Beyond Erroneous Fields. On one of the northern cliffs in the Shushui mountain range. “Arei Grysban… The vice master of the Celestial Temple. Look what’s become of you,” a man in a black cloak held a beating heart with a few of his eight arms like a spider crab gripping a sea star. “Except for that useless beggar’s plate, you’ve lost everything, even your own heart.” “Your senior met his maker, but for you, it’s still not too late,” another man in a black cloak and bloody hands was rolling a ring on his fingers. The new and old stains of blood on his cloak stood out more than his unusually large canine teeth and animalistic eyes. “We couldn’t find what we were looking for in your ring. We know he passed on the secret of the temple to you. Share it with us, and then the giants of Gretta, the twelve supreme families, and even the Numbnil Belt can be conquered, and we’ll rule the world together.” The two men in black cloaks were eyeing a woman in white, with half of her torso missing.
At present, in the Valley of Vipers. As the giant viper was growing strong after consuming Arei’s body, Edgar tried to get away with his crippled leg. The beast swung its tail, caught and tossed him into its mouth and swallowed him alive. Even though he couldn’t see anything at all, he could tell what just happened. As his body went down the snake’s throat, his skin got peeled off at an abnormal pace. “Am I going to die here?” His heart felt heavier than ever as his sister’s image came to his mind. Frustration crossed his face. “I’m truly useless. But I don’t want to die,” as his flesh melted, his resolve strengthened. “I still have things to do. I still have someone who needs me. I can’t die here.” All the central fears in him shrank as a sea of fortitude surrounded it. “Failure is not an option.” He squeezed the plate tightly as acid corroded his body. “Hel
It had been hours since Edgar came out of the dark room he had found himself in; however, the outside was just as dark, and it felt like he was walking in circles, with no light in sight. The bronze plate wasn’t responding at all, as if it was sleeping through his struggles. Though walking didn’t cost him much energy, he had to walk as silently as he could, trying to not alert any beasts wherever they may be lurking. It was a tremendous mental burden, proving to be much more difficult than cutting firewood, carrying water pots or sticks or sacks of grains. He knew that the snake that had come to him must have used a way to get to him, but he just couldn’t find it, no matter where he looked. He was touching every inch of the wall as he roamed and inspected everything he could through touch and smell, but he found
The old man raised his head, exposing his bloodshot eyes. “Freedom… My freedom… A bud of hope has come. For it to find this place… it’s truly a whit of wonder.” He sounded deranged and somewhat mentally-challenged. “Don’t kill me, please!” Edgar desperately said. He wasn’t in a position to patiently observe this scary, hairy old guy who would perfectly fit a villain in the stories his mother and sister always told him. “I have a lot more things to do in this life!” “If you don’t want to die,” the old man’s voice was hoarse, “then promise me that you’ll destroy this rock and break these chains for me.” “Eh?” Edgar was startled. “I’m too weak for that. Look. I’m struggling to peel even a banana.” He showed the banana in his hand which was still unpeeled. “Fool. You thi
“Stop this!” Edgar howled in pain as stones kept smashing him all over his body. Even though he tried to block the stones with his self-made wooden sword, the stones were too fast, and there were too many of them coming from every direction. What’s more, the banana peels were spread out everywhere in the chamber. He had already slipped many times on them and hurt his nose and chin. “How can I fight like this? Forget about fighting, ugh, I might hit my head and die if this goes on!” “Then become a cockroach!” the old man indifferently said. “What?” “A cockroach may fall on its back and stay that way for hours on end, but it doesn’t give up the idea of getting back to its feet. Not that it doesn't know what it means to give up on its life, but it just doesn’t!” “
The chamber was quite big, so Edgar had many places to hide, be it behind the boulders or pillars or in the smelly foliage and whatnot. Currently, Edgar was hiding behind a boulder, his back resting against it. He was eating a banana, and his eyes were closing at the same time. He hadn’t slept in a long time. The hairy silhouettes were inspecting potential hiding spots, one by one, so Edgar didn’t get much of a time to hide at one spot. He kept changing places and sometimes he got caught, leaving him with the only option, which was to fight. And every time his location was found out, the old man would laugh mockingly and send all the silhouettes to that location. Then an all-out brawl would break out. Everytime, it ended up with Edgar getting utterly lashed and trounced. The hairy soldiers were anything but weak. Each strand of hair was exceptionally tough an
After striking the banana tree’s trunk for more than a thousand times, Edgar fell back. “This isn't easy.” His palms turned blood-red, and he couldn’t even clench the sword tightly. Though he was tired, he was also afraid that if he let go of the sword, he might not be able to hold it again, so he held onto it. “How can a banana tree be so sturdy?” “Brute force isn’t everything. Cognizance plays a role in success, too,” the old man said, “and so is hunger. It requires the combination of all ingredients to make a curry. For Drive, you need more than just brute strength. And depending on how you use the ingredients, your Drive’s character and range of control will change. And there will be times when you’ll run out of drive, so you’ve gotta rely on other things such as enhancing your base bodily strength and senses or absorbing an elemental ability and what not. The deeper and diverse your pool of power is,
Many months later. His hair fully grown, Edgar was standing calmly, wearing an underwear made from stitching tree roots and leaves, for his clothes long perished in the heat of the battles. In groups, fifty stones came flying at Edgar from different directions. He blocked more than two dozen stones in a streak, but when the stones began to strike his body, his body leaked out a red energy, and his speed increased at once. With a single sweep of his arm, he stopped numerous stones at once coming from many directions, while gyrating on his feet like a dancer. In three simple steps, he destroyed all the remaining rocks before they got to him. However, the dozen hairy soldiers that were in stand by now made their move. A ferocious fight broke out as each part showed no mercy. Unlike in the past, Edgar’s sword was now