Novel Full Chapter 1735: Separated
Chapter 1735: Separated
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“Wake up.”
The ominous voice of the “General” echoed before them.
Slowly, both Elayne and Mark stirred, facing him.
Today, he was going to teach them how to fight—or something like that. Elayne wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, but if it could help her grow stronger, she was willing to put in the effort.
However…
His voice was more serious than usual. Stern.
“Is this yours?”
“Eh?”
The blazing skeleton threw crushed pills onto the ground. They were covered in dirt—Elayne and Mark had tried to bury them.
The pills were shattered, their souls long gone.
“Surprised? A little bird told me you two bastards didn’t want to eat the pills. That you crushed them, let the souls escape, and buried them.”
“I… I can explain…” Elayne muttered.
SLAP!
The General struck her, sending her flying into the ground. Her face burned as she crashed, groaning in pain.
“Elayn…!”
Mark rushed toward her, but the General grabbed his shoulders, stopping him.
“I offered you kindness! And this is how you repay me? You’re still clinging to your attachments from life, aren’t you? Heh… You foolish idiots! You have to let go!”
“Raaaahhh!”
Mark lashed out, trying to attack.
But the skeleton crushed his legs with a single kick, dropping him to the ground.
Then, he placed his boot over Mark’s skull.
“No…! No!”
Elayne crawled toward him.
“Please… forgive him… It was my fault… I forced him…”
“Elayn… no… no…!”
The General stared at them for a moment.
“Ghostly Yin Pills are a precious resource. Throwing them away is a grave insult to the souls used to make them,” he said coldly. “It’s clear you’re a terrible influence on him… He reminds me of myself when I was a young recruit. Still attached to my past life. Naïve. I hadn’t yet faced the harsh truths of the Netherworld. But my master showed me the truth… and I’ll show him the truth.”
“Huh?” Elayne blinked, confused.
“But you? You don’t get that privilege. From the moment I saw you, I knew you were trouble,” he growled. “Still, you’re too talented to be crushed into pills. I’ll punish you instead. Take him away!”
“Elayn…! ELAYNE…!”
Mark screamed as a pair of Corpse Golems dragged him away.
“Mark! What… What are you doing with him?!”
Using all her strength, Elayne managed to speak clearly, surprising the General.
“Hoh, so you can talk properly? Interesting… Don’t worry, I have great plans for him. But you? You’ll rot in the pit for ten years. Think about your mistakes—and about the glory of the King. When I bring you out, you’ll see the incredible being your lover has become.”
“No…! NOOO!”
Elayne screamed as a bone golem hurled her into a dark pit.
THUD!
She hit her head so hard her skull cracked open, and she lost consciousness.
…
“Leave me…! Go…! Elayne…! Elayne…! Where… Where… Where…?!”
Mark thrashed inside the large cage where he’d been confined. His body blazed with fire, his power growing rapidly.
He formed twin swords of flame and began cutting through the metallic bars. The magic runes encasing the cage started to crumble.
“Hah, you’ve got great potential! But forget about that zombie. I’ll shape you into the perfect soldier for the King!”
“Let me go!!!”
Mark roared, transforming into a blazing figure as he destroyed the cage. The General laughed, stepped forward, and punched him in the face—shattering most of his skull.
BOOM!
“Gaaah?!”
Mark groaned, his soul cracking as half his skeletal body was obliterated by the blow.
“Now, now. You’ve got potential, but aren’t you getting a little too cocky?”
The General smirked. Two bone golems grabbed Mark and dragged him into a massive magical device resembling a cauldron, flanked by two bone pillars.
“Ahh… What is this?!”
Mark groaned, struggling to speak. Liquid Nether poured into the cauldron, beginning to boil.
“Don’t worry. I’m not turning you into a pill. But I’ll use the same method to refine you into a perfect soldier. I’ll make you suffer so much you’ll forget you ever loved her.”
The bone golems sealed the cauldron with a heavy lid, trapping Mark inside as his body and soul boiled in Nether.
“GAAAAHHHH!”
His agonized screams echoed throughout the fortress, loud enough for every soldier to hear. They shuddered at the thought of angering the General.
After a day, the boiling stopped. Mark emerged, groaning furiously.
“BASTARD! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”
“Hoh, still not enough? I can do this as long as it takes.”
The device activated again. Mark was boiled in even more intense Nether, his body and soul constantly seared.
His thoughts unraveled. Memories became foggy and fragmented…
And as days, months, and years passed…
Even his identity began to fade.
…
How long had it been?
Elayne stopped counting after forty days.
In those first forty days, she tried to move—but could barely manage it.
Letting her Ghostly Soul circulate through her body was slow and tedious.
Day by day, she sat up, checking her head. A massive crack had opened, and her brains were leaking.
Over the next fourteen days, she tried to make sense of her surroundings.
Everything was pitch black.
She slept for another ten days in a daze before waking again.
A faint light shone from above. The pit was likely dozens of meters deep.
“…Mark.”
Elayne stared upward, sighing.
It was all her fault.
Her compassion had ruined their only chance.
“I’m sorry…”
She cried black tears, then slept for weeks and months.
Without souls or Nether, her soul grew weak and small.
She was starving.
“Ah… Mark…”
A year passed.
Elayne woke again, dizzy.
How many times had she dreamed the same nightmare?
It repeated endlessly: a giant hand crushing her chest, tearing out her spiritual heart.
“…Elena.”
She remembered her daughter.
Her friends.
Her family on the farm.
Her animals…
“I miss you all…”
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
Elayne opened her eyes again.
Strangely, she didn’t feel as tired.
“What’s happening to me?”
Her soul had been starving for so long.
And yet…
She wasn’t scattering.
Then, in the darkness, she saw something.
A small, glowing mushroom.
“…?”
She crawled toward it, intrigued.
How could a mushroom survive in the Netherworld?
It made no sense.
And yet…
As she touched it, the mushroom glowed.
Dark blue with gray dots, it radiated Ghostly Energy and Nether.
Could this even be called a lifeform?
It absorbed Nether and converted it into Ghostly Energy to feed itself.
“…You’re alive.”
Elayne realized that despite its strangeness…
It was a living being.
An organism that had adapted to survive.
She smiled faintly.
“Hi… I’m glad… I have someone to talk to…”
She gently touched the mushroom, then pulled her hand away, afraid to harm it.
“Please… keep glowing… by my side…”
She fell asleep next to it, slumbering for another three months.
THUD!
She woke to the sound of someone else being thrown into the pit.
She rushed to see who it was.
A small skeleton lay there.
It resembled a child.
Its legs were crushed, half its skull missing.
“Aeh… Aeeh…”
It cried in pain.
“Are you okay?”
Elayne slowly approached, nursing the child.
“Uuh… mama?”
“My god… How old are you? Why is a baby like you here? Do they not even spare the souls of children?”
“Mama…”
“I’m not…”
“Mama…”
“…”
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