CHAPTER 240(Adventure End)

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CHAPTER START---

"GAH!" Thalie jolts awake, immediately taking desperate ragged breaths. Calming down when she feels the soothing warmth of healing magic flowing through her.

Her muscles relax as she sits up, the hard crystal floor beneath her is almost blinding. Looking across the boss room she sees a massive golden Magic Circle covering the floor.

Leaning against the wall, The Angel directly behind her, she takes a moment to soak in what she was seeing.

Only half the circle was visible, but more than enough to fill the room. Spreading out for what must be hundreds of meters if the full size was shown. Across the room she sees what looks to be Welf laying on the floor, clearly unconscious judging by the fact that the magic was trying to heal him, instead of ignoring him.

Looking to her right she sees Yang sitting against another wall, almost exactly between her and Welf. The Magic Circle was spreading out form him. A golden circle with white runes, intricate and glamourous. Crawling across all three of them, half the circle is unable to be seen as disappears into the wall behind Yang.

And in his lap, held tightly in his clutches. A brightly glowing white and gold Grimoire.

Thalie quirks a brow and forces herself to stand.

"Mmmm," she releases a pained groan as her joints cry out. All the clattering of pieces of her armor falling apart onto the crystal floor causes Yang's head to turn toward her.

With labored steps she slowly walks over to him, pain in each step subsiding as the magic saturates her by the second.

Walking over to him most of her armor falls off, leaving her in tattered and burnt combat clothes, bare feet on the cool floor.

Thalie squints, inspecting his state. He was shirtless, all his armor gone, feet bare, most of his pants completely burnt away, but what really caught her attention was something else.

"Why does your skin looks so...pink?" She asks.

"It's new," Yang says. "Can you get Welf over here, if I move I think the circle breaks, don't wanna risk it."

Thalie takes a deep breath and nods before silently trudging off to get Welf.

Thalie walks over to Welf and is pleased to see him breathing, but feels a pang of worry when she looks at his hand. Mosoka had melted into his flesh and already cooled. They'd been out for longer than she thought.

She reaches down and gently picks him up, as she slings him over her shoulder his armor crumbles, just like hers. The consequences of being hit by pure Dragon Energy.

Pieces of metal littered the floor, but his clothes beneath seemed completely fine.

'Lucky you,' she thinks while looking down at herself. Her own clothes left her almost naked much like Yang.

Trudging back over to Yang she gently places Welf at their feet before moving to sit beside Yang, her back against the same wall.

Reaching out her spear flies across the room on a small gale and stops in front of her, simply hovering there until she claims it and lays it beside her.

"So...what happened?" Thalie asks.

"The plan worked," Yang says. "Broke the horns...didn't count on you two getting knocked out, had to finish it myself, I managed."

"And somehow lost all your skin?" she glances over to his pinkish-brown complexion.

"Twice," he says. "Escaton Judgment to the face tends to do that. But I think I mastered the Elemental Wheel so I won."

"And why the Grimoire, we out of Elixirs?"

Yang raises his free hand and flexes his fingers, feeling the skin and muscles move, still tingling somewhat. "Didn't exactly have enough meat to move around, just summoned the Grimoire beneath my hand and pushed my magic into it, thank the gods it worked."

"And now you're stuck in the middle of the circle until Welf wakes up, because if you use any other magic it may break, right?"

"Right," he nods.

Thalie rests her head against the wall and stares out at the crater across the room. "You did that?"

Yang chuckles, "Alatreon and I, but if I put everything into a sword swing I can cut into it, not much though."

Thalie chuckles and closes her eyes, sliding down slightly so she was at the same height as Yang, then leaning her head onto his shoulder. "You always have to be so extra." She closes her eyes and tries to clear her mind.

"It's part of my charm."

"What charm?" they both share a small laugh at his expense.

After a comfortable silence Thalie begins nodding off, only for Yang to interrupt.

"Did you enjoy the adventure?" he asks.

"Mhm, the adventure of my life...thank you."

Yang glances between both his friends, Thalie falling asleep on his shoulder and Welf out cold at their feet. Then he turns to The Angel in the distance. She was sitting with a hand pressed against the wall, looking directly at them.

"Yeah," he mutters, "the adventure of my life..."

Minutes later The Trifecta are all sitting on the floor, with Welf finally awake the join them.

"Alright," Yang looks at the glowing Grimoire in his hand, "that's enough of this," he cuts off his magic from it.

The book immediately dries up and crumbles to dust, falling to the floor.

"Those things are so weird," Thalie says.

"Atleast this one worked," Yang grumbles and removes two cases of Elixirs, each case costing six million Valis. Combined costing more than an entire Year of adventuring for a full level one party, assuming they had nothing else to spend money on.

Yang immediately begins drinking an Elixir while Thalie takes one and reaches for Welf's hand.

"Uh, maybe we should wait till I'm back at Babel," Welf says, a pang of worry in his voice.

"Don't be such a baby," Thalie grabs his right hand, turning it so the palm is facing upward. Mosoka's hilted melted into his flesh and cooled, becoming one with him.

"This is gonna be the worst," Welf groans as she takes a firm grip on his hand while her other hand grabs onto the metal.

Yang chuckles but looks away from the scene. "I had all my skin burnt off, twice, you'll be fine."

Welf looks at Yang and giggles, "that explains why your skin looks kinda p-INK!" he screams out as Thalie tears the metal from his flesh, with no warning. "FUCK!"

"Get over it," she says while pouring an Elixir onto his palm. Seeing the flesh mending itself Welf breathes a sigh of relief.

Looking at the scrap metal in her hand Thalie crushes it, and the entire thing falls apart. "You really burnt all the good stuff out of this," she drops it to the floor without a care.

Welf sighs, "it served its purpose, besides, still got Ikari," he shrugs. "Should be more than enough for anything short of pinky," he nods toward Yang.

After catching up on exactly what they missed, they were relieved to find out that it had only been a few minutes before the healing magic woke Thalie.

Yang and Thalie got changed into a spare set of standard combat clothes. Boots, pants and a simple top.

Atleast Thalie's was standard.

All Yang's adventuring clothes were designed by Freya and made by Welf. Leaving him in a set of blue clothes with black trimmings, with their team sigil at the back. All made to be as fireproof as possible, costing nearly twenty million Valis just for his current outfit, not that it would ever be sold to anyone beyond their team.

"So...what now?" Welf asks. They were all standing together, and simultaneously turned to look at The Angel.

"Now I get her out of there," Yang says.

"Alright, and then what?" Thalie asks, already holding her spear, ready for a fight. But sensing no threat.

"No idea," Yang takes a look at his friends, all clearly nervous. "Only one way to find out, right?"

"Right," Welf says. "So this is it?"

"Yeah, but your adventure doesn't have to stop here. You have the girl and the fame, but I'm sure you'll find something else to chase," he gives Welf a pat on the arm. "Maybe some hero is gonna need a weapon in the future, and who else but you can make something like that." That idea earns a smile and small nod from Welf.

"Yeah, it'd have to be me," the smith says.

Yang turns to Thalie, "and you've got to deal with a sixteen-year-old Mikoto soon, that might be harder than anything we went through," Yang laughs.

"Yeah, she just might be," she says with a strange look in her eyes, sadness at one adventure ending but looking forward to the next.

"Now let's close the book on this," he immediately turns around and struts off toward The Angel.

Pushing aside any sadness or hesitation, the burning and guilt in his chest overpowered it. 'I've done too much to quit now,' he reminds himself.

Approaching the wall, Thalie and Welf stop a dozen meters away as he walks up to it. Placing his bare hand on the glowing wall, The Angel perfectly mirrors his movements.

'Yang!' he hears her desperately call out into his mind, all in his mother's voice. 'Now we can go home,' she says unmasked excitement at the idea.

Yang smiles and focuses on the crystal between their hands. His chest burns, as if his heart was trying to leap out of his body.

"Arghhhh!" he groans, leaning against the wall to better support himself. "C'mon!" he cries out.

CRACK!

The wall begins to crack between their hands. Looking up he sees The Angel on the other side, writhing in pain as she desperately tries to stay focused. He hears her agonizing wails echo into his mind with his mother's voice.

CRACK!

A massive spiderweb of cracks forms on the entire section of wall between them before it crashes down.

Yang leaps away and collapses onto one knee. Trying to catch his breath, holding the left side of his chest. His entire body was drenched in sweat once more.

As Welf is tending to him Thalie doesn't take her eyes off The Angel.

Now with a full view, she soaks in every detail.

Standing at seven feet tall, taller than even Ottar was. A slender feminine body, with no sex organs or breasts. As if she were a glowing white smooth porcelain statue.

A head of long flowing white hair reached the small of her back, glowing blue eyes that projected a sense of comfort and hope. No other features on her face, and no ears.

Two sharp birdlike wings sprouted from her shoulder blades and were large enough to almost touch the floor.

But what most captured their eyes was the middle of her chest. There was a piece of her missing, as if a piece of a statue broke off. A chip nearly two inches long had broken off and left a small hole. Much brighter white light radiated out from the chip.

The Angel steps out of the cage and over the rubble scattered about. Her slender feet stepped without a sound on the crystal floor. All around them the Dungeon Energy that was flowing behind the crystals suddenly stopped, no longer having to power the cage.

"Wow," was all Welf could say as Yang got back on his feet.

"Yeah," Yang says. "Finally free..."

'Thank you,' The Angel's words, his mother's voice, projects into his mind. The Angel bows respectfully, both hands interlocked at her front.

Yang frowns at this "you can't speak normally?"

The Angel shakes her head, 'no, I may only speak through our connection.'

"Our connection?" Yang asks, "what connection?"

"Uh, is she talking to you?" Welf asks.

Yang turns to his side, "she can only speak to me apparently, all in my mind," he shrugs.

Thalie and Welf share a concerned look but don't say a word.

'The connection I made when that implosion tore us into the world,' The Angel informs him.

"I remember that, you were fighting, something just like you but all black, and I got pulled here with you. Why?"

'Because I could feel it, my rival sacrificed himself to try to destroy me, sending me to this world, I felt the world trying to trap me, here' The Angel gestures all around them.

"The dungeon?"

'Yes...dungeon, it, pulled me in, the moment I entered. I needed, help.'

"Help?"

'Someone, like me, someone who just wants to go home. Creative, adaptable, but young and fit to survive, persistent, and relentless. You were perfect.'

Yang bites his lip, frustration and a bit of anger creeping into his mind, "you pulled me into this because you knew I'd never stop, no matter what?"

'Yes, a perfect companion,' The Angel's tone made it sound as if Yang was a hero, but with the way his fists were shaking, he clearly didn't see things that way.

Yang takes a deep breath and lets go of his anger, at least for the moment, deciding to focus on the objective. "Ok, fine, how do we get back?" he asks a bit more aggressively than intended, but The Angel didn't seem to care.

The Angel raises a hand to her head, as if trying to clear a headache. 'Memories, still pouring into my mind, ngh' she groans.

"My memories?"

'Yes, The Shard connects us.'

"What?"

The Angel lowers her hand, as if clarity suddenly hit her. 'Return home, easy for you, not for me. The barrier for this world is...near-impenetrable.'

Yang feels his heart drop, "what?!"

The Angel raises a hand to calm him, 'you will get home, returned to the moment you left, as if nothing changed, but my home, further, much further, need more power.'

"How do we get that?"

'Your source, it will give us what we need, assimilate it, and we go home.'

Yang immediately takes a few steps back, and his friends do the same, "you'd better start explaining, real quick," he glares at her.

The Angel raises her hands to show she means no harm, 'The Shard, connects us. Power from the source, into you, refined by The Shard, boosted. We assimilate the source, consume it, enough power to go home, easy.'

Yang relaxes, and his friends copy him, or at least Welf does.

"Alright, but what exactly is the source?"

'Mmm,' The Angel holds her head again, trying to bring the memory forward. 'The name, mmm, it...it is, H-He-Hephaestus, yes, the source, Hephaestus.'

Yang feels sick at the revelation, suddenly his breakfast was trying to come back up. "Hephaestus? What would you have to do?" he asks in a worried tone.

Welf's eyes open wide, but Yang raises a hand signaling him to keep quiet, the smith subtly reaches for Ikari at his back.

'Consume the source,' The Angel says as if it were obvious, no emotion in her voice. 'Trap it within me, to take us home.' The Angel holds its head as another surge of Yang's memories comes crashing in, and the next moment it was back to normal.

Yang doesn't even have to think about it, "and what if I say no?" He subtly opens his hands, palms facing down. A signal to his allies that he was preparing to use his magic. Thalie and Welf glanced at each other, they were all on the same page.

'Hmm, hesitation, again?' At her words, Yang feels the burning in his chest return, low but stinging.

He winces and narrows his eyes at her, "that was you?"

'To keep you focused, on the path, necessary,' The Angel nods, as if it were a normal occurrence.

"And the dreams, the voices, I...I thought I was going crazy," Yang stares at her in disbelief, breath becoming ragged and shallow.

'To keep you moving, toward home, so we may leave.'

"I wouldn't have stopped!" Yang yells at her, earning no reaction from The Angel even as Welf and Thalie take battle stances.

'You would have entered this dangerous place?'

"Yes!"

'You would have risked your life?'

"Yes!"

'You would have overcome every challenge?'

"Of course I would have!"

'And you would leave them? You would have left...her?' The Angel asks.

And Yang freezes. "I---" his mouth hangs open as he remembers, all the times he was with Freya, only for this same burning sensation to strike him. "No, never," he frowns at the realization. Then glares with a level of hate he didn't know he could reach, realizing exactly what he ruined because of this manipulation.

'I see,' The Angel takes a step away, almost backed into the cage that trapped her. 'You won't help me?'

"No, Hephaestus is a friend, and I don't hurt innocent people for the sake of my adventure," Yang repeats his main rule to her, reminding himself as much as telling her.

'Yang Shen,' she says in a soothing voice. It almost made him stumble, hearing his mother say his name one more time. 'Too strong to stop, but too weak to do whatever it takes,' she spits Freya's exact words at him.

FWOOM!

Yang's Mage Armor flashes to life, blue flames on his body, the blood-red Chaos Mark snaking around him, and his new perfected Elemental Wheel glowing white at his back, catching Thalie and Welf off guard for a moment.

'Fine, then I'll do it myself,' The Angel says, 'but I'll need The Shard back!'

The hole in her chest flashes and Yang feels pain like he'd never felt before, as if someone was trying to tear his lungs and heart out of him.

"ARGHHH!" his blood-curdling scream carries through the surrounding tunnels as his magic drops. He staggers back and claws at his chest, tearing off the shirt to reveal his unnaturally perfect physique.

Welf and Thalie stare in horror, not quite sure what in the world was happening.

Before they could even speak, the small two-inch, white scar across his left pec. The scar that no matter how much healing magic he was subjected to would always stay, began glowing.

Yang's chest bursts open from below the scar, and a glowing white shard, perfectly designed to fit The Angel's chest erupts from him.

Blood and bits of bone go everywhere as he immediately begins coughing up blood, his left lung collapsed and shredded, drowning him from within.

Thalie reacts quickly, moving to catch him. Welf swings Ikari to fire a flame pillar at The Angel.

And in the same moment, Yang reaches out, numb to the pain, desperate, vengeful, and grabs The Shard.

His metal hand wraps around it, the thing that had refined and boosted his power. And the seemingly unbreakable metal prosthetic, cracks, and shatters.

All but a hair's width of metal from his skin become dust as it comes into contact with a pure sample of what power him. His Falna, his drop of Arcanum, divinity given form.

Before his brain could realize this his other hand swings out, summoning his weapon and slashing forward.

The greataxe slams into the shard and suffers the exact same fate, not even able to stop it from flying toward The Angel.

As he falls back into Thalie's arms, drowning in his own blood, Welf's fire hits, and The Angel ignores it. Instead, The Shard slams into her chest, merging with her but still having the outline like a crack around it as she furls her wings around herself and is encased in a barrier of light.

They're all left confused, Welf not seeing what Yang did, it happened much too fast for anyone in the world other than Thalie to even see after all. Looking to his left he sees Thalie already running toward the Elixirs with Yang.

CRACK!

The walls and ceiling begin cracking as the dungeon shakes. Not just this floor, everything from the first floor to where they currently stand was shaking.

Before they knew it the entire ceiling was coming down.

"Run!" Welf says. Thalie only spares him a look before she nods, cradling Yang in her arms while standing on her spear, riding it like a surfboard back to the safe zone as the entire floor collapses.

---1 Hour Later...

Back at the safe zone Yang was laying on the stone table he made atop the plateau. Completely asleep and burning with a fever. Both his friends standing beside him with worry plastered all over them. They'd done their best, cleaned and healed him as much as possible, at least to keep him alive until they got to Airmid.

"I didn't even know he could get fevers," Welf says.

"It's not that kind of fever," Thalie says. Leaning down slightly she holds his shoulder and lifts him, careful not to cause him any pain. His Falna was showing on his back, something that shouldn't be happening. It looked the same as it always did.

Hephaestus's smithing hammers crossed at the top, a pair of large ram horns descending from his shoulders and curling down at the sides for Orcus. And his stats in the middle of his back, all in blood red. But she had no idea why it was currently visible.

"What the hell even happened back there?" Welf asks, now that they have a moment to breathe he could get caught up.

"It tore something out of Yang, he touched it and this happened," she gestured to his destroyed prosthetic. "Same with his weapon."

"Damn, guess we can't fight it right now even if he was awake huh."

"Pretty much," Thalie sighs. "Can you use the emergency ring and call your wife, ask her if anything is happening up there, my Primal Awareness has me feeling like I'm about to lose my lunch here."

"I'll get on that," Welf immediately rushes off toward their supply cache.

As he leaves Thalie glances over to the far side of the plateau, seeing both of Alatreon's horns. She shakes her head in annoyance, "can't believe that idiot risked his life to drag those out, fucking moron," she grumbles.

Sitting on the bench she leans on the table and looks at Yang. Reaching forward she pokes his cheek, he grumbles in annoyance but remains asleep, "thanks for staying, but you've got a lot of explaining to do, between The Angel and Freya, can't tell which of your women is worse," she chuckles quietly. And Yang groans as if he heard her.

"Problem!" Welf yells as he runs over to her, a new Message Ring cradled in his hand. With their helmets destroyed and Yang keeping their rings in his inventory to protect the fragile items, plus his metal hand gone, this was all they had until the next safe zone cache.

"What's wrong?"

"It's the monsters."

Thalie stands up and immediately summons her spear to her side, "are they coming here?"

"No...they're gone," Welf says.

"Gone?" Thalie was even more confused than him.

"All the monsters just turned to ash, the crystals shattered, at least the ones still inside the dungeon. The ones outside are fine, and no new monsters aren't spawning."

Thalie takes a step back in shock, "the dungeon...stopped?"

END CHAPTER---

"Yeah I lied, we've always had another volume to go. Enjoy the weekend cliffhanger :)"- Scheming Author.