Licht landed on the ground with a bang. Taking deep breaths for moments, he tried to dust his new clothes, but not like it helped.
His clothes had absorbed blood, dirt, and potion. They couldn't become better even if he had all the world's water to wash them.
'Talk bout more waste of Calamity Souls,' sighing, he moved his feet, trying to find the corpse of the Hollow Sentinel.
Moving here and there around the perimeter of the escarpment and not finding any clues of the corpse, Licht finally took out the lantern.
He didn't want to use it till he found the corpse. Who knows if that abomination had survived even that?
Suddenly, something hit his legs which caused him to stumble for a moment.
He moved the lantern to see what the thing was when he saw a giant arm, the Sentinel's broken arm.
Large dents and cracks covered it, and the previous network of runes shining on it was now dim and mangled.
Licht's guard went up by a notch as a pike manifested in his hand, and he slowly moved ahead.
His every step was soft as if he was ready to run backward at any moment.
A massive crunching sound echoed near him.
Licht's body stiffened, and he threw his pike in that direction.
TICK
The pike bounced off whatever was there. It hovered in the air for a few seconds before it landed back near his feet.
'It is there!' Licht thought while his gauntlets started to form on his hands.
His spiritual energy was on a good level after he had bought something to eat from the shop.
Even both of his hands were in better shape after hours of descent. Seemingly climbing up and down continuously had become rest for him at this point.
"Ooof," and he finally saw the Sentinel.
The light rays from the lamp illuminated its broken-down body. The Sentinel was missing both of its arms and one leg.
Only the shinning and dimming of the runes on its body indicated its alive status.
Dropping his guard down, Licht leisurely moved in its direction. The Sentinel couldn't do anything even if it knew he was coming.
Going on top of it, Licht sat at its neck. No words flowed out of his mouth as he kept looking at its face.
"You…You aren't really the Hollow Sentinel I have to kill…"
"Since the start of the fight, you kept me away from the barrier and never even hesitated to go away from it. As if you were protecting something near it."
Since the start, Licht was skeptical of this whole fight. The reward of this fight wasn't even the oasis but the outside world.
And all the momentary relapses in the Sentinel's judgment or just watching him get away all indicated that it wasn't the one in control.
"You are the puppet of that something," just as these words flowed out of his mouth, Licht smashed its head till the runes on it started to dim.
The puppet was dying with each blow. Its body started to break apart further and further, till it turned into dust.
"Phew, now time to kill that damned thing above though I really, am right as I haven't gotten any notification from killing this."
Without worrying about any Calamity or dangers in his climb, Licht started the rigorous activity again.
Whatever the distance was from the ground to above, it was in no way small.
'Maybe it is around one kilometer,' he thought while inserting another pike into the rock.
After some hours, he was again back on the surface. He panted for a few moments as his eyes darted toward where the oasis was.
Or at least should have been.
He finally saw the real face of the mastermind behind all this.
It was just a small plant that was at most a meter in height, growing in the barren land that was slightly red.
As if the blood of every creature that came here was sprayed on it…
It was located right in the center of where the oasis should have been. Licht's guess was right, the oasis, the puppet, everything was just a facade.
A sweet smell permeated the environment the more Licht got near it.
'It is like the plant releases pheromones. I don't know the reason behind them so let's not breathe into it.'
Licht's hand went to his pocket to take out a cloth that he wrapped around his nose.
He stopped from time to time, trying to get any kind of reaction from the plant but it didn't show anything.
It didn't matter if Licht had to wait more to kill it. He was already near his quest completion. It didn't matter if it took some more days.
Minutes went by, and Licht had reached the plant unscathed.
He grabbed it with his hands and tore its body apart from the ground, its frail body swayed in the air, but the thing didn't even die after that.
With nothing working out for it, it went as far as to spread its roots on Licht's body.
"What is it even trying to achieve? Does it want to control me or something?"
Licht thought when its tiny roots started to climb his hand, but couldn't get past his clothes.
Finally having enough of this charade, Licht smashed it on the ground and started jumping on its body.
It didn't matter what method he used to kill it, so why not try something different?
Only after jumping for the tenth time did the plant die down as a system notification rang through his mind.
–Ding!
[You have killed Hollow Sentinel! A unique calamity has been killed for the 2nd time.]
[Extra Calamity Souls are awarded!]
[It is noticed that you have killed it for the first time, integration is possible!]
[2100 Calamity Souls gained.]
"Damn! Is my luck finally shining after this much torture?" Licht said to himself as he wiped off the tears that were ready to burst out of his eyes.
Another sound went by as his quest screen popped up in front of his eyes.
--Ding!
››
[Sub Trial]: Path to the surface!
[Category]: Main (Not possible to reject)
[Difficulty]: Mortal
[Clear Conditions]: You are on the correct way to get to the surface and disable the barrier by killing Hollow Sentinel.
[Time Limit]: N/A
[Compensation]: Sentinel's Armour (Myth)
[Failure]: Elimination
››
[You have gained the myth Sentinel's Armour]
[Call out the myth's name to see the details regarding it!]
››
[Please say the word 'Transport' to be transported to the upper world.]
››