The Jester of Apocalypse
Chapter 120: Invasion

The instant he realized what was happening, he swapped his consciousness back—

Or so he tried, but it didn’t work.

A tentacle extended from the slime, and he picked up his body, smashing it dozens of times into the floor and the ceiling. The puny attacks weren’t even leaving a scratch on his stupidly tough body, and they did nothing to stop whatever was happening.

Suddenly, the arm of his body shot out and severed the tentacle, and he saw it try to turn around to run away.

Oh, hell no, you don’t!

Hopping at immense speed, he latched onto his body, spreading tentacles into the mouth to invade it from the inside. Whatever controlled his body was gurgling something, but he didn’t have the time or desire to hear it speak.

The moment a bit of the slime was inside the body, he severed it and detonated it, which caused the throat to light up and inflate a bit, but again, it did no real damage. He manifested a giant arm out of slime and slapped the soul, or whatever the hell was in his body, out of it.

Surprisingly, the combination of the two attacks manifested a minuscule opening in whatever prevented his return to his body, and he grasped it, pushing with all his might and flexing his incredible willpower to force himself back in. Once inside, he immediately burned a ton of life force, partially in a desperate attempt to flush whatever was inside it and partially out of panic.

His entire body lit up with a crimson flame, the whole cave around him melted, and it seemingly worked as he instantly felt his grip on his body return to full force.

Coughing thick smoke, his charred body dropped to the ground. With a bit of deliberation on his part and with the insanely powerful regenerative capabilities of his body, his charred skin was regrown in seconds, and he got up again.

"Well… ack— that… sure woke me the fuck up!"

What was that?

Examining his body, mind, and spirit alike, he found nothing unusual about them.

"Wait a minute…!"

Thunder Nerves! Was… Was that it? The memorization aspect of that ability certainly worked even when unconscious, but…

Something like this had never happened before, none of the other times he used his ability.

"Was it because I let the body fall asleep?"

If so, what was the muttering about? Just sleepwalking?

"… Neave!?” A voice yelled from beside him, “Are you alright!?"

He turned around, coming face to face with his father. "Oh, what’s up?” He asked casually. “I’m fine, just had a minor mishap with one of my abilities."

Marven glanced around the cave, watching numerous dissipating crimson wisps flickering with insane power as he whispered, “That did not feel like a minor mishap…”

"Why are you here, old man?"

"Well, I… I felt powerful energy here just a moment ago and rushed to see what was happening…"

"Is that all?” He asked. “If so, then you can leave, it's fine."

"No, I… I have something else to talk to you about."

"Speak."

"About that assassin… I… To be honest, I think we should have killed him. Leaving him alive was far too reckless. I do not want to sound cruel or unnecessary, but… if he returns again, we shouldn’t simply let him go."

"I agree," he confirmed.

"Oh… you do?"

"Yeah. Diamond path too, tsk,” he clicked his tongue. “Waste of quality flesh,” he declared with a strange note in his voice.

His father stared at him. "What… What do you mean?”

"Oh?” Neave turned around. “No, I mean, diamond-path human flesh is insanely high-quality. What, did you want some, too?”

"That… That’s not the problem here!"

"What… is the problem then?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"I…" Marven frowned and stepped closer. "Are you joking?”

Neave opened his mouth to speak… but then he froze. His breathing sped up.

Marven seemed concerned. "Hey, Neave… are you alright?"

"Yeah, I’m…"

ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ

HҾӳ ϮǶӔrҾ, ڔҾstҾr

Suddenly, a tremendous headache entered his mind, and countless whispers invaded his consciousness.

"Neave!"ϮǶҾʘLD ՅåsϮ årD ϩaiD ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾ

However, when he was about to touch Neave, his arm shot out and struck Marven in the chest, blowing him away directly into a wall.

The ÞIҾcҾ ʘꃈ IRRҾDEEMABLE ϩǶIϮ spewed blood and brought his hand over to his collapsed lung, feeling it filling up with liquid as his broken ribs punctured it.

By the time he raised his eyes again, Neave was already gone.

***

ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾ

The constant, high-pitched whispers echoed endlessly in his mind as he ran through the caves. Every shadow, every turn in the endless maze of the underground felt like it hid horrors beyond his comprehension.

Neave didn’t understand what was happening but knew he had to escape.

He had to find a way to…

ÞÞÞÞÞÞÞÞ

"Aaargh!" He gripped his head as he collapsed on the floor, writhing in agony, "Stay out of my fucking head!" He yelled.

His grip on his skull tightened, and he felt it crack beneath his fingers, yet this somehow eased the headache instead of making it worse.

He coughed red phlegm, and his pores oozed with blood, boiled by the energies roiling inside his body.

This was bad. Every bit of foreign presence in his body thrashed maniacally, looking for anything to grip on. Luckily, his spirit was safe, but his body was being torn apart from the inside.

Neave gritted his teeth so hard that the pressure caused some of them to explode, popping loudly and sending echoes through the cave.

As he focused on the chaos unfolding inside his body, something in his spirit caught his attention.

Instantly, Neave moved into his spirit realm, and what he found was…

ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾ

There was nothing. Yet, he could sense it. He could sense slithering at the edges of his spirit realm. Coiling. There was a vast number of ҾҾҾҾҾҾ

A sharp pain went through his spiritual manifestation, and he found shadowy tendrils of darkness wrapping around him.

He turned around, only to spot ҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾҾ

***

An unknown time later, Neave opened his eyes, back in reality, and hurriedly, he rushed into the spirit realm again.

Back inside, he looked around, and what he spotted left him… confused. There were golems.

"... Huh!?” He screamed, feeling the tremors of terror shivering even through his projection. “What the fuck!?"

A collection of earth golems was running around, pummeling one another to bits as Neave watched in consternation.

No… There was something else. The air was moving, too!

"Air golems!?"

Unsure what to do, he swiftly killed them off, dispersing the air and smashing the rock.

The moment he was sure none were left, he focused, finding nothing unusual in his spirit. No… there was one thing.

Something had changed. Off in the far edges of his spirit realm, the strange presence that had once felt so distant and unreachable now felt as if it were a bit closer to the border.

However, as he observed, it was clear that it was rapidly receding, and soon enough, it disappeared again into the outside of his spirit realm. And the slithering that he had felt before was nowhere to be seen.

Quickly, Neave went back to reality to make sure everything was alright. Finding nothing but his mangled body and walls covered in blood, he returned to the spirit realm.

He wouldn’t rest until he made absolutely sure everything was okay.

***

After scouring every inch of his spirit realm, he finally allowed himself to drop to the soil. He wasn’t tired. In fact, it seemed that he had managed to get some sleep in during or… after whatever the hell had happened to him.

In his realm, he had checked every corner and stepped over every inch, which took a long time, and found nothing.

He breathed a sigh of cautious relief and returned to reality. The degree to which his body was messed up was severe. Even his insane powers couldn’t keep up with the sheer degree of destruction to his tissue, but luckily, Distance From Death was there to keep him alive.

Walking wasn’t possible. Every part of his body was shredded, burned, or otherwise damaged to the point where he could barely move.

A quick fix with some life force later, he could move his body by manipulating it with Shapeshifting.

For a moment, he thought about using the slime to transport his body, but he didn’t dare do that. He didn’t dare abandon his body again.

Slowly but surely, following the path of destruction he had left in his wake, he made it back to the place where he had injured his father. Before he could get there, and way before he could come up with excuses or justifications, he spotted the old man crawling toward him.

Neave’s mind exploded with possibilities, and he braced himself for a fight. He would restrain his father, then carefully explain all that had happened. Maybe with all of that, he would…

Before he could blink, Marven suddenly rushed to his feet, chained several movement techniques together, and reached him, grabbing for his body and…

Hugged him firmly while crying his damn eyes out. "Oh dear heavens,” he cried, “are you all right!?"

Neave froze and felt his body relax as he meekly lifted an arm to pat Marven on the back, feeling a large lump his previous attack had left behind. "Yeah… I’m… I’m fine."

***

Once he had regained control of himself and put some life force to work, it didn’t take long to heal himself back to perfect health. He had to rather harshly tell Marven to back the hell away at some point, given how suffocated he felt with the old man coddling him like a child, and now, they walked side by side in awkward silence.

Marven’s lung was already healed, which was unsurprising, given how insane his regeneration must be by this point. Not as insane as Neave’s, but still impressive.

They both tried to start the subject of what had happened several times, but it wasn’t easy to bring up.

Marven seemed unwilling to broach the subject, likely unsure of what to say, and Neave didn’t know where to start because, honestly, he wasn’t even sure himself what was happening.

This was an extra complicated subject to bring up because if the others knew that something was trying to take his damn mind over, apparently… what would they think of him?

Would they ever feel safe in his presence again?

Or maybe they would just declare him insane… Well. He already was, which wasn’t difficult to tell, but he was also fully in control. This was different. This was uncomfortable. This was terrifying, even for him. The others would have the right to fear it, too.

Marven spotted the slight frown on Neave’s face, so he started another subject instead, "I’ve seen your strength in the spirit realm, where you don’t have any powers… but…" He carefully touched his chest, where he could still feel the punch Neave had delivered, "That wasn’t even a true strike, yet it had left me unable to move for what felt like hours."

Hours… the word echoed in Neave’s mind. Unable to move for hours.

Forcing his mind off the topic, he forced a snicker through his teeth. "It’s rather complicated." He stopped, raised his arm, and punched the empty air, emitting a sharp crack. "That was an ordinary punch without active use of powers or boosts. My muscles are quite powerful, and my Superior Troll Physique boosts my strength considerably. On top of that, I have the Willpower of Might spirit power that partly boosts my strength even if I don’t actively use it." sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NøᴠᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

He lowered his arm and then punched again.

It looked almost the same, but it was considerably weaker this time. "Did you notice anything unusual?"

Marven raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I did. That felt… off, if a bit smoother."

Neave nodded, "That’s because I didn’t actually move at all."

The old cultivator grew slack-jawed, likely due to misunderstanding something, so Neave rushed to clear things up, "I didn’t use any of my muscles. I can use Shapeshifting to stimulate movement… And I can also…"

This time, he threw another punch, which was considerably faster than both previous ones, causing another sharp crack to emit through the air. “I can use both my muscles and Shapeshifting simultaneously.”

"Is that difficult to time?”

"Yep, and that’s not all. You were hit by a life-force-empowered punch coupled with Shapeshifting manipulation, nerves primed for movement, and Willpower of Might at a rather high capacity as I reacted violently,” he cleared up, allowing a moment of silence for his father to digest everything.

"You know, when you put it like that… I say I’m lucky to be alive."

That got both of them to laugh a bit.

Marven briefly nodded to his son, flashed a smile, and then, reluctantly, turned around and started walking away.

Neave stared at him in silence, biting his lips. He opened his mouth and forced himself to ask, "Where are you going, old man!?"

His father turned around with a soft smile on his face. "Am I not allowed to leave?"

"Yeah… but…"

"I know,” he said. “Be careful, son."

“Hey, Dad,” Neave started, feeling a strange weakness washing over him. “Can… Can you keep what happened a secret?”

Marven nodded without a single moment of hesitation. “I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

Fighting back the desire to sag in relief, Neave flashed his old man a grin. "And don’t come rushing at me like that next time. You might not get lucky again."

Marven laughed merrily at that and shook his head. "Even at the cost of my life, son, be it this fake or my real one… I won’t stand aside when you’re in trouble."

Neave paused a bit and nodded, and Marven waved at him as he left the cave.

"... Well, now."

Sitting on the ground, he reentered his spirit realm.

"Where the hell did those golems come from?"

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