Chapter 248: Waking Up
Jim knew this chance was hardly earned and he feared if he waited a bit longer he might lose it.
"Die you motherf*cker," he let his sword down finally while all his energy and the energy coming from the monster was sucked dry at this moment.
He moved his body as fast as he could, as hard as he could to unleash a sword slash towards the monster up above.
It was hard to pull those feet especially being midair and free falling. However he was already picturing this move over and over again that he felt he had done hundreds of times before.
And then a sword slash moved above him for tens of meters before finally stopping to gather up energy.
"It's coming at it fast," Ron shouted while watching the monster falling at the sword slash while getting tormented from the inside. "Will it be enough?"
"I hope so," Jim slowly muttered while Roger just passed by his side.
"Leave your fall to me," Roger firmly said while stopping just beneath Ron, "from here onwards it's my task to bring you two home safely."
He expanded his jelly to form a cloud again. Ron was the first to arrive there before violently dragging Jim's body to slam heavily over it.
"Shriek!"
And at this moment the monster arrived at the still gathering energy sword slash and its head was cut into two halves by it.
Then the attack was finally launched.
There was silence first. A very heavy and deafening one that made even Jim's body tremble.
"This is slightly different," Jim felt his body grow weak as he turned his back over the jelly with some difficulty. "I hope it's enough."
'It is,' the old man's words came to comfort his anxiety. At this point Jim doubted he would be able to even move a single muscle in front of that monster if his attack failed.
Yet the next moment the sword flashed in bright golden light before a mighty explosion roared inside the entire pit. As far as Jim could see everything was flashing in bright golden color for long minutes.
And that monster was totally absorbed inside that light.
"Is... it dead?" Ron was shocked for entire minutes before he finally said it to Jim.
"It is," Jim said the final word while panting for breath, "I'll leave the task of saving the two of us to you," he said it to Roger who nodded with a very serious face.
For Roger the mission didn't end up here, but it only started.
The next moment the entire world became darker while Jim felt his eyelids turning as heavy as lead plates. He couldn't keep his eyes open anymore and with them closed he finally went into deep sleep.
He lost his consciousness at this point and didn't know anything about the outside world.
However he was pretty much sure things weren't going to get any worse. After all, the dreadful monster was killed and the entire pits here were cleared.
The only thing left was for Roger to succeed in making the antidote. A task that was so simple and very important compared to the mission to take that monster down.
After he passed out, Roger took Ron and him upwards. The place had now changed drastically than before.
Even the ceiling of that cave changed and a wide opening was now present where the early rays of the sun could touch the inside of the cave for the first time ever.
And Roger brought everyone up with him towards the surface where their boss was.
Jim didn't know how long he was unconscious, but the moment he slowly opened his eyes he could clearly see something he was familiar with.
"It's over, isn't it?" He saw the giant gates of the academy first thing under the shining sunlight.
"Whoa, he woke up," a voice rang in his ears that sounded familiar. However he was pretty tired to recall who he was.
Just the next moment he heard many cheers coming around. Many faces gathered around and realized he was sitting on a grassy ground.
"Welcome back kid," the face of Hector appeared as he sat beside him cross legged. "Pretty crazy expedition, right?"
"Yeah," Jim shortly said, "what happened?" he asked while trying to recall the past events just before his fall.
Yet there was something blocking his memories at the moment.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Hector took out a slim and very long cigarette and a disciple lightened it up for him.
"Last thing..." Jim slowly muttered while trying to squeeze his head, "I met you and fought together," he said.
"That's... pretty much outdated man," Hector took a long breath, "but don't worry. It takes some time to gather the pieces together... Don't you recall the cave?"
"The... cave..." Jim's eyes went gloomy for a second before he widely opened them.
"You... were poisoned!" he said as things started to come back slowly inside his mind.
"Not only me," Hector took another breath, "you also got poisoned."
Jim's mind started to be flooded with large pieces of memories that he tried to comprehend fast.
"Damn! That monster... The worm thing..." he suddenly said while trying to stand.
But the moment he did so he was electrified by immense pain that paralyzed his muscles.
He couldn't even move a muscle anymore.
"Take it easy man," Hector gave him a deep glance, "you... did what I can call an impossible feat."
The look over Hector's fact told Jim there was something he missed here. "And?" he asked.
"Your body... it's totally wrecked," Hector slowly said.
"I can tell that already."
"To the point that even using magical energy again might seem... quite impossible for you."
The words of Hector landed and the entire world became strangely quiet. Jim's mind was trying to get the meaning behind his words, trying to evade the simple fact Hector just said.
"Do you mean I'll be bed ridden for a long time?"