Chapter 261: Satisfying Entry

As we dropped into the pit at the hollow of the Canyon, everything grew still. Just a moment before the fall there had been violent clashing of metal, and I could register them coming from three different places, but after the thunderous announcement of our arrival, everything went silent. A fog of dust swallowed us whole.

Then a ring of fire bloomed around us, rose through the air and drifted toward the upper reaches of the pit’s atmosphere where it stayed, emanating a radiance so blinding that the darkness around the place gained legs for a moment and skittered to the far corners that the light could not reach.

But the radiance of Maggie’s ring of flame pursued them even there, slamming against the corners of the walls with relentless intensity.

The darkness changed form. It twisted into creatures that latched themselves onto the surface of the wall, their bodies rippling as they solidified against the stone. They looked like they were watching.

’Ominous…’

These things, I didn’t even know if I should be glad that all they were doing was clinging to the Canyon wall and forming a deep darkness along it. Or if I should probably prepare to fight them.

’I think I just jinxed it. Yup, definitely need to prepare now.’

The light cast itself over the vastness of the pit. And now that I was looking at the full expanse of it, I was seeing how truly massive it was, and I was seeing every person standing against each other with cautious expressions on their faces, half their attention on their opponent and the other half on the new entrance.

Which, of course, was the hot, yours truly.

’Damn, talk about an entrance.’

Far in the distance, there was another sound. It was faint enough that I hadn’t noticed it until everywhere else fell deathly silent. It was not a clash of metal, but a clash nonetheless, one that sounded brutal, breaking stones and shattering the ground with thunderous impacts. That was where my eyes drifted first.

There was someone there battling a creature twice his size. A ram that was twelve feet tall without a doubt, and it moved with such destructive force that every slam of its demonic horns against the rock surface of the wall shattered it outright and sent debris flying across the pit floor.

’Holy shit.’

The fog was clearing now and the people surrounding me could easily see us.

A dark-skinned lady with blonde hair narrowed her crimson eyes and shouted.

“How did you get past Berlin?” Her eyes were full of disappointment. “My radiance, all Berlin had to do was take care of one powerless bookworm and stop anyone from entering while we deal with this.”

Another one to my north laughed.

“Berlin? He probably went to jerk off somewhere and that’s how these two passed him. Didn’t you know that man isn’t dependable at all?”

He turned to his opponent. “They’re out of breath and out of essence. It’s only a matter of time before we win this battle, and Kohen will surely defeat the guardian. Then our mission here will be done.”

I turned fully to regard the person that was speaking. He was looking at his opponent with a menacing smile, like he was going to enjoy breaking them.

Then my eyes drifted to the opponents themselves.

They widened.

It was none other than Cressida. She was standing… barely. Her legs were supporting her body at an awkward angle and blood continued to drip down between them. One of her arms was still holding a dagger, and her face was so covered in blood that I couldn’t even see the expression underneath it.

She was silent, locked in that position. Her breathing ragged.

To my west was where the other pair had been fighting. They had also paused. A lady with golden hair stood behind what looked like a millipede, except it seemed carved from plates of gold. And Odelia, or Ophelia, was standing against that. I couldn’t tell which one it was because both of them right now looked too battered to be recognized, and they were too similar to begin with.

The other enemy beyond them was a hairy young man with grey fur extending from his scalp down the back of his neck. He had fierce eyes and looked perpetually infuriated. Behind him was a gigantic grey wolf that had paused its assault on its opponents.

All of this, I took in, in no more than a second.

And slowly, a cold feeling that I couldn’t quite recognize settled into the pit of my stomach. Something was crawling up through my chest and replacing whatever warmth had been there a moment ago with nothing at all.

“Maggie…” My voice was cold and empty.

Instead of responding, Maggie moved behind me. With a fluid motion, she pulled out her chain and spun it in the air.

The one facing Cressida was a short guy with black hair. He looked like the type to easily pass for a genius. He grinned like a broken doll, too, and he talked a lot.

“Eh? Arrogant of you. Do you think you can take us? Us, the elites of the Manhattan Trade Center, do you ev—”

Before he could finish, Maggie had already moved. He didn’t even know she had moved. His eyes widened as he found himself finishing the rest of his statement with half of his head rolling into the air, his tongue and jaw still remaining on his neck while his tongue danced like it really wanted to finish that speech.

Maggie’s chain had swiveled across the expanse of the pit in the same motion, making a full circle before wrapping around the flying head and slamming it toward the lady with the millipede summon.

The head flew and cracked against her face. She was thrown backward by the impact and went tumbling before landing on her backside with the severed face wedged between her thighs. She stared down at it and reacted in shameless horror.

“Ahh!! Ahhh!! Malon!!”

I looked at her with a satisfied grin and folded my hands.

“You should thank me, I didn’t present your friend Berlin’s head in such a manner. Goodness, why do people have to be so sharp-tongued? Of all places to be sharp, why the tongue.”

I gestured irritably at the still-twitching thing.

“Look at that now. It’s not even like his sharp tongue could resist getting cut.”

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