Zara did not respond at first, her expression looking as though she was pondering something deeply.

"And don’t tell me you can’t remember. I won’t take that for an answer," Uhtred’s eyes turned cold.

As Zara looked into his eyes, she could see that he was deadly serious about his statement. But her expression still remained unfazed, as though she had nothing to hide.

"I can remember..." her facial features suddenly squeezed, as if trying to think about how she had gotten here was proving difficult, "...but there are areas of my memory that are kind of spotty."

How convenient...

Uhtred’s eyes narrowed and he clenched his jaw. He didn’t for a second buy that excuse, but for the moment he simply let her speak. At least she wasn’t outrightly saying she couldn’t remember anything at all.

"I remember being on vacation. My—"

"No," Uhtred cut her off immediately. "Who are you? Your origins. Start with that," he deadpanned.

Zara didn’t mind Uhtred’s directness. She began to speak about her origins, but as she opened her mouth, her expression squeezed into a pained grimace.

She clasped her head with both hands, her mouth opening wide in a silent scream. Her body slowly slumped to the floor. She squeezed her skull hard, desperately trying to stem a pain that felt as though it was tearing directly through her brain.

Uhtred’s expression remained unmoved. He continued to stare at her as if he was simply watching an act play out.

"Can you not remember?" he asked with a flat, emotionless tone. "Think. Think harder. I’m sure it’ll come to you."

Zara writhed on the ground and squeezed her head even tighter. Despite the overwhelming pain, Uhtred’s words pierced through. She forced herself to try and answer him, but the sheer effort of jogging her memory only made the agony worse.

From behind, Diya spoke up, though her voice was very hesitant. She never liked to intrude whenever Uhtred was doing things that were personal like this, but right now she had no choice but to speak.

"Um... Uhtred, I think you should hold off those questions for now," she said. "She’s obviously trying to answer your questions, but her body doesn’t seem to be willing to give her the answers yet."

As Diya was speaking, blood began to trickle down Zara’s nose.

"Uhtred!" Diya glanced between him and Zara, who was writhing furiously on the ground now.

Uhtred did not respond. He only stared at Zara’s writhing body with a blank expression in his eyes.

His coldness only made Diya even more frantic. With how casual Uhtred could be at times, she usually forgot that he was in no way normal at all, especially when it came to achieving his goals. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

His current high level, coupled with how fast he had adapted to the new reality only went to prove how abnormal a person he was. And it was in moments like these that his abnormality usually showed so clearly.

He had most certainly realized by now that Zara was not faking this response. Rather, he knew it was her body that was refusing to reveal the memory she was trying to pry.

He definitely knew that she was in intense pain, but despite that, he wanted her to push through that pain and force the memory out anyway.

Yet, one fact that Uhtred hadn’t accounted for, but was very glaring to Diya who was watching from behind, was how resilient Zara was, and how simple she took his question.

Her body was obviously not willing to give her the information she sought, but she was so dogged and stubborn that she would keep pushing despite the pain tearing her brain in two.

Just like when Uhtred had punched her midsection and shattered her ribs, the way she had chosen not to show pain was the exact same way she was currently focused on the goal of jogging her memory just to answer Uhtred’s question. So much that she didn’t mind what damage it brought to her body.

As a previous medical practitioner and as a current healer mage, Diya was certain that Zara’s body was not going to give her the information she wanted... at least not yet.

It was as though there was some sort of mental block preventing her from accessing those memories. The doors to the information she wanted were closed, and any attempt to keep prying at it would only cause severe harm.

Diya gritted her teeth, about to risk it all and actually go against Uhtred by interfering directly with what he was doing. But before she could, Minh Quan moved.

The old Vietnamese soldier was by Uhtred’s side. His hand patted Uhtred by the shoulder, snapping him out of the trance-like focus he was currently in.

Uhtred seemed to finally come to himself, and his head snapped up at Minh Quan, his eyes wide, as though he hadn’t realized how deeply focused he was on getting what he wanted at the expense of Zara’s life.

Without a need for any words, he immediately dashed forward, grabbing Zara’s arms to prevent her from pressing her head so hard.

"It’s okay, Zara! You can stop now!" he yelled into her ears, hoping she could still hear him somehow.

Thankfully, Zara seemed to have heard through the pain. Her mouth that was wide open in a silent scream finally eased and closed.

Her body that was trembling began to calm, and the sweat that had started to form on her forehead began to trickle down as she finally relaxed, her breathing settling into a steadier rhythm.

Diya’s knees thudded on the ground as she immediately knelt by Zara’s head. Her hands clasped the strange girl’s head carefully, and she began to urge her healing essence into her.

Uhtred stood up abruptly, giving Diya space.

He knew she was already very tired. She had expended a lot of her healing essence the first time, and then a second time to numb Zara’s midsection. Yet, now again she had to use her healing essence to alleviate Zara’s pain and bring her out of any immediate danger.

Uhtred frowned where he stood. No one said anything, not Diya, not Minh Quan, and not even Dennis. They all simply watched in silence as Diya squeezed and urged the last bit of her cosmic essence to heal Zara.

But the silence was telling. This was his doing. He had pushed Zara way too hard, and in doing so, endangered her life.

What exactly was that?

His mind went back to that coldness, that lack of empathy and feeling that had dominated his senses in his hyper-focused state of trying to get out what he wanted from Zara.

Was that always a part of me?

It was like he was just discovering a part of himself he never knew existed, a part that he didn’t particularly think he liked or wanted to accept, a part that had been buried deeply in the recesses of his consciousness.

He gritted his teeth, then released a sigh and looked around, taking in the surroundings.

His eyes met Minh Quan’s, and a certain level of calm reassurance was in the old soldier’s eyes, as if he recognized and could relate to what Uhtred was going through very deeply.

Uhtred looked away, putting the weird feeling and whatever implications it might mean to the back of his mind for the meantime, then he spoke:

"Dennis, Minh Quan," he looked at both men, just as the squelching, dragging sound of the respawned slug creatures of Floor 1 began to resound from the deeper parts of the chamber.

"You guys stay with Diya. No one touches any single creature in the dungeon till I return," he turned and began to walk towards the slug creatures that were approaching, a weird calm in his eyes.

His grip on his battleaxe in his hand tightened.

Despite the fact that these were Level 1 creatures, he looked about to use his battleaxe on them, something that was overkill for creatures this weak compared to his current strength.

It seemed that for the moment, perhaps because of what had just happened, he wanted to engage himself in battle, hoping to calm himself down.

And what better way to do that than to try blazing all the way to Floor 20?

He didn’t even seem to hold the same worry as before about what Zara could do to Diya, Minh Quan, and Dennis when she woke up. Perhaps he had seen enough about her that he knew she wouldn’t harm them at all.

However, before he began his killing spree across the dungeon floors, he paused and turned, looking directly at Diya.

"When she wakes up, if she’s somehow up for it, tell her to come meet me on the lower floors..."

He didn’t wait for Diya to respond. With a sudden dash, he burst forward with blistering speed, his battleaxe sweeping in a wide arc, splattering the small horde of slug creatures in one go, turning them into a mist of grey sludge.

He didn’t even spare them a single glance before he disappeared into the portal leading to Floor 2.

He was going on a speedrun this time, a speedrun fueled by a thirst to kill all the way to Floor 20, where the grand prize lay...