Chapter 140: Alone

The force of the head-splitting shot forced Echo to take a step back with its hand, held aloft and gripping its Spear, shaking ever so slightly from the impact.

Henry winced at the pain in his side. Ever since he had been in this world, this was the worst injury he had ever sustained, and had it not been for the way the System calculated his wounds by Hit Points, he was sure he would have lost far too much blood to make the moves he just made.

He picked up 'The Hydra's Sting', used <Reload> to put two Mana-infused slugs into the now-empty 'Violent Retort', and stood up slowly with his eyes keen on the mummified Undead in front of him.

Echo's head —what remained of it— held for a few seconds and then, with a wobble, it fell and hit the ground to shatter into many bits while leaving behind a dried, thin almost skeletal neck.

"Haha," Echo laughed. The sound came from the skeletal stump that was its neck and came out in an eerie-sounding echo.

At the sound of the laugh, Henry raised his guns to shoot but before he could, Echo's grip on its Spear loosened and it fell to the ground with a slightly muffled clatter.

Henry glanced at the weapon but refused to feel relaxed. He had seen Echo recall the weapon at a moment's notice and did not see this as a mark of the end to this fight as he probably should have. And could he be blamed? For all he knew, Echo was about to take a page out of his book and play 'dead' to gut him.

"You're a curious thing," Echo said slowly, "I've just felt what it's like to be you, and yet, I'm sure I've not quite understood what it is to be you… You can tell, can't you?"

Henry's brows furrowed.

Of course, he could tell.

Although he had been far more focused on surviving, it was impossible for Henry not to notice that Echo fought him like a Fighter rather than a Gunslinger.

Echo replicated Henry's Stats and used them as a Fighter would which put it at a disadvantage because then, it had no Mana surge to boost its physical abilities, and couldn't use its Spear the same way Henry used his Guns. Also, it couldn't replicate the magic Henry had imprinted on ~Arcane Tapestry~.

Hell, Henry was willing to bet Echo hadn't known how to use his Perception because it had never encountered an opponent who had that Stat. It was why the Mummified undead had kept noting Henry with curiosity.

Anyway, had Echo been able to replicate Henry's skills as well as it had replicated his Stats, or had it been able to use the replicated Stats as well as Henry could, this fight would have gone very differently. A gaping hole through his side would likely have been the least of Henry's worries.

Alas, that was not the case.

"You pass. You have what it takes to move on…" Echo said finally in a voice that trailed off right before its knees hit the floor and it slumped to the side gently. Never to move again.

*click*

The door on the other end of the room —not the one the Raiding Party had come in through— let out an unlocking sound before it opened an inch.

The battle against Echo was to gain access to that door and be allowed to move forward in Exploring the Dungeon. In all the excitement and with his focus shifting from escape to winning a battle, the fact that they were in a Dungeon had been pushed to the back of Henry's mind.

[Main Quest: Prove Your Mettle.]

[Quest Completed!]

[You have received 2000 Exp]

*[Nyx has received 1000 Exp]

Once again, Henry was wrenched from the room to experience Undead Woe.

"What— what is this?" he asked in a confused mumble.

As usual, he was looking through strange eyes —the eyes of Echo—, but rather than facing the powerful figure that had turned the other Undead he had faced and eliminated thus far, Henry found he was looking around at a daunting emptiness.

"There's nothing here," he said.

"No, there isn't," Echo said.

Henry's eyes widened in surprise,

"You know I'm here?" He asked, "You know I'm in your head?"

Echo gave no indication it had heard Henry's question but Henry felt its lips turn into a sad smile.

"There's nothing here because I have no past. I have no one. I have no goals. No aspirations. No desires. No wants.

No Needs. I have only one purpose; To guard a door and test Challengers for a being whose existence or meaning to me I don't even understand.

I know not what I was, and what I became no longer has a purpose in this barren wasteland.

I am alone.

Forever."

Henry felt his own eyes get wet and he was blinking droplets out of his eyes before he realized he was out of Echo's woes. Or more accurately, he was out of the vision but the Woe continued.

"Ah!" Henry yelled as he raised a hand to his chest.

His heart tightened as it was gripped by a profound sadness. Henry had felt heartbreak before as he had lost people in his life more times than he cared to count but not once had the sadness he felt on those occasions hurt this much. S~eaʀᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

He couldn't remain on his feet.

He fell to his knees, looking through blurry eyes at Echo's carcass mere feet away.

He found himself unnaturally tied to Echo's sadness to the point where he couldn't quite decide anymore if the pain in his chest was caused by the Undead's Woes or by the sadness he might have so far repressed.

No one in the room registered to him. None of his goals mattered. No one, not Yelena, Triss, Charles, Stefan, or the rest of what used to be the Dionisio Gang, came to view.

He felt alone.

Completely alone and it broke him.

Henry had no idea how long he was on his knees with his face twisted in the pain of a broken heart but he knew this Undead woe had lasted longer than any other he had ever felt. It wasn't a simple blink-away moment. He was forced to experience it in its entirety and his breakdown was right in front of people. All of whom were strangers.

And then it finally began to pass.

Henry was able to separate himself from the sadness and the clenching in his chest finally relieved enough for him to breathe better.

"Henry…" Louis called from behind but Henry thrust his hand back as he said in a fairly normal tone of voice,

"I'm fine."

Stealthily, Henry wiped the droplets from his eyes and with the memory of the sadness still on his mind, he welcomed the System's notifications,

[Kill-Reward: 500 Exp]

[Undead Woes: 800 Exp]

Trying his best to stop the shaking that was starting to creep up on him, Henry grabbed his guns and sent them into his Inventory as he turned around to face the members of the Raiding Party who were still alive.

They all watched him with awe mixed with gratitude. Henry especially noticed the opponent Doherty had forced him to fight, staring at him with admiration. It was so intense that he had to look away. His eyes fell on Louis next but the wide-eyed boy had a very similar expression.

"Stop looking at me like that," he said.

"You looked so cool," Louis said instead and glanced at the wound in Henry's side as he added with a more subdued tone,

"That wound though—"

Henry waved him off,

"It's fine," he said before looking over at the two unopened Sarcophagus in the room. The ones Doherty had been so sure contained Loot,

"I suppose we should open those up now."