chapter 19 : darkness (2/3)

As darkness overtook Luke's vision, on the other battlefield where everyone else was doing their best to keep the mini-boss at bay, Lazuli suddenly collapsed, making their fight even harder not only by the sudden abscence of one of their pillars but also because the fear of an unknown, mysterious direct death froze their movements and reduced the strength they could exerce.

.....

As she was experiencing darkness, Lazuli who was battling up until then was bewildered. She didn't know what happened to her. She could be dead or just have fainted but her fear deepened by the second. " Am-am I dead ? Is this what death is like ? How did I die ? "

The empty darkness contorted and the figure of a smiling Luke appeared a few meters in front of her

" You didn't die, yet. In fact I should be dead but I decided that you will take my position in the kingdom of the dead. You should thank me as it is a position that I literally won by my sweat and blood. " With that, Luke floated towards her and touched her head, not minding her thoughts, will, or opinions, much less her protests.

...

Back to the other battlefield, Lazuli's body suddenly gained a stab wound where her heart should be and multiple deep or shallow wounds all over her body. The others were too concentrated on their enemy and/or another hidden one with a silent, traceless killing ability to remark it.

Meanwhile, Luke who was supposed to be dead in a mangled state stood up, with no injuries whatsoever. ' So death feels like this huh? Let's experience this the least possible. '

The reason Luke survived was because of his 'experiment'. Thanks to the Road to misery, which acts on a person's brain. It makes them have dependence and heavier feelings of faith and loyalty towards whoever's original blood served to make it. That, coupled to another feature of his spatial storage ability made him have this " death exchange " ability.

He remarked that thanks to the extreme effects of the Road to misery, his spatial storage had a kind of connection to them, yet it was not tangible. He couldn't store them, nor their ability, but this special connection was there so he experimented over the week. All of his wounds could be transferred to someone infected by his poison. No, more exactly, any ailment he had could be 'stored' in someone else's body, all except for death so he had to do his best not to be one shot.

Then his face scrunched up as he thought of his death ' Damn, I didn't know the stacked dark hands felt so painful, it was even just the breath of the explosion. Now I understand why those who received it would glare at me as if I murdered their family's nine generations. ' It was more because of his dirty way of fighting but he once again ignored 'useless' details.

As its dead enemy stood up, the calm and collected ogre was startled and looked in wonder at its raising enemy. This didn't last long though as it once again raised its spear and was ready to strike.

Luke directed 10 dark hands which he made explode in front of of to launch the both of them back. Knowing that it only needed a look to stun him, he did his best not to look at its eyes. He took out his gun and fired. The monster didn't even have to evade as the needle didn't penetrate its skin. It only took the bent over needle to its face to observe it and disregarded it just after. Luke had to admit, this monster looked badass.

He then advanced towards it slowly and thew his gun at its face. Mostly because of arrogance, the ogre once again choose to face the attack in a badass way. This arrogance costed it greatly though as when it was just in front of its face, it exploded, sending multiple needles to its unprotected eyes. Surprisingly enough, it was not enough to blind it, though, it was enough to send some poison in its body. He then tried to open small wounds on its body by slashing at its arms but its skin was too hard. He could only leave white marks, not even scratches.

This was the difference in tier plainly showing itself. And that was only a single tier difference. Luke was now very eager to become a soldier in the true sense of the word.

With its seemingly darkness immunity, he couldn't use his dark hands on it, thwarting his main way of doing damage. He had to get creative to kill it.

As he was about to try to stab the ogre for the last time before retreating, it grinned and Luke's face contorted in horror " This can't be true !? " He saw something he would have never wanted to see again, something that made his already hopeless situation an overhopeless one