Dago kept his eyes lowered and remained silent.
He knew exactly what trump card he currently possessed-the trace of the Despair Winter Dragon's bloodline within him had been diluted to a concentration of barely five percent.
Trying to confront the other party head-on with that would be like smashing an egg against a rock. There was simply no comparison.
As he rapidly assessed the disparity in their strength, the mighty voice that had called out the name "Juventus" suddenly rang out across heaven and earth once more.
Its source clearly lay beneath the unfathomable lake, yet the sound finally erupted at the very apex of the sky.
"With the Three Towers as our pledge, with the Three Towers as our witness-the selection begins!"
Everyone, Dago included, instinctively raised their heads and looked skyward against the dazzling cold light.
Then, amid a violent distortion of space, the phantom images of three strange, inverted towers suddenly appeared on the lake beneath them.
An immense, irresistible force of invisible gravity surged from the lake's depths.
Like countless unseen tentacles, it coiled tightly around the ankles of every wizard in midair and dragged them brutally toward the lakebed!
"Splash, splash-"
The wizards plunged into the lake one after another.
Strangely, however, not a single drop splashed up. Not even the slightest ripple formed.
They were like insignificant motes of illusory dust. The instant their bodies touched the water, they were swallowed without resistance and absorbed completely into the phantom images of the three inverted towers.
Within the Mirror Lake Secret Realm, the countless wizards taking part in the selection "drifted" down from the sky into the deep-blue lake like autumn leaves. Caught in that torrent, Dago fell with them.
He did not foolishly attempt to resist that overwhelming pull.
In the final second before