All that remained of that attack was the dungeon's entrance door and several rocks floating in that void. On top of one of those rocks, the barrier protecting Enrico and Valença began to dissolve. Behind them, protected by some of Val'Drakar's summons, the blue rose was still there.
"Is this outside the dungeon?"
Valença asked while being held protectively by Enrico. Upon noticing how close the two of them were, she decided to take advantage of the moment and moved even closer to him.
"Yes..."
Enrico did not seem surprised. After all, he had already seen that void in the original story. When he noticed that Sairao had been thrown far away, he focused his gaze on him. Valença did the same.
Val'Drakar was standing on one of the rocks, looking upward. He raised his sword and began accumulating another attack, while fire started coming from inside his armor. When he pointed the sword forward, lava began flowing from the blade and gathered in front of him, gradually forming a gigantic lava warrior.
Sairao responded by creating a dark-red spear. As soon as he threw it, the weapon pierced through the lava giant, opening a hole in its stomach, and continued advancing directly toward Val'Drakar. The guardian deflected the spear with his sword and, taking advantage of the movement, punched the air toward Sairao. The lava giant, which had been struck by the spear, repeated exactly the same movement as Val'Drakar and threw a punch at Sairao, hitting him squarely and sending him flying away.
In the air, Sairao managed to stop himself and immediately began creating a portal. The space in front of him distorted, and the portal began sucking the lava giant inside. Soon afterward, other portals began appearing around them.
Val'Drakar realized what Sairao was planning and immediately ran toward Enrico and Valença.
"You two need to leave the dungeon now."
"But what about you?"
Val'Drakar placed one of his hands on Valença's head and looked at Enrico. He had never told them that directly, but now there was no reason to hide it anymore.
As he spoke, he summoned thousands of soldiers made from statues to delay Sairao. Then, he knelt before them. Enrico was already beginning to suspect what was happening.
"I am a boss of this dungeon. Therefore, I cannot leave here, and I also do not have the ability required to leave a dungeon."
From the moment Ylrie explained to him that neither he nor his companions could enter that sphere, Val'Drakar had understood what his true purpose was. He existed to ensure Lyrielle and the other Elves' freedom, allowing them to one day see the original world and live happily.
"But Sir Val'Drakar, there must be a way..."
Valença began insisting that there had to be some way to save him, but Enrico interrupted her with a somewhat sad look. He had not spent that much time with the Nartheis standing before them.
In fact, he had only met him at the beginning of that journey; after that, he had merely been a shell that remained beside Val'Drakar during those days. Enrico knew little about him in the original story. At most, he had heard some of his words and observed his actions. Even so, that had been enough to understand that Val'Drakar was a great person, despite being only a statue.
Enrico wished he had appeared in the original story. If he had, perhaps he could have helped much more. However, Val'Drakar had never appeared in that story and had only been mentioned by that Druid who described all four bosses.
"He's right."
"But..."
"Valença, if there were a way to save him, I would save him. The only way for him to survive is by defeating Sairao so that he can continue in this place. If we stay here, we'll only get in the way."
Enrico looked at her seriously. Valença lowered her head, sad and frustrated.
Enrico understood that feeling. He also did not want to leave him behind. He wanted to have Val'Drakar as an important ally in the future and was certain that, if everything went well, the two could become friends.
But now he needed to act calmly.
"Very well, Master Enrico."
Val'Drakar was satisfied. Especially when he noticed Enrico's frustrated expression, he understood that the boy truly did not want to lose anyone. However, this was necessary so that not only those two could survive, but also all the Dark Elves sealed inside the sphere.
Behind him, several statues began to be destroyed. From the portals created by Sairao, several Dark Elves emerged. They were not Failures, but the traitors themselves who had remained hidden.
Val'Drakar looked at them with irritation, especially Valdir, who, even after being defeated by Vaelith, had managed to remain alive.
Without wasting any more time, Val'Drakar placed Enrico and Valença in his arms and began running toward the portal. To increase his speed, he used the Charged Impulse he had learned by watching Enrico use the technique repeatedly during training.
"I'm sorry. I wanted to teach you something in return, but there wasn't enough time, Master."
"You don't need to apologize. If this can help you against Sairao, you can take more of my magics."
Sairao immediately appeared behind them, accompanied by the Dark Elves. He closed both hands and pointed them forward. Several creatures appeared around Val'Drakar and then transformed into stakes that pierced through his armor.
Even while injured, Val'Drakar stomped hard on the ground and continued running toward the door. Sairao sacrificed more creatures to increase his own speed and tried to catch up with them.
Val'Drakar also tried to accelerate, but a creature struck him in the back and exploded. To prevent Enrico and Valença from being caught, he threw them forward and stayed behind.
Enrico caught Valença in the air and began using his own Charged Impulse.
"I won't let you get past me, Sairao!"
Sairao stopped in front of Val'Drakar and snapped his fingers, causing all the Dark Elves who were with him to increase their speed and quickly pass by his side.
Val'Drakar tried to stop them, charging his sword with fire magic, but Sairao appeared in front of him with a contemptuous smile.
"You won't get past me, statue."
Meanwhile, Enrico increased his speed more and more. Only a few meters remained before reaching the door, but he felt that he would be caught at any moment. Valença, who was looking backward, was thinking about trying to slow down the enemies with some magic, even knowing that it probably would not work against more than a hundred opponents.
She was about to do something when she noticed something different.
"Enrico, look..."
Enrico looked back.
Several blue roses began to rise, forming a barrier that enclosed the Dark Elves inside it. Then, in front of the barrier, one of the blue roses began to transform.
A figure emerged.
It was a Dark Elf.
"Wait... isn't that the fourth boss?"
"Wait, the fourth? I had forgotten that you said that..."
Valença was surprised, but Enrico remained staring at that Elf.
There was something different about her.
The atmosphere surrounding that woman did not resemble that of any other being he had ever known. It was a strange, yet familiar feeling. As if he were standing before a mother protecting her children.
Without wasting any more time, Enrico said goodbye to the two with sorrow and entered through the door together with Valença, finally managing to leave the dungeon.
Before disappearing completely, he looked back one last time.
"I promise that I will repay you someday..."
Sairao realized that the two had escaped and exploded with rage. Pointing at the Elf, his eyes were filled with murderous intent.
"You damned failure! Weren't you supposed to have died?"
Val'Drakar took advantage of that moment and cut Sairao's back, causing him to feel pain. Sairao immediately responded by using several creatures to pierce every part of the guardian's body.
Val'Drakar fell to his knees, but he did not take his eyes off the figure of the woman who was beginning to disappear.
'An illusion?'
"No, it wasn't, Val'Drakar."
Two hands touched his shoulders.
Val'Drakar looked back.
Ylrie was there.
Her eyes were closed and blood was flowing from them, but she was smiling. It was a smile that Val'Drakar had not seen in decades.
"You saw the future? Then tell me... will Lyrielle and them find salvation?"
"I didn't see much of the future, but I saw true hope, Val'Drakar..."
Val'Drakar stood up with difficulty. To him, those words were enough to continue fighting, even though that battle already seemed lost.
Sairao appeared before him with a dark-red spear and delivered a blow that sent Val'Drakar crashing into several rocks, piercing through one after another. Then, he pointed the spear at Ylrie and tried to pierce her.
"Sorry, but I ceased to exist when I used that barrier."
The spear passed through Ylrie's body without causing any damage.
She was beginning to disappear.
Ylrie had used her last drop of magic in the past to create that situation, and now even that last drop had finally run out.
"Val'Drakar, you still have to keep the promise you made at the beginning of the fight, don't you?"
"Yes."
Val'Drakar appeared behind Sairao and delivered a blow that destroyed the rock beneath him, causing the god to bleed.
But it was not over yet.
Val'Drakar transferred even the last drop of mana he possessed. Then, he combined his two magics.
The sword exploded with the power of fire and lava. When Val'Drakar raised the weapon, the amount of energy concentrated within it was so great that it seemed to have created a small sun.
Sairao raised both hands and used his three magics to create an enormous black shield covered in red markings.
The two forces collided.
Val'Drakar's sword struck the shield and completely destroyed it, as if it were made of nothing. The attack continued forward and cut through Sairao's entire shoulder.
"AAAAHHHHH!"
Sairao moved away, holding the wound.
It was then that he noticed Laflez's body beginning to fall apart.
His time was up.
Sairao could no longer remain in that body.
Frustrated, he created a portal and took all the Dark Elves under his command back to the barrier where they had been before. Then, he entered the portal as well, disappearing with hatred on his face.
Since he had faced that being, Sairao had not felt such humiliation. He wanted to make them suffer even more, but the two were already at the end of their strength. Instead of wasting time trying to make someone who was already dying suffer, he would need to think of a new plan to recover the Elves.
Val'Drakar observed the wound he had left on Sairao.
'I said I would leave a mark... This is the spell I created especially for you during all these years, Sairao...'
Upon seeing Sairao leave, Val'Drakar's body began to fall apart.
The name of that spell was "The Guardian's Last Flame."
A magic capable of affecting the very essence of whoever was struck by it. And when Sairao realized its true effect, it would already be too late.
"I have no regrets."
"And you shouldn't..."
Val'Drakar realized that his master was still there.
He felt relieved knowing that she would remain by his side until the end. His body continued to crumble, but at that moment, he finally said the name he had never allowed himself to pronounce that way during all the years they had spent together.
"Thank you for staying until the end with me, Lady Ylrie..."
Ylrie was surprised for a second. Then, she smiled sadly as she watched Val'Drakar turn to dust.
Even in his final moment, he continued to call her master.
"At least you added my name, Val'Drakar..."
Ylrie looked at the door, which was beginning to disappear, while remembering the last vision of the future she had seen.
In it, Lyrielle was on the ground, having just emerged from the seal. When she raised her gaze, she saw two people perhaps one or two years older than her. Their faces were partially covered by the sunlight. Behind them was a girl with long brown hair, while beside her was a boy with golden hair and a small smile on his face.
"Welcome to the original world."
Those two were Enrico and Valença, older, and they had reached the level necessary to open the seal.
Ylrie clasped her hands together. Tears flowed down her face mixed with blood as she gave one last smile. She had not seen what their ending would be, but that was already enough after witnessing so many futures in which all her sons and daughters died.
"Thank you... thank you so much for taking care of my children..."
The door disappeared.
Ylrie also began to disappear, transforming into petals and causing that place, which already had almost nothing left, to become completely empty once again.
Well... almost nothing.
A few blue rose petals were still floating through the area, left behind by Ylrie's disappearance.