"The Undead are truly fascinating," James commented as he held Sleipnir's reins in his hands. "They never get tired, so they are perfect for long battles."
They had just passed the 50th Floor and were now on their way to the 49th Floor.
Although the Undead didn't feel any exhaustion, the same couldn't be said for Lux, James, and Sleipnir.
It had been a few days since their escape from the 111th Floor, and they hadn't rested since then. It was a non-stop cycle of fighting, and running for their lives.
As James had kindly put it, there was no rest for the wicked. Lux could only smile bitterly at the old man's attempt to liven up the atmosphere. But, he couldn't really enjoy it as they were facing hordes of Abyssal Monsters attacking them from all directions. Tension was at an all-time high because they were doing their best to reach the 13th Layer of the Abyss before Daniel could catch up to them.
Lux's spy on the 69th Layer confirmed that Daniel had already passed through the portal and was now headed to the 68th Layer.
It was a race against time, so although Sleipnir was already tired, it continued to run in order to deliver the Half-Elf and his lover to the 13th Layer, where they would be safe.
Suddenly, the Doomknight Gangbanger whom Lux had left on the 68th Floor confirmed that Daniel had appeared on the floor.
However, not even half a minute later, Daniel had been spotted on the 67th Floor.
Half a minute after that he was already on the 66th Layer, which made Lux's face turn pale.
He didn't know how Daniel was doing it, but the speed at which he was advancing through the Abyss had suddenly gone by leaps and bounds.
"No good. Daniel will catch up to us soon," Lux said with a grim expression on his face. "Can't we go faster?"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"We can," James replied. "But we don't know what is waiting for us on the other side of the portals ahead of us. I'm sure that they are now aware of your strategy of throwing a Blast Bomb at the portal to clear the way."
"It doesn't matter," Lux stated. "We'll just brute force our way like usual."
Knowing that Lux was right, James apologized to Sleipnir before asking him to go at his full speed.
The eight-legged horse obeyed, and its speed increased exponentially, even leaving shockwaves behind as it charged toward the Portal that led to the 49th Layer.
When Lux, and James, appeared on the next Layer, they were prepared to duke it out with the Abyssal Legion waiting for them. However, the first thing that they saw was the giant Golem of Destruction, Antero, terrorizing the Abyssal Army that was waiting for their arrival.
At the mere sight of Antero, the Abyssal Army all fled because fighting against him was complete suicide.
Seeing this, Lux couldn't help but feel thankful that the Golem of Destruction actually moved to lend them a hand.
Antero, who had just obliterated the Abyssal Monsters who refused to run away, glanced in Lux's direction.
"Good," Antero stated after seeing Aurora in Lux's embrace. "Hurry… Daniel is coming."
Using all the strength it could muster, Sleipnir headed towards the portal at the speed of lightning.
Since Antero had already cleared the way for them, nothing blocked their way, so their advance went smoothly.
After Antero passed through the portal of the 49th Layer, it casually sealed the portal, preventing anyone from being able to travel through it.
The Golem of Destruction didn't have time to fully seal the portal, and the most his seal could do was prevent entries through it temporarily, lasting only for a few minutes.
However, those precious few minutes were enough to stop Daniel, who arrived three minutes later on the 50th Layer.
When he realized that his way was sealed, an angry roar escaped Daniel's lips as he crazily attacked the portal in order to destroy Antero's seal.
However, the seal held, lasting for a full minute before it was destroyed.
Daniel did the same to the other Portals that he came across, but by the time that he passed through the 14th Layer of the Abyss, Lux, James, and Sleipnir had already stepped through the portal that led them to the 13th Layer.
Antero, who was last to enter the portal, hurriedly sealed it again.
Since he had already made preparations in advance, the seal on the 14th Layer's portal couldn't be broken by normal means.
But in order to make sure that nothing would get in the way, he used his entire body to block the portal leading to the 13th Layer.
As the seal he had placed started to take effect, an angry roar escaped Daniel's lips as he smashed his fist against the Portal that led to the 13th Layer, but it didn't budge.
No matter how fierce, and relentless his attacks were, nothing happened and the portal remained blocked.
"Dammit!" Daniel cursed loudly.
If Antero hadn't left the Thirteenth Layer of the Abyss to help clear the Abyssal Legions that blocked the other portals, Daniel would have caught up with Lux.
The outcome of that potential clash was already set in stone because the Half-Elf was not the Pseudo-God's match.
Only when they managed to pass through to the Thirteenth Layer did Sleipnir stop running and broke into an exhausted walk.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"You did well, Sleipnir," James lightly patted the horse's neck. "Well then, since we're already here, why don't you two love birds go to the castle while I let my poor horse rest a while? Sounds good?"
Lux nodded and thanked James for everything he had done for him.
He also thanked Sleipnir, earning a soft neigh from the exhausted horse.
After that, he carried Aurora and flew toward Queen Rhiannon's Castle.
After Queen Rhiannon's child, Dia, was born, Antero decided to leave the 13th Layer and look for Lux.
He knew that the Half-Elf was not a match against Daniel, so it decided to extend its help to the father of Queen Rhiannon's newlyborn daughter.
The Golem of Destruction only treated one person in the Abyss as family, and that was the Succubus Queen.
Now that she had given birth to a daughter, Antero felt like a Grandpa and decided to look for Dia's father, who was trying to save Aurora.
When Lux landed near the Castle, he immediately noticed that all the Succubi seemed to be happy.
Because of this, it took them a while to notice his arrival.
"Lux! You came at the right time!" a purple-haired Succubus said. "Our Queen has just given birth to a beautiful baby girl. You should see her! Dia is so adorable and cute!"
"… She had given birth?" Lux felt as if all the breath had been sucked out of his lungs after hearing the Succubus' words.
"Yes!" the purple-haired Succubus replied. "You should go and see her… also, who is she? She looks very similar to our Queen."
Lux did not bother to respond to the Succubus' comment about Aurora and walked toward Queen Rhiannon's room briskly.
He was still carrying Aurora in a princess carry, and although he tried his best to remain calm, his heart was showing what he was truly feeling as it beat wildly inside his chest.