I Refused To Be Reincarnated-Chapter 907: The Will to Fight

Adam purified the contamination gangrening Grum'Thal's stomach inch by inch. His hands now lay on a sunken belly covered in limp skin as if the orc had turned into a goblin wearing a suit way too large for him. If the outward was this difficult to look at, the battle Adam waged inside was even worse.

Demonic energy poured down from the chest. It was a veritable deluge, an invisible tsunami that slammed against Adam's energy. The phoenix spearheading his reconquest rumbled to a halt, feather of qi and mana dissolving into the swelling defender's lines.

For a moment, the phoenix crossed its wings protectively. Then, the circle around Adam, the magical symbols connected to the six magus-ranked cores, the elemental cycles forming the yin and yang at the center of the array—they all blazed with the same defiant grunt Adam let out.

They poured more energy into Grum'Thal, so much that the orc's wails turned into pleas. "AHHH! I'll give you anything you want. I'll answer all your questions, but please make it stop! I beg you. I beg you. No more... no more..."

Worried voices began to erupt behind the door. Grakka barked that they had to save the great shaman. Those gathered agreed, not those loyal to Grum'Thal. They roared at the legendary warrior to stay put, that they had fetched her to bar anyone from entering, not to break the great shaman's commands herself.

Adam heard none of their dispute. He controlled the phoenix to spread its mana and qi wings. The demonic energy was blasted back. Its scattered defenders burned in the phoenix's life force as it shot into the upper part of the stomach.

In its trail, Adam dismantled, extracted the demonic contamination, and rebuilt the organ. But the precise work, coupled with the battle, had a cost.

Blood trickled from his nose. His left eye snapped shut, and his lips curled over clenched teeth. Each heartbeat was a hammer blow that reverberated across his mind, each breath was wind shrinking through a tunnel, and each swallow was a blade slicing through his bruised throat.

This level of strain... was nothing compared to what he was about to do.

With a growl, he detonated the phoenix the moment Grum'Thal's belly was filled with a pure stomach. The shrapnel of mana and life force shot to the lungs, the liver, the spleen, while he pressed his offensive toward the lungs.

"You can't manage so many organs at once!" Lulu, wide-eyed, shrieked as she wiped the blood trickling down his nose. "Use it, Adam!"

He shook his head.

"You'll drain yourself before you can, and Grum'Thal can't endure it! It's now or never!" She nudged his left shoulder, her voice cracking.

Yet, he only narrowed his right eye on his goals. A frontal assault would only benefit the contamination. No, he had to force it to thin its defense lines by spreading the battlefield. It was his only chance.

And it worked. The demonic energy instinctively spread to devour the invaders. With less of it opposing him, Adam could finally progress.

With each organ purified, his legs shook a little more. But Grum'Thal was even worse. His pleas faded into feverish grumblings about how Adam was his friend, and that, as such, he shouldn't make him suffer like that. Then, they became mangled recollections of his past.

"Mother... the great shaman said that the elements blessed me... If I study shamanic arts, maybe I'll join the village council one day..." His voice hardened. "Human child... I won't let them turn you like me... I'll kill them so no one suffers as I did... Lady Mortis... help me..." Then, his voice turned soft again. "Brother... your idea that we could shorten travel by compressing space... it was true. I've done it. With the Gates, we have a real chance of defeating the demonic armies. My people... I refuse to impose my will on them... They are free..."

His next words were mangled gibberish.

"Your chances of saving him fell below one percent. He's dying!" Lulu bit her lip, her innocent eyes watering.

Adam forced his right hand off Grum'Thal's chest. He gripped the shivering Bao from his shoulder and dropped her in front of Grum'Thal.

The orc's dulling eyes widened. "You... Pandarok? I've wronged your species. I-I'm sorry..."

As the words left Grum'Thal's lips, Adam whizzed out a single word that almost made him collapse. "What?"

He instantly continued working his way toward Grum'Thal's core. The answer didn't matter. He had just guessed from the shamans' knowledge that the orcs might have done something to Bao's species long ago. All he wanted was for Grum'Thal to focus on something, anything, that could delay his death.

"Pandaroks, you are special... Why mana in a realm of life force? So smart... So weak... What if you could cultivate like them? If it works, can I also use life force to save myself?" Grum'Thal reached for Bao.

She tensed beneath his limp palm, relaxing when he rubbed her fur. "What a beautiful beast."

Had the ugly orc gone crazy? She wondered. Perhaps he wasn't bad... He shouldn't be if Adam tried to save him. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

She approached Grum'Thal warily. Then she pawed his cheek gently.

"You don't... resent me?"

Bao shook her small head. She didn't understand. All she knew was that the orc was losing the battle to live.

With a growl, she turned from Adam and thrust both small paws toward Grum'Thal's chest in a fierce gesture.

Light returned to Grum'Thal's red eyes. "You... want me to fight with him and win?"

Bao nodded.

"But it's so painful..."

His face twisted in a mask of pure agony. Yet, the grimace froze as Bao nuzzled his cheek. He cried, understanding what she meant. And beneath the tears, his gaze steeled. "I'm not alone. My people are waiting for me."

While Grum'Thal recovered his will to fight, Adam purified him faster. Now, only his chest, the nexus of the demonic energy production, and his head remained. The rest of his body was green no more, but a coppery brown. Less bulky, less powerful, but healthy.

Lulu observed beside him, silent, stunned. Her running simulations shattered before her round glasses. The operation's success leapt from less than one to an impossible thirty percent just because Bao reignited the dying embers of Grum'Thal's will?

"It's a miracle..." she muttered before shaking her head. "You've surrounded the core, but you can't force your way through the denser demonic energy. The core is too weak, too contaminated. It'll shatter if you try." She took a deep breath. "Timing... zero point three seconds. That's all you have to reach and purify it."