Vina's Crisis

Hearing the prompt, Serea seemed to understand what the system meant. Her choice was—

"Unlock!"

System: Absorbing the power of death, please wait...

A dense power of death surged from the bone ring into Serea's body. Seeing this, Celia frowned and rushed over, wanting to stop the deathly energy from invading Serea.

"Don't stop!"

Seeing Celia raise her hand, ready to use Holy Light, Serea stopped her. Upon hearing this, Celia glanced at Vina, lying on the ground nearby. Her whole body was already ravaged by the death curse; obviously, she didn't have much time left.

Holy Healing!

Golden light poured over Vina's body, slowly dispelling the death curse, but Vina's already exhausted body couldn't recover anymore. Even with Celia's skills, there was nothing she could do...

Sweat beaded on her forehead as Celia was now also extremely weak, though still a bit stronger than Serea.

At this moment, Serea had already withdrawn from Blood Frenzy. After a few shaky steps, she could no longer support herself and fell to her knees, propping herself up with one hand against the ground.

The side effects of Blood Frenzy began to appear—those red bruises spread across Serea's body, while the fatigue and weakness nearly caused her to faint.

Fortunately, she hadn't activated Blood Frenzy for too long this time, and, having experienced it before, the side effects were relatively milder this round.

But even so, it wasn't something Serea could easily withstand...

"My Queen!"

Lola and the others rushed up to the altar, but as soon as she reached the top, she saw Vina collapsed on the ground.

The curse on Vina had already been removed, her skin and body restored to normal, but Lola understood—Vina was already... already...

"Cough, cough..."

Black blood trickled from Vina's lips as she looked towards Serea with her last bit of consciousness.

"M-My Queen, I... I won't burden you any longer... It... It's my honor to have been able to help you..."

"This isn't the time for that, you have to hold on!"

Serea spoke as she desperately absorbed the power of death from the bone ring. According to the system's prompt, this was the only way to save Vina.

"Lo... Lola!"

"Vina, hang in there, the Queen will definitely save you!"

Lola pleaded, but Vina didn't seem to hear. She continued, "It's too late... Use the power the Queen has given you... to protect... protect the Queen... the Darkmoon clan... needs her..."

"I..."

Lola wanted to say something, but Serea took over the conversation.

"I've never seen you as a burden. I treasure everyone by my side, and Vina, you are no exception. I will find a way to save you. If you wish to keep protecting me as your Queen, then hold on until the very end!"

As Serea spoke, her eyes trembled. Her body was so overdrawn that she could collapse into unconsciousness at any moment.

But she couldn't—not now. She had to seize every second, every second to save Vina!"Hold on!"

Lola grabbed Vina's hand. The natural elements transformed into a life-imbued magic, pouring into Vina. Seeing this, Camilla knew she had to do something for the benefactor who saved her. She also cast a healing spell.

While these treatments didn't improve Vina's wounds, they could delay her death.

On the other side, Serea's eyes were dim. She constantly reminded herself not to fall asleep!

"Here."

Suddenly, Celia extended her arm, already slit open with a wound.

"Celia..."

"If I can buy a bit more time, I will. Even if I don't know exactly what you're planning."

"Yes!"

Serea bit down, sucking Celia's blood, which replenished her with a minuscule amount of blood power.

But just this tiny bit was enough for Serea to keep going!

Celia frowned slightly, but she didn't care about the pain in her arm. She continued casting Holy Healing on Vina.

Almost—just a little more!

As she felt the death power in the bone ring nearly depleted, Serea sensed a powerful force brewing inside her. But just then, a sharp female voice suddenly reached her.

"Why?! Why won't you just die?!"

It was a voice from within her soul, clearly captured by Dogsius, who then relayed it to Serea's mind.

Addis!

She wasn't dead yet. Though she no longer had the bone ring, as a lich, her soul had possessed Vina's body.

"Just die and hand your body to me!"

Addis roared. But without the bone ring, she couldn't use its deathly energy to forcibly seize a living body.

"Survive..."

Vina remembered Serea's words. As her consciousness faded, she stubbornly held on.

"Give me your body!"

Two soul-voices echoed in Serea's ears. From that, she knew Addis was done waiting for Vina to die; she was about to crush Vina's soul directly and take over her body!

Against a lich, Vina had no chance in a contest of souls. If she lost, Addis would devour her soul, and everything would be over.

"Master, Dogsius will serve you!"

"Dogsius?"

Serea was taken aback, as if clutching at her last lifeline.

"You can deal with Addis?"

"Master, in the past, I might have fled before a lich. But now, this so-called 'powerful' lich is only a soul—I can defeat her!"

"What do I do?"

"Let me temporarily possess Vina."

"All right, come out now!"

"As you command, my master. Please have Miss Celia assist me."

With that, Serea looked to the real-world Vina—her face twisted in agony and struggle. Other than Celia, Lola (who had spent too much energy before) had already stopped healing, and Camilla was even more mentally depleted.

"Leave this to Celia and me. The rest of you keep watch!"

With Maro nearby, Serea gave her orders. Hearing this, Lola cast a worried glance at Vina, but followed instructions.

Lola and the others withdrew, and the Skeleton Warrior formed a shield wall, keeping Celia, Serea, and Vina in the center.

This blocked the sight of Maro and Camilla.

"Dogsius, come out!"

Serea called. A dark, furry little ball crawled out from under Celia's clothes. Celia picked it up and placed it on Vina.

Serea then unfastened Vina's leather armor.

"Dogsius, it's up to you!"

"Please leave it to me, master."

With that, Dogsius plunged stubby limbs into Vina's chest. Suffering both physical and spiritual torment, Vina did not care about this extra bit of pain.

The scene shifted to Vina's consciousness. At this moment, her world was dark and gloomy.

(To be continued)

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