Chapter 620: The First Tragedy Aurora Evaded

"Looks like they lost their chance once they lost their Ability."

Although Aurora wasn’t sure what had happened to the Thorn sisters at first, she quickly came to understand the result of Leo’s attack once her senses went back to normal.

With little to no Enigma left in their body, Aurora didn’t have to be a genius to tell that Leo had done the same thing that he did to her previous team, depriving them of their Abilities.

As an additional result, two of the remaining four pillars of light had long faded away into nothingness, making a point that only Ability Users had the qualifications to attempt the trial that the Gate presented.

Fortunately for the Thorn Duo, not being able to clear the Gate didn’t necessarily mean that they would get stuck inside.

After all, in most cases, clearing a Gate would usually send everyone out after a certain period of time as the portal completely disappeared.

But even if they were unable to leave, Aurora had no tears for the Thorn Trio. Attempting to punish them herself wasn’t easy, but she had no problem watching them suffer from afar.

’Whatever is waiting for me inside...’

As for the pillar of light shining in front of her, Aurora felt no fear, only anticipation.

Freedom, answers... Everything she desired waited for her at the end of this Gate. Even if he had a head start, she was going to do her best to catch up to Leo!

"See you on the other side."

’Can’t wait!’

Naturally, Kara was just as enthusiastic. Not only did her Master wait for her at the end, but once her Gate Clearing journey came to an end, she would have a lot more chances to spend time with him!

"See ya!"

`~~~`~~~`

{ Level 41, cleared. }

’I wonder how she is doing?’

{ Proceed to Level 42? }

As Leo made his way through the first half of the Multiversal Arena of Ascension, he wondered if Aurora had yet to recover from shock.

Although he wanted to keep the strong impression he made during the first Encroachment Gate, he didn’t expect her to freeze up that badly.

In fact, he expected one or two uncertain attempts at stopping him from doing whatever he wanted to do.

{ Combat Skills and Damage Dealt had crossed the threshold of Level 41 by 11 Levels. Initiating Rapid Ascension... }

’She would have had it worse off if I didn’t get involved.’

While Leo wasn’t sure he could take all the credit for the transformation that Aurora had undergone, he believed that he still had some hand in its initiation.

Without him kicking off this strange butterfly effect, the opening act of the final colored Gate would have been the Thorn Trio’s long-awaited feast.

Bound by thorny vines from head to toe as the three sisters took turns regenerating her shackles against Aurora’s attempt to burn through them...

Aurora would have been the one to experience what it was like for someone to try to take away her most special belonging, her Light!

Although the Thorn Trio’s foolish attempt would end with that very Light awakening and turning all three sisters to burnt ashes, the shape that Aurora was left in wasn’t any better.

In the novel, it was mentioned that the toll caused by such a premature awakening was, in fact, worse than the unhealed wounds that she had accumulated as she cleared one Gate after the other without proper healing.

’Way worse.’

There was no illustration attached, but through the graphic description provided by the author, Leo had imagined a sight that he definitely wished to unsee.

{ Maximum Levels that can be skipped at once is set to 10. }

{ Would you like to use your Rapid Ascension Privilege to immediately move to Level 51? }

Worst of all, Aurora’s suffering didn’t stop there. After fainting for an entire day, the pillar of light shone even more brightly as if mocking her.

{ No response had been provided for 10 seconds. Starting Timer... }

She originally wanted to wait for a week or two, so her passive healing ability could patch her up somewhat, but the warning she received was much worse than the one currently given to Leo.

{ No entrant has attempted to challenge the Trial of Ascension for 24 hours. Starting Timer... }

{ If no challenge attempt is made within the next 24 hours, a direct interdimensional passage will be opened to the entrants’ world. }

Despite being on death’s door, Aurora was only given 48 hours to recuperate and attempt the Multiversal Arena of Ascension, or else a Gate Break would occur.

Easy to say, considering that the novel didn’t end then and there, the selfless Hero didn’t choose to give up, pushing herself to complete the mission regardless of the betrayal that almost cost Aurora her life.

’The fact that she had to intentionally clear every level on its own is already way too agonizing.’

Moreover, unlike Leo, who had the luxury to skip meaningless levels, the novel’s Aurora could only progress step by step, even though she was presented with the same privilege.

{ If no response is provided within the next 10 minutes, the challenger will be forcefully transported to the next Level. }

After all, only by consuming each level’s timer to the max could she hope to face the challenges presented by the later levels.

Her feat of clearing the Multiversal Arena of Ascension was definitely a great testament to her unending persistence.

’Of course, it didn’t come without a cost.’

Not to mention the horrendous score that Aurora got by the time the Encroachment Ordeal was over, the state she ended up in was so bad that even her healing factor could never get her back in shape, let alone Healer Ability Users.

By that point, the readers could only pray and wait for the moment of reversal often used in other novels, only to get hit with an ending full of despair, cementing the author’s position in their reading blacklist.

’In comparison, a light shock like the one I caused isn’t really that bad. Use privilege!’

As the only one who devoted almost all of his effort to changing that distasteful ending, Leo’s conscience was crystal clear!