Steadily Upgrading Everything!
Chapter 33: How many are there?

Chapter 33: How many are there?

After the escape from Ten Tails Black Tiger,

After the perilous escape from the Ten-Tailed Black Tiger, John lay motionless for what felt like hours.

The freezing stream running beneath him numbed the pain in his limbs, but it did little to silence the dull throb of bruises and the burning sting of gashes across his back.

When the trembling in his hands subsided and his breathing stabilized, he slowly sat up in the small grove nestled deep in the valley’s shadows.

A thin mist lingered in the air, curling around moss-covered stones and dead, crooked trees like ghostly fingers.

With effort, John pulled himself to his feet. He extended his spiritual sense, letting it ripple out into the quiet valley like sonar.

"Nothing..." he whispered, tension easing from his shoulders. "Looks like that beast isn’t behind me anymore." A breath of relief escaped his lips.

He staggered forward, rubbing his aching ribs, and began to make his way deeper into the ravine.

The floor of the valley was narrow, flanked by high cliffs with jagged edges that loomed on both sides like natural prison walls.

The sky above was visible, a dome of pale daylight, but the sunlight didn’t seem to reach this place.

Even though it was midday, the ground remained shrouded in a gloomy twilight.

"This place..." he muttered as he stepped over twisted roots and brittle rocks, "It’s... off."

The air was thick, not with miasma, but with a stifling quietness, so silent that John could hear every heartbeat, every crunch of his boots on gravel, every faint breath that left his lips.

His eyes scanned the surroundings.

The vegetation was... unnatural.

Shrubs and trees grew along the walls and crevices of the ravine, but their leaves were grayish and limp.

Some branches trembled as though alive, yet their bark was cracked and dry as bone.

"They’re dead... but moving?" John narrowed his eyes and knelt beside a strange vine creeping along a boulder.

When he reached out and touched it, the vine twitched and recoiled slightly, as though startled.

A cold shiver ran through his spine.

He stood up quickly and took a step back. "This place is weird and eerie. It feels cursed."

Even his Breathing Technique, though active, wasn’t calming his nerves.

Something about this valley tugged at his instincts.

Something old.

Something hidden.

"I have to get out of here as soon as possible," he whispered, eyes sharpening with resolve.

Without further hesitation, John leapt forward, darting through the twisted terrain. He zigzagged past stone arches, ducked under roots thicker than a man’s waist, and jumped across narrow creeks.

His Spatial Awareness, now pulsing at its peak, scanned a full twenty-meter radius around him.

But the deeper he went, the clearer the truth became, there was no exit.

He paused at the foot of a cliff wall and looked up.

The slope was sheer and damp with moss, sharp rocks protruding like broken blades.

He tried scaling it twice, only to slide back down both times.

"Damn it," he hissed, wiping the mud from his hands. "These walls are impossible to climb. Too steep... too slick..."

A sinking feeling twisted in his gut. "Am I going to be stuck here forever?"

Frustration and fatigue threatened to cloud his thoughts, but he clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

He had been through worse.

He had survived a prison mine.

Fought monsters.

Outwitted assassins.

"I can’t give up now."

He expanded his Spatial Sense again, slowly this time, carefully, feeling for anything... anything unnatural.

And then...

Thump.

He froze.

There it was, a pulse, like a dull echo beneath his feet.

He turned to his left, frowning, and walked toward a cluster of large, ancient rocks half-buried in vines and soil.

One, in particular, stood out, almost four meters tall and wide enough to be a house wall.

He extended his hand and pressed against it.

Thump. Thump.

His Spatial Sense pulsed again, like a heartbeat, resonating off the inside of the stone.

"This stone..." he muttered, eyes narrowing. "It’s... hollow."

He stepped back and examined the surface.

The texture was strange, smooth in some places, jagged in others.

He scraped off some moss and dust to reveal faded etchings beneath.

"Wait... this isn’t a rock. It’s a door."

A rusted seam ran down its center, barely noticeable to the naked eye.

John’s breath caught in his throat.

"Is this... a tomb? Or a sealed cave?"

He drew closer, then circled around the stone door, searching for a mechanism or spiritual formation.

The air grew colder.

A faint vibration trembled through the earth. And then...

The stone pulsed again.

Only this time... something pulsed back.

John clenched his fists and stepped back from the massive stone.

His brows furrowed, jaw tight.

"If there’s a mechanism... I can’t see it," he muttered, eyes scanning for any inscriptions or formations.

He inhaled deeply, his breath sharp in the cold, stagnant air. "Then brute force it is."

Drawing strength from his core, John circulated his Slow Toad Breathing Skill, and in a flash, his fist slammed into the stone.

Boom!

A dull thud echoed across the canyon walls.

The stone didn’t crack.

He grit his teeth. "Again."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Each strike reverberated with more force, each impact shaking dust loose from the stone’s face.

But the door held firm, unyielding, ancient, and stubborn.

Minutes turned into an hour.

Sweat rolled down John’s face, blood seeped from his knuckles.

His Qi surged with each blow.

His fists burned.

Muscles screamed.

But he didn’t stop.

Boom! Boom!

By the hundredth strike, his breath was ragged, his body trembling.

And then, crack!

A thin fracture split the center of the stone, lightless but promising.

With a roar, John unleashed a final barrage, his fists becoming a blur, empowered by Twelve Circle Slashes.

Crack! Boom! Crash!

The stone burst inward, fragments clattering into the dark beyond.

John staggered back, coughing dust from his lungs. "Finally..."

He stepped through the broken entrance, blinking as the shadows swallowed him whole.

The inside was a black void, thicker than night.

Not even his enhanced sight could pierce it.

He paused. "Spatial Awareness, activate."

But his senses sputtered.

What should have been a twenty-meter dome of perception flickered and shrank.

"What?" His brows furrowed. "Only five meters?"

The suppression was overwhelming, as if something within the cave pressed down on his spirit itself.

"This cave... it’s not natural." He moved forward carefully, step by cautious step.

The darkness whispered around him.

Silent. Suffocating.

Then, far ahead, a dim light.

A pinpoint glow, like a flickering star at the end of a tunnel.

John stepped toward it.

Screee!!

His body tensed, something screamed through the air.

Within a heartbeat, his Spatial Awareness caught it, a small, winged shadow diving at him at frightening speed.

A bat?

But not any normal bat.

It was the size of a wolf, its fangs as long as daggers, eyes glowing crimson.

"Too fast!" he growled.

With one fluid motion, John unsheathed his saber and executed the First Circle of his Twelve Circle Slashes.

Slash!

A brilliant arc of Qi lit the darkness for a blink, and the bat’s body split midair, falling in two pieces to the floor.

He exhaled, ready to step forward.

Screee!!!

Then came another.

And another. And another.

Soon, hundreds.

A vortex of leathery wings, piercing screeches, and fangs descended on him like a black storm.

The cave shook with their fury.

John leapt, ducked, and twisted, using the Second and Third Circles of his technique to carve arcs through the swarm.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Blood sprayed. Bodies fell.

But their numbers didn’t seem to dwindle.

"Damn it, how many are there?!"

One bat bit into his shoulder, another slashed across his thigh with its claws.

He hissed in pain but didn’t falter.

His saber danced, glowing with inner Qi.

Minutes passed, maybe longer, as John fought tooth and nail, his limbs covered in cuts, his robes torn, blood oozing from a dozen wounds.

He was panting now. Muscles trembling.

Three hundred... four hundred... five hundred...

Finally, at the edge of collapse, he slew the last bat.

The cave fell silent again.

The only sound left was his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

He collapsed to one knee, gasping. "That... was insane..."

He wiped blood from his eyes, and raised his gaze toward the light that remained ahead.

This time, as he walked forward, no more bats came.

The path widened.

And after a few more cautious steps, John emerged into a massive cavern.

His breath caught.

A dome-shaped cave, walls glistening with crystalline ores, ceiling so high it faded into shadow.

At the center of the cave, a single stone platform.

Upon it, a black coffin, etched with glowing blue runes.

And from it... the light radiated.

Soft, yet powerful. Pulsing like a heartbeat.

"What... is this?" John whispered, frozen in place.

The oppressive aura in the chamber shifted, as though something ancient and forgotten had just acknowledged his presence.

The coffin waited.

Silent.

Inviting.