Chapter 220 Elizabeth's breakthrough
Two days had passed. Adam and his group suddenly came to a halt, finding themselves in familiar surroundings—a frozen landscape with statues of unfortunate people trapped forever in the cold's embrace. As they strolled through these places, they suddenly heard a vibration, followed by a bright glow on Amarantha's token.
"What a bright glow... could someone from your group be close to us?" Adam asked, squinting and looking around.
"Most likely... the radiance is much brighter because this practitioner has a much higher level. We need to hurry, or this person may die, and then it will be even more difficult for us to gather everyone together!" exclaimed Amarantha, pointing ahead. "There! Twenty kilometers from us!"
"Understood!"
Adam spread his demonic wings and, flapping them swiftly flew in the indicated direction. He flew at a speed of 350 km/h, and even at such a speed, it was challenging for him to catch up with the three women. After five minutes of flight, they finally reached the location of the signal.
Here, as before, there were many statues, but one of them caught their attention the most. The man abruptly stopped in the air, folded his wings, and landed right in front of this statue. He raised his eyebrows, and it was evident that he was very surprised.
"Well, well... Isn't this Elizabeth? How did she end up in such a simple trap?" he asked aloud, starting to examine her body, checking if she was alive or not. Then he announced the results, "She's alive but on the brink of death. Besides, I didn't encounter any resistance; most likely, she intentionally disabled her protection."
"What the hell is she doing? This is not some kind of game!" Sierra exclaimed, also finishing her examination. "Really... all the protection was disabled, even the natural one. Although, after I studied it in more detail, I found a small detail..."
"You mean the Law of Ice?" Veronica added to Sierra's words, smiling as she looked at the frozen Elizabeth. "So, this bitch is quite lucky, huh? I remember she had Higher Energy of Cold, so this is just the best place to practice."
"How frustrating!" Sierra exclaimed and pouted, pretending to cry. "Why can't I further develop my Higher Energy? Why her and not me?"
"Hope you never have to develop it," Amarantha said, making Sierra shudder.
"Mmh?"
Adam raised an eyebrow, not fully understanding Amarantha's reaction, but seeing that no one was eager to explain to him, he could only shrug. By the time they were talking, sudden changes occurred in Elizabeth's magical energy, and the same happened to her vital signs, which suddenly skyrocketed and rose to normal.
"What? Is she recovering?" Amarantha exclaimed in surprise.
However, that wasn't all. When her magical energy level returned to its previous state, it didn't stop growing—on the contrary, it was an amazing growth, as if accelerated by two times.
BOOM!
Suddenly, an explosion occurred, and Adam and the others were forced to step back a considerable distance, watching with curiosity as a snowstorm engulfed Elizabeth's body and began rising higher and higher, reaching up to the clouds. Moreover, her magical energy became stronger and stronger, not showing any sign of stopping.
"How amazing... is she going to level up? It took her a very long time," Veronica commented with a carefree smile, crossing her arms over her chest and activating barriers that shielded them from external danger.
"She wants to level up? In a place like this?" Amarantha was surprised and held her breath, sensing something ominous.
Although the conditions of this place were good, it was still part of Hell, where they were outsiders. Therefore, this event could easily provoke someone unwanted, which they fear. Moreover, during the level up to the SSS rank, it would inevitably be necessary to use Higher Energy to strengthen consciousness.
"Oh, damn, I feel like something bad is about to happen," Adam muttered, and...
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
His words turned out to be true. Suddenly, everything around started to crack, while lightning bolts appeared with a thunderous sound, striking Elizabeth directly.
"AAAAAAAAH!"
The lightning was not an ordinary natural phenomenon but rather a defensive mechanism of Hell. Sensing that Elizabeth had used Higher Energy, a special law was triggered, which immediately began doing everything possible to get rid of the intruder (according to Hell's version).
"Brutal... if she can't resist the lightning, it will be her end," Sierra commented, frowning.
The trio, in the protective barrier, could only watch this event, holding their breath and awaiting the conclusion. Elizabeth was suffering from these lightning strikes, and her aura was unstable. Moreover, the idea of leveling up temporarily could be completely forgotten, considering the dire situation she found herself in.
"What horror... If she can't endure this, she will most likely permanently lose her potential as a practitioner," Adam muttered and sighed, watching Elizabeth suffer. He thought, "Even though we are enemies, in essence, she... sigh!"
Even with a strong desire, Adam couldn't do anything. It was simply a daunting trial in the form of powerful lightning that could turn him into dust with just one strike. Moreover...
"I'm sure these lightning bolts can help her too. After all, it's not easy to kill a practitioner of her level," he thought.
***
Days passed. According to rough calculations, more than two days had passed, but no one could verify it because the concept of time here was relative to Hell. However, one thing could be said—Elizabeth's resistance lasted a very long time. During this time, Adam managed to immerse himself in the System once but suddenly encountered something unusual.
"What the hell?"
Everything around was bathed in red, while any functions were disabled. The man began to worry because there was no response as if the system suddenly turned off.
[Error! Error!]
[Error! Error!]
[Error! Error!]
[Error! Error!]
[Error! Error!]
[Error! Error!]
"So loud..."
Adam frowned and could only watch as more and more notifications with red errors appeared. He could only close his eyes and wake up, not having the slightest idea why the system was behaving like that. There was speculation that it was because of Hell's terrain, but even that was hard to believe.
"Amarantha, how are things?" he asked, getting up from the ground and brushing off the dust and dirt from his pants and seat.
"No changes. Elizabeth continues to resist, but it's noticeable that it's hard for her. Sigh..." she said with a disappointed voice and then sighed.
"..."
He couldn't help but look at Elizabeth, who levitated in the air and resisted the lightning with all her might. Between her and Amarantha, there was their history—they were friends from their youth, making their bonds much closer than one might assume. Despite parting ways after graduating from the academy, it could be assumed that their friendship still endured.
In her stories, Amarantha repeatedly mentioned what Elizabeth was like in her youth, and those stories left a strong impression on him. It couldn't be ignored that he didn't expect to uncover such a carefree and playful character of the Queen of Avalonia, who seemed cold from the outside.
"Well, I hope she can get through this trial."
***
Two days later...
Adam patted Veronica on the shoulder, who was sleeping on his knees.
"Wake up, Veronica. It seems that Elizabeth managed to endure this trial," he said, smiling and pointing to the sky.
"M-m..."
With difficulty, the woman managed to raise her head and squint, seeing the lightning beginning to disappear, while the icy terrain around began to show signs of thawing.
"Wow... so she absorbed the laws of nature? Impressive," Sierra murmured.
As Elizabeth's body slowly descended to the ground, her eyelashes trembled, and her eyelids began to rise—soon her clear, cold blue eyes, emitting a bright light, opened to the world again, and the temperature around dropped once more. Silence ensued and lasted until Elizabeth's magical energy calmed down.
"Hmm?"
She made a snorting sound and looked towards Adam and his group, who were waiting for her. Queen Avalonia frowned and began to suspiciously inspect them as if trying to find any hints of evil intentions or something similar.
"What are you doing here? Were you watching me?" she asked, wrinkling her nose and drawing her sword, pointing its edge straight at them. "We had conflicts between us, so I hope you're not counting on my gratitude, clear?"
"Pff... arrogant bitch!" Veronica said, smiling and suddenly appearing right in front of Elizabeth, holding the blade of her sword between two fingers. She grinned, "Maybe you think you've become super-duper strong, but you barely reach me, kid. So let's skip your arrogance, got it? If I wanted to kill you, you would have been dead a long time ago."
"..."
Adam squinted. Everything happened so fast that he didn't even have time to react. At a speed exceeding the speed of light, Veronica suddenly appeared in front of Elizabeth and held the edge of her sword, restraining the blow Elizabeth wanted to deliver. Thus, a short clash occurred, which fully revealed their current abilities.
Elizabeth was also impressed by Veronica's strength and, in a way, felt envy. After all, she reached a new level, but already encountered the harsh reality—beyond one sky, there is another sky. One cannot be too arrogant.
Amarantha, standing next to Adam, had to intervene in their conflict to prevent it from escalating into a worse outcome.
"Both of you, calm down! Now is not the time to argue with each other. We have a critical situation, by the way!" she declared with irritation and snorted, "We are in damn Hell, where we know no one and nothing, and staying here is very dangerous!"
"Hmph!"
"Hmph-ph!"
Fortunately, her words affected both women, and they stepped aside.
To be continued...
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