CHAPTER 289: HE IS AWAKE! [1]

Cassie barely caught herself by clinging to the broken edge of the erased floor. Dust and debris showered her face as she struggled to pull herself up.

"Damn it—he’s erasing terrain now!" she shouted.

Anna dashed forward and helped her up, eyes darting across the room. "We can’t keep taking hits like this. His weapon nullifies everything."

Yes, that was it... Andrew’s main strength lay in that weapon he wielded. But how would they get rid of it to begin with? That was the real issue.

Sophie activated her barrier again, this time surrounding Gabriel.

"We just need to stall until he wakes up," she said, shifting her eyes to the handsome red-haired man lying still.

"Assuming he does," Ragnarok muttered, coughing blood. He stood back up, his armor dented from Garth’s punches. "That thing he’s wearing... it’s like fighting a wall."

Garth cracked his neck. "You talk too much." He blurred forward, his right gauntlet glowing with pale runes.

Ragnarok braced himself, but the impact still sent him spinning. He smashed into a pillar, the stone exploding around him.

Sophie’s mind was racing. Andrew’s weapon erased anything it touched. Yumi’s suppression field weakened mana-based techniques. Garth’s physical power countered Ragnarok’s brute strength. Together, they were too coordinated.

She glanced at Gabriel’s still form behind her. "Come on... wake up already," she whispered with a slight frown.

For some reason, she felt that only he could stop Andrew and his subordinates.

Andrew’s voice interrupted her thoughts, nonchalant as if he weren’t fighting a life-or-death battle. "You’re worrying about the wrong thing," he called.

In one instant, he disappeared. The next, he was in front of her again, Deletion Edge raised high.

Sophie’s instincts screamed. She slammed her staff into the ground.

Massive wooden tendrils burst from beneath the floor, wrapping around them in a defensive dome. The first slash hit—half the roots disintegrated instantly.

The second hit cut through the rest.

Sophie gritted her teeth, backpedaling. "Gunslingers!"

The gunners fired, but due to whatever Yumi was doing, the bursts of flame from the flaming turrets fizzled out before hitting their targets.

Cassie pressed her hands together, trying to amplify a shield spell, but the light flickered weakly—Yumi’s field was sapping it.

’Fuck!’ Cassie, who rarely cursed, couldn’t help it and glared at Yumi with hateful eyes.

After Andrew, she was without a doubt the most troublesome among the bunch!

Andrew moved again, swinging horizontally. Sophie blocked with her staff, but the staff itself began to flake away at the point of contact, eaten by the same white distortion.

She let go before it vanished completely, rolling aside. Her breathing was rough now, hair sticking to her forehead.

Fortunately, the staff only helped her with control; she wasn’t helpless without it.

In that moment, her eyes suddenly lit up when she saw something. A brief gleam of hope flashed across her face.

Anna darted from the side and wrapped her chains around Andrew’s arm.

"Got you!" A triumphant smile appeared on the huntress’s face.

"Hold him!" Sophie shouted, adrenaline coursing through her veins.

This was their moment... their chance to strike!

The distance between her and Gabriel was far, but she stomped the ground and shot forward.

However, before she could reach him, Andrew turned his head slightly. "Do you?"

Anna immediately froze.

The chains turned into dust.

Andrew lifted his weapon, about to swing again—until a burst of necrotic energy exploded at his feet.

Samantha had forced a massive pulse of black mana through the ground, her body trembling from the effort.

"Necrotic Burst!"

The impact sent him sliding backward, scorch marks appearing under his boots for a brief second.

Samantha smirked when she saw her attack had worked—at least for now.

Andrew’s face remained indifferent, unbothered even by the slight injury Samantha’s blast had caused.

He raised his left hand. A cube of white energy formed, humming with power.

The next instant, the blackened ground reverted—undoing her spell completely. The corruption vanished like it had never existed.

Samantha stumbled, coughing blood. "He—he canceled it from reality..."

"Exactly," Yumi said softly, still maintaining the field. "That’s what a Deleter does."

Ragnarok charged back into the fight, his greatsword glowing red with flames. "Then let’s see if you can delete this!"

He swung downward, releasing a wave of fire that split the floor. Garth raised both arms to block. The flames engulfed the room—

—and then vanished.

Ragnarok’s jaw dropped. "You’ve gotta be kidding me."

Garth stood completely unburned, light still flickering off his gauntlets.

"You’re wasting your stamina. Just give up already," Garth taunted.

Ragnarok snarled, gripping his sword tighter. "Then I’ll hit you until something breaks!"

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

He swung again and again, faster each time, until sparks began flying. Garth parried each strike effortlessly. The last blow missed, and Garth countered with a crushing uppercut.

Blood sprayed. Ragnarok hit the ceiling and crashed back down, groaning.

"Still... alive..." he muttered to no one in particular, forcing himself up. His left arm hung uselessly, broken.

Sophie clenched her fists. They couldn’t win head-on. Their coordination was collapsing.

Anna noticed it too. "Sophie! We need to regroup! Pull Master back!"

But Andrew had already moved again. He appeared behind Samantha this time, blade poised.

Sophie’s body reacted before her mind did.

A green wall of vines appeared, blocking the strike—but only for half a second. The next instant, it shattered.

Samantha screamed as a shallow cut appeared across her chest. She stumbled back, falling to one knee.

Andrew didn’t press the attack. He looked at the blood on his blade, then flicked it off lazily. "I told you. Hand him over."

Sophie’s voice was calm, but her eyes burned. "Over my dead body."

Andrew smiled slightly. "If you insist."

He raised the Deletion Edge again, but a loud metallic sound stopped him. Anna had thrown a blade directly at his face—not to hit, but to distract.

Sophie took that moment to quickly activate her skill.

"Blinding Grove!"

The entire floor erupted with green vines, latching onto the walls, ceiling, and even Garth’s legs. Yumi’s field flickered as she tried to suppress the sudden mana surge.

For a few seconds, everything froze and then the light exploded.

BOOOM!

The vines constricted, glowing, forming a barrier that pushed everyone back. Sophie gasped, her face pale from expending so much mana at once. "Now! Attack him together!"

Cassie raised her hands, channeling all her remaining energy. "Blessing Amplify!"

Ragnarok’s sword blazed once again. Samantha summoned two new skeletal knights. Anna moved in tandem, her chains glinting.

So did the gunslingers.

The combined assault hit Andrew from all sides. Fire, bones, blades, and vines crashed into him in a chaotic blast.

The explosion shook the chamber.

For a brief moment, hope sparked in their hearts.

But as fast it had appeared, that was how it got extinguished as well.

Gradually, the smoke cleared.

Andrew stood there, clothes tattered but expression calm. The Deletion Edge was glowing brighter now, humming ominously.

"Interesting," he said simply. "You forced me to use it properly."

The blade shifted. Its thin white edge widened slightly, and runes appeared along the surface.

Yumi frowned, her tone uneasy as she saw the glow. "Andrew, careful. You’ll overuse the blade."

He ignored her and spoke in a serious tone. "They’ve earned it. Now I’ll show them the true power of the Deleters."

The moment he spoke, every trace of mana in the room destabilized. Barriers flickered. Enchantments unraveled. Cassie’s buffs blinked out one by one.

Sophie’s vines turned gray, then to dust.

Anna’s chains disintegrated mid-strike.

Samantha’s skeletons shattered like glass.

Even Ragnarok’s sword extinguished mid-swing.

They froze. Their entire arsenal—gone.

Andrew exhaled softly as he said, "That’s better."

He raised his weapon again and pointed it toward Sophie. "You’ve lasted longer than most. I’ll give you that."

Sophie didn’t respond. Sweat rolled down her cheek, her heart pounding wildly. She didn’t care about dying—only that she was about to let Gabriel down.

Right then, with a grin, Andrew moved from his spot almost as if he had disappeared.

FWOOOSH!

She clenched her fists so tight her knuckles turned pale.

The air cracked, the ground split, and the next thing Sophie saw was the edge of his blade descending.

But before it hit, a pulse of deep crimson energy rippled from Gabriel’s body. The entire room shook.

Andrew halted mid-strike. His expression changed for the first time—into surprise.

Behind Sophie, Gabriel’s body twitched, and every single person stopped moving. For a moment everyone held their breath as they shifted their attention to the young man who had been laying peacefully all this while..

"He’s waking up," Sophie whispered, almost in disbelief.

***

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