Sylver Seeker

Chapter 52: Can’t Play Dead

Sadly, unlike in a few of the books Sylver read, neither Nautis, nor the teleporting demonic warrior, stood in place discussing what they were doing, why they were doing it, and who they were waiting for.

Nautis just gave Sylver work, mostly placing crystals along the carved up line, and teleported away from time to time, while the warrior watched over him.

I dont mean to pry, but what is all this for, sir? Sylver asked, lowering the amount of fear in his voice by a small amount, since he had demonstrated his usefulness by this point in time.

Keep your mouth shut and keep working. And dont try asking the guy in red anything either. The demonic warrior said, a slight edge of fear in his voice.

Right Nautis is over level 100 Hes afraid of him

Sylver suppressed a smile at the thought of anyone being afraid of Nautis. But then again, how many people have seen him get pummeled into a coma, covered in his own blood and excrement, only to be healed and pummeled all over again.

You cant be afraid of something you dont respect, and Sylver didnt respect Nautis as a man, as a mage, or as a human being. To bring so much suffering to people, just because it got out of hand.

Even thinking about it now nearly caused Sylver to lose his temper. It would be one thing if he didnt care, it would be understandable if he knew exactly what he was doing but did it anyway, but the plain idiocy with which he did it...

Only the fact that Sylver was purposely keeping his heart at a steady pace stopped him from losing his temper. He remained calm and continued to slowly put crystal after crystal on the floor, each time being careful to mark every single one with at least a drop of his blood should he need it.

Considering the hole in his stomach, it was actually really easy to keep getting his hands bloodied and dripping all over the floor. The lightheadedness passed a while ago, and at this point Sylver was having to keep the wound open to keep it dripping blood.

At the rate he was going, it would be only a little under a few hours until he was done. And as he was right now, all he could do was stall and wait for the cats and reinforcements to arrive. The barrier was powerful, but it wasnt perfect. If Sylver wasnt in a rush and had taken a little more time to observe it, he was fairly certain he could probably find a big enough fault to tear it open.

This one is wrong, sir, Sylver said, pointing at one of the sigils carved into the floor, as the demonic warrior teleported right next to him. He was now further proving his value by helping them, because he was a coward.

How would you know? The demonic warrior asked the perfectly valid question.

I have a perk that lets me check the validity of frameworks. And while the whole thing has a solid 98%, this area, in particular, is a complete 0. Which means whatever it is youre doing is going to fail because of it. Sylver said, keeping his heart rate perfectly steady and keeping his eyes glued to the bunched up sigils he was pointing to.

The demonic warrior scratched his chin and stared at the side of Sylvers head.

Are you sure? Because Na- because the other guy will get really pissy if you turn out to be wrong, the demonic warrior asked, looking around as if afraid the man in question would hear him.

Im sure, sir. My perk has never been wrong yet! Sylver said with a slightly higher-pitched voice. Now he was cautiously happy because if he managed to properly help them, they might let him go.

To Sylvers surprise, the demonic warrior just disappeared. Sylver waited where he was for about 5 seconds before walking to the very edge of the framework he had just filled up with crystals and using a darkness coated finger, carved a small adjustment into it.

He made it back to where he was when the demonic warrior left and stood there in wait for another half minute. As every single second went by Sylver regretted not taking the chance to do something, but the risk of discovery was too high. At least with the distortion inside the cave, he didnt need to worry about someone leaving some sort of surveillance spell over him.

Its a good thing the spell that made the tracking needles is refined enough that this level of distortion wasnt enough to stop it from working.

An entire two minutes passed and Sylver was still just standing there like an idiot, waiting for them to return. They couldnt have let down their guard so much just because he was being cooperative.

Im just a level 40 mage... What could I possibly do? He suddenly realized.

Sylver walked up to Yeva and sent Dai, Sho, and their 40 shades into her shadow since taking her with him wasnt an option right now, and if he tried he would just be giving away who he was here to save.

With a sprint, he jumped off the platform and used his robe to grab onto the cave wall. Pressing his hand against the stone Sylver manipulated it out of the way and crawled inside the hole he made. He closed it up behind himself and slowly started to move upwards.

If he couldnt see shit with his mana sense because of the distortion, it was ludicrous to think the demonic warrior or whoever the third person was would. Not to mention the stone felt solid enough that it would probably block Ki or whatever that warrior may use.

Sylver pressed his ear up against the stone towards the platform and tried to listen in. Someone had returned a moment after he finished closing up the hole.

...just here barrier inside somewhere a voice spoke, too quietly for Sylver to hear properly.

There was another voice that sounded like it was Nautis. And a third new one that was too high pitched to belong to either of them. It sounded like it belonged to a woman.

Sylver heard a loud bang, before a hand pierced through the wall he had his ear against, grabbing him by the face and pulling him out of the recently formed rubble in one swift motion.

The sharp stone edged sliced open Sylvers torso, shoulders, and arms and left him bleeding out as he landed like a limp doll back on the platform. A foot nudged him over so he was on his back, and pressed down onto his chest.

Why exactly are you letting a little rat run around unchecked? the new voice asked. Sylver tried to reach up with his hands to wipe the blood out of his eyes, but felt Nautiss magic keep them pinned down against the floor. He couldnt see a thing right now.

Nautis started to speak but was interrupted, That was a rhetorical question. Didnt you already learn your lesson about underestimating low-level mages? The voice asked, as the boot on Sylvers chest pressed hard and he could feel his already damaged ribs bending under the weight.

Wait! He said he found a mistake in the framework. the demonic warrior shouted, causing the pressure on Sylvers chest to release the smallest amount.

Of course he did! Hes trying to make himself important to you so youll spare him. Honestly, you should have either left him up on the wall or just killed him if he got annoying. Fucking morons, both of you, the woman said, pressing back down onto Sylvers chest and causing one rib to snap completely and causing Sylver to gasp at the pain.

Cant we at least hear him-

A kick across the jaw from the unseen womans foot caused Sylvers head to turn to the left and his neck to snap.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Health: -57/300Stamina: 0/150MP: 691/1000

Health Regen: 0/MStamina Regen: 0/MMP Regen: 0/M

Sylvers eyes opened a moment before he hit the ground. He landed quite softly and lay on his back and stared upwards.

To his left was a giant stone pillar, going up so high Sylver couldnt even begin to see the end of it. To his left was a stone wall, also disappearing far above the range of his sight.

All around him corpses lay all over the place pierced by various kinds of weapons, including Sylvers polished daggers and his small black darts. Sylver got up from the ground and walked in a complete circle around the pillar, collecting his daggers and spikes as he did so. Opening and closing his hand a few times, he found that the distortion didnt reach all the way down here.

Sylver summoned what shades were still in one piece, and had them go down as much as possible to see for how long these bodies had piled up.

There were things moving at the very bottom. Even though the shades couldnt see to be able to find the bottom as it just kept going deeper and deeper.

Like a disturbed ants nest, the things down below started to climb their way upwards, pulling the corpses above them down as they slithered through them. Sylvers footing gave out and he nearly fell down, before jumping to the side and attaching himself to the wall with his tattered robe.

[Zombie (Warrior) 13][HP-200][MP-20]

The creature had rotten yellow flesh, most of it held in place only by the armor it was wearing, its eyes a glowing red, and the sword in its hand rusted and chipped to the point it didnt look like it even held an edge. Sylver allowed it to take 2 steps before Fen appeared behind it and pierced his rapier through the creatures skull, causing the blade to smoothly slide from underneath the back of its head, through the spinal cord, and out of its only functioning eye.

A black smoke escaped from the newly introduced hole, and floated harmlessly around the floor, before spiraling around Sylvers leg and getting sucked into the hole in his stomach.

Health: -49/300Stamina: 0/150MP: 671/1000

Health Regen: 0/MStamina Regen: 0/MMP Regen: 0/M

Sylver had the shades guide him towards the area with the highest density of moving targets, and crawled along the side of the wall to get to them. He crawled up a few meters higher, and sat and waited. The zombies came out from beneath the pile of bodies, and walked around aimlessly.

Sylver was perplexed by the reaction for a moment, before remembering one of his traits made mindless undead ignore him.

If he could feel anything right now, he would have smiled at how convenient this was.

Sylver released the robe and dropped down into the pile of zombies below, grabbing two at a time and draining them for every drop of health or mana they had. Thankfully he was right, and only the ones he was actively attacking reacted to him, and attempted to claw at his arms and bite his face and neck, but were stopped by Sylvers robe wrapping itself around his body and fluffing up defensively.

In barely a few minutes of this, he felt his heart restart and fell down to the floor clutching at his chest.

A burning sensation spread out from his chest and when it got to his lungs Sylver couldnt take a deep enough breath. Winded beyond words and all his muscles contracting and burning Sylver curled into a ball and waited for the pain of rebirth to subside.

When the burning finally reached his fingertips and toes Sylver took a wonderful breath of putrid acrid air and choked on the smell alone.

Health: 4/300Stamina: 1/150MP: 301/1000

Health Regen: 4.50/MStamina Regen: 2.25/MMP Regen: 100.00/M

With life, came even more pain.

Sylver had neglected the hole in his stomach while he was dead as he didnt feel the pain it was causing, and now had to work double-time to seal it off with darkness. His left knee was shattered and had to be pressed from all sides with darkness for the pain to subside to an acceptable level. Thankfully it was still mostly functional.

He was also missing his pinkie and ring finger on his left hand, but didnt know when he had lost them.

Finally, he very slowly moved his head left and right and felt a shiver run down his spine and left arm as it cracked back into place.

Going by how little the backlash was, Sylver didnt think he was dead for more than a few minutes. And looking around he couldnt see Yevas or any of the womens above corpses anywhere. There was a whole layer of dead pregnant women a few meters below, covered on top with a bunch of corpses with identical holes in their stomachs to the one Sylver had in his.

Sylvers shades shoved the zombies that were getting too close to him away, and Sylver walked around the pillar as he thought of what to do and let the darkness gather and build inside his body.

Among other things, he decided that the woman that killed him was going to die first. And because she was actually smart enough to kill him without letting him so much as utter a word, it would be a quick and respectful death. Maybe not respectful, considering he wasnt going to fight her head-on, but quick.

Quick-ish, there was a good chance she would put up a fight.

As Sylver let the black and yellow clouds of darkness escape from his mouth and fall down into the giant pile of corpses below, he considered what the system was going to think of what he was about to do.

*

*

*

How much longer? The woman asked.

Give me a few minutes. That mage added something, Im sure of it. Or maybe he was right, and there really was an error where he said there was. Its a shame we cant ask him, Nautis complained, which was followed by a loud slapping sound and a flare of mana strong enough that Sylver almost felt it from down below.

Im starting to see why you lost the crystal mines to a child. The woman said, walking around the platform and repeatedly tapping her foot. Wheres this one from? The woman asked, poking Yeva in the stomach.

Thats actually one of the more successful ones. Shes the first one that isnt carrying a stillborn. This one got the Leyton books right? the demonic warrior asked, walking over to Yeva and placing a hand over her stomach.

No, if youre talking about the one with black hair hers was the DaNerto. Which is strange because that one usually ends with either suicide or they die trying to defend themselves. Scared the shit out of the collecters the first time it happened. Crazy fuck that DaNerto, makes you exercise using the entire soul and everyone thinks that means you should attack using the entire soul too. Nautis explained, bringing his head back down to continue feeling around the floor looking for any mistakes.

The woman whistled a tune for a while before walking over to Nautis and looking over his shoulder.

I dont mean to rush you, but could you please hurry up. Theres a level 200 mage right outside the barrier, in the process of dismantling it. The woman said, placing a hand on Nautis shoulder and massaging it gently.

If that was meant to be encouraging, it failed, as Nautis was both terrified and disgusted by her. That a mage of his caliber was reduced to this. Working with demon worshipers and witches.

First the endless torture at the hands of that Novva fucker, then the endless torture at the hands of those Cord fuckers, and now he was being treated like a dog on a leash.

Nautis kept his head down and continued pointlessly looking for the alteration that wasnt there. The kid was too frightened to do anything but run away. Now that he was blind, Nautis gained a new appreciation for the tones people used, at least until he got his hands on an enhanced mana sight skill. The enhanced sense of smell, on the other hand, was something he could do without.

Especially since all the places hes been made to work in lately absolutely reeked of carrion. Which was disgusting even when he could still see, but now just thinking about it made his stomach churn. Even now he accidentally focused on it and could have sworn the smell was stronger than before.

Have you found the-

NO, I HAVENT FOUND IT. We dont have time to do it properly, just give it a go as it is, and lets get the fuck out of here. Nautis shouted enraged and got up from crawling on his knees and having to touch the blood-covered crystals.

Nautis felt the tattoo on his neck flare to life, tightening his throat in on itself.

Never speak to me that way. The woman said with an icy coldness.

His throat relaxed after a few seconds of being unable to breathe, and he fell to the floor clutching at his neck and taking slow deep breaths.

For a few seconds Nautis seriously considered just leaving both of them here and running away. He could still go back to the crystal mines, although he didnt know if he would be able to make it out. Or if it was safe for him to do so, the Cord very likely settled in after he had been caught and taken.

Can anyone else hear that? Nautis asked, lowering his head down to the floor again and pressing his ear against it.

Hear what? the demonic warrior asked.

It sounds like someone is digging.

*

*

*

[Zombie (Petty) Raised!]

[Raise Zombie (II) Proficiency increased to 91%!]

These zombies are perfect! Theres way more than 300 of them! You inconsistent piece of fucking-

Sylver swallowed his thoughts before the buzzing even fully started, and closed his mouth, and gave the darkness a few more seconds to settle down.

From up above the floor might have looked like it was liquid. With the uncountable amount of zombies standing around and wobbling on their barely functional feet, standing on the shoulders of other zombies, which were standing on even more zombies, if they werent standing in complete darkness their shiny blood coated skulls would make the whole thing look like a bunch of cherries floating in water.

Getting them organized took a bit of direction, since Sylver had to be very quiet given how well sound traveled around here. He could hear the people upstairs arguing as if they were standing right next to him. He was also surprised he didnt think to check underneath the barrier, where it turned out to have an opening to drop bodies down into.

Thankfully Nautis was seemingly the one in charge of getting the framework carved into the floor to work, but Sylver wasnt getting the feeling he understood exactly what he was doing. If anything it sounded like the woman was the one who was in charge. So why was she leaving everything to the blind mage?

But on the bright side reinforcements from the Cord had arrived, and were already knocking on their door.

Thank you, Sylver whispered, as Reg handed him a mask and Sylver put it on his face and tightened it in place using the robes hood.

Sylver asked the three shades in charge of the zombies if everything was ready at the bottom, and got a yes in response. Although the bottom was relative in this case, even without the interference reaching this far down the shades went down for almost 10 minutes and still didnt find the bottom of this donut-shaped hole.

The only reason all the corpses had gathered here was that there was a small area where a boulder had fallen and blocked the way. One corpse fell on top of it and two more fell on that, and over time they built up into a reverse pyramid situation of dead bodies, that created a circular platform of bones for Sylver and his zombies to stand on.

Sylver cracked his knuckles and was reminded once again he was missing 2 fingers. Lifting his arms into the air was the signal for the zombies down below to start moving and they very slowly started to crawl up the walls and pillar.

They picked up the pace as Sylver ordered them into a better rhythm and before he knew it, they were climbing up fast enough that he was feeling air resistance. Hand over foot, the ones in the middle using the ones on the sides like ladders, the ones at the very bottom climbing through the middle and towards the top, creating a centipede-like motion compromised out of hundreds of bodies and thousands of limbs.

Sylver remained at the very top as the zombies essentially kept throwing him higher and higher as they climbed, helped along by the shades when the rock was too smooth to properly grasp and utilizing their finger bones as if they were climbing spikes when necessary.

Sylver sat on the back of a body that was almost completely undamaged and reached inside of it, grasping its dead heart and pumping it full of darkness and mana. When Sylver pulled his hand out, the body was already faintly glowing and he held it under the armpits and got ready as the very faintest amount of light started to be visible at the very top of the pillar.

When Sylver saw movement up above, he gave up on any attempt at stealth, and ran up the wall dragging the body behind him.

He launched it into the air, right as he himself went over the edge and ran towards Yeva. The body made a faint popping sound as it exploded with a bright flash of light and engulfed the whole entire area in a cloud of darkness.

Sylver kept his eyes shut and held his breath as he continued to run towards Yeva. A small pop off to the side of him, followed by the sound of someone screaming confirmed that Nautis was near the edge of the platform. Sylver left untying Yeva to the shades and launched his body towards the source of the noise using the robe to speed himself up.

He could feel Nautiss soul right in front of him, reached out with arms to grab the man and cut off their only means of escape and barely a second away from-

A heel descended onto Sylvers back and he lost teeth from how hard his chin hit the floor beneath him. Only the robe fluffing up around his head stopped the kick that followed from breaking his neck once again. The robe threw Sylver backward, as another kick right in the stomach sent him flying further back than he had intended.

-got it! Nautis shouted, bypassing Sylvers anti teleportation corpse, while Sylver couldnt stand up straight from all the damage done to his torso. The darkness cleared up the tiniest amount, but more than enough for Sylver to see Nautis and the woman disappear. Her face was completely covered by the darkness, but Sylver saw the smile on her bright red lips from here.

The zombies finally reached the top by now, and Sylvers MP was overflowing from how many were being killed by the demonic warrior. Sylver ran towards the source of the noise of fighting and the flowing MP and just barely dodged the open palm uppercut, the robe trying to grab at the warriors hand, which just slid away as the warrior killed another 10 zombies.

Sylver was thrown back again, as a shockwave of air completely wiped away the cloud of darkness he had spread and he very nearly hit one of the large lead nails pinning a man to the wall.

This is the one you were running for right! The demonic warriors voice called out.

Sylver saw him standing right in the middle of the platform, holding a finger towards Yevas throat.

Call your zombies off! The demonic warrior ordered.

Sylver grit his teeth slightly, but made the zombies on the platform and climbing up the walls move back down to where they came from.

Sylver reached out with his hand towards the man right next to him and stored up a tiny amount of health and stamina for this next part.

Now come down here so I can-

The demonic warrior didnt get a chance to finish his sentence as Sylvers robe tore open from the explosion it was trying to contain and a tiny dart launched out of it, piercing the man through the finger, as simultaneously several shades appeared all around him and ripped Yeva away from his momentarily lax grip.

Another explosion behind Sylvers back sent him flying towards the demonic warrior, who with a single wave of his hand sent another shockwave of air and pushed Sylver back towards the wall.

As he had done with all the other women tied to wooden pillars during the few seconds of the blackout, Yeva was gently thrown at the giant pile of zombies and pulled deep below to be hidden away from the demonic warrior.

Sylvers mana replenished completely as the warrior destroyed all 32 shades with a wave of his hand, and threw Sylvers dart back at him, fast enough that it embedded itself deep into the wall behind his head.

Come down here! Lets end this like men! The demonic warrior screamed. Sylver couldnt see any changes, but sheer killing intent the man was emanating nearly made him stumble.

Sylver didnt like his odds against a man with twice his level, and over 30 times his HP, but didnt have a choice. If he jumped down into the zombies below, Yeva would be in danger. And it wouldnt be worth the couple of seconds he would buy using them, since he didnt have anything that could one-shot the man.

Unless...

Fine! I accept your challenge! Sylver shouted back, jumping down from the wall onto the stone platform.

The demonic warrior didnt move from where he was standing, and Sylver too reached behind himself as if he were about to grab something.

A thin black staff appeared in his hand and was covered completely in bright glowing yellow cracks. Sylver spun the staff in his hands and with the sound of a sword being drawn, a single curved blade protruded out of the tip of it, extending longer and longer until it was almost as long as the staff was.

This is called the Forbidden Unholy Scythe of Life, Death and Love! I can only use this once every 10 years, consider yourself fortunate to meet your end by such a legendary weapon only available to those who have mastered the art of death. Sylver said with an ever so slightly maniacal tone, spinning the scythe around in his hands, the blur of black and yellow turning into a flat circle as the demonic warrior stayed in his defensive position.

An explosion from behind Sylver launched him forward towards the warrior.

The warriors gaze was fixed expertly on the constantly moving and unpredictably spinning blade, his muscles all taut and his mana and stamina depleting by the second as time itself seemed to stop in his eyes.

He predicted the path of the blade perfectly, prepared to catch it with a clap like motion and

The scythe shattered into nothingness the second he made contact with it, leaving behind a blinding cloud of black. Before he could realize what was going on Sylver was already on the other side of the platform and disappeared down into the massive pile of zombies.

The demonic warrior was about to follow him but felt something cold in his chest and looked down to see a thin dagger sticking out of where his heart was. Only because of the blood coating it, could the demonic warrior see the extremely translucent weapon.

The demonic warrior pulled it out and clapped himself on the chest, healing the wound.

Except it didnt heal.

And he was now profusely bleeding out, each pump of his heart tearing away bigger and bigger chunks of his HP. He walked in a circle for a couple of seconds, unable to understand what was going on, before falling down to the floor and slowly losing consciousness.

Sylver peeked out of the giant pile of zombies and walked back onto the platform. He slowly approached the demonic warrior, each time seeing his HP drop by the 100s.

But I caught it The demonic warrior said weakly.

You did. But Im a liar and a cheat, and you should never trust a word your opponent says in a fight. Youve got about 45 seconds left, tell me who the woman with Nautis was. And where those vanishing clones came from. Sylver said, walking closer to the demonic warrior, but being cautious and keeping a safe distance.

I dont understand. The demonic warrior said, his eyes starting to close.

Tell me the womans name and Ill explain it. Sylver offered. He had literal seconds to live and the man was being stupid with them.

The warrior thought about it for an entire 5 seconds, as each second blood quite literally exploded out of his chest and sprayed all over the floor.

Poppy. DaBatstoi. Thats her name. The demonic warrior said, as Sylver picked up his bloodied dagger from the floor and made it disappear in his hand.

I used the giant scythe to distract you, and stabbed you in the heart with a translucent dagger. You were so focused on it, you completely missed it. Speed doesnt mean anything when youre standing still. And all my weapons leave wounds that take a great deal of mana and time to heal. But you should feel honored. I was afraid enough of you to take you seriously. Sylver said, as the demonic warrior just stared at the barely visible dagger. Even the blood turned translucent thanks to the skills effect.

All my training. Everything Ive done. My whole life

You get used to it. Ive killed better men than you with much less honorable means. And men who-

[Human/??? (Demonic Warrior) Defeated!][Due to defeating an enemy 40 levels above you, additional experience will be awarded!]

[Necromancer] has reached level 41!+5AP

Nevermind. Sylver finished, not wanting to waste his breath talking to a corpse.

Fen, go get everyone back up here, Sylver said to the shade, as he liquified and disappeared over the edge of the platform. Sylver sat down on the floor and placed a hand on the nameless warriors chest.

His skin started to flake and dry up, as the wound in Sylvers stomach closed up and grew muscles and were covered by skin, popped his ribs back in place, and undid the damage the womans kick had done to his other organs as well as fixing his cracked teeth.

Poppy DaBatstoi Sylver said to himself as his pinkie and ring finger started to grow back.

The woman who stole away Ciege and Yeva. A woman who was a noble. Most likely with a nice big family

On the bright side, I did get a chance to find out what happens when I die. Although I forgot how bad the emotional dampening is. Was this my own mana bringing me back to life, or the effect of the system?

Sylver removed his hand from the dried-up body, but stayed down. All of the women were still unconscious, but the important thing was that Yeva was unharmed and alive. Having poison inside her body was certainly not great, but she should be fine since the healer will be here any minute.

Sylver turned around just in time to see Tolga followed behind by the cats assigned to him, along with Whiskers sitting on Tolgas shoulder.

I feel like Ive seen this before, Tolga said, teleporting right next to Sylver and helping him off the floor.

I feel like youre mistaken, Sylver answered, having the zombies help the shades move the remaining women back up onto the platform.

The boy is safe, hes being treated by one of the healers. There was a large group of men locked up in cages down below, we are still trying to figure out who all of them are. Whiskers said, jumping down from Tolgas shoulder and staring at Yeva who was in the middle of being healed.

Good. Im happy to hear everything worked out well. And since youre here anyway, theres someone Id like you to find for me Sylver said, whispering in Whiskers ear.

*

*

*

After Tolga teleported the three of them to Cieges and Yevas home, they asked Sylver to stay and sat him down on the same table and chair their imposters had rejected him.

Are you sure? Because you shouldnt do this out of fear, Im going to make sure they dont try coming after you again. Sylver asked, looking down at the two signed contracts in front of him.

Were sure. Both of them answered in unison, as they had the last 4 times Sylver asked the question.

Then I will let Lola know she is to expect a Soul Weaver to enter her employ, and tell Salgok the good news regarding his apprentice, Sylver said with a calm and collected smile.

His calm and collected facade lasted all of 10 seconds, before he burst into tears and couldnt contain his joy and relief any longer.