Published at 29th of June 2024 7:59 am

Chapter 1753 Crown [10]

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Twenty minutes could never be a long time.

In this world where people could live for millions of years, the value of a minute had fallen immensely.

Twenty minutes. It was an amount of time that could contain many events. Twenty minutes was more than enough time for an entire civilization to be destroyed, or for peace to be brought to a people.

Twenty minutes was more than enough time to destroy the situation in a very specific cavern on the edge of the dragon continent.

Juno stood with blood leaking from his lips, feeling the scarcity of mana in his body.

His grin never faded, and his thoughts were just as playful as ever.

'I always experience the craziest thing when I'm following that guy.'

Twenty minutes ago, he never would have expected that he'd get this far before he felt death approaching. At this point, Juno was confident that he could end the lives of every genius in his chosen corridor.

Though, he would definitely die in the process.

Valerie stood surrounded by shattered walls. Her side of the amaze wasn't able to stand the force of her battle at all. She was not bleeding, but her face was pale as she sacrificed the very essence of her bloodline so she could gain access to the power she needed to save her friends.

'This sucks.'

As expected, Valerie didn't like the feeling at all. She couldn't help but feel sorrowful, thinking about what kind of life she could have lived if she hadn't happened to meet August and Melania.

But, it wasn't like she would change her decision if she was given a chance. Every single time, she would follow the same path of ruin just so that she could stand by them proudly as an ally and comrade for life.

Yuna was out in the open. Her concealment wasn't working anymore. Her abilities surpassed anyone she'd ever met in the jungle, but the geniuses of the Liqua Clan were not beasts. They knew how to work together and scheme when they needed to, and as she fell to those schemes, her presence was exposed.

She…honestly didn't think as much as an ordinary person. Certainly when she was in battle, Yuna's entire mind would focus on the task ahead. Even with death around every corner, she would not sway.

This was the kind of mentality a hunter needed to have. Rather than ruminating over victory and defeat, she had to do everything possible to catch her prey before it was too late.

Yuna had decent abilities in the open as well, so she was able to stand against the hordes of geniuses without dying, but it became difficult as more of them approached.

Unlike the other two, she was a person who excelled at single combat. Her strengths couldn't properly shine when she was faced with tens of enemies at the same time without concealment.

She may not have been thinking it, but all of her enemies already knew that she'd go down soon.

And even if she didn't, the ones that made it past her while she was busy focusing on the crowd would kill the intended targets and finish the job, so it didn't matter.

Only those three had immediate fighting power.

Mikaela had already fallen to her knees. As the tremors shaking the walls became stronger and stronger, her control over the maze waned. The material she used to make up its structure started to crumble, and she felt the destruction in her soul. Sweat dripped down her brow, but her eyes did not lose their hardened expression. She gritted her teeth and kept her arms in the ground, controlling the maze to the best of her ability.

Raul was the one who understood how bad the poison in Melania's system was before anyone else. His stasis array could only slow its flow. It was still spreading and spreading and spreading. If he wanted to halt its progress completely, then he needed to constantly fuel the array with his mana, however, as enemies found their way to the central area of the maze, he found himself unable to do so.

Raul needed to lay formations across their protective walls to keep the enemies at bay. They didn't have the largest numbers, but ten of them could absolutely break through a wall that had become flimsy as Mikaela was forced to focus her power on other parts of the maze.

Raul had to choose between Melania and everyone in the central area. As he couldn't allow enemies to reach August or Melania and kill them before their time was over, he was forced to choose the latter.

That left Melania on the cold, hard floor alone to deal with the extreme pain that she was experiencing.

Her eyes were open. She saw everything that happened around her, and no matter how much her consciousness begged to be separated from the world, it refused to leave her body.

She felt every ounce of the poison's pain and every inch of its spread through her body. She felt as the world darkened around her and as the people she cared about struggled in order to protect her.

Her existence in this moment was futile. She had the strength to think, but what did it matter? She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She could only suffer in silence as the world crumbled around her.

This was the end. She could feel that vile mana corrupting her systems. It destroyed her mana channels first, ridding her body of its ability to maneuver the esoteric energy. Afterward, it focused on her heart, the source of vitality. It was not trying to kill her just yet. It dug microscopic needles into her heart as if to keep it prisoner and formed a cocoon around it so that the destruction in other parts of the body couldn't reach it.

Melania experienced the systematic destruction of her organs as she was forced to stay alive by the very same poison that killed her.

It was horrible.

It was even worse when the only thing she could see in front of her was the collapsed body of someone who gave up on life before she even did.

Lucas' betrayal was meant to shatter the spirits of everyone in August's group, but Wilhelm underestimated the cliques within their ranks.

Lucas and Ophelia were friends indeed, but they were new friends. They were allies who met during the heir wars and became friends for the purpose of winning that event. August and his friends had gotten much closer to them, but in a situation where they started off as competitors, would they be able to trust each other enough in a matter of a few months?

Lucas and Ophelia were still somewhat outsiders. They were acquaintances who only met every once in a while, not people who would invite each other to family gatherings.

As such, August's friends were able to recover and focus on what needed to be done as soon as possible.

But, it was different for Ophelia.

For her, Lucas was that person.

He was more than just a friend or an ally to her. He was more than just an acquaintance that she only checked up on when she remembered his existence.

She didn't want him to be at her wedding. She wanted him to be in her wedding.

That same person that she put so much faith and trust in…he betrayed her so easily?

For what?

For power?

There were plenty of other ways for him to reach his goals, so why did he choose this one?

Why did he so easily accept that everyone had to die in order for him to fast track to his desired position?

Right, it could only be that.

From the start, he never thought of her the way she thought of him. From the start, he had only been focusing on material benefits.

That fact broke her and left her in this state. She was known for her fiery personality, but how could she fly into a rage in a moment like this?

The realization was too shattering for her to react as she usually did.

She knew that people were going to die here. She knew that she could help prevent that from becoming a reality. She screamed at herself to get up, remembering Valerie's words before she bravely charged into the fray.

However, her body would not move. Her soul could not withstand the damage it took in that moment.

So, here she was. One of many broken souls in this cavern.

They all had different thoughts. They all had different circumstances. But, together in this small place where nobody would ever know what happened to them, they all awaited death.

It was really starting to look like there was no reason to hope for anything better.

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