Chapter 299: Bringing His Mother

Katcha—!

Katcha—!

Kai knew he should be embarrassed.

This was petty, and frankly nothing his sister had ever taught him—this kind of thing served no purpose beyond the raw satisfaction of returning pain for pain. His hatred should only be focused on the Demon Man.

But as the serrated whip sliced through the air again and the entity let out another shrill, pig-like squeal, a dark thrill surged through his veins. It was intoxicating. The entity that had once lashed him without mercy, punishing him for mass slaughter, and had forced him to pass out multiple times from a pain so excruciating, was now writhing at his feet.

And Kai was not embarrassed at all.

Anyone who hurts him would need to pay the price.

Even though this entity was only doing what it was created for, he was still furious.

Not only because of the pain he endured, but because the entity also took pleasure in his pain.

Perhaps it was because of what he had experienced—but he now started to really hate people who laughed at his expense. He would never laugh at another’s expense, so he expected others to also give back the same courtesy.

Kai remembered being whipped by High Angel Hensen in that isolated chamber.

He remembered the bite of each whip that hurt him.

But even those whips were nothing compared to the ones this entity did to him.

Each serrated scale bit deep, sawing through flesh with every pull. But the true horror wasn’t the tearing—it was the whip’s monstrous gift. It amplified whatever pain it inflicted, twisting it tenfold until the body forgot there was anything else.

Naturally, the agony didn’t stop at skin or bone.

It burrowed deeper, igniting every nerve like living fire.

A fire that engraved its burn into his mind, which was why he still remembered it until now.

He had screamed until his voice broke. He had blacked out, woken—and blacked out again.

Now, the tables had turned.

The entity had appeared to be made of shadow, but Kai had learned the truth quickly. Beneath that cloak of living darkness, there was flesh. Blood. A body that could feel. And that was very good news.

Just the first lash had drawn a scream.

And the second drew blood.

By the tenth, Kai had found his rhythm, and the entity’s squeals had become a chorus.

Out of pure agony, the entity tried to fight back. Kai saw the fury in those burning eyes that had surfaced from the darkness of its cloak earlier, the desperate rage of a torturer reduced to the tortured.

But every time the entity tensed, every time it even thought of attacking Kai, the dark presence looming beside Kai pressed down harder. The Goddess of the Primordial Night stood there—her gaze pressed on the entity like a weight that crushed any thought of resistance.

Far before the entity could make a move.

It was a gaze that made the entity understand that he should only endure this.

Anything else would only make things worse.

For Kai to bring his mother into this was unfair, but the entity had not played fair when it had whipped him half to death either. Kai continued this payback for nearly ten minutes—letting the whip do its work.

He struck until his arm burned and his breath became heavy.

Sweat dripped from his brow, stinging his eyes, and he paused to wipe it away with the back of his hand as his chest heaved. "Phew," He exhaled exaggeratedly. "I didn’t know torturing someone would be this tiresome. Hensen must’ve really had a blast for him to continue doing what he did in that chamber for more than a day."

Kai lowered his gaze and saw the entity lay crumpled on the ground.

Its body was now a canvas of raw, bleeding lines, its squeals reduced to pitiful whimpers.

Beside him, the Goddess remained utterly undisturbed. Her veiled gaze watched the entity as one might watch a bug struggling under a boot—not with cruelty, but with complete and total indifference.

In fact, she wasn’t focused too much on the entity.

She was focused on Kai, watching him.

Her head tilted slightly, and even with her eyes not visible, one could feel the warmth of her focus. She was gauging Kai’s mood, his satisfaction, making sure that he was fully content as if the only question that mattered in this moment was whether this second gift, accompanying him to the Furies’ domain, had been enough to make him happy.

And seemed like it did.

Kai stood over the entity and breathed as the whip hung loose in his grip. The uncomfortable wait in his chest had lessened. He glanced at the Goddess, and despite everything—a small, tired smile touched his lips.

"I’m really happy, thank you." He said, giving a thumbs-up.

"I’m happy as long as you’re happy." The Goddess smiled back and rubbed his head. "Do you want to do anything else here?"

"Oh!" Kai’s eyes widened in realization, almost forgetting the other things he wanted to check for coming to the Furies’ domain. "Right! I need to check a few things. Give me a moment, and we can go back."

He ran to the first cell without waiting for the Goddess to answer.

Inside the prison cell, there was the same plinth where he found the chalice.

No chalice rested on it right now, but Kai entered anyway and stood before the plinth—reaching out with quiet hope. He had grown fond of the Fatal Whispering Wound effect, and it would feel strange if his scimitar didn’t have that effect anymore.

More importantly, it would make him a bit inefficient in his hunt.

Against Star Beasts, this effect played a really big role.

[Do you want to spend 5,000 usable exp to recreate the Chalice of Orestes the First Victim?]

[Yes] [No]

"As expected," Kai’s lips curled as he felt relieved that the treasure wasn’t lost forever.

He clicked the yes button with his mind, and the chalice reformed again. It started from a dark lump of blood before it rose, sculpting itself into the chalice, and then it was filled with the blood of King Orestes.

Once it was made, he grabbed it again and walked out of the prison cell.

"Are you done yet?" the Goddess asked.

"Ye—wait. No." Kai remembered something else, but he also recognized the impatience in the Goddess’ face. Not because she didn’t like spending time with him, but it was something else. Like she couldn’t stay much longer. "Just a second!"

Kai rushed to the next prison cell, using this moment to bypass the entity without the torture.

He wanted to run, but the chalice filled with blood in his hand made it hard to do so.

As he was about to reach the next prison cell, the Goddess melted into darkness and went into the portal again—leaving the domain. "I can no longer stay with you. I hope the next time we meet again you’ve grown much stronger than now.

Kai looked over his shoulder and watched the Goddess leave the Furies’ domain.

And then, something wrenched the serrated whip in his hand.

Kai’s eyes flew wide as he spun around—the entity was already on its feet. All the whimpers earlier were nothing but a façade. Now, the serrated whip coiled in his grasp once more, and it wreathed in fire with a flick.

And without hesitation, he lashed out, and the whip cracked across Kai’s back.

Crack—!

"Kkrghk!"

His pupils blew wide as the pain struck—beyond anything he had ever known.

It lanced through him like lightning, searching his nerves—and carving a burning scar across his back. One hit and Kai instantly understood that if another one landed, he would no doubt fall and writhe in pain.

Instinctively, with the last dregs of his willpower, Kai forced his body into motion.

He hurled himself forward—and went through the translucent barrier marking the next level right as the whip screamed down behind him, slamming into the barrier with a crack. He fell and slid across the floor while keeping the chalice upright, avoiding spilling the blood.

Before he could relax, another crack resounded.

Kai lifted his head in a snap—and sighed when he realized the entity was only lashing out at the translucent barrier, furious that he managed to slip past. And then, as the adrenaline faded, he sat up, curled into a ball.

He whimpered in pain as the burning scar on his back crackled.

Just one hit already made him like this.

Imagining being whipped ten times straight sent a shiver down his spine.

Fortunately, the Goddess was there to make this possible.

Kai raised his glassy eyes to glare at the entity.

"Fuck you," He cursed and gave the entity his middle finger. "Next time, I would be ready to whip you a thousand times!"

"You cheated, you mongrel! This is between you and me!" the entity surprisingly cursed back.

"How is that fair? You have a whip, and I have nothing! You cheated first!"

"You are guilty! That’s the whole point, you brainless dog!’

Both of them cursed one another through the translucent barrier—venting out their fiery anger inside them. Pain heightened their emotions to the point of exaggeration, and now, they were barking at each other.

Kai didn’t know the entity could talk, but this was good to know.

Now he at least knew that the entity understood what he said, making curses more worth it.

"Just wait until the next time! I swear I will punish you to death!"

"Yeah, yeah. I’m so scared."

Kai rolled his eyes and mocked the entity for talking too much with his hand as he placed the chalice down and turned to look at the prison cell beside him. Even now, the entity was still cursing him, but he didn’t care.

His eyes fixated on the item inside.

Unlike the first cell, which had a plinth at the center of it, the second cell didn’t have that.

But it did have a wall of blood at the center, and from its surface, a blood-red mask with black trim shaped like a screaming woman poked out. Kai tilted his head; confusion crawled onto his face, then he stepped into the cell.

He approached the mask and reached out with his hand.

He watched his fingers sink into the blood-warm surface, found the mask, and pulled.

As it came free, the cries of souls rang inside his skull—loud enough to give him a headache.

It was a chorus coming from ten thousand souls crying in pain.

Kai paused for a moment—eyes closed shut as he endured the cries and then shook his head once it receded. He opened his eyes again to inspect the treasure, but gasped when he realized the mask was looking at him.