CHAPTER 174: ANTICIPATED

Niara and Darian came out of the hole. They looked around and found themselves just five meters from the entrance of the building. Suddenly...

*BOOM!*

The ground exploded, and Niara got blasted ten meters back after another close dodge.

Now, they were fifteen meters away. When Darian looked up, he saw the red sky filled with spatial portals. A chill ran down his spine. Those were links to distant places in the galaxy. The Risen Lords had been summoned...

They had, at most, three minutes. That’s how long it would take for the channels to stabilize and allow them through. Meanwhile, the rain of scarlet light kept falling.

The skies were crashing down on Niara.

She moved like lightning, dodging left and right, avoiding the beams of light that looked like divine spears.

The attack power had ramped up several times. Just the shockwaves from the blasts hitting the ground after each dodge were enough to push them farther and farther from the building. She advanced, but also got knocked back.

Thirty seconds went by, and they’d barely gained five meters. If this kept up, their chances of failing were huge.

’Not yet...’

Darian murmured mentally, staring ahead and calculating. At this pace, they’d reach the core with, at most, thirty seconds left before the Risen Lords landed on the planet.

’I’ll buy us a few more seconds,’ Niara said mentally, dead serious.

Without hesitation, she stopped sidestepping and ran in a straighter line forward.

Of course, a bunch of beams hit her, but she managed to take fast steps, making most of them just graze her... most of the time.

In thirty seconds...

Her green scales were almost completely gone. Her body was bloody, covered in deep, nasty wounds. The only thing still intact was her partner, wrapped around her body. She didn’t let a single hit touch him.

Darian was healing her with everything he had, nonstop. But aside from burning through his reserves like crazy, the healing was way slower than usual. The wounds were healing and reopening almost at the same speed.

Seconds passed.

Then she took one more step... and finally, they were inside the building!

They still had one minute left. She’d bought them precious extra time at a crazy high cost.

*Buzz*

A buzzing noise rang out. Red threads suddenly dropped from the top of the building, closing off the space around them.

"!"

The threads fell all around them, stabbing deep into the ground. It was like a massive cage, trapping Niara and Darian. That cage definitely meant serious danger, designed to lock them down for a while.

On the other hand, Darian knew about space and time powers—they were intertwined like Yin and Yang. The cage was closing fast, and the space inside was compressing.

The smaller it got, the stronger its power would be. If they wanted out, they had to break free right as it formed, while there was still space to move.

’It’s gotta be now!’ Darian said mentally, then sent the message with his black power.

Niara moved too and let out a fierce roar. A violent will burst out of her. She channeled the Divine Fist Art into her fists and attacked the cage.

At the same time, Darian activated his rings. He forced energy into the red threads, making them weaken for just a second.

*BOOM!*

The threads in front snapped and a hole opened. Niara’s face turned red, and she coughed up blood. Because of that attack, plus all her injuries, she took a heavy backlash.

Without hesitation, she pushed forward, diving through the hole.

But before she could even take another step, she felt terrifying danger ahead and froze in place.

Out of nowhere, a giant lily appeared right in front of her. They had just escaped the cage... and now Niara was ’swallowed’ by that lily!

Darian was the most shocked. This was the third time in a row that the Celestial Shadow’s will seemed to be waiting for them, always one step ahead.

It was like he’d been sure they’d find a way to reach the building fast, so the sky attacks were already amped up and ready for them. Then came the cage... and now, he knew they’d break out and had already set this up.

Darian’s whole body tensed. The enemy’s attitude had shifted hard. Now, they were being taken way more seriously. But Darian had no time to come up with new plans—he had to push forward with what he’d already prepared.

With space sealed, Niara completely lost her sense of perception. In that moment, she felt like she’d fallen into a bottomless abyss.

A pair of red eyes appeared behind them.

Niara suddenly realized she couldn’t move under that fixed stare. Chills ran through her from head to toe.

At some unknown point, thin and subtle red roots had wrapped around her whole body. They had tiny thorns that stabbed into her.

Darian used white power... but not even that could stop them. A strange energy invaded her body, making her slowly lose consciousness...

"What a weak and pathetic missionary..." The cold, guttural voice echoed.

Darian turned to that pair of eyes...

...and then, his lips curled into a subtle smile.

"Oh? What a coincidence... I was thinking the same thing. Now that I’m here at this academy... it’s mine. And after this... I’m coming for your real ass."

Their eyes locked.

**RUMBLE!!**

A violent explosion shook the whole place. The red eyes went wide.

*Crack*

Niara felt everything invading her body suddenly vanish. Then, the sealed space shattered.

In just a second, they were outside.

The entire main building was gone. The ground, the rocks, everything that once was the building... now scattered through the air.

There were 30 seconds left before the spatial channels stabilized.

Far away, Howlyn had returned to her human form and her eyes closed, completely out of energy.

In her hands, what used to be a millions-of-years-old Rainbow Lily now had half of it dried up, like it had lost half of all its energy.

The young Summoners were holding Howlyn, while the two little caterpillars were pale and powerless since way before.

Darian had planned all of this in two steps. First was destroying the main root with the joint attack, and then he and Niara would run to the building, drawing the enemy’s full attention. That will wouldn’t spare a single glance at the small ants left behind, after all.

The second step was abusing the biggest weakness of natural races.

Unlike flesh-and-blood races like humans, these lifeforms, when powerful, reached that level by nurturing a body with a single element or specific type of power.

That ability was both an advantage and a weakness. The purer a natural race’s body, the more power it would have—but at the same time, the bigger its weakness. Their power grew... and so did their weakness, on the same level.

This bloody lily they were fighting, according to Howlyn, had been nurtured and raised entirely on blood and lives. Basically, it absorbed death’s Yin. Which meant... it had an insanely Yin-heavy body.

Its weakness? The opposite: Yang. Of course, they’d need some insanely dense Yang to actually hurt it. But...

They had an ancient Rainbow Lily, from the same species. Since they were related, they had similar structures, and its power could penetrate more easily—kind of like two flames burning different elements... but still both being fire.

The Rainbow Lily had all five natural elements plus Yin and Yang in its body. It was a rare treasure; and exactly because it didn’t specialize in one thing, it was just a medicinal herb with no offensive power or intelligence, something you could harvest and use.

Even with no offensive power, because it was so ancient and had gathered a crazy amount of elemental energy, the density of its energy wasn’t a joke. And with the species compatibility on top of that, they needed way less power to affect the bloody lily.

All of its Yang had been burned by Howlyn in one direct hit, using a few artifacts Darian had given her.

The whole focus was on the bloody lily. It was so massive there was no way to miss.

And with that, its entire body got destroyed, creating that massive explosion.

Darian and Niara saw those red eyes focus on them coldly.

The Risen’s work of thousands of years to create that lily... had been completely destroyed by a bunch of little insects, in their eyes...

But...

He wasn’t surprised.

Darian noticed that... and felt a chill.

He knew. For the fourth time... he had anticipated the failure.

"!"

*Pierce!*

From behind... something Niara couldn’t even dream of reacting to or dodging...

A black blade went straight through her body, coming out through her stomach.

Niara’s eyes widened. She had already felt her death once before... as clear as daylight. Now... she felt her life really coming to an end.