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.

It only took Aina a single sentence for him to throw

you remember that the Oryx are coming after us right now. So, if you don't lead well, I can guarantee that you'll be the first

used petty tricks to subdue Hallis, he might be willing to pull some tricks anyway to find a means to escape. But, cold shivers traveled up his spine every time he remembered

Aina only a moment to catch up to the freshmen who were rushing down the tunnels

she shouted a few words about following her. As for those who went down wrong tunnels and would have to backtrack, they were on 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

…

paths, he didn't seem to hesitate

came to a grinding halt and

left this here on purpose,

his head. Reaching out a palm, he sent a blaze of fire

by-product of this was

like incinerating a Fourth Dimensional entity's body to ash like this would have been impossible for him in the past without using his Scarlet Star Force. But now, it was just

flames, he might even be able to

'Hm?'

on the ground. By its placement, Leonel deduced

that a piece of refined metal survived an incineration, but Leonel had purposely put enough strength into his flame that this shouldn't have

Surprisingly, it didn't seem to be a spatial ring. At the very least, Leonel's probes didn't find a hidden space