Truth was, Nausica knew what was happening when the strings on her began to break.
She heard the voices of Shan, Shiliew, and Angor. Yet she could not reach out to them. She dared not.
Even if she knew that her friends were there to help, something in her mind convinced her that she could not afford to show any sign of weakness in front of them, or an inner demon would immediately seize control.
She kept her eyes shut. She refused to let her guard down. She did everything she could to resist the biggest crisis she would expect.
Each broken string was like an energy pipe built from a hot iron that sent burning pain directly into her bones and organs until her entire body felt like on fire. The process was not better than going through the worst torment in this world many times.
But Nausica held fast.
The idea of “surrendering” never even appeared in her mind once. She had endured this painful and lonesome darkness for more than a day now. She had absolutely no reason to give up since her friends were here.
Nausica kept her spirit locked inside an unknown land she imagined. In her mind, she had created a bright and elegant road that led toward the path of truth. Any pain and suffering appeared as lava pits and poisonous thorns along this road. She would keep walking forward no matter what was in her way.
It wasn’t an issue to fall down occasionally, for she needed only to climb back up again. And each time she did, she grew stronger, both body and mind.
She had fortified her mental endurance to such a level beyond what her peers could imagine. Even some wizards would find her determination terrifyingly unbreakable.
Such was Nausica’s mettle. She demanded immortality, which was her life-long goal. Whatever could not kill her would only make her better.
There was only one golden string left.
Angor’s group watched anxiously because they just witnessed how Gank lost at this critical moment.
So far, Nausica seemed more stable than Gank’s case, but they knew Nausica was suppressing her true condition, and sooner or later, she needed to let it out somehow.
The question was whether she could hold on until the last string was severed.
The spotted puppy stopped in front of the string as if it knew how important it was. It woofed at Nausica to warn her, while Nausica accepted the hint and mustered all her courage.
As the puppy put its teeth on the last string, torrential agony immediately found its way into every corner of Nausica’s body. She felt like someone was stirring the inside of her using several barbed wires. However, whereas there was a limit to how much pain one’s body could meet, Nausica was also met with pain on her soul this time.
Before this moment, she managed to endure all the hardship because the strings only tortured her body. But now, it seemed whoever was controlling the strings had lost patience. Nausica heard a demonic whisper right beside her ears, that as long as she admitted defeat, she would be allowed into a brand new realm more beautiful than any.
At the same time, the unknown presence granted an extremely pleasurable signal onto Nausica’s soul and urged her to accept it. While she knew that it was a sweet trap, it was still too difficult to resist it.
Nausica could control her body just fine, yet her soul never went through any particular enhancement like Angor’s. While her entire body was mutilated by burning pain, she failed to convince her soul NOT to approach the alluring sensation that was obviously a ticket to hell.
She felt helpless as she watched her soul approaching the darkness against her will.
...
Angor felt his heart missing a beat when he saw Nausica’s expression showed relief when she shouldn’t.
“Don’t! Just a little longer!” Shan was crying so badly that her tears had messed up the colorful tribal paints on her cheeks.
Shiliew, who usually remained unruffled no matter what happened, began to shiver in sadness.
When no one was looking, the puppy suddenly released an insignificant soul energy wave, which traveled through the remaining string and sank into Nausica’s soul space.
Only Angor briefly caught a familiar sensation of the energy. He found it weird that the strange signature felt almost similar to Hookdick’s soul. But he could not tell as the energy came and vanished very quickly.
On the other hand, Nausica was surprised to receive the unexpected soul energy. The extremely pure and powerful energy improved her soul level in an instant, which allowed her to command her soul to a certain extent before it fully fell into the abyss.
With a firm command, she demanded her soul to halt and take a step back.
Meanwhile, the puppy successfully broke the last golden string, which took it way longer than all the previous strings.
Nausica saw everything shattering to pieces in her view. The deadly obstacles, the entrance to the abyss, the bewitching lure... all gone. She saw light welcoming her back into reality.
As the last string vanished, Nausica fell from her prison.
Angor quickly used his gravity power to catch her and carried her onto Toby’s back.
Nausica slowly opened her eyes to look at the three faces that showed anxiety and care in different ways.
She wanted to say something, but a cold and solid object suddenly collided with her bleeding lips and prevented her from making any sound.
“Glowing Velvet Potion. Quickly, drink it.”
It was Shan who just found the potion from her pouch and stuffed it into Nausica’s mouth.
Meanwhile, Shiliew was casting her spells nearby while mumbling words such as “life” and “cure”.
Lights of different colors had covered Nausica’s entire body. The lacerations caused by the strings were visibly disappearing.
“How do you feel?” Angor waited for Nausica to finish the potion before asking. While it was true that all strings were removed, he could not tell whether they had left something negative in Nausica.
As a Bloodline Art apprentice, Nausica did quick work examining her body.
“I’m fine, thank-”
A black portal suddenly appeared where Nausica was restrained a moment ago.
Ssssss!
“Wormsss! How dare you sabotage my work!”
More golden strings emerged from the portal and created a “network” in the air. At the same time, a shadowy figure escaped from the portal and swiftly moved around the strings.
Everyone looked at the intruder with a grim look.
“The vermin seeks to bully the weak instead of fighting us. Are all nightmare monsters so shameless?”
Angor heard another voice coming from behind the strange shadow. Following this voice, he saw Greya in her violet skirt stepping toward them in the air.
Toby happily flapped his large wings upon seeing Greya, which caused the lake water around them to waver.
Angor looked side to side so that he might find whether Greya brought anyone else. But before he could see Sunders, he felt someone standing right next to him.
“Professor?” Angor called.
He knew it was Sunders because he already caught a glimpse of the man’s gentleman suit as well as the particularly aloof composure.
Sunders glanced at Angor’s group. “Whatever did you do that forced Yorkshire to turn his back on us and teleport away?”
Angor briefly explained how they rescued Nausica from Yorkshire’s prison and how Yorkshire planned to create “containers” to enlarge interlayer sections.
Sunders frowned. By combining the message he received from Greya just now, he more or less had a full picture of the situation now.
He nodded to Angor and looked at the shadow dancing on golden strings not far from them.
“This place will turn into a battlefield soon. Do you want to hide in my Gravity Garden?”