Chapter 310: Solis
The lake was dark and bottomless, but Flamme quickly regained her senses and clung tightly to Carlo, trying to float upwards urgently.
But at that moment, a terrifying aura erupted from the lake's depths, ancient and powerful.
The entire lake surface began to shake violently, and even the lake water began to boil and churn chaotically.
Flamme looked down, and with her magically enhanced vision, she vaguely saw a shadow, larger than anyone could imagine, slowly emerging from the depths of the water.
That wasn't the aura of demons, but rather a more ancient and tyrannical one.
It seemed to regard Flamme, who had intruded into this place and was radiating powerful magical energy, as an intruder challenging its authority.
"RAAAAAAGHARRRR!!!" A deep roar came from the bottom of the water, stirring up a terrifying undercurrent.
The next moment, an enormous tail covered with thick black scales swept fiercely towards Flamme with overwhelming force. Wherever it passed, the water was forced aside, creating a vacuum.
Flamme's expression paled as her body almost went limp in terror.
She never could have imagined that such a terrifying creature was hidden in the depths of the abyss. She could only hastily raise the highest level of magical shield and push the unconscious Carlo away from the attack.
Boom!!!
The enormous tail slammed into the magic shield with titanic force!
Fine cracks appeared on the shield. Although it did not break open completely, the impact was not fully blocked. Flamme's body was still sent flying out of the water like a cannonball and crashed heavily into the rock wall in the distance.
Fortunately, Flamme suffered no serious injuries in the collision.
She endured the dizziness caused by the impact. She watched helplessly as Carlo's body tumbled a few times in the undercurrent before being swept away by a current and disappearing into the darkness on the other side of the lake.
"Carlo..." Flamme's voice echoed across the water desperately.
A chill ran through her heart. With the monsters attacking the underground labyrinth and the complex water currents, Carlo's chances of survival were extremely slim.
Did I achieve my goal?
She had no time to think further, because the enormous creature underwater clearly wasn't going to let her, the intruder, go.
A massive head broke through the water's surface; it was a creature resembling a giant lizard, but with three pairs of scarlet eyes glowing with ancient malice.
It opened its gaping maw, unleashing a destructive energy breath towards Flamme with devastating power.
"Damn it!" Flamme gritted her teeth, breaking free from the rock wall. While quickly casting defensive magic to fend off the breath attack, she shouted to the allied soldiers above, who were staring in disbelief at the monster's appearance: "Retreat! Get out of here!!!"
She needs to hold off the monster to buy time for the others to escape, and at the same time, she needs to kill it!
She needed to confirm Carlo's life or death, even if it was just finding his body.
The magical light and the monster's breath collided violently above the underground lake, and the enormous roar shook the entire labyrinth.
After an unknown amount of time, Carlo, who was drifting with the current, did not die.
His wounds burned with pain, the icy lake water stimulated his nerves, and his survival instinct made him struggle desperately against the darkness.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but just as his consciousness was about to fade away completely, a current swept him to a relatively flat area.
He coughed violently, spitting out the lake water he had swallowed, and lay weakly on the ground, greedily breathing in large gasps of air.
After a long while, he barely regained some of his senses, struggled to sit up carefully, and looked around the space.
This appears to be a hidden cave through which a natural underground lake flows. The space is cramped, enclosed by smooth rock walls, with no visible exit or passage.
A faint light emanated from the stones overhead, and at the center of the cave stood a moss-covered platform.
And right there on that platform, quietly rested...an egg?
A giant, dark purple egg, about half the height of a person, with irregular silver patterns on its surface. Carlo's breathing suddenly stopped cold.
As a mage who studies life magic, mainly focusing on the transformation of demonic life force, he is susceptible to the auras of demons and their essence. The aura emanating from this egg belongs unmistakably to the demon race.
Although there is still no definitive conclusion as to whether demons are born from wombs or eggs, there is no doubt that the giant egg in front of Carlo is a demon.
But then he sensed something was amiss. Because within this demonic aura, there was a faint trace of divine significance that shouldn't be there.
This is definitely not a product of pure-blooded demons. The aura of demons is chaotic and destructive, and would never carry the traces of this seemingly purified divine power.
"What is this?" Carlo forgot his injuries and struggled to crawl toward the egg with growing urgency.
His eyes were filled with the fervor and incredible curiosity unique to researchers obsessed with discovery.
He sensed the rich life essence of the demon race within the egg, and, at the same time, because of the trace of divine power mixed in, Carlo did not need to worry about the risks ahead for the time being.
Even the life essence within the other party was so concentrated that it could be absorbed even before it hatched.
He reached out with trembling hands and gently touched the dark purple eggshell.
The sensation at his fingertips was not cold, but warm and smooth. At the same time, the mixed aroma entered his senses more clearly.
A bold idea suddenly appeared in his mind.
He wanted to absorb the life force of this giant egg to prolong his own life.
Carlo knew his life force was draining rapidly. Even if I manage to escape from here by sheer luck, I won't live for more than a few months at most.
He originally intended to join the front lines to seize an opportunity to capture a demon and absorb its life force. Still, he underestimated the ferocity of the battlefield and overestimated his own strength considerably.
Carlo is a research-oriented mage, and his success in passing the Level 2 mage exam was partly due to luck rather than pure skill.
He can barely handle most demons, but struggles against even slightly stronger ones.
That's why he pinned his hopes on the Allied soldiers, but he never expected this to happen.
However, they have now turned misfortune into a blessing, discovering this giant egg before them.
Although Carlo was very curious about how this giant egg came to be, and whether the divine aura on the other party was produced by some kind of experiment or due to some mutation or accident,
But Carlo can't care about that now.
He began using magic to gradually absorb life force from the giant egg, prolonging his own life.
Soon, Carlo's gray hair turned jet black once more, and even the paleness on his face lessened considerably with each passing moment; consequently, the absorption somewhat diminished the life essence within the giant egg.
Moreover, within the giant egg, as the life force was absorbed, the demonic energy and divine aura within it were forced to cease their conflict, allowing it to hatch at an accelerated pace.
Of course, Carlo was unaware of the changes that had occurred within the egg. He stared at the giant egg that had saved his life, thinking of Ariel, and murmured to himself softly:
"From now on, I'll call you Solis!"
[End of Chapter]