The first one to finish absorbing the crystal had been Icarus, thanks to his Time Skip. Although he managed to pull that off somehow, he felt like his body had got numb… He almost passed out. Only the tremors on the continent kept him awake, but he mustered all his strength to recover when they stopped. The battle between Billy and Zenis was over, and he couldn't imagine a good ending for their side.
"Shit…" Icarus said while getting up. "Let's see… Calm down and feel the energy. Let it become a part of yourself. Calm down, but be quick, you moron, you don't have all day."
Icarus took some deep breaths, and then he felt his body getting better. His mana and the core mana were fusing… But that was only possible because his core existed. Without that, his mana and the core would never converge. He wondered why Billy never tried that, probably because he knew that the dungeons were important for the economy of that world and because he disliked the idea of getting stronger that easily.
"All right, much better…" Icarus said after he started to feel good and full of energy. "I need to help the others and then check the situation."
Icarus decided to look for Meryl and Lucyna. They would need his power to absorb the cores faster. Fortunately, reaching them was no longer a problem… with the core in his body, he could drain tons of energy from the surroundings. He still, he had to be careful not to leave many signs behind and let Zenis find him. With that in mind, he began to run on the coast of the continent. Despite that, he crossed one-fourth of the whole coast in thirty seconds. Truth to be told, Icarus was scared of his speed.
"Lucyna must be here…" Icarus said when he found a dungeon in the middle of a massive group of frozen mountains.
While he dashed to cross the dungeon, Icarus wondered if she had reached the end of it. With her skills, she would have some difficulties selling the place. Still, he found her touching the crystal in the last room. Behind her, there was a giant ice wolf dead. She managed to pull it off, but her consciousness still was lost in the middle of all the mana of the crystal.
Icarus used Time Skip to help, and then the crystal began to be absorbed. Once that started, it didn't take long for the process to end, but Lucyna also got somewhat unconscious since her body now had way too much more mana than she had used before.
"Calm down, take a deep breath and use your core to stabilize the energy," Icarus said.
After a couple of minutes, Lucyna managed to do that as well. So, she sighed relief since that feeling of being overwhelmed by mana wasn't easy to handle. Without wasting time, they began to move and eventually reached the dungeon where Meryl was as well. They avoided talking about how things looked peaceful after the fight… Rather than that, they couldn't say anything since they left Billy alone, imagining they could obtain the power to help after getting the cores. So, they knew that they were part of the reason that happened.
Meryl was also having a hard time assimilating the energy, but eventually, everything was solved. Those three looked at each other without knowing what to say… If Billy was killed, stopping Zenis was probably impossible since he could become even more stronger while using his mana and Billy's power.
"What are we going to do?" Icarus asked to break the silence.
"Zenis main targets will be us, so we need to keep away from him until we get some clear to defeat him," Meryl replied.
"However, we can't face him with the cores that we have now. He has the strongest core and the power of almost ten of us," Lucyna said. "We need to confirm if he has Billy's powers, and if he doesn't, then we had a chance."
The other two nodded. Meryl wanted to protect her people, but they couldn't find them since they spread around thanks to the situation. Moreover, Zenis knew that Meryl might try that, so he possibly could be waiting for a chance to ambush her. She couldn't fall for such simple tricks as much as it hurts.
"I need to check Zenis' base," Icarus said. "If the golems are still there, then Billy is still alive, and we can work together to face the enemy," Icarus said. "If he isn't, then we will need all the help we can get to defeat the enemy."
"Be careful. Try not to fall for any traps," Meryl said.
Icarus left the area and returned after a couple of seconds. The Golems but still were there, but they weren't anything. It felt like they had lost all of their energy, but that only happens when they are about to die.
"It seems that Billy is too far away to command the Golems," Meryl said. "Without their help, we can only count on a few of people and my skeletons. That being said, fighting here will be problematic. We need to find others that can help… Like Billy's friends."
"He will be enraged if something happens to them and if he learns that you invited them…" Lucyna said.
"They will die if we are defeated anyway," Meryl said. "Besides, if Billy is alive and Zenis failed to kill him, he will find a way to use them against him to prevent that from happening. They need to know what is going on…"
Meryl had a point… In such a situation, they didn't have the leisure to choose the most comfortable option for them. They could only do their best and prevent future failures from happening… The battle to protect the world they knew had just started, and they truly couldn't afford to be scared of the failure or of the results of their actions.
