Freedom Jumper-Chapter 107: Consequences of Freedom

Bubbles of air were continuously reaching the top of the pool as Elijah struggled with beast after beast. Frantically, his eyes took long half second blinks that painted the battle with small pauses. However, the battle did not pause with every blink, but instead served as the easiest opening for the two different types of beasts Elijah realized were struggling to die.

From behind — after he had dealt a death blow from a glowing fist while simultaneously opening up a spatial storage portal on accident, sharp and short teeth caught onto Elijah's back right shoulder. The tender muscle fibers that were heavily in need of a massage were torn and ripped alongside its arms strangling and holding Elijah's body tightly. Although, it was not the beast's main objective.

Subtlety, a dim red glow began to emanate from the creature's body.

Splash!

Elijah was wincing from the pain and acted on the first option that came to his mind. His body tore through the water while slamming the back of the beast's body into the moss-covered stone ceiling.

Just barely, Elijah was able to escape its grasp, but it seemed like something was coming.

A hoarse and violent growl came from the beast with glowing red veins across in a hairless black body. Muscles were in places that made absolutely zero sense, and its head was filled with dimly glowing purple eyes that sat inside a disfigured and lumpy skull. The red veins disappeared, but when its mouth opened wide — while at the same time ripping the sides of its disgusting mouth — A purple energy turned into a large purple flame that spread forward.

'Fire breath! Shit!'

The situation was dire and Elijah chose to fly laps around the cavern to avoid the flame that disintegrated and decayed everything it touched. Even the stone ceiling began turning to ash while falling into the intentful pool. In doing so, he damned Niko and Abel to take part of the purple flame. A purple flame that tore through the water shield Abel had conjured while screaming at Niko to get to cover.

Only when Elijah had rounded the cavern did he see what he caused. His heart palpitated, and instantly, Elijah flew toward the beast who was somehow dangling from the ceiling. The flames were waning quickly and Elijah acted on his opening.

Boom!

The glowing feet of Elijah tore through the tough black shoes on impact. He had become a flying bullet of destruction that flattened the chest of the ravenous beast while also causing rocks and moss to fall from the ceiling.

"Abel! Niko!" Silence was within the destroyed cavern. And on top of the large mushroom cap was Abel — featuring two arms that were withered to the bone. In fact, with a single movement of his arms, a few fingers fell cleanly off his hands and bursted into a small pile of ash.

"I-I think I'm okay... I can't feel the pain!" Abel slumped to the floor — to the soft blue and yellow mushroom cap. His legs were trembling most likely from the shock of his spell that he pushed a lot of mana into once noticing it was being engulfed by the purple flame.

"Where is Niko?!"

"He — he is safe... inside the mushroom." Abel replied while more of his fingers and parts of his wrist began to fall into the pile of ashes.

"I don't think you will die, but you will definitely be losing your arms. All the monsters are dead now, so just try and use your magic on your shoulders."

"I-I can feel it spreading... Elijah, I need you to cut my arms off at the shoulders..." Abel calmly said while staring into space.

Elijah was stunned by his words and began tearing off his jacket and shirt with a black knife that came from a special runic bracelet. "Oh my god."

What was seen created many horrible ideas in his head. If this was because of void magic, what would happen if you touched it with even a small part of your body? A plague that could be caught by anyone with maybe even a simple touch.

Pulling his sword out, Elijah funneled mana into his whole body with a focus on his right arm. The idea was to give his entire body strength and stability to do something he had never had a nightmare about. The plague was spreading in random patterns as if smoke that curled up in the skin and passed from one cell to the next.

Thump! Thump!

Elijah was able to cleanly cut through not just the muscle, but also the bone. But when he realized the plague was not just on the surface, he had to make two diagonal cuts past the shoulder.

Thump! Thump!

"AAAHHHHHH AHHHH AHH!!..."

Elijah helped focus Abel's mind into healing himself. Excruciating pain and screams continued to echo through the cavern until finally... Abel slumped onto the floor, unable to pick himself back up.

"Elijah?"

A voice resounded from the hole in the center of the mushroom cap.

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"Niko! Are you okay?"

"Yea, I wasn't hit by whatever that was. I understand the situation, but we need to continue moving forward. I hope this doesn't happen, but there are more than likely more than just one group of pursuers." Niko explained by climbing to the top of the mushroom.

Suddenly, the mushroom began to shake, and Elijah grabbed Abel while Niko stayed on the cap as it crumbled to the floor.

The pool of water had slowly been receding into the exit they were bound to take. "I think this mushroom had been dying long before we entered." Elijah said, floating in the air with Abel in his arms.

Darkness caused Elijah and Niko to squint their eyes to see. The next cavern was full of rock formation that grew to the ceiling in the shape of a cone. Many places to hide were constantly being seen: Inside the rock formations, holes in the ceiling, and even within small slits or other cave entrances to the left and right.

"Hey. I can sense someone coming. Behind us, and in front of us...." Abel said with his eyes closed.

"What?! How do you know?" Niko said while also looking at Elijah's straight face.

"I'm not useless, you know. This entire time I have been sending my mana in both directions. Also, I think you can put me down now, I don't want you to use up your mana flying..."

"Okay. But my flight ability is unlimited."

"How do you know?!" Abel asked.

"Because I do. I never seem to lose any mana no matter how long I fly."

"Hahah! That's incredible!" Abel felt good about the situation now, and also knew that Elijah felt guilty of causing him harm. After all, if Elijah hadn't flown around the cavern like a carousel, Abel would still have his arms and shoulders... Although, this does prove Elijah still has a heart — a heart that may not care for himself, but what is left of the people around him.

"There, in the cave directly behind us! Quickly, get to high ground... they know our general location." Abel explained while running awkwardly. The cave they had just entered was very tall as if a ravine had created a baby. Multiple pillars were running side to side, and diagonally.

"I know a quicker way."

Elijah grabbed both the waists of Niko and Abel, and graciously flew to the highest of heights. Most likely over 100 feet in the air. From afar, the ground was visible – especially the entrance of the cave, but not anything below them. If they did not see their pursuers coming into the cave the second they entered, it is likely the entire plan would fail.

The only option now was to wait, but as an extra precaution, Niko created three illusions and placed them on different planes directly below them.

Everything in the cave reminded Elijah of the Hunter exam. Only this time, the ambush would be on their own kind.