BOOM!
Never had I seen a light so bright before.
The way it shined… The way it burned….
It was as if the sun had descended before our very eyes.
No.
Even the sun itself was cold in the face of this burning light.
Just what had happened to Fina?
"Urgh… So bright! I can't see anything! What is happening?!"
Shanny grunted next to me.
Together with Devisha, the three of us were crouching by Darius's body, overwhelmed by what was happening around us.
"All I know is that the world is being turned upside down! Is this Serafina's doing?"
Devisha asked, her voice was almost drowned by the hundreds of thunder roaring in the sky and the thousands of explosions erupting on the faraway grounds beyond the rise.
I nodded and tried to penetrate my voice through the deafening chaos.
"It all started after Fina shielded us with her wings and flew to the sky! She must be causing all that happened afterward!"
"My wounds all healed just now! I doubt the chimera was kind enough to do that!"
Shanny blurted.
I turned my gaze away from the overwhelming light and shifted it to what was in front of us.
The chimera and its minions kept lying still on the ground. A powerful invisible force was trapping them there.
Although I was just a simple shepherd, I knew ordinary magic could not pull that off.
Zing!
A massive pillar of light suddenly descended down from the sky and devoured the giant beast.
It quickly disappeared as soon as it appeared. Barely few seconds lasted.
And instead of the chimera, all we could find in its place was a giant blazing hole which ran deep into the ground.
Everything went quiet.
"What in Surya's name just happened?"
Devisha asked with widened eyes over her veil.
Shanny was just as bewildered as the mercenary.
"The chimera disappeared just like that! Did that strange light pillar kill it?"
Familiar magic light began enveloping the others and I.
The hovering black square soon emerged in front of each of us.
[Stage Clear!]
['Serafina (★★★★)', 'Jonah (★★)', 'Shanny (★★)', 'Devisha (★★★)' levelled up!]
['Zecht (★★★)', 'Tarran (★★)'…..]
[….]
I could not be bothered reading what was written on the box.
The burning light in the sky rapidly dimmed and turned back into that beautiful mage that I adored.
Her giant wings vanished and she began descending fast to the ground with her eyes closed.
Fina was unconscious and falling rapidly from the sky!
I hurried to dash forward and spread my arms to catch her.
The wound on my legs had completely healed so I managed to intercept her in time.
"Fina…"
I whispered as I embraced her closer to me.
Fina was still breathing and I could not find any dangerous wound on her, though if there was any then the lobby would heal her the moment we returned.
But great fatigue had washed over her.
I had never seen Fina this spent ever since we cleared the fifth floor.
Even if the lobby completely healed her, she would not be waking up soon.
Shingg!
The familiar magic light soon engulfed both Fina and I.
When the light disappeared, we found ourselves back to the mirrored room inside the stone rift.
Shanny and Devisha returned with us along with the rest from the other parties.
But not Darius.
In the middle of the chaos earlier, I was hoping the old man would somehow get healed by Fina's power and be able to survive long enough until we would return to the lobby.
His absence just made it certain that he had truly died and left us for good.
"NO!!!"
Zecht suddenly cried next to our group as he collapsed to the floor, weeping.
Tarran and Yuxia were with him. And only them from his party.
"Norn and Jordane?"
I asked Yuxia.
The Tchakran only shook his head with bitter face.
Damn.
I could not say much for Jordane, but I had trained a lot with Norn.
She was a great warrior.
Before the Keeper arrived, Norn was the one who guided me on my spearmanship. I learned a lot from her.
Like Darius, Norn's absence would leave a significant hole on the Raid Team, especially Party 2.
I could not imagine how Zecht must be feeling right now.
They did not show it much, but him and Norn were about as close as Fina and I.
To imagine the horror of losing Fina… To actually lose her…
I thanked the Eternal Serpent for allowing us to survive this Quintal Trial together.
From seeing how devastated Zech was, I knew I would not survive from losing Fina.
"Darius?"
Tarran finally asked after he observed our party.
Shanny shook her head to him.
"Sorry, kid."
As they were both archers, the boy had spent quite a lot of time training with the old man.
Darius told me Tarran reminded him of the son he once had.
His son died during an expedition when Darius was still working as a knight. While Tarran never really knew his parents.
So the two had a strong bond as mentor and student.
A pity that bond had to be broken this soon.
"He wanted you to have this, Brother Tarran."
Devisha said as she handed the boy Darius's enchanted bow.
That was right.
If I remembered correctly, then Fina must had…
"Even as he was dying, Darius did not forget you, Tarran."
I told the boy as I gave him the old man's enchanted ring after I pulled it from Fina's dress.
I continued.
"His weapons are now yours. It was his last wish. Fina had agreed to it as well."
Surprisingly, Tarran did not shed any tear.
The boy simply held the bow and the ring in his hands and clutched them tightly.
He probably did not want to appear weak while carrying Darius's legacies with him.
What a strong warrior this little kid was.
Well, he would not survive this long if he was any less than that.
"Twelve didn't make it back. We lost quite a lot of people."
Shanny commented after looking at all the raiders that returned from the twentieth floor.
"A war will always have sacrifices, southlander. Especially the one we just went through."
The Guntur Near-Kin replied as she heaved the unconscious Matrias to her shoulder, carrying him like a sack of potatoes.
She continued with a relieved sigh.
"I'm actually surprised we managed to survive it at all."
"We'll have to sharpen our fangs and claws if the rest of the Quintal Trials will be like that."
The lycanthrope said while helping the trembling Arian to her feet. The Kutub hunter was still half-conscious with fatigue.
"That is true. But now is the time for rest."
The Keeper added as he carried the unconscious Vallerynne on his back.
He turned to Fina in my arms.
"How's the Great Mage?"
"I think she'll be fine. She's just exhausted."
"I would be surprised if she's not. The Great Mage just performed an incredible miracle, shepherd."
Djhotti said.
Yuxia nodded strongly with him.
"Even from afar, I could feel Serafina's mana flaring like the sun. I had never seen someone wielded so much power before. Not even in my wildest imagination."
I already knew Fina had done something extraordinary even without hearing their words.
Once again she did the impossible and brought us to victory.
And Fina would keep doing so till we reached the top of the tower and finally saving our world.
All of us then left the stone rift and poured into the first floor square.
People started to gather around us once we revealed ourselves to the lobby.
Trudy soon rushed in to greet us.
"Everyone! I was so worried that—Serafina! What happened to her?"
"Don't worry. Fina's just tired."
I replied to her as I stared the woman in my arms.
I continued as I looked to the other comrades that returned with us.
"If it weren't for her, none of us would've returned."
"To think even the Main Forces struggled on the twentieth floor. That someone as powerful as Serafina would be pushed to this extent."
Trudy said concernedly.
She began studying our crowd, learning the names of the survivors.
Our former party comrade suddenly made a gasp.
"No… Not Darius…"
Trudy then turned to the brooding man between Tarran and Yuxia.
"Oh Zecht. I'm so sorry."
I continued walking through the crowd and began our journey back to the lodging. The others followed us.
"The fourth Quintal Trial have wounded us greatly. But we will recover and become stronger than ever. Our climb will continue."
Yes. Fina would had said that if she were awake.
She would not give up by this setback.
Just like on the twentieth floor earlier, Fina would rise again and fight back with twice as much power.
We should follow her example and become the strong comrades she could rely on.