The Extra is a Hero?-Chapter 296: THE VIAL OF LIFE
Chapter 292: The Vial of Life
The air in the Heart-Root Chamber was freezing, despite the golden warmth of the pool.
It was the cold of intent.
Ren stood behind Leon, his body angled perfectly to use the Hero’s massive armored frame as a shield. The dagger in his hand was steady, the tip pressing just enough into the soft skin of Leon’s throat to draw a thin bead of crimson blood.
"Don’t move," Ren whispered, his voice a soft caress against the violence of the situation. "The poison on this blade is a neurotoxin derived from the abyss-spiders in the Chasm. One scratch, and your lungs paralyze in thirty seconds. It’s a very... suffocating way to die."
I stopped.
My steel sword—or what was left of it—lay in dust at my feet. My hand was still smoking with the black residue of the Void Cut. The power of the B+ Rank overclock was surging through me, begging to be released, but I was helpless.
If I used [Void Cut], I would erase Ren. But I would erase Leon, too.
Space didn’t discriminate.
"Ren," I said, keeping my hands visible. "You don’t want to do this. We need to leave. The toxicity in this room is rising. If we stay, we all turn into trees."
"I have the antidote," Ren smiled, his eyes never leaving mine. "Or did you think I came to the Zone of Silence unprepared?"
He nudged Leon with his knee.
"Fill it, Hero. Slowly. Don’t spill a drop."
Leon was shaking. The poison from the Golem’s earlier spore attack was still ravaging his system, making his movements jerky. He held the empty crystal vial in trembling fingers.
"Michael..." Leon choked out. "I’m sorry."
"Do it, Leon," I said, my voice calm. "Give him what he wants."
Leon dipped the vial into the pool of liquid gold.
The [Life Dew] was heavy, viscous like honey. It flowed into the crystal container with a mesmerizing, sluggish grace. As the liquid filled the vial, the ambient light in the room seemed to dim, as if the pool was transferring its essence into the portable vessel.
Leon capped the vial. Click.
The moment the seal was engaged, a chime rang out—not in the room, but in our minds.
[System Notification: Hidden Quest Completed.]
[Quest: The Heart of the World.]
[Objective: Retrieve the Tear of Gaia.]
[Reward: Item [Tear of Gaia (Legendary)], +5000 XP, +1000 Renown (Hidden).]
[Item Obtained: Tear of Gaia]
[Rank: Legendary (Consumable)]
[Description: The condensed vitality of the World Tree. A single drop can cure any biological ailment, reverse aging, or purify S-Rank Curses. It is the blood of the planet.]
The notification window floated in my vision, a mockery of our achievement. We had completed the quest. We had the item.
And we had lost.
"Excellent," Ren purred. "Now, hand it back. Over your shoulder. Nice and slow."
Leon hesitated.
"Leon," I warned.
Leon lifted his hand, passing the glowing vial backward. Ren snatched it with his free hand, his eyes gleaming with triumph. He quickly tucked it into a pouch on his belt, securing it.
"There," Ren said, relaxing slightly but keeping the knife at Leon’s throat. "Was that so hard?"
"You have the loot," I said, my eyes flicking to the timer in my peripheral vision.
[Overclock Duration: 00:45 Remaining.]
Forty-five seconds. Then I crashed. I had to end this now.
"Let him go, Ren. You have the map I gave you. You have the prize. Just walk away."
Ren laughed. It was a dry, hollow sound.
"Walk away? And leave the Hero and the Tactician alive to chase me? To report me to the Academy?"
He shook his head.
"No, Michael. You know how this works. Loose ends get cut."
"You can’t kill the Hero," I said, taking a slow step forward. "The World Spirit protects him. If you kill Leon here, the backlash will mark you. Every Oracle in the Kingdom will see your face."
"A risk I am willing to take," Ren said. "Besides, who says I killed him? The Golem killed him. Or the poison. Or the tragic collapse of the dungeon."
He tightened his grip on the knife. Leon gasped, his eyes rolling back slightly as the blade bit deeper.
"Ren, wait!" I shouted. "I know who you work for!"
Ren paused. "Oh?"
"The Puppeteer," I said, dropping the name like a bomb. "The Demon Lord of Manipulation. You aren’t just a mercenary. You’re a Disciple."
Ren’s expression shifted. The amusement vanished, replaced by a cold, sharp intensity.
"You know too much, Extra," Ren whispered. "How? How does a nobody from the boonies know the Master’s name?"
"I know everything," I bluffed, stepping closer. "I know about the Rot. I know about the sleeper agents in the Academy. I know that if you bring that Dew to him, he won’t reward you. He’ll consume you."
Ren narrowed his eyes. "He promised me power. He promised me ascension."
"He promised you a leash," I countered. "Look at the Golem, Ren. That was Elandra. She made a deal too. Look how she ended up."
For a second, Ren’s gaze flickered to the pile of debris where the Golem lay.
That was the millisecond I needed.
[Overclock Duration: 00:05.]
"Now!" I mentally screamed.
I didn’t attack Ren. I couldn’t reach him in time.
I attacked the environment.
I stomped my foot.
[Skill: Void Cut (Trace)]
I didn’t release a slash. I released a pulse of Void energy directly into the floor beneath my own feet.
The mossy ground of the Heart-Root Chamber, already unstable from the battle, disintegrated. The structural integrity of the root floor collapsed.
RUMBLE.
The floor didn’t just crack; it tilted. The entire section of the room where we were standing lurched violently to the left, sliding toward the abyss of the Chasm outside.
"What?!" Ren stumbled, his balance compromised.
The knife slipped from Leon’s throat.
"Leon, roll!" I shouted.
Leon threw himself sideways, tumbling down the incline of the shifting floor.
Ren recovered instantly, his agility stats kicking in. He didn’t fall. He dug his boots into the wood and glared at me.
"You lunatic!" Ren shouted. "You’ll kill us all!"
"Better than letting you win," I said.
[Overclock Duration: 00:00.]
[System Alert: Ancient Mana Connection Severed.]
[System Alert: Mana Rebound Imminent.]
The power left me.
It wasn’t a fade; it was a crash. The strength that had allowed me to stand, to bluff, to fight—it vanished instantly. My knees buckled. My vision went black. The pain of my broken ribs returned with the force of a sledgehammer.
I collapsed onto the tilting floor, sliding helplessly toward the edge.
"Michael!" Leon yelled from somewhere below.
I slid past Ren.
The traitor looked down at me as I slid by. He could have stabbed me. He could have finished it right there.
But the floor was collapsing. The ceiling was groaning. The Golem’s death and my Void stomp had triggered a chain reaction. The dungeon was coming down.
Ren looked at me, then at the exit tunnel—the one I had marked on the fake map.
"Die in the dark, Captain," Ren spat.
He turned and sprinted toward the archway, abandoning us to the collapse.
I hit a patch of moss and stopped sliding, barely ten feet from the drop into the Chasm. I lay there, gasping, unable to move a finger.
My status window flickered in my dying vision.
[STATUS: CRITICAL]
[MANA: 0 / 4500]
[FATIGUE: EXTREME]
"Did... did he take it?" Leon crawled up the slope, dragging his heavy shield. He grabbed my collar, pulling me away from the edge.
"Yeah," I wheezed, blood bubbling past my lips. "He took it."
Leon slammed his fist into the wood. "Damn it! We failed! We lost the cure!"
I looked at the ceiling where Ren had vanished.
A weak, pained smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
"No, Leon," I whispered, my consciousness fading. "We didn’t lose."
I reached into my pocket with a trembling hand. I pulled out a small, crumpled piece of paper. The real map.
"He took the bait," I murmured.
Ren had the Dew. But he also had the fake map in his pocket.
And on that map, hidden between the folds of the parchment, was a small, adhesive sticker.
[Item: Fire Rune (Remote Detonation)]
"Wait for it," I whispered into the darkness.
Leon looked at me, confused. "Wait for what?"
From the tunnel Ren had just entered—the tunnel that supposedly led to safety—a sound echoed back.
Not an explosion. Not yet.
But the hiss of a thousand awakening vipers.
And then, the click of a triggered rune.
"The punchline," I said.
And then the world went black.
(To be Continued)
