Everything was so dark and desolate.

All the thoughts that were filling my mind, those whispers that haunted me, and everything I cared about were far away—even my existence.

This sensation was neither cold nor strange or eerie, despite being so close to death.

Peaceful and warm, like being under a tree on a sunny spring day, not too hot or too chilly, just the appropriate temperature. Furthermore, the touch of a cold, peaceful wind on your skin purges away all the burdensome, making them forgotten for now and forever. I am sure this is the absolute delight that anyone would desire.

I was there, and not at the same time.

I could still feel the bond tying me to life with each breath I took. Whenever I drew a breath, that connection shone brighter, radiating warmth across my whole body.

And, as if this was my sole goal, developing that bond was all I could think about.

The more I tasted this pleasure, the more it dragged me to its depths, making the connection stronger than before. Away from all the pain, misery, and everything I hated, I would gladly accept to spend the rest of my remaining life under this tree, in this environment.

But...

[SIXTH WAVE IS STARTING WITHIN 3 MINUTES]

Fate already had other plans for me.

As I breathed out to empty my lungs, the focused Qi circulation in my body stopped, allowing my senses to return to me again. Again, through my eyelids, the bright artificial light of this place oozed into my retina, accelerating my adaptation span to the daylight.

After fighting for hours with Imps, doing some meditation felt like I had slept for ten hours. Honestly, I don’t even know when was the last time I had a normal sleep after finding meditating. It took the place of sleeping. No, I let it take its place.

Why? Because it helps me in cultivation progress, strengthens me?

No. Indeed, I’m not using it for any of these. Let alone its benefits to my cultivation. I’m doing it just to escape the nightmares that welcome me whenever I close my eyes.

Maybe I’m just a coward who doesn’t want to face himself? Yes, perhaps I am. But rather than living in this life’s cruelty, I’d rather live in this fake reality where I can find peace, whether be named cowardness or braveness.

Is it healthy doing this? Probably not, but when did such things become a problem for me? Let me answer, never.

“Whatever...” I decided it was enough of questioning myself for today and got on my feet to be ready for the next wave.

*Crack!*

Neck, legs, and arms. Moving my stiffened limbs made faint crackling sounds. Eventually, I reached out to my inventory to grab my armor, as time would run out in a few minutes.

Only with a thought, wholly cleaned of all the blood, a helmet appears from nothingness between my two palms. It shimmered while reflecting the light. As inventory accepts nothing living, and blood is made from cells, I can clear my armor without putting any effort. Briefly, I’m using it as a cleaning service in my own way.

I held the helmet for a split second as my eyes lingered on its surface. It would’ve looked brand-new if it hadn’t been for the battle marks that spread across its metallic surface.

Whether damaged or not, it was still usable.

And the word ‘usable’ was enough for me to equip my armor.

...

...

...

[WAVE IS STARTING WITHIN 59 SECONDS]

As a final touch, I had less than a minute when I gird my sword. Now, all ready for the battle, I started waiting.

“Stats...” I commanded with a low voice to check my stats for the last time.

[NAME: Leon]

[LEVEL: 20 (16,770/30,000)]

[HP: 986/1070]

[MP: 830/960]

[Qi: 900/1000]

[STRENGTH: 162 [+18] : 180]

[AGILITY: 162 [+17] : 179]

[VITALITY : 103 [+4] : 107]

[INTELLIGENCE : 93 [+3] : 96]

[INNER ENERGY: 83 [+17] : 100]

[CURRENT TRIAL-72]

[ATTRIBUTE POINTS: 0]

[SKILL POINTS: 0]

“It seems I’m ready...” I completed checking the stats before my eyes swerved away onto the countdown again.

[SIXTH WAVE IS STARTING WITHIN 3 SECONDS]

[]

[]

[]

[!!]

Suddenly the brimming light of creation appeared from nothingness to create something alive. This time the light concentrated on a single figure, differing from the previous wave.

While my eyes were surveying the light, I tried to see what it was creating, though I knew it was impossible. Yet, just looking at the figure forming in the light was enough to understand that this wasn’t an opponent I had seen before.

A new enemy I hadn’t faced before.

When I looked below, I realized I was unknowingly squeezing the Torchlight’s hilt out of response to my excitement. My grip around the handle was overly firm, creating a squeaking sound.

However, I didn’t have time to inspect it carefully since the light began to fade in silence.

And this meant only one thing: the creation was finished.

When the light faded completely, the figure’s true appearance unfolded before my eyes.

The first thing that struck me was two emerald red eyes sheltering vertical pupils, similar to those seen in carnivores, were fixated on me. Despite all the light, the two crimson eyes still managed to shine distinguishably. Nevertheless, her eyes somehow conjure up the ones of Imps. Maybe they are related or something like that, but who cares? They are still beautiful... and probably deadly.

However, I figured her eyes weren’t the only thing that made her spectacular. Her head—it wasn’t one of a human’s; it was a snake’s. I wasn’t an animal expert, nor was I a big admirer of documentaries. Yet, anybody who lived on the surface of Earth could know this head shape. It was a king cobra’s head standing erect, with its characteristic hood that extended to both sides.

Her head was supported by a shoulder of a humanoid body, which connected her arms to her body. And, as far as I can tell, it is the only thing that distinguishes her from being entirely a snake.

Her fingers, ending with claw-like nails, were clasped around a weapon—a double-bladed glaive. Her posture suggested that she knew how to use it well.

As for her lower body, in place of her legs, she possessed a snake’s lengthy body.

Though not as shiny as her eyes, golden scales covered most of her body, calling up an unending desert’s image in my mind with the way they brim even under this artificial light. She wasn’t full of muscles, but one could realize she had enough under her golden scales, befitting her figure.

The light placed her considerably closer than the Imps I faced in the previous wave, with barely fifteen meters between us. The light in her eyes didn’t belong to a mindless creature; it belonged to a hunter—a natural predator.

We didn’t attack each other directly. She inspected me, and I did the same as we circled around each other. I knew I couldn’t just fight with her as I did with weak creatures such as Imps. And judging from her movements, she knew this too.

My sword was already unleashed from its sheath, waiting to be used.

‘As luck would have it Miss Whatever, I believe I am already one step ahead in observing an opponent.’ A smile followed my thought.

“Analyze...”

[Desert Lamia Lv.23]

[Name: --- ]

[Race: Lamia]

[STR: 186]

[AGI: 182]

[VIT: 115]

[INT: 50]

[IN: 0]

[(At first, Lamias were known for being a peaceful people that lived in a variety of settings and were devoted to the goddess they adored. At least peace persisted until the Great Demonic War when their deity joined with the demons. Their race was cursed by the gods and other races upon losing the conflict. Being considered as nothing more than monsters, their species were hunted to extinction, with just a few of them surviving on the surface of the planet. And excluding those who managed to live in the world, the vast majority of their species were sent to hell, never to return. Despite their resemblance to Nagas, their cultural and social frameworks are vastly distinct.)]

“Cursed, huh?” Torchlight spun in my palm as my muscles tensed, ready to be launched whenever I wanted like a trigger waiting to be pulled off.

Like my body, my sword took a stance too, pointing at the Lamia with its tip.

“At least we have one thing in common!” Releasing all the tension gathered in my legs, I burst out like an arrow from a bow. A war had to be fought sooner rather than later, so I jumped right in and started by myself.

I saw sparkles in the air the second after our blades collided, followed by another group of sparkles.

I already knew this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, but when our blades touched, I literally experienced it by all means. My shoulders ached and ached as they carried the weight of her immense power against mine. However, they still had a long way to go before they gave up, and it wasn’t like I couldn’t bear this much pain.

As we waged a never-ending war for supremacy, one attack after another was launched against the other. The strength behind all the slashes was enough to tear a normal in half.

Whenever I blocked one side of her glaive, the other side followed, frequently from below—where it’s hard to dodge.

[-20 HP] [HP: 966/1070]

It was my first encounter with a double-bladed weapon, and her unique assault was doing a favor neither. I was constantly being pushed back, and my armor was ineffective in defending me from minor cuts here and there. Well, I can’t blame my armor, after all, she wasn’t designed for a psychotic suicidal person who keeps dying and has no regard for his or her own safety.

[-20 HP] [HP: 946/1070]

Then again, it appeared that I wasn’t the only one adapting to his opponent. Lamia’s attacks became more lethal as they began to get through my defense, leaving scratches on my armor. Some lucky of them even managed to add more scars to my body.

During the course of her attack, her glaive abruptly shifted direction and moved closer to my head from below. Her glaive swept through the air, creating a small wind in the process. To avoid being sliced open like a watermelon by the blade of her glaive, I shifted my body as swiftly as possible away from her attack’s course.

[-50 MP] [MP: 780/960]

I even activated the [Faster Reflexes].

But... it was too late.

[-100 HP] [HP: 846/1070]

As the world slowed, my helmet sailed into the air with a mark of a deep scar on its surface after being dislodged from its customary position—my head. At least this was what I could see as a great amount of pain scorched the right part of my face.

And then another feeling came to me.

The sky... It was slowly moving away from me.

‘Wait, why the sky is receding?’ I thought for a split second that the sky was receding. Somewhat, it turned out to be just my body. I was so focused on the agony that I completely forgot that I had broken my posture in the attempt to avoid the glaive’s blade.

I was falling.

And I can’t fall. Falling means death. I don’t think that creature would give me a second to get up from the ground.

As my mind understood the situation, it raced to find a way out.

With the help of [Faster Reflexes], I quickly gained the control and twisted my waist to get into a position where my arm could reach and grab the ground.

As soon as my right hand touched the ground, I lowered my elbow while my muscles tensed, gathering strength. Pushing myself against gravity with all my strength without losing a single second, I launched myself back into the air.

The moment my hand lose the connection with the ground, her glaive came, sweeping through the air—probably killing me if I was late to act.

‘Well, what can I say? I’m sometimes just lucky,’ I thought.

A backflip in the air let me restore my balance and distance myself from her.

*Phew!*

The trapped air in my lungs dissipated as soon as I put my foot down back on the white ground. Before I was relieved, the scorching pain returned and hit me again.

“Blood?” It wasn’t until I reached for my face that I saw the blood-splattered white floor. Even though I put my hand on it, the blood was still leaking, dripping onto the floor through my fingers.

That’s when I realized what was going on.

I probably didn’t notice because of the overpowering adrenaline, but where my right eye should have been, there is a puddle of blood flowing from a scar.

‘And sometimes not that lucky...’ I thought.

And my right eye—it’s completely distorted and useless.

“Great! I have only one eye now, “ In an attempt to slow the bleeding and maybe put an end to it, I murmured under my breath while wrapping a rag around my head.

‘One second of negligence cost me my right eye; who knows how much it will cost me if I make the same mistake again?’ A thought passed in my mind.

But, no, It won’t cost anything. Because I won’t make the same mistake again!

When my grip around the Torchlight tightened, the blood was still leaking, dropping onto the white floor and corrupting it to red.

As our gazes locked, I readied myself for a rematch. Her eyes were shining, and so was my sword.

*Inhale*

A big inhalation of air filled my lungs before I hurled myself at her with all of my might.

*Clang!*

Once again, the echoes of our weapons could be heard in the void, just to be followed by another one.

[-50 Qi] [Qi: 850/1000]

I began to use my Qi to keep up with her pace as I felt myself being pushed back. The more my shoulders become heavy, the more I understood the pattern of her attacks.

*Clang*

*Clang*

I attacked, slashed, and moved fore and back while parrying her strikes. Due to my limited eyesight, I was at a distinct disadvantage. And she was probably aware of this, too, as her attacks began coming from where I had poor eyesight.

*CLANG!*

After landing a heavy blow, both of us retreated, circling around each other.

*Cough!*

[SKILL (FASTER REFLEXES) HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED]

The world returned to normal with the end of the [Faster Reflexes] effect.

My chest went up and down rapidly, trying to get more oxygen. It seemed like I was going to run out of energy before she did.

‘I have to end this.’ There was a single thought in my mind. But how?

She doesn’t let me get close to her. And her weapon—that fucking glaive—is longer than the Torchlight. Even without taking into account anything other, her half-snake form is capable of actions that I just cannot.

While she has this many advantages, how am I supposed to win?

Not giving me any time to think, she lunged towards me, flailing her glaive vertically to split me in half.

And this was her first mistake.

“[SPRINT]”

[-50 MP] [MP: 730/960]

[(SPRINT) HAS BEEN ACTIVATED]

[+15 AGI HAS BEEN ADDED TO PLAYER’S STATS TEMPORARILY]

I raised the Torchlight in the middle of her strike with a blocking stance. She didn’t hesitate to increase the force of her hit after seeing this. She understood that if I were to stand in the path of that assault, even if I tried to prevent it with my whole being, I would still be doomed to death.

“And... This is your second mistake,” I, unknowingly, let a grin grow on my face.

Suddenly the Torchlight’s stance changed. Instead of using the Torchlight to protect myself, I had it aim towards the tip of her glaive, where all the power was concentrated.

At that point, the Torchlight didn’t attempt to halt or stop the glaive; rather, it merely pushed the glaive to the side, shifting the strike’s trajectory and landing her blow on the ground.

Right from the beginning, I didn’t feel the need to block it; in fact, I never intended to. All I needed was for her to be convinced of this lie. If you can easily shift the path of an assault, why would you expend effort to prevent it?

And now... The only thing left was to execute a well-thought-out assault that would at the very least help me to bring her to her ‘knees’.

Having the Torchlight’s hilt in my two hands, I sped up my rotation to perform a spinning strike without losing a beat. All of my strength was needed for this strike.

‘Activate [HOT BLADE]’

[-20 MP] [MP: 710/960]

[(HOT BLADE) HAS BEEN ACTIVATED]

[SWORD SHARPNESS (350+40)]

Suddenly, the sword began to glow orange as it ripped through the air, spewing heat into the surrounding air. As soon as her skin and the steel of the Torchlight came into contact—starting from her upper arm, all the way down to her waist—the blade of the weapon slashed through the flesh and bone, creating a clean, obvious crosscut across her chest.

[-4 MP] [MP: 706/960]

[(HOT BLADE) HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED]

Before the stench of burnt flesh filled my nostrils, her arm—detached from her shoulder anymore—dropped to the ground in blood, still clutching the glaive.

*Smack!*

[-50 HP] [HP: 796/1070]

She slammed her tail into me just as I was ready to unleash a new attack, sending me tumbling to the ground several feet away. Well, that counts as a weapon, too, I guess.

“Someone is angry, I guess- “ My words cut in half just as I was going to get up.

Her shadow appeared over my head, and in an instant, her claw-like nails dug into my armor, scratching the skin underneath while trying to make their way into the deeper. Even with only one hand, she was able to crush me to the ground with enough power to feel pain in my rib cage. The pressure on my chest was so strong that all the air in my lungs went out, making the world slower for a split second.

Those red eyes directly looked into mine—the brightness of her eyes appeared to intensify in that brief second. I tried to reach for the Torchlight, but no, my hand was empty; it must’ve slipped out of my hand when she crushed me to the ground. I’m such an idiot!

As soon as I regained my composure and took a big breath, her jaws opened wide to reveal two razor-sharp fangs ready to tear into my flesh. Under the light, her fangs shone even brighter, enhancing their menacing appearance.

There wasn’t even a moment to admire them before her head lunged at me with only one aim—to end me.

*Grasp*

Whatever the reason, I was able to stop the two fangs before they opened holes in my head, whether it was a survival instinct or pure chance. A few inches from my eyes, her teeth exerted more and more pressure to breach my resistance. My arms were going to give up in the end if I couldn’t find a way to get away.

[(SPRINT) HAS BEEN DEACTIVATED]

‘Magic? No, I can’t cast a one in this position. Qi? It will only buy me some more time, but no, in the end, those things will still pierce me.’ My thoughts were racing in search of an answer.

I could feel her fingers scrubbing at my flesh behind my armor, waiting for me to give up completely.

‘Fuck!’ My arms were in fail resisting anymore, letting her fangs go slowly down. Seeing death not far anymore, I closed my eyes, hoping to help to relieve the pain when those things go through my flesh.

...

...

...

“What are you doing, kid?” A man’s voice echoed—a voice I hadn’t heard for a long time.

“Oh-hmm, nothing. Trying to read this,” a little boy’s enthusiastic voice replied.

“But I don’t understand this word. Umm, can you help me?” The kid asked.

“Hmm, let’s see. An encyclopedia? You’re still too young to comprehend these...” The man paused for a second before continuing, “Okay, don’t look at me like that. Here? It says: Since the poison will act nearly instantly, some snakes may cling onto the animal and wait for them to quit fighting. But in certain unfortunate instances, owing to snakes’ fangs’ weak structure, they might get broken when confronting the prey...

...

...

...

‘Broken?’

[-70 Qi] [Qi: 780/1000]

Once I felt the Qi flow throughout my arms, recharging them with strength, my sealed eyelid, which was waiting for death, suddenly opened wide with hope as my face lit up with a broad grin.

“Oi! Do you know what an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth means?” I hollered, grabbing her fangs more tightly.

“It means this!” My hands breached the fangs by forcing them in the opposite way of what they were supposed to be.

*Crack!*

*Crack!*

*CRACK!*

Under such a force, her fangs were unable to resist and snapped from their center. Now the tables had turned, I didn’t stop there. Changing their position in my hand, I used the fangs as a dagger before stabbing them right into her eyes, making a rain of blood shower my face.

“Tss!” She let out a screech before she yanked her fingers away from my chest. Without thinking, she swung her hand from side to side, this time wielding her nails like a weapon. But what can you expect from a blind attack? She missed most of them, and those she didn’t miss, I avoided. It was a hopeless last try, and after this, she will have nothing left to try...

[-50 Qi] [Qi: 780/1000]

*Punch!*

I’d had enough of this game after avoiding her claw blows. I punched her in the jaw, using even more Qi. It was worth the quivering of my arms as this blow knocked her to the left, freeing me from her clutches.

Regardless of the fact that my muscles were screaming in agony, I managed to slowly but steadily lift myself up.

After losing her sight too, she was just randomly swinging her claws around like a kid trying to find his way in darkness.

‘Well, controlled by system or not, their determination to kill me is really unceasing,’ I thought as I picked the Torchlight off the ground and headed toward her.

*Smack!*

Holding the Torchlight over by my shoulders, I carefreely kicked the Lamia to the ground before stomping on her chest, totally immobilizing her. At least, except for her hand, which still tried to attack my leg, sticking up to her life.

Holding its hilt with my two hands, I lifted the Torchlight perpendicularly over my chest to finish this battle finally.

“You fought well... At least I can give you that,” I asserted to her, still struggling under my foot.

After a moment of silence, my blade went down like an executioner’s axe, directly piercing her heart. Her fingers eased their grip on my calf as her breathing became slower and slower, finally letting go of the whole hand.

When her life faded away with the last breath, I removed my sword and put it in the inventory.

And then, a wave of anguish swept over me as the adrenaline drained from my system. That’s when it dawned on me how exhausted I was. My heart was pounding, and my chest was rising and falling rapidly.

Tired, I couldn’t even find the energy to move my fingers; I just let my body fall onto the ground, looking at the sky and thinking about my life...

-CHAPTER 39 END-