The Villain Rising: Ascension of Arcane Trickster.-Chapter 206: The Gamer and The Arbiter.

Meanwhile, in another part of the divine treasury, a woman ran with her arms bleeding profusely, her face completely overtaken by exhaustion.

Viola had somehow been separated from her group when a mysterious space suddenly descended and pulled them all in.

At first, she was relieved and even happy that they had been freed from the elves who had captured them but that fragile joy shattered the moment she saw where she had been sent.

A dark hall stretched endlessly before her, and crimson water flooded the floor, reaching up to her knees while her teammates were nowhere to be found.

Countless monsters had attacked her but most of them were only D-Rank, as if the space itself had adjusted to her strength just to make her suffer longer and yet, somehow, she survived the onslaught.

Her mana was completely drained, her body barely able to breathe and every step felt like it might be her last but thankfully... there were no more monsters or so she thought because then, a man appeared right after she had taken a healing potion to recover.

The man spoke strange and disgusting words as if this world was nothing more than a game to him. He started chasing her with a look in his eyes that made her skin crawl.

"Wait a moment, Ms. Female Lead, why are you running?" He called out, licking his lips. "Just let me taste those juicy melons you have got. I swear I won’t hurt you."

He ran frantically behind her but he didn’t attack her even a single time.

Viola was tired, exhausted and even scared as this was the first time she had felt such danger but she still didn’t know where the rest of her team had gone. She still didn’t know if Rael and Sera were safe, so how could she give up.

She forced her legs to keep moving, even as her body screamed at her to collapse but then... the world around her tilted for just a split second.

Snap.

The sharp sound echoed in the silent, dark hall as her body froze instantly. There was no mana left inside her to resist whatever spell the man had just cast.

The crimson water beneath her tightened around her legs as the man finally stopped right in front of her.

Viola’s eyes trembled.

"The Arbiter never said anything about you being here, Ms. Female Lead," he said, a crooked smile stretching across his face. "Looks like I got lucky enough to be graced by your presence."

He licked his lips slowly.

"He warned me to keep my distance if I ever ran into one of your kind..." Then his gaze dragged over her in a way that made her skin crawl. "...but how could I, when you look exactly like how I only ever saw on a computer screen?"

"Let me go..." Viola struggled, her voice shaking but the crimson water only tightened further around her legs, like living chains.

"If only this damn water wasn’t so hard to control." The man muttered with an annoyed click of his tongue. "I could have captured you way earlier."

Then his lips curved into a sick grin.

"But I guess... better late than never."

He stretched his hands toward her chest, his fingers extending greedily but before he could lay even a single finger on her, blood burst into the air as something sharp sliced clean through four of them.

"ARGHHHH!"

The man screamed, instantly pulling his hand back, clutching the ruined stumps as blood poured down without a stop before jumping backwards.

His twisted grin vanished instantly, replaced by pure shock and agony as his eyes locked onto the boy who had appeared out of nowhere.

Cold crimson eyes stared back at him mercilessly as the boy’s white hair almost seemed to repel the surrounding darkness, standing out unnaturally in the dark hall. Sweat rolled down his forehead, proof that he had run with everything he had just to get here.

How dare you try to touch her?"

His voice was so cold it felt like it could freeze the water itself as a wave of pitch-black aura erupted from his body, flooding the hall with suffocating pressure.

The man realized his mistake instantly as his eyes widened in horror. "H-how... are you here too?"

His lips trembled.

"The Arbiter said you wouldn’t be here... so why?"

But Noah didn’t answer. Instead in the very next instant, Noah vanished from his spot and reappeared in midair as his first abyssal sword was wrapped in abyssal energy.

The man reacted fast, panic sharpening his movements as a massive wall of water rose in front of him like a shield but Noah twisted his body midair as his sword shifted form, stretching and reshaping into a spear.

He saw the path and without even a second of hesitation, he thrust forward, pouring every last drop of his energy into the strike.

A violent wave of destruction erupted, tearing through the crimson water shield like paper. The impact blasted a massive hole straight through it and surged toward the man behind.

That... was what was supposed to happen but just before Noah’s attack could obliterate him, a faint light flashed and in the next instant, the man vanished.

Noah’s eyes narrowed as the remaining shockwaves dispersed into the hall, his abyssal energy slowly settling.

"Tch..."

So he escaped.

He didn’t even spare the battlefield another glance. His eyes went straight to Viola behind him. The fancy clothes she had worn earlier were now tattered and stained, ruined by the monster’s onslaught. Without a word, he took off his white coat and gently draped it over her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" The words were simple but the emotions behind them were anything but.

Viola looked at him for a second... and then hugged him tightly as if all the fear she had been holding back finally broke free.

"Thank you..."

"Thank you..."

She kept repeating it, her voice trembling.

Noah didn’t reply. He just stayed there, letting her cling to him as something unfamiliar quietly took root in his heart.

From the moment he had entered that unknown space, the first thing he had done was search for her and only because of that... he had arrived in time.

If he had been even a few minutes late—

He didn’t want to imagine the outcome.

He didn’t know what these feelings were nor did he have the words for them yet but right now, none of that mattered... was holding her and making sure she was safe.

After a few moments, she finally calmed down and quickly pulled herself away.

"I... I’m sorry." She muttered quietly, a soft blush spreading across her face for how badly she had broken down.

"It’s alright," Noah replied, his expression unchanged but seeing that shy, embarrassed look on her face, only one word surfaced in his mind.

Cute.

"H-how did you find me?" She asked, clearly trying to divert the topic.

"Well..." he paused slightly, then answered honestly, "I saw the path leading to you and just followed it."

He wasn’t lying but how was Viola supposed to understand what path he meant?

She just sighed softly, rubbing her forehead. "Did you find anyone else?"

"Nope." Noah replied almost immediately. Before she could even question him, he continued, "Rest first. We will go find the others together after."

His tone left no room for argument.

Viola let out a small sigh and nodded. Right now, she really didn’t have the strength to argue anyway.

They decided to rest for a while... but even as her body relaxed, her mind refused as only one thought kept repeating over and over again.

I hope you are okay... Rael and Sera.