IPUAVNP Chapter 144

Chapter 144

 

“If you can bring Brody back to life, I’ll do anything.”

Hearing Kyle’s answer, a smile spread across Amidal’s lips.

The reason she had survived for hundreds of years in a body reduced to nothing but bones was that she periodically consumed human souls through dark magic.

The souls of the living granted her the immortality she desired. That was why she coveted Kyle’s soul.

“In return, bring Brody back first. Killing me can come afterward.”

Amidal swallowed her greed at his arrogant demand.

“Of course, that’s how it should be.”

And so, their deal was sealed. Watching helplessly, Kernels cried out in despair.

“Kyle, please reconsider! Do you think that rabbit will be grateful when she wakes up and finds out you died? Absolutely not!”

But no one was listening to his pleas.

“Lay the woman before me,” Amidal instructed.

Kyle slowly rose, still holding Brody in his arms. The warmth of the body that had clung to him that morning was now gone, leaving only cold stiffness behind.

The contrast between that last moment of happiness and the present cruel reality pushed him deeper into despair.

Carefully, he laid Brody down. She looked no different from a corpse.

Amidal approached slowly, opening her hollow mouth to whisper incomprehensible words.

But Kyle and Kernels immediately sensed that these murmurs carried ancient magical power. As her whispering began, the air itself seemed to shift.

Kernels, still crouched on the ground, looked up at Kyle in alarm.

“Kyle…!”

Feeling the strange vibrations, Kyle lowered his gaze. The entire temple, from the floor to the ceiling, was trembling.

Then, the darkness that seeped from Amidal’s body started spreading, consuming even the sunlight streaming through the windows.

“Ugh!”

In an instant, darkness swallowed everything.

As time passed, the only thing growing clearer was Amidal’s eerie chanting.

Kyle flailed in the void, desperately reaching for Brody, but his vision remained obscured.

And then…

“…!”

A cracked, rasping voice burst from Amidal’s throat, piercing their ears.

With it, a blue light flashed like lightning, splitting into multiple streaks that tore through the darkness.

Like shadows burning away in the sun, the darkness dissolved into ashen mist.

Kyle’s blurred vision cleared, revealing Brody lying on the floor and Amidal standing before her.

The witch, who had summoned the darkness of the underworld, now exhaled shallow, exhausted breaths.

From beneath her robe, her withered hand reached for the dagger embedded in Brody’s chest.

Without hesitation, she pulled it free.

“Wait!”

Kyle gasped in horror and rushed forward.

But no blood flowed from the wound where the dagger had been removed.

Frantic, Kyle tore open Brody’s clothing to inspect the gash.

Then…

His eyes widened in shock.

Kernels reacted the same way.

“T-The wound…!”

The torn flesh and ruptured tissues beneath it were knitting themselves back together.

Kyle hurriedly touched Brody’s body.

It was no longer ice-cold—warmth was returning.

A faint breath escaped her lips.

Her once-open, lifeless eyes were now gently shut, as if peacefully asleep.

Brody was alive.

“Brody…”

Kyle’s breath hitched as he caressed her.

Tears streamed down his face, tears of unspeakable relief and joy.

The heartbeat he had given his life to restore was there, pulsing beneath his touch.

Hearing it again, Kyle truly did not care what became of him.

His life meant nothing now. He had no regrets, no hesitation.

He was ready to die at the witch’s hands.

Perhaps sensing his resolve, Amidal turned to him.

“I have resurrected this woman. Now, I shall take my payment.”

Kernels’s eyes widened in terror.

Kyle placed one last kiss on Brody’s hand before rising.

Though his face was streaked with tears, his expression was firm. His decision was final.

“It will be painful. But you must endure it. I trust you were prepared.”

Amidal’s words were strangely gentle.

Kyle clenched his fists. That was his answer.

To Amidal, it was nothing more than the foolish bravado of a young man who would soon be no more.

And she was right.

As Kyle glared at her, his face suddenly twisted in pain. Something was oozing from the wounds he had sustained in his battle against the tigers.

Blood.

Kernels recoiled in horror as the blood pooled at his feet.

Kyle, startled, staggered back as well.

A cold chill crept up his spine.

His heart pounded, his head throbbed, and sweat drenched his body as his strength drained away.

Instinctively, he tried to retreat…But he couldn’t move.

“My feet…!”

An invisible force held his ankles in place.

Looking down, he saw something even more horrifying.

The blood that had soaked the floor began to flow unnaturally, forming a massive circle around him.

The sight sent shivers down his spine.

As his breathing grew rapid from primal fear, Amidal trembled in ecstasy.

“Heh… the blood is responding to me. It recognizes its new master…!”

Like a madwoman, she inhaled the fresh scent of blood and laughed. Then, as if gathering the spilled blood, she swept her hands through the air.

And finally, she raised both arms toward the sky.

At the same time, the blood swirling around Kyle suddenly shot up into the air. Swept up by a sudden gust of wind, the blood spiraled upward, encircling Kyle like a barrier.

“Ugh!”

Inside the vortex of blood, Kyle suddenly felt his body burning as if set ablaze. The heat grew fiercer, no longer feeling like blood but hellfire itself.

His torn flesh seared with pain as if he were being scorched alive, and he collapsed, screaming.

Even the air he breathed felt like fire, burning his throat. He clawed at his neck, writhing in agony.

Since this was the process of ripping a soul from a living body, it was excruciating, a torment meant to snatch away his very consciousness.

“Kyle! Kyle!”

Watching him thrash and scream as if on the verge of death, Kernels tried to break through the blood barrier.

However, his body was merely repelled, unable to enter.

The shrieks of a man descending into hell and the laughter of the one reveling in it echoed through the temple.

At last, Amidal, unable to wait any longer, shouted,

“Bring me his soul! I shall claim it now!”

Kernels had no idea to whom Amidal was speaking. Only Kyle, trapped between life and death, knew.

Through the swirling wall of blood, he saw Amidal. She looked like a small witch, but behind her, rising like a massive shadow, loomed an enormous figure.

It held a giant scythe, a skeletal entity cloaked in black robes—the image of a reaper harvesting human souls.

The reaper raised its terrifying scythe toward Kyle. Helplessly collapsed, he could only offer his soul as the blade swung down upon him.

But just before it struck—

“AMIDAL!”

A thunderous roar shook the temple. The sheer force of the voice was enough to crack the blood barrier around Kyle.

A sharp crack split through the air as the blood barrier shattered, crumbling to the ground.

With the barrier broken, Kyle collapsed limply. As he fell, Amidal, who had been brimming with triumph, found herself facing a woman.

“You…!”

Amidal’s jaw dropped in shock as she saw the woman’s crimson hair.

The one who had just intervened, stopping Amidal, was none other than the ruler of the Wastelands, Rubinus.

But Amidal’s surprise lasted only a moment. She was furious at having her nearly successful plan interrupted, yet she composed herself quickly.

“…It’s been a long time, Rubinus.”

She smiled gently, like a mentor greeting a former student—a student she had once filled with ambition and taught the ways of dark magic.

But Rubinus’s expression remained cold as ice. Her eyes were filled with nothing but killing intent.

“This will be the last time you say that, Amidal. I’ve come to kill you.”

Amidal laughed at those words, a mocking scoff for the pupil she had once raised.

“To think the first thing you say upon seeing your teacher again is a death threat…”

Her lips curled into a wide grin.

“You must have forgotten how powerless you were when I killed your beloved, Rubinus.”

“…!”

Those words shattered Rubinus’s composure.

She had come prepared, determined not to let Amidal manipulate her emotions. But that single sentence made her lose all restraint.

“AMIDAL!”

Enraged, Rubinus launched an attack.

But before the lightning bolt from her hand could strike, Amidal deftly countered it.

“Heh… You’re still no match for me, Rubinus!”

However, just as Amidal grew smug from easily blocking the first strike, another attack followed…one far stronger.

The first had been a mere feint.

Caught off guard, Amidal was struck by Rubinus’s true attack and sent crashing into the temple wall.

“Ugh!”

Amidal groaned as she hit the ground, staggering to her feet.

Seeing this, Rubinus refused to give her a chance to recover and prepared to strike again.

But then, something caught her eye.

Amidal’s hood had fallen, revealing her head.

At the same time, Amidal lifted her gaze, directing her hollow, skull-like face toward Rubinus.

“…!”

Her eye sockets were filled with darkness-an abyssal void that trapped Rubinus in place.

It was an eerily empty darkness.

The moment Rubinus locked eyes with it, a crushing weight of helplessness overtook her.

Memories flooded her mind.

‘You will obey me.’

This was the same voice that had once echoed in her head.

‘You will never escape me, Rubinus.’

She had tried to resist, but the memory clung to her like a parasite.

It was the moment when she had once lost control, attacking Eileen under Amidal’s influence and ultimately killing the person she loved with her own hands.

The scenes played vividly in her mind, making her entire body tremble.

Seeing Rubinus paralyzed, Amidal swiftly rose to her feet.

She stretched out a hand, launching an attack toward Rubinus.

But before it could reach her, the attack was intercepted and shattered by another force.

Someone had rushed into the temple, blocking Amidal’s strike.

“Rubinus!”

The woman’s white hair fluttered in the wind as she called out.

She was Eileen, the leader of the White Fox Tribe.