Max was absolutely stunned. It was the first time Eva ignored his order.

They couldn’t have chosen a perfect time to be disobedient.

Damn it!

He glanced at the health bar of the Mireborn Broodmass.

Ten seconds. They only needed ten seconds to finally kill it.

He shouted at Clara, "Purify Eva and Jasper! Don’t stop!"

Max doubted if her Purify could still have effects against the corrupted mist.

The corrupted mist was simply too vicious.

Max continued attacking the Mireborn Broodmass, consuming the remaining mana potion. The reason he ordered for a retreat because he had also ran out of mana points, and the remaining mana potion, with the circumstances that only he and Ethan could attack, weren’t enough to kill the Mireborn Broodmass.

But now, Eva and Jasper risked their life.

If Max failed to kill the Mireborn Broodmass, he’d definitely slapped himself in the face and kowtowed in front of Branna.

He watched the health bar intently until it dropped to zero, but he didn’t rejoice.

He immediately slid his gaze below and to his horror, he couldn’t see Eva and Jasper from the thick corrupted mist.

He turned towards Clara, whose face was completely horrified.

The moment Clara and Jasper entered the corrupted mist, she couldn’t discern them at all.

She couldn’t cast a spell on them, as a result.

The entire time, she was completely frozen. She didn’t know what to do.

She recalled how her parents died from the demonic mana, she didn’t want to die the same way as them.

She tried her best to learn purify to prevent the same thing to happen, but now...

Her mind became disoriented, she was breathing heavily while staring at the corrupted mist.

Suddenly, she saw the savior entering through the mist with a horrified expression.

She grasped the staff and was about to follow him, when Ethan suddenly dropped to the floor. Demonic mana had also begun to invade his body, compelling her to use the skill, Purify, on him.

However, the first Purify barely expelled the demonic mana. She had to use it twice, until Ethan had the energy to leave the chamber.

Ethan glanced at the corrupted mist before running towards the corridor, where Rhayne was standing with a terrified expression.

He stared at Clara and said, "I leave the others to you."

Clara nodded. She turned towards the corrupted mist and was about to bravely enter through it when Max finally appeared, bringing Eva and Jasper on each of his shoulder.

He consumed a great deal of stamina just to carry them.

As soon as he left the mist, he threw Jasper as best as he could, while jumping forward and used his back as a cushion for Eva.

The corrupted mist was still moving, albeit slow.

Max had already depleted his stamina, causing him to breathe heavily. He laid down Eva’s body and sat in front of her.

Eva was already unconscious and her body was convulsing. The demonic mana emitting from her body was so immense that Max’s heart ached.

He turned towards Clara and shouted, "What are you doing?! Purify her now!"

Clara consumed a mana potion and casted Purify to Eva again and again.

A minute later, Eva’s eyes opened.

Max thought the Purify skill was effective in surprise but as soon as he saw Eva’s pupils, his heart sank.

She was now half-demonize.

Even if Clara consumed another mana potion again and depleted her mana wholly, she still could not save her from a complete demonization.

Eva’s eyes that was already half-black moved and landed at Max.

She closed her eyes and beamed a smile.

"I kill a demon!" She shouted, but her voice was already half-demonize.

Her adorable voice was no more, already replaced by a hoarse and deep voice.

Max was shaken. Emotions began to build up in his body.

He caressed Eva’s head and said, "Yeah... You killed a demon. I’ll definitely inform your mother about your huge achievement!"

Eva chuckled.

Suddenly, her resistance against demonification dropped. Her body became light and Max had no choice but to let go of her.

However, Eva managed to open her eyes and said, "A-And I will die as a human..."

A tear crawled out of her eyelids, watching Max nodding at her and summoned an Arcane Bolt in front of her face.

Max turned his head around and saw Clara staring at Eva with widened eyes.

He shouted, "Turn around!"

Clara immediately did as he told and only then Max released the Arcane Bolt, obliterating Eva’s head.

Her headless corpse was half-buried by the light flood.

Max wasn’t done yet. He also casted an Arcane Bolt and targeted Jasper.

Their headless corpse finally settled down after being restless because of the demonification.

Max’s heart was heavy. He felt suffocated.

He gripped his weapons tightly.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

He cursed loudly in his mind incessantly.

Even when I’ve already returned to the past and far stronger than before, I still failed to protect who I had to.

Am I really this weak?!

His extreme skepticism caused him to doubt if he could still save his brother and aunt when the apocalypse descended on Earth.

Just as he was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly heard a thud.

His eyes widened when he realized it was Clara. He immediately ran towards her, grabbed her body, and carried her towards the inner ruin corridor.

Thankfully, with disappearance of the boss and after he destabilized the Rift Residue Crystal when he entered in the corrupted mist earlier, the demonic mana’s concentration in the chamber diminished.

What Clara simply experienced right now was mana depletion.

Which also meant she’d still be prone to demonic mana invasion.

Carrying her while running as fast as he could with his stamina completely exhausted was a real struggle for Max.

But Ethan instantly came up on him to receive Clara instead.

Just as Max arrived in the corridor and wanted to drop his body into the wall to take a rest, Rhayne’s voice echoed.

"I told you! They’ll die and you’ll be the only one alive!"

===

A/N: Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to show your supports by giving golden tickets, powerstones, gifts, and reviews! It means a lot since this is participating for WSA.