Chapter 404 30 Minutes [4]
Warp was truly a lifesaver of a skill. It was the skill that allowed him to return home after his years of suffering in the dungeon all those years ago, and it was the skill that was currently allowing him to overcome his predicament.
He arrived at Taesi with only 5 minutes remaining of his time limit. And he knew for certain that he wasn’t going to get any extension. There was a reason why Alaric told him to leave when 30 minutes struck exactly.
But the Elf Clan was simpler to handle because of his seal. The Queen, although unwillingly, had already subordinated herself to him. Therefore, he could expect smooth sailing when it came to their transport.
When he arrived at the Queen’s villa, the sight of millions of elves crowded into the packed space appeared in front of his eyes. It was the first time he had seen such an unfathomable number of people in one place.
But instead of adoring such grandiosity, his eyes went to the trunk of the massive World Tree that towered over them. Signs of spatial fluctuation and cracking had already begun spreading on it.
“Queen, there are already others in the place I’m sending you to. They’ll explain the situation. Judging by the size of Taesi, there should be more than enough space to accommodate everyone, but I still need you to keep order among them and make sure things don’t go wrong.”
Although the Queen didn’t understand much of what was happening, she had no choice but to nod. While to Damien, having the Ancestral Seal was extremely convenient, it was an unfortunate day for the elves.
Because, unlike the others, they were given no explanation and no time. Their treatment was comparatively worse, even though their status as his subordinates was technically higher than that of the other three clans.
Without any words, he transported the Elf Queen, her personal guard, and her family into the Sanctuary. After that, he began with the rest of the elves.
4 minutes remained.
Thousands of elves disappeared every second, but when compared to the total number, it was nothing.
Damien pushed his mana to its limits. Even with all the evolutions his Ananta Matrix had gone through, it was being overloaded by his struggle.
Devour activated subconsciously, forming a massive black hole behind his head that sucked the ambient mana and even vitality of the World Tree into his body. At the same time, the essence he had saved in the Void Physique slowly permeated his body and healed it.
His skin cracked and blood flowed out. His eyes went bloodshot, but he still gritted his teeth and continued.
3 minutes remained.
Thousands became tens of thousands. Within the minute, a third of the total elves in the area had been evacuated to the Sanctuary.
‘It isn’t enough. I need to do more. If not, they’ll die here, and I’ll die with them. If I die, everyone in the Sanctuary will be stranded without a way out, and they’ll eventually die as well.’
The burden of responsibility on his shoulders felt especially heavy, but it was that same burden that allowed him to continue without care for his own condition.
The blood leaking from his body pooled on the floor and formed a stream that ran through the streets of Taesi.
And at the same time, the blood in his body began boiling.
‘Since I’m inadvertently pulling vitality from the World Tree, I should be able to do this much…right?’
His blood vitality began burning at an astonishing rate to help cope with the burden he was carrying. When that happened, the numbers he could transport also vastly increased.
2 minutes remained.
Hundreds of thousands of elves were vanishing as the seconds passed. With the rate things were going now, it seemed he would complete his task on time.
1 minute remained.
The millions that had once occupied the square had been whittled down until their number was countable. And finally, they all vanished into the Sanctuary. With them gathered in a place where he was essentially God, he was finally able to understand their sheer number.
8 million. That was how many elves he had transported into the Sanctuary over the span of 4 minutes.
But in return, he was quite literally on the verge of death.
It was worse than any near-death experience he had before this. And funnily enough, he had reached this state by his own hands.
His skin was cracked like shattered glass and the blood pool beneath his feet had risen to the level where it submerged his ankles. His blood vitality was nearly exhausted. It was vitality that couldn’t be replenished through normal means. In essence, he had sacrificed his own lifespan to finish his task.
When he calculated it, he let out a dry chuckle.
‘5 years…my natural lifespan ends in 5 years…what a cruel fate.’
But he had prepared for it from the start. If it wasn’t for the fact that the purest source of vitality existed in front of his eyes, he never said would’ve done such a thing.
His figure flashed away, appearing at the trunk of the World Tree. He put his hand on that trunk and said a single word.
“Devour.”
It wasn’t mana nor essence that he gained from the World Tree. It was pure unbridled vitality. The vitality that had allowed this tree to live for over a hundred thousand years, the vitality that allowed it to survive a clash between Demigods.
That pure vitality spread through his body and invigorated his cells. The blood vitality he had lost previously was replenished slowly.
30 seconds remained until his time limit ended. From his calculations, he had only gained back about half the lifespan he had sacrificed.
But even that added up to a few thousand years. Compared to other 3rd class existences, his vitality was far more substantial.
15 seconds remained. He leeched as much vitality as he could as time ran out, even using his pseudo-domain to extend that minute past its capabilities.
According to the mission he was given, he should be using this time to save more lives, but he wasn’t so noble as to do that.
He was nothing like Alaric, who had sacrificed his everything for the greater good.
But perhaps it was due to their conflicting natures that he had so much respect for the senior. For a man who was able to be a hero, something he could never be.
‘But a hero isn’t the only thing that’s needed in these trying times. Heroes will rise up to save the people, sure, but I won’t be one of them. Instead, I’ll be an executioner that slaughters everything in sight so that those heroes can do their jobs properly.’
5 seconds remained of his deadline.
He looked up at the World Tree that was already manifesting signs of a portal. He looked at the 3000 Beast Mountain Range that held the most beautiful scenery he had seen in all his years of life.
And he sighed.
‘To all those souls who will be lost in the coming cataclysm, I hope you can find peace. And I’m sorry I wasn’t able to provide you with safety.’
With a final bow towards the World Tree and the mountain range that had provided him with so much, Damien vanished into the Sanctuary.
OOOOOOOOOOOH!
And the last thing he heard as he did so was the terror-inducing bellows of an unimaginable beast.