After imprinting the spirit on the Soul Core, he found his senses to be boosted by a large margin. The world felt much different: the air, the smell of crisp hot air in the crimson forest and the red land covered with ashes of trees and skeletons; everything felt completely different.
It was a little too much at first, as Hadeon found himself wandering around, his mind drifting across hundreds of minute events that a normal person might not even notice at all.
He could hear his heartbeats raging against his ribs, pounding like a hammer as if trying to shatter his chest walls.
He could even hear the little crunch of soil beneath the mole’s feet.
The explosion of flames following behind the beast roared like thunder.
"Focus! Focus on the beast, if you don’t want to die. Focus!" He reminded himself as his grip tightened around the filthy stick.
Even the surface of his stick felt much different; there was more to it. He felt that the uneven texture of the stick wasn’t so random but formed a regular pattern as if someone had carefully carved it.
"FOCUS!" He shouted and shook his head again.
Finally, the beast lunged at him; his mouth was filled with black stone teeth drenched in viscous green saliva, two enlarged incisors pointing out, probably meant to cut its prey in half.
He quickly jumped back and brought his stick overhead and swung it vertically down with full might.
The look of aggression on the mole’s face was replaced by horror as it saw the stick coming down, landing on its head.
Boom!
Flames erupted from the feet of the beast as it got launched mid-air, flying backwards, successfully evading the man’s attack.
Thud!
Hadeon’s stick struck the hard red floor as shock travelled through his whole body.
He too was thrown back by the explosion.
"Fuck!"
He quickly cursed; his wounds had opened again, and blood started to fall from his left hand, forming a small pool of blood.
He felt as if his whole body was on fire; beads of sweat formed all over his body.
’Endure. Endure it!’ Hadeon clenched his teeth as he staggered but refused to fall.
He slowly moved forward towards the mole who was lying upside down on the ash, half dead. His legs were gone completely, reduced to ashes by the explosion of his own skill.
*SQUEAK*
The mole opened his mouth as if trying to bite down on his enemy one last time before dying.
Hadeon stood silent in front of it; he was holding his chest with his left hand and the obsidian stick in the other. His breath was heavy, and his face was covered with burn marks and dark ash; the explosive flames had burned his crimson hair, turning it into a mess, smoke rising slowly as the air was filled with a sulphurous smell.
Even after having a highlighted smell, he completely ignored it.
In front of a wound that was leaking blood continuously for the past two minutes and countless burn marks on his face, it was nothing.
It wasn’t life-threatening, but they sure were hurting like hell!
Hadeon quickly slammed his stick onto the face of the mole, killing it in just one strike.
< You have slain a Lvl.9 Savage: Black Fang Mole.>
< No Spirit Gained.>
< Consume the Soul Core for leveling up.>
The mole died not because of Hadeon but of his own skill.
Hadeon sighed as he looked at the corpse of the savage.
Just a minute ago, he was trying to rip his flesh apart, and now it was lying dead with his legs and head gone.
***
It had been more than two hours since Hadeon had killed the moles.
Now he rested on the hill, his body lying motionless as he recovered his stamina and spirit energy.
His wound had stopped bleeding, and his soul core was now almost filled with spirit energy.
’I should better use my spirit energy more carefully.
I almost got myself killed because I wasted my other two flame balls. I haven’t adapted to this body yet.’ Hadeon sighed as he remembered throwing three skills continuously and wasting two of them.
’I don’t have unlimited access to spirit energy now; I need to make a weapon as soon as possible.’
He cursed, reminding him of his current status; unlike the past, he still hasn’t evolved his soul core to peerless grade.
Hadeon, after pondering for a while, sat up and removed his half-burnt leather jacket, now revealing his upper body.
His body wasn’t so athletic, nor was it chubby.
It almost looked malnourished, well, except it still had some muscle, but his ribs clearly protruded out of his chest. Well, he wasn’t thinking of his looks and aesthetic.
It was the last thing he could care about in hell. What were the benefits of having a handsome face? It couldn’t save a mole from eating the flesh out of the same face.
Could it?
The only thing that mattered was strength!
Hadeon glanced at his chest.
Three, foot-long claw marks etched onto his flesh. He sighed, looking at the horrendous sight. They weren’t deep, but it made him unable to breathe, let alone move.
Adrenaline had washed off after the fight; not long after, he had fallen on the ground near the lifeless body of the fourth mole.
Hadeon still didn’t dare to take deep breaths as his left side was hurting like hell!
He quickly summoned his normal flames using Pyromancy as a small flicker of flames started to dance on his index finger. After taking some shallow breaths, he started to cauterise his wounds slowly.
*Ahh*
He groaned slightly, his muscles twitching in pain as he clenched his jaw tight.
A surge of new pain washed over his tired body as the flame burned the fresh wounds, sealing the blood capillaries permanently and making it less susceptible to infection.
’It would’ve been much better if I just got to rinse it once with water. But I guess I have to go with cauterization only.’ He thought as he started to wrap his wounds using his dirty towel.
’I have to find a regeneration Spirit Imprint!’ He added lastly as he collapsed again, too tired to think anything.
Soon he slipped into deep slumber on the soft ash hill, defenseless, alone in the world surrounded by flames and monsters.