Ch#188
"Lord Luminen! Be careful!"
Ardiana's shout echoed through the tunnel.
As Leonardo kicked off the wall and lowered his body, a thick tree root thudded deeply into the spot where he had been standing.
Leonardo gasped for breath.
"Is the escape route still not in sight?!"
Ardiana swung her sword while shaking her head.
Originally, the underground passage beneath the Clock Tower should have connected to five different paths.
But perhaps due to the collapse.
"Most of them are blocked!"
A proper exit from the underground plaza was nowhere to be seen.
More problematic were the roots that gave no chance to even survey the surroundings.
Leonardo thought while catching his ragged breath.
'I've seen many Mana Stones so far.'
But he had never once seen a Mana Stone that directly attacked people like this.
"Urk!"
Leonardo groaned as he was sliced once more by a sharp root.
At the same time, the severed, wriggling plant fragments were crawling toward the center of the underground plaza.
Toward the unidentified, pulsating mass that Ardiana had called a heart.
"I have an idea! Cover me!"
Ardiana shouted.
Leonardo nodded at her resolute expression.
The moment he closed the distance to her, new roots charged toward the two.
Leonardo deployed a barrier using his Holy Power.
And sliced down most of them in one go.
In the meantime, Ardiana plunged the dagger Veil had given her deeply into the heart at the center of the plaza.
"......Urk!"
The moment she stabbed it, she furrowed her brow at the scorching heat emanating from it.
Soon after, the surface of the pulsating heart twitched weakly, and then,
"Kieeeaaaaaah-!"
A scream that tore at their eardrums echoed from all directions.
Blood trickled down Leonardo's ear.
Ardiana had also injured her eardrums but did not retreat.
"Keep covering me......!"
She gestured toward the roots wriggling even more fiercely than before.
Leonardo gripped his sword tighter.
He slashed at the roots lunging toward Ardiana, and again.
However,
"Your Highness!"
A thin root he couldn't block in time pierced Ardiana's left shoulder like an iron skewer.
"Ah!"
A short groan escaped Ardiana's lips.
Yet she gritted her teeth and did not loosen her grip until the end.
'Just a little more!'
Thump- Thump-
As time passed, the heart's pulsations were weakening.
If her guess was correct, this heart was undoubtedly the main body of those roots.
Ardiana cried out desperately.
"Hold on, my lord! Just a little more!"
"More importantly, Your Highness's hand!"
Ardiana finally looked down at her own hand—not the heart.
Purple veins were bulging over the backs of her hands gripping the dagger.
"......Ha."
Every time the heart pulsed, her hand twitched along with it.
The demonic energy flowing from the heart was surely seeping into her flesh.
"This won't do! Release that hand!"
Leonardo shouted, covering his nose and mouth with his left hand.
Ardiana shook her head.
"I can't! Just a bit more, almost......!"
Looking around, she saw many root fragments that had stopped regenerating and hung motionless.
The roots Leonardo newly sliced also no longer moved.
Ardiana stared at the demonic energy spreading across her skin surface while panting.
'This is demonic poisoning.'
She had resistance to most poisons.
But even she wasn't confident she could endure demonic poisoning.
"Your Highness!"
Leonardo shouted again while dealing with the few remaining roots.
Instead of answering, Ardiana staggered greatly in place.
"Heh, urk......"
She was almost there.
Strength was gradually draining from her hand.
Despair settled on her face.
The heart was the vital point of the Mana Stone itself.
In other words, if she failed here, the Union Force would lose too.
Then Tese tan trapped somewhere here, the innocent members, the young Necromancer King......
It was just then, as strength was about to leave her hand completely.
[Don't let go!]
Something cool supported her burning hand.
Ardiana exhaled the breath she had been holding and opened her closed eyes.
It was light.
Clearly light, yet black and dark light.
Red eyes flashed amid scales wrapped around like a cloak.
"Hold it! Don't let go!"
"Summon......?"
The young dragon with red eyes slowly transformed into human form.
Lucarion emanated tremendous mana, enveloping the dagger she gripped.
"Kieeeek-!"
An even louder scream than before shook the tunnel.
Lucarion's face twisted, and Ardiana panted, covered in blood.
Thump! Thump-!
Finally, the heart's fierce pulsations abruptly stopped.
And then,
"......It's done!"
The heart began crumbling from the tip.
"Your Highness!"
Leonardo rushed over.
Basto and Veil, who had joined from the opposite side, also appeared.
Ardiana finally released the dagger from her hand as she knelt down.
Clang-
The dagger fell to the dirt floor.
The humming from above ground had ceased, and the purple demonic energy filling the tunnel was fading.
"What happened?!"
Ardiana braced her hands on her knees as she heard Veil's voice.
Tremendous pain surged through her ragged hands and arms.
Her vision was entirely red due to her heartbeat racing to its limit.
"Your Highness, can you hear me?"
Leonardo urgently supported her.
She barely opened her mouth to respond somehow.
And slowly drew in a breath, but
Rumble-
This time, the wall on the opposite side of the tunnel vibrated lightly.
All eyes turned that way.
"......Aleric?"
Clear, clean water then burst from a crack in the stone, wetting everyone's ankles.
Aleric emerged from the collapsed wall.
"Aleric? Then......"
Veil turned his body that way.
Ardiana panted while staring ahead.
Beyond the collapsed wall stood four people.
Aleric and Libia. And,
"Those two......"
A faint smile spread across Ardiana's lips.
Tese tan was looking at her while holding Astie in his arms.
Fortunately, the two appeared unharmed.
On the other hand, upon confirming Ardiana's condition, Tese tan's eyes widened.
He rushed straight toward her, still holding the Necromancer King.
Ardiana also pressed her hand to the ground to stand.
However, the moment her hand touched the floor, another ominous vibration occurred.
Turning her head, she saw the left side, where the Mana Stone's heart had been, now brightly lit.
Something that hadn't been there before was shining like the sun.
"......Astie!"
There was no time to grasp what was happening next.
From the center of the light, a small diamond-shaped object shot out like an arrow.
"Kid-!"
And flew straight into Tie's chest, getting absorbed.
Ardiana stared at the surreal scene that unfolded afterward.
Space was distorting.
Tese tan and Astie, who had been about ten steps away, were suddenly distanced infinitely from the others.
"Tie!"
Basto hurriedly grabbed Tese tan's arm amid the expanding space.
Libia and Aleric, standing nearby, also reached out toward them.
But,
"Uncle Basto! Brother Veil!"
Tie, losing balance in Tese tan's arms, floated buoyantly into the air.
Tese tan swiftly grabbed Tie's arm with his free hand not holding Basto.
However, space continued expanding endlessly, and
"Ah!"
In the end, Tie slipped from Tese tan's hand.
Leaving Tie being sucked into the distance, Tese tan glanced once at Ardiana.
And at Basto holding him.
"Tese tan......!"
He made the same choice again.
Releasing Basto's hand and throwing himself after Tie.
The moment the space swallowed the two, it closed in the blink of an eye.
In the dimmed tunnel, a prolonged silence flowed.
"......You."
The one who broke the silence was Libia, who had suddenly drawn her sword.
She approached Ardiana with a murderous expression.
And then,
"This is your doing, isn't it? All your fault!"
She thrust her sword tip toward Lucarion beside Ardiana.
"What did you do to the young miss! I remember everything, it was you that day too! On the Eldrin Plains, the one who annihilated us......!"
