"What should I do? Should I inform them? No, no one will believe me, and maybe many things were already involved..."
As Sam's mind ran mindlessly, he shut it down and stared at the monster, because amidst all the chaos in his mind, he understood that only origin fire might relieve the soul of these monsters.
Sighing at the fate of the monsters who were once human or maybe other lifeforms, his eyes grew firm, and his body alerted to not give any monster a chance to even scratch him, since no one knew what kind of rules would apply here.
A faint blue hue flickered at the tip of the sword and the next moment, diminished. Everything was recorded by him, and a faint smile bloomed on his tightened face.
"Everything depends on you, buddy! Don't disappoint me."
Whispering under his breath, he decided to free the monster now since there was no result in tangling. And as the sword was about to penetrate, the blue flame flickered, and a guttural cry escaped the monster's mouth.
Kuahhahhh!
Everyone was alerted by this strange commotion, since previous monsters didn't even growl or utter a sound at their death. But Sam noticed that the monster's soul, bit by bit, was leaving the monster's body—but suddenly, an intangible constraint burst from the monster's body, not letting the soul go.
Sam's face grew ugly because this represented that his thoughts weren't absolute, which meant the danger in this dungeon...
"NO!"
His eyes suddenly widened, and everything became crystal clear to him, as if something unlocked in his mind.
'Why is there no scarcity of monsters... because these sanctuaries replenish the monsters.'
His breath caught in his throat.
'And the dungeon has hierarchy so...'
Shaking his head, he threw away the thoughts because they were going to a very dangerous zone which he didn't want to enter—his focus was needed elsewhere.
He noticed that the constraint rules almost overpowered the origin ability, so he induced origin fire at the tip of the sword which was still penetrating the monster's body.
Kuahhhh!
The very loud guttural cry reverberated in the dungeon, and he breathed a sigh of relief. The constraint almost lost its clutch on the soul, and the soul, unable to bear the collision, disappeared into the void bit by bit.
He noticed that as the soul crumbled bit by bit, it also began regaining its memories, and at the end, where only half its face remained, he saw a relieved smile on the soul—which soon crumbled into fragments and disappeared into the void.
'What an irony! I thought everything was greenish but...'
His heart grew a little heavy and his eyes went cold, as if something within him clicked and something from his previous life was lost at that moment, and an entirely different Sam rooted inside him.
At the same time, his face became blank, devoid of any emotions, leaving him with only one goal—to clear as many monsters as he could.
Time continued to pass.
Thud!
Panting, the tip of the sword clashed vertically with the ground and Sam's hands were resting on the handle. His entire body was supported by the sword and his uniform was soaked in sweat.
Sighing, Rahul strode to Sam, shaking his head.
"Sam, you should rest. Let me and Piyush handle the rest of the monsters."
Sam's blank face regained a little emotion, and he sighed.
"It's ok. I want to test my limit."
"Sam! Do..."
As Rahul just opened his mouth, Sam shook his head.
"Thanks, but I want to do it. Let me do it."
Rahul's face went blank because he knew his best friend more than anyone, and regaining himself, he shook his head.
"Ok. But remember to count on us."
With a trembling hand, Sam raised his sword and simply patted Rahul's shoulder.
"Rest assured. This is something I must do—and thanks for placing your trust in me."
Handling his tired and fragile body, Sam moved to another monster while his face again went blank.
Clank!
Clank!
Swish!
Under five attacks, every upcoming monster was cleared by him and their souls were freed.
With each passing moment, he was experiencing something entirely different, as if every kind of cruelty had been tried on these souls, and almost the structure of the soul had been changed.
'Who can this...'
"Ouch!"
He groaned as he felt his muscles strain in his right hand due to overexertion beyond his limits. But he had to do it—because every five attacks were freeing someone from the deep misery of the abyss.
With time passing, he kept feeling agony wracking his body and searing pain roaming free inside him.
Shusshh!
The monster split down the middle, leaving behind a rune crystal, and its body was stored in Piyush's storage ring. His eyelids were becoming heavy, threatening to shut his eyes at any moment. Controlling the urge, he continued to slash at monsters, and his efficiency grew much better—he was able to split a monster in three attacks.
'How many monsters did I kill?'
His movements were becoming slower, and the sword's penetrating effect decreased by much more than half.
'I'm becoming slower... or are my eyes playing tricks on me?'
'No, maybe I've overexerted.'
Thud!
As he split down another monster with his sword, his entire body fell to the ground blankly, his eyes shut.
"Sam!"
Rahul and Piyush shouted and ran to Sam to support him while Sam's vision went blank, his mouth moving bit by bit.
"My body? I'm feeling pain all over my body! Am I fine?"
"I'm such a failure!"