Chapter 282: [Freedom Dove] - Nerio’s part (34)
Very quickly, they realized who had provoked the greatest monster of this dungeon.
The moment the horde of monsters closed in, forming a ring around them...
Blood spilled from both Susan’s mouth and eyes. Old wounds layered atop new ones, draining her strength rapidly. Her throat burned as if it had been torn in two.
Bella’s princess dress was stained with fresh blood, part from the monsters, part from herself, with several corners of the gown ripped apart.
The others fared no better. It seemed that as long as the main boss remained alive, these monsters would keep multiplying and reviving endlessly—no matter how many they killed, it was impossible to finish them off!
Bella raised her voice in panic:
"What do we do, what do we do? Are we going to be buried here?! Big Sis Cocona, I love you so much, boohoo, goodbye!"
Bella was truly crying.
The others all wore grim expressions, each lost in their own thoughts.
Susan suddenly clenched her hands and pressed them to her chest.
Damian’s eyes widened in shock:
"Susan, are you trying to summon the angel Gabriel?!"
Yes—Susan was a devout believer. She definitely had that power!
Bella wiped her tears, staring wide-eyed at Susan with desperate hope.
But Susan’s palms had only begun to glow when a piercing sound rang out from Building B before she could do anything. The entire structure seemed to tremble.
In the next instant, a massive flame erupted, engulfing the monsters. In the blink of an eye, their bodies were reduced to sludge before they could even react, melting into foul-smelling puddles!
The flames spread across the schoolyard, blazing fiercely like they would never burn out.
Everyone instinctively lifted their gaze to the sky.
Beneath the crimson-tinted heavens, a pair of great wings stretched wide. A figure descended slowly, silhouetted against the light.
The group stood frozen, jaws slack. Damian muttered in disbelief:
"Angel Gabriel came this quickly...?"
But Susan hadn’t even had time to act just now...
"No, that’s Leonard!"
Bella suddenly shouted, her voice overflowing with uncontainable joy!
The others snapped back to their senses, staring at the young man before them with expressions of awe and disbelief. Leonard raised his chin but said nothing.
Bella happily ran up, staring in amazement at Leonard’s current appearance. Still, joy outweighed surprise as she said:
"What did you eat this time? These wings are way too cool, ha ha ha."
[He ate an angel’s heart.]
[Bella will never know the truth, ha ha ha.]
[Look at Susan’s eyes.]
[Does she suspect something, ha ha ha.]
[Is no one paying attention to Thomas’s group?]
Time rewound to the moment the Mirror World first opened.
Thomas’s group hadn’t been directly pulled into the Mirror World. Instead, darkness wrapped around them, and when they opened their eyes again, they were in a completely different space.
The walls twisted, strange colors bleeding together. Even their bodies seemed to warp and ripple, like drops of liquid pigment.
At the same time, their livestream feed vanished entirely from the eyes of the unseen viewers.
Only three remained from their original number of eight: Thomas, Liora, and Luther.
Almost the instant they were dragged into this place, Luther dropped to his knees, his forehead pressed against the ground, his face reverent yet terrified.
Thomas frowned at him—when suddenly, the darkness began to coil and gather, like a vast cloud of smoke, until it finally revealed the form of a man.
A hulking, broad-shouldered figure.
It was Brute!
Thomas’s brows furrowed, but before he could say a word, Brute spoke:
"Kneel!"
His voice was distant, low and rasping, grating like a broken TV signal, like gravel grinding in the desert.
Thomas and Liora jolted in shock. In that instant, they understood why Luther had bowed so quickly.
They dared not delay either and hurriedly pressed themselves to the ground.
The Outer God looked over the people before him. One by one, every last one of them—useless!
It shouldn’t have been able to appear directly like this. But because these ants were far too incompetent, it had no choice but to borrow Brute’s body to descend.
"You truly disappoint me. Disappoint me beyond measure!"
Thomas quickly pleaded:
"Please, grant us one more chance..."
"There are no more chances. This battle—you must win!"
With those words, the Outer God suddenly raised its hand. Chaotic red-and-black energy poured from its palm, wrapping around Luther’s body.
Luther convulsed, his mouth gaping wide as the energy flooded into him. His frail frame swelled at a terrifying speed, as if it could explode at any moment!
Finally, spider-like legs burst from his flesh, stabbing decisively toward Thomas and Liora, giving them not even a moment to resist.
Thomas and Liora screamed. They had never imagined their fate would end so bleakly, so swiftly!
"You can’t do this! I haven’t had the chance to show anything—my power, all of it!"
Thomas’s roar was in vain. Luther’s body split open into a massive fissure, which yawned boundless darkness.
"Squelch!"
Liora and Thomas were swallowed whole in an instant. By now, Luther’s transformation was complete.
The whites of his eyes had turned pitch black, while his pupils glowed a blood-red so sharp it seemed they could bleed at any second.
Darkness coiled around him like an ever-rising smoke. His face split open into countless eyes.
More eyes sprouted askew across his pitch-black body and countless drooling mouths, each ravenous.
From his throat all the way down to his groin stretched a single, jagged crimson slit—the largest mouth of all.
Eight enormous, razor-sharp spider legs sprouted from his back, swaying ceaselessly in the air.
The Outer God curved its lips into a smile, satisfaction gleaming in its gaze:
"Go, my child. Go slaughter every last human out there. Become the sole survivor to leave this place. Become humanity’s new hope—its new hero!"
The Outer God’s laughter echoed through the entire space as Luther shot outward like an arrow, his speed unimaginable!
Outside, as if sensing something, Leonard suddenly looked up at the sky.
Damian and Bella were still chattering excitedly nearby about Leonard’s newfound powers.
Luis and Aria, the weakest fighters among them, huddled close together, while the rest had begun to relax.
But Leonard’s sudden shift drew their attention—everyone followed his gaze upward.
There, in the sky, a crack began to take shape. From it emerged the first glimpse of a nightmare...