Chapter 132: Choice

Chapter 132: Chapter 132: Choice

The power of a summoning matrix left behind by a tier four was inherently terrifying.

But the black-cloaked figure had clearly left too hastily; the amount of magic power poured into it hadn’t reached the threshold of the two skills he threw straight at Jeremy.

Furthermore, the four were scattered too far apart, forcing the magic power’s range to spread wide, weakening the matrix somewhat.

If he had truly gone all out, the group definitely couldn’t have broken the encirclement so easily.

The ice surface beneath Leon’s feet melted completely, forcing him to spread his wings and fly up.

After being pulled out by Evelyn, the two joined forces trying to break the storm from the outside. Failed.

At the current speed, in just a few minutes, the area Jeremy was trapped in would also completely collapse.

If Lucius couldn’t pull him out, then there was only one outcome.

At this moment, their only option was to stand and await the verdict of fate.

Of the over a thousand people from earlier, those who needed to run had all run away. While those who charged in to fight for the serendipity of the Caelum Jade had all delved deep inside.

Currently, the entire glacier river area only had the five of them left.

But the glacier river was about to disappear completely.

The majority had been swallowed by the void darkness; only a small un-melted patch remained.

No one knew what hid beneath that crack.

They only knew the destructive death aura rising from it was enough to send chills down one’s spine. If they fell, no one could predict what would happen.

Time ticked by by the second. The pitch-black crack began generating a massive suction force.

Even while hovering in the air, the group was continuously jerked towards it.

Evelyn looked at the storm, which had shrunk to a point where it could be called minuscule, her mood sinking to the bottom.

Leon gritted his teeth and tried once more. The Crescent Blades tore off his fingertips, carrying the last of his magic power straight into that wall of wind.

A hollow ringing sound. They were bounced back before even touching the outer layer, spinning off and burying themselves in a slab of ice behind him.

Evelyn drew her bow at the same moment. The arrow rain shattered into powder halfway there, the fragments swallowed into the storm’s rotation without leaving a trace.

The wind wall didn’t so much as flicker.

"Damn it." Leon’s voice was hoarse. He didn’t call the blades back.

Evelyn lowered her bow. Beneath her feet another slab of the glacier broke away and slid into the crack. It fell without making any sound at all. No echo came back from below.

That silence was more terrifying than any roar.

Her gaze swept over the shrinking storm, then over the widening crack, measuring the distance between the two. The numbers she arrived at weren’t good. At this rate, the ice beneath the storm would give way long before the storm itself did.

She said nothing. Saying it aloud wouldn’t change anything.

Phoenix’s voice rang out: "The summoning is done. If we don’t leave now, it will dissipate in a minute."

"..."

What that sentence meant, the three present all understood.

The teleportation matrix was related to space, requiring channeling time and consuming a massive amount of magic power.

If they didn’t leave now, then a minute later when it dissipated, there would be no more chances.

The blood pact empathy curse Griffin placed on them from the previous semester had been removed, no longer having the effect of connecting emotions.

But at this moment, they still clearly felt the discomfort surging in each other’s chests.

They had to choose.

Abandon their teammate to escape on their own, or stay here, staking their lives to gamble for a sliver of hope as thin as a thread.

Those two choices shouldn’t have been difficult. Human nature is inherently selfish. Furthermore, they had only known each other for a mere few months, their affection wasn’t worth much. Logically, they should choose the former.

But right now, Leon and Evelyn couldn’t bring themselves to open their mouths.

Seeing the two silent, Phoenix pondered for a moment, then reached up and took off the black hat he always wore.

He swept aside the overly long bangs obscuring his vision. His blood-colored eyes, usually flat and rippleless, suddenly displayed several bizarre magic patterns.

The patterns stacked upon each other, tinging his gaze with a few traces of eeriness.

He didn’t give the other two a chance to choose anymore. The undead staff spun a circle in mid-air, a massive magic disk appearing in an instant.

Before Evelyn and Leon could react, tentacles surging from the magic disk bound them tightly, throwing them straight onto the disk’s surface.

"What are you doing?!" Leon struggled, only to discover the magic power concentration in these tentacles far exceeded what should exist at Phoenix’s realm.

Evelyn, being bound, couldn’t break free either.

One must know that since the day of enrollment, her realm had always been the highest among the five.

Yet right now she was pinned down to this extent. Truly strange.

She glanced at the tentacles confining her.

The aura around Phoenix was unchanged, still Intermediate Stage Two-Star.

But both the magic disk and the magic power in the tentacles were edging on tier three.

Was he... using some forbidden art?

Before she could think it through, following Phoenix’s will, the magic disk flared with a blinding light. The vortex appeared, forcibly pushing Evelyn and Leon away from this bizarre glacier river area.

While he himself stayed behind.

When the light dispersed, the two discovered the place they stood had changed from the glacier river to the peak of a snowy mountain.

This mountain wasn’t too far from the glacier river area, about a kilometer or two.

Looking from high above, with the aid of magic power, they could still faintly see the bloody scene down there.

But despite the distance not being great, at their current speed, turning back in time was an impossible thought.

The two didn’t say a word. But their chests were heavy.

Phoenix... what exactly was he planning to do?