I felt Gary's body die as fire engulfed me.
'Ray, come out!' Lianne forcefully deactivated the soul swap and pulled me back through the wormhole.
I started free falling with the elevator, my body touching nothing.
'R..! Try… move! Or …fall through!'
Lianne's words seemed to cut off.
Flailing my arms trying to latch onto something, I failed miserably to delay my demise.
My instincts took over and I activated mana manipulation and blasted a huge chunk of energy just before my body reached the Earth.
I again passed through a long wormhole and landed just on the ground floor, where I had burned the thugs earlier.
My body or my soul, I don't know which, got crushed due to the impact but I didn't die.
[Mental Sanity dropped by 1 point]
'..ay…ay…Ra…Ray…Ray!'
'Lianne…?'
[Autoheal activated]
'Hurry! The soulframe swap has destabilized your frame! Return to your body right now!'
My head couldn't process Lianne's words. I was feeling a dizziness incomparable to anything I've ever felt before.
I started crawling towards the place where my body was.
The people I had burnt were still burning in my flames.
'Ray stand up! Hurry!'
I clenched my fist and pushed up.
[Unique skill: Focal Pain boost activated]
With wobbly feet, I walked towards the entrance of the building.
My body was standing outside.
A spinning black hole within it was calling me. It called me with a force that felt very familiar.
I let it do it as it wished and I was pulled in instantly.
"Aargh!"
I opened my eyes and collapsed on the ground.
"Haa…haaa…" I was out of breath.
Pain wracked my brain to an extent I couldn't explain.
Everything was blurry around me. My mouth was leaking saliva and I couldn't pull my tongue back in.
'Ray! Stand up. Time is flowing normally again, your skill stopped working when you entered that guy's body. You need to reactivate it and stop the other men while they're incapacitated.'
'...How? I can't even move a finger…'
'Amplify the autoheal. I'll stabilize your frame as fast as possible.'
I…
I…
'Is…there no…other way…?'
'No, I am sorry, Ray… but you have to do this.'
I can't…
It hurts…
It hurts alot…
It hurts…
It hurts…
I don't want more pain…
'Ray, Baek Taeyang will die if you don't stand up!'
I..
..
.
'...crush my left arm…'
I had to use the other way now.
I'll pay for this one slowly…later.
My arm was destroyed. My real physical body was now disabled.
I regained my strength to stand up.
But my limb didn't heal.
In the back of my mind, I knew I was about to enter a world of pain soon.
Time was flowing at its usual pace again because my stopwatch skill had deactivated.
I wasn't out of RP. Just changing bodies had force stopped it.
[Mana manipulation activated]
I had to finish this fast.
[Mental Sanity dropped by 1 point]
Pulling out my face mask from my pocket, I wore it and I also covered my hair with a handkerchief.
I solidified myself and lunged into the building.
The thugs had blacked out. They had managed to kill the security guards but they hadn't deactivated the camera.
It showed how much power their gang held.
I looked towards the security camera and blasted it with a ball of fire.
Then I proceeded to stomp on their heads, crushing each of them individually.
As soon as I was done…
'Pull me back to the dream world, Lianne!'
I had to go back there and repay my debt.
Following my command, Lianne helped me re enter the first layer again.
All my skills stopped working and I fell down on the ground.
I was close to blacking out.
"Ray!" Lianne came out and held me.
"Ha…ha…" I couldn't speak.
She started healing me but it wasn't working.
"It'll take me more time…"
I grabbed her hand. "Wh…at ha..ppe..ns…to …Ta…eya..ng…"
"Ray, by my calculations, Taeyang cannot handle the situation alone. You need to reach him now. I know you can't. I know it hurts, Ray, but we have no choice. We can only spend an hour here before…"
[Divine Message from God of Purity]
[The following skill has been sent to aid the Contender in his Trial]
[Passive Skill: Endurance acquired]
[Endurance: Divine reinforcement of the SoulFrame to generate tenacity. When HP is close to 1 or the soulframe is close to breaking, mana manipulation will automatically activate to prevent death. Mana manipulation will temporarily provide further amplified strength to endure pain.]
[Passive Skill Endurance is active]
My pain eased a little and I felt strength return to my body as golden light enveloped me completely.
[Mental sanity dropped by 1 point]
"Ray, you need to stop this skill." Lianne told me.
I sat up and asked her, "...why?"
"Your current mental state is too unstable. Values close to 50 are already considered dangerous. You'll not be yourself, and your actions will change."
I pondered over her words.
"What… happens if I hit zero?"
She looked at me grimly.
"Your mind will crumble and you'll get stuck inside limbo."
That place…
[Divine Message from God of Purity]
[Contender, the Guardians of The Soul Network have been dispatched to prevent access to contenders using the Soul Network. It is advised that the Contender leaves the Soul Network as soon as possible]
"What?"
"Oh no", Lianne grabbed my hand," They're coming."
"Who? And why?" I was confused by this sudden turn of events.
She pulled me into the real world again.
My eyes opened to a scenery of destruction. The elevator doors were burning. I was standing in a pile of corpses.
My eyes turned to look at the camera that I had burnt in the heat of the moment. I looked around the place. There was another camera on the opposite side of the wall that I had missed.
I fucked up.
'Ray, that camera can be handled later. We can ask the boy if we manage to save him.' Lianne calmed my nerves.
She was right. Saving Taeyang took priority now. Soon people would flood this area.
The only reason people weren't here yet was probably because the residents relied on the elevator alot or the Gods were being kind to me.
I turned to leave but blood spilled out of my mouth.
Pulling down my mask, I spit it on the floor.
'What…?'
'It's your body accommodating to your multiple dream layers jumping.' Lianne explained.
'Ah, I see…'
I started to leave.
But just then, the stairway door to my right opened up.
A black haired adolescent girl wearing shorts and a hoodie appeared in my peripheral vision.
I looked at her for a second before realizing my blunder.
Quickly, I put on my mask again and dashed out of the building.
I had fucked up twice.