To the Depth of Abyss

Chapter 176: Sharing Breath

Ars tried to open his heavy eyes. He got up with no small effort.

"God-fking damnit!"

His body felt very stiff.

"Don't push yourself. You just came back to life after two weeks of being dead."

Someone suddenly spoke to him.

He opened his eyes wide and found a woman with silver hair, sitting on a chair reading something in a tablet book.

After being alive again for a few seconds, his memories of what happened to him were rushing through his mind.

"That damn woman. She stole my heart."

Ars took off his shirt and looked at his body, where there was a black hole that had pierced his body, right where his heart was.

"I never thought that you weren't surprised at what happened to you."

His heart - the vessel of his soul had disappeared from his body, got stolen. But Ars was calm enough to think straight.

Ars sat on the edge of the bed. Take out a drink bag to freshen his head.

"Where did you find me?" asked Ars. 

"In the midst of Mild Yellow Desert."

Ars wiped his face with his hands. Became silent, thinking and lamenting. 

Skadi did not understand what the man who had just returned from the dead was doing. Normally, someone who just woke up after going through something big was shocked, asked a question, or was hungry. 

However, for Ars, he just being silent, motionless. 

Someone comes into the room. It was Arlene who had just returned.

"Oh, he is awake."

"Sort of."

After waiting for one day, finally the man they waited to awake finally awakened. But alas, the man being silent somehow.

"What's he doing?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"He did nothing."

As Skadi told, Ars was doing nothing. The man just sat motionless.

At that, Arlene walking and stood in front of the man. However, Ars did not care about her existence.

"What are you doing?" asked Arlene, tried to communicate.

She did not get an answer, even though a minute had passed. She will continue to wait.

"What do you want?"

Ars finally gave a response. Though it came with an irritated aura.

Arlene did not get the chance to know Ars before. However, Arlene's impression about Ars in the incident that befall northeast region was a strong, greedy, and arrogant man.

"But looks at you now. You are weak, pathetic, you even feel that death would be better for you, than you are in this position."

Arlene's words were literally an insult, but Ars didn't seem to care about that.

Ars got up, pushed Arlene out of the way, made his way to the window.

"Where do you want to go?!"

Arlene is angry with him. He really doesn't care about those around him. He's like a rascal who doesn't want to be ordered around.

"I warn you not to go too far from the Vigorous Maiden."

Skadi's words made Ars stop before moving.

Ars knows who the Vigorous Maiden is. That's why he listened.

Arlene just remembered that Ars and Elisa had a special complicated relationship. Maybe she could use Elisa to get Ars to

"I don't care."

Ars saw that the girl slept side by side with him since earlier. The girl was still sleeping, even though it was daytime. Even so, Ars doesn't care.

Ars fired a single Sinaga Sword far forward. He will teleport.

"Hey, wait!"

Ars had disappeared before Arlene could reach him.

"Geez! I don't care if he is dead in the middle of his way!"

Arlene is so upset that his first impressions with Ars went so badly.

"Is that his power? Teleporting?" asked Skadi. 

"Sort of. Elisa said that he has many abilities as the Greedy Young Master. And yeah, teleport is one of his favorite."

"So he is like those Emperors."

Emperors are 'those who are gifted by Abyssal Terra'. However, they were different from the Saints who were directly blessed by the Abyssal God.

"How far can he teleport?"

"I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with his Unique Mana. But, his heart now is gone, and Elisa has became his vessel. So he definitely can't go very far."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mild Yellow Dessert / 

Ars fell to the ground in his way to the destination place. He is short of breath.

"Why?!"

He had only teleported 500 meters from the previous place. It was only 10% of the distance he usually teleported. But he was already out of breath, exhausted.

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuck!"

Just to get up is already difficult for him.

Sweat poured down from his body. Due to reflex, he walked back, the direction he had previously gone, a few steps.

His breath began to return to him. He regained the energy that should be there since earlier.

'I warn you not to go too far from the Vigorous Maiden.'

Instantly he remembered the words spoken by the silver-haired woman. 

Those words were true, and they became the cause of what was happening to his present condition.

"What happened to me?!"

"WA!"

Arlene jumped at Ars's sudden arrival.

"Oh, my god! I swear I will kick you if I could know you were coming like this!"

Ars has no business with Arlene. He immediately walked over to the silver-haired woman, Skadi, and asked:

"What happened to me?"

Skadi was the one who warned Ars beforehand. It meant she knew what was happening to him right now.

"The soul is like water, and heart is the vessel. When there is no vessel, water has nowhere to be put in. Your soul got stolen, right? It causes your soul can't be completely united with your body. Unlike death or becoming a demon, your body is still intact because your soul is still in your body. It's just that it has nowhere to be put in."

"And your point is?!"

"You are half-dead. The reason why you can live because someone is sharing her breath with you."

Ars is a very smart man. Skadi didn't need to explain in more detail about what was happening to him now. He already knows.

However, the problem is, whether he wants to believe it or not.

Ars walked over to the sleeping princess.

"Hey, is it just me or, Elisa is sweating?" asked Arlene.

Elisa was sweating just like Ars. They look like they share same body condition. 

"That is because they literally share the same condition," answered Skadi. 

"That means..."

"If one of them die, the other is too."

Arlene glared at that fact.

"Why didn't you say that from the start?!"

"To who? Besides, it's still my presupposition."

If one of them die, then the other one is too. If Ars die, Elisa will die too. If Elisa die, Ars will die too. If Ars is short of breath, Elisa is feeling the same. They are like sharing one soul in two bodies.

"Elisa is sharing her soul to your body. So if you go too far from her, that means you are pulling her soul too far away from the main body. Like rubber that is forced to be pulled very wide, over time the rubber will break, and you both could die."

"Hey, why don't you said that too from the beginning?!"

"Because I just found out about that fact after he left the maiden away."

Sharing breath. Ars could not believe that he was hanging his life on a little girl. But he was rational enough to accept that fact, and tried to take the girl with him.

"Hey-hey-hey! What are you doing?!"

Ars carried Elisa over his shoulder. Gotta go out of the window.

Of course Arlene prevented him from doing that.

"This has nothing to do with you."

"Of course there is! I am the one who bring the girl with me to this region so she could bring you back to live! So I have the rights of her!"

Arlene took out her main weapon to stop Ars in the opening. But that's not enough.

"It doesn't circumvent the fact that you have no business with me."

"Hey!"

Arlene tries to pull Ars. But the man was so strong she didn't stand a chance.

"The Charity, is the person that stole your heart, right?"

Skadi once again stopped Ars with her question.

"You know her?"

Ars turned and looked at Skadi with rage. The rage was certainly not aimed directly at Skadi, but at someone who was not there.

"You're not the first victim of her crime."

"What does that woman want to do with my heart?"

"To restore the power of her king."

Both Arlene and Ars could immediately tell who the 'king' Skadi was referring to.

"The hollow swordsman. So that woman had been stealing every man's heart she had found in order to restore that monster's power?" asked Arlene in disbelief.

"Yes, and it looks like she has found the right heart."

Skadi pointed to Ars when she said that.

That is a terrible thing to hear. However, Ars did not hesitate to keep going.

"What are you doing?! Didn't you hear the explanation she gave?! The true monster! The man who was able to fight evenly with Sword Saint and Spear Saint, has regained his strength! And you still want to come forward to take your heart back?!"

"Why not?"

Arlene got headache at Ars's relaxed attitude.

"Look. First, you can't win with your current condition, not if you are alone. Second, it's so dangerous to carry Elisa around like that. You two can get killed easily!"

"I won't lose."

Arlene reflexively took a breath because Ars kept answering her worries casually.

"Why are you so eager to stop me?"

Suddenly, the very relaxed man asked a very serious question. It was quite unexpected.

"Who are you? How are you care about my life?"

After continuing to feel tense, Arlene finally got a chance to calm down, and became serious.

"First, that's not just your life. That's the girl's life that you count on it. Second, You are like the man I used to know. A stubborn man who is very ambitious and thinks he can do everything on his own. But ended up losing everything because of his stupidity. I also heard from a girl, that she believes you will make it to the deepest place of the Abyss. I have a wish. That's why I want to follow you. I can be whatever you wish. You could use me whatever you desire. As long as you bring me to that promised place. That is why, please, don't kill yourself out of your brief rage."