Soulless Soul

Chapter 35: Stay Close To Her

With the massive, jittering attack speed buff still coursing violently through his veins, Sky became a blur of pure, terrifying violence. He didn’t even need to expend his precious energy reserves on his shadow skill. The artificial adrenaline pushed his muscles to their absolute structural limits, forcing his nervous system to fire at a frantic, overclocked frequency. He sprinted forward across the slick, mossy cobblestones, his boots barely making contact with the damp stone before he launched into the next explosive stride. Every step left a faint, steaming imprint in the moisture, the sheer friction of his movement vaporizing the ancient condensation beneath his feet.

His Blood Blade struck so incredibly fast it looked like four distinct swords moving simultaneously through the thick subterranean fog. Crimson arcs of light sliced through the damp air in a lethal, rhythmic cadence that hummed with kinetic malice. He carved through the weakened, blistering elite goblins in a matter of target-rich seconds. Sky expertly exploited their reduced movement speeds and shattered formations, dancing through the gaps in their defenses like a phantom. They couldn’t lift their crude shields or adjust their heavy spears in time to track his trajectory. Their primitive reflexes were entirely useless against his velocity. One by one, the elites ruptured into thick black smoke, leaving behind nothing but a dense, floating sea of glowing blue gems and glittering metallic shards that drifted lazily toward the cavern floor like a shower of fallen stars.

Meanwhile, Crazy Hope hadn’t stopped her momentum for a single fraction of a second. Utilizing the lingering remnants of her own movement speed buff, she sprinted toward the staggering boss and leaped high into the air. Her silver broadsword caught the ambient, pulsating blue light of the dungeon trees, reflecting it back into the cavern as a harsh, blinding glare. She hovered at the apex of her jump for a brief, gravity-defying moment. It was a picturesque snapshot of impending doom—a literal angel of destruction framed against the dark, suffocating canopy of the unmapped floor.

"Fall," she whispered, her voice carrying a chilling, absolute certainty that echoed off the damp cavern walls like a death sentence.

She brought her heavy blade down with the entire weight of her descending body, driving the razor-sharp edge right through the center of the Goblin Chieftain’s thick iron helmet. The moment the steel bit into the metal, the Holy Scepter Blade erupted with a final, blinding flash of white flame. The consecrated fire didn’t just burn; it completely consumed the boss from the inside out, turning its dense muscle and heavy armor into a localized inferno of radiant energy. The giant monster let out a choked, bubbling groan, its massive arms dropping the barbed-wire club before its entire physical structure shattered into a massive, swirling cloud of dark pixels. The digital debris scattered across the arena, dissolving into nothingness.

The room fell dead silent, the sudden absence of the Chieftain’s heavy breathing and roaring making the air feel thick, heavy, and stagnant. The oppressive, jagged red runes carved onto the distant exit door faded rapidly, shifting back to a peaceful, passive blue that signaled temporary safety.

Thud.

A large, iron-bound wooden treasure chest materialized out of thin air, dropping heavily into the exact center of the blood-stained arena. The heavy impact kicked up a small cloud of ash and dust.

Room 1-1 cleared! Floor 1 is officially complete.

Sky leaned heavily against the hilt of his sword, his point dug deep into a jagged crack between the cobblestones. He was panting heavily, his chest heaving aggressively as his heart hammered violently against his ribs like a trapped animal. The temporary buffs had completely expired, leaving his muscles feeling tight, hollow, and slightly fatigued from the unnatural, chemically induced acceleration. His eyes, however, never left the center of the room, tracking every remaining particle of light.

He looked over at Crazy Hope. She was already calmly cleaning the Chieftain’s black, oily residue off her silver blade with a clean section of her white robe, her movements deliberate and terrifyingly casual. Her breathing was completely steady, her pulse seemingly unaffected by the life-or-death struggle they had just barely concluded. It was as if she had simply performed a routine chore rather than slaughtered a dungeon vanguard. There was no adrenaline sweat on her brow, no tremor in her hands.

"Your light," Sky said, his voice tight, raspy, and strained as he rubbed his chest, where his soul core was still faintly throbbing in violent protest. "It feels like pure acid to my body traits. Warn me before you drop a nuke like that next time. I seriously thought my chest was going to cave in from the backlash."

Vesper didn’t look up immediately. She sheared her silver blade back into the heavy wooden staff casing with a clean, mechanical click, twisting the handle until it locked perfectly into place. Once her weapon was fully disguised back into a simple catalyst, she finally turned her cool, unreadable gray gaze toward him. Her eyes were devoid of any warmth or camaraderie.

"It kept you alive, Skies," she stated flatly, her voice carrying the cold, unyielding weight of a seasoned veteran who had seen too many comrades die. "In this place, survival is ugly. It is violent, and it is deeply uncomfortable. Get used to the burn, because the deeper we go, the hotter it gets. If you cannot handle the heat of my light, the dark will gladly swallow you whole."

She walked right past him toward the newly spawned treasure chest, the hem of her pristine white cloak billowing slightly as she stepped over the lingering blue energy particles. She didn’t offer a hand to help him up, nor did she acknowledge the victory with a smile or a gesture. Her focus was entirely on the cold progression of the trial, viewing the reward not as a triumph, but as a necessity for the next encounter.

Sky watched her go, narrowing his eyes as he slowly stood up to his full height, wincing slightly as the lactic acid built up in his legs. He checked his glowing interface one last time, confirming his armor integrity was still at maximum and his energy reserves were recovering at their natural, baseline rate.

She was efficient. She was deadly. She was entirely unbothered by the sheer horror and systemic brutality of this unmapped realm. She possessed the kind of psychological resilience that usually took decades of agonizing trauma to develop, yet she carried it like an innate, natural trait. She was a perfect, terrifying partner for the depths ahead, but a massive, unpredictable wild card nonetheless.

What a... How should I even describe her? Sky thought, his mind searching through a bleak vocabulary for the right term as he dragged his boots forward, following her toward the reward chest. A saint with an executioner’s edge? Or a monster wearing the stolen robes of a holy Priestess? Whichever she was, he knew one thing for certain: if he wanted to survive the unmapped nightmare of this world, he would need to stay close to her light—even if it burned his very soul to the bone.

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