Chapter 30- Draconic Priest (Part 1)

'Goddamit! That hurts!!' Malice slowly stood up with great difficulty as the sharp pain assaulted his back with each move. The spikes had protruded into his body, deep enough for Malice to worry if they touched an organ or not.

Looking behind him, the monster was starting to approach him. The boy breathed heavily as he looked the other way. The distance between him and the exit was still far. He thought it was close enough, but with the aerial attacks this monster kept doing, he knew he would be dead by the time he reached the door.

'What should I do? I need to think fast!' His brain raced as the adrenaline pumped through his veins. 'Avatar, get me out of here!' 

It didn't take him long to find the first and best solution. Even though Avatar takes at least 30 seconds to summon him back, he knew he could survive that long… Probably. But, there was a problem.

'D-Did it work?' Malice asked himself with a frown. Since the request doesn't show any indication of whether it worked or not until he is summoned back, Malice has no idea if Avatar heard the request.

'Ugh! I'm sure she did! I just need to focus on surviving long enough to get back there!'

"Why are you not accepting the cleansing?... Why are you defying the will of the dragon god?!!" As if he heard Malice, the monster's voice suddenly turned a few degrees angrier. The black halo around him starting to turn far darker than even its surroundings.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe in this dragon god or whatever!" Malice replied as he pulled his sword out. "I'm not religious, you see."

"... Defying the will of the dragon god… A sin only death shall cleanse!!!!" The monster shrieked at the top of his lungs as his black halo exploded.

'Nice, I made him angrier!' Malice clenched his teeth as he felt the oppressive aura in the chamber grows a few degrees more powerful. For a moment, he thought about escaping. But, then he realized something.

'Running won't cut it. He will keep throwing those things at me! I need to get closer and see if I can play offensive!'

With no time to even weigh down the consequences of such a plan, he brandished his sword and quickly dashed forward. The injuries on his back exploded with blood, almost knocking him down from the sheer pain.

But, the boy quickly bit his tongue so hard that he could feel the awful numbness in his mouth. Cutting the distance between them, he noticed that the monster was forming a few more spikes.

'No, you won't!' With no time to waste, Malice thrust forward, aiming for the monster's chest. He knew that if he let him summon these spikes again, he was done for. For some reason, they were extremely sharp and lethal.

However, what happened next made Malice's heart stop for a moment.

The dark spikes suddenly shifted in shape, turning into one giant block of darkness.

*CLING*

The tip of the sword hit the block of darkness and got easily deflected.

'Wha-'

Before he could even react, the monster suddenly pushed the statue forward. His maddened eyes stared deeply into Malice's soul as he said. "No one can defy god… Repent."

Then, the dark halo around the statue suddenly condensed into the corporal world before it suddenly blasted Malice in the face.

The boy flew back a dozen meters before he fell on his back, bounced, and then rolled a few times before stopping. The monster stared at the motionless boy for a moment before he closed his eyes as if he were praying.

"... U-Ugh…"

At that moment, he heard the boy whimper softly which made him open his eyes. There, he saw Malice slowly put his hand on the ground as he lifted himself up. Blood dripped from his face as he spat out a huge mouthful of saliva, mixed with some teeth.

Then, he looked up at the monster. Just a single glance at his face would make anyone shudder in terror. To begin with, the left side of his face was a complete mess. His cheekbone was shattered along with most of the teeth on that side. His left eye was destroyed and blood was seeping through it. His face was a bloody, disfigured mess.

It was a miracle that he didn't die instantly as the hit somehow didn't damage his brain or upper parts of his skull.

"Cough! Cough!!" Malice coughed a huge mouthful of blood as he staggered back. The pain he was feeling at that moment was so overwhelming that his senses shut off and everything became numb all of a sudden. He couldn't feel a single part of his body, let alone the overwhelming pain in his face.

'W-Where is… Avatar?'

With a dazed look on his face, he looked down with the only eye still working. At this point, his head was oddly feeling a lot calmer than before, for all the wrong reasons.

'I guess this is one of the places where I can't request teleportation… Figured…' It had been more than 30 seconds since he sent the request and yet she didn't teleport him yet. It was safe to say that Avatar didn't receive his cry for help.

 For some reason, that fact made Malice have the urge to laugh. A few times in his life, his luck was so bad that he ended up having an urge to just giggle. They were rare times, but they did happen before.

It reminded him of that time when he was captured and beaten up by some idiots who noticed that he had some money on him. Malice was always prepared for such cases so he always split the money into two pouches, an obvious one and a hidden one. After getting beaten and mugged, he dragged himself back to his corner and checked his clothes to see if the money was still there.

Unbeknownst to him, another person was watching that and so he took advantage of it. In the end, Malice got beaten up twice and lost all his money. Laying there on the cold ground, he just laughed, like a crazed maniac. 

At that point, life just felt like it was mocking him, and it was doing a great job at that. This was a very similar, albeit way worse situation.

"Bow down to the greater one… Foolish soul…" The monster didn't seem that shocked seeing Malice still alive as he formed a few dark spikes, ready to aim them at Malice.

However, the latter didn't seem to care about that. Instead, he simply looked down, and carefully picked up his sword.

"So… Stupid…" He muttered with a frown as he pulled a potion out of his pocket and chugged it down. Even that small gesture brought him great pain as half his mouth was shattered. but he was able to force the liquid down his throat.

Almost instantly, some of the injuries he sustained healed. But, that didn't change much about his condition except bringing back some of his mental clarity. It seemed healing potions had that kind of effect apart from fixing some scratches and bruises. Even though he was still in a near-death state, fueled only by the adrenaline coursing through his body.

Then, Malice threw the potion and took a fighting stance. "I said… I am not religious…" He said in a barely comprehensible voice.

The monster stared at him for a moment. "Then… Die!"

As it was about to launch the spikes, Malice suddenly turned around and slashed with his sword. That made the monster halt for a second, clearly confused… If he was even capable of being confused.

The sword hit one of the praying creatures next to Malice, decapitating it with ease.

[You have killed…]

[You have gained…]

[Your power…]

Seeing the notifications, Malice's eyes flashed with a weird glint as if he realized something. Then, he quickly turned around and slashed with his sword again, hitting another monster and then another, and another one after that.

In a matter of three seconds, he killed four and garnered 4 Soul Essence. At that point, Malice's hopeless eyes suddenly regained some vigor. An idea had already formulated in his head.

'This… This could work!!' 

He knew that his chances of survival were still pretty thin. But, he at least knew that he had a chance of doing something. Without wasting any other moment, he forced the pain down and started slashing all around him, killing every monster in his vicinity.

Each kill brought his exhausted body some power. His numb muscles were starting to pump with feeble amounts of energy again. But, it quickly stacked up as Malice slayed numerous monsters in a very short period of time.

Luckily for him, the other ones didn't seem bothered by it and simply sat there, accepting their fate.

"Insolence…" The monster saw that and his anger only flared even stronger. Then, he condensed many shadow spikes, reaching almost 15 of them just floating in front of him.

However, Malice didn't care and continued slaying the monsters all around him, gathering as much strength as he could. He knew that he didn't have that long before the rain of spikes would reach him at any moment.

'Quick! I need to be quicker!!' 

A second passed, and then… All hell broke loose.