Chapter 199: The Eye

"Hah... hah..." Vlad’s breath came heavy and ragged as he landed on the ground after beheading the oni.

Its head fell first, followed by the heavy thud of its body.

"W-we did it..." Vlad murmured, falling forward.

His chin rested on Seraphina’s shoulder as she arrived before him, supporting his exhausted body.

"Yes, we did it," Seraphina said in a calm tone as she supported him by moving his arm around her shoulder. "We defeated an Early Stage Rank Five Monster."

Hugo, Raphael, and Alisha also reached them. Despite the minor injuries covering their bodies, caused by the oni’s mana explosion, their faces bloomed with happiness.

"Hahaha, killing a mutated oni as a team of four second-years and one first-year student," Hugo laughed, spreading his arms. "I can’t wait to see the reaction on Professor Aldric’s face when we show him the head of the oni. Hahaha—O-ouch, my chest," he muttered, stopping mid-laugh, his hand moving to his chest. "I must have broken a rib or two."

"And you are only realizing it now?" Raphael scoffed, pressing his monocle. Its lens broke into pieces the moment he touched it.

"Like you are the one to talk," Hugo retorted with a mocking smirk, looking at Raphael’s wrists, which had turned an ugly purple.

They had been bent backward when the oni suddenly blasted its mana.

Bonk!

Bonk!

Alisha’s wand landed on both Hugo and Raphael’s heads.

"Stop acting tough, both of you," she muttered. "Come here, let me heal you."

As the one supporting the team from the farthest distance, she hadn’t suffered any injuries. Her breathing was nonetheless uneven, as the three Ring Spells she had cast consumed a great deal of her mana.

Only Seraphina seemed to be completely fine. Not a scratch marred her body, nor was there a sign of fatigue on her face.

"You were closest to the oni when it exploded its mana," Seraphina said to Vlad, her hand resting on the back of his head. "Let Alisha heal you."

Vlad shook his head as he sat on the ground. "Senior Alisha is already on the verge of mana deviation. Besides, my injuries aren’t serious. I’m just out of mana."

"Are you really alright?" Seraphina asked, worry clear in her voice as she lowered herself beside him. "I have some healing potions. They will hurt, but they can heal your wounds."

"Don’t worry," Vlad insisted with a smile, placing his hand on her head. "I’m really fine."

Seraphina reluctantly nodded, although she didn’t look convinced at all.

Vlad crossed his legs, taking a lotus position to replenish the mana he had lost.

Seraphina decided to let him rest while she turned her focus toward the corpse of the oni. She wrapped its body and head in a thin veil of her mana, placing numerous magical circles along its skin before moving it inside her storage pouch.

Vlad kept staring at her busy figure throughout the entire procedure. His gaze shifted to the scorched crater left by Seraphina’s spell. Web-like cracks covered the ground, and smoke was still rising from the burnt rocks and debris.

’Mana reserves of S+ Rankers are truly monstrous,’ Vlad gasped inwardly. ’She cast six Three Ring Spells simultaneously without batting an eye. It’s not something that anyone with high mana reserves can accomplish. How incredible her mental prowess must be, and how hard she must have trained to attain such a feat at such a young age?’

He took a long, nervous gulp. "From now on, I should think twice before offending her."

His eyes shifted back to Seraphina, who was talking with the other teammates. She also looked back at him, as if instinctively sensing that he was taking a peek at her.

The moment they made eye contact, he instantly closed his eyes, feeling flustered for some reason.

’I should focus on refilling my mana,’ he decided, activating the Art of Dragon Breathing.

---

"Hehe~ look at him stealing glances at you," Alisha snickered, lightly elbowing Seraphina. "He just can’t keep his eyes off you."

Hugo and Raphael also began chuckling at her words, leaving the girl in question with a blushed face.

"Since you are fine enough to tease me, help me in claiming the artifact," Seraphina muttered, pulling Alisha’s ear.

"Ouch, Lady Seraphina, that hurts," Alisha whimpered, rising onto her toes to reduce the pull on her ear.

Seraphina removed her hand with a retort, her focus shifting toward the giant white eye on the ceiling.

She materialized a large rose of amber flames beneath her and Alisha’s feet. It ascended upward, taking the duo toward the ceiling.

The radiation from the Eye intensified as the duo approached it, causing them to suffer a throbbing headache.

"Protect yourself with your mana," Seraphina ordered Alisha. "It is a mental-based artifact."

Alisha covered herself in her yellow Lumen mana, which significantly reduced the effect of the radiation.

The Genesis Artifacts didn’t possess the ability to attack or defend themselves. Monsters that benefited from their radiation were what acted as their bodyguards to protect them.

Still, some higher-grade Genesis Artifacts passively released their intent. The mind attack of the Eye was one such effect.

If it possessed such effects even without an owner, its power would be unimaginable when someone were to actually use it.

The method of retrieving the Genesis Artifact was quite simple. Root it out from its place, and the radiation would stop.

"This eye really looks creepy from up close," Seraphina muttered with a frown.

The eye was as wide as their height, after all. From up close, they realized it wasn’t truly white-colored, but rather its radiation made it appear that way.

Its sclera resembled a miniature night sky, with countless star-like particles scattered across the darkness. At the center, the iris was in the form of a diagonal river of starlight, like a galaxy.

Seraphina produced a series of hand signs before releasing her concentrated beam of mana toward the eye.

It shot upward with a burst of speed but significantly slowed as it approached the eye, until coming to a halt just a few inches away.

Seraphina increased the output of her mana, but it barely moved.

"Let me help you," Alisha said, releasing her own beam of mana through the spherical core at the end of her wand. Her Lumin mana wrapped around Seraphina’s, greatly increasing its intensity.

Their mana was finally able to pass through its barriers and struck the eye.

The ceiling above them trembled from the collision, sending debris of falling rocks downward.

The veins surrounding the eye tore apart, and the mind-boggling radiation it was emitting stopped.

The eye was uprooted from the ceiling and descended toward Seraphina, following her beam of mana.

Its size slowly reduced during its movement and reached only the size of a real eyeball as it landed on her hand.

Seraphina’s lips coiled into a smile of satisfaction as she announced,

"With this, we have successfully completed our first S-Ranked Mission."