Chapter 62: Confrontation with the Unknown

Unaware of what had happened I slowly opening my eyes. Was I dead? Had I survived? As I slowly tried to lift my body, quickly I noticed that I was unable to move. My eyes shot open as I did not recognize the area I was in.

Trying to lift my head had proven to be more difficult than I had hoped... I wasn't dead, right?

If I was shouldn't I be able to move?

Going off on my assumption the only reasonable explenation would be that indeed I had survived the challenge, but excerted all of my energy instead... Did I came out unscathed?

I wasn't sure...

As I tried my best to recall what had happened,

it had even shown difficulty to stay awake...

Shortly after I succumbed to a long sleep,

unaware of the developments my body undertook during this time. 

I had been gone for a long time, but instantly recognized the place I had ended up arriving in...

"My soul sea."

I blurted out as I looked around with wide eyes.

Similar to the area I had been to before, drenched in liquid, almost giving off the feeling of walking on water not everything was entirely the same.

As I walked further into the depths of my soul, liquid began to rise from both sides. Giving off the feeling if standing in a shallow puddle.

Along the way the liquid made way for steps to follow downstairs... Why this was happening? I had no clue...

It seemed more mysteries kept piling up, wanting to be unraveled. The only thought in my mind was relieve, relieve of leaving the darkness...

The confrontation behind... Relieved,

that the challenges, had been taken care off.

But how could I, not knowing what was lying ahead in these mysterious chambers.

I followed the path opened up to me, to find a long and narrow, dimly lid pathway. Only allowing me to move forward, there was nothing I could do but follow the assigned direction.

Eventually the narrow pathway led to an open area, devoid of light I could only see the slight rippling of the liquid created by the slightest of drops uniting itself of collision. No big alter, or meaningful space...

For the longest time I stared at the slight rippling of the water, hoping to find some clue regarding why my curiosityhad led me tonthis mysterious and undiscoverer area...

Uncertain of my inclusion of this experience.

Driven by the urge of wanting to know why this had been revealed to me, I began looking around.

But other than the dripping water wasn't able to find anything significant... until...

I began to realize that the physics and laws of nature must still be in effect in this place.

Why else was water dripping onto the floor?

Realizing this I slowly looked up to find something which clearly was not there before...

A huge orb-like cocoon floated high above in the middle of the room, for what the sheer darkness allowed me to see was the fact that it was producing the liquid on its own.

Some time passed as I observed its patterns trying to reach and even touching its texture. It had deep grooves thoughout its shell.

Unable to reach the distance between I became slightly annoyed, as it had gone out of its way to make sure I couldn't reach the distance with my physical vorm.

That was... If I hadn't developed any spiritual knowledge prior to this situation.

When suddenly something made it crack revealing what's inside...

At first it looked like something familiar, thinking I recognized the form of the entity...

I walked closer, but it didn't move.

I had to make sure, that it was still alive,

which was why I walked around it.

I wanted to call out to it, not sure of what it was.

My feet splash into the liquid when suddenly it slowly began to dissolve. I called out to it in a panic.

"Hey... are you okay?"

I didn't know if it was the right thing to do,

yet almost instantly regretted my decision.

It moved... slowly lifting up its head I knew it had heard me... it had difficulty lifting its head as it swayed left and right. When suddenly a claw slammed onto the floor. 

It had not seen me yet, so I had to get away as fast as possible. Recognising its shape I slowly backed away, hoping it wouldn't look behind when suddenly I tripped over one of the steps that had led me to this area...

A loud splash could be heard throughout the area.

The creature which had fully recovered had located the sound and launched at it.

Splashing could resonated throughout the area.

Making the entity confused about its surroundings. At which the system reacted.

[Defeat the Demon Within:

The demon who was once locked away deep within has reawakened. Killing intent shows that the only option for survival is confrontation.

Defeat what is within and prevail victorious or die trying and become consumed by the void within yourself.

Rewards: 

Cleansing of the mind; unlocks "???" Skill.

+5 to all stats

Mystery key]

Looking at the mission I couldn't believe my eyes...

Was E.V.E. telling me to fight this thing? Or where there other powers at work here?

A million questions popped up in my mind like;

What does this system do? What does it mean for the users called "players"? And what was meant with drifters?

For the latter I had already found out a small bit of information as I believed it had to do with the abilitie to travel between dimensions. For example, how I had traveled between the planes of Arganthes and the another realm, not to mention that I had travel multiple times within my own inner spiritual realms like what had happened right now.

There was a difference thought, the system forcefully made me enter the conflict I am in right now, so...

Wanting to grow its certain what has to be done.

But... the question remains... Will I be able to win?

The question kept spinning in my head until I slapped both of my checks simultaneously.

"Now is not the time to doubt myself!! I can do this!"

The courage I had mustered up allowed me to stand my ground. The entity looked around in the hopes of finding who or what had made the water splash in its proximity. 

Fear came over me as I tried to stand my ground.

But as the entity kept walking around in circles,

something felt odd.

Trying to think of a plan I reached into my pockets.

Hoping to find anything that could potentially give me an edge against the seemingly shadow-like figure.

Quickly realizing I had no pockets, something awkward shot through my head. I had no gear, no clothes! What happened to them?!

As the figure had not realized where I was it began to lash out at random places in a desperate attempt to find what had made the sounds.

Its sniffed, huffed and snarled frustrated that its first prey had escaped. It almost felt pitiful...

Combining this feeling with te realization that I was in fact "naked" made me laugh. Revealing my position once again.

The entity noticed and located where I was in an instand, I had to get away... find a way to fight back!

Survival was more important than feeling awkward, not even to feel sorry for those who intent to kill.

That was when I realized that the honorable parts I was most emberassed about weren't even visible, which made me feel even more emberrased about the whole situation.

Once again I steeled my resolve and tried something else. Knowing I was close to my soul sea I should be able to use this right?

"My own energy, Mana... Ki, spiritual energy. Whichever way would work better in this situation.

I tried to concentrate and gather the energy around me. Slowly the energy began to react, almost like small waves the air around me began to turn.

I visualized it entering my body, doing this helped me to slawly connect with the stream around me.

The creature noticed the chances in the air,

but wasn't certain what was happening.

Then... the creature did something unexpected,

I felt the movement of the water indicating that the creature stopped across from me.

In fact it sat down, but why?

The rippling of the water which came across from me stopped for a moment, releaved I continued to create the last opportunity I could think off.

As I gathered more and more of the energy around me I felt being stared at... as if eyes were piercing straight through this barely visible darkness.

The visualisation I came up with represented one of the spell I previously used with access to the magic crystals. Would I be able to do it? Was it tje right choice to try and summon lighting in an area flooded with water?

No! There was no time to doubt myself,

I had to end this while I still had a card to play.

During this resolution I became frustrated, small sparks began to vorm around the palm of my hand.

At that moment the air around me began to change.

I could have sworn feeling a stream of cold air as my energy got disrupted.

The creature had found a way...