My eyes sharpened as if the world had suddenly beco many tis clearer. A colorless energy, but distinct because of its intensity, mana, enveloped my whole body.
I raised my hand, directing the mana in my body with my movents to make it easier to do what I wanted to do in my mind.
When the two creatures in front of were about to tear my whole body apart with their claws and tails, and the creature attacking from behind was planning to bite with its huge jaws... I quickly brought my hand down, using my passive skill, Friend of Mana, to the fullest.
The mana around suddenly cald down. The sounds stopped as if ti slowed down. The mana that had been flowing calmly in the atmosphere until now, sleeping, suddenly woke up. It collapsed as if it had gained weight many tis over. And it pinned the creatures to the ground with it.
I tried to get back among them, to kill a few more, but I knew that would not be enough, I needed to take down many more.
I took a single step toward them, prepared to redirect my mana, but... just then, countless roars filled my ears.
My eyes quickly turned to the red-colored portal, then the flood of creatures pouring out of it, and my eyes widened.
There were too many of them. There really were too many, there was no way we could withstand this much. It had been barely a minute and yet the number of creatures was growing exponentially with each passing second.
Despair and hopelessness enveloped my whole body in an instant.
I could have saved myself here, but what I wanted was to prevent anyone from dying or getting hurt. But when I saw the number of creatures multiplying... it felt like a dream.
Not just for , but for everyone who was running and fighting in the area.
Still, I clenched my teeth, my fists. I was going to do my best, that was my goal in the first place. If I ran away, if I walked away again... then I would continue to deceive myself.
So, I took another step, a short but firm step toward the torrent of creatures. It was at this mont, in the midst of all this desperation... that I paused, even involuntarily. I seed to lose my balance as if sothing had slapped hard.
I felt a surge of mana, more intense than I had ever felt before, one that felt dangerous. That's why I hesitated, why I lost my balance even for a mont. Not only but even the creatures that had attacked staggered as if they had been slapped, unable to continue their attacks.
I quickly turned my head back, toward the center of the mana wave. At the point where countless students were fleeing, I noticed a figure with her hands simply raised in the air.
She had blond hair and blue eyes that sparkled with fury. She was wearing one of her usual suits, always maintaining the appearance of a businesswoman. It was the sa now. But... this ti she was a little different than usual. This ti she was not calm. She was angry. She had a fierce look, a furrowed brow as if she was pissed off.
Her eyes squinted for a mont. While all the creatures in the area stopped moving and looked at her, he, Rector lany, gave each of them only brief glances. Her eyes shifted for a mont to the red gate, through which creatures continued to pour every second. Then... she squeezed the hand she had raised toward them.
In an instant, an orangish glow rose from the field into the sky. A spark appeared above each of the gray-skinned, four-legged creatures. Then flas rose from these sparks and engulfed them one by one.
As the creatures' screams of agony continued to echo in everyone's ears, lany kept her eyes on the gate. Her blue eyes flashed with rage again for a mont, the mana leaking from her body expanding as if to cover the entire field. Then a huge wall of flas closed in on her, centering on the red portal in the center of the square.
Amidst the screams of the creatures, as they erged from the gate and faced the wall of flas, lany Quie slowly made her way through the students who stared at her. No one made a sound, all eyes were on her.
All the chaos in the field had suddenly cald down. Despair and helplessness disappeared, replaced by surprise and the slight happiness that cos with it. After all, everything was under the control of the person in front of our eyes.
Everyone who had survived had been saved. They didn't need to run anymore.
"Those who don't have a problem, help the injured. We will take care of the rest. Also..."
Her eyes slowly shifted to her right for a mont, focusing on soone not far from . Damian White made eye contact with her, his battle staff in hand, and he smiled slightly and waved his hand. With a sigh, lany tore her eyes away from him, glancing briefly at each of the n fighting the creatures one by one.
Eventually, she looked at , her expression not changing one bit as her gaze lingered on for a few seconds. Then she sighed once again and paused when she finally reached the front of the dungeon, surrounded by flas.
"Those of you who fought the creatures, thank you for preventing this from escalating."
With those words, the wall of fla in front of the gate split in two, revealing a pile of corpses of creatures that had burned to death. lany Quie walked through them as if nothing had happened and entered the dungeon without looking back once more.
As soon as the rector entered the dungeon, all the flas in the area were slowly extinguished. Then, in the brief silence that followed, the academy staff began to pour into the area.
I couldn't help swallowing as my clenched fist slowly loosened. While most of the people around were finally breathing a sigh of relief, so crying with joy, I... just stood there.
She was strong. lany Quie was strong. From the surge of mana around her, from the imnse control she had over her flas, it wasn't hard for in particular to understand. Aside from the strength of her flas, she had trendous control over her power.
Is this what it's like to be an S- grade person?
"Hey, are you okay?"
I was startled for a mont by a voice from behind , then rembering where I was, I slowly turned toward the voice. There was a healer in front of , looking at with urgent eyes, waiting for my answer.
"Oh, I'm fine. I don't have any serious injuries except the one on my shoulder, I'd appreciate it if you prioritized the others."
The healer nodded, though he made sure to send a notification to a team to co to through the device on his wrist.
In the end, what I did was to let myself fall to the ground with a deep sigh. I smiled involuntarily as I watched the ground, my eyes slightly squinted.
I protected soone. I prevented soone from dying. I did it.
Moreover... I saw with my own eyes how strong soone of S- grade was.
As my smile widened slightly, imagining that one day I could be as strong as lany Quie, it wasn't long before I was approached again by a couple of healers. Like most people in the area, I was taken to the hospital.
*******
I didn't spend much ti in the hospital as I didn't have any serious injuries apart from my punctured shoulder, which had already healed sowhat thanks to the Guardian Radiance. After a simple bandage and a low-level potion, I was free.
The first thing I did was to check on Julian, Lucia, and Sue. I knew that no one had died thanks to students like Damian White who had helped most of them escape. But... that didn't change the fact that there were so seriously injured people.
Lucia was not badly hurt except for a few grazes, and Sue was among the first to leave the area and was able to get away quickly. But Julian... well, he was a bit worse off.
One of the creatures had bitten his arm while he was trying to save soone. If he hadn't ford a layer of ice over his arm at the last mont, it might have been separated from his body, but thanks to his reflexes, he only broke his arm. But that was not the only wound he received.
The creatures had taken advantage of his emptiness to attack him, sticking their sharp tails into the left side of his abdon. So when he was taken to the hospital, he was imdiately given special attention.
Of course, even though he was badly injured... he didn't die. In fact, he didn't even care that he was injured.
"Julian... I still think you should stay in bed."
His ocean blue eyes narrowed, his discomfort reflected on his face, while he pouted as if to show that he was bored.
"But I am bored... Just 'resting' in bed is too boring. I don't know how Aiden could do that. Besides... if it was you, you'd already be at the training center."
I opened my mouth, wanting to retort, but then I paused as I realized he was right.
"Whatever."
I leaned back in my chair in the hospital room, right across from Julian's bed. For a short while nothing was said between us, and I couldn't help but sigh deeply.
"Have you checked the news?"
In response to my question, Julian leaned back on his bed, his eyes fixed on the wall.
"Yes, I have. But I don't understand how they could do sothing like this."
I couldn't understand it either, no one could. After all... Lunerra was now facing one of the greatest catastrophes it had ever seen.
The 'introductions' we had directly experienced in the square had indeed been broadcast live to almost all of Lunerra. But that was not the important thing. What was important was what the 'gift' they were talking about was.
The gift was dungeons. Lots of dungeons, hundreds of dungeons that appeared out of nowhere and varied in grade. And all these dungeons had been broken in just a few seconds.
So through the gates, as in the square, creatures poured into Lunerra. Just as it happened eighty years ago when the planet first awakened.
"Wiera said, didn't he? He said they feed on chaos... What do you think it ans?"
For a mont I just remained frozen, no words ca out of my mouth.
What could I say? I knew what wieras were, but it was not sothing that could be easily explained. Our best friend was a wiera in the first place, even if he was only half one.
So... for now, I decided to lie.
"I don't know."
But as soon as those words left my mouth, I realized another truth.
That huge sword that Aiden had used in the battle... he had also used that purple energy that the wieras used.
Suddenly my eyes widened, my mouth slightly open.
Julian quickly noticed the change in . His brow furrowed, he looked at blankly.
"Adrian-"
"Wait, wait..."
If wieras are slowly revealed to the world for what they are... then because of that video, everyone will know that Aiden is a wiera. Won't that make him a bad person in everyone's eyes? He was declared a hero... but what if people care more about what he is?
Big things are happening on Lunerra, or at least they've started to happen, and bigger things are coming. I'm sure of that.
But these events will affect us more than I thought they would, and more than I thought they would affect my best friend in the first place...
It's a small chance... but if it happens that the whole Lunerra has designated Aiden as the enemy... what will I do then?
Reviews
All reviews (0)