Chapter 32- Revelations

Staring at the darkness above with a dazed expression. He heard the sound of the notifications in his head, but he was in too much pain to even bother with them. His condition was quite literally horrible. Every part of his body hurt like hell, and what didn't hurt couldn't be moved.

His body felt like it was glued to the ground. 'Oh no… I'm really in a sticky situation now.' He clenched his teeth as he tried to move. If he wanted to get out of this place, he had to reach the exit and request Avatar to get him out.

However, the problem was that he was in a horrible position and he was feeling blood seeping out of his body slowly as the world around him turned far colder. His strength was being sucked out by the numerous horrible injuries he sustained and he cannot do anything about it.

"Come on, Malice… You can do this… I can't just… die here…" Clenching his teeth, Malice used all his focus to turn his body around, immediately, he felt a sharp pain assault his chest, but he swallowed it as he forcefully used his right hand and started clawing his way forward.

The ground was hard stone so his fingers and nails had to dig deep to have some kind of grip. At some point, blood started seeping out of the tip of his fingers.

'Goddamit! I can't have a peaceful moment even after winning!!' 

Seconds passed as the boy dragged his destroyed body to the door. At some point, his vision became so blurred he didn't even know where he was going. His only hope was that his direction didn't change at some point.

Meanwhile, his brain was struggling to stay awake the entire time. 'Avatar, just get me out of here…!!' 

His only thought was that request. He didn't know if he had reached the exit or not, and he frankly didn't care. Time passed so slowly as the agony and pain grew far more intense than before. Eventually, all the strength Malice had in his body vanished and he couldn't move anymore.

'This… is a joke…' His eyes stared at the nothingness ahead of him and he could only slightly clench his fist in frustration. 'Avatar didn't hear me…'

With how slow everything felt, he thought that he was about to die. His eyes gradually closed as he finally gave up resisting anymore.

'Wake me up from this hell…'

At that very last train of thought, he felt the entire atmosphere around him change in an instant. A blinding white light assaulted his eyes as the suffocating heat of the tunnels vanished, replaced by a cool, comfortable breeze of air.

Then, all of Malice's pain suddenly vanished as if it was never there to begin. His hazy thoughts snapped back to reality as he opened his eyes wide.

[Welcome back, Marked Malice.]

"... Avatar…" The boy blinked as if he were in shock from hearing that cold voice. It took him a few seconds to register what just happened before he suddenly exploded into laughter.

"Yes!! I survived!! Screw that draconic priest or whatever!!! He can rot in hell!! I outsmarted him!!" Throwing himself back, he continued laughing without care in the world. The sheer relief he felt at that moment was just too overwhelming.

Malice wasn't the type of person to laugh, even in the rare cases where he felt happy or excited. But, at this particular moment, he couldn't hold himself back. He genuinely felt as if he accomplished something that should've been impossible.

It was a victory well earned.

After some time, he regained his composure as he finally rose up and said. "I can't believe I would be this happy to hear your voice, Avatar."

[...]

The voice didn't reply to that so Malice simply shook his head and moved on. "I had to fight some kind of abomination that can speak! I think it was an entire rank higher than me!"

Seeing the notification in front of him, Malice realized that he did indeed fight a monster form a completely different ranking.

'Neophyte… I think that's what comes after being unranked.' He rubbed his chin. He did hear of that word before somewhere, but he can't remember where exactly.

[It isn't uncommon for some creatures to have the ability to speak, Marked Malice. While in many cases, it is a sign of power, there are some cases where previously sane creatures could turn into mindless abominations while still retaining the ability to talk.] She explained.

"Oh! That explains a lot!" Malcie rubbed his chin. 'It definitely wasn't mindless from the start then, as I expected.'

"It talked about some kind of dragon god and tried to punish me for not following whatever that thing wanted."

'That statue is probably one of the dragons that Cipher talked about. But, why do they see it as god? And what does it have to do with the dungeons of madness?'

From the bits and pieces of information Malice gathered so far, he was certain that the dungeons of madness were indeed a thing in the world beyond which also meant that the dragons had a hand in these places. But, Malice was certain the matter wasn't as simple as it seemed.

'Those monsters… They were stuck in there. Probably by the dragons themselves? Or maybe a third party I don't know about. But then again, why did they do that? And why can't they leave? What's stopping them from doing that?' 

The boy frowned as he realized how deep the rabbit hole was going. Some things made a lot more sense than others.

'Ugh, I feel like I would come to a conclusion by the time I find my way to the end of that trial. That might take way longer than I expected, though.'

So far, Malice's map had been narrowed down to a few possible locations where he could be. All of those locations were very far away from the end of the dungeons.

With a simple estimation, this entire thing could easily take a few weeks to a few months to clear up.

Quickly, he shook his head and focused on the positive side of things.

'I also received two things from this monster.'

The first one he saw was a legacy aura. It was his very first one so he felt excited as the concept of aura felt very strong him. Unlike body or weapon, aura was a lot more vague so he could only wonder what he could get from it.

[Name: Draconic Halo

Description: The Dragon God had chosen its consort, a mundane creature, unknown by many. It was his weakness, and so her end was but certain. What was left behind was simply a shrouded hatred and endless darkness. Your malicious presence has been fortified. Your aura inflicts fear upon weaker enemies.]

"Oh! This is really good!" Reading the description, Malice raised an eyebrow. 'This has something to do with the dragon god… Interesting, but what does a consort mean? Uh, a wife? I think that's it. So his wife died and this aura is the manifestation of his grief…'

As tragic as it sounded, the aura itself was quite powerful. Not only would it be a massive advantage when fighting multiple monsters, it would also save him the trouble of killing many enemies if he didn't have to.

"This alone is worth this entire fight. But, I also have an item."

With no time to waste, he summoned the thing he received. Immediately, what formed in his hand was something that made him frown. It was a small, stone statue of the same dragon. A very similar one to the one the priest held.

'No, not this! I don't want this!!' He felt his body shudder just remembering the sheer pain this thing had caused him.

[The Dragon Avatar

Rank: Uncommon

Trait: [Absorber Of Darkness] [Manifestation I]

Description: Once hatred settles into one's soul, nothing can stop that soul from leading astray. Not even gods are spared from the cruelty of hatred. Even darkness bows down under its might.]

"Hmm, this is also talking about the dragon god."

'It must've really grieved for even the world beyond to double down on what happened.' He thought to himself. He didn't know how to feel about this as it was still vague. But, it certainly added to the mystery of these primordial gods and what they did in the distant past. History was being revealed to him through these possessions bit by bit.

'I wonder who killed his wife. No, who is even strong enough to do such a thing?'

The dragon god was an entity that far exceeded logic itself. Killing someone as dear to him as his wife seemed like the most foolish thing one could do. So, whoever did it must've had immense power too.

'Someone like… Another god, maybe.' He squinted his eyes. 'Yeah, that could definitely be it.'

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. But, the more it made sense, the more confused he felt. For instance, why would these gods harm each other? From what Cipher said, they had lived in an age of peace, looking up to the Oath. What could've changed that?

'Tsk, I don't know yet and I probably won't know for a long time even if I want to. What's more important are the traits.'

[Absorber Of Darkness: The statue absorbs all forms of darkness around the user. Requires Soul Essence to be used.]

"... It can absorb darkness… That would be so convenient!" The boy's eyes beamed as he read the content of the message. Even though it didn't specify what 'Absorbs darkness' means. He assumed that it would help at least clear up his vision in extremely dim places like the chamber where he fought the priest.

'I can try it later and see. What's the next trait?'

[Manifestation I: The stored darkness can be manifested into the real world as an ally. It has a very limited use. Requires Soul Essence to use.]