An incomprehensible vibrant of the room looms in every corner, along with its nauseatic, dreadful miasma. I whirled and pitched as the wooden floor beneath shifted, I almost stumble but manages to get my footing right. Another violent shake occurred. "This is bad," I muttered under my breath.
"—Stephanie, get the kid from outside out of here." Professor Eukla grimaced.
"Y-Yes!"
As Stephanie passes right , I walk forward with the dangling sound of the chains in my left hand and a spear in my right hand. Professor Eukla's eyes caught my figure and her expression soften. "What are you doing here? Go follow, Stephanie."
Ignoring her, completely.
(Diana.)
(Your condition right now... You won't even stand a chance.)
(I know. How about the gate? Do you think, we can contain it? Just temporarily, until we can find a solution? Although, there's no risk behind it... I'm not fully certain if it would plausible to use it as such.)
(... It should be plausible, but... We can't.)
(Why?)
(Well... How do I put this into words... Simply, we don't have the capabilities of summoning it now.)
(Killing it then...)
But how?
I barely fought it last ti.
Thoughts are flooding inside , resulting in panicking. It was the first. In front of , there's an impenetrable wall, as the sky darkens entrapping inside the hollow.
"Student Claude!"
"Huh?!"
From sowhere upfront ca the shriek of a creature. The wind tore my hair and lashed it across my face, obscuring my vision. Tangles of cold, yet burning sensation wrapped around my legs. The world spun and flashed yellow, then black, then red before I saw another pair of red flaring eyes are looking over past my shoulders. "Kr-Krruuh..."
"Ugly."
In a flash mont, I thrust my spear between its eyes and stumble from my uneven footing. The monster clashes against the mossy stone walls, unveiling the beautiful forestry outside. Everything was upside down. Once I turn my body around, Professor Eukla was already outside.
"Twilight of stars, bestow with your illumination."
At the palm of Professor Eukla, a little bird appears. The wing and tails are cerulean blues with black edges. Its blue body was overlapping the color yellow and lighter brown on its underparts. It has indistinct markings on its wing and is faintly streaked underneath. Among all of its unique features, the eyes are what stood out from , a personification of the hollow void yet I can see a tiny white light shining brightly.
Not far away from them, I can Stephanie holding a little girl in her arms while running. I opted to block any attempt of attacking them, so I run as fast as I can to get them behind . And, like the usual, one of its sprawling tendrils caught one of my legs pulling and launching on at full speed. I raise my guard up by pointing my spear forward and anticipating the upcoming impact, yet the phantom went past my body.
"Huh?!"
Earlier, I clearly still rember touching him. In a blink of an eye, Professor Eukla appears in front of with a bow made from light. And, to my surprise, she shot an arrow right through as the phantom's body was still phasing.
The world decided to revolve its ti around . The birds are flocking away and the brushing of wind on the leaves, or even the sparks of mana near are all moving rather slow. Bit by bit, the arrow got closer to my chest and the deepest part of my stomach felt boiling.
I skim my eyes sowhere over Professor Eukla's shoulder and gather my quintessence. However, the arrow's speed is too much for , so in the end, it directly hit my chest. Professor Eukla didn't show any remorse upon watching get hit by her own arrow. As the arrow hits my chest, a warm sensation envelops around the arrow. It's indescribable, as I felt a wave of inner peace.
Then flashes of images of strangers' faces appeared in my mind, along with their voices.
"Gr—Eiii—!"
"Huh?" I voiced out my confusion.
"Move away!"
Hearing Professor Eukla's voice, I snap out of it because of the sudden realization that Stephanie was still behind . A few distances away from , I heard a shriek from the monster. And following the sound, I teleport myself up in the air, where the monster was beneath . The monster was not moving, as its being held by the arrow.
"Burn to ashes."
I lunge my spear to its mysterious body and incinerate the entire ground into ashes. The fiery flaming violet flas were swallowing everything.
"Kriiiieh—!"
Professor Eukla follows it by unleashing thousands of arrows from heaven. As soon I saw arrows miles away, I lock my sight on Stephanie's back and teleport myself next to her.
"Agh—! Haaa... Shit."
Sharp stones are scraping my hand, back, and head. Stephanie abruptly stops on her track to glance an eye at , and it reflected my ssy appearance. I smile at her along with the child in her arms. The child was flooding herself from fear, witnessing the grotesque scene looming in front of her. "W-Waah... M-Mother..."
"Move now. The professor and I are doing our best to constrain its movent. And also, call for so help while at it. Love you, hehe." I smiled.
"Yeah..." Stephanie bit her lips in frustration. "Be careful, okay?"
I bow out before rushing to the fight once again. While on my way, I heard Tsuki's complaining voice. (Master! Master! I want to play! Play!)
Instead of considering using Tsuki, I ignore her and focus my attention back on the threat.
Professor Eukla was single-handedly fighting. Every move was deliberately precise from her shrewd distancing and thodical use of the environnt around her. However, her opponent was too unpredictable and difficult to lock on.
The tendrils behind the monster have my flas still burning and my eyes caught it. There's also a trail of its tendrils crawling deep into the forest behind it.
I increase my speed further, as I follow it from behind. Once I caught up, I slice it and the tendril just fell off. There's no reaction. Upon witnessing it, I unconsciously let out a smile.
Yet, once I attempted an attack. The monster suddenly vanished without any of its traces, and upon its disappearance; I was greeted by a glowing sharp arrow in my face along with its friends behind. I also vanished from within that spot and landed in front of Professor Eukla.
"Damn it. It slipped again. Be careful, the forest will be dangerous and could be used against you. I hate when this happens."
"Huh? What do you an by that?"
"I can't sense its presence anymore. The surrounding feels... Disoriented and dark. Be on guard. Follow ."
Professor Eukla touches the palm of my hand, a magic pentagram erges. "This would allow to locate you anywhere since I can't track you from your weird teleporting abilities. Rember, it's a soul-devourer, and don't let it get near you. You almost died earlier if it weren't for ."
"Soul... Got it..." Hearing how I almost got my soul taken, I stare at the ground coldly.
"Magic of the spirits works effective against it, but other than that, there's nothing. Any weapon imbued or created from your spirit will work against it. But I won't guarantee its usefulness, as my arrows lost their effectiveness..."
"I see... That makes sense..." 'Yeah, my spear will work against it.'
Professor Eukla soon then runs in a specific direction and behind her; I followed. I felt a huge relief, upon realizing we're not heading toward the direction of Stephanie and went on the opposite. From observing the surrounding, it all felt familiar to . The rotting scent of the decaying trees wrestled my nose. It's unpleasant.
The wonderful color green of the trees beca this lifeless color of greyness, along with its raining dry leaves. This nightmare of scenery that's right before my eyes are all too familiar. Professor Eukla in front of didn't seem to notice the phenonon of our surroundings.
Running through the lifeless forest, the dirt beneath beca softer than usual, as if I'm running through mud. As ti passes, the quality of the air worsened. "We're almost there. Prepare yourself." Professor Eukla said firmly.
"I thought we will wait for so backup or inform the principal."
"We can't afford to let it loose in this place or it will wander sowhere else... We need it to monitor and make sure it won't cause problems to the people living here."
"I understand."
I felt the urge to use so humor but held back on doing so, as my stomach and chest are not feeling good anymore from the pressure. There's sothing boiling below my stomach and I hate it. We took our ti searching for the monster, as we survey the area thoroughly while keeping our guards up.
Reviews
All reviews (0)