Chapter 58
this is a fictional story by realTensai
Alvis wandered through the Mana Forest, his mind clouded with his plan. Today was the day of the festival, so he had to go through it as many times as possible. Once again, he opened up his system.
Level 3: Trial Of Insanity
Mission: Survive
STATS
Name: Alvis Silva
Level: 14
Class: Mage
HP: 250
MP: 320
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Strength: 16
Agility: 19
Health: 20
Sense: 14
Intelligence: 25
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Available Ability Points: 0
Skills
Skill slot: 4/7
[Passive]
Evasion Lvl. 3
[Active]
Advanced Mana Manipulation Lvl. 6
Assassin's Eye Lvl. 4
Mastermind Lvl. 10
Inventory
Bandaids
Daily Quests
- Push-ups [100/100]
- Sit-ups [100/100]
- Squats [100/100]
- Run [10km/10km]
With a nod, he closed it again. Even if it was just one week, the fruits of his labor already showed in his stats and they would only increase with the runs to come.
Alvis came to a halt as he noticed he had arrived at his destination. Glances to the left and then to the ground were necessary to see if his traps were still intact. Seeing no changes, Alvis once again went over his plan. He still had time left before he would come, so he would use it wisely.
Suddenly, a bird flew just past Alvis' face, making him jerk away. However, it didn't stop there. Another bird rushed past him. Then another one. And then another one. His eyes widened as he saw a swarm of birds flying away, their survival instincts having taken over. The animals on the ground followed, making the very earth beneath him shake. The bushes hushed, the trees trembled, and the entire forest was in an uproar.
He is here!
Alvis gulped as the malicious dark aura reached him. This person was the reason the animals ran for their lives. His killing intent was so intense that Alvis almost choked on his breath. However, he had encountered this man far too often to fear him. Alvis just clenched his fist, blood dripping down his palm as his killing intent matched the man's. His footsteps became louder and louder, and then he was there.
"Voyzez Knaxius!"
A man wearing a black robe came into sight, his bald head full of scars matching perfectly to his insane gaze. He just looked at Alvis, his eyes widening before his lips curved up into a smile.
"What a surprise, surprise, surprise. No, what an honor, honor, honor! The white-haired boy I was supposed to search for just came to me. And even on his own! Ahhhhh, how insane? Insanity!"
Alvis' brow flinched, Voyzez's words hinting at something Alvis had already tried to hide in the back of his mind. However, when presented with this opportunity, his mouth didn't even wait for permission from his brain to ask the question.
"Are you attacking this city just to find me?"
"Exactly! You are my goal!"
Countless corpses appeared in Alvis' mind. The people's shouts and cries were still clear for him to hear. The smell of decay and corpses never left his nostrils and the darkness pulling everyone into despair still clutched on his heart. Dane's body, under the control of this monster, flashed into his vision and how he tore off Lia's head.
All of this happened because of me?
Alvis grabbed his solar plexus, the heat of his mana running wild, making his vision go red. He gritted his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows as his breathing got more intense from second to second. However, he just shook his head, gathering mana in his palm while doing so.
"This is all your fault, you bastard!"
With one mental command, Alvis activated Mastermind and felt how the gears in his brain shifted. Within a second, he sent two earth spikes as fast and explosive as cannons flying at the man. Voyzez, however, just grinned, darkness enveloping him and absorbing the attacks.
"Is this all you got?"
"As if!"
Alvis raised his hand and swung it down again. Simultaneously, earth spikes appeared above Voyzez and rained down on him like hail in Eisfeld. He could hear how Voyzez clicked his tongue before dark shadows guarded him from this attack.
"This won't work. You're just wasting your mana. Are you insane? Insa—"
However, before he could finish his sentence, the ground beneath him crumbled, and he fell into Alvis' trap. An abyssal hole caught Voyzez, his eyes widening as he realized that. Alvis had dug this at least 10-meter deep hole the last few days and also the surprise that awaited him at the bottom.
Earthen spikes that could even impale a dragon greeted Voyzez, who was just about to fall right into them. However, before that could happen, he spun around now facing the spikes with his chest, and created a dark shadow fist as big as that of a giant to destroy the spikes. Splinters even reached Alvis, an explosion-like sound confirming his suspicion. Alvis looked down on Voyzez, only to see he was unharmed and still had his usual insane smile on his face.
"Pretty nice trap."
"Don't think this was all."
With the flick of his hand, uncountable earth spikes hailed down on Voyzez. Being trapped, all he could do was guard himself using his shadows. However, this was just what Alvis wanted. He didn't stop the earth spikes bombardment but simultaneously activated his other trap. His whisper enchanted the wind, making it obey his will. It started picking up earth, the same earth Alvis had dug out to create this hole. Voyzez was occupied blocking the earth spikes, so he didn't notice what was about to come.
"Eat this!"
Instead of earth spikes, earth weighing two tons fell upon him, and the last thing Alvis saw was how his smile vanished before he was buried alive. The hole was closed again, as if it had never existed, just like Voyzez. After waiting a few seconds, Alvis exhaled.
So my theory was correct.
Alvis had assumed that Voyzez's shadows could only absorb mana attacks, but not things born out of nature. For example, he couldn't just absorb the entire Mana Forest or the Riagra Falls if he wanted. Going by this theory, Alvis had crafted this plan in which he would finish Voyzez using natural earth. If he could have absorbed it, he wouldn't have been buried under it, so Alvis' theory had to be right.
Still, Alvis knew it wasn't over. His hair on his forearms stood up, every cell of his on guard. His head kept rotating over viewing the surroundings, just waiting for Voyzez to appear again. Way too often had Alvis thought his plan had worked just to find out it was all futile. He wouldn't make this mistake again!
Suddenly, he heard a crack. His entire body turned around, focusing on the slight opening on the ground. Alvis used wind magic to gather some earth and form it into an earth spike. He held his breath, as all he could do was wait for Voyzez. Alvis couldn't even feel the slightest hint of killing intent, making the situation all the more tense. Cold sweat dripped down his eyebrow, running straight past his mouth and then hitting the ground. And in the same moment, he emerged.
As soon as Alvis saw the dark shadow coming out, he shot his earth projectile. It flew with a speed, rivaling a beam shot, and cut through its target. Just like Alvis had planned, the mana-absorbing shadow couldn't stop the earth spike created from natural earth and hit Voyzez. However, as the shadow vanished, Voyzez was nowhere to be seen.
"Insanity!"
An icy shudder coursed down Alvis' back as Voyzez's voice appeared right behind him. Only now did he realize that he never had emerged from the place Alvis had assumed. It was only a shadow acting as a decoy. He had outplayed him.
Within a millisecond, Alvis activated his mind protector spell, and in the next instant, dark shadows cursed through his body. One grabbed his leg and Alvis couldn't even prepare for the pain that was about to come.
"Ahhhhhh!"
His balance vanished in an instant and he stumbled to the ground, his face hitting a tree. Yet the little nosebleed he got couldn't compare to the sea of blood spilling out of his torn-off leg. The searing pain made him unable to maintain his mind protector spell, his brain being occupied handling the overload of pain signals. His HP bar reached two digits, and it was only a matter of time before the [YOU DIED!] notification would appear. Still, Alvis didn't expect to win this fight in the first place, so dying didn't upset him.
I also got some valuable data that will help me later on.
It was just when Alvis started seeing this pain as salvation, Voyzez used his shadows to stop Alvis' bleeding. It took him a few more seconds to realize what had happened.
"Why?" Alvis asked, his lips trembling as he stared Voyzez into his insane eyes. "Why can't you just let me die?!"
"I won't let you die so easily. Not until I've fulfilled my duty."
"Your duty? What do you want from me?"
"It's not me, it's my lord."
"Your lord? Don't tell me… the Devil!"
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes! It's all for his resurrection. He showed himself to me in my dream and gave me one order: Kill the white-haired boy in Awaniko and make his life hell. A lowly servant like me was tasked with such an important quest. Ahhhh~ how insane! Insanity!"
A sudden feeling of cold and heaviness expanded from Alvis' mana core, rendering him speechless. His brain blocked out all the pain signals, Voyzez's words ringing in his head and overtaking all of his mental capacity. But then everything clicked, and he realized it. The true essence of his system and the levels and what the Devil actually planned.
So he really wants me to become insane. He wants to break me so that I lose the will to fight. Once this happens, he will take over my body.
"HA…Ha..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I see, I see, I see! Now I understand! So he thinks he can break me? Me?! Me! Try it! I will never give up! Never, never, never! I will try again and again and again! Until I win!"
Alvis' demonic laughter resounded throughout the Mana Forest. However, Voyzez just looked at him, a genuine grin forming on his face.
"Are you sure about that?"
Voyzez's grin grew just as intense as Alvis', yet his eyes drifted off to the side, another person entering his view. Alvis did the same, though his reaction was the complete opposite of Voyzez's. His grin vanished, replaced by a sour expression with every fiber of his trembling. His heart threatened to break as he saw the girl he cared about so much.
"L-Lia?"
It didn't make sense. Alvis shook his head, trying to deny it, yet he could never mistake her with someone else. Her emerald eyes, which noticed even the most subtle details on Alvis. Her blond hair, which shone brighter than the sun even in this darkness. Her warm smile, which tried its best to reassure Alvis in every situation. There was no mistaking it; she was Lia.
"I've come here to save you, Alvis!"
Her words were confident, but Alvis could see her tiny hands trembling. It was because she was so strong that she knew Voyzez wasn't someone she could defeat. Yet she clenched her fists and stared him down.
"Wonderful! Magnificent! Amazing! You are insane! Come and fight me. Your death will make this guy even more insane. Ahhh~ embrace insanity!"
"Lia, run away! You can't beat this guy! Please, Lia, I beg you! Run away!"
Alvis' desperate cries reached her, yet her body wouldn't move away.
"No, Alvis," she said, gathering Mana in her palm. "It's my fault that you even ended up in this state."
She looked at him and how he was missing one leg, and Alvis could see a tear building up in her eye.
"I should have noticed it earlier. Your odd behavior throughout this week," she said as wind blades flew around her. "No, maybe I even realized it earlier, but I tried to ignore it. I desperately tried to believe that everything would be fine. That you would handle everything again, just like back then. Hah, I know, I'm pathetic."
Lia shot her wind blades at Voyzez, but his shadows just absorbed them. Her eyes widened for a split second before she resumed fighting. Countless roots rose from the ground, their only goal being to devour Voyzez. He just grinned, his insanity clear for everyone to see. The surrounding darkness took on the shape of dragons and they clashed with the roots, resulting in a fierce battle.
"But this will change now!" Lia said, creating even more roots, as she tried to overwhelm Voyzez's shadows. "You aren't alone. I will always be on your side. You said it too, didn't you? That together we would overcome everything!"
She is crying.
Alvis saw tears running down her face as she uttered these words. A vortex of emotion built up within him, his heart unable to endure any more pain. Yet seeing how his wife was desperately putting her life on the line for his sake made his body react instinctively. Even though he was one leg short, he stood up, his mana and willpower moving his battered body. He used a tree as support and somehow made it.
"L-Lia, I will fight with you."
"Insanity!"
It was at this moment that one shadow dragon broke through Lia's defense and caught her. Time seemed as if it was standing still, as Alvis could only watch how the dragon was about to devour his wife. Her lips moved, and she whispered something.
"I'm sorry."
"LIA!"
The shadow dragon bit off her upper body and the rest of her body audibly fell on the ground.
Lia was dead.
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
I've failed. Again.
His tears robbed him of his last strength, and he fell to the ground.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes! Your girl just died before your eyes. How insane is that? And you couldn't even do anything to protect her! You did nothing! Nothing! You let her die! It's your fault! How insane!"
Voyzez's mocking words fueled Alvis' anger, yet he couldn't respond. It was because he knew he was right that Alvis couldn't say anything.
"What happened to your confidence? Why aren't you laughing? Can you still say you will never give up? Embrace it! Embrace insanity!"
I-…I can't give up. If I do, the Devil will take over.
"I will kill you! I will kill you! I will kill you!"
"Ahhhhh~ yes, this is it. You did it! You are finally insane!"
He raised his palm at Alvis and, in the next instance, a shadow dragon bit off his head.
[YOU DIED!]
"Alvis?"
"I will kill him, I will kill him, I will kill him…"
Alvis muttered these words, his lips unable to produce something different. Voyzez's grin wouldn't leave his mind, but Alvis would do anything to wipe it out of his face.
No matter how often I have to die; I will kill him!
However, a searing pain in his head forced Alvis out of his thoughts.
[NOTIFICATION]
"What?"
Alvis didn't know what to expect, but he would just open it, hoping the pain would vanish. But what he then saw changed everything.
[ONE LIFE REMAINING!]