World's Last Hope-Chapter 39: Small Scratch

In that moment, as Eric soared through the air, about to collide with the deadly inferno aimed at him, his mind reached an uncanny level of calmness. At that moment, he didn’t feel fear or doubt.

He knew he would succeed, no matter the heavy price he had to pay.

Eric took a deep breath as best as he could and closed his eyes, trying to protect them as much as possible.

And then he collided with the inferno.

This inferno couldn’t even be compared to the dragon’s breath he had faced before. Before, he was able to move his hands, allowing him to fire at his foes.

But currently, the pain he was experiencing was unimaginable. The skin on his face—no, his entire body—was instantly burned away.

His armor, unable to withstand the heat, began to melt like hot lava, disintegrating at an alarming rate.

His tendons, bones, nerves—everything—was being burned away.

’How am I even alive?’ Eric asked himself. He half-expected to die immediately upon reaching the inferno, but somehow, he stayed alive, still eerily calm despite the situation.

He hadn’t checked the system’s announcements, so he couldn’t have known that two of his traits had evolved, keeping him alive.

Usually, when he asked himself questions like this—mistakenly, at times—the system would immediately respond, wasting his precious essence.

But now, the system remained completely silent, as if it didn’t want to use the last essence Eric possessed, as if it didn’t want him to die.

After what felt like eternity, subjected to the pain of the inferno that could rival hell itself, Eric finally passed through the flames.

He looked like a husk of his former self. His hair was gone, his armor had melted off, and his face was disfigured. He looked like a zombie that had just risen from the grave.

No, a zombie wouldn’t bear such serious wounds.

As Eric opened his right eye—the only one still functioning—he locked gazes with the eyes of the guardian.

In that moment, lasting less than a split second, Eric saw something he never thought he would witness in the giant’s eyes.

It was fear. For the first time in its life, the guardian experienced fear.

’How ridiculous,’ Eric thought. It was almost as if everything had aligned perfectly, giving him this opportunity.

Or maybe it really had. He couldn’t be sure, but he theorized that his traits ’Blinding Star’ and ’The Last One’ had played a significant role in granting him this chance.

Nevertheless, Eric raised his sword, which had caught aflame from the giant’s breath, to his side as the remaining momentum of his jump brought him within arm’s reach of the guardian’s eye.

Before the guardian could react in any way,

Eric slashed.

His sword cut through the air in a beautiful arc, colliding with the giant’s eye.

And it sliced through like butter.

In that moment, the powerful soul of the giant, caught aflame by Eric’s miracle ’Soul Flame,’ was doomed.

’Ah... I did it,’ Eric thought. After slashing the giant’s eye, he flew past its head, heading straight for the cathedral.

The giant, its soul consumed by hatred, moved with one singular goal, to kill the man who had doomed it.

Suddenly, rotating its massive body, the giant raised its hand, turning its palm into a fist and punched straight at Eric, who, now exhausted in mid-air, couldn’t dodge in any way.

Eric shifted his gaze to the giant’s fist, which was about to collide with him, ready to end his life on the spot.

"I see, so this is how I die..." he muttered under his breath—at least he thought he did, unsure if he still possessed the strength to speak.

*****

"One more!" Olivia screamed as her body was breaking apart, straining against the cursed weapon she possessed.

With a grunt, she finally pulled the string back as much as humanly possible.

She let go, sending a bolt flying—this one much stronger than the others.

The bolt tore through the air, breaking multiple sound barriers as it did.

It collided with the giant’s fist just before it could reach Eric, killing most of its momentum.

As a result, when the fist reached Eric, it did no damage—just a gentle tap, slightly increasing his speed and sending him straight into the cathedral.

"ERIC!" Olivia screamed as she used her hands to catch him before he hit the ground.

His body was burned so much that the majority of his muscles and skin were gone, leaving his bones exposed.

His entire body was red, still hot from the flames he had passed through just a moment ago.

Without hesitation, she began using all her mental focus, along with her miracle, to try to heal him.

A deep, earth-shattering roar echoed through the giant field. Olivia didn’t need to look to know it was the guardian’s roar, most likely furious.

It would know that once Eric scratched it, its doom was inevitable unless it killed Eric to save itself from the Soul Flame.

So, there was no doubt that the guardian would come for them next.

"Fuck it!" Olivia cursed as she carried the unconscious man and blasted the gates of the cathedral open.

"Only Aria was supposed to enter, but considering the circumstances, there’s no other option," she muttered as she quickly entered and closed the gates behind her, preventing anything from coming in.

No matter that the cathedral was corrupted, it was still a holy structure, so it was impossible for any monster to enter.

The only threat right now was the corruption around them, but Olivia didn’t seem to care as she placed Eric’s body on the ground and focused all her mental energy, trying to keep him alive.

"Don’t you dare die. Don’t you dare die," she muttered endlessly, trying not to lose herself.

She was currently panicking, so she didn’t even realize that, despite healing Eric’s body by touching him, her own body didn’t tremble in the slightest.

"You better not lose, princess," Olivia muttered under her breath.

Meanwhile, Aria was currently locked in battle, fighting the corruption with her own soul.