Chapter 417 Possessed 'What? I can't feel my arms,' Alex thought, his senses screaming at him to move his head, which he instinctively did as he spread his void sense with the crumbling focus to see what was happening.
Alex's mind was a complete mess, with no more than ten seconds remaining before he would reach his limits and would either stop the growing insanity or yield to it.
Alex had stopped using his void or mana sense right after using the domain skill because saving even a bit of focus helped suppress the constantly growing chaos of thoughts.
So when he used it just for a moment as he headed down, he was shown or, more accurately, enraged to see the headless corpse of the Rutharok king behind him, ready to bring down his hand-like blade and slice his head off.
In his hastiness to end the battle, Alex single-mindedly focussed on the corpse dragon, forgetting that his opponent's true strength was using the death element to reanimate hordes and hordes of minions.
Alex had made a blunder that would very well end with costing him his life, and his still sane mind realized that and was making a plan to make the most out of the situation.
Alex had the Mana Nova skill that, if used with his current mana reserve, would erase even the Corpse Eater, and with time ticking and his arms sliced off, it seemed to be his only option.
But the decision to kill himself knowing that he would keep just 30% of the event points he had earned and he would be doing it just for the achievement and while it was an easy decision for his sane mind, not when his head was filled with voices flaming his pride.
The reward for killing the first Seven Star creature was having the event Shop available to the power being represented by the said individual for an extra three months, and Alex was hopping that killing the Corpse Eater would increase that period to six months, which would be a massive boon to his organization.
'Kill Myself?'
'How can I kill MYSELF against this weakling?'
'BILLIONS ARE WATCHING'
'I WILL NOT DISGRACE MYSELF WITH A FUCKING SUICIDE.'Alex's mind was a mess, with the thoughts growing louder as the panic to make a decision grew, and finally, he snapped and let his overwhelming instant take control, not caring for the consequences.
----------------
(Live Stream Commentary)
"Ruler wields immense strength, and it comes at the cost of his mental clarity, but it would pose a little problem if he knew who his opponent is,"
"However, in the current situation, it seems he had forgotten that he is battling against a necromancer whose core strength is controlling puppets," Zero said, the live stream showing the bird's-eye view of the ongoing battle.
The current viewers on two main live streams had reached 4.3 billion, with the total number on all streams being 1.4 billion, and by now, Alex was a star, with countless cheering for his victory, while many cursing his luck, but the majority were enjoying their time.
What Alex had done was not new to the players as they had seen wild things on the game platform, but seeing a player achieve such feats was not something anyone expected to see any time soon.
So, seeing Alex inches away from victory yet walking into a trap that could end his life made many watch in anticipation as they prayed for him to pull another means to survive and win.
But moments later, they saw the headless Rutharok king using his claws to slice off both arms, with many thinking that Alex was lucky and didn't have his head cut clean and could still have a chance.
But the majority of players understood that the corpse eater knew that destroying the head would have killed Alex, but it would not have stopped the attack, and what the creature did was the only option to save his life.
"Will Ruler Surprise us once more," Zero said, knowing Alex could still win but questioning the decision he would make.
Zero had just ended the statement when an invisible wave swept through the surroundings, and the hairy hands that were inching closer to claiming Alex's head froze in place.
The viewers, who had been resigned to the impending defeat, felt a rush of excitement as they watched the Rutharok king's hands freeze in place, a sudden smile spreading across their faces.
----------------
(????? Point of View)'Ancient World, It has been a while,' A deep breath was taken as an archaic voice foreign to Alex sounded in his mind, yet he was in a deep slumber to hear it.
'So you are the chosen-- - Interesting,' The chain of thoughts broke as the entity took note of the missing arms and looked below only to see the simple-looking pitch-dark blade.
'Asr, once more, you have selected a master, but will he conform to the norms like everyone else, or is he the chosen one?' The voice questioned as the hands floated back up and got fixed in their place.
The Corpse Eater, who was close to eliminating his opponent, felt his control over his puppet completely erased by the unseen force, and no matter what he did, he couldn't take the control back or even summon a new undead.
'An excellent skill to eliminate the consequences of wielding the law without the law vessel, so I should also not go too overboard as doing so will defeat the purpose of the skill and could cause trouble for the boy,' The voice thought, ignoring the corpse eater who was preparing a dragon breath.
"RRROOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR"
The corpse eater roared, and with came the jet of concentrated energy. Without even shifting his gaze away from the sword, Alex's hand was raised, a swirling vortex of darkness taking form that took the assault head-on, effortlessly nullifying its impact and erasing the energy.
The player base audience were stunned seeing the developing sense, not knowing whether to applaud or curse, as they couldn't rap their minds about how drastically things have changed.
They had seen Alex beat the odds against the Rutharok king, Killian, and even put on a show against the Corpse Eater, and as much as they hoped for him to pull another wild card to win, they didn't expect the current situation.
Alex was a totally changed man in their eyes as he was handling the assault that moments ago took an equally wild attack from his side that shook and cracked the very space on collision, like handling a minor wind breeze.
While many enjoyed the moment, the majority were forced to question how many more secrets the man held and how much more capable he was.
"Tartarus Gate: First Realm"
A massive tens-of-meter tall illusionary door of pitch darkness appeared behind Alex, and sculpted on its surface were realistic-looking figures of shouting individuals bound by chains being burned by flames.
"Realm Of The Lost Ones"
As Alex silently uttered the words, the dreadful doors swung open, releasing an ocean of dark flames that cloaked the surrounding hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye.
As the dark flames dissipated into thin air, they left behind nothing of the corpse eater beside the crystal of unrest floating midair.
'I might have slightly overdone it and caused the boy some trouble in exchange for nothing,' The voice thought, seeing the crystal he had worked to save crumble to dust before his eyes.
'Farewell, Boy, and Grow well,' The voice uttered as the aura of monarch dispersed, leaving Alex unconscious yet standing.