Even after killing Melissa, the Fallen Star did not stop and continued its relentless path forward.
With a thunderous crash, the greatsword slammed into a three-story building, completely demolishing it in an instant.
Debris and shattered stone blasted outward in every direction, while a massive dust cloud surged high into the air. The Fallen Star disappeared beneath the ruins, buried under the mountain of rubble from the collapsed building.
Seeing Melissa exploding into a cloud of blood mist, Azrael took a deep breath, feeling relieved that everything had gone perfectly.
Collecting his thoughts, he took a step forward to move once again.
But the moment he did, his expression tightened slightly as he felt a wave of weakness, accompanied by a dull headache that assaulted him.
The weakness came from having completely exhausted his cosmic energy, while the headache was the result of pushing his mind to its limits in order to execute everything with precision.
He had not only used his Infinite Comprehension trait to calculate every variable flawlessly but had also pushed True Focus to its absolute limit to ensure nothing went wrong, something that demanded a heavy toll on both body and mind.
Taking another deep breath, he did not stop for long before continuing to walk forward.
As he passed the place where Melissa and the others had been reduced to blood mist, his eyes fell upon several storage rings lying on the ground, stained with gore.
Without hesitation, he collected them. At the same time, he pulled out a light-blue potion from his inventory and drank it down.
"There goes my ten academic credits…" Azrael sighed inwardly as the bitter liquid slid down his throat.
The moment he drank it, his cosmic energy began to recover rapidly. Combined with the sixty percent recovery boost granted by his mid-level breathing method, his reserves surged back at an astonishing pace.
The potion he just drank was no ordinary one as it had been crafted by one of the academy's high-level potion masters.
It was that master's signature concoction, unavailable outside the academy. Its effect was quite extraordinary for low level rankers as within just a single minute, it could restore three hundred points of cosmic energy.
Of course, because it was sold exclusively within the academy, a single bottle cost ten academic credits—a price that could only be described as daylight robbery for just a single bottle of potion.
Yet, when it came to low-level rankers recovering cosmic energy, no other potion could match its efficiency. For that reason, many still grudgingly bought it to keep as a lifesaving measure.
Azrael had purchased one bottle for emergencies, and it had indeed proven useful now.
While heading toward the towering, spire-like building at the center of the hideout, he extended his hand.
A flash of black light erupted, and the Fallen Star, buried beneath the rubble of the collapsed building reappeared into his grasp. After putting it away, Azrael broke into a run toward the central tower. Follow current novᴇls on novel·fıre·net
As he passed by several buildings, he sensed the faint auras of people hiding within. However, they were all low-level individuals so he ignored them.
Almost all of the high-ranking members had come with Melissa earlier, leaving no one else strong enough in the hideout to obstruct him.
As a result, in less than a minute, Azrael arrived at the tower-like building and by that time, his cosmic energy had already fully recovered.
The entrance of the building was sealed with a massive black-iron gate, tightly closed. Azrael did not attempt to force it open. Instead, he rummaged through Melissa's storage ring until he found a card.
Pressing it against the scanner at the side of the door, he triggered a sharp beep, and with a rumbling noise, the heavy gate began to rise.
Bending low, Azrael slid inside even before it had fully opened.
What greeted him behind the doors was a dimly lit corridor, lined with rows of glass tubes filled with murky green liquid.
Within the tubes floated both humans and monsters, their bodies suspended in stasis. Their life forces were weak, flickering like dying embers, as though they had been drained to the brink of death.
Azrael's brows furrowed slightly at the sight. A chilling light flashed in his eyes as memories he would rather forget resurfaced unbidden.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he forced the memories back down and pressed onward, walking deeper into the corridor while remaining vigilant.
In less than a minute, he reached the end of the passage and halted before another massive iron door.
The moment he stopped before the door, his heart began to pound violently for reasons he could not explain.
The sense of urgency brought about by his trait still lingered, but he could feel that this accelerated heartbeat was not from that, but something else was affecting him.
'Just what the hell is going on?' Azrael couldn't help but curse inwardly.
Since the moment he had entered the Rolivia Forest, strange occurrences had been happening to him, and for someone like him, who always sought to keep everything under control, these unknowns were nothing but a constant irritation.
Rattle! Rattle! — — —
Suddenly, the sound of rattling chains echoed within his mind as if something inside him was trying to break free.
Azrael's expression grew even gloomier when he heard the sound of chains rattling. At the same time, he recalled hearing this same sound once before—about a year ago. (Chap—22)
Recognizing yet another unexpected anomaly, he closed his eyes for a brief moment, then reopened them, his expression returning to its usual cold indifference.
'There's no point in dwelling on it. Whatever is causing this sense of urgency, my accelerated heartbeat, and even the sound of chains inside my head… it's behind this door.'
He scanned the surroundings but found no scanner or device to open it.
Without the slightest change in expression, Azrael summoned the Fallen Star once more and raised it high.
Sharp winds gathered, swirling fiercely around the blade as he slashed down.
He activated the world ability of the sword, causing its weight to increase fourfold. At the same time, the moment the blade made contact with the door, the Sword Domination ability came into effect, amplifying the attack's power by 60%.
A deafening boom resounded as black debris exploded outward, and the massive door was obliterated in an instant.
Without pause, Azrael stepped forward and entered the chamber beyond.