"Fourth strike!"
Asta focused his energy. Every swing consumed a massive amount of Chakra and physical strength, but isn't youth about constantly surpassing one's limits? More importantly, even if he ran out of strength, he still had Luck and Noelle by his side, whereas Lotus of the Abyss was all alone. This was why he dared to fight a war of attrition!
"He can still swing?"
Lotus of the Abyss's eyelids twitched wildly. If this continued, his mana could only withstand three more swings of this magnitude!
"Fifth strike!"
At this moment, the Falling King's Smoke Prison was shrinking at a visible rate. At its peak, it had a diameter of thirty meters, but now it was less than fifteen!
"I can't keep this up. I didn't expect the Clover Kingdom to have such a freakish boy. This old man really can't take it anymore—might as well slip away first!"
Lotus of the Abyss retreated immediately. His grimoire flipped open to Smoke Creation Magic: Running Lazy Car, and a locomotive-like travel magic formed instantly. Meanwhile, the Smoke Creation Magic: Falling King's Smoke Prison began to gradually dissipate.
"Finally reached your limit!"
Asta was also drenched in sweat. It had to be said that delivering such full-power strikes every time was extremely taxing. Without a moment's delay, Asta pulled out a healing potion and gulped it down. His stamina indeed recovered somewhat!
"Great job, Asta!"
Luck praised him and instinctively prepared to rush toward Lotus of the Abyss, only to find in shock that the opponent was fleeing. Not only was he escaping alone, but he also used smoke to carry away the Diamond Kingdom Mages Luck had previously defeated!
And he fled so quickly that even Luck couldn't catch up!
"This... he just ran away without any dignity?"
Noelle was a bit shocked. This was someone from the same generation as the Captains, yet he ran away without a second thought!
"Haha, while I still have some strength left, running away is better than fighting to the death!"
Lotus of the Abyss was quite happy. Escaping death was a joyful thing in itself, not to mention he had bought so much time for Mars. He believed that even if other Clover Kingdom Mages reached the Treasure Chamber, they wouldn't be as freakish as these two boys!
Truth be told, he was now a bit curious—would the strongest war machine created by the Diamond Kingdom be more powerful, or would it be Asta, who had no mana and relied on physical techniques and his greatsword!
"He's likely headed to the Treasure Chamber. Let's follow him, or the Golden Dawn will beat us to it,"
Asta said as he put away the demon-slayer sword.
"True. Although I really wanted to give him the final blow, now isn't the time. We need to hurry to the Treasure Chamber to complete the mission!"
Luck said with a smile.
"You have the nerve to say that!"
Noelle complained. If Luck hadn't acted on his own, they would have reached the Treasure Chamber long ago and wouldn't have been mocked by the Golden Dawn.
"Alright, alright, I'll start sensing the location of the Treasure Chamber now..."
Luck closed his eyes, and his sensory mana quickly expanded outward. But after just a moment, he snapped his eyes open. "What's going on?! How is this mana so powerful?"
"What are you talking about?"
Noelle asked, utterly puzzled.
"It turns out the strongest one is someone else..."
Luck said, trembling.
"Is that the powerful companion the old man mentioned?"
Asta adjusted his breathing and then followed closely behind Luck toward the depths of the Magic Palace. This time, with Luck's sensory magic leading the way, the path was clear!
While Asta and the others were rushing toward the Treasure Chamber, Yuno's group of three had already arrived.
"It's truly magnificent..."
Mimosa Vermillion looked at the golden gate before her and couldn't help but admire the wisdom of the ancients.
"Hmph, the Magic Palace is nothing more than this."
Klaus acted superior as usual, while Yuno remained silent as always, showing little emotion even upon seeing these ancient ruins.
"It seems those from the Black Bulls haven't arrived yet."
Mimosa Vermillion said, looking at the empty surroundings.
"Isn't that expected? How could the bottom-rankers be faster than us elites!"
Klaus said as if it were a matter of course. But at that moment, a long diamond bridge silently surged from the distance toward the Treasure Chamber's gate, and Mimosa Vermillion happened to be within its path!
"Pfft!"
Mimosa Vermillion was instantly sent flying by the diamond bridge. Klaus and Yuno turned around in shock; they hadn't even noticed when such a long diamond bridge had appeared behind them!
On the diamond bridge stood a Pink-eyed youth who seemed to be strolling casually on his tiptoes. He looked coldly at Yuno's group. The fact that the diamond bridge had knocked Mimosa Vermillion away seemed to have no effect on him at all!
"You're a Mage from the Diamond Kingdom! Are all Diamond Kingdom Mages such despicable cowards, attacking a girl from behind?"
Klaus looked angrily at the Pink-eyed youth on the bridge, identifying his status from the ornaments on his clothing.
"I don't know what you're talking about. All of you are just pebbles on the side of the road."
The Pink-eyed youth spoke with eyes devoid of emotion. After speaking, as if he really treated Klaus and the others as pebbles, he casually raised a massive wave of diamond crystals that lunged toward them.
0 0...
"Unforgivable!"
Klaus gritted his teeth and immediately cast his Spiral Lance. However, even with his full effort, he only managed to fight the Pink-eyed youth to a draw!
"How is this possible? This guy hasn't even opened his grimoire, yet he cast such powerful magic?"
Klaus was startled. Though he didn't want to admit it, he was indeed a step below the Pink-eyed youth. With Mimosa Vermillion now incapacitated, the Golden Dawn's situation was dire. His strong sense of duty told him he had to sacrifice a pawn to save the king!
"Yuno, while I'm fighting him, hurry and enter the Treasure Chamber!"
Klaus turned his head and said urgently.
"But he's very strong. Without support, even you, Senior, will find it hard to win!"
Yuno said worriedly.
"Don't worry about that, I'm telling you to go now! For the safety of the kingdom, the mission takes priority over everything. Only you can complete this task now!"
Klaus said righteously. Given the current situation, his defeat was only a matter of time. But as long as he could hold out until Yuno entered the Treasure Chamber and secured the powerful magic items and ancient magic, they would fundamentally have completed the mission!
For this, he was willing to sacrifice his own life to buy enough time for Yuno!
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