Chapter 500
Severe Injury
Chapter 500 Severe Injury
The world finally fell into complete silence.
He won.
Despite being only a level 5 wizard, he managed to kill a fully healthy level 6 wizard.
As the grayish-white mist completely vanished and dissipated, Jieming's taut heartstrings snapped.
A violent feeling of weakness swept over him like a tsunami. He could no longer stand, his legs gave way, and he collapsed heavily onto the cold, broken ground.
The world spun before my eyes, the scenery in my vision became blurred, and all I could hear was my own heavy, bellows-like breathing.
What comes from the depths of the soul is no longer just simple pain, but a more terrifying and essential sense of "loss" and "tear".
It was as if a large chunk of the foundation upon which he existed had been forcibly removed, and the remaining part was riddled with cracks, on the verge of collapsing completely at any moment.
After an unknown amount of time—perhaps a quarter of an hour, or perhaps an even longer period of torment—Jermin finally managed to muster a sliver of scattered consciousness.
With trembling hands, he raised his heavy, leaden arm and, using the last bit of control he had over his internal psyche, took out several crystal vials that shimmered with a soft light.
His fingers trembled so much he could barely hold the tube, so he simply and roughly shoved the entire test tube into his mouth and bit it, swallowing the thick, honey-like liquid and crystal fragments all at once.
This is a top-grade blend of Soul Spring and Life Essence, a magical potion specifically designed to repair severe soul damage and physical trauma. Each vial is worth over a billion military merits.
One, two, three...
He took out all the high-level magical potions that could be used to heal the soul stored in his inner cave and drank them down one after another like a cow chewing on a peony.
The cool yet soothing medicinal power flowed down my throat, but it didn't bring much comfort. Instead, it was like a thin stream barely being poured into a dry, cracked riverbed, which was instantly greedily absorbed and devoured by the huge "hole" and "crack".
Only when the last shard of the empty potion bottle slipped from his weak lips and shattered on the glassy ground with a crisp sound did Jemin finally feel a slight relief from the excruciating pain that had penetrated his soul and almost crushed his consciousness.
He was panting heavily, his tattered gray robe soaked with sweat that clung coldly to his skin.
The relief of surviving the ordeal did not immediately emerge; instead, a deeper sense of bewilderment and disbelief followed.
"Why... am I still alive?"
This question not only prompted the sixth-level wizard to ask a desperate question before he vanished, but it also pierced deeply into Jemin's own heart.
He was fully aware of the kind of attack he had just endured.
That "Hand of Annihilation" first destroyed his heart and brain.
Of course, such purely physical injuries might not be absolutely fatal for many wizards who have undergone extensive physical modifications.
Even more terrifying is that the extremely pure annihilating energy flowed upstream along the connection between life and soul, directly affecting the essence of his soul!
More than 60% of the souls were completely annihilated and turned into nothingness the moment they came into contact with the object.
The remaining 40% was also shattered into countless tiny, almost disconnected fragments of the soul.
Jemin never wanted to experience that feeling of his soul being torn apart and his core being largely erased again. According to any common sense, such injuries would be enough to kill a level six wizard specializing in self-preservation instantly, and even some level seven beings with weaker soul defenses would perish instantly.
To put it bluntly, even Jemin himself didn't expect to survive after taking that blow. Instead, he closed his eyes and waited to die, hoping that the substitute doll would revive him.
However, when the anticipated substitute doll was activated, the feeling of rebirth and revival did not arrive.
On the contrary, in that desperate situation where his soul was shattered and on the verge of complete annihilation, he was "horrified" to discover that he was still "alive".
It is not resurrection, it is not rebirth.
It means "not dead".
His soul was indeed shattered, more than 60% of it was gone, but his consciousness strangely diffused among those broken fragments of his soul, like the afterimage of the world still reflected in a broken mirror.
Although the fragments have lost their close connection, they have not completely severed the last, barely perceptible resonance.
Thus, in a state beyond the comprehension of a fifth-level wizard, he "lived" among a pile of soul remains that should have represented death and the end.
It's like an ordinary person's body being completely dismembered, with their head and heart cut into pieces, but their vital signs are still stubbornly maintained, and they can even barely think.
Absurd, terrifying, and completely violating the basic laws of life and soul.
This is also a key reason why Jemin was finally able to use the floating cannons to ambush and hit the level six wizard – who would be wary of a bunch of "dead" remains?
As for later, by using the spirituality of the Five Elements Rainbow Mirror as an adhesive and scaffold, the shattered fragments of the soul were reassembled, forcibly "pieced together" a barely complete outline of the soul, and the Body Tempering Technique and magic potions were activated to regenerate the body...
In contrast, this seemingly resurrected act became a kind of "technical" problem, difficult but not incomprehensible.
The real mystery remains the same initial question: why didn't he die immediately after most of his soul was destroyed?
Why can his consciousness continue within his shattered soul?
He has lived to this day, experienced many fierce battles, and suffered various serious injuries, but never before has his injury been so severe—more than 60% of his soul essence has been permanently lost!
Even a potion that can instantly heal a level six wizard's soul injuries would have most of its potency wasted when faced with a fragmented soul like his.
So even after consuming all the high-level soul potions in his inventory, he could clearly sense that his soul had only recovered less than 20% of its original amount.
About 40% are real, substantial "losses," as if they have been hollowed out.
This defect not only caused him constant, deep-seated pain, but also made his thinking sluggish and blurred, as if covered by a thick layer of frosted glass.
Perception becomes dulled, and the world seems to have lost most of its color and detail.
Now that the excruciating pain had subsided somewhat, Jemin finally had the energy to begin thinking about this chilling question.
But to be honest, being able to think under such circumstances is quite amazing... even terrifying.
"Ugh... this is worse than death..." Jemin lay weakly on the ground, his cheek pressed against the cold, rough surface. Every breath was a piercing pain in his soul, causing him to utter a whisper through clenched teeth, "I'd rather have the scapegoat just resurrect me..."
The word "scapegoat" flashed through his mind like lightning in the darkness, suddenly illuminating his chaotic thoughts.
(End of this chapter)