"F*cking Hell!" The pain only continues to grow stronger as time passes. Seeing his friend writhing in pain, Aranold's expression changes drastically, and he quickly approaches him, only to be punched accidentally by Cleo.
BANG! He quickly reacted and grabbed the rope; he nearly fell down at a height that many consider a death sentence.
He is shocked; he then hears rumbling inside the cave; his face once again undergoes a drastic change; he returns to the hole and stays in the entrance. With this much commotion, there is a high chance that they might attract some unwanted attention.
ROAR! ARGH! Screams, roars, and cries of anguish can be heard inside the cave. Cleo is trying to vent his pain by punching the walls around him, and his eyes become bloody red as his body unconsciously revolves the dragon-tiger body manual.
BANG! BANG! BANG! As his strength increases, the commotion only intensifies. Aranold clenches his fist tightly. He might not know how much pain his friend is experiencing right now or can imagine it, but one thing that he knows is that his friend is currently vulnerable to outside attacks.
He will not let anything harm him; he guards the entrance dutifully; he senses something and raises his head; and he sees three flying beings circling just above him.
"You beasts will not pass!" He roars as he sees one of the creatures swooping down towards him. He roars and summons his spear, preparing to engage the enemy.
Cleo wakes up after sleeping for so long. After the fusion, he was forced to sleep by the system for his safety. It seems that the experience will truly scare him for life; his eyes are lifeless. It was the most painful experience he had in his two lives.
Suddenly, the memories of his parents dying and his grandpa passing away wake him up. His eyes start shining once again, and he stands up. He is angry at the system, but he knows that he was only trying to vent.
He closes his eyes and starts chanting the mind-tempering technique that Pure had taught him in order to calm the turmoil in his heart.
Standing up unsteadily, he turns to his surroundings and can see the destruction that he has caused. Even though the walls are extremely tough, there are multiple marks around them, as if they had experienced a great battle.
'I hope that the result of the fusion is worth it; I am not going to use this method once again! ' This is the thought that flashes in his head.
The system had told him that this is the safest mode; if this is already the safest method, he does not want to experience the normal method.
"I wonder where Aranold went?" Seeing that his friend was not present, he immediately went outside, but when he saw the current scene outside, he became pale.
His friend is now pale and is bleeding everywhere. Besides him were three corpses of giant birds. He quickly comes to his side and asks.
"Aranold, are you awake!?"
Seeing that his friend is unresponsive, his expression becomes paler. He quickly summons his new pet and has it guard the hole while he grabs his friend and jumps.
He activates [Dragon Flight] instinctively; he starts gliding through the air, as if he were flying; he does not care about it; the only thing on his mind is to bring his friend into the clinic of the academy.
His figure can be seen rapidly flying out of the Nightmare Valley; multiple students saw him carry Aranold with a panicked expression.
Once they arrive at the clinic, he quickly brings his friend in front of the nurse. Seeing Aranold's condition, the nurse was a little bit surprised.
She smiles and summons her soul blessing. With a flash of light, Aranold was instantly healed. His eyes widen from this scene. He cannot believe that his friend, who was in a near-death situation, recovered instantly from just one skill.
"Your friend is lucky that you managed to arrive here on time; if not, I might not have been able to rescue him," she says, chuckling, as if talking about a life-and-death situation is normal for her.
He quickly bowed to her and thanked her.
"Thank you for saving my friend!"
The nurse chuckles once again.
"I am only doing my job; do not worry; I get handsomely paid by the academy to take care of you young ones."
Since Aranold is no longer at risk of dying, he brings him back to their room. When Blake saw the two of them, he heaved a sigh of relief. He knows just how dangerous a forbidden ground is and has been worrying about the safety of the two.
In fact, if not for him trying to fix his problem regarding the stagnation of his technique, he would have joined the two in their training.
"Thank goodness the two of you are still alive. I was worried sick the entire time, but fortunately you two have not forgotten about the exhibition match."
Cleo shakes his head.
"Sorry Blake, but Aranold and I are too tired to talk with you. We have plenty of time tomorrow; for now, both of us are going to sleep."
Throwing his friend into his bed, he quickly jumps into it and instantly falls asleep. Blake was not angry by this and actually felt that he was the rude one.
He glares at Sophia and says,.
"I suggest that you continue reading and not disturb these two; unlike you, the three of us risked our lives to train on the forbidden grounds to grow stronger."
Sophia quietly reads his book. He knows that Blake was right, but he just cannot throw his life away without any lingering regret. He is an Aphrixian; their race is known for their strong elders but weak juniors.
They are actually one of the most prestigious races because of the number of powerhouses they have, but as of late, the number of their powerhouses is dwindling. If this continues, their race might become a slave race to another prestigious race.