Susan and Kaneki ran to the boss zone while carrying Nathan and Lark.
When Nathan was about to be pulled into the Wormhole, Lark rescued him at the last moment. Normally, Lark shouldn't have been able to cover the distance in such a short amount of time.
However, Nathan's desperate struggles during the final clash brought enough time to save him.
Lark was breathing slowly and his skin shriveled like a dried branch. His cheeks had sunk into his skull and he was spasming every few minutes.
Nathan was no better, with half of his nerves fried and flesh mangled to the extreme. His appearance was hideous and disgusting to even look at. The only reason he was alive was thanks to Lark.
Nevertheless, Susan didn't direct her eyes away from him. Unknown emotions brewed behind her gaze and she bit her lips until blood flowed out of them.
Kaneki was no better himself. His hair had half reverted to black color. It was taking his all to stop his ego from swapping and letting Ken take over. Without his superior regeneration and stamina, Ken would die from extreme exhaustion the moment he regained control.
As the group was rushing to everyone, the two Outsiders were busy talking to each other.
-That was one shit plan. How were you planning to come out alive if I wasn't there?
'If you weren't there, we wouldn't have come back to fight the Abomination. Rather, we would've been long dead already.'
-That doesn't answer me. Why save me?
Nathan's lips curled into a smile. At least he tried to do so, only to fail miserably with half of his face not responding at all.
'You can fight the Abomination on an equal footing. I would be stupid to let you die here and run away.'
Although it was dangerous to fight Abomination on a run, it was miles better than gaining a short distance between them by sacrificing Lark.
In his opinion, even if it was dangerous to save Lark as that meant having the Abomination on their heels all time, Lark's usefulness offset the risks. An example would be <Telepathy>, a Rank 3 spell Lark was using currently, which was hard enough that only 0.1% of mages could use it. Yet Lark was using it without his grimoire.
Finally, the group reached its objective.
At the same time, Cadmus and Leon also returned.
The six individuals set foot in the place and almost collapsed immediately.
A rare true smile spread across Cadmus' face as he looked at everyone. He helped everyone sit against a tree and began applying first-aid to others.
Leon and Cadmus were injured, but not in critical condition. Only their cores were almost empty. The same could be said about Susan, she was the healthiest in the group.
The group had a relaxed and carefree atmosphere. They had come out of a definite death alive by defeating an undefeatable monster.
With the Abomination thrown somewhere in the vast universe, it had no way of returning.
Only Leon was the one who was struggling mentally. If he had doubts about Nathan and Mr. Pepe after contemplating in [Singularity] and those doubts were converted into suspicion when Shadow met him, now he was sure that Nathan was Mr. Pepe.
Although the methods the two of them used to create weapons were different, the gargantuan Spear did not leave any room for doubts.
While the group was resting, each busy with their own dilemmas, a cheerful voice echoed.
"Ah~ This feels nice~"
Satoru came out of the jungle and waved to the group with a merry expression.
Watching him, a jolt ran through everyone's mind, realizing a crucial fact they'd missed. Where were the rest of the cadets?
"Why are you coming from there, Satoru?"
Cadmus gripped his spear secretly and stood in front of the group. At the same time, everyone channeled their energies, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.
"I went into the jungle to get my corpse" Satoru scratched the back of his head. "Although the other half was dead, I'm able to absorb my dead parts into me to heal myself. The other cadets came with me to protect me."
The forest behind Satoru rustled and other cadets came out too.
A sigh escaped Cadmus' lips. Knowing how Satoru's stigma worked, it was true that Satoru could convert his dead or severed parts into crows and absorb them to heal himself.
Everyone relaxed as they noticed Cadmus. Suddenly, Nathan interjected.
"But the location of the corpse was in the impact radius of Spear. How are you uninjured?"
Satoru stiffened and abruptly burst into laughter. "Aha..hahah....ahah... It's YOU AgAIn."
Cough- Cough-
Doubling over, Satoru started coughing hysterically. Blood mixed with bile juice flowed onto the ground.
Others watched in trepidation until Satoru coughed grey blood.
"Dammit!"
Puchi-!
Kaneki lunged at Satoru, but a gray hand suddenly impaled him from the back. He looked in horror as the grey arm held his heart and crushed it.
Thud-!
"WiLL yOU HeAL again ?"
Kaneki's corpse fell to the ground.
Caw- Caw-
Satoru broke into grey crows. The crows forced themselves into the mouths of the cadets that followed Satoru.
Grey goo soon came out of their mouth and covered them whole.
The five Abominations ran toward Nathan and Lark, both of who were slowly standing to fight again. Cadmus jumped between them and swung his spear in a large arc.
The five Abominations were split into two halves each and a smile emerged on Cadmus' face. The smile disappeared just as quickly when the Abominations broke into crows and became 10 Abominations.
When it seemed like the end was near, spatial turbulence appeared in the sky.
A portal formed through which an Abomination crossed over, the one that Nathan had through into the Wormhole.
Leon watched helplessly as everything ended too quickly to react.
The smaller abominations attacked them at the command of the biggest Abomination.
"Go to the next floor!"
Lark suddenly appeared next to Leon and threw him into the boss zone. He next went towards Cadmus and also threw him when suddenly a tentacle of Abomination caught Cadmus and flung him into the portal through which it came.
Scanning his surroundings, Lark swiftly tried to locate Nathan and Susan. Locating them, Lark closed his eyes regretfully and attacked the boss monster with a magic bullet. "I'm sorry I couldn't save everyone."
"NO!" A black curtain fell over the boss zone and cut Leon off from others.
Amidst the Abominations was Susan, a hole pierced through her as she attempted to save Nathan at the cost of her own life, while behind her the very tentacle that killed Susan also succeded in reaping Nathan's life.