Chapter 632: Untimely Reunion
{ Level 30, cleared! }
{ Combat Skills and Damage Dealt had crossed the threshold of Level 33 by 11 Levels... }
{ Level 40, cleared! }
{ Level 50, cleared! }
{ Level 60, cleared! }
Despite the consistent increase in difficulty with each Level she passed, Aurora didn’t really feel much of a difference as she breezed through the lower flowers.
Things only started getting a little troublesome starting from the 70th Level. The Hellhound she faced had tremendous tenacity, but such a challenge only made things slightly more difficult.
{ Level 70, cleared! }
In the end, with just one of Aurora’s fresh Maelstroms, the Arena immediately gave her access to the 80th Level.
However, the 80th Level held an even bigger surprise. Her opponent was a Dragonoid that looked just like the one she had faced in the White Tower, only the color of the scales was different.
’Interesting.’
Sporting black scales rather than white, the Dragonoid was at least three times, if not four times as strong!
In fact, it was strong enough to eat a second Light Blade Maelstrom before perishing.
{ Level 80, cleared. }
That being said, considering that Aurora hadn’t given her all during that fight, she only skipped up to the 86th Level, meeting another Dragonoid.
So, this time, she threw an enhanced Maelstrom from the get-go.
{ Level 86, cleared! }
Unfortunately, even that didn’t push her past the skip limit, only pushing her up to the 93rd Level.
’Huh?’
As soon as the pillar of light covering Aurora disappeared, a strange voice made its way into her head.
However...
{ Level 93, cleared! }
Before she could understand what was happening, the fully charged Maelstrom she had prepared to skip even more Levels was unleashed, turning the weird creature in front of her into ashes.
’What was that?’
Aurora couldn’t help feeling somewhat confused, wondering if her brain had gained a new type of personality, but seeing as that strange voice only appeared once, she didn’t give it much attention.
After all, she had just confirmed that the 100th Level was the final challenge she had to face.
As for the result
{ Level 100, cleared! }
{ Congratulations! You have cleared the Multiversal Arena of Ascension V2.3! }
’Is it finally over?’
As the corpse in front of her disappeared with a flash of Light, Aurora took a deep breath as she went over the last message she received.
Just as she had guessed, the Multiversal Arena of Ascension had way more stages than the White Tower, but thanks to the skipping privileges, climbing wasn’t as cumbersome as she had expected it to be.
{ Processing Allocated Reward... }
{ Advancing into the Main Encroachment Gate’s second stage... Would you like to proceed? }
’I should take a few minutes first.’
The Golden Dragon she had to face at the very end was definitely no ordinary monster.
Although she was still able to beat him by continuously spamming one Maelstrom after the other, Aurora ended feeling depleted by the time the Golden Dragon gave up its life.
’I don’t exactly know what is waiting for me on the other side.’
Even with her insane rate of Enigma recovery, she still needed a little time to fill up the amount of Enigma she would feel safe with.
Whether it was another challenge like the one that appeared in the previous Encroachment Gate or something even worse, facing them in a state of Enigma exhaustion would be no different from suicide.
’Things will be different, this time.’
Remembering the state of her mind back then, Aurora firmly refused to let Cassian do everything on his own while she speechlessly watched like a bystander.
Additionally, given his obscure stance, part of Aurora was telling her to prepare for the off-chance that he might turn against her.
After all, Cassian was still a Villain in the end.
However...
’I’m not the target.’
Aside from that single doubtful thought, Aurora was almost completely sure that he was here to do the same thing he did last time.
Clearing this Gate as quickly as possible!
’I need to understand.’
And before that happened, Aurora wanted to understand why he was doing all of this, and why she became such a mess whenever he was around.
Naturally, she had no plans of standing in his way since their goal was practically the same, but Aurora also didn’t want to miss the chance to resolve her confusion once and for all.
"Proceed."
{ Trial of Ascension, cleared. }
Burning with anticipation, Aurora immediately blurted out the clear command once her Enigma grew sufficient.
{ Proceeding to the Trial of Defense... }
{ You have arrived at the Main Encroachment Frontier. }
The space she appeared in, once the pillar of light engulfed her for the last time, was completely barren.
Except for a single figure up ahead.
"Cassian?"
{ The Final Trial, the Trial of Defense is being initiated... }
Once she confirmed the identity of that figure, Aurora’s heart started beating heavily as her head flared once again.
"Hey! Cassian!"
However, this time, Aurora didn’t let her panicked state take control. Despite the urge to let everything spiral, she steadied herself in place as she shouted at him to grab his attention.
{ Time until Initiation, 731 seconds. }
’This is just right!’
Since whatever ordeal they had to face wasn’t going to start right away, this was practically her chance to answer all her questions.
Naturally, when he didn’t even look in her direction, Aurora wondered if he was busy with something, but on second glance, Cassian was just standing in place doing nothing.
Being ignored, the shaken part of Aurora felt a sense of relief, urging her to just stay still until everything started, all to avoid a direct interaction with the person who put her in this state.
’No!’
Naturally, Aurora firmly declined. Rather than be like this every time she was in his presence, she might as well get this over with!
"Hey!"
However...
{ All Trial Participants had reached the Main Encroachment Frontier. }
As light flashed right next to her, the one to answer her call was not Cassian.
"Oh, hey."
Instead, it was the reliable Kara who did her best to keep up.
{ The Trial of Defense will be immediately deployed! }
Unknowingly, by doing so, she had started a chain reaction that could never be stopped.