Cela Bonanier may have been an insane yandere, but she wasn't stupid. It didn't take Albert Einstein to realize that Princess Maya was stronger than she was.
However, that didn't mean she'd give up so easily!
All da thieving b*tches had to die!!
Her living in the same world as them with her Darling was impossible! One had to budge!!
As malicious ideas spun around inside Cela's head, Knox had just passed the one third-waypoint into the rainbow-colored barrier. His nonchalant facade had long since cracked, what with the gravity pressure being more than a hundred million times greater than normal.
But even as a super irritating migraine assaulted his cerebral cortex, Knox didn't pause his advance even once.
Upon reaching the halfway mark, the gravity pressure hit a higher milestone. This occurrence forced Knox's soles into the ground, his knees buckling.
Yet he kept moving…
After a couple of minutes fighting the urge to go unconscious, Knox successfully passed the three-fourths mark. By this point, an enormous headache wasn't the only thing ailing him. Blood was leaking from his ears and nose, and blood vessels had ruptured within his eyes.
Cela had all but forgotten about her grudge with Maya; all she was worried about now was the state of her darling. Tears bubbled in the corners of her eyes as she clutched her chest.
"Darling…"
Yennefer, meanwhile, was unknowingly quite affected by Knox's sorrowful state as well. She, however, did not show her turbulent emotions in the same manner as the yandere.
"How many feet left…?" Knox inquired through bloodied teeth, the rumbling outside growing increasingly intense. "One… two… three… yeah, I'm not counting all that…"
With a wry smile, he discarded any distracting thoughts and persisted in his advance. He took each step one at a time, each one at least twice as difficult as the one that came before.
— Some time later —
"Why… why is he still going…?" Luna questioned with a horrified expression. "He's dying… He's going to die," Solaris mumbled, holding a hand over her mouth.
Cela and Yennefer's complexions were anything but good right now. They were feeling a mixture of anger, worry, sadness, and helplessness. And not knowing how to properly process these emotions, they vented through their scarily growing murderous auras.
Nala observed this phenomenon with an unreadable look on her face.
She failed to comprehend how they could be so affected by the life or death of someone like Knox Falazar…
He harbored a Monster Girl for God's Sake!
*Splurt, Splurg!*
'Well, there went the last of my style points,' Knox thought self-deprecatingly as he felt another wave of pain wash over what remained of his severely disfigured body. 'Was that an organ that just exploded and leaked out of what used to be my stomach…?'
'Well, whatever,' he continued dismissively as his body continued to deteriorate. 'I don't have much more to go, so I should just hurry and get it over with.'
Just then, something totally unexpected occurred:
BLING!
[You have taken extreme gravity damage and subsequently endured enough to unlock a once-locked Attribute!]
[Defense Attribute activated!]
[Taken extreme gravity damage!] x7
[A small-sized pile of Defense Attribute Orbs has dropped!]
[Defense +103,000,000]
[Defense +130,000,000]
[Defense +165,000,000]
[Defense +142,540,000]
x3 more…
'Huh?' Knox raised his messed-up eyebrows in surprise. 'I feel like I should've had this Attribute unlocked since the very beginning, but whatever. Now that I do have it, though, I can already feel the damage I'm taking lessening considerably.'
He raised his hideous face off the ground. His original slug-like crawl gradually returned to a normal walking posture. Furthermore, as his rapidly improving Defense Attribute lessened the impact of the gravity damage, his body received enough of a reprieve to heal.
[Defense Increased by 200 Million!]
[Defense Increased by 180 Million!]
[Defense Increased by 220 Million!]
[Defense Increased by 70 Million!]
x??? more…
Knox's Defense Attribute improved by leaps and bounds in a matter of seconds. And under the gawking expressions of the observers, he completely regenerated—bringing about another change in his System Interface.
Or rather, two changes:
[You have received and recovered from enough injuries to unlock a Secret Attribute!]
[Self-Healing Factor (SHF) Attribute has been unlocked!]
[Recovered from Extreme Gravity Damage!] x23
[A small-sized pile of Attribute Orbs has dropped!]
[SHF +32,000,000]
[SHF +36,100,000]
[SHF +27,000,000]
[SHF +49,950,000]
x19 more…
In addition to this Attribute, the second change to the System Interface bombarded Knox with another series of System Notifications:
[Your Mentality has taken hit after hit since you awakened the Attribute Farming System, leading to a breakthrough in the unseen parts of your mind and psyche.]
[As a result, your Mind and Intelligence Attributes have been combined and improved!]
[Will Attribute has also been unlocked!]
[Mind + Intelligence + Will =] → [Spirituality Attribute has been created!]
[Due to the refining and hardening of your mentality, Spirituality Attribute Orbs have dropped!]
[Taken Extreme Mentality Damage!] x89
[A medium-sized pile of Attribute Orbs has dropped!]
[Spirituality +9,600,000]
[Spirituality +17,840,000]
[Spirituality +112,150,000]
[Spirituality +180,000,000]
x85 more…
Knox underwent one drastic transformation after another, causing his aura to wildly fluctuate.
The Six-Winged Seraphim—who had been fighting a silent battle outside—suddenly turned toward the Moleseum. His emotions surged as he found himself inexplicably drawn to the one-of-a-kind aura.
"This…"
But for some odd reason, the Six-Winged Seraphim was anything but happy. He knew without a doubt that if he could sense the uniqueness of Knox's aura…
Then so too could IT.
RUMBLE!!!
Feeling like the earth below them would be turned upside down, the Trial Takers darted their eyes around in every direction. An unbelievably powerful presence had appeared everywhere at once, giving them the illusion of multiple invaders.
Then, out of the blue, a giant congregation of storm clouds formed. They gathered together, molding into the shape of a fierce elderly man's face.
"What you're doing is futile."
The ancient, terrifying voice of the face carried throughout all of Pandora, accompanied by the thundering of lightning.