Chapter 397: The end of dungeon event
By the time Leon woke up from his dose of love after taking that last speech of Kami, and chose to enter the battleground.
"I will kill her and free you, Kami." He said and stepped forward, taking his sword out and charging forward to help Rio, who was 'struggling' against the godmother, and was 'about to get burned' by the sun.
But he had just taken two steps when a boundry of darkness rose from nowhere, separating the two. And no matter what method he tried to break it, or get in, nothing worked.
Not the spell of sunshine, nor the flames of light, on the contrary the more he tried, the stronger this weird spell seemed to become.
"What kind of spell is this?" Leon asked himself, hoping to hear from God Apollo, who just ignored him at this point.
"Was it Rio's doing or godmother's?" He thought, before dismissing this idea. Thinking 'It must be godmother as it's literally her world'.
He pulled out a broken bead from his storage ring, flew to the center of this dark circle. Aiming to drop it down from the top.
"The system description said that the boundary breaking beads can break any domain or array barrier boundaries, it should be able to break whatever this is too."
But just when Leon's *protagonist special item to break out of every situation* item was about to show it's magic, the space rippled behind him, forming a portal, through which Amelia stepped out.
Leon took a step back and directly attacked her with a flaming spear, (to keep her at distance), thinking she must have slipped past Saisha.
But Amy just took a glance at his actions and ignored him. Staring strongly at the sun-less sky and the circle of darkness floating in the middle of nowhere.
"How did you..." Seeing that Amelia had no intent of attacking him, and no longer had those green eyes, Leon tried to speak, to hide his embarrassment, only to be interrupted by her. "Amaya helped everyone. They should be on their way."
"Oh, well that's good, the dungeon isn't looking so good, so we probably don't have much time. Now we can all just work together and defeat that godmother..."
"No need, knowing him, she probably won't survive long inside." Another voice came from behind.
"Becca.. I mean princess Rebecca, you're fine too." Leon said in surprise as he turned around and saw her. Before the reality of her words, drowned the happiness he felt seeing her safe. "Wait, you mean, this spell is Rio's?"
"Of course it is." Becca replied in a matter of fact tone, while walking towards her friend, "It is his element, you know."
"But _ the godmother, she_."
"Probably dead." Becca said, before engaging in a conversation with Amelia in whispers he couldn't hear.
'Is the godmother really dead?' He asked himself, and as if to answer his question, rain started pouring from the sky. The planet weeping for its loss.
The cocoon of darkness disappeared too, and what walked in front of him was the winner.
Rio with his bare upper body covered in blood, sweat and ashes came out of there, his perfect wings had turned bloody and filled with many injuries.
"Told you, he'll be fine." Rebecca said, holding Amy's hand, who seemed nervous.
"We won." Rio muttered under his breath, his face filled with a sense of relief and satisfied smile. ___ before his tired body gave up and he started falling down the sky.
One wing of his stretched out and fluttered violently, trying to steady him, but his speed only kept increasing the closer he got to the ground.
"Or maybe not." She said again, looking at him fall.
Amelia disappeared from her place, coming out of portal right beside him, as she caught and helped him land safely.
"Idiot." She cursed as she hugged him, her eyes getting moist as she stared at her hands covered in blood behind his back.
The group of students surrounded the duo, gathering around them, asking about his well being, or helping him heal. Thanking him for defeating the godmother and praising his bravery.
"Can you take care of yourself a little? Who asked you to fight that women alone?"
"What if something happened to you huh? Couldn't you just wake me up and let me help you too."
"But no, you have to go up and be the hero, right? Prove you're still an angel? Guess what, a one winged one now.."
Though so far away, Leon could still hear the sound of Becca complaining, and the others laughing as Rio tried to coax her.
And he just stared at this scene from the background, feeling like he lost something, but not quite sure what.
Rio stared at Leon's direction from the corner of his eyes, and seeing his lost look, nearly broke his character and laughed out loud.
"You_ you can still smile huh, see if I don't tell my aunt and get your head straight."
"I told you I'm fine." Rio said, pushing her hand away from his ears.
"You know, I'd believe you, if I couldn't see a large see through hole in your belly, where your kidney used to be. Idiot."
"Hey, that's just mean, okay, and besides, it'll heal in time." He replied, before taking a deep breath, as a warm feeling of calm washed over his body.
He turned his head and saw Saisha's hand on his back, as she poured her mana into his body, healing some of his bigger injuries and stopping the bleeding. "Thanks." He said with a little smile as their eyes met, before being pulled away again by Amy and Becca.
"We should all leave this dungeon before it collapses." Katherine said in her usual indifferent tone, breaking the little harmonious scene in the ruins.
"Yeah, she's right. This world won't last much longer."
"But how?"
"Shouldn't a portal open up after the dungeon boss dies? I can't see one."
"Do we have to go back from where we entered?"
"Are you a fool, we all dropped here on different places, most of them which have already been turned to dust and disappeared when she shrunk the cities."
"So how are we going to leave?"
"No idea. But I can fly, so I'll take a look around. See if I can spot any portal."
"..."
"Nope, can't see anything for miles."
"Are we sure that godmother is dead? What if she's alive and is just hiding somewhere?"
"I watched her body being burned. Her ashes are still lingering on my chest. So yeah, I'm sure I killed her."
"I'm not doubting you, _you know, I'm just saying?"
"Well, whatever it is, we don't have much time now."
"We have to come up with a way out fast, cause these apocalyptic signs and gloomy air are freaking me out."
"Amelia, can you teleport us out?"
"That's not how space magic works you dimwit."
"You.."
"Guys, we don't have time to fight or argue between ourselves, does anyone here know any way that can get us all out. Or are we on accepting death terms now."
"Oh my god, I'm gonna die. We're all gonna die."
"Fuck the elders and their academy, what kind of shit dungeon did they send us in. No way in hell any of it was normal?"
"I sensed it on day one, how can a normal dungeon be so dangerous. So many of us died here. And now maybe.. .."
"Stop with the depressing talks, I'm sure we can figure something out if we work together."
"Yeah, and besides, being trapped in a dungeon doesn't mean we'll die, I mean, we do have someone who was trapped for two years and still survived right."
"Are you mocking me?"
"If you have a deathwish vamp, I will kill you right now."
"You can try."
"... Amy, not the right time."
The students all talked to each other, their faces filled with worry and fear as they tried to find ways to get out of an impossible situation. Few even started searching the city for any trace of godmother, saying maybe there's some other sacred tree somewhere and she's hiding there...
But soon enough, everyone just came together and sort of like started feeling trapped and lost. Cursing their fate and that of the academy.
After this long time, and some 'close' talks with Vanessa, Leon too got out of his depressed mood. He looked at the beed in his hand, wondering if he could break the barrier of this dungeon and help everyone.
But just when he was about to step up and speak, Rio walked towards him with Amy's help and asked, "Are you still going to hesitate and not help us out?"
"No, I was just _" Leon was ready to use the bead yet again, but stopped when Rio patted him on the shoulder and walked past him.
"How long are you going to hide and play your part? Haven't you acted enough already?"
His words confused everyone , and they all turned to stare at one inconspicuous student in the background. Someone who had been silent till now.
"Who is he talking about?"
"Do you know him?"
"Isn't he in your class?" Becca asked.
"What, no, I thought he was in yours." Saisha replied.
"But I clearly remember, he said he was from A-5 when he helped me defeat the son of godmother."
"No, that's impossible. I know everyone's faces. Especially someone whose strength reaches that high."
"Well, that's weird."
"Fuck, is he a shape shifting monster? Is that why the portal didn't appear."
"Yeah, that can be. Let's just kill him ASAP and leave this place."
"What? You're not killing him. He saved my life." Becca said, standing in front of the mad crowd and looking over her shoulder at Rio, wondering what he was doing.
...
"Are you still going to just stay silent, cause if that's your answer, then I'm happy to stand aside and watch as they kill you." Rio said, staring into the gray eyes of this mysterious student.
The student ignored the chatter of everyone around him and stared at Rio, finally after seeing that he wasn't bluffing, the student clicked his tongue and asked, "When'd you find out?"
"You want an honest answer?" Rio asked back.
"...." They both locked eyes, and anyone with half a brain cell could see the oozing animosity in the air.
"Brother, who is he?" Amelia asked, mana already lingering over her fingers, ready to teleport Rio and slash this guy's head off, if he tried anything.
"This is the backup. The help from our elders and the academy. Though he sucked at his job." Rio said with a sneer, his words causing everyone to gasp and get angry even more.
"What?" A group exclamation could be heard all over the place. As everyone gathered over him, shouting and asking why he didn't say so earlier or why he didn't save anyone.
Even Rebecca who fought side by side with this guy ever since she entered this dungeon, stood aside in silence. Trusting Rio for what he was doing.
Amaya looked at her, then at Rio, and then at the mysterious student -and shook her head.
"Will you just keep standing there, wasting our precious escape time, or would you show us your real face now and get us out of here.."
As Rio's words finished like thunder, the mysterious student shredded his skin, changing back into his real appearance. A face that shocked everyone present.
"I knew the academy wouldn't let us in without any supervision."
"So they did send a professor in."
"But where was he all this time, why didn't he help us fight the godmother? If he showed up earlier, we could've won easily."
"Hello, Professor Quinlan." Rio said, his eyes filled with a mocking smile over the pedo professor's annoyed displeasure.
His head filled with laughter over what this guy was going to face when the elders waiting outside learned he failed both his missions. Neither did he find the world's core, nor was he able to save any students.