176 Saphire Illusion (1)

First chapter of the week...

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In a certain laboratory in the first district, a man was observing the chaos in the dungeon dive with expressionless eyes.

He watched as the five seeds he planted erupted and started causing chaos. Unlike what his calm expression showed, he was excited to see his masterpiece displayed openly.

And what he got was–

"A disappointment."

–An utter and complete failure.

His goal was to plant the seeds into as many students as possible, but after the initial success, he was met with a rotund failure.

The five seeds he planted were defeated after spreading to just a dozen students. The last one was just defeated by a girl using threads.

Compared to his goal of one hundred students at the very least, a dozen was a much worse result than his worst expectations.

[It's really interesting.] A voice chuckled.

The man frowned and ignored the voice coming from nowhere. His gaze fell on a certain black-haired girl fighting alone against three students.

[Well, it was not a complete failure.] The voice spoke again. [We got an unexpected harvest after all.]

"Unexpected indeed. It should make for our loss."

[What is your plan, then?]

The man's lips curled up slightly.

"I'm going all in."

With a thought, all the seeds in the dungeon started to move. They left their original hosts and converged into the black-haired girl, granting her power way beyond her current limits.

His original plan had already failed, so what was the harm of a little bet?

If he loses, he will only lose a handful of seeds.

But if he wins, the price won't be just contaminating some of the top students of Sanctuary's First.

He will also get a perfect weapon. 

…

For an instant, it seemed like we were witnessing the end of the world.

The scattered debris started to float, then the mud, the water, and the trees. Soon, everything in sight had risen into the air.

But that was just the start. Next, the mana in the dungeon started to flow toward our location. The amount of mana was so immense that it became visible to the naked eye.

In just a few seconds, a giant whirlpool of mana had formed. It pulled even more mana towards it as the debris, mud, and trees hovering nearby started to circle around it.

And in the very core of this phenomenon was a human figure.

Ley.

She was hovering quietly in the middle of the whirlpool, her face expressionless as she gazed at us as an emotionless god.

At some point in time, her black pupils had turned silver and her hair started to glow due to the abundant mana. The pressure emanating from her was so powerful that we felt helpless before it.

"All of you… Must die…"

As soon as her words fell, the whirlpool froze.

Then, everything floating in the air descended on us.

I turned pale. My body moved without thinking, kicking the ground and jumping away.

*Boom!*

An explosion shook the place, followed by a shockwave that blew us away.

Then, Ley extended her hand in our direction, unleashing an astonishing amount of mana that turned into hundreds of transparent spikes.

I swung my spear, destroying a couple of the spikes and avoiding the rest. Andrew and the others also used similar means to escape.

But that was just the start. With an almost limitless amount of mana at her disposal, Ley was like a god.

She gathered her mana over her head, creating a giant sphere that she compressed until it fitted in the palm of her hand.

The sphere was then thrown in our direction.

A huge sense of danger enveloped me. I knew that was not something we could stop.

"Everybody, protect yourself!"

The next instant–

*Boom!*

The humongous explosion made the dungeon shake.

When the explosion ended, a giant crater almost fifty meters long had been created.

"Cough…" I spat a mouthful of blood and stood up with difficulty. 

The explosion had thrown me dozens of meters away. My clothes had been torn off in several places, and my spear was broken into two.

And in front of me stood a figure using her body to protect me.

Sapphire.

Ley raised her hand again, gathering even more mana in her hands to attack again, but I ignored it.

Andrew's strength surged up all of a sudden, breaking beyond his limits as mana erupted out of his body, but I also ignored it.

All my eyes could see was the figure standing protectively in front of me while bleeding heavily.

Her black hair was almost completely charred, her serpent tail had been ripped apart, and her arms were twisted unnaturally.

But even then, she was smiling at me with a satisfied expression.

"Mas… ter…" She muttered.

"… Stupid snake, why?"

"Protect, master…"

I smiled bitterly and stroked her head.

"You don't have to stand in front of me."

Saphire did not reply. She just closed her eyes as though she was happy, I was stroking her.

For a moment, I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream and let out the heavy feeling in my chest.

But I didn't.

[Boy, you must leave this place! Another attack like that and you could die!] The demon cried out something, but I did not register it.

I just continued stroking Saphire's hair.

"Meow~?" Scarlet approached and meowed softly, as though worried for her companion.

"Don't worry, Scarlet. She is going to be alright."

Scarlet cried out sadly. She looked at Saphire and licked her as to comfort her.

Saphire forced herself to smile. Little by little, I could feel her breathing fading away.

But I did not despair.

Because I knew I could change it.

[Boy! You must leave now!]

Something… Something inside me was telling me that I could save her.

Mana flowed from my body into her, the tattoo on my right arm started to burn, and the contract in my mind lit up intensely.

At this moment, I felt omnipotent.

Looking straight into Saphire's blue eyes, I declared.

"Awaken, Saphire."

And the world complied with my will.

...

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