Chapter 695: 117. The Agony of the Soul (8k)
"Boss, run!"
At the stairway of the hotel's second floor, Miss Valentina, who had been brought back down by Fisher, waited here. After all, Fisher knew who he was facing and Valentina was just a burden there, so he left her side on the pretext of "retrieving the Seal and the Ice." As the building shook, Valentina anxiously glanced in the direction Fisher had left. Before long, Philis came running back, as if elated.
"Philis? You're here. I haven't seen you since you went behind the hall."
"Hah, I'm not sure what happened, but the Magic Fisher gave me was pretty effective, I was chopping through and ended up on the second floor... Oh right, Fisher told all of us to leave the hotel immediately, not to worry about him. Here, this is the Magic he prepared for your self-defense, there's quite a lot."
Valentina took a glance at the several sparkling rings quietly resting in Philis's palm. With a faint blush and a cough, she silently gathered all the Magic into her hands, putting them on while looking upstairs,
"Heidlin and the Snow Foxes should have gone to the first floor from the third floor in the other direction. We should get moving quickly too."
"Alright."
After speaking, Philis ran downstairs but after a couple of steps, feeling something was wrong, she ran back to help the Boss in the wheelchair to go down together. Compared to Fisher and Heidlin, Philis wasn't gentle nor careful with the wheelchair, shaking Valentina so much she could barely sit still. As they descended, a loud noise suddenly came from the direction Fisher had left, adding a few degrees of worry.
In the first-floor lobby, at the door recently cut open by Balzac, thick blood and flesh tentacles grew back again. It was unknown what creature these tentacles belonged to; both their size and speed of growth were frightening. Valentina didn't know who had targeted their group who had finally found the Seal, but the enemy's aim was clear—it was the "Frost Snow Phoenix Tree."
Moreover, perhaps it was an illusion, but Fisher seemed very familiar with the person who launched the attack. Could it be that his insistence on going to the Frost Snow Phoenix Tree was because of the person responsible for this attack?
Of course, although Fisher usually studied demi-humans, he wasn't the kind of pervert who couldn't move upon seeing a demi-human. The Phoenix Tree meant nothing to him, yet he was so determined to go. Could it be for her... Wait a minute, it wasn't impossible, if what she had seen inside the Ice was not an illusion but some kind of prophecy.
Inside the first-floor lobby, Heidlin, massaging her temples in distress, watched the group of chattering Snow Foxes surrounding the door formed by the tentacles as if discussing how to escape. The Snow Foxes had rushed out without bringing anything other than their Species Mark, so naturally, they had no means to cut through the tentacles to let themselves out.
"Heidlin, I'm here!"
"Miss!"
As the hotel shook more violently and Heidlin grew increasingly restless, Philis finally appeared at the staircase entrance behind her with Valentina. Having just seen the group of Snow Foxes, Valentina guessed the situation and took off a ring that Fisher had given her,
"Let's talk about it once we're outside. This is Fisher's Magic, with a high ring number; it should easily burn through these tentacles."
Heidlin nodded, took the increasingly bright ring from Valentina's hands, and then subconsciously asked,
"Wait, where is Fisher..."
"Boom!"
Before Heidlin could finish speaking, the next second the ceiling of the grand hall on the first floor collapsed, as if struck by Schwali's proudest artillery, then bizarrely defied gravity and rose upward.
Above the hotel, a deep purple Gravity Magic spell had completely pierced through the entire building. The demolition teams of the Northern Realm would feel embarrassed before such terrifying destructive power.
"This is, the Eighth-Ring Gravity Sky Ring... Quick, Heidlin, move fast, Fisher is fighting the person who attacked us!"
Although Valentina wasn't skilled at engraving magic, she had basic judgment. Fisher carried a dozen spells for high ring combat; if all were used, this whole place would be leveled to the ground. Feeling vibrations like an earthquake, Heidlin aimed the Six-Ring Fire Magic at the tentacles in front of her.
Clan Chief Dal and Juna moved back a bit. The sound of relentless artillery-like combat from above, accompanied by the fluctuating magical light, kept coming. The violent tremors shook the already precarious building. As Heidlin burned the tentacles with flames, pieces of stone fell like rain from above, sending the Snow Foxes scurrying to the corners to avoid the falling rocks.
"Squeak!"
The massive noise exploded near their ears. Juna stood flustered beside Valentina. From beneath her cloth-covered basket, continuous fox-like cries could be heard, prompting Juna to quickly lean down to comfort the little lives inside the basket.