Chapter 83: Stop him...!

Zephyr’s breathing was rapid, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead as he tightened his hold on Lucien. The hazy, translucent shield flickered above them.

He didn’t know what had happened earlier.

He only knew that his instincts had begun blaring alarms and warning him of danger.

And if he, an Esper, was in danger, Lucien, a Guide, was in even greater danger. So, just before the attack, Zephyr had wrapped his arms around Lucien, instinctively shielding him. And somehow, in that very moment, Zephyr had comprehended another skill.

Rebound Dome (A-rank) — A defensive ability that creates a translucent dome in the area around the user, shielding those within it from all kinds of physical attacks while rebounding incoming damage onto the attacker twice. But it can only block attacks from those weaker than the user.

It was as if, when faced with a life-or-death situation, his survival instincts allowed him to instinctively grasp something from the knowledge in his head that could save him.

Or perhaps...

It was something the Gaya System had planned long ago: for him to understand and learn these skills whenever he found himself in a dire and helpless situation.

Zephyr drew in a long breath, ignoring the furious roars of monsters behind him as he looked down at the person in his arms.

His voice came out heavy.

"Are you okay?"

Lucien was still shaken.

It was only after hearing Zephyr’s voice that he finally came back to his senses.

He swallowed hard, staring into those empty, dull gray eyes. His heart was still pounding heavily against his ribcage.

To think... he had almost died!

All because he wanted to snatch away the opportunity that belonged to Erick and Nana in the original story!

Getting no response from the person in his arms, Zephyr’s brows knitted together.

"Lucien?"

Only then did Lucien respond.

"I-I am fine. Fine."

He calmed his breathing and patted Zephyr’s arm with his hand.

"You can let go of me now."

Zephyr hid the trembling of his hand behind Lucien’s back, slowly curling his fingers into a tight fist before stepping away.

Within moments, his back was already completely soaked through with sweat.

Faint veins stood out along his neck and the backs of his clenched hands, but with everyone still reeling from what had just happened, no one noticed.

Jake was the second to speak to Zephyr, his expression complicated as he stared at the translucent shield surrounding them.

"How long can this shield you created last?"

Zephyr did not respond immediately.

His head was pounding too hard for him to think clearly.

It was only when he felt everyone’s eyes within the dome fixed on him that he finally looked up.

"It can last as long as I have mana."

His words reassured those who had witnessed his power outside the dungeon.

Jake, however, had arrived too late to see what Zephyr was capable of and had no idea how much mana Zephyr actually possessed.

He could only hope it was a lot.

Oreon stepped forward, his gaze shifting toward the Lizard monsters roaring outside the shield. After their first attack failed, the monsters no longer dared to charge recklessly, choosing instead to watch warily from a distance. They had already sensed that the shield was far more dangerous than it appeared.

The burly Esper behind Oreon helped the two A-Rank Guides and Eleven sit down against a dry tree trunk before following him.

"How are we supposed to fight these massive things?"

Zephyr’s voice answered him.

"I will."

All eyes immediately snapped toward him, only to find that he was already walking out of the shield and toward the monsters.

Jake’s expression changed.

"Wait!"

He immediately moved after Zephyr, but before he could take more than a few steps, Lucien reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Let him. He knows what he’s doing."

Jake turned toward him, completely baffled.

How could Lucien be so calm?

Jake had long suspected that Zephyr was far more powerful than his supposed rank suggested, but he was still blind. What if something happened to him? How could Lucien simply stand there and let him walk straight into a group of monsters that could crush him under their sheer weight?

Jake couldn’t understand it at all.

Yet Lucien didn’t seem worried in the slightest. He simply watched Zephyr’s retreating figure with an expression that made it clear he had no intention of stopping him.

Then, Lucien turned his head toward Erick, who stood farther to their right, staring at the flickering shield in stunned silence.

A faint sneer appeared on Lucien’s lips.

"How long are you going to keep watching?"

His eyes were extremely cold.

"Is there any difference between those people who ran away earlier and you?"

Erick blinked.

He had dodged the attack earlier, yet somehow, none of them had died. Zephyr had protected everyone around him.

For a moment, Erick simply stared.

Then, unexpectedly, he laughed.

There was a faint trace of something almost crazed in his laughter. With that, he turned and ran after Zephyr.

"I will fight with him!"

Lucien watched Erick’s retreating back and cursed under his breath.

Jake, Oreon, and the burly Esper exchanged glances, unable to stop thinking about what Lucien had said.

The more they thought about it, the more unsettling it became.

Erick had probably dodged the attack instinctively to save himself. That alone wasn’t strange. Anyone would react to an attack like that.

But he hadn’t even tried to help the others.

He had simply watched.

They all knew Erick was notoriously indifferent to things that didn’t concern him, but seeing that indifference so clearly, especially when their lives had been on the line, still left them uneasy.

Behind them, a hoarse, barely audible voice suddenly called out.

"Stop him...!"

Oreon, Jake, Lucien, and the burly Esper all turned around.

The one speaking was Eleven.

He had barely managed to wipe away the blood that had trickled from his ears. His face was pale, his breathing uneven, and his body still trembled faintly from the pain.

Yet his bloodshot eyes remained fixed on Zephyr’s retreating back.

Then, with visible effort, he turned his gaze toward Lucien.

"As a Guide... how did you not notice?"

His voice was weak and hoarse, but there was a trace of urgency in it.

"His condition isn’t okay!"

Lucien stared at Eleven, clearly unable to understand what he meant.

"What?"

Eleven’s expression twisted with frustration.

He wanted nothing more than to grab Lucien by the collar and slap some sense into this useless guy! Even from where he had been sitting, he had noticed the faint veins standing out along Zephyr’s neck.

Those were not normal signs of exhaustion.

They were early signs of an Esper approaching the point of losing control.

How could Lucien, a Guide, have failed to notice something so obvious when Zephyr was literally holding him in his arms just moments ago?!

Eleven could hardly believe it.

Before Eleven could say anything else, a thunderous roar suddenly echoed from behind them. It belonged to the leader of the Lizard monsters. This time, however, the shield protected them from the impact, leaving everyone unharmed.

They all turned toward the sound.

Not far away, Erick and Zephyr were both already fighting the group of five massive two-headed S-Rank Lizard monsters.

Yet the leader of the monsters had not joined the battle.

Instead, it had wrapped its massive body around the fruit tree in the middle of the clearing, guarding it as though the tree were far more precious than any of its followers.

Erick was wielding a familiar exquisite sword. Meanwhile, Zephyr relied on his Telekinesis skill, sending the tree trunks, rocks, and fallen bones scattered across the clearing hurtling toward the monsters.

Even as Zephyr attacked from a distance, he steadily closed the gap, secretly trying to get within reach of the Lizard monsters. His eyes were tinged with a faint hint of red, and his expression remained strangely calm despite the growing chaos around him. Unable to get close to the Lizards, he directly spread his Corrosion skill in every direction, letting the pitch-black energy surge outward across the entire clearing.

For a moment, everyone was stunned.

Even Erick, who had been fighting alongside him and helping whenever Zephyr failed to dodge an attack, was caught off guard. The moment he saw the dark energy spreading toward him as well, he immediately retreated, narrowly avoiding being swallowed by it.

Yet the dark energy did not stop. It continued to expand like a dark plague, rapidly devouring everything in its path.

"?!"

Erick had to sprint at his utmost speed, even channeling his mana to force his body forward, just to stay ahead of it.

Zephyr’s figure soon disappeared within the darkness as it spread farther and farther across the clearing.

The Lizard monsters cried out, but their voices were quickly swallowed by the darkness as well. One after another, their massive figures vanished into the blackness.

Within moments, the entire clearing was filled with nothing but darkness, leaving nothing visible behind.