CHAPTER 78: FEAR OF ASURA: PART 1

"Fell Hex is the most dangerous to use as far as I know, it uses pure negativity in the body, like negative emotions, or desires, to power up spells, like if I hate someone, and don’t have a drop of Aether left, I can still use spells powered by this, and they will be much more powerful."

Johan explained slowly.

Sebastian nodded thoughtfully, "I heard witches use something similar to cast curses, and other spells..."

Johan nodded, finally getting up from the stone he was sitting on, "Let’s leave or we’ll be late. You both can eat while walking."

Sebastian and Olivia nodded, Orihime also getting up and patting dust off her long dress with a thoughtful expression.

Johan extended both his arms, and the gooey bright golden slime instantly fell to the ground with a thud.

Then, Johan slowly moved his right hand in a circular motion while raising the left high, his violet eyes completely focused.

The slime on the ground started splitting, slowly dividing into four parts, then eight, and then sixteen.

The first four pieces of slime began crawling, each heading in a different direction—toward Sebastian, Orihime, Olivia, and Johan—climbing onto their feet.

They could feel its wetness and heat. It was like lava—but lava that didn’t cause pain. Instead, it offered comfort, even with its heat.

Johan paused his right hand, then made an explosive gesture with it. Instantly, the gooey slime vanished from their feet.

Johan sighed, motioning for Sebastian to help pick up the rest of the slime pieces from the ground.

"W-What just happened?" Olivia asked hesitantly, her face pale from the strange sensation that gooey thing had given her.

"Your body is made of atoms, and atoms with Aether—and all atoms have little gaps in them. The Aether in the spell blended with the atoms’ Aether, making a perfect vacuum cover over all the atoms on your body. Like a layer of skin." Johan explained simply, putting the rest of the slime pieces in his pocket.

This spell was used by Johan every time before any mission he took. He used it to make sure no secret poison or sleeping gas got to him before he could even think of a solution, which made Johan very comfortable with using this spell.

Johan, without wasting any more time, raised the [Firetorch] from the ground, brightening the rocky pathway.

Sebastian and Olivia walked toward Johan, standing just a few inches away from him while hastily eating the sweet cookies.

Orihime moved to the backlines, tens of sharp paper spears menacingly orbiting around her, instantly firing and one-shotting any creature that entered the area—then a new one appearing in place of the one that was just shot.

She was using [Paper Shards] mixed with her sharp senses, automating the spell’s usage. Basically, any Aether signature besides Sebastian, Johan, and Olivia that walked closer than 150 meters was shot until it vanished. She was taking no chances.

The whole area smelled of burning metals, and the air was too heavy to be just oxygen—but even the air they swallowed would be pure, as the [divine protection] also layered the organs from the inside.

Finally, after Sebastian and Olivia were done eating, all four of them broke into a sprint so fast it resembled flight.

Passing hundreds of monsters peeking from all around in an instant, not even interacting with them.

In just a few minutes, they reached a dead end—or at least what appeared to be one. Johan paused, kicking a giant mosquito into pieces with a disgusted look.

It was a red-bricked wall, covering every corner of the forward direction, very different from everything they had seen up to this point. Something similar had only appeared at the start of the cave.

Sebastian got ahead of the group, starting to gather some Aether in his right hand. There was no wall that a mini black hole couldn’t break.

"Don’t waste your Aether, Sebastian. I don’t think it can break this wall." Johan said, shaking his head, making Sebastian stare confusedly at him.

But Johan had his eyes locked on the lower part of the wall.

’Hmm, I don’t think even after conquering the cave, Leor could turn this trial off.’

His mind went back to the original game’s content. There was no wall in the original game—just a small cave with heavy grey fog as its door.

And once you walk through that fog, you can’t get out.

"This cave was named Fear of Asura because it’s rumored there’s an ancient trial that tries its best to destroy your soul and mind with pure fear... I think we might have encountered it." Johan sighed, understanding clearly there was no loophole around this trial.

Asuras were a mysterious, God-like race that only existed in legends. They are the closest descendants of the creator and the ones that hold the most potential for power.

But as a man who had technically lived nine times inside this world, Johan knew the truth about them.

’They have children running around as strong as Radhaan due to their pure Aether, and are the ones who ’killed’ the ancient Goddess of Death... Fortunately, I don’t have to deal with the traps and monsters created by them, thanks to my dear ’friend’ Leor.’ Johan smiled grimly, wondering if this trial would be the end of his life.

Sebastian’s eyes widened to the limit, "This... I did hear about trials in dungeons, but most are about defeating a strong manabeast or some kind of trap—but destroying you with fear?" He was at a loss. This sounded too frightening even to him.

"Now, now, don’t worry." Looking at the three people in his group losing all color from their faces, Johan smiled softly. "Only one person has to go through it. This is common for most trials."

He couldn’t reveal the exact knowledge he knew, but one person only had to pass it once, then it would disappear for around 10 hours. Everyone—including Acier and others—could pass through in that time frame.

Johan had played through it more than nine times. He knew the patterns, and what it could throw at him. So he should be fine, right?

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