Everyone was exhausted, while Aisha and more than half of the Valkyries had fallen unconscious after being rendered helpless against the Golden centipede King's sudden unleashed mana, which killed the five students around it without much effort.

Shane's eyes widened in shock and despite having witnessed many deaths, the current situation was still quite different to what he had witnessed over the course of several years.

As Shane gulped down his saliva nervously, he saw Aimy and even Olivia retch before vomiting, while he heard a few Valkyries curse loudly.

When Shane's eyes fell on the once brave Valkyries, he saw a sliver of panic in their eyes as their legs trembled in fear. Without their leader, Aisha, to guide them, they felt weak and incapable of fighting a beast whose strength they couldn't estimate.

Taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to stay strong as he patted Aimy and Olivia's back for them to calm down, without letting the Golden Centipede King out of his sight for a single moment.

However, instead of attacking mindlessly, it seemed to hesitate to do anything without a large group of elemental and rainbow subterra centipedes to support it.

This was the only favorable thing he had noticed so far and there was nothing he could do for now, except hope for the best as he tried to avoid looking at the five students' headless corpses next to the Golden centipede King.

Based upon the number of spatial portals that the Golden centipede King had created throughout the whole battle that lasted not more than 15 minutes, in addition to enveloping almost the entire third floor with its mana fluctuation, Shane was sure that it had to consume a lot of mana.

If he was not completely wrong, the Golden centipede King should have only enough mana left to create a single large spatial portal which it would require to retreat to, if it were to meet another opponent.

Taking this estimation as granted and additionally its hesitation to initiate an attack, Shane could only hope that it would retreat.

*Skreecchzzz*

Hearing its screech that sounded much weaker than before, his assumption was almost immediately proved to be correct and the conscious Valkyries and students could only see the Golden Centipede King enveloping itself in a thick golden membrane, as it vanished into thin air as if it had never been there.

Shane sighed deeply, relieved to see that the battle was finally over.

His legs almost gave in as exhaustion overcame him but he managed to keep himself from falling down to the floor.

However, the other students were unable to do the same, as they slumped to the ground while barely being able to stay conscious.

Even if it was only due to his passive Skill [Hunter's mind] that he could still exert some control on his body despite being bone tired, it was still extremely good for him to be upon his feet, while the chaotic emotions churning through his mind seemed to calm down.

The Valkyries who had already been in several life-threatening situations couldn't help but feel overjoyed that they had survived, though some of their unconscious sisters were still lying on the ground covered in the centipede remains.

They rushed to aid their sisters while only a few remained next to the Students in order to assure their safety.

It was unlikely for other beasts to attack after sensing the Golden centipede King's terrifying mana fluctuations but this didn't mean that it was impossible.

As such, it was better to be careful instead of being rash, even more so, after five students had lost their lives…

Aisha and the Valkyries had initially thought that it was better for the students to experience the terror of a battle and even sustain a few injuries in order to understand that they couldn't rely on others all the time and that it was important to become stronger to protect oneself.

However, seeing the five students' corpses, the conscious Valkyries couldn't help but feel guilty, as they gnashed their teeth.

Shane followed the Valkyries as he rushed towards Aisha and the other unconscious Valkyries to help in any way possible when his eyes fell on Melanie.

She simply stood there, staring at the five headless corpses that lay more than a hundred meters away from her, with an ashen face. Their deaths had visibly shaken her and she was unable to control her trembling body.

Her mind was probably visualizing that she could have been one of the five dead corpses she currently eyed in terror, and Shane couldn't help but walk towards her.

Melanie didn't even notice him and Shane just picked her up carefully and carried her towards the other students.

When he first touched her, Melanie flinched, only to freeze for a moment, as she directed her gaze towards Shane for a quarter of a second.

Seeing that it was only one of her classmates, and not some beast holding her, her seemingly lifeless eyes returned to the five headless corpses.

A short while later he gently put Melanie down next to Aimy and Olivia, who were also shocked beyond measure at the sudden and unexpected death of their classmates. They looked at Shane with anxiety, not knowing what to do or where to go.

Not even in their wildest dreams would they have imagined that even the Basic dimensions could be so dangerous.

Even Shane himself was slightly astonished as he estimated the Golden centipede King to be at least on par with the Bloodlust thunder wolf, if not stronger.

While the bloodlust thunder wolf prioritized its attacks which made it so strong, the Golden centipede King relied on its strong mana, spatial affinity and underlings, which didn't make it any less powerful.

Without wasting more thoughts on the Golden centipede King, he continued to carry the other unconscious Valkyries inside the recuperation field which was hastily built, while the other students tried to comprehend what had happened.

A recuperation field is comparable to a small area where one can recuperate one's stamina and strength much faster compared to normally.

Its effect is equal to sleeping and extremely efficient to calm one's mind.

Somehow, it seemed as if he, Leon and one of the third-year students were the only ones who could barely regain their senses, while Aimy and Olivia only instinctively tended Melanie.

The Valkyries also gathered the five students' corpses after their sisters were laid down on mattresses inside the recuperation field, and their expression worsened when they finally returned to the recuperation field.

In the end, their so-called wonderful and profitable expedition through the elemental crystal cave ended devastatingly, and nobody could deny being shocked about what had happened.

With the help of the recuperation field, the unconscious Valkyries only required a short amount of time to regain their consciousness, however, it didn't help them to replenish their drained energy and mana.

In order to regain their strength, the Valkyries injected themselves with a syringe containing high-quality nutrition and mana intertwined within, which could only be used once in a while due to its potency.

Taking a deep breath in relief, they slowly recuperated, as faint smiles blossomed on their faces because they had survived without any casualties, even if Aisha was still unconscious as she had utilized her mana to an alarming level, almost severely damaging her mana pool.

However, not everyone was in a relaxed state, tending their wounds and taking care of each other.

Shane was not in the recuperation field but instead, he gathered a few intact elemental- and rainbow subterra centipedes' carcasses because of two reasons.

One was that it would obviously be wasteful to let the carcasses rot in the elemental crystal cave as they were worth a small fortune while the other reason for him to leave the recuperation field was the hostile gazes of some students and Valkyries, which he didn't like.

It was not difficult to imagine what they thought and they most likely blamed him for bringing them inside the elemental crystal cave.

However, Shane could only shrug his shoulders at that and the only thing that really bothered him was the death of the five students.

Yet, he wasn't completely at fault because not only had they ignored his advice but also had run away from their group without thinking about the consequences of their misguided decision.

With this thought, Shane walked back to the recuperation field after gathering the centipede carcasses, when the other third-year student next to Leon suddenly jumped up.

Charging towards Shane, the third-year student used all his force to punch Shane in the abdomen, who was flung several meters away.

Shane crashed hard into the ground as the sudden and unexpected attack knocked him out of his breath. Gasping for air, he faintly heard the young man shouting

"You bastard!!! You almost killed all of us!"

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