Chapter 149: The Follower

"Guerilla, if... I suddenly thought, how wonderful it would be if neither of us had ever met that man, if neither of us had ever left our hometown, and everything remained just as it used to be..."

Umbrella walked up to Guerilla, gently reached out to touch her face, and looked at her peaceful expression, which resembled that of someone fast asleep. Countless scenes from the past seemed to flash through her mind all at once.

Tears welled up in Umbrella's eyes, mixing with blood as they streamed down and dripped onto Guerilla's body.

"The past cannot be pursued; what is gone is gone forever. From this moment on, I shall acquire all the power of the ancient mages and become the one and only true god in this world, reigning supreme above all factions!"

As Umbrella spoke, the aura surrounding her shifted abruptly, turning arrogant and domineering, completely different from her previous nostalgic demeanor.

"Guerilla, Dominic, the two of you will live on in my memory forever..."

With these words, she reached out and pressed her hand against Guerilla's chest. Divine power surged forth, intending to extract the Heart of the Mage that Guerilla had sealed within her body.

"Where the starlight shrouds..."

"The gods have fallen into slumber..."

"Greed, stupidity, arrogance, evil..."

"Everything shall be brought to an end!"

Guerilla's voice resounded once more through the grand hall. The battle staff that had rolled far away floated up on its own, its entire body radiating a dazzling holy light that illuminated the gloomy hall.

"What? Guerilla! You're not dead?" Umbrella gasped in shock, instantly retreating and dodging far away.

"No, little An, I am already dead. This is the final ritual, and everything shall come to an end!"

Guerilla's body stood up automatically. Light began to shine from her form, and the blood and tears that had dripped onto her all transformed into bizarre runes, connecting themselves to Umbrella.

"Dead?" Umbrella's breath hitched. Looking at everything unfolding before her, she suddenly spoke in exasperation, "If you're dead, you should just lie down quietly! Why are you standing back up? What kind of damned ritual are you trying to complete?! Wouldn't it be better to just end this battle sooner?"

"Why? Guerilla! From the time we met until now, in every single conflict, I have never won once! Now that you're already dead, wouldn't it hurt to let me win just this once?"

"..."

Guerilla's body stiffened slightly, as if she still possessed some sense and had heard her words.

"I never imagined you harbored such a fixation in your heart... But I'm sorry, little An. If you had said this sooner, I would have let you win as many times as you wanted in all our past struggles."

"Only this once, I cannot let you win. As I said long ago, the outcome is already sealed. It is over..."

As Guerilla's voice faded in, intense magical fluctuations surged through the entire grand hall. Everyone present felt as though they had suddenly and inexplicably sunk into a quagmire.

They could not move their bodies, nor could they speak.

Fortunately, they could still blink.

Otherwise, keeping their eyes open this whole time would surely dry them out.

Umbrella's eyes widened in horror. She finally seemed to understand why the two magical artifacts she had fused into her body had mysteriously vanished earlier.

The magical fluctuations at this moment felt very similar to that time, only seemingly much stronger.

Yet the spell's effect did not reach the extent of freezing time and space as before.

This seemed rather bizarre.

However, Umbrella knew it wasn't that Guerilla didn't want to do that, but rather that the even more powerful portion of magic was forming an entirely different spell.

A formidable magic that she was powerless to resist was about to be unleashed!

"If... if I surrender now, is it still too late?" Umbrella gazed emptily across the room. Aside from her inability to move, her body also sensed a binding and pulling force.

It felt as though it was about to drag her off to some terrifying place.

"I am sorry, little An, but I am already dead. None of this can be altered!" Guerilla's voice rang out once more.

Immediately following, an unimaginably profound magic circle appeared in the sky above the hall, its light enveloping everyone.

"The eternal, unchanging starlight... Is that where I am about to go?" Umbrella stared at the magic circle and the origin of the light, whispering in utter despair.

"Yes... little An, you, I, and him, all of us shall be banished to that place, unto eternity..."

"Eternal banishment!"

With a resounding shout and a surge of divine power, a rift opened within the magic circle suspended in mid-air. The void seemed to split apart, emitting a powerful suction force from within, as if several invisible ropes had bound themselves around Umbrella, dragging her inward.

Dominic Alex was also sucked inside.

"It is over..."

Guerilla's voice drifted through the dungeon, while her body transformed into a beam of light and flew straight into the rift.

Moments later, the void sealed shut, and the magic circle began to self-destruct. All the runes burned together, shattering and collapsing until nothing remained.

Clang...

The battle staff left behind by Guerilla fell to the ground, shattering instantly into countless pieces and being utterly destroyed.

Crash...

Several sections of the grand hall collapsed once more, and several stone walls adorned with relief carvings rapidly deteriorated.

A brief calm returned to the dungeon.

Inside the hall, the survivors who had narrowly escaped death looked at each other in speechlessness, feeling as though they had just awakened from a dream.

"Captain..."

Fiona stirred her body, waking from the trance, and slowly opened her eyes to see Luo Yong's back.

The monsters in the hall and its immediate surroundings had vanished along with them.

Luo Yong put away all of his magitech combat puppets and opened a portal to leave the place.

"Hero! Please wait!"

A figure rushed over from not far away, panting slightly due to physical weakness.

"Can you let us leave together?"

"Yes, take us along with you!"

"We've lost all our combat strength; staying here any longer will only lead to death..."

Before Luo Yong could speak, a crowd swarmed over in a flurry, all casting their gazes upon him.

"Let's go."

Luo Yong nodded and stepped into the portal of light first.

"Hey, Captain, wait for me!" Fiona noticed the rather strange look the young man in the crowd was casting her way, but she had no time to ponder it. Seeing that Luo Yong had left, she hurriedly gave chase.

Even though this party consisted of only two people.

Even though this captain often wanted to ditch her and was always icy cold with no warmth.

Yet, Fiona deeply felt that tagging along by his side was quite comfortable and exceptionally safe...

Therefore, as long as he didn't swing a sword to chop her down, she could just brazenly follow right behind him!

Besides, the captain used a mercenary spear; why would he ever use a sword to chop her?

Hehe!

Dozens of figures followed Luo Yong out of the portal, greeted by a dense forest.

A short distance further ahead lay the ruins of the ancient city.

Many people had visited this place before entering the dungeon.

"Hero!"

Just as Luo Yong was walking into the distance, someone shouted from behind once more:

"Excuse me, is your party still recruiting? I—I don't want to explore the dungeon anymore. With those people gone, our party is essentially disbanded..."

"That's right, hero, we all want to join your party!"

"We are willing to follow you, acknowledge you as our captain, and obey your commands!"

"Take us in!"

Once one person initiated it, the others chimed in as well.

These people had all witnessed Luo Yong's magitech combat puppets; their legion-style combat was simply an overwhelming, steamrolling existence at this stage.

Following behind him meant they could effortlessly coast to victory!

Much like the young girl trotting right behind him at this moment.

At this point, many gazes fell upon Fiona right behind Luo Yong, carrying a distinct sense of wanting to replace her.

"Hmph!"

Sensing these intentions, Fiona shook her small fist at those people, looking rather indignant.

"That's right..."

Luo Yong looked at the crowd, suddenly recalling something, and said, "Fiona, the Wizard's Eye I took from you earlier was... well, in short, it's gone. Let's take this golden orb of light as compensation!"

"Eh?" Just as Fiona stood there in a daze, a golden orb of light was already shoved into her hand.

"Oh ho! Long live the captain!" Fiona cheered, jumping up and down with joy.

"Don't get too happy just yet; I simply don't like owing others anything," Luo Yong said flatly.

Since the dungeon monsters couldn't be farmed anymore, he had to rack his brain once more...

Glancing at the eager gazes opposite him, Luo Yong remained entirely unmoved and said emotionlessly, "I am used to farming monsters alone."

"Uh, this..."

"It doesn't matter what you like to do; we can just stand on the side and cheer for you!"

"Yeah! I can shout '666'..."

"Oh, and me, I can do that too!"

"..."

Luo Yong was left utterly speechless. He never expected that besides Poting, this otherworld possessed so many people utterly devoid of integrity.

And so many of them at that.

And they had all gathered in one place.

And he had actually bumped into all of them, damn it!

"I am going to do something very dangerous."

Facing these people, Luo Yong began in a deep voice, "It might be a one-way trip with a ten-in-ten chance of death. If you are willing to follow, then follow, but don't blame me if you die later."

Having said that, without paying any mind to those people or glancing at their expressions, Luo Yong strode away directly, heading into the distance.

"Ah, well... he just left like that. Should we follow him or not?" a young man asked.

"I'm following!" The teenage boy looked at Fiona's receding back, a strange glint flashing in his eyes, and resolutely trailed after them.

"Then, what about the rest of you? What is everyone thinking?"

"Of course we decisively follow! That's legion-level combat power! If we miss out now, we'll regret it for the rest of our lives!"

"That's right..."

"Makes sense!"

After a brief discussion among the group, they all followed suit, rapidly closing the distance and walking closely behind Luo Yong.