Chapter 380: Isolated Claire

"But you still have a chance to redeem yourselves," Adrian announced grandly. "Defect to Oresfall! I, the Blessed of the Goddess of Prosperity, will be bestowing divine judgment upon your King! The Kingdom of Avarice will be entirely absorbed into Oresfall in the next few weeks, and the exact same fate goes for the Kingdom of Ironhold!"

Adrian lowered his hand.

"So drop your weapons and surrender yourselves right now!" Adrian yelled. "The Goddess of Prosperity treats everyone with kindness, and so you will be treated with kindness! Believe in the Goddess!"

Right after his speech ended, Adrian raised his right hand.

Using his telekinesis, he created an invisible, rectangular pipe in the air directly in front of his palm. He made the pipe wide enough to completely cover Gabriel’s entire body. He infused the walls of the mana thread pipe with Thunderburst, and then came the rest.

An incredibly dense, superheated ball of pure plasma rapidly formed directly in front of Adrian’s palm before expanding to the sides.

The mana consumption for a concentrated attack this massive was astronomical. It immediately strained his Draconic Mana Veins. His Daddy’s Strength skill was incredible, but it only boosted his raw physical capabilities and his magical output. It did not magically strengthen the durability of his mana veins, nor did it increase his total mana capacity.

Adrian spent all of his personal mana and began drawing raw mana directly from his dungeon link just to fuel the massive spell.

The plasma condensed more and more, its volume increasing until it filled the base of rectangular pipe. It looked like a solid wall of blinding, burning white plasma contained inside an invisible box.

A second later, he shot it directly toward Gabriel.

Adrian physically felt his mana veins crack. He felt his mana veins completely shatter under the immense, unnatural strain. It was no different than the agonizing feeling he had experienced when the High Elves broke them, but this time, it was entirely self-inflicted.

High up in the sky, Gabriel’s body completely ceased to exist. The wall of plasma instantly vaporized him down to a molecular level, leaving absolutely nothing left for the Apostle to regenerate from.

The spell faded, and Adrian collapsed to his knees.

He immediately began coughing. Blood spurted out of his mouth and dripped down his chin as he stared blankly at the glowing system notification in front of his eyes.

[Alert: Host’s Mana Veins have shattered.]

[Dungeon is entering Emergency Mode.]

[Mana will now be drawn from the Dungeon Reserves to keep the System online and dungeon’s core automatic processes functioning.]

Adrian just smirked as he read the text.

He slowly turned his head and looked around the battlefield. He watched as thousands of Avarice soldiers, terrified by the demonic magic they thought they had been infected with, dropped their weapons and immediately surrendered to the Oresfall vanguard.

Adrian finally turned his head to look at Aria.

She looked deeply worried, but she was just standing exactly where he had left her, not moving an inch.

Adrian smiled at her, his teeth stained with blood, and rasped softly.

"Aria... did you keep the ring safe?"

Aria immediately nodded, remembering the silver ring he had given her before the battle started. She quickly walked over to him and pulled the ring off her thumb.

"Dig through the ring’s storage space," Adrian whispered. "And bring out the rectangular plate that is inside of it."

He slowly turned his head and looked up at Kaelen and Zara.

"Carry me back to the tents," Adrian said softly.

The two S-rank knights nodded in unison.

As they quickly walked over to pick him up, Adrian looked at the glowing system screen in front of him and gave it a quick mental command.

’Open the Dungeon Portal to where Claire is so that she can come out.’

Immediately, a glowing rectangular portal snapped into existence right beside him.

Adrian looked through the magical doorway and saw Claire. She was kneeling on the hard stone floor of the isolated dungeon room, clutching her side and crying like there was no tomorrow.

****

A few minutes earlier, inside the Dungeon.

Claire crashed onto the cold stone floor of the dungeon room. She rolled a few feet across the floor before she finally stopped, taking a deep, agonizing breath as she felt her fractured ribs poking into her chest cavity.

She exhaled slowly and couldn’t help but spit a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

Adrian’s face immediately flashed into her mind. It had the exact same expression he had worn right before he pushed her into this place. The raw fear in his eyes, the desperate worry. It was an image that Claire just could not ignore.

It made her feel a deep, overwhelming sense of warmth in her chest, but it also filled her with a massive amount of frustration considering the situation they were in out there.

She let out a soft, rattling sigh and lay completely flat on her back against the cold floor. Hot tears immediately started rolling down her cheeks and pooling in her ears.

She just stared up at the blank stone ceiling, and her mind began to drift.

She remembered a specific day when her father had taken her to a grand church in the capital.

A six-year-old Claire stood in front of a wise-looking, elderly priest and looked up at him with big, beady eyes. Back then, she didn’t look anything like the strict, battle hardened commander she was today. She looked like a really adorable, cute, and noticeably chubby child.

She looked up at the old priest, and the priest had smiled warmly down at her. He glanced over at Baron Kaldwin, who was standing right beside her, and spoke.

"This child has been blessed by the Gods," the priest announced.

Those simple words made Kaldwin let out a massive sigh of relief. He looked down at his daughter and proudly patted her head.

"The one that she eventually chooses as her partner will not die so easily," the priest continued softly.