Chapter 195 - Death's Door

Rynold raised his left hand and snapped his fingers.

Boom!

Just like that, the two bullets Rynold fired exploded simultaneously. He didn't expect the explosion to be so large, considering how suddenly he made it. But, it was just as well, seeing as how his plan worked.

The explosion threw the strange brain creature back several feet. Rynold's attack had successfully bypassed the creature's telekinesis. It was a shame too, Rynold thought, as he knew how powerful the telekinesis was. Not only that, but his plan of attack was rather obvious too.

The bullet that Rynold had let off was pulsating nonstop. If the creature had only looked up, Rynold's plan would have then failed.

Well, that didn't matter now as the plan had already worked.

Smiling ear to ear, Rynold took this chance to charge in this time. Now that his main target was defenseless, Rynold moved in for the kill. It was an opportunity that Rynold couldn't waste.

With that, Rynold launched himself to get closer. There was a considerable distance between them, but it won't be enough to stop Rynold from closing in. Although, along the way, Rynold noticed that the Soul Dolls weren't moving. They stood perfectly still and didn't even raise their arms to attack Rynold.

It wasn't anything strange, Rynold thought as he kept moving forward. He had already expected this as he knew the brain creature was the one controlling the Soul Dolls. Regardless, it was a good thing now that nothing was stopping him or getting in his way.

Approaching the knocked down brain creature, Rynold got ready to give it everything he had. He wanted to kill the brain creature as soon as he could. But as soon as he got close enough, his senses screamed at him to stop.

Noticing this, Rynold immediately stomped his feet on the ground and stopped abruptly. His stance became steady as he readied himself for what was coming. Whatever it was, Rynold was more than sure that it was dangerous.

'Damn it.'

Rynold raised True Caliber and repeatedly let out bullet after bullet. He hadn't noticed it until now, but his Mana reserves were reaching a critical point. But he couldn't let up now, not when he's close to finishing this. However, even with his determination, there was no guarantee of his victory.

In his rage, Rynold didn't notice that the bullets were stopping in mid-air again. He didn't realize it until it was too late.

Boom!

A shockwave pushed Rynold back several feet; it was the danger that Rynold sensed all along. And, the manifestation of that danger was no joke. Even from where Rynold was standing, he could feel the density of the Mana concentrating at this one central point.

That one point was none other than the brain creature before him.

As the creature's body slowly lifted itself up, Rynold's mouth opened in complete and utter shock. There was no telling how much trouble he was in now. The absurd amount of Mana in this one creature made Rynold inch back a step.

Run.

That was what his body told him to do.

Run..!

His mind raced, and the faint sound of telling him to get out of here echoed in his head.

RUN!

Rynold's eyes widened as his heart pounded on his chest with ridiculous force. It screamed, yelled, and downright shouted at Rynold to leave. Every part of his body knew that he wouldn't survive this. There was no other logical option than to run.

Despite knowing that, however, Rynold's feet were still on the ground. They stayed still, unmoving, as the creature before him grew more and more powerful.

'Move. Move! Move, damn it! MOVE!'

His thoughts were a flurry. Rynold had no idea why he wasn't moving as his feet planted themselves to the ground. But, even with his desperation, Rynold was frozen in place. He couldn't move that even the slightest twitch of his brow felt impossible.

Frozen in place, Rynold could only watch as the scene unfolded. The feeling of terror welled up in his heart as the situation only got worse by the second. The creature constantly pulsated shockwaves that Rynold could feel through every inch of his body.

Until, soon enough, it stopped, abruptly too.

It became nearly unbelievable as Rynold watched the creature stay still. Unmoving, but it was still giving off a sense of omen that Rynold was scared to approach. Not that he could, anyway.

"YOU DARE?!"

A loud, terrifying voice echoed within the small clearing. Rynold became surprised upon hearing it. And, the fact that its voice echoed in this open clearing added to the terrifying factor. Not only that, but the vibrations from that single voice made for a painful experience for his eardrums.

Grahh!!

Rynold yelled, but he couldn't hear the sound coming from his mouth. The vibrations from the voice earlier seemed to have damaged his hearing quite significantly. It got to the point that he couldn't hear anything anymore, but the vibrations that came into his eardrums gradually increased intensity with each second that passed.

The pain was immense. Rynold couldn't understand what was going on. And, at this point, he wasn't able to do anything about it. The pain rocked his eardrums so hard that his brain could only register it. Rynold couldn't think of anything else as he was too preoccupied with this one thing.

"YOU DARE LAY YOUR FILTHY HANDS ON ME?!"

Another sentence. Another attack on Rynold's already ruptured eardrums. The weight of that one sentence was the same as before. But, with Rynold having already taken the first brunt of the attack, this one hurt a lot more than it should.

With the sound vibrations having already entered his ears, Rynold didn't have any means to defend himself. There was nothing that could protect him from Sound Magic. Not even his Protecting Light would be of any help. And even if it could help, Rynold couldn't concentrate and control his Mana.

But that wasn't even the worst of it.

The pain and loss of hearing were only getting worse. And, soon, Rynold's entire bodily senses became numb from the pain. In the next few seconds after that, Rynold could feel his consciousness fading. A sound attack like that would only lead to this one conclusion. And, Rynold couldn't do anything about it.

Rynold was still standing in place as he started to black out. He held out as long as he could, but there was only so much he could do. Spatial Magic locked him in place while the Sound Magic took him out. The brief glimpse of victory made him sloppy and led to this mess. A mess that he couldn't get out of under any circumstance.

His vision slowly fading into darkness, Rynold coughed up blood for the first time after quite some time. He didn't know it, but he was slowly accepting the idea of him dying here. His brain was numb from the pain, and there was not much else he could do.

The sharp sound from his deaf ears became more prominent as Rynold's mind turned to nothingness. Empty, blank thoughts filled his mind as he passed out while still standing. He couldn't kneel or collapse even if he wanted to.

Rynold was going to die standing up in a fight he couldn't win.

Boom! Boom!

A little too late to the party, Neana made her way to where Rynold went. She got lost several times along the way, but once she saw Rynold's tracks, she quickly followed it along with her army of golems. The sound of their steps rumbled to the ground as they approached the clearing.

Neana knew something about this felt wrong to her. The sudden stop of the barrage of Fireballs made her worry that something had happened.

The intuition she possessed wasn't on the same level as Rynold's, but it was that same intuition that urged her to come here. Albeit, it was at a pace much slower than Rynold's. And, what she saw in the clearing was this:

Rynold was standing on his two feet, completely still. All the while, another person stood across him, who remained unmoving as well. It was as if the two were in a staring contest which, to Neana, the very sight struck her as odd.

With that, she commanded her golem army forward. The pace they took was slow and plain to see. But, the golems moved forward, regardless, and soon arrived just before the clearing.

"Go! And don't stop until you get him out of there!"

Neana wasn't holding back in the slightest as she knew Rynold was in trouble. Although she wasn't sure what threat she was facing, nothing could stop her from ordering her golems to do her bidding. As she jumped off the one she was riding on, Neana commanded her golem army from a safe distance.

All she needed to do now was to save Rynold. Anything else would be a second priority.

As the golem charged in for a rather ghetto-looking rescue party, Neana watched from where she stood. During the next few seconds, she would come to the realization that something about Rynold felt off. The guy wasn't moving at all, even when she had announced her arrival.

"What is he doing?"

Asking herself a question that had no clear answer, Neana watched as the golem reached Rynold and the other person. They seemed to maintain the same momentum forward until they all simultaneously stopped when reaching one point.

"What the hell are those idiots doing now?"

Neana had never told anybody this, but she actually hated having the golems. Truthfully, she wished that she had access to better-looking spells. Or, at the very least, something less rocky than the golem that she had so masterfully controlled. But, even then, it didn't stop her from complaining about the things.

"What are you doing? He's right there!"

Frustrated, Neana decided to risk a closer look at the problem. There was no telling what happened to the golems that seemed stuck in one place.

With that, Neana took a step forward in that direction. Each frustrated step after the other, Neana got closer to her destination. But then, something unexpected happened.

The sturdy stone golems started cracking in a loud, audible manner. Neana hadn't noticed it until she got close enough to hear it. And, not long after that, the cracks became visible by the second.

The stone bodies of the golems became lined with cracks until, soon enough, they crumbled one after the other. The sight of which came as a shock to Neana.

Bearing witness to this event, Neana nervously took another step forward. She swallowed a mouthful of dry air as she approached with an elevated heart rate. Her heart was essentially pounding in her chest without any signs of stopping.

That was until she got to a certain point.

Focusing her gaze on the person standing across Rynold, her eyes wouldn't dare to blink for even a second. She was worried about who this thing was and why its brain was out in the open. Neana didn't look away until she caught a glimpse of Rynold at the corner of her eye.

Rynold was bleeding. Profusely, so.

Neana's eyes wide and her mouth agape, she didn't know what happened to Rynold. Nor would she find out anytime soon. But, the glimpse of Rynold bleeding from his ears, mouth, and nose was nothing good. Hell, there was nothing about this that made Neana feel calm.

If anything, what Neana was feeling right now was the opposite.

Frozen in fear, Neana couldn't move an inch. She knew she had to leave. Her instincts were telling her to run the fuck away. But, her body wouldn't listen as she could only tremble in fear.

And, like a sitting duck, the brain creature took notice of Neana. In the same ominous, creepy fashion, it turned its head towards Neana and slowly opened its eyes.

It was as if the beady, spine-chilling gaze were staring at Neana's soul.