Antihero In the Hero Academy: I Can Connect the Past Heroes-Chapter 161: Fifth Magic Ring

He was aware that neither the demons nor the angels had seen these runes before, and if Harry had been serious when he mentioned that someone had died here before—that is, if he had included that information in his writings—then it meant that the person who had placed these two runes was none other than him.

It was a perfect skill. It was an incredibly masterful thing to do. Even Atlas himself couldn’t have done something so masterful with the God Language Arts book in his hand and the runes inside it. After all, there were only a few runes in the book that were as high-quality as this one.

It was very clever. This rune had incredible magical power, and Atlas could sense the insane amount of meaning within this magic, which was even more dangerous than the magic itself.

In short, Harry had thought carefully. If anyone other than the seven powerful and bright spirits he saw in his dreams tried this, death would overtake him or them.

Harry seemed certain that at least one member of the group would come here.

Still, what mattered now was not Atlas’s thoughts, nor those of the Sages, nor the gods and goddesses watching over everything. Atlas was in a state where he couldn’t afford to lose focus for even a second, and he had to succeed no matter what.

At that moment, the lives of billions of people on Earth depended on him, and worse still, he was playing with a rune so powerful that even if he were a person who didn’t care about any of them, he could kill the seven people behind him or at least force them to that level. So he couldn’t fail. He didn’t have that luxury.

With each passing second, he became more aware of the runes separating. Of course, he understood that the runes should not separate, but by the time he reconnected a rune, 5% of its essence had already left him. Strangely, however, the pure essence in his body was increasing.

It was as if Atlas could see the fragments of the rune separating, use his mana to heal those fragments, and then train his mana after everything was done, continuing to gain more mana than what had separated from his body.

It was an incredibly strange and equally incomprehensible situation.

Unfortunately, the layer of pure mana forming in his body was not mana he could use. It was as if his body was blocking it. This meant that with each repair he made, his essence was truly beginning to drain away, and he hadn’t even entered the dungeon yet.

At that moment, he felt a hand touch his back from behind. Then another, and another. Until the number of hands touching his back reached seven.

The Sages realised that Atlas’s mana was seriously running out, and even though it would be very tiring for them, they immediately realised that they had to share their mana.

They weren’t stupid. Everyone’s mana was different and unique to them, and they were all aware of that. Still, they were all Sages. Their power was on a colossal scale, and naturally, the purity of their mana was also incredible. Even though this action would exhaust them greatly, there were perhaps only seven people in the entire world who could transfer mana to Atlas for instant use, and those seven people were them.

Thus, an opportunity had arisen for Atlas.

The broken pieces could have been repaired much more quickly once Atlas learned the diagram. Everything could have been fine without the rune separating and killing him and perhaps others.

Only time will tell he thought to himself again and again but how long has it been since he started? He had no idea, he just kept going whatever it took.

With each passing minute, more sweat poured from Atlas’s body, more natural mana layers entered his body, and the Sages continued to transfer an incredibly small amount of mana into his body.

Perhaps he was under hundreds of times more pressure than when he was doing it himself, but it wasn’t unbearably difficult. It was just extremely, truly incredibly exhausting.

Still, their efforts had not been in vain. There were only a few pieces left to repair. They had repaired so many pieces that the runes had become interlocked. Now the runes could not be separated from one another.

He began to take deep breaths, and after repairing the last pieces, there was no longer any part of the rune that was separate.

At that moment, Atlas turned the key to the left:

"CLICK!"

The sound that suddenly echoed in the silent area was enough to indicate that the dungeon door had opened.

When Atlas removed the key from the keyhole, the Sages stopped touching his back, and Atlas, covered in sweat, immediately fell to the ground.

Cassandra carried Atlas without hesitation and, along with the other Sages, moved as far away from the dungeon door as possible.

After placing Atlas on the soft grass in the area, Cassandra asked, "Are you okay?"

"I’m fine, I really am fine..." Atlas replied and, without waiting, sat up in a cross-legged position on the grass.

Without stopping, Atlas closed his eyes and began to circulate the enormous amount of pure mana that had formed in his body thanks to the runes, and then began to form a magic circle again.

When the Sages saw what he was doing, they couldn’t help but say in unison, "He’s crazy." Atlas really was. After all that heavy and tiring work, he had started forming the fifth magic circle without hesitation.

Meanwhile, the Sages were trying to keep an eye on the dungeon door while also trying to make sure Atlas was okay.

Atlas had already created the diagram for the fifth magic circle and had begun to fill it with pure mana.

After only half an hour, Atlas had successfully created the fifth magic circle for the first time in such a long time.

The first was pitch black, the second was red turning orange, the third was white turning black, the fourth was dark green and purple, and the fifth was blood red. Atlas seemed to have gained an even greater affinity for the blood element.

The time had come. Atlas had opened his eyes, and this meant only one thing. The time to enter the dungeon had arrived and was upon them.