Name: William Von Ainsworth
Race: Half-Elf
Health Points: 170,300 / 282,500
Mana: 168,200 / 290,000
Job Class: Shepherd (Lvl 30)
Sub Class: Argonaut (Max)
< Strength: 55 (+545) >
< Agility: 50 (+520) >
< Vitality: 30 (+535) >
< Intelligence: 60 (+520)>
< Dexterity: 45 (+550) >
Titles:
< Giant Slayer >
< Domain Master >
< Jack Of All Trades >
—–
The Astral Worm exploded into a thousand pieces as Stormcaller and Soleil pierced its body simultaneously. Blood and flesh fell down in William’s Sea of Consciousness like rain, but the red-headed boy didn’t bat an eye and just stood perfectly still.
Soon, Stormcaller and Soleil descended towards the ground and activated their powers.
Lightning scattered into the sea, followed by roaring flames that wanted to burn everything in existence.
The Astral Worm planned to play dead and reform its body once William lowered his guard. It thought that it was a perfect plan because not many knew that the souls inside the Sea of Consciousness wouldn’t be destroyed so easily.
Unfortunately, it didn’t know that this was not the first time that William had fought inside his domain. He knew, more than anything else, the rules behind the battle of two souls.
“Curse you!” the Astral Worm hatefully roared as its body parts were incinerated to ashes. Soon, its Giant Body reformed, but there were certain parts of it that were missing. Clearly, the damage it took from William’s empowered attacks were not easy to regenerate.
The Astral Worm hatefully charged at William with the intention of bringing him down with him. This was a mistake on its part because it still thought that William had merely recovered to his former peak of power–before he drank the Soul Suppressing Serums that the Astral Worm forced him to drink at the start.
“Ice Prison,” William said and the Giant Worm was enclosed in a giant block of ice. He then raised his hand and a black sword made of pure Dark Magic appeared in front of him. William casually slashed at the block of ice, splitting it into two, killing the Astral Worm for the third time.
It didn’t take long before the Astral Worm materialized once again. However, this time, it didn’t choose to fight. Instead, it chose to flee!
William watched it with disdain and allowed it to run away for a brief period of time before uttering two words.
“Duel-Ex!”
The Astral Worm stopped mid flight and was forcefully dragged back towards the Half-Elf who had a devilish grin plastered on his face.
“You can run, but there is no escaping the inevitable.” William summoned Rhongomyniad and pointed it at the shrieking Giant Worm that was doing its best to escape. “Lightning God War Art, First Form…
“Illuminate the World! Rhongomyniad!”
A blinding beam of light erupted from the tip of the spear and enveloped the Astral Worm in its entirety.
A few seconds later, the Astral Worm reappeared once again. Half of its body was already gone and failed to regenerate.
“F-Forgive me! Please, have mercy!” the Astral Worm pleaded. “You can treat me as your subordinate! I promise, I won’t betray you! If you like, you can even make me your slave! I don’t care, just please, spare me! Have mercy!”
William summoned his bow and quiver. He then nocked the Holy arrow on his bow and took aim.
“When your victims pleaded to you for mercy, did you spare them?” William asked. “You didn’t, right?
“Lightning God War Art, Eight Form…” William sneered. “Exterminate, Khyrselakatos!”
“Nooooooooooo!” The Astral Worm tried to run away once again, but it was already too late.
The Holy Arrow arrow multiplied not in the hundreds, but a thousand replicas and descended on the Giant Worm’s body like rain.
William didn’t stop his barrage and kept on firing one arrow after another.
Thousands…
Tens of thousands…
Hundreds of Thousands…
Stormcaller and Soleil joined the fray and turned William’s Sea of Consciousness into a stormy world of lightning and fire.
William’s domain was near collapse, but he didn’t care. The end was already at hand, and he had already accepted his fate.
“N-No more, I beg you,” the Astral Worm begged, this time, only its Centennial Core remained.
William tilted his head as a mischievous smile appeared on his face.
“You like to devour souls, right?” William gripped the Centennial Core firmly in his hand and smiled. “Did you ever wonder if there would come a day when your own soul would be devoured? No? I bet you didn’t think that far.”
‘System, switch the experience points allocation to the Shepherd Job Class.’
< Experience allocation has been successfully changed! >
The Centennial Core trembled in William’s hand as it sensed a bad premonition. It immediately struggled continuously to break free from William’s hold, but the Half-Elf had it in a firm grip.
“Core Absorption.”
< Core Absorption Initiated! >
“Nooooooooooooooooooooooo! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Spare meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
The dying screams of the Astral Worm were like music to William’s ears.
He watched as the Centennial Core slowly, but surely, shrink in size because William told the system to absorb it as slowly as possible. He wanted the Soul Devouring Worm to experience what its victims had felt during the last moments of their lives.
Two minutes later, the core was absorbed completely, bringing an end to the Astral’s Worm reign of terror in the world of Hestia.
< Ding! >
< Gained Exp: 950,000 >
< Congratulations! You have slayed a Centennial Beast! >
< Special Monster First Kill Bonus Exp: 500,000 >
—–
< Ding! >
< You have absorbed a Centennial Core >
< Gained Exp: 950,000 >
< The Shepherd Job Class had reached its Max Level! >
< Would you like to Advance to the next Job Class? Yes / No >
—–
“Sorry, Sir David,” William sighed as he softly landed on the ground. “I guess I will not be able to see the advancement of the Shepherd Job Cla…”
William wasn’t able to finish his sentence because the effect of the Jack Of All Trades had ended. His body fell backwards and laid on the ground without moving. All the strength in his body had left him, but his consciousness remained.
The Half-Elf stared at the sky that was slowly crumbling apart.
‘I guess, the end of a world would look similar to this scene,’ William thought as his eyes slowly closed. ‘I’m sorry, everyone. This is as far as I can go.’
It was at that moment when he vaguely felt a pair of hands wrapped around his body. Due to his current state, William was only able to open his eyes half-way.
“Don’t worry, everything will be alright,” a familiar voice said softly. “You owe me one, Will.”
‘Snot-nosed-pansy?’ William stared at Ian who was carrying him towards the underground lake. He didn’t expect that when he opened his eyes, he would be looking at the real world, instead of his inner one.
Without any warning, Ian jumped into the lake, carrying William in his arms.
His body glowed and transformed right before William’s eyes.
Not long after, William saw a girl with long hair that was as blue as the ocean. An unfamiliar, yet beautiful face appeared before him. Even so, he instinctively knew who it was. No matter what form Ian took, William believed that he would be able to identify the snot-nosed-pansy even if his mortal enemy were to turn into a mermaid.
A pair of purple eyes stared back at him, and they were looking at him in an affectionate manner, which was completely different from the gaze that Ian always gave him.
William stared at the otherworldly beauty in front of him and recalled the warning that Belle had given him not long ago.
While the Half-Elf was lost in thoughts, Ian’s face moved closer and gave him a kiss. She transferred air into his body as she dove deeper towards the center of the lake.
After passing the Trial of Enlightenment, Ian gained the ability to temporarily unlock the seal that was placed on her by the Goddess Astrid. William had already lost consciousness at that point because his soul was nearing its limit.
When Ian finally arrived at their destination, she used her spiritual power to temporarily maintain William’s current condition. After that was done, she placed a hand over her chest and started to sing.
Ian sang an otherworldly song and the magic power within the lake swirled around her and William.
The underground Lake that was hidden in the Magic Division was not an ordinary lake. It was the exposed part of a Ley Line that supplied magic power to the Royal Academy. Ian, in her mermaid form, had the ability to convert Magic power into Spirit power, and use it however she wanted.
When the battle in the Grand Coliseum started, she assigned her duty to Brutus and Bruno and went to find Est and Isaac.
Luckily, she also had the ability to sense the location of her twin and headed towards the garden in haste. After Carter was defeated in William’s Sea of Consciousness, his hold over the students vanished as well.
When Est and Isaac recovered their sanity, they immediately realized the terrible things that they had done. Ian arrived just in time to see the two of them enter the secret passage to the lake and hurriedly followed behind them.
After the trial in the Kyrintor Mountains, Ian was able to sense spiritual power once again. Because of this, she was able to tell that William’s soul was on the verge of collapse the moment she laid her eyes on him.
Ian didn’t waste any moment and immediately came to his rescue.
Dense spiritual power swirled and gathered around Ian and William. Ian continued to sing until she reached the limit of her control over her spiritual powers. A blue gem, the size of a pigeon’s egg, appeared on Ian’s chest and started to absorb the spiritual energy swirling around them.
The dense spiritual energy flowed towards the gem on her chest, as if it was a small blackhole that was greedily sucking in everything around it. Soon, all the spiritual energy had been absorbed and Ian’s singing stopped.
“You better take responsibility after you’ve recovered,” Ian said with a hint of exhaustion in her voice. “I will give you the most precious treasure of the Mermaid Race.”
Ian braced herself as she plucked the blue gem out from her chest. Blue blood gushed out as soon as the gem was taken out from her body, but she ignored it.
The blue-haired beauty endured the pain and pressed the gem over William’s own chest. She watched as the gem embedded itself into William’s skin and merged with his body. Only after the gem disappeared from her sight, did she manage to breathe a sigh of relief.
The wound on her chest gradually healed by itself, but the luster in Ian’s blue hair, purple eyes, and body dimmed as well.
What she had given William was half of her spiritual core. In essence, she had given him half of her heart. It was the only way that Ian could think of to prevent William’s Spiritual World from being destroyed completely.
“Sleep and recover,” Ian whispered softly. “Quarrel with me again after you do. I will be waiting for you, Will.”
Ian leaned close to kiss the unconscious Half-Elf one more time to give him some air to breathe. She then swam towards the surface, where her love rivals were anxiously waiting for the red-headed boy’s return. Deep inside her heart, Ian hoped that William would treat her better when he woke up.
When she had seen William lying on the ground, dying from having his Spiritual World destroyed, she finally realized that the feelings she had for the boy were just as strong as the feelings that Est and Wendy had for him.
Because of this, she decided to throw caution into the wind and let her true feelings burst forth. As to what the consequences of her actions would be, she didn’t care. After all, she would make the Half-Elf in her embrace take full responsibility for getting into a situation where she was forced to give him her heart.
