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Return of the Fallen Volume 6 Chapter 34

Author: Blue_Rat

ch34

Up up and up. The acid was a rising tide of sick and it moved upward like a geyser. Kazuki could only let go and allow the force to lift him higher and higher. To fight against it would only make one dizzy as it spins you like a ragdoll stuck in a cyclone.

The time it took to close in on his next target was seconds but with his senses dull, surrounded by danger and darkness, time seemed to stretch on.

(I’m almost a the nasal passage. Once inside, I’ll be able to make it to the brain. I can kill him with a few precise cuts and then escape this cage.)

Before Kazuki made it to the nasal passage, he was already prepared. Tiny sharp hooks extended outward all over his black armor. On his knees, he had spikes jutting out ready to steak them into the opening of the passage so that he could make his way inside more easily. Claws extended slightly from his left hand. Even if he couldn’t penetrate the creature’s flesh with these claws, they could still be very helpful. Inside this monsters throat, there were bumps of protruding flesh all over. He could grip one of them and hang on just in case he needed to.

His aura and ki stretched outside of his body, he could sense the opening to the back of the nasal cavity.

(14 feet 10, 6, HERE IT IS…NOW!)

Kazuki stabbed forward, his armored hand shaped like a spear. As soon as his hand touched the opening, the rest of his body, still being propelled upward at a lightning-quick rate, slammed into the top of the goat-headed monster’s throat.

Kazuki felt like he had been sucker-punched in his gut. He already had to hold his breath inside his armor seeing as there was no air but getting body slammed ontop of that caused his already fatigued and dizzied mind to go blank for a brief second. His grip loosened and at the same time, the vomit coming up stopped at the top of the throat. The muscles in the monster’s throat began to contract and the acidic vomit began to reverse.

Kazuki felt his body become weightless for an instant which snapped him back to reality. When he came to he was already falling and the acid was far below him. He scanned his surroundings with his energy and found that he was already 10 feet away from the opening.

(NOOOOOO!)

Kazuki sent his aura racing into his armor and tried to extend some of it to hook into the nasal passage but he was far too exhausted and was severely lacking energy. Because of this, It only managed to stretch a few feet.

Kazuki was more than desperate. If he didn’t climb up there here and now, he would not have the energy to try again.

A fire burned in Kazuki’s eyes as he roared in his mind.

(NOT YET!)

The armor peeled away from part of his body revealing most of his chest and arm. With his flesh revealed, the acid residue that was left on his armor began to burn him and eat away at his flesh. As the skin on his chest and arm started to melt, Kazuki suppressed his screams of pain and extended the armor. With the armor that was supposed to protect him, Kazuki used it instead to stretch out like rope with a blade at the end of it.

The armor stretched up and touched the opening but there was not enough upward momentum and it fell back down. Kazuki snatched the black rope and spun it in the air to build up speed before he tossed it above him with everything he had.

“GOOOOO!”

The rope shot upward with the speed of an arrow.

*Chk*

It pierced the passage and the tip of the blade entered around 2 inches into the opening. Kazuki didn’t hesitate to change its shape in an instant. The moment the tip of the blade entered the nasal passage, Kazuki changed it from a blade into that of a hook.

Kazuki felt the recoil on his body as he stopped falling. Looking down, he saw the acid renter the stomach and he couldn’t help but feel how close he was on the edge of death. Even now, looking at his arm, he could see completely through it as there were a few holes that had been melted through due to the acid. Even on his chest, there were several dangerous holes that were now covered in blood. If Kazuki hadn’t shifted his organs out of the way, his heart, right lung, and kidney would be noting more than goopy liquid right now.

Kazuki’s ki went into healing his arm and chest. He wanted to relax for a moment and take a breather but he could feel his energy depleting by the second. Not only that, he wanted to change the shape of his ruler again. If he just simply molded it and made it shrink, the change in his broken ruler would pull him up automatically. Unfortunately, his aura was barely maintaining the shape of the ruler as it was.

Kazuki had tried to supplement this with the energy from the godly aura coming from his golden compass but again it was not listening to his will. Ever since he manifested his own aura, the godly aura was giving him more and more resistance. Kazuki now had no choice but to climb up the rope with his own physical body.

As the last hole sealed itself on his arm, Kazuki gripped the rope with his left hand and squeezed the rope between his knees. Taking one foot he placed it under the rope so the rope rested on the top of his foot. With his other foot, he stood on top of the rope that was resting on the top of his opposite foot. With this, he was able to climb upward. He pulled himself up 2 feet and sweat poured from his face. His wounds that had just closed reopened and blood seeped from his skin.

Not eating for nearly 3 months and on top of that being severely dehydrated and both his ki and aura running thin, Kazuki was now relying on pure will power to climb upward. Not only that, the pure dark energy weighed his already exhausted body down and suppressed him physically, Kazuki no longer had it within him.

He looked up at the opening. It was only 8 feet away yet it felt like a million miles. His muscles were on fire from overworking and they screamed at him in response to being pushed so far. His entirety ached and his nerves sent warnings to his brain with every breath. Kazuki had to climb up, he knew it, he understood it from the very depths of his being but his muscles wouldn’t move, they couldn’t move. Everything was cramping up and blood was pouring from his body all over.

“MOVE! GODDAMIT JUST FUCKING MOVE!”

Even the defiance in his voice was wafer-thin.

(I have to climb…I have to…)

Kazuki tried to call upon his magic in a desperate attempt but nothing aided him. As he clung tightly to the rope, he felt the weight of his body and could not even lift a finger. Kazuki hung there for seconds, then minutes.

(If I can just recover some energy, just a tiny tiny bit.)

If he waited for a while then his ki would naturally replenish as he breathed in and out. Bit by bit it would return to him and just like he thought it really was coming back. This however was not enough. Kazuki was drained mentally and physically. He could go beyond his own limits and had done so many times before but this was different. At this time he was already well beyond his limit and even being at the 4th stage gave him no extra help at this moment.

Kazuki’s eyes fixated at the top of the passage. A rage burned inside of him. As time ticked on, however, that rage soon turned to fear. Even after several minutes and more ki within his body, he could no longer feel his body and his mind started to drift.

Kazuki’s hand slipped from the rope. Had it not been attached to the rest of his body, he would have fallen then and there. No more thoughts entered his mind. Still, something within him made him attempt to lift his arm and grab the rope but his arm didn’t even twitch

He tried to concentrate, he tried to focus and even bit his tongue until it bled but he couldn’t feel it. No pain, no burning, nothing. His body was numb and his mind was drifting without control.

(Must climb…must make it up…must…must…mu……………….)

Kazuki’s eyes slowly closed. As the light surrounding him began to disappear, he no longer had it in him to even care. Darkness surrounded him and his mind slipped away.

No more aura entered the rope holding him and the black ruler turned back into its original shape. In doing so, it was dislodged from the nasal passage, and Kazuki…once more..fell.