Chapter 52: Deadly Heart

"...Arise."

There was nothing but a whisper escaping Rhys's mouth, but he did not even need to whisper as the fatigue chaining down his entire body shattered. But fatigue was not the reason why he could not even move a single finger, no — his body was truly… fucked.

His ear drums were busted, most of his bones were shattered just from the sheer shockwave of the cyclops' slap. He did not even need to imagine what would have happened to him if he was actually hit by that, all he needed to remember were the times he had to kill some mosquitoes.

The pain crawling throughout his entire body as his fractured bones scraped across the insides of his flesh was almost unbearable, but Rhys just gritted his teeth as he tried his best to sit up or at least move his neck to see what was happening.

How could he not bite through this pain, when he had the chance to finally watch how one of the world's strongest people fight?

When Ayesha kicked the cyclops' hand away a few moments ago, she immediately grabbed Rhys and started running down across the colossus' back. She could have probably just let herself fall and landed on the ground, but Rhys knew that the only reason she didn't choose to do that was because she was carrying him.

Ayesha's speed was truly terrifying, enough to cause Rhys, who had already trained himself to resist high pressures of G-force, to faint from time to time each time she changed direction. In just the blink of an eye, she was able to place Rhys far away from the giant — before returning to fight it in even less time.

And right now, she was going toe-to-toe with the cyclops.

"..." Rhys could feel the ground he was lying on as the cyclops stomped its foot on the ground, causing the dirt to burst and ripple like a tidal wave. Through this tidal wave, however, Ayesha pierced through and started running up the cyclops' leg; ripping its skin with each step.

The cyclops' skin, however, fully regenerated like nothing happened. But as soon as Ayesha got to its knee, she slammed her fingers through the gap between its kneecap, piercing through its flesh. And then, with a loud cackle which was even louder than the thunder that exploded each time the cyclops moved, she pulled the kneecap the size of an entire mansion with her bare hand.

"Gr…!?" The cyclops immediately lost its balance. And with it going down to its knees, Ayesha leaped straight up — destroying the rest of its knees in the process as she practically catapulted straight toward its face and right through its eye.

And the eye, which Rhys could not even pierce with Katarina's scalpel, her scalpel that just sliced through anything like they were tofu, was easily pierced through by Ayesha's fist. Perhaps Rhys just wasn't strong enough to use it?

And there and then, Rhys knew the fight was over.

Ayesha started doing what Rhys wanted to do when he put all of his effort into climbing the colossus — she started destroying it from within.

This is a creature that was capable of destroying several countries if it was allowed to get to the Surface, and yet in less than a minute… Ayesha was able to pulverize it.

They said that Ayesha was capable of destroying an entire mountain with her fist, and Rhys thought that was an exaggeration at first, but after seeing this, it might even be an understatement.

True to its Threat Level, however, the cyclops was still alive even though Rhys knew Ayesha was practically shredding it from the inside. It was still struggling, causing the entire hole to literally quake.

The cyclops started struggling and running as its knee recovered. And with the way gravity works in the dig, it was almost as if Rhys was watching a hamster running on its treadwheel, but Rhys was the one spinning — running across the walls of the dig.

A second.

A minute.

Half an hour. It took half an hour, when the cyclops was now just a literal mountain of flesh, before Ayesha finally returned to Rhys completely covered in blood… with little bits of flesh here and there stuck between her hair.

"Man, my ancestor's tits are already sagging with how long this took," Ayesha cracked her neck as she just fell and sat beside Rhys, "You see that? You could still have a conversation with it."

"..." Rhys could really only lift his head again to look at the mountain of flesh, only to see some parts of it still moving.

"So, how was it, Recruit? Did you have fun watching what it's like on the top?" Ayesha patted Rhys's chest, causing him to cough vehemently as his ribs were actually already broken, "Oops, sorry about that. But hot damn, Recruit. I was actually only joking when I said you would fight it."

That was clearly a lie, as Rhys heard her desires loud and clear like a broken vinyl.

"Did you really actually think you could fight that thing?" Ayesha then placed a finger on Rhys's forehead, pinning his head down, "Are you all muscles? Huh? Is it all spaghetti and no meatballs there?"

"..."

"But damn, damn, damn, damn…" Ayesha then clicked her tongue several times, "...You got balls, Recruit. In this generation, we need that more than brains. Are you listening to me, Rhys?"

"..."

"Recruit!" Ayesha practically screamed in Rhys's ear, "I am saying I like your balls."

"...Thank you, Ma'am," Rhys did not know whether to laugh. But if he could, he probably would as he saw one of the 5 Hearts floating above Ayesha's head…

…was now as red as the blood dripping from her brown skin.

He had now filled 1 Heart, and all he needed to do was almost die.

"Kh…" No. Actually, he was still dying.

"Rhys…?" Ayesha quickly stood up as a fountain of blood suddenly forced its way through Rhys's mouth,

"...Rhys! Don't Rhys in peace on me now!"

"..." Rhys mustered the last of his strength to look at Ayesh as soon as he heard that.

"..." Ayesha also returned Rhys's stare with a blank expression on her face. And after a few seconds, Rhys's head just went limp,

"...Rhys!"