《Journey Across the Void》 My Last Peace "A long, long time ago, Zeus, the God of the Sky and the protector of Olympus visited the land for his own curiosity and started living as a human. No other Gods had any idea what his intention was and even Zeus never talked about it to anyone. After living a life of solitude for some time, he had a child with a human woman. Following him, his brother Poseidon also came down to the land and as Hades was not permitted to leave the underworld, he sent his children to do the same. The other Gods of Olympus, though they worshiped and acknowledged Zeus as their leader on the surface, always wanted to overthrow him and rule the other Gods. So fearing Zeus'' intentions, they, along with their sons and daughters, also came down to the land. The Gods of Asgard also did the same and so did the Gods of other nimbus. They conceived with the humans and increased their population, then gathered their people to do the same, as if trying to raise an army, or another continent. As these children had the blood of the Gods and the humans as well, they were called ''demi-gods'', though they still liked to refer to themselves as Gods. As time passed, those Gods and demi-gods started to discriminate against the lesser humans or the pure ones without the blood of Gods. In order to show their superiority, they even created the so-called Land of Gods, "the Elysium". But even then, they were all connected by - The Stigmata. A stigmata is a mark that represents their strengths or blessings received from the Original Gods. The humans and even the demi-gods, as they were half-humans too, got their own stigmata at the time of birth. In other words, everyone except the Original Gods that came from other nimbi above received their stigmata. But one day the true Gods who started all these suddenly disappeared. No one knew what exactly happened or where they vanished to, and so with time, people started to doubt the existence of those Gods. As more and more decades passed, the discrimination between the demigods against the humans naturally reduced and they began to coexist in peace. But some of the demigods still considered themselves as a superior race with Elysium as their precious and exclusive abode, so they kept holding Elysium as a mark of superiority, and take great pride in it even today." After reading that story, which I already heard before, my mother closed the book and kissed me in the forehead and whispered softly into my ears. "Good Night, Owen." "That was a nice story mom; the only problem is that I heard it millions of times. Hah... Good night anyway." "You look really tired today. Don''t stay up reading the books all night, dear." "Yeah, yeah. I was about to sleep anyway. I don''t know why you suddenly wanted to read such a boring story out of nowhere." She gave a slight giggle, and bringing her right hand to where her lips were, she said with a playful tone. "Why? Are you embarrassed that your mother read you a bedtime story?" Seeing me giving an exhausted look to her teasing, she continued as she walked up to the door. She continued, "Well, I don''t really have a reason. I just felt like it today. Anyway, sleep tight. And P.S. it''s not a boring story" The door closed leaving me alone in the room. Yeah, not a boring story but a really stupid one. I mean, I, as a demi-god myself, don''t really want to doubt the truth behind the story but even so, why is it that nobody has ever seen Zeus or the other Original Gods. All we know is that we are the descendants of those Original Gods. "Ah, such a pain." Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Really, what a pain. It was getting a little boring for me, staying at home and reading all these books every day. It has already been ages since I last went to school too. My parents also didn''t really force me to go to school, though they seemed a little disappointed. It was because I had to spend every day surrounded by all these geniuses, both at school and at home, whereas I myself was no good. My mother, Jessica was obviously not one of the strongest out there, but her rare stigmata made her a very desirable unit for every battle. Her stigmata was a very powerful "5-star" Support stigmata- "Stigmata of Purification". Name: Jessica Grey Species: Demi-God Rank: Warrior Age: 39 Level : 48 Strength : 179 Defense : 211 Agility: 176 Intelligence : 192 Mana: 208 Luck:88 [Stigmata of purification :¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï] My elder sister, Esmeralda who is turning 17 this month, also has a very strong "7-star" Fighting stigmata with a beautiful sword and shield mark on her back. 7-star is super rare and there are only a handful people out there who have that stigmata. In other words, she''s a treasure for all the guilds and squads out there. Name: Esmeralda Grey Species: Demi-God Rank: Warrior Age: 17 Level: 22 Strength : 95 Defense : 91 Agility: 85 Intelligence : 69 Mana: 71 Luck: 39 [Stigma of Faith: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï] And even my younger sister, Marielle who is 8 years old, inherited my mother''s stigmata and has an incredible amount of magic power and luck. Name: Marielle Grey Species: Demi-God Rank: Apprentice Age : 8 years Level : 4 Strength : 14 Defense : 13 Agility: 13 Intelligence : 15 Mana: 27 Luck: 18 [Stigmata of purification: ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï] Anyway, she''ll grow stronger once she is ten years old and is allowed to enter the dungeons. I, on the other hand, got a creepy, wings-like, black coloured useless stigmata. Something called- "Stigmata of Void." It''s not like there''s no information about my stigmata, but the information is very little to be honest. So little that it wouldn''t make a single paragraph in a book. The only thing I know is that it''s a 0-star. Honestly, the lowest I know of is a 1-star so how could I have a 0-star? Sigh! The stigmata tends to guide the users by giving different skills, and also keep their record by an illusionary message in front of the eyes, like a strange window filled with ancient languages. But in my case, it never provided me with a single skill. Not even once. What is that even supposed to mean? Is my stigmata nothing but an empty mark? Well anyway, I''ve already given up on becoming any of those great myths out there. I was considered quite talented for my age during my childhood days as I started learning magic and sword at the age of 3. Some even called me a prodigy. But as I grew up, the children of my age began to utilize the power of their stigmata and I was naturally left behind. I really tried hard to keep up with them, only to get nothing but bullied now. Even my own sisters look at me as I am some kind of disgrace. So I just stayed at home, training magic and new weapons, and also reading books during my free time. And my father? Well I rarely see him nowadays. He just owns his own weapon shop at the Capital. With another sigh, I opened my status to see if there''s any progress today, only to be left disappointed like always. Name: Owen Grey Species: Demi-God Rank: Apprentice Age: 12 Level: 12 Strength : 39 Defense :33 Agility: 66 Intelligence : 68 Mana: 29 Luck: 9 [Stigmata of Void (Inactive)] Stigmata of Void : ¡î (0-star) Passive : Beginner Swordsmanship (31.63%), Beginner Spearmanship (25.17%),Beginner Mana Manipulation(19.89%). Skills: Fireball(1-star) My physical stats are not bad. To be honest, it''s better than the majority of the kids around my age. Those stats are also really important but what really changed the game were those skills. Actually, there are three ways to learn a skill. First is a skillbook. But they are extremely rare. Even those noble families might have only two or three if they are lucky. Skillbooks can also be found in the dungeons but it can be considered as a miracle to be honest. People will just laugh at you if you tell them you found a skillbook at a dungeon. Second is to learn a skill from others which is again, extremely difficult. Even learning a 1-star skill is as difficult as running on a rope with one leg. There are only a handful of "geniuses" who are able to learn lower star skills. Above 3-stars? Well I have not heard of anyone learning it. I learned my ''Fireball'' skill when I was four. I really thought I was one of those geniuses when I learned my ''Fireball'', only to ruin everything because of that damned stigmata. And third, also the most effective one is the stigmata. A stigmata has its own unique skill set and as we level up we can unlock those skills. Which is why I was left behind by others of my age because my inactive stigmata does not have its own skill set. "Well, not that it matters. I am living a happy and peaceful life right now, without any expectations from anyone. Better go to sleep." I think that was exactly what I thought that night. The night where it all began. At that time I didn''t know¡­ I didn''t know that there wouldn''t even be a peaceful second for me after that night. I didn''t know that this was the end of my bitter yet memorable days and the beginning of my sweet yet hellish journey. My journey to find the truth about these Gods and stigmatas, these kingdoms and kings, and these myths and lies. I didn''t know that this was just the beginning. Beginning of my journey across the void. Run! Sadly, I wasn''t able to achieve the peaceful sleep that I hoped for that night. I woke up at midnight as I heard a commotion outside. I looked out through the window of my room and saw some people rushing in to fight a monster, not too far away from the place I was in. From the few unclear glances I could get at the monster, I assumed it was a Dark Wyvern. Well they were quite scary but not to the level where the Royal Guards couldn''t kill them. ''But what the hell are they doing inside the town? Hah... Should I just try sleeping again? '' "Owen! Owen! Come down quickly" Throwing water to my plans of having a little more of my sweet dreams, I heard my mother calling me from downstairs. I didn''t quite understand the direness of the situation so I immediately went to her to check that out. "What mom? I don''t think it''s dangerous. The Royal Guards are going to come here soon anyway" "Well, the thing is...they did arrive and three squads of Sequence 3 knights were wiped out" She yelled, the signs of both worry and fear can be seen in her face. "What?! That''s impossible" It took me a moment to understand my mother''s words as I blurted out purely off my instincts. Sequence 3 knights are really strong, at least strong enough to defeat hundreds of goblins alone. And a squad of that can literally clear a whole C Rank dungeon alone. For not only one but three squads to be wiped out, of course I couldn''t comprehend it. "How much of an idiot can you be? Can''t you see the situation we''re in? We''re evacuating for now." The girl with the same bright golden hair like my mother said to me with a hint of dissatisfaction. "Y-yes sister" "Be quick. Try to be useful at least once in your life" "Esme! Don''t be so hard on your brother. He''s trying." My mother said in hurry while running and packing from around the house. My sister went upstairs making a ''hmph'' sound. Marielle was already holding onto my mom''s hands, ready to leave anytime. I too quickly packed some of my stuff and my only A-grade spear which was gifted to me by my father''s friend, the advisor of Duke Cambrow, who was a very powerful noble. Holding the spear, I checked out its stats one more time. [Spear of Destination] Grade A Type: Weapon Skills: Thrust(2-star); Nevermiss(Expendable)(Uses: 1/1)(4- star) ; Self-destruction(Expendable)(Uses: 1/1) (6-star) (Warning: Item cannot be used again after "Self-destruction" is used) Certain items like weapons and armors also have certain skills in them. But as they don''t really belong to us originally and can only be used when we have the item on ourselves, they''re not purely considered as our own skills. But in case of real combat, they are as useful as the other skills we own, or sometimes even more than that. ''It''s really great no matter how many times I watch it.'' Leaving these thoughts aside, I went outside and saw both my sisters waiting there with my mom. "The portal near the town hall is open now. From there, we''ll go to the Capital and meet your father. He''ll arrange a place for us to stay" My mother said as she hurriedly scanned her surroundings. "Okay" We all readily agreed to her as we realized the situation was actually more serious than we originally thought. "Is there only one Dark Wyvern?" I asked, looking at the terrifying monster at the distance. "Well, no. There are three of them. And unfortunately, the third one''s near the area of the town hall too. Even so, we don''t really have a choice but to go through there now. The other portal near the church was already destroyed by a Wyvern while fighting the Royal Guards" "But mom, is it possible for a Dark Wyvern to be that strong?" There was something seriously wrong here. First, they looked much stronger than the usual ones that we all heard of. And second, I couldn''t come up with something as to why and how three of such things arrived in the middle of Starmeadow Town. "No, there is something wrong with them. It''s like... they are much more sinister. And something like they are¡­ created" "Created? What do you mean? " I can see my mom''s face going pale as she answered me. "...I-I don''t know. It''s just... they all give off a very ominous feeling. I did face Dark Wyverns before and trust me, they were nothing like these things here." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. I didn''t press it any further and decided to pace up with others. We arrived near the Town Hall after a while and the first thing we saw was a number of people waiting in a long, long line just to use the portal. A few guards were making sure that the people didn''t make a scene here. I could see them looking anxious and scared, maybe hoping that they could also pass through the portal before the monster arrived. We also followed the same procedure as others but it didn''t look like we''re going to pass through it anytime soon. ''This is not good. For some reason, I can''t help but get a bad feeling.'' The guards present here were only Sequence 1. They can''t stand against the monster for a minute, let alone fight it. Every second felt like hours as we waited in that line but still there was no sign of us getting any closer to the portal. ''Come on... Just go faster!!'' Rooaaarr!!!! Then as to prove my intuition correct, I heard a terrifying howl from behind the long queue of people. My legs stopped moving and my face lost its colour. The guards too were shaking while trying to hold their weapons up. There wasn''t really a question as to what really caused the fear among us. Of course, one of the Dark Wyverns was here. ''W-we can''t make it. There''s no way! '' As if thinking the same thing, Esmeralda opened her mouth and shouted, "Mom, we''ve got to rush." It wasn''t only her, but the people ahead also started running in disarray and just within a couple of seconds, the whole queue changed into a horde of people. "Y-yes honey, watch the front and run. I got your back" With a slight nod, Esmeralda took hold of my younger sister''s arms and started running towards the portal. The portal was itself in chaos. The people we''re rushing in without any destination, only wanting to get out of this place. Suddenly, I felt a shiver running down my spine as I looked at the monster and saw its red abyss-like eyes. ''It''s staring at us...No; it''s staring at the portal.'' I completely lost my breath the next moment when I saw the monster flying towards us with an unbelievable speed. I couldn''t even blink once and the next second it was right in front of my eyes. I could see my mom rushing next to me as she chanted a spell. {Shield of light} The Dark Wyvern has a dark attribute as its name suggests, and so it''s naturally weak against light attribute magic. ''Then why? Why didn''t it work?'' My mom was pushed back about five meters with a single strike as she vomited blood and was even struggling to stand. Some of the guards immediately rushed in while others were frozen in their place, losing all hope. The portal was still far off, flocked with people and I knew there''s no way we could make it. ''Think, think. At this rate we''re all going to die. I need light but I can''t use light magic. Should I create a light with fire magic? No, a light from a fire and light magic are completely different. The light from the fire magic is only going to attract the monster, not injure it. Wait, attract... the monster?'' I looked back and saw my elder sister crying while supporting my mom to stand up. Marielle was looking towards me with a worried face. I smiled faintly at them. Maybe Esmeralda understood something; I could see her eyes wide open while looking at me, as if telling me not to do anything stupid. "Take mom and run. I''ll buy you some time." "W-wha-" "Hurry!! We''re all gonna die at this rate." "Don''t be stupid, Owen! Do you think you''re a hero or something? Even the Royal Guards couldn''t do anything, and think you can win or something?" Esmeralda was quite persistent that she wouldn''t leave. "I have a plan, trust me." I knew that she wouldn''t leave whatever I said to her so I already left them and rushed towards the Wyvern while shouting towards her for one last time. "Run!!" I could see my elder sister shouting and crying, my mother''s horror filled face trying hard to say something, and my younger sister too scared to comprehend anything around her. But my mind was already filled with many things other than listening to them. Esmeralda tried to follow me up but the crowd was simply too much for her, even more so while helping my mother. I could see her getting dragged in it. The portal was still several hundred meters away and here the monster was killing the guards one by one, as if enjoying it. I took out two of my shirts from my backpack as fast as I could and wrapped one around my Grade A spear. Casting a fireball spell to the shirt, I tried aiming my spear at the monster. [Spear of Destination] Grade A Type: Weapon Skills: Thrust(2-star), Never miss(Expendable) (Uses: 1/1)(4-star) ; Self-destruction(Expendable) (Uses: 1/1) (6-star) (Warning: Item cannot be used again after "Self-destruction" is used) ''Two expendable skills. My plan might not work as I am too weak. No, there''s actually more chance of it to fail than it is to succeed. At the level I''m in, I can''t leave a mark, let alone injure it with the spear. I need to aim for... its eye, yeah. That''s the only place not covered with its tough scales.'' As someone who never trained that well in spears, it was a really hard job for me. But I knew I could only make up for it with my mana. My father trained me decently in mana but I was nowhere good enough yet. Still, I tried to bring out every ounce of mana from my body in an attempt to wrap it around the spear. I could feel my nerves and veins burning as I forcefully pulled out the mana. I knew this wasn''t that of a correct way but I held on as it was working more or less. I wasn''t ready to sacrifice myself, but if that''s what it takes for my family to survive, I would have no regrets. Maybe it was because I was right in front of my death that my mind started becoming clearer than anything. The spear started glowing slightly surrounded by tiny mana particles. "Arrgghh!" The pain only worsened every second and I couldn''t help but let out a loud cry. Blood and tears started dripping from my eyes as I started feeling nauseating. Still, I carried on thinking my whole life depended on it. Well honestly, it did. But I knew, this was it. I wasn''t strong enough to do more than this. And this level of mana was clearly not enough. Aaaahhhh!!! More¡­ More¡­ My lips started bleeding too and I could feel my sight blurring. I wasn''t sure it was because of the blood or the fatigue. More¡­ More¡­ Suddenly, as if a blessing from above for my selfless sacrifice, I felt a warm feeling around my neck, then slowly flowing through my whole body. My pain eased out to a great extent and I saw a notification window in front of my eyes. On it was something so bizarre that I was having a hard time believing it. So bizarre that I had to consider again if all this was all just a dream. [Stigmata of Void (0-star) is activated] [Stigmata of Void (0-star) is now active] [New skill "Mana Borrow" learned] Stigma of void : ¡î (0-star) Passive : Beginner Swordsmanship (31.63%), Beginner Spearmanship (25.17%), Beginner Mana Manipulation(19.89%). Skills: Fireball(1-star), Mana Borrow(???) I Survived... "Mana Borrow" It''s a skill that I''m very familiar with. It''s a 3 -star skill that my elder sister tried to learn from my father but didn''t quite succeed. Although Mana Borrow is a 3-star skill, if used properly, it wouldn''t be any less than a 5-star skill. That was the main reason why Esmeralda tried learning it. Well, learning a skill was never meant to be easy. Basically, this skill can borrow mana from the surroundings at an incredibly fast rate with some shortcomings like fatigue and pain as its after-effects. I didn''t have any time to check how exactly the skill worked or to think why I got the skill now, though I had a few guesses about both these things. Well, it wasn''t really a problem as having mana borrow would only make my survival a little possible. Without thinking of anything else, I simply activated the skill. ''I assume I''ll figure out the rest eventually.'' ¡­I had to figure out the rest. {Mana Borrow} An unbelievable amount of mana entered my body. It felt like my organs would burst out any moment now. Biting my lips I transferred all my mana into the tip of the spear, then slowly wrapping up the entire spear. The tip of the spear started glowing an ethereal light and I felt at ease as overflowing mana in my body was slowly ejected out. ''Not now. A little more. More...'' Finally, when the mana surrounded the spear to a great extent, I threw it with all the strength I could muster up from my body. {Never Miss} The spear flew with an unbelievable speed and my hand immediately started to bleed from the massive recoil. I didn''t miss my target as I used an expendable skill for it and the spear got stuck at the eye of the monster. But well, it didn''t really do any significant damage. ''As expected. But I succeeded at what I was trying to do.'' Roaaarrr!!! The monster cried out in annoyance and looked at me with its bloodshot eyes sending cold sweat down my back. ''Easy boy. Why are you so angry when it''s you who started it first.'' {Fireball} I cast a fireball spell on my second shirt and started running towards the forest at the opposite side of the portal. Letting out yet another terrifying roar, the Wyvern flew upwards and launched at me with rage. Gah!! It felt like I was hit by a 5-star attack spell. I definitely passed out for a second there and after vomiting some blood, I started limping towards the forest again. I took the recovery pills which I kept in my pocket from my backpack. The monster was slowly flying towards me now and I could see it was enjoying the struggle of its prey. Though it was enough to get on my nerves, I was thankful that it''s taking me lightly for now. ''At least my family can escape safely now. '' There was a forest just close by the town hall that I thought of including in my attempt to buy some time. I ran as far as I could and after reaching somewhere inside the forest, I left my shirt there to misdirect it. I thought I would end up dying in no time but its speed of chasing decreased considerably the moment I entered the forest. I fell on my knees from time to time and my head was ringing from the exhaustion. But I was able to reach my destination somehow. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. The lair of gnolls. At least I hoped that they''d buy me some time. Roaarrrr!!!! ''Haha. This bastard is fast'' I looked back towards the sky, above all these trees in the forest. Stroking its wings in the air, the wyvern was smiling at me with its mocking eyes and the spear was still stuck in its eye. The gnolls were watching me from the shadows but were too scared to come and face this abomination. The monster flew towards me again but I started running towards the gnoll''s camp. And at this point, the gnolls had no choice but come out from their hiding. They had to attack the outsiders. Both me and that harrowing Wyvern. ''If you guys don''t stop him, you can say goodbye to your house. '' I reached the entrance of the camp but didn''t go inside. If I go inside in this condition, I''d die either way. The monster stopped for a second and prepared to launch at me for the second time, and from the looks of it, it seemed like he wanted to end it for real this time. Some of the gnolls already jumped forward forward fearing the destruction of their camp. And then a broken spear flew towards the Wyvern''s wings. Then another one. And then another one. The wyvern was continuously attacked by a rain of spears and arrows from all directions. I didn''t know if they ignored me as they thought I was insignificant and couldn''t cause them any harm or if they just wanted to deal with the greater threat before. But it was as I predicted. The wyvern landed on the ground unable to withstand the rain of attacks and roared with enormous killing intent. With a deep breath I looked into the eyes of the monster and smiled faintly. "Better luck next time, buddy" {Self-destruction} Boooooooom!!!!! A six-star spell. With a large boom the monster''s eye was destroyed and blood was dripping down. I ran past the monster sliding between the two legs and started running back towards the portal again. A few gnolls jumped at me but I simply dodged or pushed them away. A few attacks hit me too but it was nothing compared to that one attack of that Wyvern. Rrrrrrrrghhhh!!! I could see the enraged monster destroying the gnoll''s camp, going frenzy with its eyes closed. This time, the gnolls too rushed into the monster with their weapons. Most of the gnolls didn''t even look at me as I passed through their base. They were too captivated by the destruction that laid in front of their eyes. I exited the forest and could see the portal at a distance. But... ''Something''s wrong with the portal.'' The bright blue light of the portal appeared in a very faint bluish white colour. But even before I could see what the problem was, I already received a signal, enlightening me about my limited time here. And by the time I reached near the portal, I could hear another loud roar coming from the Gnolls camp. ''Looks like it''s almost done with the gnolls. I need to hurry'' But as I turned around to look around the portal, my eyes widened and I felt my soul leaving my body with fear. "H-how?" Hundreds of people are lying on the ground. Dead. Severed head, hands, some were unrecognizable, and others simply tangled across with broken body parts. If the wyvern was chasing me then they should have escaped safely. Since they were all dead, that means... ''Another one?! What!? Why? Out of so many places, why only here?'' I was completely going out of my mind and my hands and feet started shaking too. I thought the situation was really strange as two out of the three Dark Wyverns were in the same vicinity. It was hard for me to believe that my luck was really that poor. ''C-calm down, Owen. You don''t have time for all this.'' I started the portal with its destination as the Capital. The portal emitted a faint glow but failed to connect the other side. ''Mana Exhaustion?'' Like all the humans who need mana for using their skills, the portals also require a great amount of mana to enable teleportation. In case of inanimate objects like the portals, the mana is provided by the mana stones, which come off at a great price. So they charge money to use the portal on normal days. ''Not good! The only way to recover from this situation is to use new mana stones. But I don''t have any. Did all these people die because they couldn''t escape with the portal exhausting its mana?'' I racked my brain hard to find a solution and finally I got something I could try. And sadly, for that to work I needed to rack my brain even harder. ''I need to think of a destination with fewer restrictions to enter but more than enough mana to connect it.'' As two gates at two different places combined make up a portal, a destination with more mana in the surrounding will also provide some mana to the other side if I succeed in creating a link. And the faint glow from before indicated that a link was created but failed to connect the two places for teleportation. ''It means that although the mana in the Capital is really great, it''s still not enough. Think, think!! Capital is the place with the highest amount of mana in Elysium. A place with mana higher than Elysium? Wait... The elves? But they put many restrictions on their sides so I won''t be able to connect.'' Suddenly my eyes lit up as a place that I might be able to slip into flashed through my mind. ''The ancient forest of Derwair! It belonged to the elves before. But after the war between humans and elves, half of it belonged to the humans. If¡­if I can connect to it¡­maybe¡­'' I didn''t have the luxury to depend on a maybe though. It was my only hope. My last hope. I quickly searched for any portals near the Derwair forest. In order to keep up with my friends without my stigmata, I studied hard every day in addition to all that training. Hell, I worked harder than almost all my peers. Of course, there were still some prodigies who worked their asses off like a madman that I couldn''t even compare. But¡­but ¡­ me too. I tried all these years in every way possible. I need to do this. I didn''t know how much time had passed. I think it was only mere seconds but it felt like eternity to me. But I kept searching¡­ And searching¡­ And finally¡­ ''Found it'' I was able to locate a portal in the Derwair Forest quicker than I expected. Still someone was even faster. Roaaaaarrrrr!!!! ''What?? Already...'' I stopped whatever I was doing to look back at the monster for a second. It was slightly wounded near the wings and was staggering a little. ''Maybe the three squads of sequence 3 knights can defeat it now?'' Without wasting any more time, I activated the portal and could see the faint light again. But this time, it didn''t stop there. The light was glowing brighter and brighter slowly. ''Not enough. I will be killed before.'' The monster was already flying towards me but I saw that something was different. ''Huh! It''s slow. Much slower than before. Is it exhausted?'' Still it wasn''t slow enough for me to escape to a safe zone and I was sure it''d kill me the moment it reached here. I doubt that he''d be in the mood to toy with me again after the previous results. {Mana Borrow} I played my last card and borrowed all the mana I could from the surroundings and supplied it to the portal. My head again felt like it would split open and organs would burst out. ''More! More! Faster! It''s over for me if I pass out here.'' The monster was already reaching closer to me. Every second it covered an enormous distance towards the portal. . 300 metres. . 250 metres. . 200 metres. . 150 metres. . Finally, the faint light changed into a bright glow lighting up the area around me. ''It worked!'' Huup! Without canceling my skill or looking back to check on how close I was to my death, I jumped into the portal. I could hear something breaking the moment I jumped in. I could only guess it was the portal itself. ''Wait, did I pass through?'' I looked up and saw trees everywhere. I could hear water from a lake somewhere nearby. My right hand was broken and my nose was broken too. Maybe some of my bones were also dislocated and I am sure I have several internal injuries too. Despite all that, only a single tear drop fell down my eyes. It wasn''t about how unfair my life had been but pure gratefulness at this moment. I closed my eyes and immediately fell down to the ground as the exhaustion reached its limit. I passed out there looking at the sky as I spoke weakly struggling to keep my eyes open. "I.... I...survived."