---Chapter 74---

Falling for what seemed like forever, the duo finally felt solid ground again.

First it was Leona, she landed without breaking a stride, her body forcefully spat out from a mouth-like opening on the roof of another tunnel.

As soon as she landed, she looked up. Dean wasn’t far behind.

"AHHHHHHHH"

Dean felt like his body was weightless. Like his body was totally made up of just cardboard that was torn into a thousand pieces and left at the mercy of the wind.

Released by the mouth in the roof, Dean’s eyes widened as he emerged, seemingly falling to his humiliation, he saw Leona there... waiting.

He could have easily caught himself, twisting in mid air. Anything... But he let himself go as he caught him in her open arms.

Dean’s head pressed against her soft chest as he laid there for a moment.

"Are you okay?" Leona worried.

"Mmhmmm," Dean grunted. Then he faked a surprised and worried expression. "You can let me go."

"Ohhh..." Leona’s eyes widened and her cheeks flushed red, feeling his head pressed against her chest.

She let him go instantly and Dean landed on his butt.

"Ouch..." he exclaimed in an exaggerated manner.

"Sorry..." she said a little flustered. Then– "No.. Get up!" Her tone went from apologetic to commanding in the blink of an eye.

Dean stood up immediately like a soldier receiving an order. His crossed eyes glowing orange as another ball of fire materialized in front of them.

"Don’t tell me, this is your best skill?" Dean looked at Leona.

Tilting her head back with an unreadable expression. She traced her loose hair with one finger before braiding it into thick weaves.

"It’s what I can use in such a space." She paused. "Any other skill of mine, would cause this maze to crumble on us."

’Damn...’ Dean thought. She was holding back like crazy and possibly for his sake.

At this point, he pained Dean even more that Ash wasn’t here. This would have been a pick all you can copy buffet.

Speaking of Ash, Dean brought up the interface with a thought.

[Evolution in Progress]

[Familiar: Ash - Unavailable]

[Time Remaining: 12 Hours]

Dean noticed, the time dilation seemed to be worse the further down they went...

He had dismissed the wind sprite amidst their descent down the hole earlier. To allow him to save up verge, as if he needed to.

His only problem so far was the strain that was building up in his body, the time dilation was affecting his metabolism and he was actually getting hungry and physically tired.

But on the plus side. Maybe, just maybe both Rend and Ash would be available before Leona finishes her exploration and closes this blue zone.

"Have you noticed it too?" Leona asked.

"Yeah.." Dean replied believing they were on the same page.

"This is the unpredictable nature of zones higher than green," she said. "You must be very observant."

Dean nodded as he closed his eyes and from a magic circle, the wind sprite appeared again. "I’m ready..."

"Good..." Leona smiled. "Things are about to go up a notch."

Her statement wasn’t even completed when an ominous hiss announced itself even as Dean’s chest tightened.

–Outside the Flux zone–

"It’s been more than two hours," a cracked voice echoed.

One of the members of the Valkyrie guild matched towards Harlequin who simply looked at her watch that was looking slower.

It was actually about two hours, thirty minutes and counting.

"How long are we supposed to wait?" The man asked with hard lines on his forehead, visibly annoyed.

"No one asked you to..." Harlequin didn’t even look at the man. Simply adjusting her watch like it was more important

The man gritted his teeth. "Watch your mouth, your fat bitch."

Still unbothered. Harlequin finished with her watch and looked at the man with her eyes like knives. "You done?"

The man gulped. But he steeled himself. "We should be in there. Assist her. We could have cleared it already." His tone was suddenly more calmer.

Harlequin sighed deeply, these people were getting on her nerves.

"It’s a blue zone genius. And it’s in the sky."

The man looked confused to her point. "And so what?" He replied.

Shaking her head, Harlequin faked a smile. "If you go in there right now, it might collapse the structure and the entire thing falls."

She raised her body off the carriage. "If you have entered any blue zone before, you know how large they are."

Gesturing to the area with her hand, she continued. " If it collapses, thousands die, the middle district goes to shit and your damn guild closes."

The last part was by no means a statement but purely a threat.

"H-hey, what are you doing there?" The silver-haired leader of the guild called from the other side of the road.

"Get back here," she snarled.

The man turned to his heels and went back to his people.

Harlequin shook her head as he glanced up again. The purplish grid around the walls was still pulsing.

At this point, they didn’t have any other choice but to believe in Leona.

They had to trust that she could close the flux zone properly from the inside. So they didn’t have to face bigger problems.

–inside the Flux zone–

The Hissing sound grew louder and louder.

Whatever was approaching, wasn’t hiding. It was very much announcing itself.

The air became thicker as Dean locked on to the creature with Hermit’s eyes.

It was long, stretching very wide with a serpentine body. Its skin looked musky as shadows clung to it like a second skin, but in a disturbing way.

The shadows were shifting and twirling.

Leona’s hand clenched on the make-shift bone sword as her feet left the ground.

"There it is..." she said in a low tone.

Ding!

Ding!

[Threat Detected]

[Species: Void Serpent]

[Description: A serpentine creature of a thousand tricks. It’s poison can kill creatures of higher rank]

[Rank- High- Ascended]

[Threat level- High]

For the first time, Dean found himself retreating before realizing he was.

This wasn’t like the others they’ve faced so far and Leona’s tone was proof.

That must be what was driving the other creatures to be systematic. The big bad.

The shadows around the Void serpent’s head shifted as its pale white eyes glowed with a red circular glint. With its fangs dripping with something black.

"Poison," Dean muttered as the Rebound core armor formed one this body.

Leona’s fireball flared. "Stay behind me," she exclaimed.

Dean nodded, he wasn’t going to argue with that order.

The serpent lunged even as Leona blitzed forward, her bone sword slashing diagonally.

Slash!

The bone sword went right through the creature even as Leona’s eyes widened. "Fuck!"

And right behind Dean, a massive serpentine shadow was casted with a single black droplet falling towards his head.