Chapter 718: The Last Ten Seconds
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 718: The Last Ten Seconds
Three minutes—one hundred and eighty seconds. It was a very long time.
Long enough for Zagu to grind an ordinary Fifth-Tier expert into mincemeat, inch by agonizing inch.
But it was also a very short time.
Short enough that after Ariel had gritted her teeth to endure two minutes, and after accounting for all the nonsense she’d spouted earlier, only ten seconds remained.
No, now it was nine.
"Heh... so, what are you going to do now, Mr. High-and-Mighty First Demon General?"
In a situation like this, Ariel naturally had to dial the mockery up to the maximum, even though she was currently covered in blood and looked far more pathetic than her opponent.
As long as her mouth wasn't torn shut, she could keep the verbal assault going.
After all, ten seconds didn't mean it was over. For an ordinary person, it might be a mere blink of an eye, but for a powerhouse like Zagu, while ten seconds wasn't enough to turn someone into mincemeat, it was more than enough to turn them into a human sieve.
Thus, Ariel did not let down her guard.
Eight.
Zagu glanced toward An. He didn't actually know the practical use of that Ancient Artifact. Perhaps he once had, but those memories had long since blurred across the vast stretches of time and the Eternal Cycle. He also didn't know why the Lord had personally ordered him to guard this place.
But he knew one thing: letting this human woman complete whatever she was doing with that artifact would certainly lead to no good end.
Wait... human?
Is she human?
Zagu’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Seven.
Forget it. Regardless of who she was, he would kill her first.
Though the Lord had instructed him to avoid killing her if possible, things had reached a point where there was no other choice.
He was no stickler for rules, and besides...
Being toyed with by a mere human had already ignited a rage within him that was becoming impossible to suppress!
Zagu raised his spear, his expression cold and vacant.
In an instant, the wind began to howl!
So what if there were only a few seconds left? Even if this human woman had used her petty tricks to lure him to the edge of the tower’s summit—nearly a hundred meters from the center—it didn't matter.
For his spear to pierce through a hundred meters, did it even require a single second?
Six.
"In your dreams!"
Ariel stood up with a savage grin, ruthlessly squeezing the last drop of strength from her body. Gripping the Heavenly Fire Greatsword with one hand, she swung it at Zagu.
She forcibly sustained the various buffs that were on the verge of expiring. To a silent, internal BGM, the "light pollution" of her skills erupted in a brilliant display once more!
Flame and sword intent intertwined, the scorching heat beginning to melt the surrounding rubble. This was a strike even Zagu could not ignore!
She unleashed this blow almost simultaneously with Zagu’s move. No—perhaps because Ariel had anticipated it, her movement was even faster than his spear thrust. The moment the spear left his hand, the sword light had already reached Zagu’s back!
Five.
One second was enough for both of them to make several moves.
Zagu still threw the spear. The sound of wind and thunder tore through the sky, piercing a pitch-black rift into the very fabric of space.
At the same time, he did not ignore Ariel behind him. He threw a backhand punch toward the incoming sword light.
Not a palm strike like before, but a fist.
A clenched, heavy fist.
Faint blue light rippled across the majestic Magic Armor Zagu wore. The light converged rapidly, and a massive amount of Mana instantly fused into the intent of his punch.
He couldn't manipulate Mana directly, but it had to be said that human Magic Armor was an incredibly convenient invention.
An enhancement-type magic was automatically triggered by the armor, instantly wrapping his fist. Even though it was a hurried strike, its power was no less than a full-strength explosion!
Four.
This high tower was clearly not built of ordinary stone. No matter how skilled the craftsman, no one could pour ordinary stone and mortar into a giant tower a thousand meters high.
Even if the formations within the gates had been erased by time, and even if the magic stones on the corridor walls were shattered and useless, Ariel could still feel a faint Mana residing within the main structure of the tower when she entered.
The entire tower was under some form of empowerment, which was why it remained standing. This was likely the power An had mentioned—the Ancient Artifact’s power used to maintain the city’s existence.
But even with that power, under the collision of sword and fist, the floor, the walls... even the distant vaulted ceiling began to crack and shatter in a rhythmic vibration beyond words.
It was as if a giant hand were relentlessly churning a painstakingly built sandcastle.
Crack after crack spread like a spiderweb, covering the floor and walls beneath and behind Ariel. Her feet sank into the once steel-hard ground as if stepping into mire, and her entire body was slammed back into the rubble-strewn wall once again.
It was hard to imagine that her seemingly delicate frame could withstand such an impact.
She had lost this exchange.
Her injuries grew even more severe.
She had already broken dozens of bones; now, there was no telling how many more were snapped.
External wounds, internal injuries, shattered bones, plus the total depletion of both Mana and Fighting Spirit... Ariel couldn't remember the last time she had been suppressed so thoroughly.
Aside from her still-standing, impressive chest, she looked as wretched as a total loser.
It was only natural. Even with a sneak attack, she still couldn't bridge the massive chasm between their realms of power.
However...
"You lost."
A spark of excitement danced in Ariel’s eyes. Even though she had nearly been beaten to death by Zagu, she seemed more spirited than ever. In her mind, she could already see the image of numerous beautiful girls throwing themselves into her arms, moved to tears by her sacrifice.
"I’m the one who won."
Three.
The countdown ended.
"..."
Zagu fell silent.
He turned his head slightly and saw that the spear he had thrown was once again blocked by a thicket of steel thorns.
No, it could no longer be called a thicket. It was a... Steel Jungle.
Nearly half of the tower’s summit was now filled with a dense, interwoven network of metallic veins. With the dignified young girl—who was holding her breath in concentration—as the center, they extended outward to form a forest of steel that no storm could topple.
The spear he had thrown with all his might had only pierced halfway through before becoming mired in this Steel Jungle, unable to advance another inch.
Is this... a Divine Blessing?
So, luring me away wasn't just to stall for time to counterattack? It was also to allow this Divine Blessing power to fully manifest.
Ordinary steel certainly couldn't stop his spear. But a whole forest of it?
Actually, that wouldn't have stopped it either.
But within three seconds, to shake off that persistent human brat and then tear through this Steel Jungle... he couldn't do it.
"Haha! See that? In the end, you lost because you talked too much."
Ariel continued her merciless mockery. After all, the winner was entitled to rub it in the loser's face.
To be honest, it had been genuinely dangerous. Even with her S-rank durability, if she hadn't spent those first few moments chatting nonsense with Zagu, she definitely wouldn't have held out.
The strongest expert beneath the Eight Grand Dukes was indeed no joke.
But fortunately, just like all her previous adventures, she had won this grand gamble with a success probability of over fifty percent.
"Miss An should be finished now, right?"
Ariel looked on expectantly, eager to see what kind of miracle Miss An could channel.
Since it required a full three minutes of channeling, once it was complete, she would surely be able to utterly crush this damn First Demon General, right?
Hopefully, it had some kind of recording function. That way, her heroic struggle against Zagu could be preserved. Just imagine—how could the brave, handsome, and clever Ariel Bugard fail to capture the hearts of the ladies... especially Miss Muse?
"Um? Miss An?"
Ariel blinked, prompting An with a slightly puzzled look.
The three minutes were up, so why...
"I did lose."
Suddenly, Zagu’s raspy voice came from within the solemn, cold armor after a moment of silence.
"Losing to a human female brat like you is the greatest humiliation of my life as Zagu, the First Demon General. I might not be able to wash away this shame even in a hundred years."
A crimson glow seeped through the slits of his visor, reflecting off Ariel’s pale face.
"But when you say you’ve won... aren't you celebrating a bit too early?"
"What do you mean?"
"Heh. As you said, the countdown has indeed stopped. In a sense, you did achieve your goal... but it wasn't just the countdown that was stopped."
"Wha—"
Ariel froze for a moment, then snapped her head toward the center of the Steel Jungle.
The dignified girl, who had been focusing with her eyes closed until now, fluttered her long lashes and finally opened her eyes.
But when she did, what she brought Ariel was not the joy of success or victory, but...
"Sigh..."
A sigh.
"I'm sorry, Miss Ariel."
An apology.
"I'm afraid... I'm going to drag you down with me."
A regret that seemed to come from the very depths of her soul.
"...Drag me down? What does that even mean? Didn't we just—"
Ariel searched for an answer, but for some reason, the surroundings had suddenly become deathly quiet.
Aside from the faint mist drifting about, everything was so silent it was suffocating.
Even the Teacher inside her ring had gone silent at this moment.
Tap.
Until...
Tap.
The sound of clear footsteps...
Tap.
Sharp heels clicked against the ground. The sound alone seemed to sketch the silhouette of a figure with an elegant, noble gait and a seductive, enchanting poise...
Tap.
But the sound felt as if it were stepping directly onto Ariel’s heart, making it race wildly. Her blood began to run cold, and her limbs turned to ice.
A premonition of death gnawed at her brain like a vengeful spirit.
Because this sound, this aura... and this unmistakable, unforgettable sense of pressure...
She had experienced it just last night.
Back then, there had been a wall between them.
But now...
"How unsightly, Zagu. We haven't met for a while, and you've become such a piece of trash? Is that old bastard of a former Guild Master really so stingy that he won't even treat his own dog better?"
The mist swirled, transforming into a seductive, alluring pink amidst a wave of eerie fragrance.
And within this pink fog that enveloped the entire tower summit in an instant, a figure that made the souls of everyone present go numb swayed forward, her devilish waist moving with every step as her gauze dress trailed along the floor.
The Demon Grand Duke, Bewitchment.