Chapter 147: Prelude to the Final Sprint
Chapter 147: Prelude to the Final Sprint
Jyorta sat on the floor, leaning his back against the wall. Placed before him were five boxes, lined up in a semicircle. They each contained a Line Controller Floating Spider.
Taking in the vision of his blue soul, Jyorta unleashed his two Soul Corneas, passing them into the box on the left. The Soul Corneas arrived before the soul of the Floating Spider's Frenzy Parasite, turning it into a subsoul instantly.
They then arrived before its soul, pausing before it. One of the Soul Corneas unleashed its influence, vaporising the murkiness covering the soul while the other directly pierced it, arriving before its core.
The soul wasn't developed to the extent capable of retaliation, getting swiftly converted into a subsoul in the span of 15 minutes. The memory fragments were absorbed into the blue soul, their personas corroded, and the resultant memory fragments condensed into a whole.
Jyorta noticed the total time taken for the endeavour, feeling slightly surprised. Previously, the process had taken him an hour to do so. Now, he had finished it well below 40 minutes.
Jyorta picked up the box, stood up, and arrived before Atika Light. Atika Light swiftly unlocked the box, allowing a Floating Spider to crawl out. Jyorta then placed the box next to him on the ground, all the while controlling his repulsion.
His false persona wasn't meant to block his sense of repulsion; it was the calmness imbued in it that prevented Jyorta from distancing himself from the Floating Spider.
The Floating Spider soon unleashed its Caterpillar, grabbing hold of the Brain Crystal that Jyorta's psychic arm brought forward.
As he layered the curtainthe false persona; one of gluttony, focus, and filled with self-controlover the subsoul belonging to its Frenzy Parasite, Jyorta placed the box containing the Brain Crystals before its face.
He had expended almost half the psychic energy in his Brain Crystal to convert the two subsouls. He didn't want to recover his energy through Brain Crystals if possible, hence the process. A Soul Cornea made a connection with the subsoul belonging to the Floating Spider, pulling a part of it to eventually create a soul tendril.
Soon, the Soul Cornea had created ten soul tendrils, attaching them to its Brain Crystal, watching the psychic energy getting siphoned out, and converted into soul energy by the soul tendrils. As pure soul energy gushed into its soul, the Soul Cornea siphoned it out, and transferred it through its serpentine body, allowing it to enter the blue soul.
'As I continue to develop, it would be even easier in the future.' Jyorta gazed at the second box, executing the same process as before. In a matter of hours, he had finished converting the souls of all five floating spidersincluding the souls of their Frenzy Parasitesinto his subsouls.
He then watched Atika Light open them all, allowing the Floating Spiders from within to crawl out, emitting a faint flux of psychic energyall Line Controllers. Through his Soul Cornea, he imbued in them certain instructions, watching them line up next to him on the ground.
He also finished creating ten soul tendrils in each, connecting them with their respective Brain Crystals. Finally, he was done with all preliminary preparations, noticing the time well past 11:30 AM.
Jyorta sat on the bed, occupying the spot next to Heima's hips, beckoning for the Floating Spiders to huddle at the area beneath his feet on the floor. He trailed his sight to a small box on the floor, wondering if the Brain Crystals inside it would be enough for his endeavour.
"They will be replenished the moment they drop to 50 in number," Atika Light said, having comprehended his thoughts based on his facial expression and the movement of his eyes.
She then lifted a thin bag, taking out a rectangular box from within, looking no different to a slab. She placed her index finger on its flat surface, drawing a bizarre shape, similar to a child's doodle.
The rectangular slab shone with reddish light for an instant in response to her actions, dimming considerably in the next second, stabilising at a pale red hue, almost unnoticeable unless the room turned dark.
"The Frenzy Fruits are ready to be administered when needed. You can proceed now," Atika Light waved at him, sporting a gentle smile.
"Thank you, ma'am." Jyorta took in a deep breath, bowing towards her once, feeling his eyes slightly tear up. He sniffed once, wiped the tears streaming out his eyes, and gazed at Heima, brimming with determination.
A stool was placed next to him, sporting a seating radius of 10 centimetres. Of the five Line Controller Floating Spiders stationed below, one of them flew up, and landed on it. It adjusted its body posture to suit the limited space, holding a tiny box using two legs.
It unleashed its psychic arm and Caterpillar, taking a glance at Jyorta as it gave a nod. Seeing the other party nod back, its psychic arm lifted a Brain Crystal from the tiny box and brought it towards its Caterpillar.
As the Caterpillar began to devour the Brain Crystal, a rush of psychic energy gushed into its Brain Crystal. The energy was then siphoned by the ten soul tendrils, converted into soul energy, and fed into the Floating Spider's soul.
A Soul Cornea touched it, forming a connection, siphoning out the soul energy gushing in. Taking in the view of his blue soul, Jyorta noticed a stable stream of soul energy flowing into his soul.
He brought forth his other Soul Cornea, gazing at the broiling fog before him. The blue soul silently chanted the verse imparted by the creepy-haired man, creating the two temporary Soul Corneas.
They silently wrapped themselves around a permanent Soul Cornea and formed two layers as the blue soul chanted another verse, coursing a certain influence through the two temporary Soul Corneasone that would shed off the murky substance.
The Soul Cornea flashed outside his body, arriving before the broiling fog. The blue soul paused for a moment, watching a tiny sphereformed by a cluster of elongated shapes, joined with each otherhovering in its corner, also checking the inflow of the soul energy from the other Soul Cornea.
'Start!'
The blue face opened its mouth, emitting an ink-black substance, coursing it through the Soul Cornea, turning it pitch black. The Soul Cornea touched the broiling fog, corroding the point of contact, also spreading the effect like a plague.
It slowly began to penetrate it, inching forward like an unstoppable ram, drilling through the broiling fog as it withstood its attacks. The blue soul noticed the expenditure, figuring it to be well within its limits.
Brimming with confidence, it controlled the Soul Cornea to proceed faster. After a long while, the Soul Cornea appeared on the other side, slithering its way towards the soul of Heima's Wisdom Parasite.
Once it had neared the area, it stopped itself from approaching any further, exerting its influence, shaving off the murkiness in proximity. It occasionally flashed its body, grabbing hold of the memory fragments that had their murkiness completely vaporised.
The captured memory fragments were sucked into it, allowed to course through its body, and eventually brought into the blue soul. Without further ado, they were all sent to the subsoul belonging to his Wisdom Parasite, preventing any problems from cropping up for the time being.
His Wisdom Parasite too was Nurturing, using up the body's energy reserves and converting them into psychic energy, filling up the Brain Crystal's depleted reserves.
The Soul Cornea continued in its action, exerting the influence by expending all the remaining soul energy it could divert to the task at hand. The blue soul maintained a perfect balance between the soul energy influx and the soul energy expenditure.
The size of the soul of Heima's Wisdom Parasite continued to shrink, thanks to the murkiness covering it being continuously shed off. But, its density increased, as most of the memory fragments resulting from the vaporised murkiness were absorbed back into it. This further amplified its retaliation.
The Soul Cornea braved through the retaliation thanks to the essence of corrosion covering its body, corroding all the attacks that touched it. But, this in turn further increased the expenditure in soul energy, decreasing the intensity of its influence, slowing down the process of vaporising the murkiness.
'There are no unexpected surprises; it is going well so far.' Jyorta momentarily exited the vision of his blue soul, sensing the condition of the first Floating Spider. He saw it still going strong, showing no traces of weakness, leaving him to sigh in relief. Even after it died to its body polluted from the Brain Crystal impurities, there were still four more Floating Spiders to support him in turns.
Fourteen hours passed in such a manner. Having sat in the same posture for such long hours gave him cramps. Even though he was unable to feel his legs, looking at the skin on them turning a faint shade of blue, Jyorta sported a slight smile.
'The murkiness has been completely vaporised.' He then paused for a moment, retaining the Soul Cornea in the same place as before. He massaged his legs, watching the blood flow in it resume to normalcy.
It took him almost 10 minutes for his legs to return to normal. After then, he stretched his body a bit, feeling an intense sense of hunger. Disregarding it, for the time being, he once again took in the view of his blue soul, watching the state of the soul of Heima's Wisdom Parasite through his Soul Cornea.
'Now, onto the final sprint!'