Chapter – 43 – The Breaking Point
Lucien stared at the carnage, his mind racing.
'What the fuck?' he thought, his eyes widening in shock. Then a smile spread across his face—not one of surprise, but of satisfaction. He had expected something like this, but he'd never anticipated it would become so terrifyingly effective. Still, Kelie was a peak Spirit Forge realm master, so it was perfectly reasonable for her to learn such a skill with the right guidance.
The one person who was most shocked, however, was Halfred.
He'd never considered that a healer could wield such devastating offensive power. Jealousy flickered in his chest, but he pushed it down, forcing a smile onto his face. He still wanted to congratulate her—to show her that he supported her growth, even if it stung.
"That was pretty good, Kelie," Halfred said, his voice strained. "When did you learn that?"
Kelie's response was cold, clipped. "It was thanks to Lucien. He gave me a stone tablet."
Halfred felt the words like a slap. She'd given him the answer he was looking for, but something about her tone felt like a taunt—a reminder that she'd turned to someone else for help, someone who wasn't him.
Lucien stepped forward, his expression warm with genuine approval. "Congratulations. I never thought you would learn that fast."
Kelie smiled at him—a real smile, not the forced ones she'd given Halfred. "Seems like someone underestimated me."
Lucien laughed, and Kelie joined him. Together, they decided to move forward, leaving Halfred standing alone in their wake.
Halfred's heart burned with jealousy. It was a fire he couldn't control, consuming him from the inside. He watched them walk side by side, their easy camaraderie a stark contrast to the distance that had grown between him and Kelie.
'What does he have that I don't?' Halfred thought bitterly. 'I've known her for years. I've protected her, fought beside her, bled for her. And yet she smiles at him like he's the sun.'
He followed them in silence, his fists clenched at his sides.
As they walked, the cavern transformed around them. The walls dissolved, replaced by an open sky and a vast, infinite pond. Trees rose from the water, their roots submerged, their branches reaching toward a starless night. The air was cool and still, carrying the faint scent of water and earth.
In the center of the pond, a giant chest rested on a raised platform of stone.
Lucien, Halfred, and Kelie gathered around it, studying its intricate carvings. The chest pulsed with ancient power, its surface gleaming with a faint, otherworldly light.
"We should open it," Lucien said, his voice eager. "Whatever's inside, it could help us escape this place."
Halfred hesitated, his eyes narrowing. "Are you sure? This could be a trap."
"We don't have a choice," Kelie said, her voice soft but firm. "There's no other way forward."
After a long moment, Halfred nodded. "Fine. But stay alert."
Together, they lifted the lid.
Darkness erupted from the chest, spreading outward like a living thing. It swallowed them whole, blotting out the sky, the pond, the trees—everything. Halfred couldn't see his own hands in front of his face. He couldn't hear anything except the beating of his own heart.
"Kelie!" Halfred's voice echoed through the void. "Where are you? Be close to me!"
But there was no response. The darkness had separated them, isolating each of them in their own personal nightmare.
Halfred stumbled through the void, his hands outstretched, his heart pounding. He called out for Lucien and Kelie, but his voice seemed to vanish into the nothingness. Then something attacked him—a flash of pain as a blade sliced across his arm.
He retaliated immediately, swinging his sword in the direction of the attack. But his blade met only empty air. He summoned his flames, hoping they would provide light, but the darkness consumed them as easily as it consumed everything else.
Again and again, the attacks came. Daggers, this time—small, precise wounds that seemed to appear from nowhere. Halfred tried to block them, tried to deflect them, but he kept failing. The wounds were accumulating, each one a small reminder of his helplessness.
Suddenly, a voice echoed through the darkness.
"What a failure... Halfred."
Halfred froze. The voice was familiar—too familiar. It was his own, twisted into something cruel and mocking.
"Do you think you deserve to be a leader?" the voice continued. "A leader who let his teammates die? Who failed to save his own sister?"
"Who the fuck are you?" Halfred screamed, his voice raw with rage. "Come out in front of me, and I'll show you!"
But there was no response, only the mocking laughter that seemed to come from everywhere at once. The words cut deeper than any blade, exploiting wounds that had never fully healed.
Halfred summoned his Emperor's Wrath, creating a giant flame monster beside him. The creature attacked with the same ferocity as Halfred, but nothing worked. The darkness absorbed every blow, every flame, every desperate strike.
'It looks like I'm trapped,' Halfred thought, his mind racing. 'Is it because of that smoke? That darkness?'
"It looks like the love of your life is falling for someone else," the voice taunted.
"BASTARD! COME OUT!" Halfred screamed, attacking wildly in every direction.
"Well, I think you deserve it," the voice continued, its tone dripping with mock sympathy. "For you, ambition was always the priority. But look at you now—you didn't have the strength to protect your sister, and you can't even win the love of your life." The laughter grew louder, more manic. "Hahahahah! Come on, you still think you're worth anything? You're just a failure, letting down everyone around you."
Halfred screamed in frustration, his attacks growing more erratic. He tried to calm himself, tried to regain control.
"Kelie always loved me," he said, his voice shaking. "We had a fight—but once I'm out of here, I'll confess to her. I'll make her mine. And as for strength, I'm going to conquer this dungeon. I have the Abyssal Core Physique. Do you think I'm not the chosen one?"
He paused, his voice rising to a fever pitch. "I'm the chosen one! I'm special! I'm bound to achieve great things!"
"Chosen one?" The voice laughed, a cold, cruel sound. "Hahahahah! Do you really think you can choose anything? Let me show you something—the outside world. What's really happening."
"Outside world?" Halfred's voice was filled with confusion. "What do you mean?"
A spirit mirror materialized before him, its surface shimmering with images. Halfred's eyes widened as he recognized the scene—the camp where he'd stayed with Kelie and Lucien.
He was looking through Lucien's eyes.
Kelie was lying on Lucien's chest.
Halfred's mind shattered.
"Ke... Kelie," he stammered, his face contorting with rage. "What are you doing? Get up! Are you cheating on me?"
Kelie leaned closer to Lucien's lips. She kissed him—a long, passionate kiss that seemed to last an eternity. Her hands roamed across his body, her touch intimate and familiar, as if she'd done this a thousand times before.
Halfred couldn't breathe. His heart was burning, his mind spinning out of control. Tears streamed down his face as he watched the woman he loved betray him with the man he'd despised.
"How is this possible?" he screamed. "They were with me—in front of that chest! They weren't that close! I know it!"
"Hahahah!" The voice laughed again, its tone dripping with cruel amusement. "So you don't remember? You've been here for more than a week. You got hypnotized, attacked Lucien and Kelie, and then you ran off again. Just like before."
Halfred shook his head violently. "No! No, that's not true!"
"Lucien doesn't give a fuck about you," the voice continued, merciless in its honesty. "And Kelie... oh, poor Kelie. You broke her heart. She tried to find you for two days, but you were gone. You were here."
Halfred grabbed his head and screamed—a raw, animalistic sound that tore from the depths of his soul. He couldn't believe it. He'd attacked Kelie? He'd driven her away? He'd lost everything—his team, his sister, his love, his mind.
All he'd wanted was the Physique Awakening Stone—a way to awaken his Abyssal Body Core Physique and unlock his true potential. But instead, he'd lost everything that mattered.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Halfred screamed, his voice cracking with despair. "Kelie! Stay away from him! You're mine! You're mine!"
He reached out toward the mirror, his fingers brushing against the surface.
"Look at me, please! Please! Don't remove your clothes for that bastard! KELIEEEEEEE! Please forgive me! Just stop it! AHHHHHHH!"
But the mirror showed only the cruel reality of his worst fears. Kelie was with Lucien, their bodies intertwined, their passion undeniable.
Halfred fell to his knees, unconscious.
Lucien stood with Zarah in front of the treasure chest. Kelie lay on the ground nearby, unconscious but unharmed. The darkness had receded, revealing the cavern once more.
"Don't you think it was too much for the poor guy?" Zarah asked, a smile playing on her lips.
"You can never be too careful," Lucien replied, his voice flat. "Realm masters have strong minds. It takes a lot to break them."
He glanced at the spirit mirror, which showed Halfred's broken form lying in the darkness. "But this Eye of Madness is an amazing artifact, Zarah. Poor guy really believed everything he saw on that screen was real."
Zarah laughed, her black wings rustling. "Well, I did transform into his sister multiple times to break his mind. But seriously, your plan was brilliant. You knew that we demons could transform into other humans."
Lucien nodded. "Yeah. Isn't that obvious knowledge?"
"Well, it's not common knowledge," Zarah admitted. "But it seems you've studied demons extensively."
"Maybe," Lucien said, his tone dismissive.
"So how are you going to extract the physique?" Zarah asked.
"Don't worry about that, Master."
Lucien grabbed Halfred's head, sending him into his shadow world—the same place where he kept Valgos, his beast companion. Halfred would remain there, broken and defeated, until Lucien was ready to extract the Abyssal Body Core.
"What are you going to do with this girl?" Zarah asked, gesturing toward Kelie.
Lucien considered the question carefully. "She's useful. If I can control her, she could become my greatest asset. Did you see her skill? I was surprised by how quickly she mastered it."
Zarah nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm. I feel like this girl must belong to some great bloodline. It's very rare to learn Vital Pulse in one night. The concentration required to focus astral energy to flow and destroy organs..." She paused, her eyes gleaming with appreciation. "You know, you can't block Vital Pulse with any shield—physical or magical. If you get caught, you're done. That's how terrifying this technique is. And this girl learned it so easily. She's special."
Lucien smiled, a predatory glint in his eyes. "Well then, I'll have to use her properly."
Somewhere in another gate of the hidden dungeon, Isalyn, Fayie, Quindic, Samley, and Rosra stood together, surrounded by thousands of beautiful women.
But these women were anything but beautiful. Their mouths were stained with blood, their white clothes wet and clinging to their bodies. They held daggers in their hands, and their smiles were wide—too wide, filled with too many teeth.
They just stood there, watching.
They had been frozen in place for two days. Every time one of them turned their head, the women attacked. They'd learned the hard way that moving meant death. So they stood still, their bodies aching, their minds fraying.
Isalyn was the first to break.
She was tired—so tired that her body felt like it was made of lead. She'd tried everything to escape, everything to fight, but nothing worked. The women just watched, their smiles never wavering, their eyes never blinking.
Then Isalyn closed her eyes.
The women who were watching her immediately drove their daggers into their own eyes. They didn't stop—they kept stabbing, over and over, until their faces were unrecognizable bloody messes. Their bodies fell to the ground, twitching and convulsing.
But the damage was done.
Isalyn's eyes had been stabbed—not physically, but metaphysically. The connection between her and the women had been severed in the most brutal way possible. Her face was bloodied, unrecognizable, her screams echoing through the chamber as she collapsed to the ground.
Her teammates wanted to help her, but they couldn't move. They couldn't even turn their heads to catch her as she fell.
The women who had been watching the others began to move, their daggers still dripping with blood. They advanced slowly, their smiles never fading, their eyes never blinking.
Isalyn stopped breathing.
Her body lay still on the ground, her face a ruin of blood and bone. Her team stared ahead, unable to mourn, unable to scream, unable to do anything except wait for their turn.
The women laughed, a chorus of inhuman sounds that echoed through the chamber.
And the nightmare continued.
Author Note:
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