"Will you really let me live?"
The Dark Elf asked in doubt. The trembling in her hand never stopped as she tried to stand firm where she was.
"I told you. It will not be in my hands but at least. I can know you're sincere at surrendering if you throw me that sphere and any other sphere you might have on you."
If they could produce twelve of it, there's probably more in her possession. And like I thought, she never denied it and instead asked me, still in doubt.
"… How can I trust you?"
"You can't trust your enemy. I can kill you right now, whether you use that or not. But if you did what I said, I can guarantee that I will not move against you. Unless you give me the motive to do that."
Through my clone's eyes, I could see Yumiko and Jayna still doing their best to defeat their opponent. Though Yumiko could hold herself against Remi, Jayna was slowly being put into disadvantage against that Flame Transcendent, Yulan. She's using her experience and her wide variety of skills and abilities to supplement her restricted strength.
"I sent my men to death."
"I know."
"I had them die even if I know they will not be able to stall you."
"I know."
"How can I deserve to live?"
At least she's aware of what she did, however, that's not enough to evoke sympathy from me.
"I don't know. You're contradicting yourself. It's just a matter of whether you want to live or not. We came from different worlds and have different goals. I don't know your circumstances and I don't even want to know about it. Now if you still have time to converse, that's not the same case for me. Throw the spheres or use it, your choice."
I already observed the room and the Portal isn't here. But given that there's still a door behind that Core, it was most likely there. I've already given this woman the time I estimated to be enough for dealing with her if I chose to ignore her words. If she still couldn't decide then I'll decide for her.
"… For the fact that you still managed to come here despite us using eleven Sacrificial Spheres… Here. This is everything I have."
With a resigned smile, the Dark Elf woman threw the sphere on her hand and an item akin to my Necklace. When I opened it, it still had three more spheres inside, some miscellaneous items and weapons.
When the sphere landed on my hand, the information about it instantly appeared in my mind. The Sphere was really something a Great One prepared. It's one of his Skills which he encased inside the sphere. It contained minuscule Dark Energy to trigger something like self-immolation to whoever will use it. By burning their own body down to Energy particles, it will then become the component to build the Incarnation's body. That's the reason why the strength of the Incarnation summoned was dependent on the strength of whoever used it.
While I was checking the things she threw, the Dark Elf woman stepped down to the side and kneeled in place. She even took out an item that could restrict her energy and put it on her to show her compliance.
At this moment, she chose to gamble her life by surrendering to us. That's admirable in a way but yeah, it doesn't matter to me. If they could get information from her then good, if not then it wouldn't hurt us in any way. They could decide what to do to her after we close the Portal.
I formed one clone to watch over her before moving to the Core and attempt to disable it. If it has similarities with how the Formation in the World of Elements is made then pulling the Core out of its place will suffice.
As I drew near it, I could clearly feel how special the item, for my level at least, they used as a Core for the Labyrinth's Formation. Like the sphere, one touch is enough to know the nature of it. It's just like the Artifact which we stole back from the Noxians, the difference is it didn't originate from this world. It was brought here with them with the purpose of becoming a Core of a Formation.
By taking this, the Eccentric of this world might be able to do something with it which could benefit Yumiko or Jayna.
Well, I still haven't met that eccentric nor even know her identity. But given that she's still something like a mysterious character in this world, she probably has some kind of special identity. If she could make Yumiko's communicator, she could also probably do something about this.
Though there were seals in place to prevent it from being taken off. Activating the Nullification Zone and putting the Core inside its zone was enough to weaken the seals they put in place that were all running on energy.
Using both hands, I lifted the Core from its place which immediately produced a reaction. The whole Labyrinth trembled as if some mechanism stopped and the flow of Dark Energy being drawn from the tank beside it stopped.
As if removing some kind of shackles in my body, the restrictions from the Formation have been lifted and along with it, the system notification confirmed the occurrence.
[The Modified Space has been deactivated]
[Restrictions Received have been lifted]
Though it's not that big of a deal to me, as soon as the Formation was disabled, Yumiko started gaining the advantage against Remi and Jayna climbed back up from being disadvantaged. But yeah, I have to hurry before the buff's duration runs out.
To remove the burden of carrying the spherical Core item, I put it as well as the tank half-filled with Dark Energy inside the Necklace provided by Yumiko.
"Where's the portal?"
I turned around and faced the kneeling Dark Elf. Her mouth was half-opened as she stared at me.
"H-how? Those seals were meant to hinder even the Helper or even a Rank 2 Transcendent from disabling the Formation."
Ah. I see. So that's what made her surprised. Well, there's no point telling her.
"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about. Aren't they just fragile seals? Enough with that and tell me if the Portal is in that room."
I acted obliviously and pointed to the door. It's already a certainty but to keep up appearances, I had to instill some kind of fear to this Dark Elf. Who knows what she will do if she deems it time for her to act. Though she behaved herself like what I told her, there's no way I would trust her instantly
"…Y-yes. Do you want me to accompany you?"
The Dark Elf scrambled to her feet in difficulty. Even if I brush off her question, she's still trying to get on my good books.
Just for a chance to live, huh?
"No. Stay here while I close the Portal."
Upon hearing my words, she slumped back and kneeled in place.
Ignoring the downcast expression she put on, my feet started to walk towards the Door.
Since it's only a few steps, it didn't take long for me to reach it.
Before opening it, I prepared myself for anything that could be waiting for me inside. The buffs, the clones ready to become my shield and my Energy senses to be aware of my immediate surroundings.
As I pushed open the door, a huge wave of Dark Energy came surging out of the room.
With the Nullification Zone in place, I managed to shield myself from it.
After making sure it wouldn't happen again, my feet finally led me inside.
Though it's almost the same as the previous rooms of the Labyrinth, this one is much bigger and a well-lit room. In the middle could be seen the glaring hole in space that was big enough for a person to enter. There were cracks surrounding it and it kept spewing out Dark Energy which filled the room. A spiral spark of light continued to circle around the edges of the hole which could be interpreted as the other side working hard to widen the Portal.
Inside here, there's no hint of Spirit Energy anymore. It became something like the zone we encountered on Earth. There's a number apparatus at its side which was connected to more tanks of Dark Energy. Most likely something they're using to store Dark Energy for outside use.
"Well then. For closing this Portal the method we used for closing the Breach back then will not work. But at least, the World's Will provided something for that purpose."
Yumiko, me and Ezyn were given something before we went here to storm the Labyrinth. Whoever could reach the Portal first will be able to use what the World's Will prepared.
From the Necklace, I took out 8 bottles filled with drops of the Spirit Ocean. Though I haven't tried infesting one drop yet, the effect will probably become like a drop in the ocean. Compared to before when I was just starting out, a single drop wouldn't be enough to fill an hour of Energy I was absorbing during my 6-hour sessions.
Well, enough of mulling over that, these bottles will be my instrument to close this Portal.
After neatly placing the eight bottles in front of it, the lid of the bottles simultaneously opened.
As soon as that happened, Spirit Energy started to seep out of the bottle. Since the place was filled with Dark Energy, like a dog who got an invader in its territory, it instantly moved to destroy the invading Source Energy.
I kept an eye out on that and used my overwhelming Energy Control to shield the Spirit Energy rendering the Dark Energy unable to do what it intended to.
"As expected, if it's Yumiko and Ezyn, the process of closing the Portal will take longer due to the interference."
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