Chapter 60: Chapter 60- Battle against time
'Mother!' Ryuk, not seeing anyone inside the carriage for a moment, lost his focus. But it was momentary. Calming himself down, he narrowed his gaze, observing everyone present there.
They were all shocked to see Ryuk's speed, but he didn't care about them.
He searched for Johan, who swiftly ran towards him and bowed. "Your Highness, I will ensure everything here"
Ryuk glanced at Adanyl, who seemed surprised. Looking back at him, he stated, "Give priority to saving her. She is very important to me."
"I will," Johan replied, taking the orders.
SWISH
Ryuk vanished in front of everyone, making even Adanyl unable to see his movement. But his last words remained echoing inside her mind as she stood there, blankly trying to digest them.
'!'
Suddenly, a realization dawned within her, causing her to understand the hidden meaning behind Ryuk's words. 'he definitely want me to become parmanent seller?'
"Crown Princess?" Vivian called out, understanding that everyone's gazes were fixed on Adanyl.
They were trying to get an answer for the disappearance of the Crown Prince and Queen herself.
Even Olivia was looking at Adanyl with a complicated expression.
Her eyes were slightly widened due to Ryuk's declaration of how important Adanyl's presence was to him.
'Why her?' She couldn't understand. It was her who did most of the work until now.
Her dark circles were evident of everything she went through for these six years. It was hard for an eleven-year-old body.
But seeing Ryuk not even look at her, some of the buried memories started to resurface.
// Hey Olivia, are you not going to talk to me? It's already been five hours. //
drip
Standing there, she felt her eyes becoming damp for a moment.
Lifting her hand to clear it, but it was already too late.
The dam was broken, and without any delay, tears started to trickle down.
drip drip
"Stop it...Sob, don't." She had already seen enough in all these years to make her eyes dry, but somehow they still betrayed her expectations.
The tears streaming down from the Princess caused many eyes to settle on her.
Yet, humans are complicated to understand.
None of the people present moved forward to console her or stop her tears, except for one figure.
"Your Highness, are you fine? Please tell me." Adanyl approached Olivia, seeing her crying like this. Both of their heights were not much different, causing Adanyl to offer a handkerchief.
smack
The moment Olivia heard her voice, she lost her patience. Due to her exhausted body, in a fit of anger, she slapped away Adanyl's hand while shouting, "It's all your fault!"
"Ouch!" Adanyl winced in pain, seeing her hand reddened due to the sharp force, which didn't go unnoticed by others.
"Oh my, did the Princess just slap the Crown Princess?" Within a moment, a surge of murmurs ran through the crowd, each one of them following their human instinct of siding with the one who was more beneficial.
"Yeah, so it was true that the Princess tried to kill the Crown Princess too," another voice came from the crowd. Due to the already crowded situation, no one identified the individual.
"What are you people—" Olivia couldn't understand how they were siding with someone else when she was the one who provided them with artifacts to lessen their daily work.
"Tch, I even heard that she will be betrothed to a different kingdom. Why act so mighty?" Another voice reached her from the crowd, causing her to become even more flustered and shocked.
Right now, Olivia was witnessing something that was not within her expectations. It felt like all her hard work had become futile.
"Stop it!" Adanyl, seeing everything, shouted. She moved directly towards Olivia, even as Olivia was about to retort. Adanyl took her hand and moved towards the carriage, followed by Johan.
While moving, Adanyl understood the reason for Ryuk saying those words in front of everyone: he just wanted to hurt Olivia.
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SWISH
«-650» «-451»
'Will it be enough, System?' Ryuk, moving towards the borders of Selvius kingdom, inquired about the reason for which he said those words.
[Yes, Host. It will keep things under control for today.]
The System informed him about the negative values it just received, which would add a facade of everything being normal when it will use Overdrive and its full potential, keeping the Nexus Grid in facade.
'Activat—BAANG!' Before Ryuk could say something, a colossal force directly collided with his face, hurtling him towards the forest. His body thrown while rolling for a whole mile.
BOOOM!
His body smashed on the ground, causing the surrounding area to dig several inches, the dust shrouding all the place, cracked ground visible of strength he was thrown with.
"Sigh, Can't even withstand a punch, pathetic," the man flying in pristine clothes gazed down at the dust-filled ground, suddenly feeling something, he narrowed his gaze.
'Is he using some artifact? ', Banzac can't feel the boy's power levels, causing him to speculate it being caused by some artifact, but the distance the boy was thrown was enough to conclude that the boy was at some 〖EPIC〗 or minor Levels.
Slowly the dust started to dissipate, revealing an amethyst aura shrouding Ryuk's crossed hands. His legs were dug to the knees in the ground due to force, the huge crater below his ground proof of the power he just withstood.
"Heh, You are still in one piece, hmm, let see, you must be at the Middle of 〖EPIC〗— !?" Before Man could say something, his eyes noticed something amiss in the surrounding space.
'Why I can't feel Connection to Malika?', Banzac tried to focus his energy but somehow, anything was disrupting his energy from making out of this place, more like isolated in a space.
Slowly his eyes turned towards the boy's legs where a small crack was now healing, signifying the presence of a barrier which helped him halt his momentum.
"Name Bazac, Rank 〖LEGENDARY〗 Middle, belonging to a warrior race who killed his own people on the name of exacting justice, it's good that no one will mourn after you," Ryuk's gaze lifted turning towards the man, whose eyes were widened due to shock, it felt as if he was seen through causing him to lose his anger.
"You Pest!, You really are the son of that bitc— BOOM!" Before Bazac could complete his sentence, a huge force concentrated at a small punch collided with his solar plexus, the mere intensity of the collision would have shaken the half of Heindal Continent but.
[Barrier Damaged —» Deactivating — Overwriting Commands --> Initiating multiple layers ]
Before the barrier could collapse, another one was swiftly formed by the System, the time these all commands were processed were faster than light, proving the processing power of the System.
All Energy to maintain the Barrier was taken from the outside World by the Conduit's dome.
"KHUCCCKKK!" Blue-colored blood gushed out of Bazac's mouth, he was caught off guard by underestimating his enemy, not aware that right now, he withstood a punch of 〖LEGENDARY〗 Perfect rank instead of an 〖EPIC〗.
The amount of Energy was depleting while maintaining Ryuk's Overdrive was enormous yet it seemed unending due to all the Years of Energy that artifact stored from Heindal Continent.
Bazac's white eyes were widened, but before he could understand and do anything, another kick shrouded in Amethyst mana smashed his face.
BANG!
"Kughhh!—SCHLKT!" Not even giving a small chance for his enemy to balance himself, Ryuk's body turned completely amber, enhancing his speed to several folds. He used an Aura sword, dissipating Bazac's left hand.
"AAGGGHHHH—SWOOSH!" Bazac forcefully ejected energy, causing Ryuk to distance himself before both of them fell to the ground.
THUD
"AGH, You Bastard!" Bazac shouted. His eyes could only remember a boy turning Amethyst and then Amber, not even giving him time to think.
'System, Open the barrier and bring the outside individual inside too,' Ryuk understood that this time, it was not a battle he could win with just endurance.
Time was running out of his hands, the enormous amount of energy running through his veins was tearing into his muscles. It was becoming harder to maintain Overdrive for a longer time.
[ Host, It could be Fatal, Please Re-evaluate]
System tried to explain the consequences of fighting two people of the same level at once. By catching Bazac off guard while using his Aura add-ons, Ryuk may have inflicted a fatal blow, but two at a time would just be a foolish decision.
'Do it Now!' Ryuk shouted, not in the mood to listen to System's calculation. He had already thought of everything; right now, even a single mistake could lead to death.
[ Dome is Deactivated]
SWISH
Within a blink of a moment, a figure of a woman wearing an eyestrap materialized beside Bazac.
"Bazac!, How did this happen?!" Malika turned towards the man whose bulky body was drenched in blue liquid, his body trembling with sheer pain causing Malika to doubt her own eyes.
Outside the Barrier, the moment she felt Bazac's life force decreasing, she swiftly came here, but her eyes could only see a normal child and him, in such a state.
"Wait?!" Malika noticed Ryuk's amber eyes, making her identify him at a single glance. Clenching her jaws, she shouted, "You insect—SCHKLT!"
"Kughh!" A sharp force centered from her back caused her to turn and only notice Ryuk standing there with a sword inserted in her abdomen.
Due to her strength, the sword was not able to penetrate deeper but enough to cause her to wince in pain.
'System, Concentrate Conduit's dome on them,' Ryuk's cold gaze was fixed on Malika, his commands directly echoing through his mind.
"You!— SWOOOOSH!" Before Malika could attack him with her sharp claws, a sudden force tore through their energy cores, causing them to leak an enormous amount of energy from within.
"AaaaGghhHhHh!" Both Bazac and Malika were brought to their knees due to the Conduit's energy-devouring pace.
Their 〖LEGENDARY〗 Level Strength acted like a trigger to enhance the speed at which the Conduit sucked their energy, solely concentrated on them.
Not something Ryuk was going to stop at, since his own immunity protected him, he gave another command, 'System, Use that energy to elevate them to 〖ZENITH〗 level.'
He understood the loophole inside the whole Artifact's working principle.
WHOOSH
Within a moment, System used the energy it was getting from them and increased their own levels to 〖ZENITH〗, indirectly triggering the artifact to act more vigorously.
"AaaaaGgggHhhh!!!!" Their screams filled the air, but the moment Malika had arrived here, System had already formed a barrier, making their last agony unheard by anyone.
Within a mere moment, The Conduit started to devour even their life force, tearing their energy cores and causing their levels to slowly fall.
The foundation of both of them was destroyed within a small expanse of time.
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"Sniff, forgive me, Sister; I was just playing with these small puppies, I promise."
"Stop it. You're not a kid, you know?" Alisia stood there blankly, observing Amayara, whose eyes were widened. But right now, ignoring her own interests, Alisia continued, "How about you join me in drinking some tea?"
"Can I?" Angelica swiftly retreated, looking with wet amber eyes towards Alisia, who only nodded, prompting Angelica to hold her hand before pulling her towards the direction of the capital city. "Come on, Sister. Why don't we go back and meet my nephew?"
'!?'
Amayara, who was looking at them, felt completely confused, not understanding the way they were acting, completely different from what she could remember. 'Is she fooling Lady Alisia?'
"Let's go then." Alisia, ignoring Amayara's gaze, turned to leave too. Right now, her priorities were set on the safety of Ryuk.
The arrival of Angelica was something she never expected, and she also sensed two more individuals coming along with her.
Alisia had just come here to know the reason for someone from the Devereaux family to arrive here, and now, knowing two powerhouses were roaming on the continent, she was in a hurry.
After two days of not feeling the restrictions of the artifact, she realized something must have happened.
Angelica, too, sensed that Heindal would have a chance to grow in the future.
Inevitably, pursuing her was the only thing Alisia could do to hide this fact from the outside world.
"Oh, wait a minute?" Angelica, halting her way, turned towards Amayara and Arvi's floating body before a grin formed on her face, stating, "Why not take these two puppies along with us?"