After we got out of the portal, the first thing we saw was the shadow of the gigantic god-level Shark demon. Well, it should be obvious since we used the portal inside its God Domain to escape.
"My Lord, the ring!"
Igni didn't waste a second and called out to me.
From her words, the fact that I had that artifact from Goddess Zeta resurfaced in my mind. I quickly pulled my right hand from between the two of us and touched the ring. At that moment, the demon finally noticed our presence and released a roar.
"...!"
The air shook as our ears felt like they would break. Looking closer, the red eyes of the shark contained extreme killing intent. It must've received the information from its avatar inside the God Domain right then.
"Come on! Faster!"
The ring was starting to activate, with energy revolving rapidly around it. However, in our senses, it felt like the process was too slow. As we were watching the demon shark, suddenly, the black domain it used before spread around.
At that moment, a small portal appeared right behind us and pulled with an unstoppable force. Although I haven't felt what it's like to get flushed down the toilet, I guess it would feel similar to this.
As we passed through, the portal immediately closed, cutting off the connection with the demon, who was still roaring in anger.
"Woah!"
Igni lost her balance from the powerful pull, leading to the two of us tumbling around on the wooden floor. After bumping our backs against the bookshelf near the wall, we finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief.
Looking around, I realized that the place we got teleported to was in the middle of my hidden office inside the newly built Debauchery Hall.
"We're safe now... Right?"
I sharpened my senses just in case, looking around and scanning for any space energy fluctuations. The Demon Shark seemed to be an expert in space elements, after all, and if it got wind of our location, it should be simple for it to break in.
After a few seconds of waiting, nothing changed in the surroundings. Not even a small energy fluctuation was seen. After confirming this, I finally let go of the tension in my body. I leaned on the wall and turned to Igni beside me.
"Looks like it's fine now... Igni?"
As I stared at her, however, something seemed off.
Her face was crumpled, as if she were holding back extreme pain. I leaned closer to touch her shoulder but was quickly forced to let go.
"Argh?!"
I looked at my palm in shock and saw that the skin had burned off completely. It was hurting so bad, but I ignored it and held her body.
"Igni! What's going on? Talk to me!"
I tried calling her, but her eyes were glazed. It's as if she was in a high-fever state where her mind was not working properly. Furthermore, her temperature wasn't anything that a human body could normally endure. Just from what I could feel scalding my skin, I'm sure it was hotter than an open fire.
"This is bad..."
I looked around but couldn't find anything to help her with.
"Right, Ember!"
As I recalled my trusty tamed beast, a blue portal suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. As soon as it appeared, a few figures started flooding into the room.
"Master! You're alive!"
She sobbed as she rushed to embrace me, only to stop abruptly. Despite her heightened emotion, she quickly realized that the current situation wasn't the time for a celebration.
"Master, Igni's energy is dropping rapidly!"
She quickly identified the problem and informed me as she rubbed the tears from her swollen eyes. Of course, I noticed this too as soon as I looked at her.
Rather than leaking, her energy was getting converted to heat and dissipating out of her entire body. Her clothes were now almost all charred from the extreme heat she was releasing.
"This..."
From behind Ember, a voice echoed.
"I know this phenomenon. It's a special occurrence for some monsters who can borrow power from their future selves."
"Is that true, Julia?!"
I looked back at the flat-chested succubus girl, and she nodded immediately.
"Yes. As far as I know, it should be limited in capacity, but with how rapidly she's losing energy in exchange for the power she used... Did she borrow from a God-level version of herself?"
At her words, I recalled how powerful Igni was before we escaped.
The strength she wielded was enough to trample the Demon Shark like it was nothing. That power was definitely at the demigod or God level!
"Can we do anything to save her?"
Seeing the rapidly dwindling energy inside her, it would probably take a minute or two before she completely ran out of it. I don't know what would happen when she ran out of energy, but it probably wouldn't end well.
Julia thought for a bit before opening her Storage Ring and pulling out two vials.
"This is an energy recovery potion. It is something that is for god-level monsters' use. Ingesting it would cause Energy Overload, but with how fast she's getting drained, it shouldn't be that dangerous."
She placed the first bottle of blue liquid on the floor before introducing the next one.
"This is a fire resistance potion. It can't prevent burns completely, but it should at least help you fend off the heat."
After placing the second vial, which contained a red liquid, she turned around and went to the door.
"Then, we'll be waiting for you two down on the first floor. Just use the red one on yourself and the blue on Igni. After that, everything should end well."
After saying this, she called everyone outside. Ember wanted to remain, but Julia convinced her to trust me for now. As everyone left, Julia started to close the hidden door leading to the room. Before it completely closed, I saw her send a thumbs-up and a grin as she winked at me.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l