The Anomaly Beyond The System

Chapter 110: Igniting Hatred

Lia’s body stilled completely.

The deafening sounds around her—

The giant monster crushing into the building, devouring the concrete into its big, wide maw.

The muffled screams of people disappearing or running away.

Everything dulled around her.

“Brother…”

The word that escaped her lips was barely even a whisper.

Her trembling eyes remained locked on the gigantic creature buried halfway within the collapsed building.

Her thoughts turned blank.

‘What just happened?’

‘Where did brother go?’

‘Did that creature—’

She couldn’t even complete the thought.

Her breath hitched involuntarily before she could even imagine it.

No.

No.

No, no, this wasn’t true.

It couldn’t be.

Her fingers trembled against the floor beneath her.

“That man… did that crazy man die?”

Jane’s husband muttered in disbelief, standing just beside her.

The words alone made Lia’s body tremble violently.

The husband’s shock wasn’t because the monster ate him.

But it was because that man—Lucian had even fought it.

Just the possibility of someone doing that was insane.

Despite how one-sided the battle had looked, Lucian had still stood his ground.

Against something capable of swallowing whole pieces of buildings.

Against something that could devour the ground itself.

“How did he even do that…?” he spoke faintly again, still unable to comprehend what he had just witnessed.

And once again—

Jane had no answer.

She simply stared in disbelief and silence—at the enormous pale worm still lodged within the remains of the building, its body grotesquely pulsating as it continued to tear through rubble and debris.

Soon, her husband’s gaze shifted toward Lia.

Toward the blood-covered girl still kneeling motionlessly right beside him, whom he hadn’t noticed till now.

“Who… who is she? How did she even come here?” he asked uneasily while taking a slight step backward.

Her clothes were drenched in big blood patches.

Several bloodied strips of clothes were wrapped around her wounds.

Jane finally snapped out of her daze.

Her vision shifted toward Lia, and after a small thought, she suddenly rushed toward her.

“Hey—”

Jane grabbed Lia’s arm carefully and tried to pull her upward.

But the moment she noticed the blood through the bandages around Lia’s forearm, she loosened her grip slightly.

But even with the sudden sharp pain that flared through her arm, Lia barely reacted.

She didn’t even flinch.

Her eyes never moved away from the monster that was still stuck—or maybe just devouring the rubble along with the people inside it.

“Get up… we have to move…”

Hurriedly saying that in a shaky voice, Jane bent down and placed Lia’s arm over her neck and helped her stand up.

Lia’s legs nearly gave out immediately.

“Who is she?” her husband suddenly asked again, his eyes lingering over Lia’s face with visible unease.

The moment he properly looked into her eyes—

A chill ran down his spine.

Her eyes…

They were completely lifeless.

As if something had died inside her.

“That man left her over here,” Jane answered quietly while trying to support Lia’s weight, raising her hand and pointing in the monster’s direction.

“You mean that crazy bastard? The one who thought he could fight that… thing?”

He couldn’t even restrain his disbelief as he said that.

Yes, he was amazed by Lucian’s feats.

By his strength and the acrobatic skills he showed.

But… fighting that monster?

Actually trying to stand against it?

That was just stupidity, sheer madness in his opinion.

Jane hesitantly nodded.

Just remembering Lucian made her body tremble faintly in fear.

The moment he had ordered her to take care of Lia, the sheer dread she felt just from being before him was enough to make her chest tighten with unease.

He… he didn’t feel human to her.

Her husband stepped forward reluctantly and helped her support Lia from the other side as they slowly moved out of the balcony door.

The building still trembled weakly every few seconds.

“Why are we even trying to take her with us?”

He asked midway as he carefully placed the knife in his back pocket—the blade he had taken from the kitchen for protection before returning.

“Shouldn’t we be more focused on our safety rather than a stranger’s?”

His voice carried an irritation that wasn’t entirely hidden.

Because Lia wasn’t even moving an inch, almost like she had lost the will to even walk, which was making it difficult to move her.

“We’re humans, not monsters.” Jane snapped sharply at his question.

“If you cannot even save an injured woman, then stop calling yourself a man!”

Her husband froze slightly from the unexpected outburst from his wife.

Jane herself didn’t truly know why she was trying to help Lia so desperately.

In a situation like this—

Human morality should’ve been the last thing on anyone’s mind.

There was no knowing when they would die, and barely anyone would use that time trying to help a stranger.

But as soon as she thought about abandoning Lia—

Lucian’s face immediately appeared in her mind, along with those black, cold eyes.

The terrifying pressure he emitted, and strangely—

That absurdly handsome face despite the terrifying expression he wore at that time.

‘Take care of her.’

‘Do you understand?’ his cold words rang in her head once again, making her shiver once again.

That feeling alone was enough to make her immediately shake away any thought of abandoning her.

Her husband could only grumble quietly while helping her drag the nearly lifeless Lia downstairs along with them.

“Brother got inside that…”

Lia suddenly spoke, more like mumbled, as the horrifying realisation finally settled inside her.

Her brother…

Her Lucian…

Had been devoured by that giant monster.

Which meant—

He had died.

Or was on the verge of dying.

The thought alone made her body tremble violently once again.

Neither Jane nor her husband said anything this time while helping her down the stairs.

The silence around them felt strangely heavy.

Only the distant sounds of destruction and muffled screams echoed faintly outside.

But inside Lia’s head—

Everything had become chaos.

‘So I’ll never be able to see him again…?’

‘He’ll never talk to me again…?’

‘He’ll never pat my head again…?’

‘He’ll never give me an arm pillow when I cannot sleep…?’

One thought after another churned inside her head relentlessly.

Her vision blurred further.

Tears continuously dripped down her cheeks.

Yet despite crying—

Her eyes remained open.

Blank, dead, empty.

‘So he’ll be gone even before… even before I could tell him that I love him?’

Her chest tightened brutally.

And unknowingly, the temperature around them began increasing.

It was so faint that none of them noticed it, and during a time like this, with fear, panic and destruction surrounding them—

It was impossible to pay attention to such small details.

Soon, they were finally out of their apartment building.

The streets outside were chaotic, and a few people could be seen running desperately in the distance.

Some crying while dragging their family members and their children along with them.

It seemed Jane and her husband were the last ones to leave their building, as so one else was coming out after them.

Jane carefully adjusted Lia’s arm around her shoulders properly again.

She could feel something wet touching her neck—the blood from Lia’s wounds that was soaking through the bandages.

Step by step, they started walking away from the gigantic creature behind them.

“My brother…”

Lia’s sudden voice brought their attention away from the chaos.

Jane’s husband completely ignored her, while Jane quietly listened as they took her along with them.

Absentmindedly, she hummed with a faint sympathy.

She genuinely couldn’t imagine what Lia was going through right now.

“So… he’s inside that monster…”

Jane gave another quiet hum at her mumble.

“Then…”

Suddenly—

Both Jane and her husband frowned.

“Why did it suddenly get hot?” her husband muttered, instinctively raising his head upward.

But the sun hadn’t even completely risen yet.

It was just morning right now, and the air was getting more hot for some reason.

“Then I just have to kill it and get my Lucian out of it, huh?”

As soon as those words left her mouth—

CRACK.

The sharp cracking sound echoed inside her head.

The ring in her finger—the one her late mother had given to her—it finally gave out.

The already present cracks widened and more began appearing rapidly, disintegrating into pieces and falling off her finger.

Something inside her—something that had been locked up for such a long time was finally set free.

Jane and her husband’s frown deepened before turning their heads toward Lia.

And the moment they did—

“Agh…!”

Jane’s hand slipped away from Lia instantly as she stumbled away from her in fear.

“Fuck! I-Is she a monster…?!” her husband shouted in disbelief and horror.

Lia slowly raised her head.

Her eyes—

They had turned blood red, glassy and glowing unnaturally beneath her tear-streaked face.

The moment their eyes met hers—

Both Jane and her husband felt their blood ran cold.

The temperature around them rose further.

Droplets of sweat formed across their skin at a rapid pace.

“Monster…” Jane muttered weekly while taking a fearful step backward.

Then—

Both of them raised their heads up as a large shadow fell over them.

And both of their expressions changed immediately.

The gigantic worm had completely emerged from the destroyed building, and its enormous pale body twisted grotesquely, turning directly toward Lia.

Jane’s husband grabbed his wife’s hand tightly without any delay.

“Run!”

“But that—”

“Leave her! She’s a monster…!”

Jane bit her lips hard.

After a small hesitation, she finally relented.

And both of them ran.

Away without looking back again.

Meanwhile—

Lia’s slowly straightened from her slumped posture as she turned behind and raised her head, toward the gigantic creature whose head was directly at her—looking at her through its eyeless face.

Its massive circular maw twitched faintly

“You fucking bastard…” her voice came out low, trembling with hatred.

Her teeth ground against each other as her face twisted.

Slowly, she raised one trembling hand.

Grabbing the bloodied bandages that her brother—her dear brother, had wrapped around her arm.

With a tug, it easily tore off.

And instantly—

The blood-soaked cloth she pulled off ignited into flames.

She didn’t move her hand from it despite her hand getting burnt as well along with it.

No—the fire didn’t harm her.

The flames lingered until the cloth was turned into ashes.

At the same time—

The slash wounds across her arm began healing.

The torn flesh began reknitting itself together, reconnecting the muscles.

Skin regenerated gradually over the injury.

There wasn’t even a scar—like nothing had ever even happened to her.

Even the wound across her back began closing gradually.

Her body straightened further as the pain rapidly lessened.

Disappearing little by little.

“You have to die…”

Lia slowly lifted both her hands toward the direction of the monster.

“So that my brother…”

Her glowing red eyes trembled faintly.

“So that my Lucian will come out.”

The gigantic creature’s head was completely locked toward her.

The air around Lia grew hotter… before tiny sparks began forming in front of her palms.

The heat intensified violently, growing heavier, and a small flame formed in front of her.

The fire condensed together before her hands—

And a fireball began forming.

It grew larger rapidly.

By the time it stopped growing—

The fireball had become nearly as large as Lia herself.

The blazing flames illuminated the ruined streets around her in deep orange light.

Yet throughout the entire process—

Her expression barely changed.

There was no amazement in her eyes.

No excitement.

No happiness after using her affinity for the first time—after days of struggle.

The only expression on her face was—

Anger.

Pure burning hatred that increased with each passing second.

The large fireball reflected within her blood-red eyes that flickered again and again.

“Burn!”

The moment the shout left her lips—

The enormous sphere of flames violently shot forward through the air and directly slammed into the Gigantic Maw Worm.

BOOM!

The explosion erupted across the creature’s pale flesh, making the gigantic monster screech violently in agony.

100 Powerstones = 1 extra chapter

50 Golden Tickets = 1 extra chapter

This is the most I can do by now. Might increase the number of releases if you support me more.