Chapter 33: Exaltation

I felt the vitality leak from my abused body. Where was I? Why was there a feeling of emptiness below my chest?

From the dull pain in my eyes and my narrowed vision, I could see Hanami, he was at least somewhat visibly injured but he was built out of tougher material and would regenerate in seconds. Was it him that launched me like this?

Right, that's what happened, his fist buried into my stomach and busted a hole through it. That's why I am flying right.

I'm dying.

A tiny bit of my vision recovered and I could see the unanimated bodies of my soldiers littering the fuming forest. Like puppets with their strings cut.

Whatever little was left wasn't in a condition to fight.

I could see Hanami chasing after me. Intending to pop my head like a balloon once he caught up.

I'm dying.

I already exhausted all the spells I could use and Cursed Speech would not work well enough against him. Spells took too long to cast and I would die before then.

I'm dying.

What can I do now? The world around me was painfully slow as my vision darkened further. Hanami would reach me and I would die.

I will die.

This feeling was one I had felt before. As I lay broken in that alleyway. I didn't notice it then but it was such an unpleasant feeling wasnt it? The senses abandoning your body.

*Crack*

Hanami stepped on something, my eyes opened just barely to see what that was. It was simply the remains of a skeleton soldier.

Why was that so Important? My eyes darkened again, so close to death I could feel something.

For some reason, I could see my vision broadening. And something I didn't know at the time happened.

At the moment of being infinitely close to death, there were no burdens on me. No need for any thoughts about maintaining my body at the moment, no thoughts about anything. So the entirety of my 302 intelligence was focused on the way to live.

I could see remains of cursed energy on that corpse. All living beings and corpses contained cursed energy so it made sense. I could also see the core of the undead. The little wisp of cursed energy that transformed it that had turned into its core.

Why is it so important?

I don't know if it is because I am so lightheaded but I feel like it is important. Something in my instincts is screaming at me.

Then like a bolt of lightning it struck. It all clicked.

I raised my hands toward that corpse.

The cursed energy that served as its core activated.

Converge, all the cursed energy that had accumulated and remained inside the corpse was drawn to that single point.

Compress, the mass of cursed energy compressed to the limit to the point where it started collapsing.

Expand, as the opposite reaction the violent compressed cursed energy like a rubber band snapping back rapidly expands until the container breaks apart.

The result?

"Cursed Technique Extension: {Corpse Explosion}"

"『 Wha- 』" The corpse beneath Hanami suddenly burst open with a giant explosion comparable to a missile as it created a giant ball of green and black flames that launched Hanami backward nearly maiming him.

I flipped back onto my feet as they dragged across the floor and looked at Hanami with a smile. For some reason, as close to death as I was I felt more awake than ever in my life. My vision was crystal clear, my body felt like it was floating on clouds without a shred of pain.

Is this what being high felt? I felt more confident in myself than I had ever felt. Everything seemed to click for some reason.

The forest was set ablaze as the explosion had created a cloud of necrotic energy around it. Withering the forest around us and setting it aflame. Before the fire spread to me however I put my palm on a giant tree behind me.

[Life Drain] I dont care what the skill description says, as long as it possesses vitality the skill WILL work. I felt the gap below my ribcage close slowly. How did I have this much-cursed energy? Why wouldn't I? There was plenty of my own cursed energy just lying around in corpse containers no?

"What's wrong green day? You seem a little shaken up? Did you think only a pathetic whelp like you could get serious?" Unbeknownst to me my eyes had taken on a green hue, words left my mouth with a sneer.

Hanami in response stayed silent and put his hands on the ground as a giant mass of thorny branches the size of several buildings came rushing toward me like a tsunami. Yet facing this I couldn't give off anything but a mocking smile.

"Do you think uprooting a few trees is gonna work against me ? Especially in a battlefield like this?" I couldn't help but chuckle at the naivety as I lazily raised my hand.

*BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!*

A chain of giant explosions went off in the path of the roots that obliterated them in their trajectory. I saw the backlash Hanami took and smiled.

"By the way for your information. My cursed technique allows for me to create undead and corpse constructs. It also allows me to detonate corpses to cause explosions."

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Current Binding Vows:

Revealing One's Hand:

-By announcing the name of the skill you are using to your opponent you can make your cursed techniques 10% more powerful

Gloating:

-By divulging how your cursed technique functions to your enemy it increases the output of your cursed technique by 10% for the remainder of the fight. The more the opponent knows about the technique the stronger the boost.

_____________________________

"『 Why divulge that information? 』"

"Well, with how things are going to go you will need every advantage you can get. Besides..."

"I just felt magnanimous enough to pity you is all."

That seemed to get the living sapling riled up enough to charge me. Smart move, the larger distance there is between us the weaker his roots are, so by closing the gap he makes his technique stronger. But does this naive little thing think I would possibly allow him to close the distance between us?

"Corpse Explosion." The moment the words left my mouth Hanami turned to the nearest corpse and braced. It seems that he had anticipated it from the information I divulged.

*STAB!!!* "『 Gyuah! 』"

Suddenly several bone pikes erupted from behind and pierced Hanami's back.

"Wow. It seems you are about as smart as the plants you summon huh? Just because I sat the name aloud doesn't mean I will use it. By the way. "

*BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!*

A corpse explosion hit Hanami's head on but he seemingly shrugged it off and charged at me again, suddenly a root erupted underneath my foot and grabbed it before yanking me toward Hanami who created several wooden bundles and shot spikes at me as well as preparing a powerful punch.

Naive.

If my shadow can store my undead and eject them, basically displacing their positions by utilizing my shadow as an intermediary then why shouldn't I be able to affect the position of my undead if they are in my shadow? Besides, it's my own technique, why wouldn't it affect me also?

My shadow expanded and reached the nearest corpse of my undead. I focused on the core of the undead as I calculated the coordinates of me and my undead thanks to my expanded clear vision. Then.

In a blur of shadow, my body was replaced with the corpse.

'Shadow Swap.'

The wooden tendrils pierced the corpse and Hanami's fist obliterated the upper half of the corpse. And I couldn't help but revel in Hanami's panicked expression.

*BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!*

Hanami was hit by a point-blank Corpse Explosion and was sent flying back. I noticed my cursed energy reserves had emptied but that simple matter could not possibly inconvenience one such as myself. While Hanami was stunned I retreived two potions of mana and one of mana regen. I chugged them down and threw away the bottles.

Cursed buds would not work as I am not using cursed energy to defend myself. Grabbing me would not work, I can simply swap my position with a corpse. Flower field is infective. Roots are not effective enough at range and wooden balls are the only decent ranged option.

Hanami was getting cornered like the rat he was.

So what if you can one-shot me? Good luck reaching me. My problem is the disgusting regen he has. He has already recovered from every blow I have landed on him since the dawn of time itself.

But the withering inflicted by corpse explosion was still consistent as it rendered Hanami's armor completely ineffective.

Hanami realized this and abandoned all attempts at range and focused on closing distance. My explosions might deal damage but you think you can deal with them huh? In nearly an instant he reached in front of my face and punched.

But activating cursed energy reinforcement I simply leaned back and dodged the punch before creating several bone spikes that hit Hanami but he shrugged it off as he punched again which I ducked under, it was like I could predict where the punches would land.

One hit.

Hanami just needs to hit me once and I will crumple like a wet paper bag.

Hanami punched forward once more. I simply tilted my body away from the trajectory I had already calculated and punched Hanami back with a hook. Thanks to my iron fist and Hanami's crunched armor I could deal actual damage.

"I do not know if you are brave, reckless, or stupid to think you can match me." I said nonchalantly as several bone spikes burst out of the ground and hit Hanami.

"In fact, I don't even have to look at you to humiliate you further." So saying that I closed my eyes. Of course, there was more to it than a power play.

As a cursed spirit, I can see Hanami fully when using sense cursed energy. And I used it just in time to see cursed energy coagulation beneath my feet allowing me to step away and dodge the burst of roots that shot out.

I replied with a demon scythe that went out nearly instantly and almost chopped off Hanami's arm.

I normally couldn't cast spells all that well while moving but now everything felt like second nature. I didn't think about using my abilities I just used them.

As much as I would like to say otherwise, if this drags on for any longer I will lose. Thanks to the decay and wither effects of corpse explosion Hanami lost his armor but he is still tougher than me and anything but complete death will not end this fight.

Due to the absolute abuse my body is going through I can feel that my brain is already bleeding severely in several places. If it were anyone else other than my exalted self they would already be rendered dead in seconds.

Currently, the damage to my body consists of:

23 shattered ribs

Both femur's broken.

Shattered kneecap.

Several compound fractures on both arms.

All tendons torn.

Whatever the fuck happened to my stomach.

Fractured knuckles.

Lungs punctured in 8 places.

It would be easier to list the injuries my spine hasn't sustained rather than the ones it has.

Severe Brain hemorrhaging and overheating.

In fact. How was I even alive? With my current status, I should be losing approximately 30% of my HP per second and that's a generous approximation.

Hah! As if in my current state there is nothing that can imagine even being able to kill me. Well, it may have killed anyone if it weren't me.

I was currently maintaining a balance between my life and death by using cursed energy to stabilize my body, using cursed energy enhancement so that the ribs that are piercing my lungs are more like safety pins going through a scarf. I also used cursed energy as a cast for my bones to stay in place. Torn ligaments were filled in by more cursed energy.

Most of the healing I do by life drain goes directly to my brain to maintain it. I am not afraid of permanent brain damage I will eventually regenerate all damage and return to peak condition as long as I stay alive.

I have already inflicted so many statuses such as poisoning through archers, decomposing, and withering through corpse explosion so defense is dead for him. I just need to finish this so that he won't recover.

I scoured through my skill list almost instantly and one stood out. Dodging yet another root burst and wood tendrils I gathered all of the remaining cursed energy left from my dead soldiers.

Thick pillars of bone that were overcharged with so much cursed energy that they are cracked, stabbed into Hanami's legs.

"{ { Don't move } }" My words suffused with cursed energy rang out and for just a single moment halted Hanami's movement's just enough. I felt the cursed energy shred my throat but it didn't matter.

And then I raised my hand and channeled the skill that had reached its limit. A limit I would break at this very moment.

[Cursed Flames Lv. 100/100]

The amount of cursed energy I would normally channel to the flames suddenly felt different. As if someone had switched the container from a small bottle to a pond. As the vast amount of cursed energy was poured into the spell the gigantic ball of green flame started getting redder and redder until it became a demonic crimson. The ball of flame was several times the size of my body at this point. And all that was left was to announce it.

"{Burning Sea}"

The several-meter-tall ball of hell flame evaporated everything in its path.

With how weakened Hanami already was, the giant ball of brimstone flames completely obliterated him without a trace, the ball of flame incinerated literally everything in its path without discriminating. All trees it touched turned to ash.

[ You have killed { Hanami - Lv. 300 Special Boss } ]

Victory.

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A/N: What did you think about the chapter? Comment Below! I am always up for suggestions to improve my writing.

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