CHAPTER 26 — When the Sky Refuses to Let You Rest
The blade came free with a sickening sound.
Zodac pulled Kogetsu from the giant mole's skull—and the moment the resistance vanished, so did his strength. His legs buckled. He fell backward, hitting the stone floor hard, the impact knocking the breath from his lungs.
He didn't try to get back up.
He just… lay there.
Flat on his back. Arms spread. Chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven gasps.
Above him, the cavern ceiling stretched endlessly—jagged stone and shadow blending into something distant and unreal. His eyes stared upward, unfocused, glassy. Not really seeing anything.
His thoughts drifted instead.
Slow. Disconnected. Heavy.
Blitz was gone.
The fire that had carried him through the fight had burned itself out completely, leaving nothing behind but wreckage. His body felt like it weighed a thousand tons, every nerve screaming in dull, persistent agony.
"…That was… so hard."
His voice cracked halfway through the sentence.
No bravado.
No sarcasm.
Just the truth.
This was the cost.
Overusing Blitz always came with consequences, but this time it was worse. Much worse. His muscles throbbed uncontrollably, trembling despite complete stillness. His head pounded as though something inside was trying to claw its way out. Even his thoughts felt sluggish, slipping through his fingers whenever he tried to focus on them.
Minutes passed.
Maybe longer.
Eventually, Zodac groaned and forced himself to move. He rolled slightly onto his side, then pushed himself upright, sitting awkwardly with his back rounded and shoulders sagging.
That was when he noticed his leg.
Blood pooled beneath it—dark, sticky, slowly spreading across the stone.
"…Shit."
He stared at it blankly for a few seconds, as though his mind hadn't fully processed that the injury belonged to him. Then the pain hit properly—sharp, searing, radiating upward and making his vision blur.
He clenched his teeth and hissed through the pain.
His hands trembled as he raised one in front of his face.
The metal gauntlet encasing it was cracked—no, shattered. Jagged fractures ran across the surface, warped inward from a heavy impact. Tiny slivers of metal were embedded into his flesh.
"…So that's why."
The first monster's blow.
Every movement since then had driven the broken metal deeper into him.
Slowly—carefully—Zodac reached for the damaged gauntlet with his other hand.
The moment he pulled—
Pain exploded.
"AAGHH—!"
He bit down hard, the scream tearing violently from his throat despite his attempt to suppress it. Blood poured freely as the gauntlet came loose, strips of flesh peeling away with it. His arm shook violently as he tossed the ruined piece aside.
His hand was mangled. Raw. Bleeding.
He clenched it into a fist anyway.
While he sat there gasping, the system panel flickered into existence before his eyes.
ELEMENTAL: WOOD
LEVEL 12
Zodac stared at it.
"…Level 12?"
His exhaustion twisted into irritation almost instantly.
"That's it?"
His lips curled as bitterness crept into his voice.
"After all that… still not even fifteen?"
He laughed weakly, the sound hollow.
"There are still monsters here."
With effort that felt borderline impossible, Zodac grabbed Kogetsu and planted its tip into the floor. Using it like a cane, he dragged himself upward. His injured leg screamed in protest, but he ignored it, biting down and forcing his weight forward anyway.
Conviction burned faintly in his eyes.
"By the time I'm done," he thought grimly, "I'd better be at least level thirty."
He turned toward the third cave.
Dark. Narrow. Silent.
He stretched his arm out, blood dripping from his fingers.
"Hate Reaction."
The red wave surged forward, flooding into the cave like a signal flare.
For a split second—
Movement.
Then chaos.
Bats erupted from the darkness in a violent swarm, screeching wildly as they poured past him. Small. Brown. Red eyes glowing faintly as they scattered in every direction.
"Tiny bats…?"
Zodac staggered back, raising his arm instinctively.
"…No."
A chill crawled up his spine.
"Something's wrong."
Then it came.
A sound so sharp it felt solid.
EEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH—!
The sonic force slammed into him like a hammer.
Zodac was lifted off his feet and hurled backward across the cavern, smashing into the far wall with a bone-rattling impact.
Blackness swallowed him whole.
—
He came back slowly.
Sound returned first—a dull ringing that drowned out everything else. Then light, blurred and greenish, bleeding into his vision.
"W—where… am I…?"
His words slurred.
Then a massive shadow eclipsed the light.
Zodac's eyes snapped open just as a gigantic bat swooped down toward him, wings spread impossibly wide.
He rolled aside on pure instinct.
The creature's screech detonated against the wall behind him, stone fracturing under the pressure.
It rose back into the air—and the smaller bats moved with it.
A swarm.
"…So it leads them."
Zodac reached for RAYGUST—
And froze.
His hand was soaked in blood.
"What—?!"
Heart pounding, he pressed his palm to his abdomen.
More blood.
Hot. Wet.
"I'm… bleeding…"
Fear surged—cold and sharp.
Another screech.
No time.
"Hectogon!"
The shields formed just in time as a bat slammed into them, cracks spreading instantly. Zodac forced himself forward, collapsing onto one knee as he stabbed it through.
"They won't come down," he gasped. "I can't reach them… and I'm going to bleed out."
His breathing became ragged.
"But I won't give them the satisfaction."
A memory surfaced—voices, laughter, shame.
"That I'm scum. Worthless. A coward."
His grip tightened.
"I won't die like that."
His eyes hardened.
"I CAN'T DIE—NOT HERE. NOT NOW!"
An idea sparked.
Crazy.
Desperate.
Perfect.
He ran.
Leapt—
And created a Hectogon beneath his foot.
Another.
Another.
He climbed the air itself, smashing through the swarm mid-jump, blade swinging wildly. Blood sprayed everywhere as bats fell screaming.
Zodac stood atop a larger shield, chest heaving, cutting down anything that came close.
Until the sky screamed again.
The giant bat dove.
"Hectogon—!"
The sonic wave shattered the shields instantly.
Zodac was thrown back, crashing hard to the floor.
He barely moved after.
Coughing violently, blood spilled from his mouth.
"I guess… this is it."
His vision blurred. One eye refused to open.
"I don't want to die like this…"
His chest rose weakly.
"I wanted… to fall fighting the Abyss…"
The system flickered.
(Purest Form of Mana)
He laughed quietly.
"…Figures."
"Well… no choice then."
His vision darkened.
"Let's see—"
"…what's left of me."
His lips parted.
"Dr—ain…"
And the cavern held its breath.