CHAPTER 58: SMILE

I stood in a fighting stance and waited for the knight to charge at me, but then I got a sudden realization.

"I... I can’t leave Andrea’s soul."

All those knights were former humans’ souls without bodies, and yet, they ended up as corrupted monsters.

I didn’t know what caused this, I didn’t know if it was there, and didn’t know if it was a part of the challenge or not, but I couldn’t risk it.

Additionally, he could reincarnate if I released his soul in Eldoria, and even if he couldn’t — it was better to rest in peace inside your world than this place.

"Go! I will cover you." Maxwell shouted as he threw an egg at the knight to distract it.

I didn’t wait and merged with the darkness in an instant.

Unfortunately, the knight noticed me and threw a barrage of green flaming projectiles at me.

*BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!*

Stone walls suddenly materialized in front of the projectiles, causing explosions in impact, and what passed through them got blocked by golden barriers.

The next moment, I reached Andrea’s... corpse.

I emerged out of the darkness and looked at his kneeling soul.

A humanoid soul, deep blue like the ocean, and had a small river covering his neck like a scarf.

He looked at me with an indifferent face, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"I’m sorry." I gritted my teeth and put him in my abyssal pocket.

Now that his soul was safe, I turned my head towards the knight.

It was swinging its hammer like a tornado, but Maxwell blocked and dodged most of the attacks.

I covered my legs in fire and ran towards them, then with a burst of flames, I leaped towards the knight with a high speed.

I raised my sword above me, then swung vertically aiming at the knight’s head.

*TANG!*

"Wha—!"

The sword didn’t even scratch the helmet. The knight was completely unfazed by my attack.

Seeing how the sword was useless completely against it, I held it in my mouth and gripped the knight’s head with my hands, then started decaying it while using my soul to devour it.

All of a sudden, the knight’s body got covered in green flames that reached me in an instant.

’K҉҉I҉҉L҉҉L҉ ҉K҉҉I҉҉L҉҉L҉ ҉K҉҉I҉҉L҉҉L҉҉’

Deep, chilling voices started echoing in my head. The green flames broke my barrier in an instant and began to cover both my body and soul.

Immediately, I jumped out of the knight’s head and landed far away.

Almost instantly, Celestina cast a holy light that made the flames vanish as if they never existed, but the marks on my body and the pain said otherwise.

"Maxwell! The fire is corrupted!" Celestina shouted loudly, warning Maxwell who was in close combat with it.

The flesh in my body didn’t literally burn, but turned into rotten flesh instead, my soul barely got affected, and the voices in my head were probably a sort of corruption, but my trait resisted it.

Celestina cast another spell, but it only healed my arms, legs, and vital injuries.

The realization hit me instantly. ’She is saving her mana, we can’t afford to waste it now.’

I inhaled deeply and decided to fight differently. If I couldn’t fight directly, then I would just have to use long range attacks.

I wasn’t like the great Exalted that could use magic, but even a cultivator like me had some tricks.

I took my soul out of my body, then made it attack the knight in the parrot form.

The knight noticed me and raised one of its hands to catch me, but suddenly—

*BOOM!*

A big egg hit its hand and exploded, giving me enough time to reach its head.

I flew to its head like an arrow and passed through it immediately, but something was stuck in my mouth.

It was a will.

I took its will out of the core directly.

The knight’s aura started to weaken with each passing second, giving Maxwell an advantage.

I took a random spear out of my ring and covered it in flames. I was ready to throw it, but just then, I saw a scene that made my eyes open wide.

The knight dodged one of the eggs and raised its hammer to the sky, then the hammer and its arms started gleaming with green flames.

The knight wasn’t just putting all the remaining power of its core in one attack, but there were also flaming hammers materialising all around the place.

A tier 2 mana core couldn’t do something like that. It was tier 3!

’Shit! I should have aimed for the mana core.’

Maxwell covered his body with stone and took a shield out of his ring.

Celestina cast multiple layers of barriers around us and tried to use her light on the hammers, but they were too many for her.

I threw the spear towards the knight while making my soul target the mana core.

But I was too late.

The knight slammed its hammer on the ground, and following it, the green hammers fell like rain.

*BOOM!BOOOM!BOOM!BOOM!*

It was as if hell fell upon me.

The impact sent my flying until I crashed on a stone pillar with corrupted flames covering my entire being.

My soul got destroyed completely, crushed under the hammers’ rain.

’K҉҉I҉҉L҉҉L҉ ҉K҉҉I҉҉L҉҉L҉ ҉K҉҉I҉҉L҉҉L҉҉’’K҉҉I҉҉L҉҉L҉ ҉K҉҉I҉҉L҉҉L҉ ҉K҉҉I҉҉L҉҉L҉҉’

My corruption resistance was barely keeping me sane with all the voices burning inside my head.

*Crack!*

A strange sound echoed through the place, soft at the start, but then it got repeated again and again.

*CRACK!*

Suddenly, the entire floor got shattered, leaving me falling into the darkness.

*BAM!*

My back hit the hard ground, worsening my already immense pain.

*Thud*

I heard a sound far away. When I turned my head, what I saw filled me with anger and hatred.

But with those emotions, came another one I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Fear.

The knight stood straight with its head looking down, holding its broken hammer with 2 hands on its right, while the other 2 were broken.

I glanced at the place that the knight was looking at, then my body started shaking aggressively.

Maxwell was laying on the ground in a miserable state. One of his arms was missing, while the other was rotting with a rapid speed.

All skin that once covered his body had melted as if it never existed, replaced with green flames that were still burning him.

His black eyes weren’t there anymore, leaving only hollow sockets leaking blood.

"Cough... cough."

He coughed aggressively, blood coming out of his mouth.

*Tak!*

The knight took a step forward.

"No... cough."

Using a small part of my soul, I started crawling towards it.

"Stop!"

The latest explosion threw me far away, my speed wasn’t enough to reach them, my mental power wasn’t enough to use my boots, and my soul essence wasn’t enough to materialize completely.

I could only crawl while shouting pointlessly, hoping that any miracle would happen and save him.

"Please...stop."

*Tak!Tak!*

I watched in horror as the knight got closer and closer to him.

"Brat... STOP!" Maxwell shouted while coughing blood, making me stop crawling.

The knight finally reached him and raised its hammer, but suddenly, a small tornado threw Maxwell towards it.

He wrapped his remaining arm around the knight’s neck and started gleaming with an intense light that lightened the entire place.

"Wha—!"

Suddenly, Maxwell opened his mouth: "You are coming with me... Let the world... witness... my last explosion."

As he finished speaking, he looked at me and... smiled.

More than half his teeth were missing, and his lips were trembling aggressively, yet.....

It was the brightest smile I had ever seen — and probably the brightest smile I would ever see in my life.

*BOOOOM!*