"Liana? You an... the greatest mage that has ever set foot in this world?!" Rachel practically scread, unable to believe the words that had just co out of the Demon King’s mouth.
"Yes, that Liana."
Rachel started breathing heavily. "I-I’m one of her biggest fans. How do you think she made this?!"
For a mont, she seed to completely forget about the person that stood before her. Even if it was the Demon King, that fact had completely left her mind; instead, she was solely focused on the fact that Liana had made this tunnel and the barrier.
"Is it possible to get through?" Rachel asked as she approached the wall, her eyes widening in awe.
She knew that a talented mage had done this. But this was on a completely new level; never in a million years had she expected the greatest mage to have done sothing like this.
’The runes, their complexity... everything makes sense now.’
Rachel had always strived to beco similar to Liana in terms of strength; she was the person she respected the most. That’s why she was extrely sad when she disappeared.
"It might be possible to get through. But by the ti I do, it’ll be too late already."
The Demon King knew Liana well. She knew how she made her plans; she never left anything to chance. They were always designed to every single detail. She never made a mistake.
’That chanism when he entered the cave alone... There’s a chance that Liana wanted to talk with my son. But why?’
The Demon King had been observing Caliste’s movents for a while. He couldn’t do it inside the Academy because he had made so restrictions that made it impossible to spy on students. But when he left for the dwarven territory, he had looked at everything, and he knew there was definitely sothing strange that had happened at the academy.
Caliste’s behavior had changed in a short period of ti. He seed angrier than before.
"Can you two move back?" the Demon King asked, showing them where to go with his hands.
The Demon King took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he began to gather his energy all over his body, a black and red aura seeping through all parts of him as he continued to stare before him with a frown.
It was all heading toward his right palm, which he was slowly raising from his body in opposition to the wall. The Demon King kept a neutral expression on his face and finally opened his eyes as this black and red energy exploded forward like a laser beam that was made to destroy everything in its way.
-BZZZZZT!
The ground trembled as the laser was still ongoing; Rachel, who was watching, couldn’t help but be in awe of the Demon King and his strength.
’There’s no way anyone could ever resist such a thing...’ Rachel thought as she rembered the old heroes. ’It’s a good thing we made peace with the demons; it would have been much worse otherwise.’
The laser began disappearing with the Demon King frowning.
There was no damage.
The dirt wall was intact.
"Hmpf." The Demon King shook his head. "She even prepared for my arrival; how clever..."
The Demon King muttered those words, and with the blink of an eye, he disappeared from where he stood as if he had never been inside the cave in the first place.
’Let’s see just how powerful you will co out, son...’ the Demon King thought as he felt his heartbeat slowly getting stronger.
***
Liana had stood from her old chair, on the verge of falling apart, as she was now sitting on the ground before Caliste, both of them with closed eyes.
"Is sothing wrong?" Caliste asked as he watched her flinch in pain three tis in a few minutes.
However, as usual, Liana hid what was really happening.
She didn’t want to say that she was suffering because of what was happening outside; she couldn’t.
"Let’s continue."
She didn’t address the issue, going back to what they were originally doing.
"Grab my hand."
Caliste listened and grabbed her hand.
"Close your eyes."
He knew that what he was doing would pretty much doom all of Liana’s chances of coming out of this place, and that’s what killed him from the inside. She could have spent thousands of years in this place because of how slowly ti passed here, and she had not once complained about it.
She kept saying that it was her destiny, sothing like that. Words that Caliste despised a lot.
To him, you are the master of your own destiny, and you can change it.
It’s only a matter of will.
"AHHHHH!"
But then, as they were about to start the transfer of the Molten Core power, Liana grabbed her chest and scread at the top of her lungs. The pain she felt was unlike anything she had experienced before.
She had only flinched slightly before staying stoic. But now...
Caliste imdiately got up and grabbed the back of her head. "What’s happening? What happened? Tell ."
"Did I do sothing wrong?"
She shook her head, her entire body tensing up.
"I-It’s soone on the outside... T-They’re trying to co here."
"Who? Who could make you feel so much pain?"
The golden color in her hair, which had already lost its shine, was slowly starting to change color... it was turning brown, with a slight tint now. The sa happened to her eyes. She was losing her strength in real ti, and there was nothing Caliste could do about it.
"I-I don’t know..."
She clenched her jaw. She knew exactly who was the person making her feel so much pain. But she couldn’t tell Caliste; he would be too emotional.
This pain lasted more than three sleeps, with Liana just clenching her jaw, sotis releasing screams because the attack on the outside might have lasted seconds; in here, it would last days.
But then, a few more days later, the pain finally subdued, and Liana was able to co back to normal. However, she looked even more feeble than before. Her body, which had already been unhealthy, was now in worse condition. Caliste could even see the bones protruding from all over her body.
"L-Let’s continue..."
Liana sat once more as Caliste looked at her with a frown. He could clearly see that she was close to dying. Whatever had happened had injured her to her absolute limit. If she suffered like this again, then there was even a chance that she might die.
"Grab my hand... quick."
She seed to be in a rush; she was scared of suffering like this again. She was also aware that her body was deteriorating.
"Let’s begin."
Imdiately as Caliste grabbed her hand, Liana did not waste a single mont.
Her hair, which had lost its shine, along with her eyes, suddenly began to float. She regained her vivacity; her body, which was on the verge of falling apart, was starting to get healthier in seconds. Caliste knew what was happening. She was channeling the energy from the Molten Core.
The energy that he was supposed to absorb to beco stronger.
-Zooooom!
Caliste suddenly felt a large amount of energy entering his body. He could feel just how powerful it was. If he had been in the outside world, then he would have never been able to absorb that energy, but inside this space, where ti was modified, it didn’t affect his body right away, giving him ti to control it.
"Focus on bringing that energy to your mana core. You need to mix it with the rest of your mana affinities. You need to completely mix them before leaving this place. If you don’t, then you will die the mont you step outside."
Liana was completely serious.
"L-Look under my chair... I’ve given you a thod to achieve the fusing of energies."
Caliste frowned as he looked under the old wooden chair, where he saw a book stuck to the seat. A small book, not too thick nor too thin.
He looked at its title and smiled as he continued to stare at it.
[thod to Cultivate the Molten Energy]
Caliste didn’t even need to open it for a flow of information to rush into his mind at speeds that were completely inhuman. It hurt his mind a little, but it was bearable, and after a few minutes, it was over, and Caliste knew exactly what he needed to do.
However, when he opened his eyes again, he noticed that Liana was gone.
She was no longer on the ground; her body had disappeared the mont he had turned around. He knew that she couldn’t have moved so fast in her state.
There was only one thing that Caliste could think of.
Liana was dead.
But then... when he thought that it was over, a feminine voice resounded in the back of his mind.
’Stupid, if only I could hit the back of your head right now...’
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