*Boom!!!*
Inside the dome, a surge of energy exploded out of the purple crystal, blowing all the people close to it away.
Dazed, Aya slowly opened her eyes and coughed a mouthful of blood, looking at her surroundings with a confused expression.
But one second later, her mind cleared.
And she remembered what just happened.
"Bloed!" Aya cried out and started to search for the figure of the blue-haired young man.
When she realized she could not find him, she panicked. She was about to shout again when a voice called out to her.
"Calm down, he is alright."
Aya was startled. Looking in the direction of the voice, she saw the elf princess looking at the unconscious figure of the blue-haired young man with a complicated expression.
A metallic wolf was standing in front of the young man, looking at the elf princess with a wary look and stopping her from getting closer to Bloed.
It was Leto, whose AI was using the energy stored in its body to guard his master until he wakes up.
However, Leto was a construct that relied on Bloed's [Molecular Disintegration] to get the energy it needed to operate. Now that Bloed was unconscious, its strength and the amount of time it could remain in operation was limited.
In fact, if Elwha wanted, she could defeat it easily.
"Bloed!" Aya exclaimed. She quickly rushed towards the young man and tried to wake him up.
Perhaps because it knew of the cat girl's relationship with its owner, but Leto did not stop her. It just continued glaring at the elf princess warily.
Meanwhile, Aya tried to wake Bloed up repeatedly only to fail. Quickly, her panic increased.
"Why doesn't he wake up!?"
"Calm down, miss cat," Elwha said with a calm tone. "He is alright. It's probably a side-effect of the technique he used at the end."
Aya was taken aback. But then, she remembered the words Bloed told her just before falling unconscious.
He asked her to protect him and Liu Ying.
Instinctively, she looked around and found the demon girl sleeping nearby. Just like Bloed, it seemed like she was alright, just sleep.
Aya sighed in relief.
But at that moment, she felt the underground dome shaking.
Elwha's expression changed immediately. "Dammit! Miss cat, we need to leave this place! It's about to collapse!" She then searched for her companions and used a levitation spell to carry them.
To Elwha's surprise, only two other elves were still alive. Of the five elves that came here with her, only two remained alive.
Moreover, they were unconscious.
Such a result saddened Elwha a lot.
But she could do nothing about it. Instead, she must take care of the ones that were still alive.
Thus, she went towards Bloed and tried to grab him.
But Aya and Leto stopped her with hostile expressions.
"… What do you think you are doing?" Aya frowned.
"Miss Aya, we need to leave quickly. I'll carry him!"
"I'll do it," Aya said expressionlessly, however, the way she was holding her daggers showed she was ready to attack her at any moment.
But at that moment, another voice sounded behind them.
"He is my boyfriend. I'll carry him."
"Miss Liu Ying!" Aya was surprised after seeing the demon. At some point, Liu Ying had woken up and walked towards Bloed.
She still seemed a bit weak, but despite it, she carried Bloed on her back and looked at the other two girls.
"What are you doing? Hurry up! Princess, please keep the wolf in your storage ring. I don't think it can operate for much longer."
""Y-Yes."" Flustered, both the cat girl and the elf princess nodded hurriedly.
Elwha then stored Leto and the purple crystal on a storage device she had prepared beforehand while Aya stayed close to Bloed and Liu Ying to protect them in case something happened.
Liu Ying looked at Aya strangely, but she said nothing, agreeing silently with her actions.
At that moment–
*RUMBLE!!!*
The place shook once more.
And this time, it shook even stronger than before.
The girls' expression turned pale.
"We need to leave! Now!" Liu Ying bellowed,
"Follow me!" Elwha shouted and pointed to one of the tunnels. "The exit is this way!"
The girls did not hesitate. Putting strength in their legs, they rushed towards the tunnel Elwha signaled and charged out of the dome.
And not even ten seconds after that, the dome started to collapse!
"Dammit, hurry up, elf! Where is the exit!?" Shouted Liu Ying in a panic.
"We need to run for a bit more!"
"We need to go faster then!"
As though affirming Liu Ying's words, a cloud of dust and stones caused by the dome collapse rushed towards the tunnel!
The cloud of dust and stones was moving at great speed through the different tunnels, causing even more widespread destruction!
Even when the girls ran as quickly as they could, they could feel the tunnel collapsing behind them and the cloud of dust slowly catching up to them.
"Miss elf, how much more!?"
"We are close! Just a bit more!"
As though affirming Elwha's words, the girls saw a ray of light shining in the distance.
It was like a ray of hope illuminating the hearts of the girl. Seeing the entrance finally at sight, they put even more strength on their legs and rushed towards it.
But when they were about to reach the exit, Liu Ying's felt her body turning weak and she stumbled.
In the end, she had not recovered completely from the effects of being trapped inside her memories. And after running at such high speed while carrying Bloed, she could not help but stumble.
But that small stumble was enough for the cloud of dust to catch up to her!
Liu Ying's eyes opened wide. Looking at the cloud of dust coming towards her, her face turned pale.
But then, she felt a hand grabbing her arm.
And the hand threw her towards the exit.
"Miss Aya!" Liu Ying shouted, but she could only watch as the cat girl was swallowed by the cloud of dust.
But suddenly, another change happened.
"Barrier!"
Following that word, a barrier appeared between Aya and the cloud of dust, stopping it for an instant.
"Hurry up! I can't stop it for long!" Rana's voice came from the distance, filled with a bit of fatigue.
Aya reacted immediately. Making use of the brief instant Rana won for her, the cat girl kicked the ground and rushed towards the exit.
An instant later, a thunderous sound shook the mountains.
And the tunnel collapsed.
...
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