[A/N: I made minor mistakes regarding the names in the previous chapters but edited them. I also added three action sequences that I missed in chapter 181—Jemma’s water empowering Maya’s ice to give more mass and effect to freezing arrow, Julian’s strongest single attack slash that prevented the boss’ vines from pulling him out of wind gust wave, and Brynjal’s puppets taunting the Boss during the onslaught of spirit wraiths to keep the boss down and busy as much as possible. Truly sorry, readers. T-T.]
*****
“Almond, you can do it!” Natalia shouted, suddenly making everyone quiet as they looked at Almond. “I know you can!”
“Everyone, quiet down and let him focus,” Lily said, her eyes intensely on Almond, filled with 100% trust in him.
‘Darling, if there’s one person who I believe to be a genius, it’s you.’
‘If there’s one person who I believe to be the most hardworking and put in crazy efforts regardless of pain or difficulty, it’s you.’
‘If you set your eyes on something, nothing can stop you. No power in this universe must stop you from achieving the result you desire and your work for it.’
‘Breakthrough your limit and show me your brilliance so that I can also strive for my brilliance by standing right beside you.’
‘I believe you, darling, the one with the blade that can cut everything,’ Lily smiled.
Almond looked at Lily as he heard her words and clenched his sword’s handle tightly as he nodded.
His mind turned serene, and his focus heightened.
Raising his legendary golden sword, he pointed it at Ron and others.
‘My blade is the one that must be able to cut everything.’
‘My eyes are the light that must see through everything.’
Almond focused, putting his entire understanding of his specialized class’s concept, expanding and comprehending it to strain his Riftveil Eyes.
‘For my blade to cut everything, my eyes must see through everything.’
Almond’s eyes glowed brightly with a golden hue as a faint glittering golden trail oozed out from them.
‘See through their entire attributes.’
‘See through the poison.’
‘See through their status effect, the debuffs affecting them.’
‘They are all harmful attributes.’
Almond’s vision shifted as a new world of observation superimposed on his eyes. He could see various spots, all darkened, withering, and eating away at their organs and vitality.
‘See through harmful attributes, target them…’ Almond’s aura surged.
‘And cut them!’
Almond swung his blade horizontally as an ethereal golden blade shot out and struck everyone except for Emma.
The bodies of Jian, Ron, Finn, Anya, and Brynjal jolted slightly before a dark greenish mist was expelled from them.
Sylvia acted quickly and absorbed it, purifying it with her powers.
Emma was writhing in pain with muffled cries because she wasn’t unconscious.
“Why not Emma, Almond? Quickly heal her,” Kayla anxiously said.
“Yeah, She looks like she’s in so much pain.”
Almond’s vision was blurry as his figure swayed, but Lily quickly supported him.
‘Shit…I can’t…’ Almond was unable to even form thoughts properly as his willpower was completely drained with that slash that cut away all harmful effects from Ron, Jian, Finn, Anya, and Brynjal.
“Almond? What happened?”
“Shit, he pushed himself too much,” Marcus frowned.
“Emma is fighting still….what do we do?”
“Two minutes until the exit portal opens.”
Almond stayed strong and took a deep breath as he didn’t let himself fall unconscious.
Looking at Emma, he sent a Magic Whisper, ‘Emma, focus and try to ignore pain. You are at an important threshold that can make you powerful. Don’t let the poison beat you. Instead, tame this poison, and you will become way more powerful!’
‘You can do it, just like I did! This is your opportunity, so don’t miss it!’
‘Urghh…’ Almond felt an intense headache as his vision blurred.
“Arghhh!” Emma screamed briefly before shutting her mouth. Her fingers dug into the ground as she grabbed it.
“I..am…fine,” Emma spoke with muffled hisses. “L-Leave me alone…”
Emma then closed her eyes, heeding Almond’s advice because she desired more power and also knew that this was an opportunity for her.
“Don’t disturb her,” Almond groggily said as his head lay on Lily’s bosom. “And I need to sleep immediately.”
After saying that, he stopped putting up and just gave up, causing him to go unconscious.
Lily touched Almond’s ring and took out the Magic Tent before carrying him inside.
The others watched Emma in silence, praying for her.
Ron, Jian, Finn, Anya, and Brynjal soon woke up as they regained consciousness, completely recovered.
After knowing that Almond saved them, they felt incredibly grateful because when they were poisoned, they could feel death right in front of them, ready to eat them away.
Jian had a complicated expression he had Death resistance thanks to his class, but it was only for 2 seconds. And even if he lived two seconds extra while poisoned, he would still die because the poison was still in him.
“What happened to Almond? Where is he?” Finn asked.
Lily emerged from the tent right as Finn asked and answered, “He is fine. He needs to rest to recover because the way he removed your poison and all the harmful effects that the poison brought onto you is very hard, and it strained his mind too much.”
“He won’t have any lasting problems, right?” Brynjal frowned. “Please, I won’t be able to bear it if he took a bad fall by saving us. I entered with you, knowing full well there’d be a chance of death. I am the son of one of the Executives of Proximax guild, and I will do my everything to recover him.”
“That’s right,” Ron nodded. “I don’t have any big backing, but I will ask my guild.”
“Me too,” Anya clenched her fist.
“…Same,” Jian said as he looked at Lily and nodded, his expression firm. “My mother is also one of the executives of the Blackstar guild. This favor of saving my life will not go unpaid.”
“That better be the case,” Natalia snorted.
“Alright, now let’s hush down, everyone,” Kira said, her eyes on Emma. “Let her fight the poison and win.”
Emma’s body was dark green and black, glowing at some places even, and with the way it trembled, it was obvious that she was feeling terrible pain.
But she had a specialized class called Venomshade Witch of S-rank with a focus on poison-type skills.
Right now, her mind buzzed with Almond’s words that were filled with conviction. The short clash of attacks Almond had with the Boss when she entered and then subsequent half a minute told her the true massive power Almond held within his grasp.
All of them were mere ants in front of the boss, except for Almond.
And someone like that told her that she can do it!
“She…she is recovering,” Sylvia exclaimed, feeling excitement herself as she saw Emma’s status becoming better and sensing her energies.
“What happened?”
“Emma is…she is devouring the poison and making it her own!”
“Look, her vitality just rose!”
Everyone saw her getting better and finally heaved a sigh of relief.
At that, Emma became the next one to set foot in Almond’s trailblaze.