"Find a solution to deal with legendary divine beasts within ten seconds?"
No wait, now it's seven seconds!
After understanding the situation, young Rin clenched her palms, her body trembling slightly.
[Tohsaka Rin: "How is this possible!"]
Death's scythe was close at hand. Even with Ryuga's heaven-defying wisdom, there was no way to find a countermeasure in such extreme time!
Not just her—others instinctively felt despair too.
Kanae covered her mouth, purple pupils immediately filling with mist.
Erica was clearly the strongest among them, yet she was the first to face mortal crisis with almost no chance of survival.
Was fate really so capricious?
Did good people encounter danger so easily?
Madoka, with the least experience, stood stunned, almost in tears.
However, just as everyone in the group began mourning the impending loss of an excellent group member, Ryuga's sudden reply shocked everyone.
[Ryuga: "Understood. Just invite me to your world."]
[Erica: "?!"]
[Erica: "Ah? Ryuga-sama, there's no need for this! Against divine beast-level existences, our Rank 1 strength is meaningless—no need to add casualties!"]
[Erica: "5!"]
Even with time at its limit, even seeing the divine beast wild boar's charging assault, when faced with the lifeline Ryuga threw her, Erica rationally chose to refuse.
She was indeed somewhat arrogant due to her youthful genius nature, and indeed chose to challenge the divine beast to prove herself.
But setting aside all personal motives, she was still a knight.
As a knight, she should naturally protect civilians and friends.
Never mind that Ryuga had already helped her before—even without that, given her personality, she wouldn't drag strangers down with her.
She knew Ryuga's strength had advanced to Rank 1, but having personally challenged the divine beast, she now understood that before a fully committed divine beast, same-rank power was meaningless.
This was quantitative crushing.
With Ryuga's demonstrated wisdom, Erica felt he shouldn't do such foolish things as a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Of course, from the position of being helped, she had to admit she was moved by Ryuga's complete disregard for personal safety.
What girl hadn't hoped for someone willing to risk everything for her?
The hero-saves-beauty trope, though ancient, never lacked an audience.
In that life-and-death moment, Erica's heart surged with warm currents, filled with somewhat pink-bubble-like emotion.
The next instant, these pink bubbles were directly burst by Ryuga's following words.
[Ryuga: "I'm Rank 2 strength now."]
?!
This concise statement left the entire group in silence.
Almost simultaneously, everyone typed question marks.
[Madoka: "?"]
[Kanae: "?"]
[Tohsaka Rin: "?"]
Two minutes ago they had just checked—Ryuga had advanced from Rank 0 to Rank 1.
Now only two minutes had passed, and even if different worlds had different time flows, there shouldn't be huge differences.
In this brief time, Ryuga had advanced another level, surpassing Erica to become the chat group's current strongest?
Was this reasonable?
Getting stronger should follow some basic principles, right?
Only now did Erica understand—what disregard for personal safety, what self-sacrifice, it was all her own fantasy.
Ryuga's proposal was simple—
He wasn't trying to risk his life for her; he really could win!
Realizing this, Erica's reaction was equally pure.
[Erica: "Boss, save me!"]
3!
As the countdown reached three seconds, she quickly spent her points and sent an invitation for Ryuga to enter her world.
After discovering she still had a way out, all those chaotic thoughts in her head disappeared, leaving only the purest desire.
Boss, save my worthless life!
Ryuga's response didn't disappoint her at all.
Almost the moment the link was thrown out, he accepted the invitation.
2!
The divine beast wild boar hadn't yet arrived, but its most destructive force had already reached Erica.
Yet Erica felt no impact, nor any fear.
Because at that instant, Ryuga's figure had appeared before her, standing like the most solid fortress, firmly blocking all external impacts.
1!
The next second, faster than Erica had predicted, before the countdown reached 0, the divine beast wild boar had already reached them.
A body of at least several hundred tons, massive tusks, with incomparable impact force and momentum that could shatter mountains and seas, struck toward the two humans.
Like a cannon shooting mosquitoes, it wasn't targeting the two tiny humans, but the entire space before it.
Never mind a Great Knight's speed—even a Saint Knight here might not escape the wild boar's lock-on.
Even if Ryuga was also Rank 2 combat power, he might not dodge this furious strike from the divine beast.
Just as Erica worried thus, she only noticed Ryuga glance back at her.
Then, how Ryuga moved or how he brought her away—she saw none of these actions clearly.
She only remembered that when she came to her senses, this black-haired, black-eyed handsome man was already holding the back of her clothes' collar, having moved to the port's edge.
"Bang!"
After the deafening sound, huge dust clouds rose together with massive waves.
The charging divine beast, having lost its target, plunged directly into the sea, causing violent tremors in the seabed as if it had cracked.
Erica and Ryuga watched this spectacular scene of the wild boar entering the sea completely unharmed.
After realizing she had completely escaped danger, Erica's first reaction wasn't relief, but to look at Ryuga's feet.
Seeing the gradually dissipating, familiar magical fluctuations, recalling that almost completely unfamiliar experience, Erica's pupils contracted sharply, and she muttered in shock:
"Hermes' Boots should only accelerate movement, but that feeling just now... it wasn't high speed, but dimensional leap?"
To be continued...