Chapter 354 Failure
The experience was not a lovely one. This was the second time he was absorbing life force, Raith could already tell this was something he would not be doing so damn well. It was pure torture. n.)O-.v(/e--l//b./I.(n
It was like hard liquid was forcing its way into his veins, every vein in his body hurt so much, like his blood was flowing backward, blackened, and swelled. And this time, it was even worse compared to before. In as much as he could steal the life force of both monsters and humans alike, perhaps there was something about stealing the life force of monsters.
There had to be something because it didn't hurt as much as this when he was stealing the assassin's life force.
He grimaced and ground his teeth to endure the prolonged pain, while the monster struggled endlessly to release itself from Raith's hardened grip which was close to impossible. Raith's strength was leaving rapidly, but the life force he was being supplied with not only blessed him with a longer life but more vigor.
Soon the monster's extra hands began to crack like glasses, in a moment, one of them shattered, making it bear that they were created out of the art of energy manifestation.
The monster's struggle reduced after the first hand shattered, Raith knew its strength was probably diminishing. He was glad this was going to go well. He didn't think of fighting this way, in fact, he never wanted to. But if he was going to have a chance at defeating the other monster in this gate then he had no choice.
He had to throw away the bit of humanity he had left in him.
Raith gritted his teeth again, this time not because of the pain but because of how shameful this situation appeared to him. He was stealing the life force of a monster, it was not enjoyable but still, it was a great deal, he would get stronger and live longer.
On a second thought:
'Why should I feel pity or ashamed? Weren't they the ones that first invaded humans'
His brows creased to a frown as he told himself for a fact. He stared flames into the pitiful monster's eyes and tightened his grip on its head, almost as if he could shatter its skull in due moment.
Raith spared no pity toward the monster even though it gasped and began to wriggle roughly. It took time but the changes were beginning to settle in: the monster's skin was beginning to get dry... slow, but progressive.
Suddenly a loud thunderclap soared across the sky, darkening the entire place in an instant.
Raith couldn't help but be distracted, he looked up without losing the strength of his grip. The clouds were becoming more consumed in darkness and shadows were being thrown over the entire landscape.
"What is this?" Raith muttered.
[I suspect it is here]
"The true master of the gate?"
[Yes]
Raith's hands on the monster waxed stronger. If the gate master itself has decided to grace the stage with its presence then it acknowledges that Raith is a potential danger and that this guy here is going to die for real in his hands.
With another round of thunderclaps, followed by a fast flash, the stone monk appeared in front of Raith. His body, made of stone, like a statue, he stood expressionless.
He had a rosary over his neck and his hands were put behind his back. The empty stoney eyes glared at Raith with indifference.
'So... this is the monster that killed Li Mingwu...'
Raith could feel the overwhelming pressure the monster exuded, it threatened to throw him off his feet, made his head feel dizzy and even his heart throbbed with panic.
The hand that was holding a sword trembled.
He just stood there, like a statue, indifferent to whatever was happening, it didn't even try to rescue the monster that was dying in Raith's grip.
It just looked at Raith blankly.
'Hey Omnisavant, can you run an appraisal on this guy here?'
[Sure.]
[...]
[Appraisal attempt has been blocked by external influence]
'External influence. Not the monster itself?'
[No, not the monster. An external influence]
Raith's eyes squinted.
'Hey, what does that mean? Someone else is interfering with this gate, this moment?'
[This is a named monster... use godeyes]
Raith's eyes widened the moment he heard Omnisavant's words. His left eye glowed gold for a second or so.
[Name: Eruk]
[Monster race: High Golem]
Raith strained his eyes to see more but that was the best god eyes could do. He couldn't bring out more information about the monster, instead glitches just stabbed his eye making him close it and shy away from his target for a second. That second, however.
Wham!
The monster twirled as it plunged a palm strike into Raith's chest, the gale gently swirling around its fist.
Raith was blasted away by a terrifying speed, a sound that seemed to break the heaven soared out in that moment. It was as if a mighty pillar came crashing down from the sky... to think such a sound was produced because a palm delved into someone's belly.
Raith immediately entered a seizure as he crashed into the clumps of fallen trees, his chest gasped over and over again, blood foamed in his mouth and his eyes were left wide open staring into the nothingness above him. His entire body shook uncontrollably, convulsing.
Yet the monster had no iota of reluctance in its expression. In fact, it didn't seem fazed as it disappeared and appeared above Raith, suspended in the air.
Slam!
It plummeted, causing a tremendous tremor to roll across the ground. Cracks ran like flashes of light, threatening to carve out the entire ground.
However, Raith's body was sturdy enough to block the attack. In a desperate effort to protect itself, his body had shot out of that point, landing and rolling away, soon coming to a stop after crashing against a tilting tree that was stopped from falling by the entanglements of vines that somehow managed to stand tall despite the damnation this place looked like.
He recovered his senses as his body crashed against the tree. A river of blood poured from his mouth as he tried to open it. His chest felt stuffy and hard, every attempt to breathe was a herculean task, like a large rock was placed right in the middle of his chest and he had to lift it with every respiration.
Still, he frowned and slowly got up.
'I can't die here...'
That was the glimmer of hope that shone on his face as he picked himself sluggishly to his feet.
Amazingly, his nice fabric was still intact. As a matter of fact, the clothes had done a great job absorbing a significant amount of the attack. Raith felt a major part of it bounce off, there was no way he would have survived that attack if not for the cloth.
'I guess I have to thank Hana again for this wonderful dress... should o make it out of this place alive'
He promised himself and quickly returned to his reality, or else he wanted to be caught off guard again.
The taciturn stone monk was now looking over to his side, still within the wide crater that had even been created in the ground just a few seconds ago.
It just looked blank. And then—
Whim!
The bastard flashed across the distance with a neckbreak speed. Raith's eyes widened sharply in response and his body, like reflex naturally twisted itself out of the way, the stone monk's clawed hand, whizzed past his eyes as he twirled away, almost shattering the composite of the subtle wind itself.
Raith landed on his feet but ran several steps backward, he flipped into the air and tried his best to land as far back as he could. But as he did, the monster reached his front again–
'How?!'
Before Raith could garner himself, a palm strike from below, ventured onto his jaw. Raith was launched into the air by this attack.
The stone monk followed through, moving like a bolt of fast lightning, it appeared above Raith, and slammed another palm attack on his chest causing him to crash into the ground, creating an overwhelming impact that soared into the dark skies. Raith coughed out blood as he landed.
For a minute, he felt his ears go deaf, his entire senses went numb but made it quick.
The monster began to slowly walk toward him.
Raith quickly shot to his feet even though it was no easy task. It was taking all of himself to keep himself on his feet, and there was no debating if he was to receive one more strike from the monster. He was doomed to die.
'Shit shit shit shit...'
Was this how it was going to end for him?
'Fuck it all, I thought being a ruler would make me so powerful. Why the hell am I still suffering so much?!!'
He gritted his teeth in anger as the words occurred to him. He had thought he'd be paramount and unbreakable the moment he became a ruler but what was this?
He was being left at the mercy of a monster.
Raith gritted his teeth.
It was a hard thing to accept but this was the time to come to terms with it.
'No matter how much I try, I'm just a failure ain't I?'
Raith bowed his head, disgusted at himself. The stinging words of how his father would curse at him rang across his head, no matter how much he tried, he just couldn't get it right.
Did he get pompous after the abyss filled him with so much power and excitement? But now that all that was gone, only one reality stood before Raith.
That of a failure, he was a failed hero through and through and would never be able to amount to the expectations of anyone. He was bound to bring disappointment and attract hatred from everyone, he would never be a good person, or acquire great strength to make a difference in the world.
Because he was a failure.
This reality dawned on Raith, but to his greatest surprise, it awakened his most inherent ability.
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