Chapter 344: Countdown

Words : 1089 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

Chapter 344: Countdown A serious tie. Gisella almost went limp when she saw the faces of Young Lord Luca and Ollie, who were reaching out from their respective mechas. Her vision was a smear of tears—those she’d already cried, and the ones she was holding back with a clenched jaw and white-knuckled hands. She wanted to scream, to beg, to offer up every favor, promise, and lifetime of service if it meant saving Cece. But she didn’t need to. Because the two young lads already held their best of everything. D-29 had begun scanning for traces of corruption while Luca specifically used his abilities to check on Cece’s spiritual pathways. Yes, he could just use the inventory, but if there were parts that had already fused with corruption, that was like taking out vital organs without checking. And he was right to think like this. Unlike those that gradually got infected when their spiritual energies were spent, Cece was hit with an open wound that had started to fester. So, instead of Luca using the dungeon inventory, he had to look for the highest grade guiding pill while asking Ollie if he had a portable medical wand. Ollie’s eyes were wide but unblinking, his fingers a blur as he yanked open every storage button he owned, hurling out anything they could possibly need like a desperate surgeon throwing scalpels onto a battlefield. And they came in handy. For they couldn’t use the revive pill right away, as it would likely work faster than he could take out all the corruption. The elders had warned him about that, and he might end up reviving the corruption with even greater vigor if he didn’t take precautions. It was just that they had less than three minutes. Luca’s heart thundered like a war drum as he focused on Cece’s mangled torso. The medical wand flickered in his hand as he worked in sections, purifying inch by inch while simultaneously sealing the worst lacerations. And he knew it would hurt. Like a bitch in fact, and Cece would’ve said that if she hadn’t been feeling so delirious with the pain. Her small body bucked once, hard, before she went limp again. Her mouth opened, but only a strangled sound came out. Luca saw it and bit back his tears. He knew just how much wounds like this would hurt without any pain relievers, but even if they gave her anything now, none of those would take effect instantly. "I’m sorry, Auntie Cece," he whispered. "It must hurt a lot. But please hold on. Just a little longer." Gisella hovered nearby, her entire body trembling as she kept pressure on a sterilized cloth—except nothing about this felt clean. Her friend’s blood was still warm. But apparently, pained was much better than passed out, for when she couldn’t hold on after all that pain, Gisella almost hyperventilated. It wasn’t helping that blood was seeping everywhere, and that Ollie, another crybaby, looked like he was going to pop his tears any second despite attentively holding up anything that Luca might need. The frantic guide was progressing while asking D-29 to monitor Cece’s vitals continuously. However, the ground shook again, and they feared that the countdown was about to be up. But they didn’t stop. Not when they were this close. And not despite the even greater tremor that rocked the ground beneath them. This one felt like a sudden punch to the chest, especially as they focused on securing Cece instead of cushioning their own bodies. By now, cracks have split the walls, and loose rubble could be heard falling from above, only shielded by the ice dome that Xavier maintained for them. Ollie shrieked and nearly toppled off the side of the platform, only to be yanked back by Kyle’s mecha hand, which clenched around his legs like a vice. "We’re running out of time!" Xavier barked over the comms. "You have to finish now!" "I know!" Luca snapped back, sweat streaming down his face as his hands danced from wound to wound, his light flickering as his energy burned away. D-29 reported a cleaner bill, and the dungeon owner let out a harsh breath as he scrambled for the pill held by his brother. The pill was given in a hurry as the violent tremors threatened their session once again. "She has to keep the pill down. Please check it stays in there!" Luca practically screamed his reminder as he had to buckle back into D-29 as Xavier announced that the dome won’t hold for any longer. Gisella, on the other hand tried keeping her shit together as light surged through Cece’s body in violent pulses while her chest kept on arching off in a way that got her alarmed. Luca could only see the light from the punctured cockpit, and he prayed that he got most, if not all, of the corruption that was trying to contaminate her organs. And he seriously hoped that the pill would work. But his pleas couldn’t be continued as the entire space tilted violently. They’d seen this before. And it looked amazing from the safety of the basement they were in. But right now, it felt like they would be buried in here today. No one was screeching or screaming, but the ground beneath them groaned as they crashed together. And with it came their mechas that stumbled from the quake. Butler Gary, in particular, had to sink his remaining functional hand into the crumbling platform just to stay upright. And yet in all this, they still couldn’t port back into the dungeon. The countdown blazed across their screens, red and merciless: [00:00:16] [00:00:15] Gisella scrambled her limbs protectively around Cece, refusing to let go even as a chunk of ceiling caved in behind her. Meanwhile, Luca was still trying to take out all the corruption in the area, afraid that it would react violently to the dungeon’s reboot as Xavier and the duchess gathered around him and Butler Gary to brace for impact. And that included purifying the roots that made up the dungeon boss that was now fraying at the seams. Ollie witnessed all this from Kyle’s protective grip as the adjutant thought of ways to protect against punctures. However, he had to stop when the blonde wriggled before screaming. "The door! THE DOOR!" He pointed at the display, and only then did they see what he was screaming at. An actual fucking door. [00:00:04] [00:00:03] "???"

Chapter 344: Countdown

Comments (0)