Everyone in the team was busy nursing some cuts and poison that managed to seep through them.

The two twins from house Caelthorn, had multiple shallow wounds from engaging with the enemy.

Mary on the other hand, had some several deep gashes from when a corrupted monster wounded her.

The assassins were brutal, quick and efficient, they had much preparation and their teamwork was what made the situation more worse.

With the dying cultists, their bodies sent an ugly invisible thread that wouldn't be undone so easily.

Adam on the other hand was completely fine, his armour protected him from the blows and most of the assassins were peak C rank, so he was able to handle them without any issue.

"Are you all—?" Duke was the one asking, his voice was raw.

"We're alive," Sarah quickly replied, she was counting heads to see if everyone was accounted for. "That's good and all, but we lost a lot of time. The gate is now unstable."

Adam's jaw tightening. He realized the severity of this situation, with the cultists interfering and also the assassin's hindering them.

Then he realized something too, this was a well coordinated attack, the gate corruption, cultists and assassins. This was a trap to begin with and they took the bait.

Meanwhile...

This area was beneath the palace, in a cloistered chamber. Since people couldn't transmit what happens inside a gate and couldn't show what happens inside, only the relayed information using mana orbs.

A cultist who had a direct feed with their members outside prince Cedric's communication range smirked when he heard Adams name through the transmission, he knew this could be both an opportunity or it could be very dangerous.

Cedric on the other hand watched the whole scene, his jaws were tightened.

The assassins came, they were prepared and ready but, they failed.

He started grinding his teeth but he never shouted. He took a deep sigh. "Tell the other team to get ready," he instructed his subordinates. "This will be the final attempt, don't underestimate them this time. If this doesn't remove him from the board, then I'll just remove his supporters."

The advisor bowed deeply and then moved to the communication orb, and he relayed the final instructions to the final team inside the gate.

This time it was more direct, it should be subtle there should be no wounds that show blade strikes, just a gate causality.

Back In The Gate.

The whole team was regrouped after they banded their wounds and healed them with some health potions they had in stock, they were looking at the path that they were going to take.

Their march would be even harder now, because of the fatigue from their last battle and their depleting potions and mana reserves.

Kyrexis has revealed his hand and someone with authority helped them plan this out perfectly. Things would get harder down here but Adam swore to himself, once they get out he's going to make them pay.

Adam looked over them while sheathing his swords. He met Selena and Duke's steady eyes. "We're moving," he said. His voice didn't hold and grand promises for victory, only just the task at hand. "We're finishing this."

That's when all of them took deep breaths and rose up. The gate's final challenge layed ahead and it was going to be even harder than before.

The very air was growing even more heavy inside the gate. There was a crimson mist that surrounded the area which lowered their visibility. And the mana become even more erratic.

Adam scanned the whole battlefield, to see if there were any more hidden enemies.

The whole team gathered up together once more, but this time most of their faces were pale but there was a lingering fire that was burning in their eyes.

The last of the cultists was killed but he just melted into black sludge, this was absorbed by the core.

It seemed like the core they defeated before wasn't the one responsible for the corruption, as all the bodies even there cores themselves turned into black sludge and got absorbed by the gate.

"So that's the thing responsible for all this corruption." Sarah said, she was tightening her grip on her staff. "Seems like the other core's were it's spawns, and they fed their energy to the source."

"Well this be the end of it," Adam replied her with a firm tone. "Everyone this is the final hurdle. Brace yourselves, this will be harder than before."

But he couldn't add anything more to that, because the ground started to tremble violently.

There were cracks that were spreading beneath them, and those cracks started to glow with black light.

There was a pulse of mana that erupted from the core, and from the cracks started to emerge new figures.

They all seemed like ordinary monsters at first. There were wolves, ogre's and beasts, but the difference was their forms.

Their forms were more twisted, they reshaped into something grotesque, it was like an even more nightmarish version of their original forms.

And there were dozens, and the number increased to hundreds, they began crawling of the of darkness towards them.

Everyone was tense and they readied themselves. Eve clenched her teeth in frustration. "That's too many monsters for us to deal with."

Charles just drew his katana, a brow of sweat started to form, there was lightning flickering on his body and the blade. "Then we'll just cut them down faster."

Adam on the other hand was calm, but his eyes flickered gold just for a moment.

[Sovereign's Aura]

His mana was spread through the field and enveloped the whole team easing their tension and pressure.

"We'll cut down through them before the core evolves! I'll destroy the core."

That's when everyone started to prepare to unleash their might.

Jake was the one who acted first, his pride still bruised but his will was even stronger.

He charged forward, wind flickering across his whole form. His sword was glowing with a fierce green aura. "Crescent Wind Slash!" he slashed down several of the corrupted beasts wing just one swing of his sword.

Sarah and Simon covered were together, black-to-back and started to weave a bunch of spells together.

Water and earth were combing to form walls to defend against on onslaught and also spears that pierced through the corrupted beasts.

Doom and Charles meanwhile, they anchored the line, both their raw power was shaking the ground.

With every strike they were smashing apart wave after wave of the abominations that came forward.

The battle that was ongoing was chaotic, brutal and it didn't seem to end.

Every time monsters fell, another one came in its stead, it was an unending cycle.

That's when a sound came, it was deep, a vibrating roar that made everyone but Adam freeze.

The core was morphing again, its form now stretching into a colossal shape.

There was a swirling mass of corruption that was condensing into a monstrous figure, its shape was humanoid except for the hundreds of glowing red eyes all around its body.

Its voice was echoing in their minds.

"You dare defy my will... of my Lord the Outer One?"

Everyone was feeling a wave of madness that was pressing against their minds.

Eve was gritting her teeth and defying it through sheer will, she shouted. "Everyone focus! Don't listen to it just block it out with your mana!"

Adam however remained unaffected, his was immune to these type of tricks and his physique could also block it off.

His golden eyes were blazing even brighter. His mana bursting out like a storm, this repelled the psychic pressure for his team.

He then drew his sword, it was humming faintly with energy as if agreeing with him.

"Everyone, hand the monsters!" He yelled. "I'll destroy the core myself!"

[Partial Transformation]

A swirling mass of mana formed at his back creating his large dragon wings, but he hid their shape with ice so his team wouldn't notice.

He then leapt forward and soared through the corrupted sky.

The core saw him approaching, from its back formed tendrils that lashed towards him.

Adam saw this, frost gathered around his sword as he sliced through them effortlessly, his movements were sharp and efficient.

The tendrils that got cut would instantly freeze and break into little ice dusts.

The others were supporting his charge from behind.

Eve was bursting launching bolts of ice shards to distract the tendrils.

Grace was weaving her flames burning away some of the tendrils as well.

And Finn like a loyal knight was following his path, using his lightning fast movements to perform rapid strikes.

Everyone was doing their past in this massive class.

The Core reared back and using its arm, launched one massive tendril towards Adam.

"Space Slash."

Adam raised his sword and made a single cut through space, the massive tendril got cut in half and got encased in ice.

He moved through with blinding speed and gathered a mass of violet mana on his palm, shooting it towards the core.

"Collapse."

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.