CHAPTER 55: TRAUMA

*Crunch!*

’I may really become addicted to these fruits. It tastes so good.’

I ate a soul fruit to restore my soul essence as I looked at the results of my small experiments.

A wolf’s soul shaking aggressively on the ground, with parts of a knight’s armor attached to it.

A minotaur with the lower body of a knight.

A knight with the lower body of a minotaur.

The aftermath of trying to link a will with a soul, which resulted in a small explosion.

Some failed attempts to merge souls and wills with items.

A turtle with a squid on its back instead of its shell.

The shared thing between all those poor things was the black soul threads that were used to tie them together.

’Maybe I went a little far...’

Since I started my experiments, I have tried everything from the information I got and some of the threads’ applications in the Grimoire I got earlier.

And despite the chilling scene in front of my eyes, there were some successions.

I could now easily link 2 souls together. I didn’t know what that would give to me, but I did it anyway just in case.

I could link a soul with a physical item, though I could only do it with the knights’ armor.

It turned out that the armor had small amounts of soul essence, which was exactly what I needed to achieve for the soul-bound artifacts. But I didn’t know how to do this yet.

I could easily manipulate my soul and turn it into threads.

And many more cool things.

Nodding on satisfaction, I ate the last bite of the soul fruit then planted the seed inside it in the ground.

I didn’t know if I could grow them here, but there was nothing to lose from trying, so I did it anyway.

The next moment, I returned to my real body.

"Why would you choose the healing potions! The water artifact looked better."

"My control improved after drinking that potion, so I felt that the healing potions seemed as the best choice."

"Fuck you!"

The first thing I saw was Andrea and Maxwell arguing as usual.

"Oh, you done? Can I see Yuno again?"

Celestina approached me with her bright smile that I started to hate. I opened my mouth, wanting to complain and refuse, but I just sighed and took my soul out.

I couldn’t be blamed. If anyone in my place saw her face he wouldn’t be able to refuse.

Once I materialized on my shoulder, she grabbed me and took me again in her embrace.

"We are ready now. Let’s leave this place." Celestina said as she moved to the golden barrier and removed it.

Then, she took the guiding light and started following the path it was showing.

We moved close to her with Maxwell and I in the front and Andrea on the back. Then after half an hour, we reached the place we came from.

It was branched into 4 paths which we explored 2 from.

The guiding light started rotating slowly until it got fixed on the path on the left.

Seeing the right path, Andrea raised his head in pride. "Told you the left path is the right one, but you never listened."

My lips tugged into a small smile. "Just follow my steps this time, so you won’t end with an arrow in your leg again."

He scratched his head in embarrassment as he followed me.

Suddenly, we found a small chest in our way.

"A treasure?!"

I approached the chest while jumping over a hidden string.

It was a normal wooden chest without a lock, but what grabbed my attention was the soul inside it.

"Stay alert. Something is inside the chest." I warned them before getting closer to the chest.

Slowly and carefully, I opened the chest using my katana as a crowbar.

"Huh?"

We looked at the inside of the chest in confusion. It was filled completely with golden coins and treasures without any traces of monsters inside.

"Maybe it’s hidden inside the gold. Probably a small monster."

I ignored what Maxwell said because it didn’t make sense. The soul was covering the gold not inside it, which was impossible unless...

’Shit!’

My eyes widened in realization. "Step ba—" I tried to warn them and move backward, but I was late.

A tentacle made of flesh came out of the chest and gripped my whole arm.

I covered my arm and body with flames and raised my sword to cut it, but it suddenly pulled me inside, making the upper part of my body inside the chest.

"Arghh!"

Before I could react, the chest closed itself quickly, followed by intense pain.

With my soul’s vision, I saw sharp teeth coming out from the chest before closing and piercing my body.

"Shit shit shit!"

Everyone rushed towards me, trying to figure out a way to help.

Celestina gave me a barrier and kept healing me, stopping the chest from cutting my body in half.

Maxwell put his mace at the chest’s mouth and used all his strength to decrease the bite force.

Andrea made a water axe and began cutting the chest while trying to avoid my body.

And for me, I returned to my humanoid form and put my claws inside the chest.

I grabbed the chest’s soul and pulled it out with all my strength while trying to endure the pain.

Eventually, I took its soul out of its body and stored it inside the abyssal pocket before it could rest in peace, promising myself to make that thing suffer.

[You got x10 explosive coins]

I focused on my body as they took me out of the dead chest’s body.

I stared in terror and shock at the bloody middle of my body that was too close to get cut completely.

"Don’t panic, I will heal you now. The pain will go soon." Celestina said with a slightly shaking voice as she cast her healing spells while Maxwell and Andrea surrounded us.

After some minutes, with the help of her healing and some artifacts I was wearing, my body got healed completely as if I didn’t get chewed by a living chest.

With shaking steps, I got close to the chest and tried to store it inside my abyssal pocket, but unfortunately, it didn’t work.

It meant that the chest was its real body unlike the Knights.

Andrea stood beside me and patted my shoulder. "We should be more cautious. Next time, stab first and examine second."

I nodded to him then sat on the ground to rest for some time.

Maxwell tried to find anything useful inside the chest but the flesh tentacle was the only organic thing on it.

Celestina stored the chest on her ring them waved for me to lead the way.

Following the light again, I did my best to not think about the chest.

I couldn’t look at the chests the same way after that.

All I wanted now was to see Braham again. Because judging by the chaos in my head, I probably got a trauma.

’Just wait. Once we find a good place to rest, I will torture your fucking soul!"

As I promised in my mind, I wondered what master Kaito was doing now.