Chapter 236: An Immortal Nightmare

Chapter 236

Alex clenched his jaw as the five abominations barreled toward them yet again, with their newly reformed bodies moving with the exact same mindless aggression as before, like nothing had ever happened to them.

What the fuck are these things? He screamed internally for what felt like the hundredth time today. He had already lost count of how many times he’d already killed these same creatures standing in front of him now, with it’s claws raised for another strike as if its ribcage hadn’t been turned to pulp mere seconds ago.

There was no primordial core to shatter, no black heart buried somewhere in their chest cavity, absolutely nothing he could rip out and crush like he’d done with the undead fiend back then. There was just nothing.

He had checked, he had torn through their chests with his bare hands searching for anything resembling a weak point, and found only meat, bone, and blood. These things really were living up to the name immortal abominations, because no matter how thoroughly he and Sylph obliterated them, that damned purple glow would wash over their remains and stitch them right back together within seconds.

An abomination lunged low at his legs from a tricky angle, and Alex barely twisted his body in time, feeling the tip of its claw graze past his side. Without thinking, he blinked out of existence and reappeared three meters to the left, his Void Step activating on pure reflex just to avoid the blow.

He gritted his teeth in frustration. He hadn’t wanted to reveal that ability so soon, not when he still didn’t know what other tricks the tentacled bitch in the lake had up her sleeve, but there was no other choice. These bastards weren’t giving him or Sylph a single opening to break away and rush the real threat.

Two long shards of Deathfrost Bloom materialized in his hands once more, gleaming with a cold black light as frost crackled along their edges.

He spun on his heel and drove one shard straight through the throat of the nearest abomination, slicing clean through scale, muscle, and spine in one smooth motion. The creature’s head lolled backward, barely hanging on by a single thread of tissue, before it dropped.

No time to admire the kill. Another one was already closing in from his flank with its damned jaw unhinged and ready to clamp down on his shoulder. Alex sidestepped at the last possible moment and slammed his fist directly into its skull.

There was no resistance at all, just a wet splattering sound as the creature’s entire head burst apart into a fine mist of blood and bone fragments, painting the rocky ground in a grotesque spray of red and black.

Beside him, Sylph moved like a poetry written in violence. With her trusty saber she flashed through the dim cavern light in short, precise arcs, weaving between the remaining abominations’ claws with a fluidity that made it look like she was dancing rather than fighting for her life.

She ducked beneath one swipe, spun low, and opened up the back of a creature’s knee in one clean slash, dropping it to the ground before driving her blade straight down through the back of its skull.

She didn’t stop moving even for a second, twisting away as another set of claws sliced through the space she had just occupied, and countered with a horizontal slash that opened a monster’s throat from ear to ear like she was cutting through melted butter.

But it didn’t matter because within a couple of seconds, the dark purple pulse would ripple out from the lake again, and every single one of the fallen abominations would rise back up, with their wounds sealed, bones set, and stupid eyes burning brighter with every resurrection as if they were somehow growing more resilient each time.

Alex spared a glance toward the lake and saw the tentacled creature there, still cradling one of her tentacles wrapped tightly around Mia’s limp, dazed body, slowly draining her primordial essence. Mia’s face was pale and her limbs were hanging loosely. There was no telling how much longer she could hold on like that.

He felt his blood boil at the sight, but there was nothing he could do about it while five undying monstrosities kept clawing at his throat every few seconds.

That was when he noticed Sylph glance briefly toward the lake as well, her sharp eyes narrowing with the same cold fury he felt boiling in his own chest. Then, in the middle of parrying another claw strike, she crouched low and dragged the tip of her saber across the stone floor in one swift motion, carving out a message in jagged, hurried strokes.

"Hold them back. I’ll finish the boss myself."

Alex read the words in an instant, and without hesitation, gave her a firm nod. He trusted her judgment completely. If anyone could close that distance and deal a decisive blow to that creature, it would be Sylph with her incredible speed and insane footwork.

The abominations finished healing once more, their bodies twitching back to life almost simultaneously, and surged forward yet again with the same relentless hunger as before. This time, Alex made his move.

He deliberately feigned an attempt to push past them toward the lake, drawing every single one of their black, hollow eyes onto him. Just as he had hoped, all five of them locked onto him instantly, abandoning any pretense of coordinated attack and charging straight at him like starving beasts smelling blood.

Perfect. Alex raised both hands high above his head, and in an instant, the air around him turned frigid as more than a hundred shards of Deathfrost Bloom materialized above the cavern, each one gleaming with lethal cold light, hovering ominously like a swarm of icy blades waiting to be unleashed.

"Come get it," he muttered under his breath, before slashing his hand downward.

The shards rained down like a meteor shower of frozen death, tearing through flesh, bone, and scale in an instant, shredding the five charging abominations into ribbons before they could even close half the distance to him. Blood and gore sprayed across the cavern floor as the creatures collapsed in a heap, riddled with dozens of icy projectiles buried deep into every inch of their bodies.

The moment the last one hit the ground, Sylph erupted into motion.

She moved with such explosive speed that the air around her seemed to warp, and her body became nothing more than a blur as she rocketed across the cavern floor and straight toward the lake, straight toward the creature holding Mia captive.

The tentacled monster barely had time to react before Sylph’s saber came down in a brutal arc, slicing clean through the tentacle wrapped around Mia’s body. Half of it separated instantly, spraying dark purple ichor into the air, but the creature’s flesh proved far tougher than expected, and the blade halted just before severing it completely.

The monster let out an ear-splitting screech of pain and fury, thrashing wildly as it flung Mia’s limp body away from itself in pure reflexes before whipping another tentacle straight at Sylph with murderous intent this time.

But Sylph had already seen it coming and twisted her body midair, narrowly dodging the incoming strike by mere inches, before her feet touched down onto the surface of the glowing lake itself.

Then pushing her speed even further, she literally sprinted across the water as if it were solid ground, moving with such blinding speed that ripples barely had time to form beneath her footsteps.

Then in the nick of time she reached Mia’s falling body and caught her gently before landing safely back on the rocky shore, laying her down carefully onto solid ground. Then, without wasting another second, she spun on her heel and shot back toward the lake, back toward the monster queen, with murder burning in her sharp eyes.

How dare this beast hurt one of her squad members? She was going to make sure it never saw the light of tomorrow, and that was a promise she intended to keep

Meanwhile, Alex had already switched back to pure melee combat, punching and kicking through the reforming abominations with raw brute strength instead of relying on his abilities. He knew better than to keep burning through his abilities recklessly.

Every skill he used only drained his stamina and energy faster, and if this fight was going to drag on for who knows how long, he needed to conserve whatever reserves he had left.

As his fist connected with another creature’s chest, caving it inward with a sickening crunch, his mind raced through possible solutions. There had to be some way to stop these things from reviving. Some way to break whatever twisted resurrection magic that lake was casting on them.

Then, almost as if a lightbulb flickered on inside his head, a thought struck him.

His spatial storage space.

Didn’t the system once said his spatial storage space could only hold non-living things, objects, materials, anything without a living essence of its own. So then... What if, after he killed one of these abominations, he immediately stored the corpse into his spatial space before that purple glow could even reach it?

His heartbeat seemed to quicken with excitement because of the sudden realization. If his theory held true, then the resurrection magic could only spread outward and touch things that were physically present within the cavern.

There was no way, none whatsoever, that some stupid purple light could reach into an entirely separate spatial dimension where his storage space resided. If the corpse wasn’t even in the same plane of existence anymore, how could it possibly be revived?

It was worth a shot. Worst case scenario, it simply wouldn’t work, and he’d be back to square one, fighting the exact same endless cycle he’d been trapped in for what felt like an eternity now.

But if it did work...