Chapter 266: A Deep Pain

My right arm fell to the ground, burnt away from my shoulder as the black threads tightened around the elder ninja’s throat. His eyes widened in shock, body already in motion to turn and face the unseen adversary. However, it was too late.

Diane’s threads were razor sharp, and judging by the black and red energy surrounding them, she had rightfully activated her Decapitate skill through them. Blood spurted from the elder’s neck as his head flew off, his body falling to the ground. The next second, Diane appeared in front of me, her eyes wide with worry.

“Drake! Are you alright?!” she shouted, looking at my severed arm. My left arm wasn’t doing much better, barely attached by a sliver of charred bone. I knew that both arms were completely beyond healing. The only way to restore them was to respawn.

Still, I repeatedly used Internal Recovery, causing the burnt flesh to heal into stumps. My left arm thumped to the ground, causing Diane to recoil in shock as I spoke through the pain. “No time. More coming.”

Diane bit her lip, her eyes wet before she nodded. She grabbed her short swords and stood, turning her back to me to face the mansion. “Heal as much as you can. Once you’re done healing, let me know, and we’re leaving.”

My eyes looked up at her back, surprised. “What about the loot--” I began, before her voice cut me off.

“Once you’re done healing, we’re leaving.” Her tone was harsh, her grip on her shortswords tight. “We’re destroying this dungeon and everything in it.” She didn’t even spare a glance for the boss monster’s corpse or make any attempt to loot it.

The moment the first ninja burst through the mansion’s door, Diane rushed forward. She wasn’t moving like a ninja anymore. She wasn’t hiding herself in stealth and assassinating the enemy. She roared like a barbarian, charging straight into the first foe she saw.

Her short swords stabbed into the chests of two enemies, and she kicked them back, her foot growing into a large claw. The swords flickered out of existence as Diane’s body grew into her draconic form. The ninjas struck at her with fists and feet, but I still maintained the Infernal Hellstar, preventing them from releasing their flames.

Diane was under no such restriction. Spears of shadows thrust up from the ground, shooting into the hall like a rushing current. Her mouth opened, releasing a black breath that swept over those that had evaded the volley.

All the while, I focused on my own recovery. The elder’s strikes had broken several of my bones, not to mention the two severed limbs. Even with a master-ranked recovery skill, it took dozens of casts before the pain began to fade. Since I had lost the use of my arms, I manifested projected arms instead, though their control was anything but precise. I couldn’t open my menus with them, nor could I loot anything, but I could at least push myself to my feet and pull the rings off my lost hands. Without anywhere else to store them, I could only put them in my mouth for now before calling out. “Diane!”

Her response was immediate. She created a wall of darkness and threw it against her attackers while her body returned to her halfling form. After that, she teleported to my side, holding tight to my waist as a sphere of water formed around us. Another platform appeared at our feet, carrying us out of the dungeon and into the black smoke of the burning forest.

Extending one of my projected hands towards the dungeon, I focused on my Dungeon Breaker skill, producing a spear of flames to crash into its barrier. I didn’t need to entirely destroy the dungeon myself. All I had to do was erase its barrier. After that, the flames clinging to it would do the rest.

I could feel the barrier cracking beneath the flame spear just as the door of the dungeon flew open. Three figures ran out into the black smoke, quickly choking on it before the barrier shattered. Immediately, the flames around the dungeon seemed to come alive, rapidly devouring the wooden structure that had thus far proven impervious to its efforts.

As for the two of us, we didn’t linger. The focus needed to destroy that barrier had caused a lapse in the water sphere around us, which had already begun to dissolve. Black smoke was flooding in, and our breathable air was leaving just as fast. With Diane still clinging desperately to my side, I teleported us back to Fallcry’s square for just a brief moment, ensuring that it was my registered respawn point before teleporting outside the city.

It would be dangerous for morale if the king of Fallcry appeared with both of his arms severed and his skin flaking and blackened, even more so than having me respawn there. Thus, I wanted to leave again before anyone had the chance to notice me.

Once we had appeared deep within the forest, shrouded from view of anything that may attempt to spy on us, I clumsily patted Diane’s back with one of the projected hands. She sniffled slightly, pulling away. “Are you ready?” she asked, clearly knowing what had to happen for me to properly recover. Her hand gripped her shortsword, waiting for my answer.

With a nod, I deactivated all of my enhancement skills, returning me to the standard stats of a level one character. This way, the cut would be as clean and painless as possible.

Without the benefits of my stats, I barely saw Diane move before I appeared back at the city square of Fallcry. I wanted to teleport back right away, but quickly discovered that was not possible. The loot that I had dropped on my death was none other than my World Walker skill.

Thus, I shrouded myself in Beyond the Veil, and rushed out with my base speed. This was exactly why I had not teleported to some far-off place to respawn. If I had done so, it would take me ages to get back normally.

Thankfully, flying at my top speed took me only a few minutes to reach Diane. I could see her pacing around my corpse nervously, with three wolf-like monsters having fallen around her in the meantime.

As soon as I appeared out of stealth, she turned to face me, as if expecting another enemy. When she saw that it was me, she let out a sigh of relief. “World Walker?” she asked simply, and I nodded my head. I quickly looted my corpse, regaining the skill that had been lost and grabbing the two rings that fell after my body disappeared. “I was wondering what was taking you so long. Thought maybe it took longer to respawn after…”

However, I shook my head, speaking from experience. “No matter the level of injury, respawns always happen right away. Anyways, are you sure about this? I know it’s a bit too late to ask, but you gave up on any fire ninjas skills you could have gotten from them.”

Diane let out a huff, glancing off to the side. “It doesn’t matter now. Besides, the fire dungeon was the one I cared least about between the two. I just wanted to kill their mobs for my own dungeon. When it comes to getting a physical fire skill, I can just ask you, right?” She glanced at me from the corner of her eyes as she said that. “You might not have a ‘Lightning King’ skill, but you have Fire King. With that, you should be able to make some martial fire skills to teach me.”

I felt a small smile tugging at my lips, relieved to see that she was unbothered by the dungeon’s destruction. There were probably some unique items or skills that could be obtained there, but none of that appeared to matter to her. “Sure. Just tell me what kind of skill you want, and I’ll do my best to make it for you.”

“Not here,” Diane quickly stopped me. “Let’s go somewhere where we won’t be attacked by monsters every few minutes.”

After saying that, she stepped closer to me, taking my hand and looking up at me. Taking the hint, I teleported us to the basement of the Sunspire Palace, which we commonly used as a training area whenever we were back in the city.

Diane released my hand quickly, taking a step back. “For the skill, I just need something basic to serve as the foundation of my other skills,” she explained quickly. “Maybe a simple fire aura? I could focus on channeling that into different forms, and then combining it with my dark skills to create shadow equivalents.”

A fire aura was easy enough. Within minutes, I had created the quest and assigned it to her. The quest’s contents were simple, but at the same time brutal. She had to withstand flames directly for five minutes. This was not consecutive time, but total, allowing her to take as many breaks as she wanted to recover. This was the easiest quest that I could create with the system to bestow this particular skill.

Diane grimaced at the details, offering a silent apology to her Chosen as she went to undergo the quest. Thankfully, she didn’t have to throw herself entirely into the flames, and could simply use one hand at a time. Doing so would still be torture for her Chosen, but it would prevent her from burning herself alive repeatedly. At the same time, she may even unlock a fire resistance skill.

After she left, I slumped down to the floor, letting out a deep breath. Having my arms slowly burnt away by the elderly ninja had been among the most painful things that I had ever experienced, right up there with the time that I enchanted the menu, or when I was dragged across a stone floor by crystal skeletons with a broken arm. I had forced myself to maintain my composure at the time, just to get out of that mess and get back to a safe place. Now that I was in that safe place, it felt as if all the energy had left my body at once.

Despite having brand new arms, I couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of the pain that I had endured, causing me to clench my fists tight. I had to flex my arms repeatedly, moving them about just to remind myself that they were really there.

As I was adjusting, I saw a small prompt that Diane’s quest had been completed. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but clearly it was enough for her to endure. So, I quickly pulled myself back to my feet, straightening out my clothes to wait for her to return.

Sure enough, Diane’s figure returned to the basement only a few minutes later. I couldn’t see any signs of burns on her body, so she had either used a healing skill of her own, or she had respawned. Regardless, I looked at her with a small smile. “So, what type of skill are you going to learn now?”

Diane paused, looking at my arms as she thought the question over. “A defense skill,” she ultimately answered. “I have a way to briefly become intangible in darkness, but I don’t have any proper ways to physically block someone. I’m also going to try… other skills while I’m at it.”

Seeing that she had a plan in mind, I wasn’t about to stop her. I excused myself from the basement to let her train, returning to my own room. I could feel her gaze lingering on my back as I left, but I still needed some more time to recover myself. Until the phantom pain disappeared and I was able to use my arms again like normal, I didn’t want to worry Diane or the others.