Chapter 365: The Ruins (Part Three)

Tentacles. 

They were everywhere. 

Now I understood why there wasn't even the speck of dust in this place. 

I understood why there were no bodies, no bones, no clothes. 

Everything was dead and everything was consumed. 

"Stay behind me at all times." I stood in the front. "I'll take care of this."

"Wait, we're not running away?" The girl said, oddly confused and slightly panicked. 

"Who runs away after coming this far?"

Anyway, I held the remnants of the mystic blade with one hand and my knife with the other and casually walked ahead. This place was kind of dark, so both glowed. 

My torch kind of lighted up everything on the floor, so I could clearly see the tentacles down there, but still, I had to keep a very sharp eye on the flying ones. 

The tentacles swung around and tried to attack me. I just cut them. 

That was it. I cut them.

I cut them and walked ahead. 

Nothing more and nothing less. 

The white liquid was actually acidic and it was burning my skin, but I didn't stop.

Every time a tentacle got close to us, the girl shrieked. The torch in her hand wiggled around but she didn't quite drop it. 

She was too much of a wuss when it came to actual attacks and all that. Was she seriously a knight?

Wait, wasn't she scared stiff the last time I saved her and before that too? 'Then what the hell was that show she put on in the goblin stage?'

Well, who cared? 

Slash!

Slice!

Thrust!

This thing was strong and the vines were very vigorous. But there was just one problem. 

I didn't care. It tried to grab my arms and legs on several occasions, but I wasn't stupid enough to let it. 

SLASH!

And it couldn't really do much without actually grabbing me either. 

I walked closer and closer to the plant monster in the center of the room. A typical large plant- the size of an elephant. There was a massive moving red eye in the middle of the plant- reminding of the fun times I had on the island back in the pirating days. Well, I nearly died at the time, so maybe it wasn't that fun?

This was probably the same species of monster from that island though. 

But- I sped up and ran straight for the monster, digging my broken sword through its eye. 

A mild wound. I needed a bigger sword. 

Or at least something that wasn't broken like this. 

Even the purple liquid from its eye was corrosive and now it tried to attack me like crazy, finally grabbing my left arm. But I was already this close. And the tentacles just weren't strong enough to hold me. 

Tear!

I used my other hand to cut any and every other tentacle that was coming for me. More liquid, more burns. 

And this thing was already in the process of dying. The skin was falling apart and its vines were kind of wrinkly. It had probably outlived its lifespan. And with no fresh source of food and nutrients. It couldn't really fight for long. 

Then how about- I forced my hand in. And it went in, no trouble. My hand burned. 

But I didn't care about the pain. 

I was again surprised of my strength. I knew I was stronger than before, but this much strength even without Imbuition? 

Screech!

The sound almost hurt my ear, but, pain didn't really bother me anymore. 

"Bravo, Bravo." The voice came from a corner. "I didn't think anyone in this world was strong enough to damage this thing to this extent."

I looked but there wasn't anything there- on first look that was. As I squinted, I saw a vague ghost there. 

"So, you're the knight I'd assume?"

Or more like the ghost of the knight. It wasn't even a proper undead. 

"Kind of?"

But just piercing this thing wasn't killing it. 

Wait, my hand was inside it, right?

I quickly focused and made a condensed ball of light inside it. 

Light and heat started to radiate out. I kept at it and with adequate focus created plasma. 

The trunk started to melt and the tentacles became flaccid. 

Grab!

I made a fist and the plasma exploded. 

The tree also exploded, showering me with all its juices. 

My body burned and I might have charred my arm. It was still holding on, barely. 

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The girl was right behind me, taking shelter but the plant juice had sprayed on her too. And those places were burning. 

"Potion works on you, right?"

I didn't know if it worked on me or not but I didn't have time to experiment. I gave her a potion and took out a skinned raccoon from the ring, ate it at one go. My arm and body recovered. 'This is really is handy.' Apparently as long as I had fresh food, I could survive anything. 

The girl drank the potion and looked awfully relieved. Her body was still steaming. 

The tree had mostly just died. 

But we weren't done here. 

"Get ready for round two."

I glared at the spirit in the corner, which still hadn't moved. 

The tree was dead and its vines were withering. Which meant we didn't have long in this place either. After all, the vines were keeping this place intact. 

"Now, now, easy. As you can see, I'm just a spirit, can't do anything." The voice was kind of on the masculine side. 

"Yeah, I'm not falling for that."

He chuckled. "If you want my treasure, I have conditions." It was transparent at first but as it manifested more and more, it turned dark. Everything apart from its head was covered in darkness and since it was in a corner, I couldn't see much in the first place. 

A malicious spirit. 

"Unfortunately, I'm not in the mood to fulfil your wishes. Not a genie you see."

"You can understand spirits?" The girl whispered. 

I didn't respond. 

"The hell's a genie?" A very manic laughter ensued. "It doesn't matter. Either you listen to me or waste some years trying to find things through the rubble that may not be here. Your wish."

It understood that we didn't have enough time. And it understood that really well. 

"Well, I don't see anything in this room, so that's that. Besides, I'm not really hurting for weapons either. I could always just buy a sword from the cities. But if push really comes to shove-" I pulled out a sword from my ring. A very heavy, dull sword. "I could always just use this." I pointed the sword at the spirit. 

I still couldn't use this sword. It was still heavy for me, even now. And its edge was still dull. 'I'm still not good enough?'

"The hell is that thing?" His voice shook. 

"Ashirnae's sword. I'm sure you've heard of it? The Mythic sword?"

I could see the spirit visibly grit his teeth. Most of its body was kind of pixelated. But I could make out the face. A very sad face, with a distinct jawline. 

He almost grinned. "Searched it for twenty years of my life. Never made it." He laughed haughtily. "And now I see it after all these years? Fate's really cruel." He sighed. 

"Yeah, I know. But you're dead."

"I'm well, aware of that." He sighed. "I just want you to free me. I'm not asking too much you know." It sulked. 

Well, that was rare for a spirit to do. And it gave up rather easily too.

Wait, I never really met a second spirit anyway. 

I sighed. "And how does one do that?"

Now that the tree was dead, most of its branches and vines were falling off one by one. Letting in, some streaks of sunlight, illuminating this place. 

It also signaled this place was about to crumble. 

"Holy magic. That broken sword you carry, is holy, isn't it?"

If it just wanted to move on, then that was fine by me. 

"I suppose. Since you were here for about two thousand years you know what happened to the corpses and all that, right?" 

"Well as you'd guess this thing devoured everything. In the old days someone must have brought this as a gift for the king or something and this thing ended up going rouge and killing everything? Though that'd be just a guess." 

Well, it had nothing to do with me. But I had a feeling this was done by the emperor. 

'Not even leaving behind corpses, huh?' Though I hated to admit it, he did a thorough job. 

"Close your eyes for a minute," I said to the girl. 

"What!" The girl fired back. "Wha-" 

"You want me to punch you and make you faint?"

"I'll pass." She closed her eyes, reluctantly. 

I focused and made a holy ball, throwing it at the spirit. The girl didn't know I could use Holy and she couldn't understand our conversation, meaning, I had to be fast. 

A sharp white light enveloped him. "Search the fourth room from the left: there should be a brick slightly angled." And he started fading. "And thank you. It gets rather lonely after a few centuries." He chuckled. "I would have liked to at least touch that sword though. shame this body doesn't can't touch."

Uh-huh.

He was gone, not a trace. Not even dust. 

Sigh. 

But that was done. 

We were done. 

"You can open your eyes now."

The girl opened her eyes and looked around. "What now?" And yet, she didn't bother asking me questions about what happened here or how I could speak all that.

"The fourth room. Let's go there."

She did look at me suspiciously but even now, she didn't question me.

'Just desperation isn't enough.'

She was probably plotting something else.

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