He gritted his teeth, driving the stalagmite into the monster's arm again.
Green blood splattered out, earning a sharp, pained cry.
He barely managed to twist away from a furious counter-swipe, already slipping back into the rhythm of the fight.
But he could feel it building.
This wouldn't be enough.
Not anymore.
The monster still wasn't directly using its flames on him—meaning the ability likely had a limit, a cooldown, or something it was avoiding for now.
But the fire already burning across the canyon was more than enough trouble on its own.
Elias inhaled sharply.
'This is going to make it to the top of all the most questionable choices I've ever made.'
He pulled his legs back, using them as a springboard—and then he jumped.
When he landed, he was sitting right at the monster's neck, his legs locked on both sides of its shoulders.
The monster immediately tilted its head up toward him, its eyes shining brilliantly, like it had just been handed a gift.
Like Elias had willingly stepped into its grasp.
Its mouth opened wide.
A red glow built deep inside its throat.
At the same time, Elias raised the stalagmite.
Both of them locked in.
Both ready to kill.
The monster sang.
Reddish flames burst from the depths of its throat, roaring straight toward him.
Its flippers were already shifting too—ready to strike the moment the fire failed, ready to tear him off if he tried to escape it.
Its rows of glinting teeth flashed beneath him, promising exactly where it intended to end this.
Elias brought the stalagmite down at the same time, aimed straight for that ugly, open mouth.
Now it was simple.
Who struck first.
Him… or the monster.
But Elias had never been lucky.
VOOM
The flames hit first.
They spilled straight out of the monster's mouth and swallowed him whole.
Elias gritted his teeth instantly, forcing his Mental Strength to surge, trying to take it in, trying to devour it like before—
But it didn't hold.
[Mental Strength: 0/1200]
And just like that, the flames broke through.
Heat tore into him.
Pain followed immediately after.
But his arm didn't stop.
The stalagmite still came down.
It drove straight into the monster's mouth, forcing its way through the burning torrent, pushing deeper until it pierced past the teeth, into the throat where the flames were still pouring from—only to come out faintly at the back.
The monster choked.
The flames cut off mid-breath.
A sharp, broken screech tore out of it as Elias roared at the same time—half pain, half something far more unstable as his mind started slipping under the pressure of the surrounding song.
Still—
Even while burning.
Even while his thoughts fractured at the edges.
He didn't stop.
He pulled the stalagmite out.
And stabbed again.
And again.
The monster thrashed beneath him violently, flippers flailing as it tried to shake him off, its head jerking sideways in frantic motion.
Its body flickered, trying to shift, trying to break rhythm—anything to dislodge him.
But every time it tried—
The stalagmite came down again.
'Die die die die die…'
Soon the head of the monster now looked like gigantic lumps of flesh, its unwilling eyes dimming slightly as it slumped right to the ground.
THUD
Elias fell a few meters away from it, taking in deep breaths as he turned to look at the monster that still lay thrashing on the ground, green blood shooting out of its head.
One breath…
Two breaths…
Three…
[You have slain the Echoform, Berrot, the Screaming King.
500 Mission Points awarded.]
A red shard shot right into his chest from the corpse, making Elias gasp.
The wounds he had accumulated from the battle began to heal at a pace so rapid that within seconds Elias could finally breathe easily again.
His eyes widened when he saw a red glowing object right next to the corpse, the corpse already starting to disappear, and without wasting time he began to crawl towards it, moving as fast as he could.
That's because he could already feel a force trying to pull him out of this place, which meant he didn't have any time left!
"Damn it!"
Elias crawled faster when he noticed the pulling force increase, his fingers barely brushing against the object before the space around him shimmered…
And he was gone.
***
When he appeared again, he was back in that familiar darkness—the same place where the Song had first spoken to him before he entered the Mirrorth.
But Elias wasn't thinking about any of that.
His mind was stuck on one thing.
The object.
He had been so close.
So damn close.
'But still… I made it in time, right? Right?!'
A large blue screen lit up in front of him, the familiar melody of the Song ringing out like a lullaby with every line of text.
[🎵🎵Silent Thread, you have passed the trial.]
[🎵🎵The Song admires your tenacity.]
[🎵🎵The Song is impressed with your performance.]
[🎵🎵Very few have faced such impossible odds and survived.]
[🎵🎵Trial Judgement: Resplendent.]
[🎵🎵The Song strongly favors you…]
[🎵🎵You have earned the new title, 'Songborn.']
Elias felt his eyes widen.
His heart slammed against his ribs so hard it almost felt unreal.
Not from relief.
Not even from the lingering tension of whatever he had just been through.
But from total disbelief.
Because there were only two people in the entire world with that title.
And both of them were well known figures—names the rest of the world could only look up to.
Elias knew.
Really knew.
He had pushed himself through this trial with everything he had, done things that were as insane as they were ridiculous.
But this…
Wasn't this a little too much?
[🎵🎵You have carved your name into the annals of history and have earned the title of a legend.]
[🎵🎵Good luck Silent Thread. Your Trial is over.]
And with that, Elias felt it again—the pulling force, returning like a vortex dragging him out of the space.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the realm outside the red-graded Mirrorth. The red veins crawling across its edges had dimmed slightly now, showing it would take sometime before it would be made available again.
But Elias didn't notice that properly.
His shaky gaze was locked on the screen in front of him.
Lines of text shimmered across the panel as its melody rang out like a lullaby.
[🎵🎵World Announcement: Silent Thread has qualified to receive the title Songborn.]
[🎵🎵Silent Thread shall have a 10% increase in chances of obtaining Tremors, a 20% increase in chances of obtaining Laments, and a 30% increase in chances of obtaining Sonic Skills in the form of drops from Mirrorths.]
[🎵🎵Warning: Anyone that causes the death of Silent Thread shall be cursed with a 50% decrease in chances of obtaining drops from all Mirrorths.]
Behind him, Elyndra perched on his shoulders, her expression quiet and contemplative.
Elias rubbed his eyes, staring at the screen again and again like it might vanish if he blinked wrong.
But it didn't disappear.
So he finally said what his brain had been trying to process for the last few seconds.
"What the fuck—"