WorldCrafter - Building My Underground Kingdom-Chapter 211: Hypocrite!
Chapter 211: Hypocrite!
The first chain struck fast. Ben raised an appendage just in time, a wall of dark aether erupting in front of him. The chain slammed into it, sparks flying, but the impact still sent him skidding back through the air.
The knight leapt to his side, cutting two chains mid-flight. “Is apophis betraying us?!”
“I don’t know!” Ben shouted, his voice ragged. “But I’m going to find out!”
Another chain whipped forward. Ben blinked aside, then retaliated, launching a burst of gravity spikes that shredded one link, only for two more to take its place.
“Told you don’t believe those daemons,” the knight growled. “See now?.”
Ben grit his teeth. “And so what? No risk, no reward.”
His eyes shot toward the horizon, toward the Empyrean crystal, still glowing faintly where Apophis had disappeared.
Ben closed his eyes for just a second, focused inward, and pushed his soul forward. Into the link, connecting him and Apophis. He try to come closer to where Apophis had hidden herself. but then, He hit something.
A barrier.
Ben’s brow furrowed. He pressed against it again. It repelled him gently, but firmly.
“What… is this? A foreign barrier inside my own soul.?”
He tried again, pushing more of his essence forward, trying to assert control. But the energy surged in return, the more he try to push, the stronger it become.
Ben’s eyes snapped open. Back in the real world, another chain almost took his head off, he barely ducked, countering with a flare of aether.
The knight rejoined him, slashing through two more links. “Whatever you’re doing, do it faster!”
“I can’t reach her,” Ben spat, frustration flashing across his face. “Something’s shielding her soul.”
“What kind of shield?” the knight asked, parrying another chain.
Ben’s voice was low. “I don’t know. But it feel familiar…”
Another vibration move across the chain, as Apophis move toward her main body.
The knight grunted, his blades slicing furiously to hold them off, but he was rapidly losing ground. “We don’t have time to figure it out! Either break through it or cut her off!”
Ben hesitated for just a moment longer, glaring toward the devourer of light, frustration gnawing at him.
‘That barrier… it’s not from the system, not Apophis’s energy either.’
Then realization hit like lightning. His eyes widened. ‘The Empyrean crystal… Of course. She’s using it. Dammit!’
He began piecing it together. Apophis had tapped into the crystal’s energy and used it to seize control of her main body.
That meant even without Ben acting, she’d soon come out, and when she did, she’d come for one thing: The last part of her soul, still inside him. To reclaim it, she’d have to confront him.
Another chain snapped dangerously close, slicing a cut along Ben’s shoulder. He winced but didn’t slow.
“I need to get closer,” Ben shouted, gathering dark aether once more. “Cover me!”
The knight nodded grimly, stepping forward, blades blazing with lightning. “Make it quick.”
Ben dashed forward, dark aether exploding beneath his feet as he blurred toward the Empyrean crystal like a black comet.
The sky above writhed. The Devourer howled in distant agony. Chains shoot forward from every angle, trying to black his path.
Behind him, the knight moved like lightning incarnate.
“I said I’ve got you, GO!” he roared, hurling one blade like a bolt of stormfire.
It slammed into an incoming chain, deflecting it midair. The impact flared like a bomb, blasting the others back in a wave of radiant shock.
Two more chains came from the sides, snapping inward like vipers.
The knight twisted midair, his remaining sword trailing arcs of electric flame.
CLANG!
One chain was parried cleanly. The second scraped past his ribs, tearing metal and flesh, but he didn’t flinch. He planted himself in the air again, holding the front.
Meanwhile, Ben ducked low, twisting through a narrow gap between two chains as they collided where he’d just been. A third swept toward his back, but he spun mid-stride, his appendage flashing behind him, and knocked it away with a pulse of collapsing gravity.
Every second mattered. He was getting closer. He could see the empyrean crystal pulsing, it’s surface were carved with many glyph. With dark energy painting the clear surface.
‘She already inside,’ Ben realized.
‘I don’t have much time.’
A fourth chain dove toward his chest from above. He let it pass just inches from his neck, then blinked forward in a short-range teleport, slipping under a fifth that split the air behind him.
The knight shouted again, his voice strained. “Ben, whatever you’re planning, do it now! I can’t hold them forever!”
Ben’s eyes locked onto the Empyrean crystal just ahead. He clenched his jaw, then reached out and touched its surface.
His body turned into dark liquid and merged into the crystal. He didn’t know how he was doing this, but his body simply moved on instinct.
If Elvira were here, she would understand. This wasn’t a unique ability of dark aether or Apophis.
It was the formation carved into the Empyrean crystal, one specifically attuned to her energy signature. If Ben hadn’t consumed Apophis, this would have been impossible.
Everything went dark. Ben descended onto a cracked obsidian ocean, its surface veined with glowing lines of dim red.
Overhead, the sky hung broken, shards of memory and fire suspended in midair. And standing at the center of it all was Apophis.
Her shadowed form shimmered with raw power, flames coiling around her like wings forged from night.
“You again,” she said, her voice low and cold. “Persistent.”
Ben’s foot touched down. Dark aether ignited around him, swirling like a storm.
“I told you, I’m your master. And I came to teach you some manners.”
“Hypocrite! For someone who claims to value freedom, you’ve really made up your mind about enslaving me! What is it, love at first sight?”
Ben laughed aloud. “Yes, you’re right. I am a hypocrite. So what? I prioritize myself, and those I care about. Not some stranger who tried to use me like a tool.”
He than raised his picaxe pointing it at her. “And yes, you’re right again. It was love at first sight. That’s why I’m going to make you one of my people.”
