Rise

Chapter 20: Rise

After sealing the mysterious monster beneath the earth, Kim continued to move away from the sea of magma toward a safer place. He jumped around by forming earthly pillars underneath his feet to avoid the magma. Sometimes he would glimpse down and thought what would happen if he took a bath inside the magma. Did he develop heat resistance as how he developed poison resistance from fighting King Hydra?

He shook off his head to brush up the thought since Momo is resting on his back recuperating from her fatal injuries. Once Momo is awake and recovered completely, he would visit this place again to try his theory and also... to investigate the sealed monster again.

"She could have died"

"Momo is safe now"

"You could have killed her"

"..."

Kim only stayed silent after listening to the voice remarks. The voice was clear and went straight into his mind. It was cold and calm yet was able to create a ripple that struck his heart. The voice was true. Momo should have died. It's only a miracle that Kim happened to be able to recover her. Who knows what might happen next time? And all of this happened because of his blunder. His lack of insight of himself.

How could he let himself lost into emotions and let his mana went wild? Injuring himself would be a sure thing but injuring others is not within his expectation. Not only just others but the person he injured was his only companion in life now. Even if both of them are not blood-related, to him Momo is a family.

"Reflect on yourself. Find a safe place to stay and seclude yourself in meditation. It seems that it's not just your mana which is not stable, even your soul and mind is in cluttered. I thought too highly of you. In the end, no matter how brilliant your mind is, you are still an immature kid who only know how to cause trouble. Don't stop your seclusion until Momo could fight on her own"

The voice sounded stern but gentle. Ordinary people would tremble to death unable to stand up after listening to the voice. Usually, Kim would reply with a rebellious tone. However this time, he couldn't utter a single word and just nodded in silent. It was the first time he heard a serious tone coming from the voice. He diligently accepted his punishment because he knew... one mistake and he could kill Momo. Miracles can't possibly happen twice. He was lucky! Momo was lucky...

What's the point of gaining power if one only knows how to destroy? Kim reminded saying to himself if he had such power he would be able to protect his family and friends. What he is doing now is the opposite. He had the determination to be powerful, but his intention is lacking.

"Power...revenge... is it worth it?"

Kim continued to jump around the lake of magma while he pondered upon his resolution. After traversing for around 3 kilometres, he finally found an intact ground. The vegetation surrounding the lake of magma has all burned down to ashes. Walking forward he could see some burnt corpses of hundreds and thousands of monsters laying on the ground. All which were killed during his rampage.

"I lost control of myself two times. One was by the thirst of revenge, another was the thought of protecting my precious companion."

Revenge and protecting. Two thoughts that bring the opposite meaning of one another. One is ending a life and another is saving a life. However, both could bring forth utter destruction.

"It's not just the thought that matter, but it's also the way. Revenge is one thing but does all I need to think of is killing? Protecting is a good thought, but killing others is also a form of protection. Is this the path that I'm going to take? Is it what I really want?"

No matter how many times Kim try to think about it, he still can't let go the thought of revenge. To him, the perpetrator behind the calamity should not have given the chance to live. He lost his family and friends in a single day. And not just him, how about others? 7 billions of people are living on Earth and how many of them have died because of greed?

"Is it the answer I'm looking for?"

Kim continued to ponder without realizing some of the corpses are moving. He didn't notice anything as he went deeper into his thought while trying to find a good place for Momo to recuperate.

"Kid, what is good and what is bad?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is killing a good thing?"

"Of course it's a bad thing!"

"Then does kill to protect others a bad thing?"

"...no?"

"Who even decided what is good and what is bad? What is right and what is wrong?"

"..."

"I never say that revenge is bad for you. What I don't want is for you to solely depend on revenge as your ambition. You can have your revenge, even if it means destroying a whole kingdom. But be smart with it. Don't blindly throw yourself out there and kill yourself. That's just plain stupid. Not even you will kill yourself, you would even hurt others as well. Get it, kid?"

"So you are saying..."

"Go have your revenge. But don't go around killing yourself and others while you are doing it. Simply saying, don't be stupid! And.. revenge is not everything... don't you have more thing you want to achieve in life? Didn't you want to satisfy your desire to explore a whole new world? Aren't these things happening to you is what you are waiting for your whole life?"

"How... how did you..."

"If you have access to my memory, I have access to yours. It's not a one-sided pact. I know what you want, kid, so why hesitate? Why lower yourself solely on revenge? What's the point of Nas last effort of pushing you away to save you? You want to be with them after all of this is done? Are you proud of yourself? I would be disappointed if I was Nas"

Listening to the voice bickering, Kim suddenly exploded with rage and cause his mana to spread out from him. Except that, it is more stable than before.

"Again, you lost to your emotions. Just move on! Life and death is a cycle that could not be stopped. People die every day, but does that mean you need to think about the dead every day? If you are still alive, do what the living do. Live!"

Kim was angry, but he couldn't utter a single word of rebuke to the voice. The voice was right. Every each single words that were mentioned was like thunder that struck Kim mind as if telling him to wake up. His heart was trembling from hesitation. But the words from the voice has cleared his mind and soul. A sudden rush of emotion made him felt weak, causing him to kneel on the ground as tears streaming from his eyes, drop bits by bits to the ground.

He's been keeping his emotion sealed, trying to make himself sane with the thought of revenge to solve everything. Revenge was the justification for whatever happening to him. His despair would vanquish if the perpetrator would be thoroughly exterminated. He was... too young.

The scene of Nas saving his life had caused another will burning in his heart.

He remembered how his friends would support his ideas and never looked down on his ambitions. He reminded of how Nas always been smiling telling Kim to not give up, and always look forward with his dream. That smile is the same smile Nas has given to Kim before his death. As if a voice could be heard telling Kim to

"Live on"

Kim took Momo from his back and hug her tightly, as tears continued to drop. Life is not about revenge nor it is about protecting. It's about living your life! Not just his life, but also others. In this case, it was Momo. He wanted Momo to live her life as how he wants to as well.

"Sorry, and... thank you. I won't take back this chance. I will protect you and make sure you live your life from now on because that what I decided from now on"

The voice only watched his apprentice silently without uttering another word. A heart is a complex thing. No one can understand the heart of another. And you can't even change it. Only the person himself could change his heart from inside by his own will. The voice knew he could only say some words, but the one who could make a choice is still Kim, solely. He was still unsure, but at least he knows now that Kim is free from the chain of revenge. Now revenge is merely a thought that he will do sometimes in the future.

After a few hours, the voice coughed lightly.

"Since you realized your mistake, Master considering of reducing your punishment" Kim then give a slight nod. Although he couldn't see where the voice come from, he always feels like the voice is there watching him.

"From now on, make sure you give it all to protect Momo from any unprecedented danger. She would need at least a few months to recuperate. Make sure not a single hair on her is touched, understand?"

"I understand"

Kim then stood up with a face full of determination. He gently put Momo at his back and wrapped her tightly to make sure she won't fall. He covered her with his robe and enveloped her with mana. A warm glow could be seen emanating from Momo. This protective mana contained 80% of his power. It's not just protecting her. It also helps Momo to recover as well. For a few months, considering his fight just now, Kim can only exert 10% of his original power.

When Kim was about to move a sudden deathly aura could be felt coming from behind him. An ordinary person wouldn't be able to move due to the intensity of the deathly aura. They could even feel as if their soul is withering just from the slight sensation.

His fighting experience didn't allow him to freeze in his place. Instead, he instinctively spread out protective mana covering himself and Momo and created a 10 metres wall made of earth behind him. Then a sudden tremor could be felt on the ground which nearing him. BOOM! A loud voice could be heard smashing to Kim's wall. His hands numb as he was trying to maintain the wall. Then a crack suddenly appeared. He created another wall and started to run to the opposite side, away from the magma lake.

"Kim spread your mana sense"

When Kim spread his mana sense, a strange yet unsettling feeling come into his mind. Surely he felt like something was trying to crash down his wall just now but he wasn't able to detect any living being. What he could detect was something is moving towards him. Kim spread out his mana sense more but he still couldn't detect any living being except for one.

The moment he detected the flying being, he could see eyeless skull looking back at him. It was mana sense. The eyeless skull is using mana sense to detect him. And it was powerful enough to cause his my mind to tremble, making blood dripping from Kim's mouth.

A few moments later, loud crashing sounds could be heard again causing both walls to crumble. Then Kim felt a tremor in the ground as if a horde of monsters chasing him. When he turned back to check, to his shock the monsters corpses he saw just now is moving to pursue both of them. Some of them have limbs dangling, some have their bones and innards expose, some even have holes that could be see through them, and some is only a skeleton. Mostly burnt. The scene behind Kim feels like it came straight out of a horror movie.

Reminded with some horror film from Thailand, Kim didn't waste his time to sprint away.

"W-w-what the heck is those?!!!" A deep solemn voice transmitted to Kim's mind which caused him to sprint faster.

"The undead...is rising..."