The roots held Akhil immobilized.

"Let go of me!" He struggled fiercely, but his efforts were futile. The roots' grip was unbreakable.

A mouth-like root, identical to the one he had tried to destroy with blood bullets, shot toward him at a rapid pace.

It latched onto his head like a large suction tube, the impact muffled and sickening.

He felt the soft, viscous, jelly-like innards as the root entirely swallowed his head.

His vision became fuzzy, and his muscles weakened instantly.

His eyes slammed shut, and no amount of effort could pry them open. It felt as though a large, cold tape had been pressed down on his eyelids.

Slowly, he could barely feel his body at all. His mind began to drift.

At that same moment, Hale and Samxon were facing the exact same fate.

'I can't hold on for much longer,' Akhil fought desperately to keep his consciousness intact.

Inside the root, a feeling of nausea washed over Akhil as a wave of hot, fetid air hit his face.

That sickening heat, mixed with the quivering, jelly sensation, made it feel as though he was slowly being lulled into a terrifying sleep.

'I can't give in!' he kept repeating the words in his mind, constantly trying to quell the growing urge to sleep.

But it grew stronger.

Just as his mind slipped, a faint voice cut through the haze.

A small, almost inaudible voice echoed within his mind.

"Help"

The voice was calm, yet he could feel the weight of the pain behind the plea.

Like a muffled tear from a dying person.

'Who is this?'

Akhil felt an ache in his chest hearing the voice.

"H-help m..me stop the pain." the voice turned broken, slowly fading away.

'The girl... It has to be her' Akhil thought gritting his teeth.

'Her mutation was incomplete, she must be suffering like the orcs who were suffering from the plague'

He could clearly understand why she was in pain.

After looking into it much more, he realized that the less human one was, the harder it was for the mutation to succeed.

Which would eventually lead to a failure.

Considering the form she had taken as the beast titan, Akhil could only imagine how much pain she had to be in.

And not only that, but even with that pain... As a titan, she still had to go on with the task that she was left with.

Akhil tightened his fist.

'I'll help you' he thought sadly, anger filling him up from within.

{1000 blood essence used!}

Red mist curled up in the air, slowly taking form.

A circular blood blade formed above him and swept down, severing the mouth-like root.

A tremor could be felt through the entire cavern as the root flayed around aggressively.

But the blood blade wasn't done.

Swiish!

Swiish!

Swiish!

Making a quick turnaround mid-air, it went back in, slashing at the four massive roots that held him in place.

With a dull thud, Akhil fell to the ground, immediately yanking the thick mouth-root that was still latched onto his head.

His sharp crimson gaze fixed on the lathe beast titan.

All the roots stood tall in opposition, their tips pointed at him like spears, bristling with cold anger.

"But I'm afraid there's only one way to help you," Akhil took a deep breath as he broke into a sprint.

The roots lunged at him simultaneously.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The roots followed right behind him, shattering the earth in their wake.

Akhil was faster, his gaze locked onto the brightly glowing core. He scanned the walls for Hale and Samxon and quickly spotted the two.

Their bodies had already gone limp, a strange root now burrowed into the back of each head.

'I guess I'm the only one who can get the job done,' Akhil gritted his teeth, forcing himself to ignore the throbbing pain in his muscles.

'How do I get to the core, though? I can't sustain Air Walk for much longer; my energy is draining rapidly.'

{Blood essence: 200}

'My blood essence has plummeted, too. So much for all the blood I gathered,' He thought with a bitter sigh.

He was quick on his feet, but his speed was steadily declining, and the roots were closing in.

His thoughts in a whirlwind as he thought of any way to get close to the core.

'Wait! That might work,' An idea suddenly snapped in his mind. With a sharp cut, Akhil raced directly toward one of the charging roots.

The large root came whipping through the air with massive force.

But as soon as he got close enough, Akhil leaped, using the root as a makeshift platform.

'Shit, this is unsteady as hell! Can't you just stay still?!' Akhil cursed in his mind as the root began to writhe like a giant noodle, trying to shake him off.

With him standing atop one, all the other roots instantly pinpointed his location and began making their way toward him at lightning speed.

Akhil balanced himself on the wriggling root, relying on a combination of Air Walk bursts and the large root's body for leverage.

As the roots darted straight for him, he narrowly dodged each one. The sharp air currents whipped against his face as the attacks swept past.

He jumped from root to root, a furious, serpentine chase unfurling as they all pursued him in a desperate attempt to bring him down.

But Akhil didn't stop; he kept circling, round and round, atop the furious, serpentine roots.

It was like a dizzying, high-stakes game of chase on a plate of whipping noodles.

Akhil felt every one of his muscles screaming, but he pushed on desperately. In his weakened state, stopping would be an instant kill.

He was certain he couldn't withstand a single hit from the large roots now.

But even as he wanted to keep going, it seemed his body had finally reached its limit.

The root he was standing on began to writhe more violently than before, flinging Akhil high into the air.

As he tried to step onto the air again, he didn't feel the new, solid sensation of Air Walk he had grown accustomed to; instead, he felt a crushing reminder that he had clocked his limit.

He lost his balance completely, and the cold breeze slapped his body as he fell ruthlessly and fast toward the ground.

"Shit! Ouch!" Akhil groaned, hitting the earth hard on his side.

As he rolled over, he saw the large root hurtling straight for him, descending like a hammer of judgment.

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