Chapter 69: Chapter 69: The Devil’s Playground [3]

Inside the suffocating depths of the Seventh Layer of the Abyss, Shane sprinted for his life.

The moment he made the brief contact with Sianna’s soul back in the physical world, a terrible chain reaction started.

Reaching out with his trapped consciousness had fully activated the stitched core in his original body.

It was a good thing because he finally proved he was still alive.

But it also put him at severe risk.

Activating the core meant his spiritual projection in the Abyss was now fully tangible.

If he got hurt down here, it would reflect directly back onto his physical soul.

If he died in the Seventh Layer, the tiny ember locked inside Azrael’s chest would permanently burn out.

’Fuck this,’ Shane thought to himself, his chest heaving as he forced his legs to pump faster.

He ran desperately through the cracked, obsidian road and jumped wildly whenever a geyser of volcanic lava spat out from the gaps in the floor.

A horde of demons chased him closely from behind.

Their bodies were burnt and scarred by the eternal fires of the realm.

Some of the horrific creatures ran on four legs like twisted hounds, while others stood on two legs and carried weapons.

But every single one of their red eyes was fixed entirely on his human soul.

’I cannot use my system interface down here,’ Shane panicked, glancing at his empty wrists.

’The system is tied to the physical world. I have nothing to fight them with.’

A piercing screech echoed from above.

One of the winged beasts flew directly over him.

Its wide wings were burning with active hellfire, making it look like a grotesque crossbreed between an eagle and a starving vulture.

Its sharp eyes locked onto him for just a second.

Then it folded its burning wings and dove straight down, extending its curved talons to pick him up right off the road.

’Think, idiot, think,’ Shane yelled at himself in his mind, his legs slipping on the ash.

He needed to remember any skill that did not require a physical sword or rely on the system interface to activate.

The burning beast came terrifyingly close, its heat coming off its feathers scorched the back of Shane’s neck.

Its pointed talons aimed directly for his shoulders to lift him into the burning sky.

Shane finally remembered a defensive art.

He closed his eyes tightly for a split second and focused his entire concentration on the tiny, stitched core sitting far away in his original body.

He tried to mentally pull a small amount of his own stored mana through the connection.

The moment the creature’s sharp beak reached his head, an invisible, dome-shaped barrier snapped into place around his running form.

[Spatial Block]

The high-level defensive technique worked perfectly without the system’s help.

It repelled the diving beast entirely as the giant bird crashed hard against the invisible wall, breaking its beak and tumbling awkwardly into the dirt road behind him.

Although Shane was not sure exactly how long the magical block would hold against the harsh environment of the Abyss, at least it was giving him a fighting chance right now.

Shane looked over his shoulder to see what else was coming.

Thousands of twisted beasts in all shapes and sizes were rushing at him down the path.

They were drooling thick black saliva, very much intending to tear his fragile soul apart.

’Fuck,’ Shane whispered, turning his head forward and running faster.

Outside the seventh layer, walking in the narrow tunnels of Path Three, Kiara’s pale skin suddenly felt very hot.

Her blood started heating up rapidly, burning inside her veins like a sudden fever.

She stopped dead in her tracks, dropping her shield and rubbing her arms frantically.

’This sensation,’ Kiara thought, her blue eyes widening in sudden panic.

’The blood pact is pulling at my heart again.’

It was the same feeling she had in the academy dorms, but much stronger this time.

It felt like standing too close to an open furnace.

"What happened?" Lucien asked, stopping his own walk and looking back at the girl.

He noticed her standing perfectly still and shivering despite the heat.

"Did you twist your ankle or something?"

"Which path did the top ranker take at the junction?" Kiara demanded, her voice tight and desperate.

Lucien raised an arrogant eyebrow.

"Why do you care what Shane is doing right now?"

"Just tell me, Lucien."

"It was Path One, I think," the blonde boy answered, crossing his arms with a confused frown.

Kiara didn’t say another word.

She turned around sharply and started running back down the tunnel, the way they had just come.

The terrible feeling was creeping up under her skin, making her fangs throb with phantom pain.

Something destructive was happening inside Shane’s physical body, and the magical pact tied to his blood was dragging her straight toward the disaster.

Deep inside the B-rank section of Path One, the cavern floor was painted red.

Zephyr lay bleeding on the broken stone.

His armor was shredded, and his stomach was slashed open from a brutal demonic strike.

He was bleeding profusely, his eyes struggling to stay focused on the fight.

A few feet away, Mia’s quiet body was sealed directly into the rock wall of the cave.

She was not moving, knocked unconscious after taking a heavy hit to the head.

Only Raven was still standing on his own two feet.

The boy was panting hard, his oversized sweater torn in several places.

He stood in the middle of the ruined path, staring at the terrifying body of Shane Newman.

The creature wearing his classmate’s face no longer possessed any type of human quality.

The skin was dark red, glowing cracks of hellfire mapped out its arms, and the eyes were ruined, bleeding sockets.

"What the fuck are you?" Raven asked, his voice shaking despite his best efforts to hide his fear.

Azrael did not bother to answer the dead man walking.

He simply crossed the distance in a single step, his scarred hands aimed directly to grab the boy’s exposed throat.

Raven reacted out of pure survival instinct.

He disappeared from his place in a puff of black smoke, teleporting directly to Azrael’s right side to throw a desperate punch.

But Azrael did not even turn to look.

The wave of dark mana rolling off Azrael’s back acted like a solid physical wall. It stopped Raven’s attack dead in its tracks and held the boy’s arm firmly in place, not letting him pull back or teleport away.

’Fuck,’ Raven thought, his eyes widening as he realized he was trapped in the air.

Azrael slowly turned his head.

His scarred, bloody hand moved up and grabbed the upper part of Raven’s mouth with a vice-like grip.

"Hmmpmh," Raven mumbled in terror, his hands dropping to claw desperately at Azrael’s wrist.

Azrael’s grip tightened painfully.

He slowly started pulling his hand upward, intending to tear the boy’s jaw clean off his face.

Raven’s mouth started widening far past its natural limit, the skin stretching tight as he tried his hardest to pull his head away.

Creak Creak

The sickening sound of popping joints echoed in the quiet cave.

"AHHHHHHH"

Before the fatal tear could happen, a voice echoed from the path entrance.

[Gravity Manipulation]