The moment Gorak made the decision, something clicked and he suddenly found himself plunged into a world of darkness. He couldn't see anything in this world of darkness.
"Huh? What is this? Where is this place?" He would have been shocked but he was already a ghost so there wasn't much that he did not expect.
He looked around for a few seconds or perhaps minutes, it was unclear. And suddenly he found a small light at a distance.
"What is that?" Gorak started walking towards it or rather moving towards it as he did not have any physical body at the moment.
He first walked slowly and then started rushing towards it. He knew it. He had to grab that thing, whatever it was.
He walked. He ran. He sprinted. He kept going forward. However, no matter what he did. He was somehow unable to reach that small spot of light?
What the fuck was happening?
"Come to daddy here!" Gorak ran and ran and ran and continued running…
And after what seemed like an eternity, he finally could not go on any longer. He stopped and started panting and heaving out of breath.
He looked up to see that small dot still at a great distance away from him, making fun of him and mocking him.
Even though it was small and insignificant, it looked like no matter what he did he would never be able to touch that thing.
It was a frightening thought. If he couldn't touch that, then was he lost in this darkness forever?
Just as Gorak realized this possibility and his will wavered, something flickered in the distance. It was still the same small light spot but as he stared at it, suddenly a pair of eyes appeared.
He knew these eyes. It belonged to…
Gorak gulped.
The pair of feral bloodthirsty eyes stared at him with such an intensity that he felt as if his mind which was only now reformed was once again beginning to get shredded.
AHHHHHHH! Gorak screamed in pain.
His only consolation was that the small spot of light which was a pair of eyes now was somewhere far far away in the distance.
He himself had tried to touch it and failed. It was impossible for the eyes to attack him. That monster couldn't possibly come to him.
"No. No. No. No. Impossible." He shook his head.
But before he could even finish that thought, the pair of eyes blurred. The next instant, it appeared right in front of him. It was almost as if Liam himself was standing in front of him.
"You want to devour me? Let me see you try!"
Liam's voice thundered, filling the entire space and everything began shaking violently. The darkness itself started cracking.
Gorak trembled in fear. He couldn't stand up in front of this intimidating pressure, this willpower. He slowly felt his energy being sucked dry.
All the rage and the surging turbulent strength that was present inside him started drifting away into nothingness.
And Liam, who was standing in front of him started becoming bigger and bigger. An enormous mental pressure cracked down on him and immediately Gorak folded.
He barely put up a fight before crumbling.
The world of darkness as well collapsed.
Back in the outside world, Liam flashed his eyes open. Though he still looked weak and withered, the spark in his eyes was once again revived.
He coughed violently and slowly sat up straight and in front of him, the small soul ball hovered, flickering in and out like a bulb that was about to fuse out.
Liam looked at this ball and his dried out, bleeding lips slowly curled upwards. "I have you now."
"What…" A tired voice rang inside Liam's mind.
"Oh, you can still talk?"
Liam did not want to lose this precious opportunity and quickly got down to business. He sucked the nether in the air to his starving body and ignored the pain rippling through him.
He had already endured so much, what's a bit more?
But if missed this opportunity even after suffering so much, he would be the biggest fool!
This was his chance!
Sure, he only barely survived the process but now he had to push a bit more. He could feel it. He was on the verge of understanding something.
He needed to try forging this human soul that was battered and bruised beyond all recognition. Moreover, it also had a consciousness attached to it.
If he could somehow refine this soul, then the benefits might be enormous.
And more importantly, he was not going to let the bastard just die and drift away to nothingness for all the pain that he had caused him.
There needed to be payback and it had to be a hundredfold bigger!
Even if the idiot was a ghost, he was not going to let him leave without getting back what he was owed!
"Forge!" He shouted and a dozen hammers made of thick pure nether energy appeared in front of him.
For this part, he needed to give it his best shot and focus but his condition right now was different.
So Liam gambled and took a bunch of stamina berries and popped them into his mouth.
He dunked down health potions, mana potions and even ate some food, trying to recover as best as he could while at the same time focusing on the soul in front of him.
Thankfully, since they were in the nether realm right now, he was somehow able to manage it. He did not need any mental strength to manipulate nether unlike he did for mana.
And he used this freed-up mental space to recover.
But recovering physical body, and mana was the easy part. His mind and perhaps even soul were still far too exhausted. He did not know how to recover those.
Nevertheless, Liam still continued to hold on and slowly and carefully forged the soul ball with nether.
After a certain point, he felt too weakened, as if everything would collapse at any second now. He truly could not hold on any longer.
"Ok, this is it." Liam gritted his teeth and then finally took out the trump card that he had been saving for so long.
The nether herb from the necromancer's cave!
[Black Nether Moss]
This herb was a very precious item and had soul-strengthening properties.
Liam originally wanted to save this herb for making a precious potion but now seemed to be an important turning point in his life.
He decided to go all-in at this venture and quickly chewed down the last bunch of herbs that he had left, saving only a few leaves for the future.
Gulp. He swallowed everything and almost instantly a wave of warmth swept across his body.
Though this was far from enough to help him recover, this bit of energy was more than sufficient to keep him going for a bit more. Just a bit more.
Gorak's soul struggled in his grasp and loud screams echoed in his mind.
But Liam's hold was steadfast.
"Sorry, bud. You are not going anywhere today." He grinned with a chilling gaze and the nether hammers started beating the soul even more viciously.
