Chapter 55: Throwster
Ignoring the stinging sensation stemming from my arrow wound, I unsheathed my Dao and gazed at the sandstone wall towering over me.
As my entire body surged with energy, I raised my Dao with one goal in mind: to destroy it...making it crumble before me.
A holographic corpse appeared behind me, an arrow now embedded in its stomach in addition to two swords left behind by Han Li.
As if responding to my intent, the blood spat out by the golden orb raced upward through my veins and up into my right arm.
In the next moment, a golden hue covered my right palm, as I felt a bridge form within my body.
A golden string stretched all the way from the golden orb in my stomach, up through my chest and into my right arm, and all the way to the hilt of my Dao lying in my right hand.
Beneath my ripped and wet clothes, the thin golden line shone through my pale skin, appearing almost like a golden tattoo.
It felt as if...the sword were part of my arm: if I commanded my arm to move right, my sword instinctively did the same without any input from my mind.
Using my sword was as easy as...thinking: I didn’t have to worry about the trajectory of my sword or the angle at which I attacked.
My Dao seemed...to just understand exactly what I wanted and could execute it perfectly.
The sword was a manifestation of my thoughts, emotions, and mind.
Perhaps...I couldn’t destroy the wall in one swing like Leon’s spear, or two arrows like Carissa and Ren.
But...I knew that if I kept attacking the same spot over and over again with an unwavering faith and obsessive dedication, it would eventually break.
I looked at a spot on the wall and simply visualized a diagonal jab at it, moving my arm up and to the right.
In the next moment, my Dao flew diagonally downward at the perfect angle, the blade’s tip meeting the exact point I had marked on the wall.
A small indent appeared in the sandstone, unnoticeable to the eye, as a small shard of sandstone fell from the wall.
With Carissa on my back, I stabbed over...and over again at the mark on the wall, watching it slowly grow deeper and wider with every strike, a pile of sandstone shards growing at my feet.
As I attacked more and more, my strikes grew more precise and powerful, and, simultaneously, the corpse behind me slowly staggered onto its knees.
With each jab, I learned something new...a more effective angle to make the mark deeper, a better arm initial placement to put more power in my Dao, a swifter jabbing motion to make my attacks faster.
Then...after perhaps two hundred jabs...
*BANG*
The eye-sized hole went all the way through the sandstone wall, allowing me to look through it and at the other side of the wall.
A large forest surrounded the east side of the palace, modeling a jungle with thick pitch-black tree trunks stretching all the way up to the sky with countless grey branches hanging from each tree.
Pushing half of my Dao’s blade through the eye-sized hole, I began carving at the sandstone wall, making the hole bigger and bigger.
...
...
...
How long had it been?
Staring at the hole just wide and tall enough to fit a vertical human body through, I retrieved my Dao.
The edges of the blade had become almost completely dull...maybe not even sharp enough to cut through wood anymore.
Worse yet, as the sword’s condition deteriorated...so did my mind.
My thoughts had slowed significantly, and my legs began to buckle under the weight of Carissa.
Realizing the mental strain the now dull Dao was causing, I closed my eyes, my intent weakening.
In the next moment, the golden silk line from the orb to my hand was cut.
The exhaustion in my mind decreased significantly as I sheathed my blunt Dao and downed another potion.
Ducking down so that Carissa’s body was perfectly aligned with the hole, I looked up at her and whispered.
"Crawl."
Her eyelids flickering open for a moment with recognition, Carissa managed to nod her head and slowly pushed herself off my back and through the hole, softly landing on the other side.
In the next second, I leaped through the hole, landing on the dirt on the other side of the wall, and knelt down.
Maintaining consciousness for longer than usual, Carissa slowly looked up, her lips parting, as she avoided my eyes.
"G-go! J-just go! I h-have to find m-my brother!"
"..."
Barely raising her palm, she gently pushed me away and continued in a condescending tone.
"I-i know h-he’s somewhere in this palace t-trapped! S-so...just go! Y-you’re useless a-anyway."
Placing my mark on her, I felt an immediate anxiety overwhelm me, as my entire body began shaking uncontrollably.
I had once thought that I was a professional when it came to hiding my emotions...but she...truly was an actor.
To hide such fear and desperation...to hide your very will to live.
Keeping my mark on her, I...turned around and said while taking a step in the opposite direction.
"Fine."
Immediately, a small feeling...of happiness flowed through my body, a slight smile appearing on my face, before desperation and fear once again took the forefront.
Then...everything went blank.
In the next second, as I turned back around, Carissa’s eyelids were closed as she rested on the wall motionless.
The purple veins on her neck had crept up, covering her usual clear face, and beads of sweat dripped down her face.
Clicking my tongue, I once again hoisted her unconscious body on my back and entered the jungle.
After walking for about five minutes, I paused and carefully placed Carissa against a tree trunk.
Without skipping a beat, I activated Anubis’s Ferry and immediately flew straight up into the sky, far above the tall jungle trees.