Trials

The ground split open and the crack was widening with each moment. In a blink of an eye, it was over four meters wide and kept widening. The walls of the building kept collapsing. Thankfully, probably because of inclination, most of the rubble fell to the side, instead of falling onto Alexander's head.

'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!' Alexander panicked. He had to do something.

The demon has recovered by this point. Its arms looked broken with black blood dripping down, however, this did not seem to bother it a bit. It screamed loudly at Alexander and leaped over the chasm.

Seeing this, Alexander prepared himself. A well-placed kick could make the demon fall down the chasm. This might be his way out! He kicked as hard as he could, aiming for its head, but what he did not expect, was for the demon to grab his leg with its broken arms!

"Ugh!"

As soon as the demon wrapped both of his legs in its arms, it dragged him along with incredible strength. With each passing second, Alexander felt his grip weaken until finally, he lost balance. As he fell, he hit the back of his head against the floor.

"Fuck!"

He forcefully opened his eyes. After all, he knew that he had to do something or the demon would finish him off.

He grabbed a piece of concrete that was nearby and started to rapidly hit the demon's head with it. He hit it over and over again. Even though the demon was covered in blood, it didn't seem affected much. In fact, it was laughing even harder!

Then, suddenly, Alexander felt a wave of anger well up inside him. He was angry! Angry at the demon for attacking him! Angry at the world for being so cruel! Angry at himself for not being strong enough. Riding upon and blinded by the wave of fiery rage, he started to hit the demon with incredible vigor.

Without Alexander noticing it, his Blood Qi started to circulate wildly in his body. After all, he already had unblocked a meridian, and it could find its way through his body.

"Ahhhhh!" He screamed as he continued to hit the demon. At first, it tried to resist but hit after hit had split its skull open.

[Hunger Demon Level 6 Defeated]

[Accumulated Soul Force + 420]

Despite hearing the notification in his mind, he kept hitting for several times more, not stopping until the wave of anger had subsided.

At this moment, he heard a voice in his head go off again.

[Accumulated Soul Force has reached the required capacity. Level 3 reached. Additional stat points available.]

'What?'

Alexander focused on his mind's eye to check it out, he felt a tremor accompanied by a cracking sound. The chunk of the floor he was on broke off and he fell down the chasm together with the mauled body of the demon. The chasm widened further and swallowed both of them whole.

***

Some time has passed before Alexander regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes he saw a light blue sky. However, that sky was framed by the walls of the chasm he fell in.

'That's right, I fell down that hole.'

He got up with great difficulty. Every limb of his was alight with a piercing sensation of pain. Looking around, he found himself surrounded by rocks and stones. His eyes fell upon the corpse of the demon and he realized that it must be its body that softened the fall for Alexander.

After checking his body, he learned that he sustained no serious injuries apart from the throbbing pain throughout his limbs. Thankfully, it seemed that none of his bones were broken. Although his skin was covered with purple spots all over his body.

His clothes too were torn to shreds, exposing his naked torso. Though it wasn't quite the worst situation ever, considering how badly bruised he was due to hitting the ground repeatedly, he thought that wearing those ripped clothing was just adding insult to injury.

"Well, at least I'm alive." He muttered under his breath.

There was nothing else he could do. He decided to rest a bit first. He sat cross-legged and performed a cycle of the meditation technique.

Performing it for one cycle only took several minutes anyway. And although it temporarily increased his perception of the pain that came from all the bruises, after completing it, he felt refreshed, and the throbbing headache that was building up seemed to go away.

As he meditated, he became aware of two things. First was his hunger. Since the pain was a way more prominent sensation, it somewhat diverted Alexander's attention from how hungry he was.

The second was a weird feeling he got from a certain direction. He never felt anything like it. It was similar to the faint calling he felt from obelisks, but it was also different in its nature.

He looked in the direction this feeling came from and realized that there was a cavern entrance there. The way the light fell, if he did not look, he wouldn't even notice it.

'Trying to climb up would be too dangerous... Might as well check this cave since I can't go anywhere else.' Just as he was about to get up, Alexander noticed the small green blinking light on his smartwatch.

'My smartwatch! It is military-grade, so it could be still working! Maybe I can contact someone!' He hurriedly turned its screen on.

If he could contact his father or uncle Nikolai, his life might become much easier. Or at least he could know that they were alive and vice versa.

As soon as the screen lit up, Alexander glued his gaze to the corner where the signal strength indicator was located.

No service. Bullshit! How could there be no dedicated military communication lines?

'Of course, there is no service. What did I even expect?'

Suddenly, a feminine synthesized voice spoke out.

"Welcome back, Major Theodore Hart. There are currently three priority messages awaiting."