mana output】

I don’t understand any of this!

Well, I guess I kind of understand the Amp one.

The remaining rings seemed to share the same rank and rarity, but at least their effects were understandable.

【Berserk: Able to convert Mana for Major increase in Strength】

【Bulwark: Able to convert Mana for Major increase in Defense】

【Vanguard: Able to convert Mana for Medium increase in Strength and Defense】

Not only did I somehow break the loot faucet, or whatever it is that regulates the rewards, the Shard of Knowledge I received was a bit of a special case too. As opposed to the white glow the shards usually emitted, this one was glowing in an ominous red shade...

【Forbidden Knowledge: Universal Classes】

Unlike its regular counterparts, that immediately invaded my mind with their knowledge, the vision I saw when holding this one in my hands depicted but a clockwork of gears all working in harmony... Peculiar indeed.

Universal Classes? I think I might just know what that means… Forbidden or not, I have a feeling I’ve just gotten my hands on something damn good.

⌈Hah! This is gonna be a story and a half to tell my friends back home.⌋

I sighed, satisfied. I couldn't help but smile.