Chapter 177 Race For The Light Core!

"Spade... you bastard."

Lyrian said, implying what everyone already knew. Spade didn't attack, which was almost a betrayal to everyone there.

Spade only smirked, quickly replying, "Focus on the battle in front of us."

If he thought that the Pheon was going to live even after the onslaught, he wouldn't have stayed back. Instead, Spade was fully prepared to use the extent of his strength to take it down, as the golden core was more important than anything.

However, purposefully being the last one to attack, he took a moment to see the impact of the other examinees' attacks. Seeing them do so much damage, Spade knew that there was no need for him to join in.

Them lowering their own strength by using so much energy, and also nearly dying to the beast, was all nothing but a plus for him.

Still, the job wasn't finished just yet.

Even though the bird was heavily injured, it was still alive. However, its mobility was close to none now. Without its wings, it crashed into the ground before letting out an ear-piercing screech again.

Last time, when fighting the Kailon, this was the same situation that had taken place. The foe was removed from its ability to fly, practically immobilizing it.

However, last time, it was also pinned to the ground. This time, The Pheon was still able to move. With squawking some more, it got up onto its legs and began rampaging through the tower top, jumping towards the examinees.

Lyrian was pissed off with Spade, but he knew he still needed to move on. As he ran towards the bird, he saw Silvus fly over him.

"You can't fly away so easily now!"

He said, his expression ecstatic. 

Waving his wind frivolously in the air, he shouted, "Aeras Coffin!"

'The same move he used on me in the preliminaries? How wonder how strong it's gotten, if at all.'

At that moment, a large tornado began swirling around the bird, distracting it as it looked for an escape. before long, several darts of quick, condensed wind began shooting towards it.

Since it was so large, all of the wind darts landed, scraping and scratching at its skin, and some even penetrated through, leaving decent gashes.

By this point, it was already bloodied and severely injured. It was only a matter of time until it finally fell. With one large stomp and a gathering of energy, the bird let out a freakish roar of light energy, bursting through the wind tornado with immense force. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the n0vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

From what Lyrian could tell, the spell had gotten a good bit stronger, but it wasn't considerable. From what he remembered, Silvus hadn't gotten too much stronger, but rather, had learned to control his strength more. 

Knowing that the Pheon's fate was already sealed, Lyrian imagined what he would do after its death. And after, of course, retrieving the core, which was the most important thing.

He knew he had to fight Spade afterward, but how? He barely had any mana left and was weakened ever since the beginning of the entire fight, before he even reached floor 100.

He pondered this for a moment but quickly immersed himself in the moment as he neared the weakened Pheon, struggling to stay alive. Right now, the main priority is still the golden-tiered core.

He dashed towards it, ready to retrieve the core.

"Woah woah! Already going for it huh? How about kill it first, no?"

Spade joked, also beginning to run. He hadn't expected Lyrian to try to kill the beast and steal the core at the same time.

Cedric quickly followed behind Spade, as Leon sat down, sheathing his sword. His rib that was slightly stabbing into his lung was irritating him too much at this point, seemingly forcing him to stay out of battle.

Alten too, exhausted and depressed, leaned back.

Seeing Lyrian and Spade race toward the dying Pheon, they too, began making their way towards the beast. One in the air, and one on ice.

Nearing a few from the bird, who now didn't have a chance at dodging any attacks, he didn't use any mana and slashed through it, using only the sharp edge on his obsidian blade made by Brokkr the blacksmith.

A wide and deep was left seeping into the bird's chest, as it let out a painful cry.

"Ice Skewer!"

Glis yelled, pointing her wand at the bird as a giant, pointy spike pierced through the belly of the beast. In only a few seconds, it had endured enough damage to fall face-front.

Spade came in at the last moment, slicing the skinny neck of the bird clean off, killing it instantly. Described as skinny, yet still quite large compared to the average beast.

At that moment, time seemed to freeze for a few seconds as everyone exchanged glances at each other, and then lunged towards the body of the bird like it was some sort of prey, and they were predators that were starving. 

Glis and Silvus were the closest, with Silvus only being a few feet above the bird. He eagerly jumped down, only moments from landing on top of the bird's body, as Glis realized this and hurled a rod of ice towards him with her magic.

The rod pushed into his chest, throwing him back a few feet from the Pheon's dead body. He was enraged at this, looking back at Glis who flew and made her way towards the bird.

"Bitch! Of course, it was you again!"

He exclaimed, launching a gust of wind her way, which pushed her a bit farther back as well. Glis 'tsked', irritated by the boy. To stop each other from retrieving the core, they got into a skirmish to the side of the Pheon's body, unleashing an endless barrage of spells toward each other in hopes of stopping the other.

While this happened, Lyrian swiftly ran up to the Pheon's body.

'Just like last time, my opponents are being distracted with each other. This is perfect.'

He thought to himself, as he suddenly felt a burst of malicious energy channeled toward him. Lyrian instinctly, ducked his head, avoiding a sweep of Spade's sword, which could have easily eliminated him.