Chapter 174: Falling Out.

Claire’s eyes went cold, and her body shot through space. They couldn’t just allow Damien to leave. What if he told everyone else that Andrea had the bodies of their friends and loved ones down here and was trying to turn them undead?

Special status effect or not, the backlash would be dire. The people outside didn’t know what Andrea had planned, and Claire had no idea how they would react if Damien exposed it to them. They had followed Andrea because they believed she would lead them through this tower alive. If they learned that she had secretly collected the bodies of their fallen comrades for something like this, there was no telling how quickly that trust would disappear.

Black miasma suddenly shot out of Damien’s body, and Therizon emerged with a loud screech. Its talons cut through space and latched onto Claire’s body before launching her into the tunnel wall.

The impact sent a dull crack through the artificial tunnel. Claire grunted in pain, and blood began to flow freely from the back of her head as she struggled to regain her balance. She had expected Damien to resist, but she hadn’t expected his undead to react so quickly. There had barely been any warning before Therizon had crossed the distance between them and thrown her aside.

"Watch yourself, Claire. Space masters ain’t as invincible as you think."

Claire wasn’t convinced. Her expression hardened as she pushed herself away from the wall. She knew exactly what Damien was capable of, but she also knew what was at stake. If he walked out of this cave and started talking, Andrea’s plan could collapse before they even had a chance to face whatever was awakening beneath the city.

Her body vanished once again.

This time, Therizon simply spread its wings and screeched loudly.

A soul-crushing pressure spread out in all directions, and Claire was forced out of her space before she could even understand what had happened. The moment she reappeared, Damien’s hands grasped her neck.

"The first time might be ignorance, but the second time is foolishness. Die."

The difference in strength was overwhelming. His fingers tightened around her throat, and for the first time since entering the cave, genuine fear flashed across her face. She had fought powerful creatures before, and she had survived situations where a single mistake could have killed her, but Damien was a different type of monster.

Andrea suddenly appeared next to them and held Damien’s wrist before he could crush Claire’s neck.

"Wait. She was just worried you might try to tarnish my reputation. Let her go."

Damien exaggerated his expression of confusion. "Oh. Is that all? She only tried to murder me twice in a row... Let go."

Andrea’s eyes finally went cold. Damien was starting to push his luck with her. Insubordination was one thing, but spitting in her face was another. She had tolerated his attitude because she understood his personality, but there was a difference between Damien being difficult and Damien openly challenging everything she said.

Damien wasn’t backing down. His black miasma began to spread all around them, and low guttural roars started to shake the artificial tunnel. Darkness crawled across the ground and walls, swallowing the torchlight around them as more of Damien’s undead presence poured into the tunnel.

Andrea’s grip remained firm around his wrist, while Damien’s free hand stayed close to Claire’s neck. Neither of them moved, but the tension between them had already reached the point where the next movement could turn the argument into a real fight.

Just as they were about to attack, a bolt of lightning landed next to them, prompting all of them to turn toward Yuri.

Andrea was stunned, and Damien raised his guard further. Even Claire stopped struggling for a second, her attention drawn toward the woman standing several steps away.

They’d never seen Yuri like this. Her whole body was covered in thick lightning bolts that occasionally snapped out at random, crawling over her skin before disappearing back into her body. The air around her seemed to tremble with each discharge, and the faint crackling of electricity filled the tunnel.

Andrea was familiar with Yuri’s ability and status. She didn’t really have a status effect that she knew of, but her Dormant ability was well known.

Yuri could move incredibly quickly using short bursts of lightning. It usually manifested so faintly that most people had never even seen her lightning, even while she fought, because it appeared only as faint electric currents running along her skin. Her speed was what people noticed. The lightning itself was barely more than a trace, something that vanished almost as soon as it appeared.

But this was different.

There was nothing faint about the lightning covering Yuri now. It surged over her body in thick arcs, occasionally snapping into the ground or walls with enough force to make everyone nearby tense. She resembled a human lightning rod, and a storm was clearly brewing around her.

Yuri’s expression was filled with distress. She didn’t want either of them to fight. She had already watched the argument spiral out of control, and now Damien had Claire by the throat while Andrea was holding him back. If they actually started fighting, there was no telling where it would end.

"It’s enough, both of you. Please, just stop."

Her voice was quiet, almost pleading, but the lightning surrounding her made the request impossible to ignore.

Damien’s cold expression softened, and he relaxed his grip. Claire immediately shot back and went behind Yuri, putting as much distance between herself and Damien.

Damien had truly terrified her.

Claire had always known that being a Space Master made her difficult to catch. She could disappear from an attack, move through space and appear somewhere else before most opponents could react. That ability had saved her countless times, and it had naturally given her confidence in what she could accomplish.

Damien had just reminded her that being a Space Master didn’t make her comparable to the likes of the Round Table members.

"I’m walking out of here, if any of you try to stop me... you will like me even less than you already do".