Will to live(3)

The harsh rays of the sun beat down on the forest, where a massive battle raged on.

Ruel lifted himself up from the ground, scraping his sword on the ground, and using it as a support to get up.

His body felt like it would break apart in one or two of those attacks. Taking his sword out from the ground, he noticed.

Just when he was pushed back, others had already reached Baleful Creeper. They were fighting the destructive vines flailing around in the air, ready to blow them up at a moment's notice.

With the power hidden in those seemingly feeble vines, they were slowly getting pushed back.

Some of them threw the Molotovs at it in hopes of doing some damage, and it did work. The skin around Baleful Creeper was getting softer with the constant barrage, but the problem was the range.

The Baleful Creeper vines had a massive range. The flailing of its vines made it much more difficult for anyone to even get near its body.

Ruel's mind raced as he tried to come up with a plan and in the heat of the moment, only one thing came to his mind.

Calming his body, he brandished his sword and moved forward instinctually.

Suddenly, he kicked the ground and rushed past others, narrowly dodging a vine aimed at him. The others watched in shock, fearing for Ruel's life.

Having a serious expression on his face, he was entirely focused on the thing he was doing. He just dropped back first on the ground, dodging the blow by a hair's length.

Just when it all seemed over, his hand shot in the direction of the vine.

Following the vine with his hand, he finally got near it when it just seemed to be in a still state.

Not missing this chance, Ruel caught it in his hands, and just as his hand touched it, the vine shot backwards. In the direction of the Baleful Creeper.

This was the moment Ruel wanted. This was a mechanism of the vines. They moved back and forth between its body and the fighting cultivators. The vines did this for maximum damage by building momentum. Ruel utilized this to his advantage.

But it wasn't as easy as it seemed.

Every step was carefully considered, as any wrong move could spell his doom.

If he didn't catch it at a near-perfect time, his hands would have been elongated and broken in a gruesome manner.

Just like now, the momentum in those vines was building up back and forth. As Ruel got near the main body, the more his hands wanted to let go.

Persisting with it, he didn't let go. It felt like they would break. He was exhausted.

He wanted to just rest, but he couldn't. It was just his will to live that was making him go.

Seeing all this in awe, one person had let go of his concentration mid-battle, but letting your eyes off your enemy was a grave sin on a battlefield.

As if punishing his recklessness, a vine came towards his chest. A look of horror appeared on his face. He couldn't do anything to stop it.

Just as the vine touched him, his chest caved in, rib bones piercing his heart. No scream could be heard as his mouth gurgled with blood.

A moment's recklessness took away his life.

Still high in the air, Ruel let go of his hands around the vine. The vine was still moving towards the baleful creeper, but with more speed as the burden on it had been lifted.

Ruel flew towards the Baleful Creeper with speed. Taking out some Molotovs from his side pouch, he lit them.

Even in the breezy atmosphere, the flame didn't die out.

Ruel threw the bottles down when he was near it. But the bottles didn't touch the creature; instead, they just blew right in front of it, catching its attention.

In confusion, the Baleful creeper looked around, trying to find the source of this petty disturbance.

But just as it looked up, its eye saw a human with a sword just in front of it?

What was the human doing up there? Well, it doesn't matter, he will now die.

But the Baleful Creeper underestimated Ruel's descent speed. None of the vines it sent his way touched him.

And with that, Ruel crashed into the eye, his legs scraping the inside of it, making a mess of the eye.

The legs finally gave in to the descent force and slumped down. Ruel's bones had cracked.

It was to be noted that Ruel had fallen from high up, so high that his legs could break and become a mangled mess.

He had thrown the bottle on the ground instead of the creeper itself. Just because if he threw it at the creature, then it would flail around more.

Ultimately damaging the airborne Ruel and even if he survived it, he wouldn't survive the drop as his legs would break and become a mangled mess under the sheer pressure.

He would just be another powerless person waiting for his inevitable death.

With this strategy he made, the Baleful Creeper would look above for the source of Molotovs and it paid off!

Yes, it was true that in the process he also had sustained some damage, but it was a small price to pay to kill the Baleful Creeper in one blow.

Swinging his sword aimlessly around the inside of the Baleful Creeper, Ruel was trying to maximize the damage done.

SCHREEE!!

Screaming in agony, the Creeper became mad, rampaging with its vine. Hearing the screech, every lesser horncreeper turned in the direction of the Baleful creeper. They also started screeching in agony and frantically broke the line of defense just to save their mother.

The Baleful creeper had a mental connection with her progenies to give them simple commands, but it was one-sided.

It was now a race against time to see who would kill the other first. Either Ruel kills the Baleful creeper faster or the rampaging duo of creepers slaughters everyone in the blood frenzy outside.

But Ruel was a veteran who had fought through many such battles. He knew the location of the core.

Every demon had a core that stores all its energy. It functioned like a heart without which the whole demon would die out.

He kept swinging his sword in every direction. Blood and gore surrounded him and his body dyed in a deep green.

He kept swinging until he felt a hard resistance toward his sword. He finally found the core!

Putting his hand inside the grotesque flesh, he took out a dark red-colored marble from the flesh of the Baleful Creeper. Without waiting for a moment, Ruel smacked the core with his sword as hard as he could. Slowly, cracks started forming on it, yet he kept going.

Until the core finally gave in, releasing an enchanting light and breaking. With the core gone, the Baleful Creeper became slower with time, as if it was a machine with its power cut off.

With a sudden stillness in its movement, it ceased to exist.

Its body turned into a lump of dead mass in the blink of an eye.

Ruel dropped to the ground with a groan. He had dropped from some height when the Baleful Creeper died.

Even though Qi cultivation realm just made a person's body better than an athlete's, it was still quite a feat to persist this long in the battle for Ruel.

He was breathing as if his heart would blow up, he could hear the sound of his heart beating, and feel the pain in his arms and legs as if they would fall down in just a moment.

Yet only one feeling was the most prominent of them all, the feeling of victory.

They won! They survived!

The lesser horncreepers died left and right as their primary source of energy was the Baleful Creeper.

They functioned like a hive, with the Baleful Creeper at the top. If it died, then they would die as well.

A sigh escaped Ruel's lips as he tried to stand up. Using his battered sword as a cane, he walked near the ones who fought with him.

In the sudden rampage of the Baleful Creeper, another of them died, making the death count of their group somewhat astonishing.

It had to be noted that this survival in itself was a miracle, as the Baleful Creeper was one realm above them all!

Everyone's injuries were fatal at the moment. Even the ones who had fought with the imps, only a fifth survived.

They were 40-strong at the start of the battle, but only 16 survived.

Even though the imps were not even in the Qi cultivation realm, their claws, and teeth were a menace in themselves not to talk about the massive numbers they had.

Despite this, Ruel was happy with many of them surviving the battle.

In his previous life, less than 10 people had made it alive from here.

Just surviving barely while hiding themselves from every battle and desperately waiting for rescue which came by luck.

Ruel didn't want his fate to depend upon so-called luck, which may or may not come true.

The keeper had sent him back to the past. Would he expect Ruel to depend on luck to win?

From now on, Ruel had to be vigilant in everything. The old man's words resounded deeply in his mind.

'He was cautious about me and what I would do.'

Ruel could feel it at that time. It may have seemed like the old man didn't have any leash on Ruel after sending him back to the past, but it was just an illusion.

Ruel always felt like there was something wrong with that conversation. Would a being more powerful than him not have any second plan?

No.

He couldn't figure it out right now, but that didn't mean he wouldn't in the future.

Just as he was thinking of this, suddenly, the voice of something flying in the air could be heard.

Lifting his head above, he saw a red object flying when it burst into a flash of light.

Reinforcements were here!

And the red flashing of the signal indicated that a cultivator higher than the level of Foundation establishment was dispatched.

Maintaining a slight smile on his face, Ruel's vision blacked out.