Chapter 116: Chapter 116: Kalamus House (14)
Kalamus tilted his horrid head, revealing a row of fangs dripping with venom.
"Silence, insect. You don’t even understand what you are... a broken toy, no longer of any use."
Suddenly, one of his jagged legs slammed against the ground, sending out a shockwave that threw everyone backward. The healers rolled across the stone floor, losing contact with Lira’s body, which was barely breathing.
The monster stretched out one of its limbs, lifting Lira from the ground like a blood-soaked rag.
"Look closely... this is what happens to those who believe hope can save them."
With a simple motion, he tossed her to the ground in front of them like garbage. Blood spread into a dark pool beneath her.
Kalamus’s hollow eyes scanned the group, stopping on Jax.
"And you..." his voice dropped to a bone-chilling whisper. "You will be the next to lose everything."
The monstrous laughter echoed again, louder, crueler, as the group stared in terror and despair.
Jax’s fury erupted like a storm. His aura flared, his muscles straining as pure blue energy poured from his body in chaotic waves. Unlike before, when it shone as a beautiful silver, now it looked like a warped distortion surrounding him.
The ground beneath his feet cracked with every step as he charged forward, his fists glowing with raw mana, his eyes burning with rage.
Kalamus’s skeletal spider form let out a guttural screech, its hollow gaze mocking him as it met the assault head-on.
"RAAAHHH!" Jax roared, slamming his fists into the beast. Every strike detonated like thunder, shaking the entire chamber. Shards of mithril bone scattered with each impact, but each fragment instantly reformed, knitting back together as if mocking his efforts.
His level was higher. [Level 98]. Kalamus’s corrupted shell barely registered [Level 97]. By every law of balance, Jax should have been stronger.
But he wasn’t.
Every strike landed against what felt like an invisible wall, a barrier of pure malice and cursed mana that negated his strength. His higher level meant nothing. His blows sank like stones into the ocean, swallowed without a trace.
"Why... why the hell won’t you break!" Jax’s voice cracked with desperation, his knuckles bleeding as he poured more mana into every strike.
The spider laughed, the sound like bones grinding together.
"Levels? Numbers? Foolish child... Do you really think this shell is bound by your mortal rules? I am beyond your systems. Beyond your goddess. Beyond you."
One jagged leg slashed across Jax’s chest. Even with his sharpened reflexes, he couldn’t dodge in time. His armor, already shattered from the previous battle, broke apart further, blood spraying into the air.
"JAX!" Manaia’s weak voice echoed from the ground where she still lay after collapsing from [God Bless].
Her cry drove him forward. He wiped the blood from his lips, glaring at Kalamus with silver-blazing eyes.
"I don’t care if you’re a god, a demon, or something in between... I’ll tear you apart!"
He tried to summon [Lunar Arc] again out of habit, but this time nothing happened. He didn’t want to believe it, yet the truth struck him like a slap to the face.
The other girls joined in, bombarding the beast with their own spells, but the monster moved with impossible speed, its grotesque body twisting unnaturally to evade the rain of attacks. Arrows that should have pierced its joints vanished harmlessly, as though erased from reality itself.
Jax’s heart pounded. He could feel it—this wasn’t just an enemy. This was a wall. A living barrier he wasn’t meant to overcome.
Kalamus slammed his legs into the ground, sending shockwaves rippling through the chamber. The group staggered, losing their footing. With a single motion, the beast hurled itself at Jax, the massive maw in its chest opening wide, fire and darkness swirling within.
"Pathetic boy..." The voice was cold, venom dripping from every word. "You were never meant to surpass me."
The maw snapped shut around Jax’s body. For a moment, all the girls screamed his name in terror.
Then—an explosion of blue light burst outward.
Jax staggered out of the beast’s jaws, barely holding himself upright, blood streaming from fresh wounds. His eyes still glowed, his body trembled, but his grip on the lunar bow remained firm.
His voice came out hoarse, but unyielding.
"I don’t care what wall you are. I’ll break it... even if it kills me."
He had nothing left. The abilities that once accompanied him had abandoned him along with the goddess’s blessing. The echo of his failure still rang in his ears.
Then, amidst the agonizing silence of the chamber, something whispered.
A voice.
Not just any murmur. It was thunder contained, a vibration that tore through reality and shook him to his very core.
"To surpass the gods... you must not follow their path."
Jax’s eyes widened, his breath caught. The voice burned through him, scorching every memory of faith, every chain that bound him to borrowed power.
For an instant, the world distorted. In his mind, a buried memory surged with brutal clarity.
The first time he had heard it.
The first time that presence had descended before him.
It hadn’t needed to shout. It hadn’t needed to show any tangible power. It had only spoken a few words, and Jax had nearly died under the sheer weight of its existence.
"My name is... the Celestial."
The memory shook him. The power radiating from that simple introduction had nearly destroyed him, as though the very vibration of those syllables was enough to snuff out his life.
Now, that same voice returned. Not as an enemy, nor as a benevolent guide, but as a warning—and as a new path.
A path beyond the gods.
A path beyond the chains of the system.
Jax’s heart ignited, his eyes burning like rekindled embers, and a cold certainty seared into his mind:
If he wanted to break that wall, he would have to burn everything he once was... and walk into the unknown.
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