Dimensional Descent

Aina turned away from the corpse, not making any attempts to hide it. Rather, she walked away and shook Hallis awake.

Even though she didn't care much about killing, she knew that even in its current state, Valiant Heart Mountain had rules against murdering fellow students. Since she still needed Hallis and couldn't kill him as well, it was better if he didn't see anything, lest it be used against Leonel in the future.

Aina was well aware that she was Leonel's only weakness in this place. If she thought about it, maybe the way Leonel had handled things up until now would have been completely different had she not been there and maybe they wouldn't have been pushed into a corner.

If Leonel heard Aina's thoughts, he would probably laugh. He had terrible luck with organizations. In his opinion, this would happen regardless of whether she was here or not. After all, she hadn't even been with him during his adventures with the Slayer Legion or Camelot.

Thankfully Camelot was now a good ally of Leonel's, but the Slayer Legion remained in a gray zone while even Leonel didn't know whether he would be friends or enemies with Valiant Heart in the future.

Sometimes, Leonel felt that his falling out with organizations was inevitable. When someone as talented as him joined an organization seemingly from nowhere, without the same foundations as the geniuses that they home-grew, maybe his existence itself became contentious.

"… Hm? … Ah, ah!"

Hallis was shocked awake, feeling his throat being clamped down upon. He tried to gasp, but only managed to suck in half the air he would normally. The sudden change made him feel as though he was suffocating.

He looked down in horror, only to find that it was a petite young woman a half head shorter than him who held him up like this. The fact that she was a freshmen only made the feelings of humiliation all the worse.

to swallow his pride. It only took Aina a single sentence

us right now. So, if you don't lead well, I can guarantee that you'll

to pull some tricks anyway to find a means to escape. But, cold shivers traveled up his spine every

Aina only a moment to catch up to the freshmen

their own. If they were quick enough, they might still stand a chance. If not, it had nothing to do with Aina. She wasn't 100% certain on Leonel's plan. But, what she did know was that as long as half of them survived, it would be fine. She wouldn't go out of her way for such

…

dashed down the tunnels. Despite seeing all the diverging paths, he didn't seem to

that moment, though, he came to a

here on purpose, didn't

he sent a blaze of fire downward, incinerating Senior Lu's corpse to

Leonel's Elements fused with his body. A happy by-product of this

impossible for him in the past without using his Scarlet Star

enough and his body became a better vessel for flames, he might even be able to make use of his Innate Force Node far ahead of

'Hm?'

suddenly found a ring lying on the ground. By its placement, Leonel deduced that it had likely been hanging around Senior Lu's

surprising that a piece of refined metal survived an incineration, but Leonel had purposely put enough strength into his flame that this

rolling it between his fingers. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to be a spatial ring.