A majestic black door with red engravings grew out of the ground and blocked the Abomination's attack.
"This is why I warned you to not change the storyline. In this world, an unknown variable can become the difference between life and death."
Floating in the sky high above was Lark.
He had his eyes closed even now as he faced the Abomination. The monster looked at him with interest at the appearance of the new interference.
I took a mouthful of air and stood back with the support of the sword in my hand. At the same time, God-Killing Spear was forming in the air.
"What are you doing?"
"Preparing to fight." I answered while wiping the blood from the corner of my lips.
The Abomination, with its trait [Life Detection] locked on at the strongest enemy on the battlefield, Lark, and crouched.
Bam-!
Its figure tore through the air and covered the distance between Lark and itself in a few rapid seconds.
"I don't need your help" Lark sighed, and a grimoire appeared in his hands. "<Gales of Boreas>, [Heavy Air], [Invisible Wall], <Mud Hammer>."
Heavy winds blew and slowed the Abomination. His trajectory halted as if it hit an invisible wall, and a 10-meter large hammer appeared above it.
Bang-!
The monster was smashed back to the ground.
"Why are you helping me?"
"I'm not helping you." The pages of the grimoire in his hands flipped at an insane speed and dozens of magic circles formed in the air. "[Eight Trigrams], [Hell's Banishment], [Eternal Zero]"
An octahedral shield trapped it, black hands appeared from the ground and wrapped around its body, snowflakes that froze everything that touched them within eternal ice.
"[Vine Entrapment], [Earth Lock], [Binds of Darkness], <Air Freeze>, [Heat Compound], [Monster Belly], <Hunter Trap>"
Lark used high-grade skills and magic nonstop. His figure rapidly shriveled, his hair turning white, and his voice weakened.
"<Giant's Mouth>, [Entropy Confine], [Water Sphere], [Light Cage], <Inverse Shield>"
A hurricane of skills and magic erupted.
Watching the grimoire, I felt a sudden excitement boil inside me. It was almost as if something inside me recognize that artifact.
Appraisal activated on its own.
======
[Grimoire of Hope [Legacy] ]
The grimoire belonging to the 7th ancient hero, Hope. It has been said that this grimoire once contained all magic and skills in existence.
-Allows the user to store Skills (???/???)
-Allows the user to store Magic Spells (???/???)
-Gives the user a portion of Hope's stigma [Miracle]. The chances of the activation of this ability depends on luck stat.
-???
-???
-???
-???
======
[Warning! [Appraisal] has been blocked]
[Appraisal] suddenly shut down and my eyes stung.
Thud-
"Peeking isn't a good habit."
Lark landed beside me. He had a pale visage and blood mixed with sweat flowed down from his orifices. Although the grimoire gave him the ability to use skills and magic beyond his rank, it didn't come without a price.
"I didn't think you would fight."
"And I didn't think you... would hold me in such high-regard. Can I know.... what I did to gain the honour?" Although causally speaking, Lark was anything but fine. He looked as if he would die any second.
"You didn't help on Floor 0 when the Royal Demon almost killed everyone." I felt a little empty by the end of my words. Everyone had died.
Lark panted heavily and spoke in between his gasps. "I learned from… my mistakes. Of course, I would leave enough power… to fight, if something goes …wrong again."
The God-Killing Spear was now complete, and it floated above me.
Lark ignored the Spear and tapped at my abdomen.
"[Angel's Grace], [Healing Light]"
A pale light covered me, healing all my injuries in a few seconds, and a string of notifications appeared in front of my eyes.
[Health recovery rate has been increased by 250% for 48 hours]
[Ether recovery rate has been increased by 250% for 48 hours]
Haaah- Haaah- Cough-
Lark spat a mouthful of blood and almost fell.
"Don't worry about me. This isn't my real body." He stood back and looked at the dozens of skills and spells, working ceaselessly to confine that monstrosity, with a grim expression. "I'll teleport you to others. Don't use your shield or my skill will fail again."
The tremors were slowly but surely increasing.
Lark explained hurriedly.
"You need to reach a high-numbered Floor, if possible, the 3rd Trial, to escape the Abomination."
Bang- Bang-
Lark looked at the cracks appearing on the magic circles and spoke faster.
"I can stop the Abomination for 10, no, 15 minutes. It might not be possible, but if you are lucky when entering the next floor, you'll be teleported near the boss zone and can climb faster."
I shook my head in refusal.
Lark's plan was unfeasible at best. Clearing one floor requires days at minimum, with the luck added into the equation, it became useless. But I asked for something else.
"Others are alive?"
Baannnng-!
Baaaaannng-!
"Yes, I teleported them next to the boss zone. They refused to leave without you. Again, the Administrator will not come, so all of you are on your own. I will stop the Abomination but it will become comparatively stronger than now. You have to hurry if you want to live."
Booom-!
Before I could speak, an ear-shattering explosion ensued. The magic circles self-destructed along with the skills.
I was almost knocked out from the shockwaves, but Lark stopped them with another spell.
"Shit! It learned [Magic-Sequence Decomposition] already!"
Flap- Flap- Flap-
The grimoire flew into the air.
"Nathan, if others die because of you, I'll kill you even if I have to resurrect you for it!"
A massive magic circle formed in the air with me as the center.
"Wait, I have–"
"[Forced Teleportation]"
*
"–[Fragment of Eternity] !"
Bam-
I crashed into the ground. Before I could stand back, familiar voices entered my ears.
"Nathan!"
Cadmus, followed by a quiet Susan, and a despondent Leon, came to me. Kaneki and four more cadets were standing near the boss zone entrance.
Lark had teleported me several dozens kilometers away.
'Administrator won't be coming?' Lark's words echoed in my mind. 'No, I don't think he is lying.'
I turned to Cadmus.
"Was everyone rescued?"
"…No. Only 8 of us are alive and Satoru is on the brink of death due to losing his clone. He is barely hanging with the help of the 'healing potion' Leon gave him."
Everyone held a different expression as they looked at me. They couldn't help but recall the show of might I displayed earlier.
They didn't look injured in the least, probably thanks to Lark, only their clothes were in tartars with dust and blood smeared on them. However, Satoru seemed to be in critical condition.
"W-what was that…?" Leon's eyes were bloodshot and blood was flowing from his fists as his nails dug into his skin.
I turned my head away. Even if Leon didn't see the God-Killing Spear, he should have been able to sense the familiar energy and recognize it from the Underworld.
Today, no matter if we escaped alive or not, nothing would remain the same.
"Leon, Nathan, I don't know what is going on between you two but, this isn't the time for it. The two of you are the strongest among the remaining cadets, any dispute between both of you will lead to more deaths."
Opening and closing his mouth several times, Leon ultimately agreed to Cadmus' suggestion. Rather than following Cadmus' advice, he was trying to deny the reality in front of him.
"We'll enter the boss zone and leave for the next floor."
As everyone was leaving, I interjected. "I'm not leaving."
The group froze and turned to me with shocked gazes. Most of them were worried about the strongest cadet leaving the group.
"Nathan, I don't know what you are trying to do but–"
"I'm not stopping anybody, but I won't be leaving."
"Can you tell me why?" Cadmus, realizing that I had reasons for staying back even though it was life-threatening, questioned.
'Should I tell them?' My thoughts raced. Our limited time was slipping, we didn't have much time to discuss. 'But I can't do it alone. I need their help.'
Haaaa-
"Clearing one floor will need days at the minimum. There is no way to outrun the Abomination, even if we go to the next floor."
Everybody's face hardened. They must have realized this too, but with no other way than to keep running, everyone was turning a blind eye to the eventual demise. Everyone except one.
"Do you have a way out of this situation?"
Cadmus asked with a smile on his face. That smile made me speechless.
'We are going to die any second now and he is relishing in uncovering talented cadets, even now?'
Shaking my head, I stopped the useless thoughts.
"The chances are low, but yes, I do."
*
"Are you confident, Satoru?"
"Cough..yes..cough…I c-can do it."
"Don't worry about his skills. I can vouch for them." Cadmus reassured me, but it didn't help much. However, I had to take the risk if I wanted my plan to work.
Vupp-
A purple stone came out of my storage ring.
"Any weapon will work. You are free to make anything but you have only a few minutes to complete the task."
Passing the [Fragment of Eternity] to Satoru, I told him his job. Making an artifact-class weapon in a few minutes wasn't easy, it something only a master could do. But Cadmus wouldn't recruit anything less than exceptional talent under him.
Taking a deep breath, I repeated my plan for one last time.
"Cadmus and Leon will go to the marked location, while Susan and Kaneki will join into the fray between Abomination and Lark. Lastly, I'll…."
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