After the fall of the Mother of Flesh, a somber and ominous silence descended over the entirety of the secret plane.
The blood beasts had died too, after all. The ones who had surrounded the Great Crimson Barrier had been slaughtered by rlin. As for the rest, scattered throughout the secret plane... they died as soon as their progenitor breathed its last.
There were other parties of young Magi scattered throughout the three layers of the secret plane, stunned at the current state of events. These participants... they were the only living beings in this place now.
Whereas the four parties that had challenged the Mother of Flesh now found themselves utterly horrified.
Despite slaying the strongest monster in the secret plane, they still felt extrely weak and insignificant in front of the man, who was most likely a monster even more dangerous than the towering abomination.
Slaying hundreds of Mana Liquefaction-level beasts—and an army of countless weaker beasts—single-handedly was an unimaginable feat for even a Mana Vortex Magus, let alone a Mana Liquefaction Magus.
Such an extraordinary and mindboggling feat perhaps overshadowed even the Dark King’s exploits when he had been a Mana Liquefaction Magus!
Seeing the bloodied figure of rlin standing amidst a sea of corpses caused the young Magi to shudder.
Furthermore, the oppressive aura of palpable killing intent radiating from him made them unable to breathe properly.
For the first ti in their lives, they felt true terror grip their hearts. And the source of this feeling was not a monster... but their own comrade.
Edward cast his terrified gaze at the coppery-red-haired youth, thinking to himself in sheer disbelief:
Is this really... what a Mana Liquefaction Magus is capable of?
Is he even human?!
The very air seed to twist around rlin as if unable to bear the weight of his boundless bloodlust.
The madman’s lips parted and he spoke in a hoarse voice, "Take care of the blood cores, will you?"
With that said, he slowly walked in their direction, causing them to involuntarily flinch simultaneously. Then, shaking his head, he silently walked past them, heading to the corpse of the Mother of Flesh.
"I’ll retrieve the blood cores out of this one," he added.
No one stopped him. No one even spoke a word to him.
They were far too scared!
And when rlin passed them by, they held their breaths. The aura of brutality and bloodthirst emanating from him made their skin tingle.
Suddenly, Eleiney gathered the courage and finally called out to him.
"Hey, rlin. Are you... alright?"
rlin stopped in his footsteps. He turned around, glancing at his party mbers with tired, bloodshot eyes. Then, his gaze shifted to his student, and he weakly raised a thumb, forcing a grin. "Always."
Then, he turned back around and dragged his body towards the towering corpse.
Everyone watched in silence as he climbed the hulking, rotten body of the Mother of Flesh and slowly made his way inside.
The party mbers were at a loss for words. They exchanged glances and then began collecting blood cores from the corpses strewn around the large clearing.
Seeing the way these blood beasts had been mutilated, they couldn’t help but nervously gulp.
Not a single one of them had an intact corpse remaining. aning, not a single one of them had died as a result of their progenitor dying.
They had all been slaughtered by rlin the Mad.
Several hours later, the party mbers had finished retrieving most of the blood cores from the corpses. The rest... well, they had been destroyed by rlin in his drunken dance.
The madman, too, had erged from within the corpse of the Mother of Flesh with a large, bulging bag hanging over his shoulder.
When Edward glanced at him, he saw a montary look of grim nervousness in the coppery-red-haired youth’s face.
It was for a fleeting mont before he resud back to his comical and carefree self. "These are the only ones I could gather," he said. "The rest have been corroded by the alchemical solutions."
Everyone silently nodded. They were either too tired or too scared to strike up a conversation right now.
Edward wanted to ask rlin if he had co across sothing inside, but in the end, he chose to keep to himself.
The party mbers rested for an hour in the Sanguine Forest. With the absence of the blood beasts, everything was peaceful, serene, and... beautiful.
They had completed the task of conquering the secret plane, and now all that awaited them was to return to the real world.
Suddenly, the magical keys in their possession started to heat up, releasing a blinding light.
The young Magi were startled at first, but soon realized what was happening. The Second Trial was finally coming to an end. They had already spent seven days inside this secret plane.
And now, without a shadow of doubt, they could confirm that they would definitely be heading into the third and final trial of the Grand Magus Tournant.
***
In the clearing of a grove sowhere in the Verdant Valley, the air suddenly trembled.
Then, twelve tears appeared mid-air and a mont later, a dozen bloodied and battered figures erged from them.
"Oh, my! Looks like you all have gone through quite the trial in there. It is good to see you all in one piece."
The pleasant voice of the kind and amiable Professor Mathilda Whitaker echoed in the young Magi’s ears.
They greeted the overseer of the tournant with a forced, tired smile. The horrors they had gone through inside the secret plane were still fresh in their minds. And the greatest horror of them all was standing amidst them.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, rlin stepped forward and excused himself. "Uh, I guess I’ll see you all later then."
He was also too exhausted at the mont and wanted nothing more than to lie down and rest.
Under the young Magi’s silent and... slightly apprehensive gazes, he limped out of the clearing, heading towards Saratoga Castle.
Professor Whitaker frowned, seeing this. Sothing must have gone terribly wrong inside for these young Magi to treat rlin with such reactions.
However, she remained silent.
When rlin walked past her, he offered her a brief glance. Then, he inconspicuously weaved a simple hand seal and cast Mind Whisper.
’I found sothing, Professor!’ he said ntally. ’The progenitor of the blood beasts had indeed been secretly corrupted. Do you... do you understand the implications of this?!’
His mind was an utter ss. This could only an one thing, and he dreaded even to think about it.
Professor Whitaker remained silent, her expression calm as the surface of a still lake. It was almost as if she had already expected this.
Receiving no reply from her, rlin asked in a somber mood as he headed deeper into the grove.
’...How many contestants have died?’
Professor Whitaker’s answer nearly made him stumble.
’None at all.’
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