Chapter 219: All In!

Cael…!

H-Huh?

Cael…!

Who the hell keeps yelling my name…?

“WAKE UP, CAEL!”

Everything slammed back into me at once—the rain, the bite of the cold air, the grime stuck to my skin. My vision cleared just in time to see Julius pinned to the ground.

His body was flickering in and out, like his very existence was trying, and failing, to hang on.

“S-Stop standing there!”

Julius shoved his sword into the invisible mass above him. I heard the blade hit something, but from the way it barely budged, I could tell he was losing.

He was being erased. Slowly. So he wasn’t immune after all. Just resistant.

Right.

Move. Now.

“Sorry,” I muttered under my breath. “Just spaced out for a bit.”

I sucked in a deep breath, let the magic rush to my head, and forced my perception of time down to its slowest possible second. Being adept at level two really was a blessing.

And thanks to Nyx’s interference—and the mental breather with Evelina eye candy—I was as rested as I was going to get. I could finally pull off the hint she’d given me.

I’d already watched those black flames hit the False Hydra again and again without doing a damn thing.

So I knew what I had to do.

Looking back, the answer was stupidly simple.

Gods, I’m an idiot.

[Search]

I pushed out a shockwave from where I stood, wind rippling outward in slow motion while my personal time stayed dragged down.

I couldn’t save Julius by just smashing my way through. I needed precision if I wanted him alive.

…Well. That wasn’t entirely true.

[Abyssal Serpent]

[Abyssal Chains]

A massive serpent erupted from the ground beneath me, towering over the nearby buildings as it let out a shrill, echoing hiss. Against this thing, though, that alone wouldn’t cut it. It never did.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

Chains burst out next, coiling around the serpent at the same slow, stretched-out pace as the shockwave.

Half the setup was done. Time for the final act.

I snagged a loose chain with my bare hand and gripped it as hard as I could. I bent my knees, letting magic flood into my legs from every attunement I had.

Magical recoil could go screw itself.

Evelina could patch me up later. Right now, I just had to let it rip.

FWOOSH!

The ground beneath me exploded as I launched forward, still clinging to the chains as I surged toward the spot where the rain… bent strangely.

If I had to guess, not even two real-time seconds had passed yet. The recoil when I stopped was going to be absolute hell.

But if it kept my perception razor sharp, I’d take it.

BOOM!

I shifted right on instinct as an invisible tendril smashed into the ground beside me.

Or, if Nyx was right, its head. Didn’t really matter right now.

I twisted my body and planted my foot on whatever it had used to attack me—tendril, neck, head, I didn’t care. It was risky, but it was also the fastest way to pull off my plan.

BOOM!

BOOM!

FWOOSH!

It lashed out at me again from every direction, but now that I was standing on its own body, it had to be careful not to crush itself.

That little bit of hesitation was all I needed to be reckless.

I sprinted along its long neck— or whatever hydras technically had—looping the chains around it as I went.

The plan was simple: wrap its neck as much as I could, then signal the serpent to pull with everything it had, yanking the False Hydra into my [Search] radius as fast as possible.

Doing this in normal time would’ve gotten Julius killed. And for now, letting him die wasn’t an option. Aside from Kevin, he was my second trump card for when everything inevitably went to hell.

[Endless Fang]

I summoned my sword the moment I felt I’d wrapped enough.

SLASH!

I drove the blade into its flesh to anchor myself before sending the signal. This was going to get rough. Very rough.

FWOOSH!

I poured out a burst of magic—my signal. The serpent reacted instantly, its massive body heaving in the opposite direction as hard and fast as it could.

“Fuck…!”

The False Hydra thrashed, and for a second, my grip slipped. I felt myself start to lose it—but that only made me hold on harder.

If it was struggling, that meant the plan was working.

Now all I had to do was—

ZIP!

Time snapped back to normal. Everything crashed into me all at once—the serpent’s pull, the shockwave’s advance, my own momentum, and the sheer mental strain of it all.

“Agh…!”

My foot slipped along one of its slick limbs, and I almost went flying, but I managed to snag myself by calling out another [Endless Fang] and driving it in like an ice pick.

Just hold on. Just a little longer…

And then—

The False Hydra’s whole body tore away from Julius.

FWOOSH!

And as if that wasn’t enough—

My shockwave finally crashed into it.

“Time for the real finale!”

[Capture]

[Searching Across Searched Area…]

[Captured Spirit]

[-Error-]

[Foreign Entity Interfering with Capture]

Panels started popping up one after another, way too fast, mirroring the panic clawing at my skull as the system tried to rush through the capture process.

And, just like I’d expected.

That error.

But this time, I was ready for it.

“Change target to foreign entity!”

[Switching]

[High-Level Detected]

[Capturing Spirit… 9%]

Shit.

I needed more time!?

FWOOSH!

Before I could even think, the hydra snapped its head like a whip. My sword tore free, and I was sent flying through the air at goddamn sonic speed.

“Shit… was I too reckless!?”

The words scraped out of my throat as my whole body burned, skin screaming from the raw friction of moving that fast without a shred of protection.

But—

[Light Transfer]

“I got you!”

Julius blinked into existence in front of me, grabbing me by the collar, his expression every bit as desperate as I felt.

“You’ve got a plan, right? Then don’t you dare give up yet!”

He gritted his teeth, twisted his body, and hurled me back down toward the hydra with everything he had left.

Not without slipping me a parting gift, though.

[Major Healing]

“Get him, you bastard!” he roared, his voice fading as I dropped away.

Don’t have to tell me twice!

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