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nA glint flashed by Kairos’ eye as he released the gale spell the moment he noticed that a gray patch began to form on Kaede’s back. With a bang, the gale spell slammed into Kaede’s back from the side, ripping off a large amount of flesh and splashing large amounts of blood into the air.

nThough it caused severe amounts of damage to her, it did save her life from the decay spell as well.

nKaede cried out in pain when that happened, before collapsing onto the ground.

nThat was when Kairos called out.

n“Nicole.”

nA few moments later, Nicole’s figure gradually appeared. There were a few light burn marks across her skin here and there, but otherwise, she was fine. That is if one didn’t consider her bloodshot eyes.

n“Kairos…”

nKairos let out a sigh.

n“What exactly were you planning on doing?”

nNicole tilted her head to the side, almost like she was about to fall over. Her eyes remained open, almost like they couldn’t be closed.

n“Killing her.”

nKairos nodded.

n“Alright, alright. That isn’t too bad, but what were you going to do after that?”

nNicole paused for a few moments. It took her a moment to respond, but she did eventually speak up.

n“Kill myself.”

nKairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.

n“Did you not remember what I told you before?”

nNicole blinked a few times. Her lips parted ever so slightly as she was lost in thought.

n“…You love me?”

nKairos’ eyelid twitched, before he let out another sigh.

n“No, that’s not what I was talking about. I said never to sacrifice yourself for me. Yet look at what you were trying to do.”

nNicole flinched. She began blinking normally afterward, and seemed to slowly come to her senses.

n“O-Oh…”

nKairos took a deep breath.

n“You see what you did wrong now?”

nNicole scratched the side of her head.

n“But… but what else are we supposed to do? W-We can’t stay here forever, right?”

nHearing this, Kairos rolled his eyes.

n“Yes, and that’s why we don’t follow the rules that were set for us. If you really think about the message, you have to also consider that none of it mentioned that you would actually be able to leave the dungeon in the first place.”

nNicole blinked several times in succession.

n“E-Eh? So what do we do?!”

nKairos smirked.

n“That means we have to make our own exit.”

nWhile this was happening, Kaede slowly stumbled up to her feet. By the time she was standing, the bleeding on her back had stopped while most of the flesh was back, though it was bright pink.

n“S-So… I don’t have to die?”

nKairos let out a soft sigh.

n“That’s why I hit you with that spell in the first place. So that you wouldn’t die.”

nKaede slowly nodded.

n“I could tell something was eating away at my body and would’ve killed me in seconds. Th-Thank you for saving me.”

nKairos waved his hand dismissively.

n“Don’t worry about it. I should be thanking you for being a friend of Nicole’s”

nHearing that, the corner of Kaede’s lip twitched.

n“…Am I a friend? She did just try to kill me.”

nNicole scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

n“Hehe… it was just… in the moment.”

nKairos chuckled.

n“If you ignore the random times that she just goes insane, then she’s a fairly normal nice girl.”

nKaede smiled bitterly.

n“I suppose so. That’s probably the best you can get nowadays anyway. I won’t… hold anything she did against her.”

nNicole smiled.

n“So, what do we do to get out of here? I’m getting a little bit hungry.”

nKairos gave a small nod. He on the other hand felt a pit in his stomach. He also really wanted to eat something. Normally he would’ve just relied on the nature cores as that would fill him up very effectively, he was a little intimidated by the abyss realm and wanted to save as many of the nature cores he could for that time.

n“Honestly, getting out of here isn’t any big deal.”

nA small frown formed on his face.

n“Though I did mess up slightly. I was planning on getting Nicole to kill another peak D rank, but I didn’t take into account the two of you would talk for that long, thus we ended up finding the exit earlier than usual.”

nHearing this, Nicole turned to Kaede.

n“Are you the peak of D rank?”

nKaede’s face twitched when she heard that. Sweat began dripping from her forehead once more. She was practically stunned after hearing that question.

nShe was indeed at the peak of D rank, but really didn’t want to admit it. After all, that would probably mean Nicole was going to kill her. Kaede was a confident person, and also one that didn’t believe she was weak. However, she understood her limits, and fighting against Nicole was far too much for her.

nIn their battle earlier, Kaede attempted to use the lightning in order to injure Nicole as she was coming after her. However, despite the lightning quite literally being lightning-quick, she wasn’t able to hit Nicole.

nKaede didn’t think it was because Nicole was particularly good at dodging or anything like that, but for some reason, her attacks just didn’t connect. This made her get a little desperate and cover her entire surroundings with lightning, just to get a little bit of damage on Nicole.

nBut still, it didn’t hit.

nKaede wasn’t naive enough to pin it on some sort of fluke. She understood that no matter what, she for some reason couldn’t hit Nicole. It was only at the brief moment she felt a finger just barely brush by her back did her lightning do anything. Yet, it was also at that moment Kaede felt assured she was going to die.

nThat was, until the gale spell that Kairos sent over saved her.

nThis left her in a rather sorry state.

nKairos looked at her and let out a sigh.

n“Look, even if you are at the peak of D rank, it’s not like the rarest thing in the world. I’m sure Nicole can spare at least you.”

nKaede let out a long breath.

n“Ah… I am at the peak of D rank.”

nNicole tilted her head to the side.

n“But why do we have to spare her?”

nKairos’ eyelid twitched. He did not remember Nicole being this… bloodthirsty.

n“She’s your friend no? You can always find someone else. For all we know, a peak D rank might just appear in front of us suddenly.”

nNicole was about to open her mouth, but then a bright blue light suddenly appeared a few meters away. As the light dimmed, it revealed Pablo. He immediately looked around, trying to figure out where he was before setting his eyes on the three in the room.

nHe raised an eyebrow.

n“Huh, you guys are already here. Do you know what we’re supposed to do?”

nKairos blinked a few times, before thinking that it was too good to be true. Regardless, he cleared his throat.

n“Say, are you at the peak of D rank?”

nPablo gave a small nod.

n“Yeah, I reached it a little while ago using the red crystals.”

nNicole suddenly bolted towards Pablo, who in turn frowned. A bright blue barrier formed around him. Without waiting, he swung his mace, moving it as fast as a whip.

nBut it passed straight through Nicole.

nShe then reached out, and her finger passed right by that blue barrier before tapping in the middle of Pablo’s chest. Pablo’s eyes widened all the way when he saw this.

n“What? How did you pass through my barri…”

nPablo’s entire body began to turn gray rapidly from that point, and that included his lungs, which stopped him from talking. His face became mortified as he realized how quickly he was dying, and how helpless he was to it.

nWhile he died in battle, he died pathetically. There was no tension. He didn’t exert himself to his very limits, nor did he even see his own death coming this way.

nSoon after the fear disappeared, his face morphed into sadness, before it too decayed into a gray substance as well.

nKaede shivered when she saw this happen.

n“…W-Wow.”

nIt felt quite terrifying to know that she almost died in the exact same way, with only a few seconds to process that death was coming.

nNicole smiled.

n“I did it! The third part of the mission is completed!”

nKairos let out a chuckle.

n“You did indeed.”

nHe observed Nicole rather intently, which made her blush slightly. But other than squirming around a little, she didn’t protest whatsoever. That was when Kairos caught onto the red watch that she was wearing. He walked over and lifted the arm that was wearing the watch.

n“How long were you wearing this for?”

nNicole blinked a few times.

n“Ever since we left the city. I have to be careful, right?”

nThe corner of Kairos’ lip twitched.

n“…Take it off for now. There are side effects after all.”

nNicole pouted.

n“But it will make me stronger.”

nKairos narrowed his eyes slightly.

n“It’s not like you can’t put it back on. Plus, it’s not like there’s any danger right now.”

nNicole stared back at him for a few moments before slowly nodding.

n“O-Ok…”

nShe slowly took the red watch off, and put it into her pocket, though the moment she let go of the watch her breathing became rapid, while she herself crumpled onto the floor in pain.

n“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

nShe grabbed onto her head tightly with both hands while spasming on the ground. Kairos sucked in a cold breath when he saw this. Seeing this reaction just from taking off the watch, he guessed that wearing it somehow restrained her mental pain, allowing her to continually use her inborn ability without any immediate side effects. Though, it would still end up hurting her after.

n“…Thankfully you took that off earlier rather than later.”

nNicole didn’t respond, she simply continued screaming and kicking. Kaede sheepishly pointed at her.

n“Is she going to be ok?”

nKairos let out a small sigh.

n“She’s tougher than she looks. Don’t worry about her. First off, we need to get out of here.”

nHe reached into his pocket and took out what looked like a tiny green marble. It was what the nature cores became after he drank from them. He still hadn’t forgotten that they could be used to create quite a big explosion.

nHe was originally planning on using this to create a river next to their city to dispose of their waste, but right now getting out of this dungeon was the priority.

nHe lifted up one of the green marbles before channeling mana into it. The green ball gradually began brightening up.

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