Lenny knew for certain that if he cheated, he was going to join the blood stew of marsh meat under his feet, but he really did not know what to do.
In his head, he had rampaged through the things that the system could offer him, and he still did not find anything he could exchange.
For the first time, the pile of corpses he had arranged in the storage unit seemed useless.
Meanwhile, Victor and the others were not aware of Lenny's current predicament.
After all, they had seen him use his white flames while he fought the giant octopus.
The white flames had even been his finishing move against the terrifying beast.
They were not aware that he was currently unable to summon it as he was serving out his punishment.
Victor had stepped forward, but Lenny did not.
Victor turned to him in surprise.
"Come on! Don't worry you can do it. All you need to do is apply your magic to it." Moses encouraged.
Lenny sighed a bit to himself, but he still advanced forward.
One step at a time, he walked forward.
Lenny was not one to fear death, but he really preferred a battle he could control.
Or at least, he preferred a battle that he could punch and kick his way out of.
However, this battle was not one he preferred.
This was a reminder of how little he was before incredible power.
This was yet another reason why he needed to become stronger.
Having his fate dictated for him by other people was true torture.
Then again, he was not a coward. Since it had come to this, he did not mind going out with a bang.
He turned around and took a look at those behind him.
If he was going to burst apart, they hoped that they all felt disgust at his blood.
He couldn't help but chuckle lowly at the thought.
Lenny reached the crystal. However, just before he would touch it, he noticed Zod, the elder, take a few steps back.
It was as if he was expecting Lenny to fail and did not want to be stained by the splash of blood and guts.
Victor turned to Lenny, and then both of them nodded, making a resolution in their hearts that if it was going to come to this, then there was no problem going with a sudden bang.
Nevertheless, Lenny smiled, and then he did it. Brazenly, he placed his hand on the crystal.
Before everyone's eyes, nothing happened.
There was no spark, no glow—absolutely nothing.
This meant that the two of them were going to die.
Victor took a deep breath at this thought, and even Vine stood up from her seat in panic, No!"
Gar had forcibly taken over the body in her worry.
Meanwhile, Agnes smiled at this. Seeing as how Lady Vinegar had jumped in to help Lenny the other time, Agnes concluded that Lenny might be a toy that Lady Vinegar, her rival, adorned.
Getting rid of him would devastate Lady Vinegar, and that brought instant joy to her heart.
Even Curtin busted into a happy laugh.
Finally, this thorn that had been on his side for many years was going to die.
Riff, on the other hand, had no expression whatsoever.
After all, Lenny had never been in his sight.
But Morgana was different, reacting a bit by squeezing the hand of the eight-year-old, which made the little girl look at her in surprise.
The guards stepped back, expecting the blood-blasting explosion that had always happened to occur again.
Surprisingly, Lenny had not yet lifted his hand.
His hand just stayed on the crystal, not moving.
Zod noticed this. Naturally, if Lenny did not lift his hand, then it meant that his turn was not yet over.
"Hey! Your turn is over." Zod complained.
But Lenny remained where he was. His hand was still on the crystal.
"Hey! Did you hear me!?" Zod called again, but Lenny did not move.
Instead, his hand just remained on it.
Zod signaled to the guards, giving them permission to attack Lenny.
All they had to do was make Lenny lift his hand from the crystal, and it was over.
However, at this point, Lenny seemed to be in his own world, as he suddenly closed his eyes.
What none of them knew was that the moment Lenny touched the magic crystal, something stirred within him.
It was something that he had even forgotten about.
After all, at the time, it seemed very useless.
It was a rune.
This was the reward he had gotten from the system after he had performed the second task of looting that had been assigned by the Fates.
Back then, he had no use for it whatsoever.
But now, things were different.
The moment his fingers touched the crystal, he felt the rune get excited inside his soul.
Now that he thought about it, it suddenly made sense.
After all, he had fought Magis and witches, and they all used runes.
He had also seen the armor that the guards of this pack wore, which was adorned with different kinds of runes.
This fundamentally meant that runes were a type of magic.
He had not thought of it before, but right now, at the point where he was certainly going to die, it made sense to him.
And if runes were a kind of magic that operated independently on their own, then it meant that even with his magic points grayed out, he still had magic.
From the depths of his soul, where the rune had laid quietly all this time, the rune suddenly glowed in an assortment of different colors.
Those colors rushed forth from his soul like a broken pipe, flooding his limbs and out through his finger tips.
It was at the same time that the guards were about to touch him.
*Boom!*
A sudden wave of magic blasted from his body, hitting them back.
This magic, white as snow, danced in the air a bit, and then it rushed into the crystal as if on command...