World Awakening: The Legendary Player-Chapter 103: Chasm

Mela watched Lola struggle on the ground, the poison making her body feel like it was on fire and her mind feel cloudy. The silver needles hovered in the air around her, a quiet threat that promised more pain if she did not cooperate.

"I will ask one last time, who is the human?"

Lola coughed, a spray of dirt and spittle hitting the ground next to her cheek, the effort sending another wave of agony through her. "I don’t know, he’s just some freak, I swear." freewebnσvel.cѳm

’She is telling the truth, or she is a very good liar.’ Mela did not like either of those options, so she changed the subject. "The princess, why is she important?"

Lola’s body tensed up, her eyes going wide with a fear that was different from the pain. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a choked, gurgling sound came out, her throat closing up as if an invisible hand was squeezing it.

She tried again, her face turning red with the effort, but the words would not form.

Mela watched this strange display with a frown, her own anger fading a little as it was replaced by confusion. Lola was not refusing to answer, she was physically unable to.\\

’It’s like she’s fighting herself, and losing.’

The torture was pointless if the prisoner could not speak, so Mela lowered her hand and the needles fell to the ground, losing their glow. She knew she would not get any more answers this way, the mercenary was clearly bound by some kind of magic she did not understand.

"Get up," she commanded, her voice back to being cold and professional. "You are coming with me."

Lola just lay there, her body trembling from the poison and the effort of trying to speak, the relief that the torture was over washing through her.

---

Nox and Serian were moving through another part of the dark forest, the blue line from the System guiding their path. They had just finished killing another corrupted creature, a large, angry-looking bear with glowing red claws, and Nox was feeling pretty good about the EXP he was racking up.

"That was the third one today," Serian said, wiping her sword clean on a patch of dead grass. "Your skill with that spear is becoming very impressive."

"It’s just a stick," he replied, dismissing the black energy spear in his hand. "A pointy one."

’These alpha cores are great,’ he thought, looking at the new item in his inventory. ’Void Assimilation is going to be a lot of fun later.’

"You seem very focused on getting stronger," she observed, falling into step beside him as they started walking again. "Is that all that matters to you?"

"It’s the only thing that matters," he said, not looking at her. "Power means you don’t have to rely on anyone else. It means no one can hurt you."

She looked at him with a serious expression, she was not judging him but she was curious.

"Is that what you truly believe, that being alone is the same as being strong?"

’Here we go again, why does she always have to talk about this stuff?’

"It’s the only thing that makes sense, if you’re strong enough then no one can touch you, and no one can betray you."

"But you are not alone, Nox, you let me come with you, and you healed my ankle when it would have been easier to leave me behind."

’She’s useful, that’s all, a good fighter is better than no fighter, and a crippled guide is a liability. Not to mention the EXP.’

"You can fight, that’s useful for the mission, and I needed you to be able to walk."

She smiled a little and had a knowing look in her eyes that he was starting to really hate.

"You say that, but then you challenged the Elder’s warriors, and you challenged the Elder herself, and that was not for any mission."

He felt his face get a little warm because he was annoyed that she was probably right.

"That’s not what happened, they were just annoying me, so I shut them up."

"The strongest people I ever knew were my parents, their strength came from our people, from their bond with each other, it was betrayal that ended them, not a lack of power."

He was quiet, the word ’betrayal’ was a sore spot he did not like to think about.

’She almost gets it, but she’s still wrong, if they were stronger, betrayal wouldn’t have mattered.’

He was about to say something else to push her away and end the conversation, but the blue line on the ground in front of him stopped and then it vanished.

"We’re here."

They were standing at the edge of a deep chasm in the forest floor, it was at least a hundred feet deep and the air from it was cold.

The chasm floor was rocky and had many dead trees, it was a dead part of the forest.

He saw many insect-like creatures moving on the rocks below.

’Void Gaze.’

[Chasm Stalker (Corrupted)]

[Level: 35]

[HP: 700/700]

[MP: 150/150]

[Vicious, pack-hunting insects that have been mutated by the Rot, they are fast, agile, and attack in swarms.]

[Weakness: They are susceptible to fire and large area-of-effect attacks.]

"There is no alpha down there, just a nest of lesser creatures." Serian observed.

"The alpha is down there, it’s just waiting for us to clear out its minions first."

He pointed toward a large, dark cave opening at the far end of the chasm floor.

’A whole nest of them, this is gonna be a lot of EXP, but fire and area attacks are not my specialty.’

He looked down at the swarm of Chasm Stalkers, he was excited to fight them but he needed a plan first.

"So how do we get down there without getting swarmed the second we land?"

"We could try to climb down the side, but they will see us before we are halfway to the bottom."

’She’s right, and I don’t want to fight while hanging from a cliff.’

He looked around the edge of the chasm, his eyes searching for something he could use.

’Wait a minute, the trees here are dead, they’re all dried out.’

A new plan started to form in his mind, it was a simple and brutal idea, just his style.

"We’re not climbing down, we’re gonna make our own bridge."

He walked over to one of the massive dead trees that stood near the edge of the chasm, the wood was gray and dry.

"What are you going to do?"

He summoned the Brutalizer gauntlets to his fists.

"I’m gonna knock it over."

He activated Primal Void, the dark smoke pouring from his lips as his muscles filled with power.

"Stand back, this is gonna be loud."

He pulled his fist back and punched the base of the dead tree, the impact was a deep boom that echoed across the chasm.

The tree groaned and splintered, but it did not fall.

"Not good enough."

He punched it again, and then a third time, each blow was full of pure force.

With a final, loud crack, the massive tree began to fall, it tipped over slowly at first, then crashed down across the chasm, its top branches slamming into the other side.

The chasm floor erupted in chaos, the stalkers below screeching and scattering as the giant tree trunk fell among them.

"There’s our bridge, now let’s go."

He started walking out onto the fallen tree, his balance was perfect even on the rough, uneven bark.

"This is a very reckless plan, Nox."

"Yeah, but it’s a fun one."

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