Chapter 292: Auric Young

Chapter 292: Chapter 292: Auric Young

Lucky’s small step backward was like an icy awl, piercing deep into Seraphina Sinclair’s crumbling consciousness.

Her body was spent, but she managed to lift her eyelids slightly.

’What was that about?’

’Not only is this guy useless, but he’s actually trying to desert me?!’

If she could move, Seraphina Sinclair would have snatched him up and given him a thorough beating.

’This giant liability! I’ve kept him by my side for so long, and the moment there’s trouble, all he knows how to do is run!’

A wave of anger washed over Seraphina Sinclair, and somehow, her mind cleared considerably. She sucked in a sharp breath and felt a faint yet tangible surge of Strength, born from fury, course through her limbs.

This Strength kept her from collapsing, allowing her to press against the rock wall and steady her slipping body.

"Luck...y!"

She practically squeezed his name through her clenched teeth. Her voice was still raspy, but now it carried an incandescent rage. "You... dare... run?!"

Her expression was no longer one of despair or pleading. It was now icy, severe, and even held a fierce glint of exasperated disappointment.

Just as he was about to bolt up the stone steps, Lucky froze.

He knew that look all too well!

Normally, Seraphina Sinclair was gentle, or rather, she simply ignored him. But whenever he trotted around with something in his mouth, or when his teeth were itching and he started chewing on something he shouldn’t, his master would give him this exact look that made his fur stand on end.

The urge to flee was instantly crushed by a much more deeply ingrained sense of obedience—or perhaps, terror—toward his master.

He skidded to a halt and whipped his head around. His little black-bean eyes were filled with grievance and confusion as a low WHIMPER rumbled in his throat, as if to say: ’I didn’t want to run! That thing is just too terrifying! I’m scared, too!’

Seraphina Sinclair, panting, said nothing.

’If you want something done, you have to do it yourself.’

’Lucky is completely useless. If I want to live, I have to rely on myself.’

She narrowed her eyes, staring intently at the ring on the stone dais. With every ounce of her will, she lifted one leg and managed to shuffle a tiny step forward. But the moment her foot was planted, her strength gave out. Her body went limp, and she pitched forward.

She didn’t collapse completely, though. She managed to catch herself on one knee and a hand, a desperate, clumsy save.

Sharp stones dug painfully into her skin, but the icy shock helped clear another sliver of the fog from her mind.

’Can’t stop!’

Seraphina Sinclair bit down hard, the coppery tang of blood flooding her mouth.

She resorted to crawling, using her hands and knees to drag herself inch by agonizing inch toward the ring on the stone dais.

Every scrape of her body against the rough stone sent lances of pain through her. The glacial cold and the reek of blood and decay threatened to swallow her whole.

The layered shrieks of resentful spirits assaulted her ears, like countless steel needles churning her brain.

Her vision swam, blurring then sharpening. The only constant was the ring, sitting on the dais and emitting an increasingly piercing, crimson light. It was like a great, greedy maw, waiting to devour her last shred of sanity and life.

It was only a few steps, but it felt like crossing an abyss.

Sweat and grime dripped from her brow into her eyes, the sting sharp and painful. She didn’t even have the strength to blink it away.

[Water Stopping] triggered again and again, but its effects were now so faint they were barely perceptible.

The brief mental shield it provided was already in tatters. Malicious thoughts, like maggots clinging to bone, gnawed frantically at the edges of her consciousness.

Every inch of progress demanded immense willpower to resist the force trying to drag her into eternal darkness.

Closer.

Even closer.

The rough edge of the stone dais was within arm’s reach.

Seraphina Sinclair could feel the increasingly frenzied, cold waves pulsing from the ring, filled with an ultimate craving for—and loathing of—fresh life.

Her left hand rose, trembling. She splayed her fingers, the tips turning white with strain.

Just as her fingertips were about to brush against the ring—

The faint crimson glow around the dais, which had long since dimmed to near-invisibility, suddenly flared with the intensity of a dying star’s last breath! Immediately after, all the bones scattered across the floor—especially the severed neck vertebrae of the headless skeletons—began to CRACKLE and split in unison!

Several beams of light, far more condensed than before and now a sinister black-red, shot out from the splintering bones. They weren’t aimed at the ring—they shot straight for Seraphina Sinclair!

The Speed of these black-red beams was astounding, and they pulsed with the purest malice.

Seraphina Sinclair’s pupils shrank to pinpricks.

’I can’t dodge it!’

Her body was already past its limits and her consciousness was about to shatter. This final attack, fueled by the very essence of the burning bones, was the last straw.

’It’s over...’

The thought had barely formed, leaving no time for despair, when the unexpected happened.

Auric Young, still coiled around her left arm and looking just as listless from the assault on her Spirit, seemed to sense its master’s life was in immediate peril. Its body, composed of liquid Gold, shuddered violently.

The next moment, it uncoiled from Seraphina Sinclair’s arm. Like an arrow shot from a bow, it transformed into a straight beam of golden light, meeting the incoming black-red rays head-on.

There was no great boom of impact.

Only a SIZZLE, like cold water hitting hot oil.

The instant the golden light of Auric Young met the black-red rays, the Gold flared, becoming as dazzling as a miniature sun exploding within the stone chamber.

It was an indescribable radiance, one that seemed to both purify and devour.

As if they had met their bane, the black-red rays twisted and struggled violently within the golden light before dissolving at a visible rate.

But Auric Young’s own light dimmed rapidly in response. Its tiny body trembled violently in mid-air, and it even let out a faint, broken whimper.

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t know if [Substitute Calamity] had been triggered, but the sudden turn of events had bought her perhaps less than half a second.

But half a second was the difference between life and death!

Survival instinct and the resolve to seize this fleeting chance made her erupt with a final burst of Strength. Her left hand shot forward.

Her fingers closed, gripping the cold metal ring.

The even more violent assault on her Spirit she’d expected didn’t come!

The instant her fingers touched and closed around the ring, all the crazed crimson patterns swirling on the stone dais froze. Then, like a receding tide, they rapidly dimmed and died.

The tremors in the stone chamber ceased.

The howls of vengeful spirits that had battered her consciousness like a tsunami, the visions of shattered skulls—it was all gone in an instant, as if someone had hit mute and delete.

Dead silence.

A silence so profound it seemed to swallow all sound descended upon the chamber once more.

All that remained was the sound of Seraphina Sinclair’s own ragged, heavy breathing, echoing in the vast emptiness.

She knelt by the dais, her right hand braced against the floor and her left clutching the ring so tightly her knuckles were white. Her body trembled uncontrollably, cold sweat drenching her clothes.