Lethifold - Avoid or... !!!

Kai had never felt so insignificant before that even the phantom pain lingering within him because of the soul-corruption got forgotten.

He was hovering, floating, flying, walking, or lying… he just didn't know how to describe it.

He could not make sense of his orientation. Nor could he tell how to put all this into words.

Kai had never seen such blackness before.

Absolute Dark!

Only these two words could dare to take the challenge, putting Kai's thoughts on paper. What else could it be?

Kai had suffered grave injuries, with his skin cracking because of DEATH's mere presence.

If it hadn't been because of Lethifold's timely action, then his entire body would have gone through excruciating damage.

Meg had traded a box of 5 Uncommon HP capsules for him, but there was no need to waste them when natural healing was already sufficient.

So, as his HP regeneration rate kicked in, healing the superficial cracks covering his body, Kai had nothing to do but look into this vast darkness.

His eyes were opened, and his thoughts were clear. But no matter what, Kai just couldn't see anything.

He did feel something, though.

Countless gazes were falling over him from all around as if some hidden beings were marveling at his puny presence.

Only a few moments had passed since his disappearance from the library.

To Kai, it felt more like a hundred years as if many centuries would go by, traveling through this darkness with only his thoughts to accompany him.

Kai didn't get unnerved easily.

However, this absolute dark did send him into a silent stupor.

This realization, though, brought a sudden calm to his riling thoughts, making him ask the crucial questions.

Where had he come? What was this place? Was he inside Lethifold? Did Lethifold even have a fleshly body, to begin with? And what were these gazes that were scouring him up and down, from all unseen directions?

What was this darkness, and what did it represent?

With no answer coming to him, Kai tried to use magic to light up his surroundings.

Forget about magic. Not even the sound of snapping his fingers reached his ears. But Kai had many things up his sleeve.

He decided to bring candles out of his MRB.

What happened next truly stumped Contestant Red, for such a thing only the Systems could accomplish.

He failed to access his Inventory.

Kai's slitted, hazel pupils trembled, and he forced himself to think more about this place.

Suddenly, an answer came to him, but it wasn't the answer he had been looking for.

A conversation resurfaced in his mind that had happened between Darcie and her mentor in Avalon.

May I know what Daemonologie, In Forme of a Dialogue says about Lethifold, mentor? Darcie had asked.

And Madam Villanelle had answered her that there was only one word this ancient grimoire said about Lethifold — Avoid.

Avoid… Avoid… Kai chanted the word like a spell, and kept chanting it for a long time until it became a terrifying guess.

Suddenly, his eyes widened, and his entire body shook as a theory bubbled up in his empty mind.

Is it possible that Madam Villanelle deciphered it wrong? Kai asked himself, his lips opening and closing soundlessly. Is it possible that the biblical figure wrongly translated Lethifold's description, counting two words as one? Is… Is it possible… that what the grimoire says about Lethifold isn't Avoid, but…

A Void!!!

Kai again looked at the absolute darkness enshrouding his tiny existence and tried to reevaluate and sense it.

Alas! It was also then that he felt being squeezed by an unseen force.

Kai felt as if his body was shrinking by an impossible degree, becoming less than the dimensions of a point.

Then, with a soundless pop, his body fell on something more than ethereal.

A cold gust of wind hit his face first and then came the feeling of wet, pointy rocks digging into his knees and palms.

From his left came the roar of frothy waves, impacting on the rocky shore, and from his right came the sound of endless flutters.

Kai forced himself to ignore everything and sat down in a meditative posture, trying to heal himself first.

Only after a few minutes did he open his eyes, seeing his HP bar hitting the limit.

Today, Kai truly had survived death.

But this wasn't the time to be worrying about what had happened, he knew.

Only some 45 minutes were remaining to his transfiguration, and he didn't even know where Lethifold had brought him.

Suddenly, Kai sighed.

His sigh was full of loss, thinking of those two crystals.

He didn't know what would have happened to them after his departure.

The Stones were too crucial for him. Without them, he couldn't use Eon Soul Dew repeatedly, unless he replaced them with something else.

Kai let out a breath and threw himself to his feet before looking around.

Lethifold seemed to have brought him near to a rocky beach, with cliffs rising high toward the cloudy sky.

No matter in which direction Kai looked, he couldn't see any hint of light or human settlement.

Why did it bring me here? Kai asked himself, turning around to face the magical creature.

Despite the powerful gusts of wind, Lethifold was flapping mid-air, coiling around itself like a banner.

What exactly is this creature? Kai thought, confused. A Void? Or a Gateway to the Void? Does the place of Absolute Darkness within it represent a Void? Or is it just a medium to send one to that place?

An even more pressing thought that rose in Kai's mind was how Lethifold had apparated. Was calling it Apparation even right?

For one, Kai hadn't seen the actual process of it expanding and shrinking, becoming a speck of black point and puncturing into the void to bring him away.

Second, Apparation and Disapparation had characteristic whip-like cracking sounds accompanying them, regardless of how loud or silent they were and which magical creature used them.

A thing that Lethifold lacked entirely.

Kai was just contemplating these issues when he stumbled on an astounding discovery.

Lethifold looked like a black piece of cloak made of the purest silk one could find in the world.

But now, Kai felt it had become too transparent, almost looking like a lace. It had become so transparent that he felt it would melt into the air and vanish in the very next moment.

Is it how it disapparated from the library? Kai asked himself. By thinning its cloth-like body and vanishing?

However, just as Kai was asking these questions, even in his wildest dreams he had never thought that the System would answer him.

And this answer was a Notification.

…

[

You have triggered a Side Mission

…

Main Mission: Transcending legacies

Side Mission: Feed Lethifold

Side Mission Summary: When Lethifold uses its abilities, it spends its innate essence for them to work. It can only replenish this innate essence by consuming the flesh of the magical creatures

Side Mission Objective: Find at least 30 kg of fresh meat of a magical creature for Lethifold

Side Mission Time Limit: 30 minutes

Do you accept the Side Mission?

]

…

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