As the gladius struck the creature of darkness, Servus 132-X saw his blade shattered into fragments as it touched the creature. Some of the fragments grazed his cheek while the rest of it was scattered into the foul water.

Servus 132-X's heart sank seeing how his blade faired against the creature. His despair started to creep out again, but he remembered what Oyue said. He took a deep breath and with all his might, he swung his buckler right at the monster's face.

It proved to be effective as the buckler reflected the light from his rune before hitting the creature, burning its face in the process. The monster fell on the water writhing in pain, before dispersing into black smoke.

That monster's retreat did not improve his situation. It was only one from the hundreds that had surrounded him. His light flickered and suddenly, the incapacitated Obscurii began to move and put their sights on him.

The first one, whom he thought was their leader was troublesome enough. But with a swarm of them, he knew he's in bigger trouble. Without any hesitation, Servus 132-X surged his exousia to the rune once more. The rune blasted another pulse of blinding light. As this was happening, Servus 132-X lunged towards a stunned Obscuros and with his broken blade, he stabbed the creature with it.

The blade slid without resistance, penetrating the monster's neck. The anomaly didn't bleed, it simply dropped to the foul waters, becoming black smoke. His gamble proved to be effective! With that in mind, Servus 132-X started slashing and stabbing the stunned monsters near him.

Using the rune and buckler, he reflected pulses of light to the blinded monsters while he used his sword on the other. His gambit managed to get him through the stunned swarm of malevolent creatures before him, but it didn't come with a cost.

As he plowed his way through the swarm, his exousia was slowly drained out of him. His sword and buckler became heavier as he pushed through the monsters who were now fighting back. His arms went heavy, cramping and burning in pain with every slash and parry.

His legs hurt as he seared his way through the resisting monsters. The Obscurii's strength was waned after being struck by the pulses of light. However, it was still difficult for Servus 132-X to budge them. It felt like pushing a boulder to the top of a hill.

The light started to flicker, and the monsters were becoming riled up as it slowly dimmed. Their faces glowed from the fading light. The Obscurii, surrounded him and fought back. The ones in front of him started pushing him back, overpowering his weakened body. While the rest held him by the arms and strangled him with their tentacular mouths.

Servus 132-X fell into the foul water with the monsters clawing and biting chunks of him. The creatures had overpowered him with their brute strength and their fear-inducing aura. He knew it would be a gruesome end if he didn't find a way out.

As he struggled, he saw an Obscuros tear some of his flesh off his arm, exposing it to the foul waters. He struggled as the Obscuros from behind tightened its tentacles over his neck. He struggled to breathe as he tried to focus his exousia more to the rune. Again, he felt like his vision was fading, but Servus 132-X was never a quitter.

Finally, it paid off as the light burst again, this time brighter than ever. The monsters were taken aback while some burned and turned into dust. Seizing this opportunity once more, he drew out his pickaxe and stabbed the monster from behind him with it. The sharp side of the tool travelled uncontested towards its throat pinning it down on the ground and transforming it to smoke.

He then ran towards a small crack he noticed at the left side of the pile of bones while the monsters were still stunned. Servus 132-X had no time to pick up his weapons, it's a do or die situation. He squeezed himself through the crack and used to the earth rune to create a barrier and conceal him from the monsters. He did this by placing the earth rune at the corner of slit and activated it.

Then, there was his other gamble—an explosive one. He recalled again the stench inside that cave. It smelled horrendously rotten and flammable. With that in mind, he took a fire rune and threw it on the foul waters on the other side. As his barrier slowly closed on him, he could see the flame start ablaze spreading itself all over the water.

With not a breath to spare, Servus 132-X heard the loudest screeching cries he ever heard until that point—the sound of an explosion. Air and fire blasted all over the place. Luckily for Servus 132-X, there was enough space inside the crack that enabled him to go to a safe distance.

The blast was deafening, Servus 132-X's ear rang after everything was over. He stood inside the dark space of the slit trying to gain his balance back. With no more weapons and with only a few runes left, Servus 132-X must decide his fate.

Some time later, after gaining back his normal hearing he decided to check the scene. He approached the cracked rock barrier that he made using the earth rune. It was still steaming and there were a few embers glowing from the cracks.

The rock felt hot to touch, so he decided to kick it out of his way. He gathered the last ounce of strength he had to knock the barrier out. But as he lifted his leg, his body gave out crashing him into the brittle barrier. The rock crumbled as gravity pushed his body against the rock.

He fell on the warm and steaming ground. The foul waters dried during the explosion. There was no hint of foul stench left in the air. He looked around to check for any Obscuros, but there was none. He stood up, dragging his weakened and injured body back to his feet.

There were no more bones and carapaces lying around. It was replaced instead with a huge aetherium ore a sized of a carriage. The pale blue glow of the ore caught Servus 132-X's eye. His sacrifice had finally paid off, he and his comrades can now be free!

He limped towards the ore, touching it with his bare hands. It was cool, a stark contrast to the warm environment around it. Suddenly the ore glowed brighter. Servus 132-X averted his gaze on the ore and squinted his eyes to protect his sight, but as he turned away, the sack on his hip that contained the ore glowed along with it.

The light burst into the cave, covering it with its pale blue glow. It ended as soon as it began, Servus 132-X adjusted his eyes to the sight of the glowing chamber. He looked around once again, saw the glowing crystals poking out from the ground. The cave suddenly turned into a treasure trove of aetherium. With ores poking out of the walls, ceiling, and ground.

He turned his gaze back to the gigantic ore and noticed the hilt of his blade lodged into the ore. He pulled it out without any resistance. He was surprised when he saw what happened to the blade.

His gladius was mended back to its original shape but with an oddity. The blade was now imbued with aetherium. The aetherium was patterned like veins spread across the blade, pulsating the pale blue glow. The energy rippled inside of it like water flowing from a stream. It was beautiful and mesmerizing to look at, but sadly, Servus 132-X had no time for such wonder.

He tucked the sword on his left hip and exited the cave, limping his way to freedom. He came back the path he walked earlier. He passed the cosmos-like path, into the area where the huge stone wall was, and then crawled again into the small opening that he discovered.

He lit another light rune and proceeded back to where the rope was. He smiled tiredly as he approached the rope. His mind filled with joy as he could finally experience a taste of freedom in this world. As he limped his way to the rope, something passed the corner of his eye.

He took out his blade and hovered the light around. There was no one there but him. The thought of those monsters might have made a toll in his mind. After all, those horrible creatures had messed up his psyche. He only survived thanks to an unwelcomed support from Oyue and now, he is in her debt.

He still didn't trust the self-proclaimed deity. His heart didn't want to trust her kind anymore. He was hurt by the likes of her before, what could possibly be the difference now.

His eyesight began to blur. Servus 132-X shook his head to get his sight back to normal, gladly it worked. He became light-headed and his body felt heavy. It looked like his almost out of exousia, and it had finally taken a toll on his body.

He strode faster to reach the rope. With only a few steps away from his freedom, Servus 132-X reached for the rope. But before he could grab it, a cold hand grabbed him by the shoulder. He turned around and to his surprise, it was an Obscuros

It smiled at him before throwing him away from the rope. He landed on the murky ground splashing water all everywhere. The impact caused him to lose his light rune and before he can find it or pick one from his satchel, the grotesque creature dragged him back into the cave—back into the darkness and into the void.