Chapter 234 Breaking Dawn
The earthquake struck with a powerful tremor, but Klaus remained calm. He gently laid the golden-haired elf woman's lifeless body on the floor. Then, he accessed his spatial ring and retrieved a knife and a small bottle.
However, as he was about to draw the knife across her skin, he felt a faint pulse in her wrist. It was a sign of life, and Klaus couldn't hide his surprise. Narrowing his eyes, he gazed curiously at the true High Queen's face.
Klaus realized he was being played. Instead of getting angry, he chuckled. He rolled his eyes at the decaying body of Lauriel, "Damn, even in death, you still leave behind deceit."
The earthquake intensified, and Klaus couldn't linger in this place. He lifted the weakened High Queen's body and quickly left the room.
...
The entire crew panicked as they felt the powerful tremors and saw trees toppling around them. Justin clenched his teeth with worry in the worsening situation. He immediately began counting all the crew members to ensure no one was left behind. However, when his count was complete, he realized one person was missing.
"Where's Klaus?" Justin asked, his voice filled with concern.
Michael responded hastily, "I don't know. He wasn't with you? You are the who close to him."
Justin shook his head. He hadn't seen Klaus since dinner the night before.
"You all go. I'll find him," Sylvia offered to search for Klaus.
"No, you don't," Akio objected. "Klaus is the last person you need to worry about. I'm sure he'll be fine. For now, we need to escape this shitty place."
"No, I don't want to leave," Joanna quickly rejected the idea. She refused to leave without her brother.
But Sylvia tried to reassure the girl. "Joanna, we must leave this forest immediately. I'm sure Klaus will be fine. You know how strong your brother is, right?"
Nodding, Joanna finally agreed to leave the forest.
After hearing all their crew members' opinions, Justin made a decision, "We'll go. I'm sure Klaus will be okay."
Following this brief discussion, Justin and the crew quickly left the village. They ran urgently on the trembling ground. At the same time, they saw the elven villagers fleeing the earthquake.
The long-eared creatures swiftly avoided the falling trees. Tangled branches and giant trunks obstructed their path, but they easily evaded them, jumping, swinging, and maneuvering through the obstacles.
Meanwhile, Justin and his crew struggled to save themselves. The fighters and tanks moved quickly, causing the casters and healers to struggle to keep up with the pace of the group.
"Wait! Wait for me!" Joanna panted as she tried to escape.
Suddenly, the girl stumbled on a rock and fell to the ground. As she tried to get up, a massive shadow loomed overhead. She lifted her head, witnessing a giant tree about to fall on her.
"Kya!"
The giant tree created a thud as it hit the ground. However, Joanna felt nothing. As she opened her eyes, she found Gavin carrying her. The man wore a poker face as he darted through the trees. For some reason, Joanna blushed.
Amid their efforts to escape, Justin and the crew found themselves trapped by a pile of fallen trees. At the same time, their ground was cracking and fracturing, a sign that it was about to split. Most crew members were fighters, and they easily escaped the situation. However, the casters and healers were not as fortunate, as they were trapped with no way out.
In that desperate moment, Justin planned to summon ice elements to freeze the cracking ground and make it more stable, giving them time to escape. But in this critical moment, a group of elves emerged among the fallen trees. They immediately leaped and approached Justin and his crew.
"Get on our backs," one elf in the group said urgently.
The crew members cast their eyes on Justin, waiting for his decision. Feeling the pressing time, Justin didn't think too long and replied, "Alright."
The agile elves offered their backs as rides, and the crew quickly climbed onto them. Without hesitation, the long-eared creatures leaped swiftly, moving away from the widening crevice that swallowed fallen trees.
The elves moved gracefully even while carrying humans on their backs. The crew was amazed by their agility.
As the sun began to rise, they managed to escape from the forest and arrived at a vast green field. There, hundreds of elf villagers had gathered, creating an emotional and anxious crowd. Justin and some of the crew members who had been left behind were grateful for the rescue and sincerely thanked the elves who had saved them.
"I would like to thank you. Without you guys, we'd probably be dead," Justin said.
However, the elf who had carried him simply nodded. His eyes were melancholic, and there was no smile on his face.
At that moment, Justin realized that the elves were drowning in grief. The same look was on the faces of the other elf villagers. They wept and hugged each other, mourning their great loss. The forests that had been their home for thousands of years were now buried beneath the earth. They no longer had a place to live, and it was a massive blow to them.
Justin felt guilty as he witnessed their suffering. He thought this was his fault for coming to the forest. When the earthquake occurred, he got a notification from his smartlink, stating that Alpha had been defeated.
"Justin!"
In the midst of this emotional moment, he was reunited with the separated crew members. Sylvia and the others drew closer to him.
"Thank goodness you're okay," Olivia said, patting his shoulder.
"Honestly, I thought you were dead," Akio said. Tension still showed on his face.
"I was worried not to see you again," Sylvia expressed her concern.
Justin gave a weak smile. "We're okay. Thanks to them."
He introduced his crew members to the elves who had saved him and the rest, but these long-eared beings only nodded and simply left them.
"Well, their homes are destroyed."
Gavin's words made an impact on the crew members. Just like Justin, they were aware that they might be the cause of the powerful earthquake. They all read the notifications on their smartlinks. They assumed that the alpha's death was the cause of this earthquake.
However, at the same time, there was still one mystery that remained unsolved.
"Who do you think defeated Alpha?" Olivia voiced her piece of mind.
"Of course, it's Klaus," Akio answered.
The entire crew was shocked when they heard this.
"What's with your faces?" Akio continued. "Come on, this isn't the first time. How many times have we raided dungeons, but it was conquered before we met the Alpha?"
Upon hearing his statement, the crew members lowered their heads. They didn't know how to respond to this situation. They knew that Klaus had tremendous power but had never seen it with their own eyes. For them, Klaus was a mystery that they could never solve.
"But where's my brother?" Joanna chimed in. "Did any of you see him?"
The crew members looked at each other. Their expressions said that they had no idea about Klaus's whereabouts. None of them could tell.
Getting no response, Joanna began to worry. Sylvia immediately hugged the girl, trying to comfort her.
"Oh, so you all made it through?"
In the midst of the somber atmosphere, a sudden voice diverted their attention. The crew members rolled their eyes toward the sound and were left in shock.
Klaus appeared, carrying a golden-haired elf woman in his arms.
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