Return of the Fallen Volume 11 Chapter 37
Kazuki made up his mind.
“I’m not letting her die.”
Arc was stunned for a moment.
(WHAT!?)
Kazuki slowly stood up before walking toward one of the unconscious giant sandworms.
(Stop. What do you mean you’re not letting her die? What can be done, nothing. I told you this place will no longer be here in three days’ time, abandon the woman, and let’s head for the core while we still can. The faster I can get ahold of the Origin energy the faster we can escape this death trap.)
Kazuki shook his head.
“I can’t just leave her to die.”
(Yes, that’s exactly what you can do. This woman is a stranger, just leave her so that we may survive.)
“Arc, stop it. I’ve decided and that’s final. I’m not going to turn my back on someone that’s saved me multiple times. Even if we are little more than strangers, that’s just not who I am, you know this.”
(Fuck that. This is not the moment to grow a conscious. Your sole existence is for revenge yet you’re giving up on it and sentencing us both to eternal death.)
Kazuki opened the Giant sandworm’s mouth.
“No, I am not giving up on revenge nor am I walking to my death. For the time being, I have no plans to meet my end.”
After he said this, Kazuki walked back inside the Giant sandworm’s mouth and headed deeper and deeper.
(You’ve really made up your mind?)
Kazuki ignored Arc’s question as he walked to the depths of the creature’s stomach.
(Fine you bastard. If you’ve made up your mind I can’t exactly stop you. I don’t like it but I still require your help. I know you’re not stupid and you’ve weighed the consequences and yet you’re still committed to helping your friend so you must see some chance of succeeding. Talk, what is it you plan to do.)
“Are you curious?”
Arc felt annoyed.
(Would I ask otherwise?)
“Right. First, open my ring for me and take out my Cosmic metal.”
Arc was very low on energy but regular magic was nothing to it. With a thought, Arc opened Kazuki’s storage ring and pulled out all of the Cosmic metal he had. He also pulled out a new set of clothes for Kazuki as Arc was tired of seeing Kazuki pantsless.
“Thanks for the pants.”
(Hmph, why thank me when there your pants in the first place? Now hurry up and tell me how you plan to save this woman as well as get us to the core.)
“Pretty simple really. She needs divine energy, I’m going to bring her all the divine energy she needs. First I’ll start with these unconscious worms but before that, I need a weapon or two.”
Kazuki held a thick rod no longer than a foot in the palm of his hand. He could not use magic to change its shape so instead, he squeezed it with all of his strength. Adding aura strengthening along with his ki, his strength grew and the Cosmic metal warped slightly. Readjusting his grip the metal rod broke in half. Kazuki continued changing the shape of the two pieces until one resembled a rugged dagger and the other a crude hammer.
“This should do for now.”
Kazuki came to a particular spot in the giant sandworm’s stomach. beneath him, there was liquified mucus all over the place. Taking the two pieces, he used his ki and dipped them in the mucus coating them all over. Afterward, he held them in the air with his ki and allowed them to harden. Arc watched as Kazuki repeated this process until his tools now looked like actual tools.
With them completely dry and hardened, Kazuki held them in his hands. Giving them a flip and spin, he felt their weight and balance. His brows furrowed slightly at the crudeness but he didn’t have many options so he would have to make do.
Afterward, he walked toward the creature’s head. Taking his dagger he tried to stab the worm using the force of his ki but that wasn’t enough force. Still, he did leave a small mark on the surface of the creature’s tough outer skin and his eyes lit up.
“This will work.”
Kazuki climbed atop the worm and held the dagger in both hands. Using aura strengthening and his ki, he stabbed the dagger down with everything he had.
*Chck*
The dagger managed to pierce about four inches in. A small trail of green blood leaked from the unconscious worm but it was still alive. This is where the hammer came in. Kazuki lifted it up and swung it down with every ounce of strength.
*Bang*
A sound similar to thunder boomed outward but the dagger only sank another four inches. With a second swing of the hammer, Kazuki got the results he had wanted as the dagger sank the rest of its length into the monster’s head. The worm twitched and it died.
Kazuki could sense the power within seeping out. With a thought, he used his ki to surround all of this energy and tunneled it into Marty. A small amount of divine energy poured into Marty along with the soul of the giant sandworm. Kazuki wondered if this might be dangerous but his thoughts only came to here when the sandworm’s soul suddenly reversed and was pulled into his own soul world as his soul reading ability activated automatically.
Kazuki felt a strong nourishing effect and he could feel that the third damaged soul fragment got a large boost in recovery. Kazuki’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise.
“This amount of recovery, I feel the damage has been healed at least two, maybe even three percent of the way. If things go like this, I could heal the last part of my soul.”
(Hmm, now that is an added bonus. If things go well, you could potentially fix your soul and then the door between the 7th stage and Demigod would basically be unlocked. Your mastery over the element of fire is already at a masterful level. Once your soul is recovered all you need is this so-called soul transformation and then you can leap directly to becoming a Demigod. This is good. The faster you reach new heights and gain power, the faster we can find my missing piece. Alright, I’ve changed my mind, I’m on board. I can feel the small amount of divine energy is also helping your friend. What are you waiting for, start hunting.)
Kazuki checked on Marty but he couldn’t tell if this had actually helped or not. His senses could not enter Marty’s soul world but it seemed Arc had no trouble sensing things Kazuki could not. Still, since Arc had said it, Kazuki took Arc’s word that it really did help. Kazuki struggled for half a minute before he could muster enough strength to remove the embedded dagger from the sandworm’s head. With it, he moved to the next one and repeated the process. First a stab and then two to three swings with everything he could muster before he sent the worm to its death.
Once again, he captured the small amount of divine energy leaking out of the dead worm and sent funneled it into Marty. His soul once more recovered by a bit more. after the fourth worm was dead and he transferred the power into Marty, her pale expression loosened slightly and the wrinkles around her eyes relaxed a little showing signs of relief.
“It rally is working.”
(Of course, it’s working, did I not already say so? At the same time, it’s disappointing but the recovery effect for your soul has diminished by a large margin. That first worm gave you a fine amount but it’s like you’re getting less and less or rather your soul is requiring more and more to heal the same amount. How can one’s soul be so damn greedy?)
Kazuki shook his head.
“It would be far too convenient if a few worms could really fix all the damage to my soul. I was expecting to have to kill millions of beings at least at the 7th stage, this is already a much faster pace so I can’t complain.”
(Maybe you can’t but I sure can. This means it will still be a while before you actually step over the threshold and enter a new level. Forget it, I’ve waited so long already, I can wait a bit longer.)
Kazuki looked around at the room they were in. With four giant sandworms, the place was already fairly cramped and not a single other worm could fit.
“If I am to bait other worms into this room so that the A.I. Will steal their consciousness, I’ll need to make more room.”
Now that these powerful creatures were dead, he could now devour them but before that, he entered all of them and collected more mucus along with the dissolving solution they had inside of their Dorsal sacks. He had Arc store the putrid liquids inside his storage ring before he activated the spinning void in his soul world.
The four giant sandworms vanished from this decaying world and entered his soul world where they were sucked into the spinning void. Kazuki felt his strength grow by a small amount. His body became tougher and his vitality reached a new level. He had almost forgotten this feeling.
Opening and closing his fist, he felt a rush.
“With my soul recovering a bit, my devouring ability can let my body grow stronger once again.”
Kazuki smiled like a fiend as he realized this.
“It’s time to hunt!”
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