485: Boom
From the moment he decided not to abandon Selene and chose to protect her, a part of Corey knew that there was a high possibility of him not being able to protect Selene.
All the calculations, hypotheses, and simulations his main consciousness and stars of consciousness had made all showed that the chances of Selene dying as he fought Aethara were extremely high.
If Aethara desired Selene's death, all she had to do was find a way to separate Selene from him, and if she played her cards right and chose not to underestimate him or look down on him, she could kill Selene with ease.
Either by luck or by Aethara's precise planning after studying him, she had found a good way to separate Selene from him by utilising the horde of wooden abominations.
She made sure that he went deep into the horde of wooden abominations before telling the wooden abominations to self-destruct.