Azrael looked at his status window again. He felt a little annoyed when he saw his status window; in fact, every time he did so, the veins on his forehead stood out and throbbed, while his forehead turned red with the anger he felt.
He couldn't use the ability he had always been able to use, but now that he had no mana or any kind of energy, he couldn't even activate it. It was truly disconcerting. It had been a long time since he had had any wounds that remained on his body. somehow he realized that he depended heavily on his ability, but his dependence was also because he drew out its full potential to stay alive, but that was not the case now. His body accumulated wounds, some of which caused him considerable pain. So whenever something bad happened to his body, such as damage or pain, he could not heal himself as before. He could only be affected by the damage and wait for Gabriel to heal him.
Azrael continued to descend, and when he least expected it, he descended further. The tree of hope was located in a large hollow with multiple deformations in the terrain, making it a natural labyrinth that was not easy to traverse.
Azrael could not see its beginning or its end, nor was he sure if there was even a way to actually reach the so-called tree of hope, but he could only try.
"Maximm effort," Azrael said with a very fake smile.
He looked at his options. None of them were good, but it wasn't like they were rushing him.
"Let's see, the one on the right doesn't look bad. The path doesn't look so broken, so maybe it won't hurt my feet. The middle path is a good path for a psychopath. That place is broken. If I walk there, I'll destroy my feet. No, this time I'll treat myself well. That stupid angel can wait for me. The third path... hmmm, it's broken, but not as broken as the middle one."
Boom! Boom!
Azrael couldn't help but flinch when he heard loud booms, but they were far away, so he didn't worry.
"Wait, is that lightning? I haven't seen lightning from here. I can see it, so I'll waste more time and enjoy my solitude more." Azrael turned around, but there was no lightning waiting for him.
Instead, the loud booms gradually grew louder and louder.
x-x-x
Gabriel was at the top of the tree. Her sight and hearing could reach places that no mortal being could. This was the biggest change for beings of her rank, which was perhaps why she was the perfect guardian to watch over someone like Azrael.
Because even though she is strong, she is not the strongest among the races. But at the same time, she could be practically safe on many planets that were not the cradles of great races.
"Azrael, don't stay there, come on, run," Gabriel said as she looked in the direction where Azrael was.
Azrael was standing there at the foot of the hole, curious about the loud sounds.
"I guess I'll entertain myself for a while. I've wanted to punish you for a long time, and this might ease that feeling a little." Gabriel moved to a branch that looked like a chair, sat down, and enjoyed the view.
x-x-x
In the distance, a large purple crystal being was getting closer and closer to the big tree. It could see the big crystal tree in the distance, and when it reached the edge, it took a big leap halfway down the hill in a single jump.
Azrael, who was below watching the great golem fall, quickly turned around and took the middle path. At the same time, he turned his head to look at the crystal golem.
"Little one, silly one, I found you," said the golem in a deep, gravely voice like thunder falling in a deep, dark forest.
The golem could not stop its fall, its enormous weight causing its body to sink into the ground. The great golem rolled and destroyed the ground, turning quickly in Azrael's direction. Azrael, who was watching it, quickly changed direction, noticing that it was heading toward the third path. He quickly tried to change direction, but the golem was gaining more and more speed, and Azrael could only continue on his way.
"Wo wo wo wo wo wo wo, dizzy, dizzy, very dizzy," said the great golem, who, despite saying it in a normal tone for him, still sounded loud and intimidating.
"Shit, shit, shit. What the hell is that!" cursed Azrael as he ran with all his might, ignoring the pain and fatigue in his body, continuing to run with everything he had, sacrificing everything he could.
Behind him, the golem crashed into the dividing wall that separated the paths in the natural labyrinth of the forest. When it stopped, the golem got up a little dizzy, but even with that strong blow, its crystal body was flawless and without any cracks that could be seen even by the most expert eye.
"Dizzy, many turns. Tontin? Where are you?" said the golem as it looked around for any clue that would lead it to Azrael. It moved its head, but even with all the dust, it could find no trace of the little fool, which obviously made it feel annoyed.
He moved his large crane operator's hands and struck the ground again and again, moving around everywhere, following the path in the middle, believing that the little fool had gone that way.
"Where are you, little fool! Little one! Where are you?! I'm coming to find you," he shouted loudly as he ran, the glass on the ground turning to dust against his force and weight. He left a trail of destruction in his wake, the already shattered road becoming even more shattered in his wake.
After running for a while, Azrael stopped. He could hear the loud explosions getting further and further away. He let out a sigh of relief as he stopped and relaxed. The pain in his feet began to reach his brain, and the feeling of having his feet destroyed was a pain that made him want to scream.
Unable to resist any longer, he put both hands over his mouth and screamed loudly, releasing all the pain he felt. When he finished, he took several deep breaths and felt a great sense of relief, but his feet were still shattered. Before looking at his feet, he thought,
"If I could heal myself, this wouldn't be so bad. That damn angel, this damn system, this damn path." After a long time, Azrael felt that he didn't want to continue with this charade.
He didn't believe they would redeem him at any point, nor did he have any hope of it. All he wanted was to get out of there for once and be at peace for a while, maybe even discover how to gain faith. It shouldn't be difficult. There are many religions in the world created by others, so he could take advantage of what others had created and call himself God's messenger or the Messiah, do two good deeds, and that would be it.
He doesn't fully understand what the system can do now that he has an established path. He knew about the paths from information he had discovered when he stole information from the extraterrestrial beings' facilities on Earth.
"Let's get this over with, just get out of here and then we'll take a short or long vacation, that stupid angel can join us too. If she doesn't believe me, she can stop bothering me, so she can join us, we just have to figure out how to get her to stop talking and stop giving me all these lectures about redemption and everything else." Azrael continued walking, albeit slowly, but he kept walking in order to reach the tree.
Slowly but steadily, Azrael kept moving, slowly but steadily his feet kept stepping on the glass shards, slowly but steadily...
"Damn it," Azrael couldn't stand the pain anymore and stopped. Maybe his new ability improved the resistance of his feet, but it didn't make them indestructible. He moved his hands, removing the glass from his feet. Each piece he removed had his blood on it, and his feet began to bleed more deeply than before.
-Loud sound-
Azrael stood up in one swift movement at the loud sound, feeling the shards he couldn't remove digging deeper into his feet.
Azrael stopped breathing for a moment as he looked from side to side, listening to the loud, rumbling sound that grew louder and louder. His ears didn't recognize the sound, but he soon realized that it wasn't created by the golem.
The loud sound was sharp and thick, like hundreds of crystals being shattered by a large hammer striking hard against a hollow wall. Then the sky flashed with a bright blue light, the dark gray clouds turned blue, a spider web pattern formed, and in the center of that spider web pattern something formed and fell at extreme speed.
"Lightning," that thought flashed through his mind, and he quickly remembered a little of what Gabriel had told him about lightning.
"There are thunderstorms, much stronger than the ones you know, and the lightning spreads and connects on the surface. So if you're near a storm, all you can do is run..." Gabriel had told him a long time ago.
Azrael prepared to run, but his gaze was drawn to the lightning.
The lightning bolt fell extremely fast, gradually slowing down, almost as if it were taking its time to reach the ground. But when it was about to touch the ground, the lightning bolt stopped, seeming shy, as if it were giving the earth a little kiss, then the lightning bolt touched the ground.
The thunder spread quickly across the ground like a strong tide of water.
Azrael, awakening from his slumber, ran away from the enormous lightning bolt.
"Where is the storm cloud?! I don't see any around here!" Azrael shouted as he fled from the enormous lightning bolt.
At the same time, loud bangs began to be heard, the sound of the walls became more evident, and fragments of glass began to fall from the sky. Azrael raised his arms, trying to protect himself from the falling glass.
At the same time, a blue glow behind him grew stronger and stronger.