novelraw Chapter 160: A State of Evolution
Chapter 160: A State of Evolution
"HURK!"
Kristoff’s eyes snapped open, and the first thing he felt was pain.
Extreme pain!!!
From his bones, to his head, and even to his hands and feet, everything felt like it was being bitten by rabid dogs!
He immediately rolled onto his side and began coughing violently.
"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!"
His entire body trembled.
It felt as though he had been crushed, rebuilt, and crushed again.
A warm liquid splashed onto the ground as blood seeped out.
"...Your stubbornness is something I will be fixing someday, fool."
A familiar voice entered his ears.
Kristoff froze as he turned his head.
"...Adam?"
Adam stood nearby with his usual indifferent expression.
For a moment, Kristoff simply stared.
Then he looked around at the blood colored dome along with the empty mana potion bottles scattered everywhere.
And finally he spotted Cael.
The man looked like he was one bad day away from becoming a corpse himself.
His face was pale and his eyes were bloodshot.
His hands trembled from mana exhaustion before he saw him pulling out what looked to be a golden carrot and began munching on it.
The moment their eyes met, Cael immediately pointed at him.
"You."
Kristoff blinked.
"Huh?"
"You absolute idiot."
"Huh?"
"I spent enough mana to resurrect three small kingdoms."
"Huh?"
"And you rejected the resurrection!"
"Huh?"
Cael looked ready to commit murder.
"You know what? Never mind."
Kristoff tilted his head.
"What resurrection?"
For several seconds, silence filled the dome.
Then Adam spoke.
"You died."
"Oh."
"You were crushed to death."
"Oh."
"You were dead."
"Oh."
Cael’s eye twitched.
"STOP SAYING OH!"
Kristoff jumped.
"Sorry."
Cael grabbed his own hair.
"I had to drag your soul all the way back from the Realm of Death!"
"Oh."
"AAAAARGH!"
Kristoff instinctively shrank back, it seems that the recovery of his mental state was slow due to the fact that he had still been newly ressurected.
Adam wanted to ask what the realm of death was like for information, but seeing as to how Kristoff was not in the right state, he silently chose to step away.
He wanted no involvement in whatever this was.
Eventually, after several minutes of Cael’s complaints and Kristoff’s confused responses, the situation calmed down.
Kristoff sat quietly on the ground and his expression slowly became thoughtful.
"...I saw my father."
The words immediately silenced both Adam and Cael.
Kristoff lowered his gaze.
"He told me there were still things I needed to do, so I couldn’t permanently die just yet..."
Adam did not speak up, he was not fond of such emotionally vulnerable talks as it often triggered the effects of sympathy from his last life’s sponsor, [Knight of Rose].
Cael, on the other hand, clicked his tongue.
"Yeah, well."
His voice sounded unusually awkward though.
"Your old man had good judgment."
Kristoff smiled faintly.
For some reason, that smile sent a chill down Cael’s spine.
Then, as if remembering something important, Kristoff suddenly froze.
His eyes widened.
"Oh no."
Cael blinked.
"What?"
"My items!"
"What about them?"
"They’re gone!"
Kristoff immediately shot to his feet.
"Crap! Crap! Crap!"
He frantically checked his inventory.
"They’re really gone!"
Adam raised an eyebrow.
"What items?"
"The ones I left behind when I died!"
Kristoff looked like a man whose world had just ended.
"Those things were expensive!"
His voice cracked.
"Do you know how many points I spent on those?!"
Then his expression suddenly became even paler.
"No..."
"Oh no..."
Cael frowned.
"What now?"
Kristoff grabbed his head.
"My coupon book!"
"..."
"..."
"The system shop had a limited-time thirty-percent discount voucher!"
His eyes were bloodshot.
"I hadn’t used it yet!"
Adam and Cael just stared at him lifelessly.
Neither knew how to respond...
After literally dying and coming back to life, the thing Kristoff was panicking over was a coupon.
"..."
"..."
Finally, Cael pointed at him.
"See?"
Adam raised an eyebrow.
"See what?"
Cael sighed.
"I told you."
"He’s an idiot, we should’ve just kept him dead..."
...
After the resurrection process was completed, Adam finally lowered the translucent blood dome surrounding them.
Fresh air immediately flowed into the area.
Kristoff, who had only recently returned from the dead, finally snapped out of his dazed state.
After being teased by Cael for being naked due to the fact he was newly resurrected, he hastily opened the System Shop and purchased a fresh set of clothes.
Only after changing did he feel remotely prepared to deal with reality.
Unfortunately, reality seemed determined to make his day worse.
After spending several minutes trying to understand what had happened, he turned toward Cael for answers.
The resurrection user was currently slumped against a wall, surrounded by empty mana potion bottles.
His complexion was pale and his eyes looked exhausted.
And his mood appeared absolutely terrible...
The moment Kristoff opened his mouth, Cael immediately pointed toward Adam.
"Go ask him."
"Huh?"
"Don’t fucking talk to me right now."
Cael rubbed his temples.
"I’m in a really bad state because of you."
Kristoff wisely chose not to argue.
For perhaps the first time in his life, he obediently listened to Cael.
Walking over to Adam, he hesitated for a moment before asking the most important question on his mind.
"Where’s Leila?"
Adam stared at him quietly.
For a brief moment, he considered how best to explain the situation.
Eventually, he settled on the simplest answer.
"She betrayed us."
Kristoff froze.
Before he could ask anything else, Adam continued.
"Ask for details later."
His tone left no room for argument.
"Right now, go to the eastern side of the island and help prepare for the Final Wave."
Kristoff blinked.
Adam continued speaking.
"Make sure you level yourself properly."
"You skipped an entire floor and missed a significant amount of monster waves."
Only then did Kristoff remember that he had technically been dead during part of their climb.
That realization somehow made him feel even worse.
"And one more thing."
Adam glanced toward the exhausted Cael.
"Protect him."
Kristoff followed his gaze.
"Protect him?"
Adam nodded.
"He’s currently weakened. Due to the restrictions of his resurrection skill, every person he revives is connected to him."
Kristoff suddenly had a bad feeling.
"If he dies..."
Adam looked him directly in the eyes.
"You die too."
Silence.
Several seconds passed.
"..."
"..."
Kristoff slowly turned toward Cael.
Then back toward Adam.
Then back toward Cael again.
A horrifying realization dawned upon him.
He was now effectively Cael’s bodyguard!!!
If the annoying teleporting coward died, he would die alongside him!!!
What was the difference between this and being his bodyguard slave?!?!
’...I should’ve just stayed dead.’
The thought appeared in his mind almost instantly.
At the same time, another notification appeared before his eyes.
A notification he had been too distracted to notice earlier.
[Due to your resurrection, your state of existence is undergoing evolution.]