A Forgotten Hero - Volume 1 Chapter 34 Escaping The Book.

The second crystal’s sudden appearance had surprised Jack. It had the exact same shape as the first and gave off the same aura. He retrieved the crystal from his pocket and grabbed the one floating.

The crystals seemed to glow brighter as the distance between them reduced. However before Jack could put them together, they began to shake violently passing intense pain onto Jack! He loosened his hold on the crystals resulting in both to repel instantly, the two crystals smashed into opposite walls as if trying to run away from the other. The backlash force caused Jack to fly backwards, but he released his demonic wings to regain balance midair.

‘Hmm, it seems these crystals appear when I fulfill a certain condition for the book. How many crystals are left? Is this the next trial? Do I have to force them together?’ Jack began to piece together everything that transpired moments ago. He came up with some theories about the crystals and the way this book works. Sadly, he couldn’t dwell into these thoughts for long since his time was running out.

He picked up the crystals, making sure his hands were not too close to each other.

‘The closer they are to one another, the more pain I will feel…’ With this thought, Jack tried to slam his hands together once again, but before they touched, the crystals began to shake violently and glowed brightly causing Jack immense pain. It felt like high voltage electricity was circulating throughout his entire body.

‘Tch, this pain is nothing compared to attempting to say my damn name!’ Jack moved his hands closer, slowly resisting the repulsion and pain from the crystals.

The crystals got closer and closer, they glowed brighter and brighter, and shook more and more. The pain advanced from an electric shock to feeling his body burn from the inside. If it was any average person, they wouldn’t be able to hold on even 10 seconds from the crystal pain but Jack, who has experienced pain throughout his life, finds it a nuisance rather than a challenge.

After a few minutes of conflict, using all his might, Jack smashed the two crystals together causing his entire view to be blinded by purple. When Jack regained his sight, he found himself to be standing in a new location.

There was nothing around him, it was completely empty. All that existed was the plain purple ground he was standing on. Jack looked up but only saw dark purple clouds swallowing the sky.

‘I still have more to do?’ Jack sighed, looking at his surroundings. Compared to the outside world, he had been trapped for several days in the book, trying to figure out the trials to move on. Slowly, he had started getting tired of it.

It’s not that he was horrible at solving puzzles, it’s just that he got to a point where all his problems can be solved through power. Jack is intelligent but is driven more by emotions, and many times had to figure out dungeon puzzles or learn various knowledge like crafting, medicine, smithing etc. He has had to form countless plans for defence or offence with the other heroes or adventurers in his weaker days. In his prime, he reached a stage where he was more driven by emotions and it led to his calculative side being suppressed, making him feel the need of rushing when a life is in danger or ignoring obvious signs from those he considered as friends. To him, he was just too strong so who could possible think of killing him.

However, he was no longer as emotional from before. His calculative side had finally begun to shine once again, reducing his emotions to the suppressed end.

“Congratulations hero,” A cold yet pleasant voice sounded through the entire purple plain. It was that same voice that woke Jack from his slumber and talked to him briefly before being sent inside the books tale.

“Eh? Have I escaped?” Jack asked.

“Yes you have Hero. You have shown the quality of strength when you defeated the ice demon lord’s son, the quality of knowledge through reading the useless and useful piles of books and the quality of determination when you merged them together despite the pain. You have successfully completed the first part of the ice demon lords heritage and are qualified to attempt rest.”

Jack lowered his head, inspecting his body and the land beneath him, “Sowhere am I? Why have I not returned to my body?”

“Don’t you want to know what your body is up to? While you have been busy in the book, your body is currently taken over by a fragment of the ice demon lords soul. Your power has risen thanks to this soul and is currently fighting different powerhouses of the Tatis Kingdom. Don’t you want to watch and see this era’s strong warriors? Before you returned to your body, I snatched you here, hero.”

“I see” Jack muttered, “alright, show me.”

He was curious about what his body was doing in the real world so he took this opportunity to find out. A large blue ice ball appeared, slowly becoming transparent and showing a first person view of Jack. Right now, he was able to see what his body can see.

————————————————————————————

(Back in the real world)

BAM!

“Jack” slams against a building roof covered in purple ice. During the time Jack was in the book, his body that’s been possessed has been in combat with the Tatis kingdoms guards and the workers of the “silver” store. Furthermore, a few high levelled adventurers have joined in the fight to suppress Jack.

‘Ice barrage’ the soul, the one controlling Jack, extended his hand. A purple magic circle with a snowflake in the center shone, creating numerous ice shards and releasing them towards his opponents. The torrents of ice shards caught those around the soul by surprise, giving them no time to react. The ground began to be covered in blood as many adventurers and guards suffered heavy injuries from the fast torrent of ice shards.

“Dammit…this monster,” One of the guards groaned in disbelief that even with a group of level 50+ guards and adventurers with the support from the experts in “silver” they have yet to suppress the soul.

They looked up at the vicious beast, grunting in pain as their attacks seemed to bounce off his body, making no damage but in all actuality, the soul was running out of energy and the body was beginning to wear out from all the damage it sustained. Honestly, this soul had gotten lucky as it had Jack’s body, as any normal body wouldn’t be able to hold its vast amount of power. Jack was a special case since his body had adapted to hold a vast amount of power so the fragment of power from the soul could be contained. This allowed the soul to use his full strength without any consequences.

The soul knew he couldn’t continue this fight and so froze his feet in purple ice, using its strength to jump through the next rooftop.

The uninjured experts began their chase, shouting spells and commands.

‘Earth boulder!’

‘Sand punch!’

‘Shatter beam!’

A variety of earth element secures aim at the soul, ambushing it with a variety of attacks from a large boulder to brown energy beams but the soul either dodged or blocked with a wall of purple ice.

BAM!!

BOOM!!

POW!!

After a few minutes of chasing, the soul released his remaining energy into a large burst of purple mist, blinding the pursuers. Using this moment, the soul escaped from their sight causing them to lose him.

Somewhere in the Tatis Kingdom.

*huff huff* The soul trudged through an alleyway, carefully making his way through without making noise to attract the experts.

“Mister…you’re causing many problems,”

The soul, thinking he was scott free, heard a soft, calming voice behind him. The soul immediately turned into a guard position from sensing that his life is in danger by a small, blond, red eyed girl.

Yes, it was Zurie Selene.