Chapter 1: Another The Last Stand

ShaaAAaAaa!!!

The glacial winds were torn apart while a sharp, loud sound resounded across the empty and dark world. A storm swept by chasing after something. The storm was persistent, closing in from all but one side. It was as though it wanted to engulf the prey.

The prey twisted and turned, and the paths it took were ever-changing but the storm was slowly circling in from all sides.

The ground trembled, the air quivered, and the atmospheric Qi was thrown into chaos. Hundreds of thousands of fine Qi threads, finer than even hair, tangled together to sew a cage around Inero-ie.

Qi threads left Inero-ie’s body, spreading around to combat the web that was being built to cage him in. Despite all his efforts though, the distance kept shrinking. The only path open was straight ahead and his Qi threads gushed forth like a wave and his focus sharpened.

Observations of his surroundings arrived as the Qi threads spread.

The Qi threads disappeared without any warning as they were suddenly snapped off. It did not happen at the same time, there was a delay but his attention was divided among too many things delaying his response.

The hardened ice trembled. The intensity of the vibrations was quickly rising and it forced him into making a choice.

The decision made, he was decisive. His steps were firm and his breaths stable. He sucked in the oxygen and started running despite the increasing exhaustion.

Most of the Qi threads came back. He was already surrounded by all the other sides, he knew that, so he withdrew the Qi threads thereby reducing his mental load. Despite the years of improvement that it had undergone, the spell formula controlling the Qi threads failed in this place. The rate at which he lost them was too great and with a big fight looming around the corner he could not be wasteful with the Qi.

Suddenly the Qi threads became more active, their movements became more twisted, more different, more alive. He kept losing them but with him manually controlling the Qi threads, he learned a bit each time they were devoured. He quickly mapped out the places from where the loss started.

The Qi threads kept on being created and they were, at the same time, constantly devoured. He kept experimenting while thinking of all kinds of things he had come across before, there had to be something that specifically fit what he currently faced.

‘Qi-sucking grass!’

‘Most likely a grassland– damn…'

'But a good place to fight nonetheless…'

Though consisting of various sub-species, the qi-sucking grass all possessed one particularly annoying habit, they like growing in big patched. What it meant was very simple: there was a massive field full of these and he would be forced to enter it. Though seemingly a disaster, it was actually a ray of hope that may allow him to escape the coming storm.

‘But I need to be even quicker.’

He slowed the speed for a moment, his Qi flowed into the frozen ground and spread through the ice, morphing and shifting it until ice heels were attached to his soles. They elevated him from the ground, keeping him away from the reach of the crystalline culms of the grass.

It took but a moment to adjust to the sudden increase in height.

He skated through the unending grassland. It was a dangerous place. All these plants needed was a single opportunity and they would shuck his Qi dry until he was nothing but a living husk. Despite the danger, he ventured in because he was only a single person. The army chasing after him was made up of thousands of monsters and specters. At least most of the monsters would be seriously handicapped in this field.

‘But how to deal with the specters?’

Even compared to other places, this grassland was especially desolate. It did not surprise him. This world was too cruel, and too harsh making survival a difficult and harsh prospect. Just like the grass-field he stood in. Though it would be better to call it a death field. Anything that wandered in here, there was little chance of it coming out alive.

The chilling wind blew, and flying within the winds were small and fragile thorns made of frozen moisture. They smashed against his armor. He skated through the worsening atmosphere but came to a stop as his Qi threads, flying through the air, informed him of the storm entering these fields.

As they grew closer a new type of battle started. The qi threads clashed in the air. For him it was effortless as his spell formula neutralized the opposing qi threads, hijacking them, and looting their data as well as passing back incorrect information.

‘Just like I thought.’

With the specters at the forefront, the hoard gave him a chase. He could not continue running. He did not know when he would be surrounded from all sides. Running would do nothing more than deplete his Qi reserves no matter how tightly efficient his usage was. With the settlement being at least four years away there was no help out here. He could only depend on himself just like he always had. 

He just needed to get rid of them all but that was not possible this time. The numbers chasing after him were not that much of a problem. The problem was that he was exhausted, that he had nowhere to run. He knew it would be impossible to escape but he did not feel any sadness or anxiety. Rather, he felt the opposite.

He was happy. That was the truth that existed very deep inside. He had found another chance. Another chance where he could die all the while not breaking his promise, so he stopped. His mind was made up and as soon as he stilled, the culms of the grass surrounding him edged closer, crawling paralleled to the ground trying to hide. Before they could crawl up, a piece of ice extended out from the heels and then spun cutting through the grass.

Another large breath. His eyes closed and he gently took off the front of his helmet, swiftly reloaded the solid oxygen pellets, and set the mask back into its place. His body vibrated with pleasure as he breathed in the oxygen.

He was ready. His weapon, an ice rod, multiple times denser than steel, and floating around him were appendages made out of similarly compressed ice. He swung the block, which morphed mid-swing, gaining a sharp blade that would cut through even the grass.

An empty patch, he sat down on raised ice platform, taking out from his storage bag one refined core after another, each filled to the brim with refined Qi. The Qi entered through his hands into his Qi vines, then traveled straight into his heart and then into his core as he skipped on completing the circulation throughout his body. Instantly the result showed as the core trembled but he kept on going. Once, then twice, then thrice, and on and on. Pain spread through his body but he bore through it. He bore the pain even though his blood vessels swelled, on the verge of bursting. He kept going even though his core felt like it was going to collapse.

He could feel it, as it sliced through the air heading towards his head. He would have let it–

‘If only I didn’t make that promise-’

But he had made the promise– the world slowed down. The sounds became clearer, the smells more pronounced. The appendages moved, tips morphing into spikes as they are pierced into the body of a specter, then shifting into blades, spinning. Like a grinder they started spinning, cutting through anything that came in their path. 

Thus, the war started.

One he could destroy without breaking a sweat. Even two, three, ten, even fifty. But there were hundreds while he was only one. He was alone, there was no human within hundreds or thousands of kilometers. There were few foolish enough to leave the safety of the settlement, after all, and even fewer left the Grand Formation.

He swung again, the ice rod morphing, now a halberd. It cut through a monster, slicing its head, and got stuck in another. With the grass weakening them, it was much easier to kill the monsters. Again the ice morphed, the axe blade shapeshifting into that of a spear which he speedily retrieved. The appendages, two of them altered into the shape of a shield, protected him while the remaining two snaked their way through the crowd, hitting the specters.

He felt powerful, an illusion that he always fell into while using this technique. It was fleeting though as his body was a ticking bomb and it was only a matter of time before he would be rendered useless.

They kept coming from all sides and the inevitable happened. He was surrounded. He could feel it. It was the day. He was happy. He had given his best. He was sure he had kept his promise. So he fought to his heart's content uncaring of the aftermath. 

He wanted to kill as many while incurring the least amount of damage. That was how he survived out here all by himself but this time it was different. He was not against a few hundred or a few thousand.

He killed and got hurt. He got hurt and killed. There was just no end. The air was filled with roars and the ground kept shaking.

‘Hahahaha…finally…’

It was so close. He could feel it. He still did not give up because he had the promise to keep but he knew that it was futile. Both qi and vitality seeped out of his body. The exhaustion kept weighing him down. He was forced to reduce the Qi threads he maintained even further just to reduce the mental load.

Ever patient, the crystalline grass snaked its way around him. Whenever he could, he would get rid of them but it was inevitable for them to graze him.

“Ha…haaaa…huuuu…haaaa…”

A pause. A blade ground away the grass near him. His muscles twitched at the forceful tearing of his qi.

‘Such strong suction!’

The specters all jumped at him again and he had to leave the parasitic grass be as it tried to coil its way up.

***

No longer could he feel his body. His muscles constantly twitched and even the armor which he had been continuously wearing for years on end now weighed like a mountain. His qi was in an even more chaotic state.

Throughout his body, the qi he had forcefully absorbed circulated, wreaking havoc everywhere it passed. Neither its density nor its quantity was something that he should have possessed, he could feel it, the time drawing closer. But despite that he still could not give up, he would give it his all until the last second.

Wave after wave of attacks struck but he kept enduring and as a result, he kept on improving. He was walking on the eggshell, the slightest fault and he would die. He was really thankful that no matter what he did, death was inevitable this time.

The appendages uncoiled simultaneously, their bodies spinning, boring holes through multiple specters. But just that was not enough with these monsters. Morphing into blades they spun, cutting anything within their range. Even this was not enough. He needed to get rid of the cores. Suddenly, many of the tentacles concentrated around the spinning blades, becoming a hindrance within their path. He increased the qi output but the problem was his body.

He had been on run for days but now he had even used his technique “A Way Through” putting an even greater load on his body. The fight had just started, and less than an hour had passed, but he was sucked out of the remaining energy. With the specters coordinating, he had finally failed to cut through.

The momentum stopped.

His weapon morphed, his arms blurred and the bodies of the specters were pierced. Each hit struck the core's position within their strange bodies. His weapon ripped out the core, absorbing it within itself, and by that time the specter itself was dead.

“Haaaaa…Huuuuu”

He tried to raise his leg. He stumbled but using his weapon as an armrest he barely stopped his fall. Qi threads spread into the surrounding, messing with the specter's senses while gathering information about his surroundings. He coughed blood. Each passing second worsened his condition.

Despite being made of ice, the tentacles of the specters moved without restriction as though they were made of flesh instead of cold, hard ice. The attacks surrounded him from all sides and all he had were a few precious seconds to defend himself. His appendages coiled, compressing further, hardening. The strikes hit. The first hit was successfully defended. Then another and another and another but they were like the drizzle before the actual rain. 

The rain came and he was unable to bear it. The shields broke. Qi flooded his legs, launching him into the sky, allowing him to evade most–

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‘Damn it!!’

A tentacle caught its leg. He cut it off but the damage was already done.

Boom

“Cough cough… ugh”

He felt his bones crack and his body felt hot–

‘Roll!!’

Boom

Boom

Boom

The attacks slammed into the frozen ground hardened for thousands of years in the absence of the sun. Cracks were left behind each time. He got up, the unstable and out-of-control qi flooding into his body. For now, he got a small boast allowing him to stand.

Qi flooded into the ground, he gritted his teeth from the pain, his gums bleeding. He focused on dodging, using his qi to puppeteer his own body. His body still rattled as he evaded the rain of attacks. Then the ground exploded.

Out came the spears, accelerating and stabbing into anything that was in their paths. His qi again flooded into the ground, not letting them react. A pulse spread with him at the center.

Shaaaa!!!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The spears exploded and even though he had jumped by that time, he still could not stop some of the exploded particles from reaching him.

He stumbled. His body was unable to bear the density and quantity of qi circulating through his body. Blood leaked from his pores, a few drops for now but it was just the start. He would be dying a very gruesome death. Already his death was meant to be unpleasant, he simply could not give up until the end. That was what he had promised and that was had he was going to do.

He stumbled, and swung his weapon, moving like a drunkard. Another storm was unleashed upon him, the specters avoided his blind and useless charges. He could not find the control. His body simply could not follow what the mind willed so he stopped using his body.

Ice engulfed him, getting into the armor through all the cuts and wounds. Rapidly, a support structure made of ice coiled around his body. He willed and the Qi brought his will into action resulting in his body moving as he puppeteered the ice skeleton coiling his body. His movements all of a sudden became bizarre and inhuman. Even before his fighting style showed a resemblance to the specters but when these newer sets of moments were added, it seemed like he too processed a boneless body.

He coughed blood, it was very little compared to the blood that was coming out from all his other pores. But despite reaching his end, he could not say the same for his enemies. As he took haggard breadths, his qi threads spread far and wide. He was reckless. He knew he could not survive so he stopped caring for his body.

‘?!When did I get here?’

Below him were tens of meters of frozen water but the real problem was further below. Under Dark. Utterly alien darkness. Despite having lived nearly all of his years in this ever-dark world outside the settlement, he had never gotten used to that feeling that reeked out from below his feet. That hostility. That repulsion. That disgust. That danger. That corruption. 

There were only a few times he had been unfortunate enough to go down there, it was a different world. A world filled with things that could easily kill him.

He shook his head, shooing away the unpleasant emotions that tried to well up from within him.

‘Today’s a good day. The best day.’

So he tried to move away, he did not want to risk falling there however short that risk may be. Desire was one thing, making it into reality was another. He was in no state to do so. It was already difficult for his worn and torn body to even stand. If not for his puppeteering skills, the fight would have been long over.

This technique that he had created gave too much power but the effects were equally destructive. But that was not all, the way he absorbed the qi crystal was incorrect, the way he skipped circulation was incorrect, the amount he absorbed was incorrect, and forcing all that qi into his core was incorrect. These made it all the worse for him and the after-effects were going to last for months if not for a few years. Still, it gave him power.

He had not made this technique to use for longer periods. It was supposed to do what it was named, just allow him to find a way even through the bleakest of times. He could not find that path this time.

His upper body curved until cracks spread across his backbone, he evaded the attacks but another set of attacks struck his legs. Bones were crushed but the ice quickly morphed and readjusted, acting as prosthetics. Sliding across the frozen water surface, his weapon grew larger and larger and then he spun.

Layered with as much qi as the weapon could bear, a storm ensued as the wind was ripped apart along with the specters. His body started shaking, and blood and qi vines throughout his body burst. This was all despite having puppeteered his body most of the time. He could not bear it anymore.

‘Cold… how long since I last felt this…hahaha..’

Cough! Cough!!! Cough! 

Each cough caused his body to shake and finally, his body fell. He still did not give up. He had lost his ability to move but not his qi. Even though it was way out of his league and would only worsen his condition–

‘What do the dead care for.’

Qi flooded out, wild and unruly, chaotic and destructive now that he had let go of nearly all the control it wreaked havoc as it tried to escape from his grasp completely. It was unable to. He forced it to spread through the frozen water and waited as the specters rushed toward him.

‘A shame I can’t take them all with me.’

He waited, his qi still spreading all the while they came closer, their tentacles like limbs uncoiling as they rushed toward him. But he waited still. He wanted to take as many with him.

‘Now!!’

Pikes rose and accelerated. His qi threads had already identified their cores, the pikes stabbed through most of them.

“Hahahaha…Cough cough cough..haha..cough..”

He felt happy. A sense of happiness he had long since forgotten. Finally, he was going to achieve his desire. He had done the best he could. Big or small, he tried everything to escape from this situation. He was confident he could face them head-on and say:

‘I tried my best.’

That much was enough and he was going to get his due rest now. His senses grew colder, lesser but despite them rapidly worsening, he could still feel something. The ground–

‘Shaking?’

The next moment he was falling. Despite his worsened senses, he could still feel the sudden pull of gravity.

‘Damn..’

‘It's going to be a miserable death..’

As that thought passed through his head, with a splash he fell down the inky black liquid. His body started burning from the intense cold and the shock jolted his brain forcing it to wake up. Without any delay, instinctively the qi within his body circulated trying to fend off the extremely cold, corrupting, and intrusive qi existing down here.

The moment of awakeness went away as his body was dragged further down.

***

Around the hole going towards the Under Dark.

Specters gather around the hole. The qi was unnaturally chaotic around the hoard of specters and finally, it seemed as though they had decided they were going to jump down. 

A presence. Just a whiff of it. That was all.

The parasitic grass, the specters, the monsters, anything that sensed it simply froze. None could understand what was happening but that did not matter. The specters that cared only to kill humans, feeling no pain, no joy, no emotion, but even they all stopped. In sync, they changed their directions and moved in another direction. With the specters acting that way, nothing less could be said for another living thing. 

***

Opening and closing. Waking up and dozing off. Regaining consciousness and then losing it again. It was a constant cycle. A pain-filled cycle. His body felt like it was burning, all the while the qi within him slowly wreaked havoc. At the same time, his used and broken body also needed help.

Despite the extreme condition he was trapped in, there was only one thing within his mind.

‘Why am I still alive?’

A bizarre question but one that he needed an answer for. One he could not find an answer to. He could not use Qi, it was so chaotic and messed up that his dulled senses were not required to confirm that. He became desperate, he just wanted to die.

‘Why is it so difficult to do so even in this hell…’

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