Chapter 443: Pay the Bet

[Gate Condition fulfilled.]

A deep roar spread across the entire realm.

The huge upside-down mountain that had remained still in the center of the sky since the beginning of the test suddenly shook.

Pieces of stone broke away from its lower surface and fell into the sea of black clouds, while lines of golden light came out through the cracks in the mountain.

However, no path toward it appeared.

Lian, who had just left the Spirit Seal battlefield, fixed his eyes on the mountain.

Several more notifications appeared in front of his eyes.

[Three Royal Seals are in the hands of one alliance.]

[Conditions for opening the central path fulfilled.]

[Transfer the Royal Seals to the Central Gate.]

[The first three Seals placed in the Gate will open the path to the upside-down mountain.]

It was still not over and the next notification showed why collecting more than one Seal had been useful.

[Active Participation Reward activated.]

[The alliance that places the highest number of Royal Seals in the Gate will receive additional points.]

"So there are even bonus points for who opens the gate." He muttered to himself and once again realized the importance of points.

Apart from the points, almost everyone’s eyes were on the broken crown on the upside-down mountain and they thought it would decide the final winner and first place.

But something told him that there was something wrong with that crown.

At that moment, the ground in the distance shook and several kilometers ahead, on the last island connected to the central path, a huge crack opened in the ground.

Two black pillars came out from the rock.

Ten meters.

Twenty meters.

Thirty meters.

Until the height of each one passed fifty meters.

Between them, a stone arch slowly formed and a dark golden surface filled the empty space inside it, something like still water with no waves on its surface.

At the bottom of the arch, three stone platforms also rose from the ground and each one had a place for a Seal.

Only three places.

Behind the Gate there was still nothing and only empty space, the sea of black clouds and the upside-down mountain floating kilometers away in the sky.

Lian looked at the scene for several seconds and then opened his points panel.

[Points: 994.]

His eyebrow rose slightly.

"Nine hundred and ninety-four..."

Before entering the second stage, he had not even reached four hundred, but two Royal Seal Guardians, two Seals and his performance in the battles had caused his points to almost triple.

The main question was where everyone else stood.

How many points did Rodrick have?

He knew the points of his friends, and it was unlikely that they had changed much.

And maybe there was only one person who had a chance of having points close to his, and even that person was unlikely to have a performance anywhere near his.

But in any case, the answer did not matter for now and he headed toward the Gate.

About ten minutes later, Lian found his group of friends.

Even before getting completely close, it was clear that the battle against the Resistance Seal Guardian had been hard enough for them.

A temporary bandage was wrapped around Rindo’s right arm and a red spot was slowly appearing under the cloth.

Seraphina was sitting beside a large rock and pouring a healing potion over the deep cut on her shoulder.

Kain’s armor was torn at the side and a large bruise covered almost the entire left side of his body.

Ethan was wiping the dried blood under his nose with the back of his hand and Marcus was drinking the last bit of a recovery potion with an unhappy expression.

Even Liana’s Silvercrest Gryphon had not escaped without injuries.

Several long feathers on its right wing were broken and there was a mark from a heavy hit on the natural armor of its chest.

Selina was bandaging the wound on Cassian’s forearm when the sound of the heavy steps of Ancient armor spread along the path.

Everyone raised their heads and Liana was the first to smile.

"Finally, there he is."

Kain immediately turned around.

"Where did you disappear—" His words stopped halfway and his eyes fell on the young Vorhelm’s hands.

There were two Seals in his hands!

They had heard it from the system notification, but seeing it with their own eyes ...was even more shocking.

For several seconds, his mind seemed unwilling to accept what he was seeing.

"Wait a second...are these two both real?"

"As far as I know, yeah."

Kain first looked at the Seals, then at the rest of the group and then back at Lian.

"We all went and got one Seal, all of us! We had to go through so much trouble just to defeat one Guardian and ...you got two during the same amount of time?" He thought that the distance between him and his best friend had disappeared.

But it seemed that it had not only failed to disappear, it had reached an unbelievable level instead ...how was something like this even possible?

"That doesn’t matter, what matters is that we have three Seals now." Lian was too lazy to answer and he really had no idea how he could explain it in a logical way.

Seraphina stood up and her eyes stayed on the two Seals for a few moments before slowly settling on his face.

He had defeated two Guardians in almost the same amount of time as all of them had needed to fight one Guardian.

She already knew that the difference between Lian and the others was large.

But every time she thought she had finally understood the real size of that difference, this boy did something that made her previous estimate look ridiculous.

Rindo also said nothing but his calculating eyes had reached almost the same conclusion.

"Well...at least we don’t have to worry about whether we have three Seals anymore." He finally added and brought them back to the main matter.

"Now we have to worry about who reaches the Gate before us." Lian reminded them of an important point.

If Rodrick arrived earlier and placed two Seals into the platforms, his group could still get the highest points from this part.

That sentence was enough to end the jokes and the Student Council President immediately nodded.

"We move, drink your potions while we go, we don’t know how much time we will have after the Gate opens."

The group started moving again.

The farther they went, the larger the huge upside-down mountain became, from this distance it was no longer just a black mass in the sky.

Huge floating rocks could be seen around it and several strange rivers flowed across its surface, rivers that moved upward from the lower part of the mountain against gravity.

Chains as thick as buildings hung from different parts of it, but some of them were connected to nothing and their ends floated in empty space.

Ruins could also be seen on the surface of the mountain.

Broken towers, huge stairs, walls with parts of them buried inside the rock and above everything else ...the golden and black crown.

It was still floating like a small star at the highest part of the mountain.

But there was no bridge or path between the island and the mountain.

The only way was that Gate.

When Lian’s group reached the central field, no one else was there yet.

They stood in front of the three Seal platforms.

"I think we arrived first." Rindo looked around.

"I think more accurately, we arrived at the same time." Seraphina said calmly and it was clear that she had sensed something.

A sound came from one of the bridges behind them, the sound of many footsteps.

Everyone turned to see what was happening and saw a few people appear first, then ten ...twenty...thirty and the number continued to grow.

Rodrick’s group entered the field from the end of the bridge, although there was no longer any sign of that army of more than seventy people.

Some had been eliminated in the Guardian battles and some were still on the way but there were still more than forty people with him, practically several times more than their group.

Rodrick was walking in front, with a Seal shining in his hand.

Strength Seal.

A little behind him and to his right, Elena was walking and had the Mana Seal.

So all five Seals now had holders.

The two groups stopped on opposite sides of the field, no one attacked and no one even spoke, but the air became noticeably heavier.

Rodrick’s eyes first fell on Rindo, then on the Resistance Seal and then slowly moved toward Lian.

The two Seals were not in his hands, but the public notifications had already made it clear who had obtained them.

Rodrick’s face remained cold and no extra emotion could be seen except for one long and calculating look.

The young Vorhelm also looked directly at him, several moments passed and then the corner of his lips rose slightly.

"It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other." He said calmly.

Rodrick looked at him for several seconds.

"It should be around ten months, right? Of course, it seems less time has passed for you, but it’s clear that you’ve changed as much as ten months."

"Long enough." Lian answered, another gaze was also still on him.

Elena.

The girl’s eyes first stayed on his face.

Then they moved down to the World-Devourer Bastion.

Then to his hands and the two Seals that she knew he had taken by himself and a complicated feeling passed through the depths of her eyes.

Shock?

Regret?

Sadness?

Maybe something else.

None of them were clear enough to give them a name, perhaps even she did not know exactly what she was feeling.

Lian kept his eyes on her for a moment, only a moment and then looked away without any special reaction.

Something in Elena’s expression became tense for a fraction of a second, but she controlled it immediately.

The young Vorhelm was now looking at someone else.

Darren.

He was standing in the second row beside Rodrick and from the moment they entered the field, he had deliberately tried not to look at him even once.

Unfortunately for him, Lian had not forgotten and his smile became a little deeper.

"Oh, good that you came too, it’s time to do your bet." He then said in a friendly tone.