Chapter 458: Backlash

"Oh shit."

In that instant, Theo's vision turned black as blood began to flow out of his eyes. Theo suddenly dropped to the ground while clutching his head. "Argh!"

Theo screamed in pain as he dropped to his knees.

"What?! What is happening?" Nadia was dumbstruck. First, Theo showed an amazing skill that could influence her. After that, he killed the mummy in an instant. However, he now dropped to the ground while wailing in pain.

Everything didn't make sense as she wondered whether she should help him or not, considering the skill might influence her when she touched him.

No one noticed it, but Nadia muttered two words. "Griffith Family…"

Clicking her tongue, Nadia approached Theo and bent her knees, trying to check his condition while assuring her. "Hey, what happened to you? Talk to me? Don't worry. Everything is going to be alright, okay?"

Unfortunately, Theo heard nothing as he simply passed out.

She instinctively pulled him into her embrace while shouting, "Healer! I need a healer right here!"

That shout shattered the peace Theo created a while ago as all of them woke up from the illusion.

Nart also followed soon and ordered out loud. "Healers! Hurry up!"

Instead of helping Theo, Nart decided to kill the wolf king first as he was the immediate threat. He didn't forget to give another command. "Kill your enemies first before asking anything. We are not out of danger yet."

Theo was unaware of what happened outside.

Inside his consciousness, he had returned to the same space as the others visited.

There was one big difference between him and the others. When he arrived at this space, Theo's body was soon dismembered as though this place wanted to torture him.

That was why Theo screamed before passing out.

Theo just got murdered in this place.

After dying, Theo's body was restored as he soon saw an emergence of a figure.

"This is…" Theo raised his head in shock. It was his Death Avatar. "Why…"

Unfortunately, it was just a brief meeting as the Death Avatar turned into dust and dissolved in this blood floor.

"Wait!" Theo raised his voice. He stepped forward but soon felt something grabbing his foot.

It pulled him down, making him realize the blood floor was like a bottomless pool.

When he looked down, nothing could be seen even though Theo still felt something grabbing his foot.

He held his breath and kicked his foot, only to have the pain jolt his mind as nothing was there.

"!!!" Theo didn't know what was happening as he was simply trying to survive. However, this invisible thing that pulled him inside was trying to drown him, and it succeeded.

Theo suffered from all this for an hour before his mind went blank.

…

Outside, several hours had passed.

After the healer took care of Theo, Nadia helped Nart kill the wolf king and the rest. There was no complaint anymore as Theo's condition worried them.

The long war took a toll on their bodies, especially those from the initial group. They decided to go back to the previous camp.

Theo was laid down in a tent alone and asked everybody to leave because they didn't know whether the power of Death still remained in his body or not. They told them that if they touched him, they might suffer some serious injuries or even lose their lives.

It was a silent night as nobody had the mood for celebration. They had lost so much today.

Meanwhile, Ava finally sneaked out of his shirt and looked at the unconscious Theo. Her ears were down and her expression was filled with sadness.

She looked at Theo as if she wanted to cry.

"Kyu…" Ava couldn't help but come closer and touch his cheek even though she heard what they were saying about his body.

On the contrary, Nadia and Nart had a private meeting.

Nadia's expression was serious as she glared at Nart, demanding an explanation. "That boy is Theodore Griffith, right?"

Nart closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Yeah."

"What is he exactly?"

"I am as confused as you."

"He touched the crown which turned out to contain the power of Death. I could dispel the energy from him, but controlling that power is a different case."

"I know, I saw that." He shrugged. "Even so, I have no idea. I am sure you have watched the Grand Gaia, right?"

Nadia nodded with a long face as she already knew what he wanted to say.

"Everyone had suspected him of having a God Rank Blessing, but no one knew about it yet. They thought he had a blessing related to an Illusion, but they turned out to be wrong. To think he has a blessing from a God or Goddess of Death," said Nart, misunderstanding Theo's blessing.

"I know. Still, is there a reason for concealing that power until now?" Nadia also misunderstood it and assessed Theo's personality from what she had seen so far. "Look at him, if he had that kind of power all this time, why had he not used it?

"This is foolish. I know that he doesn't want to have many people to know him because of his identity, but this one has surpassed the line."

"Well, his power is normal in my opinion. I mean, people can accept Necromancy as there is a rule regulating that power. It would be fine if he revealed his power earlier or even in the competition." Nart looked down and said, "Still… Hey, he is from the Griffith Family. Maybe someone is pulling some strings? Maybe he suffered in the past that led to that personality? We don't know."

"…" Nadia fell silent and looked away, surprisingly accepting the reason. "Fair enough. They can do anything they need to do, so I guess someone wants him to conceal that power? I mean, I was entranced by that power for a split second."

"Yeah." Nart nodded. "To achieve such a feat when you are only a Hero Rank Expert… I'm afraid the skill was an A Rank Skill. The suffering he received after using that power was none other than the backlash of the skill, not related to the power of Death."

"Probably." Nadia agreed with him.

Suddenly, Nadia and Nart suddenly turned around and looked at the dark space before they exchanged looks while scratching the back of their heads with awkward expressions.

******

Author's Note: Agata Art is down there.