Chapter 607.1: Rescue Operation (1)
Alicia’s disappearance had been the worst news Roel had received since his return from the Witness State, but the terrible situation left him with no spare capacity to mull over it. It was only when he discovered Alicia’s trail in Shrouding Fog’s dimension that he heaved a sigh of relief.
To him, the worst thing that could have happened to Alicia was for the Savior’s worshipers to have uncovered her true identity and assassinated her. Even though the Mother Goddess was an enemy too, at the very least, Alicia was unlikely to be harmed there.
Or, at least, this was what Roel had thought thus far.
It was only when he reunited with her that he realized that his assumption might have been off the mark.
“Alicia?!” Roel exclaimed when he saw the aurora appearing above her.
Despite his poor condition, he channeled his mana to rush into the sky. His devastated body protested with excruciating pain, and his soul creaked from the burden. A mere instant of this was almost enough to make Roel pass out.
“Stop! You’ll die at this rate!” Artasia exclaimed.
“I don’t know who that is, but you should calm down. Your soul’s injury is about to exceed the threshold of what I can manage,” Edavia advised sternly.
Despite the warnings from his ancient gods, Roel couldn’t control himself and continued rushing toward the sky. Little did he expect that he would fail to even catch her attention.
Something was very wrong with Alicia.
Roel had thought that Alicia was the one controlling the Six Calamities—that would have explained why Shrouding Fog interfered in the battle before Roel could confront the Egg of the Beast God. She would have wanted to protect him, after all.
But now, that conjecture didn’t seem right either.
Alicia’s attention wasn’t on him at all. If she was here to save him, there should have been no way for her to conceal the concern in her eyes. Yet, she didn’t even spare him a glance.
While the two of them were some distance apart, a transcendent of Alicia’s level should have been able to hear his words. Her lack of response suggested two possibilities—either she was feigning ignorance, or his words were indistinguishable from the noises around.
This put Roel at a loss.
Supposing that Alicia was ignoring him for a good reason, such as the Mother Goddess’ surveillance, he would be putting her in a bad position by rushing over right now. However, his dilemma didn’t last long.
When the aurora in the sky became blindingly bright, and Alicia directed her hand toward the Egg of the Beast God, Roel’s brain stopped functioning for a brief instant as the answer leaped out at him.
While Light Devourer’s attack was targeted at the beast-headed giant, Roel was likely to be swept into it due to his proximity. Given the frail state he was in, this attack could take his life.
Alicia wasn’t just faking it. She really didn’t care about him at all.
This realization hit Roel like a truck. He was so shocked that he just froze on the spot, forgetting to even put up his defenses against Light Devourer’s incoming attack. To add salt to the wound, Alicia showed no inclination to slow her attack at all for his sake.
Under Alicia’s command, a burst of light shot out and devoured everything.
…
Roel was familiar with Light Devourer’s ability.
He had taken Light Devourer’s ability as his final trump card in the Witness State, and it helped him to turn around what was otherwise an impossible fight. For that reason, Light Devourer was the only Calamity that he felt more intimate with… but it was just his imagination.
They were finally reunited, but Light Devourer had no intention to take special care of him.
Countless beams of light shot out from the aurora, inundating the surroundings in white light. Only then did it occur to Roel that he should put up his defense, but the situation was worse than he had expected.
His body was so worn out that he could hardly squeeze any mana out. Any attempt to channel his Crown Origin Attribute would tug at his tattered soul, triggering extreme pain.
Most importantly of all, Roel, whose soul was once fused with Light Devourer, knew its characteristics better than anyone else.
Light Devourer was a ravenous calamity that devoured everything made of mana, making its attacks the most dangerous ones of all. In the first place, its attacks were nigh impossible to evade, as they manifested in the form of light rays. It would be meaningless even if one put up a mana barrier in advance, as the barrier would only be eroded by its mana-devouring trait.
The beast-headed giant which had emerged from the Egg of the Beast God raised its humongous arms and transformed them into a black shield. This would have been enough to ward off Shrouding Fog due to its high immunity against the Six Calamities, but it wasn’t enough to stop Light Devourer.
White beams of light whizzed down like divine spears and swiftly broke down the beast-headed giant’s shield. The beast-headed giant howled in fury, but it was to no avail. Within a matter of seconds, its defenses had already been eroded by the beams of white light.
It was also then that the tightly converged beams of white light suddenly spread outward, expanding the scope of the attack to include Roel as well.
Roel’s mana barrier eroded right away. He desperately tried to tap into the power of the Crown’s Stones, but his soul was so tattered that he could only release bits of frost aura.
The deluge of white light advanced on Roel, making quick work of the defenses he had put up. He could already feel his mana uncontrollably leaking out before the white light reached him. Just as he was about to be devoured by the white light, a person suddenly stood in front of him.
“Roel!”
Nora surged forth and took her position in front of Roel. She unfurled her light wings and swiftly weaved her holy light together to form a barrier.
“It won’t work, Nora! Don’t use your mana…” Roel anxiously reminded.
Boom!
Before he could finish his words, the two lights clashed with a loud reverberation. Nora’s barrier eroded before the white light too, but the speed of the erosion was much slower than Roel’s.
I see. It’s the Angel Sovereign Bloodline. Roel nodded in realization.
The Angel Sovereign Bloodline was the strongest Angel Bloodline, and it was equipped with the power to assimilate and destroy. Its nature was similar to Light Devourer’s in certain ways, and that was why Nora’s barrier didn’t break down right away.
Even so, it only bought Nora some time against Light Devourer.
In terms of potency, the power of the Angel Sovereign Bloodline was equal to Light Devourer, but Nora was no match for the calamity in terms of mana quantity, and she was well aware of that.
In just a few seconds, she had already depleted a huge amount of mana. It didn’t take her long to reach her limit, especially since she had been fighting for days by now. Her face turned pale, and her arms started to tremble.
As the white light slowly overpowered the two of them, they began to descend from the sky with increasing speed, to the point where they looked almost like shooting stars from below.
Nora panicked, knowing that the impact would be dire at this rate. After a moment of hesitation, she gave up on protecting herself and instead tightly hugged Roel.
“!”
Her decision caused Roel’s body to stiffen. He lowered his head to look at Nora, and in her sapphire eyes he saw unwavering resolve. Nora also raised her head upon sensing the stiffening of his body.
They were in a bad position.
Above them was Light Devourer’s deluge of white light, and beneath them was the tremendous physical impact they would receive from crashing into the ground at such a high speed. Even Nora couldn’t guarantee her own safety from this two-fold damage, but she chose to expose herself to danger in order to protect him.
The scenery zoomed right past the two of them.
Sensing Nora’s unyielding determination to keep him safe, Roel gritted his teeth. He resolved himself to squeeze his already battered soul one more time to acquire the mana he needed to overcome this crisis.
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