Chapter 105: Chapter 105: The Center [4]

It was far too many...

Even If I slowed down time and used my dragon's wing speed ability, I could only stop fifty of them at most.

I had placed the cloud of smoke near the entrance so no one would be entering or leaving, and it was right behind everyone so no one would notice the smoke there.

But... then, how was Alya already back..?

I had calculated her entire path; it would have taken her ten minutes to leave the tree, five to store the device, and another ten to get back here.

Yet, she had arrived in ten minutes, less than half of that predicted time.

Sbe would have to have skipped the entire way back to this cave...

Putting aside those thoughts, I tapped my right eye, slowing my perception of time, before combining the mana and blood-red substance, creating a dark-purple wing on my right shoulder.

Since these smoke particles were made out of her pure corruption, they were different: they could completely pass through physical things, so simply standing in front of them wouldn't do anything.

What was the only way to stop the corruption then?

With most corruption... or you could just completely overpower the particles with stronger magic, but that wasn't something I could do.

Dismissing the devices, I used all my corruption to create a jar about the same size as those pickle jars at grocery stores.

Simply creating a gigantic jar to cover the entire room with my corruption wouldn't work, as the jar would be too weak to withstand the impact of the smoke particles.

Thus, I created a medium-sized jar but concentrated all my corruption into its exterior, making it strong enough.

Stepping in front of the pure-white fog with a pickle jar in my right hand, I extended my hand to the right, catching the first two hundred particles.

Then, moving the jar to my left hand, I caught three more particles.

Then two more, then three more, then two more, then seven more, then ten more, then five more, then three more... but at some point, the particles started to get past me.

Forced to step back, I found myself with my back right against the wall, with no room for any mistakes, as one missed particle would immediately enter the fog.

From here, I could see Lily and Alya, who were still staring where the cloud of black smoke used to be, and Albert, alongside the rest of the group, staring at Lily as she had just screamed.

Soon, their perception of time would catch up, and they would notice me...

My jar, now half full of particles, struggled to maintain its shape as the particles clashed with my concentrated corruption in the exterior. To make it even worse, I hadn't accounted for the fact that particles could have erratic movement, throwing off my predicted trajectories.

There were more than two hundred particles... double my original estimate.

Sure, one extra particle going into the fog wouldn't do too much more... but if over a hundred particles entered the fog, the spirit of the World Tree would be in serious danger.

Feeling my mana drain insanely fast due to my using mana for wings and slowing down time simultaneously, I sighed while continuing to catch the incoming particles with my jar.

What now?

If the World Tree becomes corrupted, the fall of the Elven realm is only a matter of time away.

The Elven realm, one of the significant forces aiding humans in the future war of the demons, would fall in the third or fourth incident...

We hadn't even finished the academy arc yet...

Worst of all, it wasn't because of Lily or some variable.

I had chosen to put the smoke there; I had willingly created the smoke, and I am going to have destroyed the Elven realm alongside the spirit of the World Tree.

Catching ten more particles, I stayed until the end, ignoring my body growing fatigued due to loss in mana, and frantically moved around my jar.

For the next second, not a single particle passed by me.

The next second, one particle passed by me and entered the pure-white fog.

In the third second, three passed by me.

Then 4.

Then 7.

And finally, as my mana dropped to zero, I stood still with the half-filled jar in my hand, staring at the hundred particles heading right at me.

No... not yet.

I had only gotten fifty of the particles this far... I needed at least seventy to be happy with myself, didn't I?

Downing my remaining mana bottles in less than a second, I swiped my jar up and down once, catching the twenty particles about to hit the pure-white fog.

Only seventy?

I'll need at least ninety to pay for dinner tonight.

While mana potions increased your mana, they didn't heal or alleviate the fatigue or pain of using mana.

In fact, they only worsened it.

Combined with the mana potions I had used earlier in my fight with the demon, I used about twice the maximum capacity today.

As my arms trembled and my eyes involuntarily closed, threatening to lose consciousness, I continued swiping up and down.

For the next five seconds, not a single particle passed by me.

One hundred thirty particles is not too bad for my first time...

However, that was it. My wings disappeared due to lack of mana, leaving me only with the measly remaining time I had left on my dragon's eye.

Once again, I faced over fifty incoming particles despite having no more mana.

Was it enough?

"...I guess it was."

*BZZT*

As the main cast slowly turned their heads towards the pure-white fog, catching up to the current time, the entrance of the cave glowed a dark purple, and a streak of lightning could be seen approaching. S~eaʀᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Even with my dragon's eye activated, I could barely see her.

Going straight past the main cast, Liana briefly glanced at my mask and current position before turning.

And turning and turning and turning.

Like a NASCAR driver, Liana drifted and turned while going as fast as a car, even with my perception of time slowed.

Zigging and Zagging around the particles with perfect precision, the streak of lighting behind Liana melted the smoke particles of corruption instantly as she ran past them.

The entire cave turned a dark purple for a second as lightning beams shot out of Liana's body, crushing over thirty particles at a time.

At a single second, over three beams, each having a diameter of the entire cave, could be seen appearing for a short second before disappearing and reappearing in a different location, where more particles were located.

Within the next five seconds, all the particles were gone, leaving behind a couple of lightning sparks on the ground.

Stopping a few feet away, Liana focused on the white fog, which was partially tainted with black, before turning her attention to me.

The next second, she moved.

Right at me.

Exhausted, drained of mana, and completely powerless, I watched as Liana moved towards me, slower than before, with her hand stretched out toward me.

Despite the horror in my chest at that moment, a feeling of awe also appeared as I felt like I was watching a movie.

The purple sparks on the ground glowing the cave a dark purple, the sparks of lightning flying off her body as she moved towards me in slow motion, and her indifferent expression as she approached me.

All of it combined to create the perfect scene, the climax.

Well, what happens to villains in movies...?