The Extra Who Shouldn't Exist novel Chapter 181

Chapter 181: Chapter 181 : Success or Failiure

All of the dark tendrils enveloped Lily’s frail body, wrapping around her like living shadows.

Her still frame, frozen in suspended time, began to shift as the essence of the cosmos within Alex forced the world around her to resume its flow.

The air grew heavy. The chamber vibrated faintly, like the heartbeat of some unseen giant. Alex’s eyes never left Lily.

’Just hold on.’

"Success or failure—it will decide both of our lives."

Slowly, slowly, the tendrils began to sink into her skin, latching onto the veins corrupted with abyssal blackness.

Piece by piece, Alex’s trait Abyssborne Sovereignty dragged the corruption out, threading it into himself—the corruption itself obeyed him.

Almost instantly, Lily’s lips parted, a faint groan escaping as her body twitched. Her eyelids fluttered with agony she could not voice.

Alex snapped, his voice sharp with desperation.

"Now’s the time."

He channeled the Cosmic Essence, weaving micro-threads finer than a strand of silk into her nerves.

Each signal of torment that tried to climb its way to her brain was intercepted, redirected like a river dammed and diverted.

The pain slammed into Alex’s own body instead.

The result was immediate. His muscles locked up as if set aflame.

His teeth ground together, his body trembling violently. Sweat poured down his forehead as his focus began to waver. His lungs struggled for air.

The system’s voice surged into his mind.

[Host, just a little longer. Endure this.]

Alex’s vision blurred, but through the haze of suffering, something primal inside him stirred. His physique—his body itself—began adapting in real time to the torrent of pain.

Every second was like drowning in fire, yet his body stubbornly adapted, hardened, absorbed.

’Pain is nothing... nothing compared to losing her.’

Slowly—so slowly—her face began to regain its natural color.

The pitch-black veins receded, drained into the dark tendrils. The corruption that had ravaged her skin was stripped away, absorbed into Alex.

Her rotten legs twitched as the corruption was pulled out from them.

Her arms followed. Inch by inch, the grotesque corruption was sucked away until her skin glowed pale and flawless once more.

A flood of pure violet light—life energy—surged around her body. It wrapped Lily in a cocoon, mending what the corruption had shattered.

Slowly, her legs reformed, her thighs strengthened, her fingers lengthened.

Rotten flesh became new, smooth, unmarred.

Alex never blinked. Not once. For an entire hour, his eyes remained fixed on her, burning with focus and willpower.

His hands locked onto hers, as if letting go meant her death.

After some time, Lily’s body finally lay whole, pristine, and beautiful again.

Not a single scar remained. Her breathing softened into a peaceful rhythm.

But Alex knew the hardest part was yet to come.

The system’s voice echoed, hushed but grave.

[We have to be most careful here, Host. Her mana core... it’s fragile. One mistake and it will shatter beyond repair.]

"I know," Alex hissed through clenched teeth.

"Stop distracting me."

The dark tendrils writhed, shifting like serpents as Alex directed them inward, deep into her chest, into the very essence of her being.

They wrapped around her core—a tiny crystalline seed, glowing faintly but drowning in black filth.

Every movement required delicate precision. One slip, and her mana core would break into countless shards, leaving her crippled for life and destroying her body as well.

The corruption resisted at first, writhing like a beast cornered in its den.

As Alex dragged it out, an agony unlike anything before ripped through his body.

His nerves screamed, his muscles spasmed, and for a moment his mind teetered on the brink of breaking.

His passive skill Unyielding Will came into effect.

Still, he held on. His teeth bit down until blood filled his mouth.

His body adapted again, reshaping under the torment, forcing itself to endure what should have been unbearable.

Two long hours passed.

Finally—the last tendril of corruption peeled away from Lily’s core.

Her body glowed with pure light, her breathing soft and calm. Her mana core, though inert, was intact. She was safe.

Alex’s body collapsed. He fell to his knees, then sprawled onto the cold floor, chest heaving as though he had been dragged through hell itself.

Yet as he stared at Lily’s peaceful face, a broken laugh tore from his lips.

"I did it."

"I fucking did it."

"Fuck death."

"Fuck the gods."

"I am the man!"

"It’s a success!"

His laughter echoed in the chamber, half-insane, half-triumphant.

A smug voice rang in his head.

[Hell yeah! Now all we need is a medical degree, and we can become the best doctors in the world legally instead of going to jail for malpractice.]

Alex barked another laugh, rolling onto his back.

"You bastard! You should be worshipping me first—I did all the hard work!"

[Hard work? You fucker, I was the one who came up with the ideas, guided your sorry ass through the process, and manipulated all those energies.

Without me, your brain would’ve melted! You’d be drooling in the corner right now. ]

Alex’s eyes widened.

"What the hell did you just say?!"

[You heard me, you bastard. From now on, pray to me ten times every morning when you wake up.]

A pause lingered in the room as Alex lay on the floor, chest still rising and falling heavily.

He let out a small breath and muttered, half serious, half playful,

"Ten times? Seriously? You know I’m not a morning person, right?"

The system’s reply came sharp and smug.

[Yeah, seriously. I’ll wake you up myself if I have to.]

For a moment, silence. Then both cracked at the same time.

"Pfft—hahaha! Hah hah hah hah!" Alex’s laughter echoed across the chamber, raw and unrestrained.

Inside his mind, the system’s laughter rang in sync.

[Pfft! Pfft! Ha ha ha ha ha!]

It was madness, it was relief, it was victory all rolled into one, and their hysterical voices filled the space until Alex was coughing from laughing too hard.

On the other side of the room, the woman lying on the second bed trembled, her wide eyes never leaving the silver-haired boy.

Despite the corruption eating away at her own body, despite the searing pain crawling through her veins, she couldn’t look away—not for even a second.

For two whole hours she had watched him.

Every scream he bit back. Every tendril of darkness he wrestled into himself. Every shred of agony he bore just to protect the girl in the bed beside her.

And as she stared, only one thought consumed her mind.

’What... what the hell is he?’

She had heard it herself from the doctors—zero percent chance of survival.

Lily Dragonheart was already halfway to the grave, her body consumed, her core rotting. And yet... this boy...

This boy had reached into the maw of death itself and dragged her back out.

Her lips trembled, words slipping out like broken whispers before finally rising into a shaky voice.

"Y-You... who the hell are you?

Some kind of divine being?

An angel? ...

A demon king?

Or maybe...

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify