William’s patented ‘Run for your life’ skill was going as well as it could, considering that two humanoid-shaped behemoths were throwing punches that created shockwaves behind him.

That was great, but he really wished his guess that another giant would rip its way out of the ground to start a fight was wrong. William had tried multiple times to turn around and look at what exactly was fighting each other, but all he could see were massive, charred calves before he was forced to put his focus back on fleeing for his life.

William couldn’t exactly avoid the lava pits without looking at where he was running, but more than that, the glance behind him made him realize how close he still was to the fight. He was lucky that neither bothered with attempting to move their legs because if they did, it was highly likely that he would have been crushed under a heel by a single step in his direction.

[-100 HP]

William ignored the alert. He had been tracking his health since he acquired the negative trait, so it wasn’t a surprise. The loss of health happened steadily as time passed, making that alert a simple reminder of that fact.

Health: 1190/1400

The ground cracked open right in front of him, but it had become such a common occurrence that William casually leaped over it without slowing down. More important than the ground crumbling into nothing around him, he wondered when it would be time to use the Vitality Restoration Pills.

William still had plenty of pills in reserve, but he had a gut feeling that it was best to use them efficiently. An ample supply didn’t mean he should be careless with it. He wasn’t sure the last time he had taken a pill, but it was when he was in the second level of Qi Gathering.

The pill had restored six hundred health, but the effect was expected to be reduced since he now had a higher cultivation. Perhaps it would be best to take a pill when he had lost around five hundred health. Of course, that only applied if he wasn’t being attacked directly. Efficiency was thrown out at this point, and maximum health was the top priority.

However, as was common with William’s underestimation of what was dangerous, he neglected to consider the unexpected things, or worse, something that he should have thought of but didn’t since he was too focused on other possibilities.

William heard a sickening squelch of flesh pierced behind him, the shockwave resulting from that attack almost made him think his body had been damaged. It made his heart skip a beat, almost as if his body subconsciously knew something unpleasant was about to happen.

That turned out to be an understatement. The howl that ripped through the air made William’s ears bleed profusely, and to add to that, the sonic boom that accompanied the pained scream slammed into his body and flung it into the air like a ragdoll.

[-720 HP]

The shriek leaving William’s mouth was drowned out by the earsplitting roar the giant was still letting out. Just because his pain couldn’t be heard didn’t stop him from feeling the multiple broken bones in his body. He ground that pain into nothingness to focus on his near-fatal situation.

William was launched into the air with little to no control over his body. The only thing that let him have some sort of control in the air, his Impact Boots, were turned into something less than useless by the lake water. And it looked like his landing spot was perilously close to multiple lava pits.

Of course, it was.

He pulled three Vitality Restoration Pills from his spatial stone and held the spares tightly in his fist while he shoved one into his mouth.

[+570 HP]

[Health: 470 —> 1040/1400]

[Impurity Increased]

[N/A —> Stage 1 (17%)]

William didn’t hesitate to swallow one more while returning the spare back into his spatial stone, knowing that this was one of the situations where having his full health was mandatory.

[+360 HP]

[Health: 1040 —> 1400/1400]

[Impurity Increased]

[Stage 1 (17%) —> Stage 1 (34%)]

That wasn’t the end of his troubles quite yet, but thankfully, William was able to confidently predict a landing spot that was in one of the few areas that didn’t contain a lava pit. He contorted his body to try and land on his feet, but in the process, he saw something mind-blowing.

With William’s body spinning near-uncontrollably, he inevitably came to a position where he was looking straight up into the sky. He could finally see what he was attempting to get a glimpse of during his escape attempt.

Two massive giants with lines of flowing lava running down their bodies. Their entire bodies were charred black, with two burning red eyes glaring at one another.

The one to the right grunted, its arm buried in the chest of the other, glowing a menacing red. Even with the distance William was flung away, the sound was enough to damage him a little while adding more force to his impromptu flight, making him rag doll far further than he already was.

[-30 HP]

Before he could try to figure out if the new place he would land would be safe for him, the giant with its chest pierced had something ripped out of its chest. A pulsing, purplish-red mass that spewed out gold liquid with every contraction.

The heart.

That was William’s last thought before the now heart-less giant let out an unholy sound that a human wasn’t supposed to hear.

[-800 HP]

It couldn’t be described adequately, nor did the loss of health signify how much it affected him.

William could only see the blue text of the system alert. Everything else was a blurry mess at best, and utterly dark at worst.

The pain was the worst he had felt so far, as if all of his nerves had been lit on fire while also having their sensitivity cranked up exponentially.

William wasn’t sure if he was screaming or not at this point, but either way, his instincts took over. He automatically pulled out more of his precious pills and swallowed one.

[+570 HP]

[Health: 570 —> 1140/1400]

[Impurity Increased]

[Stage 1 (34%) —> Stage 1 (51%)]

He wanted to panic when he still couldn’t see anything other than the system messages, but he crushed it to stop from getting distracted. It was not the time when just one more pill might be the solution to his blindness.

[+260 HP]

[Health: 1140 —> 1400/1400]

[Impurity Increased]

[Stage 1 (51%) —> Stage 1 (68%)]

Now was the time to panic. William still saw nothing. And he was flying blind. However, his hearing wasn’t affected one bit.

The giant that took away his sight was no longer furthering the damage with its dying cries. But in place of that, it sounded like the world was ending around him.

The sound of the ground shifting was so deafening that he almost came to the conclusion that the giant’s dying call was turning everything into a sea of lava.

Thankfully… not maybe not, he didn’t have to worry about it.

William felt his nose break. Then he lost consciousness.