"Where the hell..." Vanessa snarled as she crashed her fist through the chest of the last remaining monster.
The punch detonated the creature into a splattering cloud of blood, spraying the air with crimson mist.
She calmly pulled her hand back, and before a single drop could hit the ground, the blood twisted into streaks of liquid red and snaked into the bloodrop tattoo on her palm.
She exhaled irritably.
"Is Lucius?!"
Her voice cracked with a mixture of worry and anger.
It was one thing for Lucius to wander off... he did that all the ti but disappearing during a monster ambush was sothing else entirely.
"Even the stream is saying he vanished." Luna pushed her glasses up her nose, squinting at the P40 drone beside her. "Not only that... but the Saintess is missing as well."
Vanessa froze.
Her eyes widened.
Her blood vapor rose.
’Did that woman... take him to do sothing inappropriate? Is that why she’s not here?!’ Vanessa’s hair even began steaming slightly, little curls of blood mist drifting upward like angry incense.
But her spiraling thoughts stopped the mont she spotted Rita sitting atop a nearby boulder with her legs crossed and her hands neatly folded in her lap.
She was looking perfectly innocent.
Vanessa rushed toward her. "Hey Rita, did you see Lucius?!"
Rita shook her head.
"I think he was caught off-guard by a monster." She then pointed toward the staircase. "Then he fell down the stairs."
"What?" Vanessa bolted forward, with Luna, Grimm, and Erika charging behind her.
They reached the edge of the grand staircase... and there he was.
Lucius was there... trembling like a newborn deer as he climbed with shaky legs.
"How did you even get down there?!" Vanessa shouted down the steps.
Lucius raised his head.
Despite the sweat clinging to his brow, he sohow managed a smile. "I fell!"
Vanessa’s mouth twitched in exasperation. His space powers didn’t let him fly so it would make sense that if he fell.
Grimm’s hair blew backward as the oversized bunny sprinted past the girls with the speed of a cannonball and arrived beside Lucius like a loyal mount reporting for duty.
Lucius patted its side appreciatively.
’I can’t believe that woman threw down the stairs.’ He rubbed his shoulder slightly. ’She could’ve just pulled away from the boulder normally, but no. Noooo. She yeeted down the steps because she didn’t want to get caught. Pure evil.’
If it had been a lot closer to the top, he wouldn’t have minded much but she literally threw him far down.
"Thanks," Lucius said as he carefully climbed onto the bunny’s back again.
The creature didn’t hesitate; it simply broke into a steady run, making climbing look effortless.
Once he reached the top, Lucius slid off the bunny and stretched. "Wow, you guys really did a lot of work here."
The corpses scattered everywhere proved it.
Awakeners were already carving open carcasses and pulling out glittering mana cores, stacking them into neat little piles.
Grimm pointed proudly toward a cluster of bodies. "I killed this... and this... and this... and even that one!"
Lucius followed his finger and raised a brow.
Grimm had beco quite efficient in killing, these monsters looked powerful after all.
"Nice," Lucius said genuinely.
Before they could celebrate, Supre Man waved him over.
Lucius sighed and gently floated toward him with his arms crossed.
Despite several battles, Supre Man barely looked winded. Even his cape was annoyingly pristine.
’Why do you even wear a cape when you can’t fly? Crazy.’
"What do you need?" Lucius asked.
Supre Man grimaced and pointed toward the distant mountain where the true staircase had teleported.
"I need you to carry everybody there," Supre Man said. "Over to that mountain."
Lucius blinked. "Can’t you just jump there?"
"Of course I can." Supre Man puffed his chest. "The distance isn’t that far."
"Then why are you asking ?"
"I’m talking about the rest of them," he explained, gesturing back at the tired Awakeners. "They don’t have the power to make the jump. Well... except the Wind mage, but she can’t carry everyone."
Lucius exhaled sharply. "You’ve been using as so kind of taxi service all day."
"I... wouldn’t say taxi—"
Lucius smiled dangerously. "If you want to do it, offer sothing good. Show you’re not just ordering around."
Supre Man stiffened. "What do you want?"
Lucius didn’t hesitate. "Your sister’s number."
The man froze.
...
Minutes later, the entire group of Awakeners floated through the air as Lucius levitated them across the gap toward the neighboring mountain.
Supre Man stared into the distance with a hollow expression.
’First my crush... now my sister? What kind of devilish man is this?’ His soul was leaving his body. He was an S-rank and even he felt outmatched when it ca to this guy.
Lucius, anwhile, humd cheerfully as he guided the group through the sky.
But then...
A wave of heat slamd into them from the right.
It was like stepping too close to a forge, the temperature spiked instantly and everyone instinctively turned to look.
A giant dragon hovered several hundred ters away with it’s wings beating slowly but sohow magnificently as well.
Its scales shimred like molten rubies, and the very air around it twisted from the heat it radiated.
"Is that a dragon? The fuck? What is one doing on the second floor?" one Awakener whispered in disbelief.
The dragon’s chest expanded and its jaw grew wide. Its throat lit up with swirling orange plasma.
[@DebunK: WHY IS THERE A DRAGON NOW??]
[@LizardLover: I THOUGHT THIS FLOOR WAS BUG-THED]
[@HeatStroke: WHY IS THE SUN BREATHING AT THEM]
[@WyvernWish: THEY’RE DEAD THEY’RE SO DEAD]
[@ArcFla: DRAGON ARC LET’S GOOOO]
The dragon unleashed its breath.
A torrent of flas... brighter than any fire magic any of them had ever seen erupted toward the hovering awakeners.
It was a living tsunami of fire, the kind of heat that could lt the world’s strongest tal.
And there was no ti to dodge.
The flas swallowed them whole.
The world vanished into white-orange fire.
Lucius didn’t flinch though.
He simply snapped his fingers, bending space like a rippling sheet of water.
A barrier of distorted reality erupted around the entire group, warping the dragon flas into spirals that evaporated harmlessly into the sky.
’Damn... am I about to get a Dragon slayer title?’
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