Novel Full Chapter 1151: She’s Back
Chapter 1151: She’s Back
“Kekeke…”
A female laugh, sharp and venomous, slithered into his mind without warning.
Quinlan froze instantly. A shiver rippled through his core from within. It did not come from the battlefield itself; he was not under attack by the Fujimori. No… It was something else.
His soul convulsed.
The serene balance he had cultivated inside him, the realm that should’ve been unshakable, suddenly twisted as if it had been struck by a violent earthquake.
A shrill voice rang out, faint and distorted, as if coming through a closed window.
“S-scary Uncle! I-I’m scared!”
Mimi.
The little blue dryad girl. The so-called guardian Rosie had once claimed to protect his soul realm while she herself protected his home.
Until now, Mimi had kept to herself, peeking shyly at him but never daring to speak, especially not when neither Serika nor Rosie were present. She had always treated him as a frightening man she had to tiptoe around.
But now she was crying out in terror with a warped voice that echoed all wrong.
Quinlan’s focus moved inward, if only for a heartbeat.
His soul realm appeared before him. It should’ve been a serene landscape, a timeless place of stillness and light, guarded by that small, tender figure.
The little dryad, barely a child, clutched her tiny hands over her chest as waves of bile corruption rushed through the skies above her. She trembled violently.
’Sel’Ashra!’
The name tore out of him.
And like venom poured into his mind, laughter followed for the second time.
“Kekeke…”
The sound was mocking, intimate, cutting straight into his marrow.
The Withered Flame.
The corrupted goddess.
Sel’Ashra’s voice slithered across his consciousness like a serpent coiling around its prey.
“Ohhh, how sweet, little primordial. You remembered me so quickly, almost as if I never left your mind to begin with. I must’ve left a lasting impression if my name bursts from your lips the moment you feel something wrong~.”
Her tone dripped with cruel amusement, every syllable dripping with a weird power that was best described as ’wrong.’
It made the dryad’s cries falter.
“You’re still refusing, aren’t you? Still rejecting the gift that you were so lucky to have land in your lap. The precious little corruption seed…”
’I already said I don’t care for it!’ Quinlan hissed.
In response, the woman released a shrill cackle. “But seeds don’t like being ignored, little primordial. They grow. They root. They claw at the cracks you pretend don’t exist.”
Her laughter spiked again, for the fourth time, acting more as thunder in his skull than mere laughter.
“That strange little creature tried her best, she really did. So cute, fighting against me with all her tiny strength. But a single touch from my will, and everything changed. She lost control before she even knew it, letting me expand my influence on the corruption seed.”
The soul realm shuddered again, which saw Mimi falling to her knees as corruption vines spread across the once-serene ground.
“Your little guardian is too weak and inexperienced to protect your domain. That meddling Goddess of yours is weaker than me. I don’t even have to mention the gap between you and me. Nothing can save you, little primordial.”
Quinlan’s awareness snapped back to the battlefield due to his forcing the change, knowing that this was not the time to have a breakdown in the middle of the battlefield.
His eyes found Raika, who was being brutalized by the brawler.
The woman was a beast, a stubborn monster who refused to fall. Every time his fist sent her reeling, she snarled and charged back in. Every time she was crushed down, she clawed her way up again. Her blood painted the ground, but her glare burned hotter than any flame.
But stubbornness had its limits. She was still human. Still mortal.
And he wasn’t blind to the truth.
The brawler outclassed her: older, stronger, more experienced. His level towered above hers; his every movement was more efficient and brutal, like a hammer designed to break stone. Raika was that stone, and each strike chipped her away.
Quinlan clenched his teeth. ’He’ll kill her.’
He had just begun to move a second ago, just begun to reach out to intervene, when this damned corrupted bitch invaded his mind, stopping him in his tracks.
But he couldn’t afford to be stopped.
Quinlan thrust his hand out at the brawler. His will brimmed. Come, fire, he thought.
Hot enough to burn that brute back and give Raika space.
But nothing came.
His hand sparked and diffused. The engine behind it seemed to fail.
In the next moment, however, something did manifest.
Not flame. Not the clean fire he commanded.
This was wrong.
A foul, writhing blaze erupted from his palm. Black, oily, wicked. The moment it flared, agony screamed through him. Instead of consuming his enemy, the fire crawled over him, devouring his flesh.
“Gh!” Quinlan bit down on the pain, but it didn’t stop his skin from splitting, his bones from searing. His hand collapsed inward as the black fire chewed it apart, eating not just flesh but bones as well.
Sel’Ashra’s laughter burst across his skull.
“Kekekeke! The truth of corruption!”
Her voice was shrill, triumphant, dripping with venom.
“This is what happens to those who reject it, little primordial. You spurn the seed, but it grows all the same. Now, it will eat you alive!”
The black fire licked further up his arm, hungry, relentless. The battlefield blurred at the edges of his sight as he ground his teeth, trying not to collapse outright.
Quinlan cursed inwardly. He truly didn’t fucking need this right now.
The black fire raced up his arm, eating him alive.
He didn’t hesitate. He made the decision in an instant, and his saber was already in motion. With one swift, merciless swing, steel cut through bone. His arm fell away, swallowed by the oily flame before it even hit the dirt.
The stump gushed blood, but Quinlan didn’t slow. He grit his teeth as he threw himself forward. If magic was off the table, then he would carve his way through with steel alone. Saber flashing, he lunged at the hulking brawler who was slowly but surely getting the edge over Raika.
Quinlan put every ounce of strength behind the slash.
But his world lurched. His vision warped into a rotting kaleidoscope. His motor functions slipped. His legs gave out beneath him, and the ground rushed up.
He hit the dirt hard.
A fiery blast slammed into the brawler’s back, and Ignis landed next to him in a cloak of ash and flame, blazing to shield Quinlan.
“What’s wrong?” Ignis snarled, kicking the enemy backward.
“Die!” Raika roared, swinging in tandem with the Ashmancer. Her fist smashed against the brawler’s jaw, but the brute only staggered for a brief second, unfazed.
The situation turned worse with the heartbeat. Fujimori soldiers swarmed closer, sensing the sudden opportunity. With Quinlan crumpled, Raika occupied, and Ignis forced to help, the enemy lines were no longer thinning.
Quinlan clawed inward, reaching for his army. ’Rush back to me! Eva! Veyrin!’ His soul link should have dragged them back to his side, but there was nothing. His connection was broken, corrupted.
’Where is she?!’ His mind screamed. ’Where’s the goddess?! She expelled this bitch the last time!’