Chapter 474: Giving the middle finger to the curse
Damon screamed louder, but he continued going. He had to get the spot where the pain came from. He needed to focus. He needed to cut through everything, even this mind-breaking pain. However, this was easier said than done. The more he focused on the sigil, the more cracks appeared, and the pain became that much worse.
With every passing second, the situation was only getting worse. Pain hammered through him, and he couldn’t think of anything but the all-consuming pain. His vision blurred. Sweat and blood mixed on his skin.
The fifth sigil crawled with more cracks. Each crack sent a new lance of pain through him. Still, he forced his focus inward, deeper than he ever had. He could not stop. Not now. Not when he had already done so much damage. This had to work.
And then it cracked. Completely.
The fifth sigil became fully covered with cracks, and before Damon could do anything about it, the entirety of it exploded. The next moment, an unbearable pain shot through him. However, Damon grinned like a madman.
He got it! He finally got it!
He let go of the sigils and his primordial mana core and only focused on that sliver of feeling from which the intense pain originated. He narrowed everything down to that one thin line of pain. All other noise fell away. The world became that hot, sharp thread.
Damon closed his eyes and continued to focus on that. His fifth sigil was shaky now, but it was still there. It was barely an inch away from exploding and disappearing. It still held on despite being covered by numerous cracks. But it was still there.
Thanks to this, the pain began to recede from his body slowly. Another couple of hours passed by, and his body worked overtime to resolve the fatigue and the aftereffects of his shenanigans. There was still a numbing pain everywhere. It was just more manageable now.
Damon, however, did not pay attention to any of it. He had sacrificed a lot to get this chance, and he was not going to let it slip now. A lot was riding on this. He had already decided not to be in this position ever again.
But it did not matter. Here he was again in the same situation where everyone he cared about was in the line of fire. As long as he was weak, his friends and his family would be in danger again and again.
There was only one way to truly make sure this never happened again. He needed to become stronger. A lot stronger. And for that, he couldn’t lose even a single opportunity like this.
"Damn it. Just work already!" He gritted his teeth and reached for his soul. He kept at it again and again and again, not letting go of that single thread he was going on to.
Then, after a couple more hours, he felt that he was very close. But Damon’s face abruptly changed. The world around him started shifting once again. He was finally out of time.
Damon’s face became unsightly as he knew that everything he had worked so hard for was going to slip right out from underneath him. He was only up against that dead-end wall again and again, and now the chance he had paid dearly for was also going to disappear.
Even if he lost the legacy trial, he did not want to lose the grasp he had on his soul. He was going to reach for his soul today one way or the other.
And then it happened. Right in the middle of the landmass shuffling shenanigans, Damon felt something in his soul flare up. A wisp of foreign energy. Something that didn’t belong to his body. Something that was not his.
An enraged roar immediately escaped his mouth. Everything after that happened in an instant. Once he sensed that small wisp of dark energy, he howled like a demon and reached for that damn thing without a care in the world.
It was this small wisp that was torturing him for almost two days now, and he finally had it in his grasp!
His primordial mana core, which was bursting with energy now from the loosening of the fifth seal, roared along with him, and he flooded his soul with this bursting energy.
The lone strand of wisp stood no chance against the storm his mana core kicked up. In the blink of an eye, it was gone, completely erased. The moment he felt it disappear, Damon instantly blinked away from his position. He barely made it in time as he felt his body ram into the wall of the tunnel.
The next instant, the madness stopped, and Damon was still standing in the same tunnel. He had already entered the core area of the specific location, and the core areas did not shift around.
Damon exhaled loudly and collapsed on the ground. He then tiredly rolled around here and there, confirming that he was finally free of the damned curse. A big, ugly grin appeared on his face.
He did a fist pump in the air, gave the middle finger to the world and jumped back into a standing position. It was time to take a look at this trial and see what it was. He did not have a lot of time before the blood hall raid began, and he did not want to leave here without even checking out the legacy.
He hurriedly blinked through the tunnel and entered the narrow passageway. The space was now lined with empty torches, which did not matter. Goldy was right next to him, lighting everything up.
Damon chuckled as he signalled for the small sprite to sit on his finger. "You are my lucky charm, Goldy. Thanks for all the help."
In response, the same giggling sound chimed in his mind, and Damon tiredly smiled. Then he took a few steps and officially entered the legacy trial.
The narrow passageway abruptly opened up, and he was now stepping foot into what looked like a vast forge.
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