CHAPTER 27 — The Fire That Refuses to Go Out
The change was subtle at first.
So subtle that Zodac almost missed it.
A single unit of Pure Mana slipped from the reserve—and in response, a faint white glow bloomed beneath his skin. Not bright. Not violent. Just… present. Like moonlight seeping through fog.
His fingers twitched.
His lungs—burning moments ago—pulled in air effortlessly.
Zodac's eyes snapped open.
He sucked in a sharp breath as he pushed himself up from the ground, stone scraping beneath his boots. His body still glowed white, a dim but undeniable aura wrapping around him like a second skin.
"…My mana's back."
His voice was low, almost disbelieving.
"And… I don't feel tired."
Slowly, cautiously, he pressed a hand against his abdomen—the place that had been soaked in blood minutes earlier.
The wound was gone.
No warmth. No slickness. Just scarred, aching flesh.
He winced faintly.
"…It still hurts. But the bleeding stopped."
Zodac stared at his own hand, turning it over in front of his eyes as if seeing it for the first time.
"What… is this?"
The system panel flickered faintly, almost respectfully.
Understanding dawned.
"…Pure Mana."
His breath hitched—not from fear, but from awe.
"It ignores exhaustion. Negates debuffs. And boosted my Hector Aura enough to force healing."
A slow smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Incredible…"
The white glow pulsed once—steady, controlled.
Then the air shifted.
A sharp screech cut through the cavern.
Zodac lifted his head just in time to see movement above him.
The bats.
They hovered in a loose, circling mass, red eyes glinting in the dim light. For a heartbeat—nothing happened.
Then, as if responding to an unspoken command—
They dived.
Zodac exhaled.
Kogetsu materialized in his hand with a clean, metallic sigh as he drew it free.
The first bat reached him.
He didn't rush.
Didn't flinch.
His blade moved—once.
Then twice.
Then again.
Each strike was impossibly fast, so precise the air barely reacted. Bodies split cleanly apart, dropping at his feet in wet, boneless thuds.
More came.
More fell.
Zodac moved like something reborn—silent, efficient, every swing fueled by instinct sharpened to a razor's edge.
His Pure Mana glow pulsed brighter with each kill.
Then—
The system chimed.
ELEMENTAL — WOOD
LEVEL 14
PRIMARY WEAPON: KOGESTU
⤷ WHIRLWIND — Unlocked
********** — Locked
********** — Locked
********** — Locked
********** — Locked
"…A new skill?"
Zodac barely had time to think before the bats regrouped, forming a widening ring in the air around him. He adjusted his stance, gripping Kogetsu with both hands.
"Kogetsu—Whirlwind!"
He swung.
The blade screamed.
A crescent-shaped wave tore through the air, invisible until it wasn't—ripping through four bats at once before dissipating into the cavern wall.
Zodac froze.
Eyes wide.
"…I did that."
His grip tightened.
The hesitation vanished.
He advanced.
Each Whirlwind slash carved open the air, cutting down multiple bats in a single sweep. Bodies rained from above, striking stone with sickening finality.
The swarm thinned.
Then thinned again.
Until suddenly—the sky above him was almost empty.
Only one shape remained.
The giant bat.
It hovered higher than before, wings stretched wide, its crimson eyes burning with fury.
Then it screamed.
EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH—!!
The sonic wave detonated outward.
Zodac leapt aside just in time, feeling the pressure rake across his back as the shockwave tore through the air.
The remaining small bats weren't so lucky.
The blast slammed into them mid-flight, snapping bones and shredding wings. They plummeted lifelessly to the ground.
Silence followed.
Zodac straightened slowly.
"…Looks like it's just you and me."
The giant bat dove.
Its scream echoed again, more focused this time—more controlled. Sonic waves ripped across the cavern floor, shattering loose crystal formations.
Zodac sprinted forward.
"Hectogon!"
A single hexagonal shield formed beneath his feet.
Then another.
Then another.
He ran on air itself, leaping from one floating Hectogon to the next as the bat doubled back toward him.
"If you won't come down," Zodac muttered, teeth clenched—
"I'll come to you."
The bat turned sharply.
Its chest expanded.
Zodac felt the warning too late.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH—!!
The sonic blast erupted—far more powerful than before.
Zodac twisted midair, barely avoiding the core of it as the wave screamed past. The force ripped two Hectogon shields apart beneath him.
He fell.
Fast.
"Drain."
Pure Mana responded.
The white glow flared brighter as his body stabilized mid-fall. Gravity loosened its grip just enough for him to twist into a backward flip.
A Hectogon formed beneath his feet.
He landed.
Crouched.
And launched.
The force sent him upward like a fired projectile, Pure Mana screaming through his veins as he closed the distance in seconds.
He drew Kogetsu mid-flight.
"Kogetsu—!"
The bat turned too late.
"WHIRLWIND!"
The slash wave struck first.
The blade followed.
The attack cleaved cleanly through the monster's neck—head separating from body in a silent, perfect arc.
Time seemed to stop.
Then gravity returned.
Zodac fell alongside the lifeless corpse, landing atop it hard enough to knock the wind from his lungs.
He rolled off slowly, struggling upright.
"…Somehow…"
He staggered, leaning heavily on Kogetsu like a cane.
"…I made it."
The weapon vanished.
RAYGUST appeared in his hand.
He knelt beside the corpse, cutting clean sections of flesh and bone, feeding them into the orb one piece at a time. The orb glowed faintly, filtering the raw mana.
His reserves ticked upward.
Blitz—ready.
Pure Mana—barely a whisper.
"Drain…"
The glow returned briefly, enough to steady him.
Crystals littered the ground.
"…That screech shattered the Illeaum veins," Zodac murmured.
Then the system flickered again.
ELEMENTAL — WOOD
LEVEL 14
CRAFT
"…Craft?"
He raised a trembling hand.
"Hectogon."
This time, the response was different.
A single colossal hexagonal shield manifested—solid, whole, unmoving.
Zodac's breath caught.
He placed the bat's head atop it.
Then paused.
"…Let's do this my way."
He imagined wings.
Bone and membrane flanking the skull.
"Craft."
The shield shrank—folding inward until both shield and monster vanished.
The system chimed.
CHRONIC BAT CREST
Zodac exhaled slowly.
This wasn't just survival anymore.
He was changing.