Dairen's struggles were getting weaker and weaker. His breath shortening.

Snow wasn’t sure how long she could last holding him down. The pure strength and will to keep him in place with a surge of her own magical power wasn’t something to laugh about. Even for one moment, she got distracted. She knew that everything that she had put into would be lost. Instead, in seconds she would be overpowered.

All her focus was to knock him out.

It took a moment, but she felt the amount of power that Dairen was giving was slowly let go. The thudding heartbeat in her throat and ears was finally calming down, allowing her to take a better breather.

Dairen's body slumped.

Snow could feel the powerful shiver, allowing her to let out a heavy breath of relief. She slumped back onto the ground, exhausted. She was glad that she was able to knock him out without killing him.

Light steps approached her as their footsteps kicked up a few small rocks. Snow glanced over her shoulder, wondering who it was.

“Is he dead?” Mike asked, a bit worriedly.

“No.” Saying those two words were difficult for her. Her chest heaved with quick breaths, trying to grasp for some air. It took a moment for her to calm her heart down. “Dairen's just temporarily out.”

Mike was nudging Dairen with his foot. He stopped to look down at her. “You think he will wake up with that crazy attitude again?”

“I hope not.”

“Still, there is a chance.”

“For sure.” Snow sighed. She wasn’t a big fan of it, but there was a high possibility. Who knew what Dairen would do for the next few minutes as he slowly woke up.

Getting up, she pushed Dairen’s body off her leg. Taking a good look at him, she could see the normal Dairen that she was used to. The darkness of his skin was slowly fading away, bringing him back to his peach color.

“I think he’s coming back.” Snow quietly said she was entrapped by the unexpected change. There was a certain glamor around his appearance. He was a lot sharper, and the calm air around him disappeared and instead was replaced by a more frigid aura. Not only that, she felt a draw towards him, more challenging than before. At first, she thought it was just her erratic heart beating from the struggle, but that wasn’t the case at all.

There was magic calmly vibing around him that would attract anyone who didn’t have magic. Even the strong wouldn’t have realized that they were attracted to him effortlessly.

Mike rubbed his eyes a few times. He then blinked and frowned deeply. “Is there some kind of glamor surrounding him?”

“Yes.”

Mike scrunched his eyebrows. “I thought it was weird.”

“You’re feeling the same thing?”

“No. I have a weird urge to fight Dairen.”

“Really?”

“Yea. I know it’s strange, but that’s how I feel.” He rubbed his chin, trying to figure out what was going on. “It's not like me.”

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Levian walked over. He was bleeding from head to toe with the extensive amount of cuts he had on his body. Their short entanglement had caused more surface damage.

“It’s their natural ability.” Levian pulled back his hair. “We kill him now and be done with this.”

“No.” Both Snow and Mike sharply replied.

Mike replied, “would you like it if I said that to you? To kill you now?”

“If it's a must, then yes.” Levian had snorted. “I know what the future entails, and the Demon King will rise again. If you don’t want this world to end with complete annihilation, then I suggest we end this here.”

“Right.” Mike rolled his eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

“Believe what you want. I stand by my words.” Levian crossed his hand and wiped away the blade. “If I had a choice to save this world. I would.”

“Why?” Mike asked. “This is not our world.”

Even Snow wanted to know why Levian would do everything for this world. What was his angel? Why go through something that he had no affiliations to.

Levian snapped. “You think this is a game?”

“Not anymore.” Mike retorted back defensively. “I know this world is just the same as Earth. Having real-life people here I could share with. People I have made friends with and even consider my family.” His voice said with a hint of pride.

“Then you should know what it means when this world ends.”

“Yes.” Mike nodded. This was the first time that they both agreed on something.

“Then you should know how I feel.”

Mike didn’t have anything else to say. Even Snow knew that if there was a chance to stop a catastrophe from happening, she would dive in deeply without a second thought. But, this was Dairen. Her heart and guts wouldn’t allow her to take the knife to stab him. She didn’t want to take such an action without it being the last resort.

“Now, move aside and let me finish what needs to be started.” Levian stepped forward, pushing Mike aside.

But Mike stood in place. He raised his hand, stopping Levian from going.

“You kidding me, right? We’re doing this again?” Levian rolled his eyes. He then turned around, shaking his head at them, whispering something like they didn’t care about this planet.

“I swear, he gets under my skin.” Mike huffed and puffed. “Can we ditch him?” He motioned his head at Levian.

“Not yet. We still need to get out of this dungeon and close this dungeon. There is too much at risk here.” Snow was on her knees. Her hand glowed with light magic, twirling tightly in the shape of a rope. She reached out, grabbing hold of his hand. There was still warmth present, telling her that he was still alive.

Quickly, she moved her hand around his wrist, tightening around into a rope. She then hobbled over to his feet and did the same thing.

With her efforts completed, she got up.

“That should be able to hold him in place.”

Mike was a bit skeptical. “You sure a light rope will keep him in place?” He halfheartedly chuckled. “He beat up Levian fine and almost you as well.”

Snow nodded with confidence. “I tweaked it a bit. It should hold.”

“Good. I don’t want to fight him any time soon.” Mike sighed. He then turned around, looking for someone to help carry Dairen. So far, he found nobody as most of the priest and priestess were on the ground knocked out.

It took time for the others to wake up. Many of them were confused about what was going on. Some screamed in terror, waking up in fear. The suppressive power that Dairen had given off had caused them to feel fear.

Mike and Snow took their time to make a stretcher for Dairen. They couldn’t carry him as they needed to be vigilant against any monsters that could arise.

Mike had to run around and ask a few of the guards that were with them to help pick him up. Some of them were adamant about not wanting to be near Darien purely out of fear of what he had done. It took a lot of persuasion that Dairen couldn’t escape from the shackles put on him.

Eventually, they were able to continue on their journey through the ruins.

It was a slow walk as many of them were exhausted and tired from the heavy energy in the air. If normal people walked into this dungeon, just upon entering, they would have been crushed by the demonic dark energy and died.

For hours, they kept walking through the ruins of buildings that cropped up like broken knives. Snow wonders what civilizations were present during its time of glory. At first, the buildings they saw were made of stones, but eventually, as they continued on their walk, it was as if they were seeing the timeline of different architecture fasting to the modern era.

Many of the buildings were worn and ground down by the weather. Strange plants were growing out from the side, giving it a ghastly look. It was as if the plants were trying to devour and merge into the building itself but could not. Broken glasses were still present on the buildings, giving it a presence that people once lived there recently.

Eventually, Snow came to a large building that reminded her of an auditorium. They headed inside.

Quickly, everyone went to work to sweep up the debris to make way for them to start camp.

Snow left the group with Levian. They both searched the area for any possible monsters that could be lurking in the dark.

So far, they didn’t find anything.

Coming back from their search, a heavy air of delicious smell of beef and potato lingered in the air. Snow smacked her lips. She didn’t realize that she was hungry until now. The amount of stress and movement that she had to cover had depleted her reservoir of calories, and she needed fuel to keep going.

“Saintess!” A young priestess waved her hand. “We got food ready for you!”

Snow turned toward the noise. It was a small little teenage girl that came up to her chest. She had only spoken a little bit with her, and all she could remember was her name: Flo.

Coming over, Flo had a large bowl of soup, bread, and a drink.

Snow gratefully took them into her hand.

The smell lingered in her nose, tickling her stomach and mind. With a satisfied sigh, she found an open space to sit down and eat.