I forced my eyes open. My breath was shallow, and my legs… they were still shattered. I looked around, confused. Am I still inside the wall structure? I drilled a small peep-hole, just enough to see out without being noticed. I checked the time and let out a heavy, ragged sigh. Only two minutes had passed. I was only out for two minutes? What was the point of even fainting for that long…
I looked at my legs in despair; the bones were definitely not where they were supposed to be. Well, at least I have to snap them back into place. I stripped off my shirt, rolled it up, and bit down on it hard. I grabbed my leg and—CRACK!
I bit the fabric with all my might. Not yet… I have to keep going. There was still the other one. CRACK! I spat the shirt out and stared at my legs. At least the bones were aligned now, even if they were still broken.
I considered putting my shirt back on, but after biting it like that, I figured it was better off discarded. Still, being shirtless was going to be a problem. I looked through the hole, searching for my dorm. It was right there, just a stone's throw away. If only I could get inside to grab a new shirt and my sword…
Suddenly, my eyes caught sight of a hatch on the floor. What the hell is a door doing here? Just then, debris began raining down from above; they were choosing to demolish the wall. I crawled for my life toward that hatch, slipped inside, and slammed it shut. I hope to god no one finds this. I began the agonizing crawl down the stairs. Why is crawling down stairs so damn hard?
At the bottom, I found a vial filled with green liquid. The label read: 'Blood of the Goddess of Nature.' The place was draped in cobwebs; it looked like no one had set foot here in a century. I stared at the vial.
"Screw it. Time to gamble."
I grabbed a syringe, filled it with the substance labeled as goddess blood, and injected half a vial into each leg. I exhaled, checking the time: 7:53 AM. My vision began to blur, and then… everything went dark again.
I opened my eyes once more. I immediately checked my legs—they were completely healed. But damn, it stung like hell. I realized I'd forgotten to inject some into my shoulder where the fire spear had pierced me. I checked the time: 8:04 AM. Eleven minutes? Are you serious? Whatever. I stood up quickly, rinsed my shirt, and threw it back on, wet as it was. I looked at another door at the back. What lay beyond it? I had no idea. I grabbed my bow and pushed the door open…
"Wait, so it's just a staircase leading up?" I muttered, wondering where the hatch above would take me. Without a second thought, I pushed it open. A rush of air whistled past my ears—likely because of the thin air in the basement.
I stepped out, only to realize I was back in the dormitory. The entrance had been hidden right under the floor tiles; who on earth decided to tile over a secret door? I picked myself up, shut the hatch, and replaced the tile. Peering out the window, I saw the blue-haired man—who I assumed was the Headmaster—busy healing the students. It seemed the immediate danger had passed.
As I walked out, he glanced at me, hesitating for a split second before returning to his task. I looked at the crowd of students. Only about fifty were left. That meant the others were…
I approached the blue-haired man and asked, "Who are you, sir?"
"The Headmaster," he replied simply.
I immediately bowed low before straightening up. So, he really was the Headmaster. I let out a long sigh, my gaze drifting toward the corpses strewn across the ground. What's the situation outside? Suddenly, a massive dome enveloped the sky, large enough to shroud the entire kingdom.
"A Special Barrier," the Headmaster noted.
"Huh? A barrier?"
"It's a skill from the Kingdom of Fortis."
A barrier? Something new again... But what did he mean by 'special'? Whatever. I looked through a collapsed section of the wall; the outside was swarming with monsters. I groaned. Why did this have to happen on a relaxing Saturday?
Suddenly, my eyes caught Alice. She survived? Her entire body was trembling uncontrollably. She was likely suffering from severe PTSD.
"Phukan?" she managed to whisper.
"Alice, do you still have the staff John bought for you?"
She nodded slowly, reaching out to retrieve her staff. I reached over and snatched it from her hand.
"Wait—!" she gasped.
I had to find a way to snap her out of it as quickly as possible. I scanned the area for someone specific. There he is. John. I knew that lucky bastard would survive. I walked over, whispered a plan into his ear, and handed him Alice's staff.
John approached Alice and tried to say something, but she wasn't listening at all; her mind was completely fractured. How do I get her attention? Wait... are you really going for that? John pulled Alice in for a kiss, catching her completely off guard. Her eyes snapped to his instantly. John then spoke the words I told him to say before gently returning her staff. Alice slowly stood up and straightened her clothes. Her face was still etched with visible terror, but for now, it was enough.
"I feel like dying right now... but then again, I still have way too much to do in this life to kick the bucket just yet."
I stared at the shattered wall. Even though it had been blasted, it was still high enough to keep the monsters at bay. But if this continued, the whole structure was bound to collapse. Just then, the Headmaster's mumble caught my ear.
"I suppose I'll have to build a new school elsewhere this time... maybe not as large, but definitely more efficient."
Building a new one? So that meant this one was expendable? Whoa, stop right there. Don't even think about it. I scrambled up to the top of the wall. The Headmaster glanced at me briefly before returning his focus to stabilizing the traumatized students. But once I reached the summit, I froze.
The sight before me was a bloodbath. A sea of monsters was slaughtering people in the streets below. Wait... Soul is out there! I scanned the chaos frantically, searching for any sign of him. Damn it! I can't find him. Going down there was a suicide mission... Well, Soul, you're on your own for now. Good luck surviving... I began crafting ice arrows and picking off the monsters below. After a while, I let out a frustrated sigh. At this rate, I'd be here for an eternity. Luckily, this kingdom had ridiculously high walls, otherwise, the monsters would have swarmed the city already. Suddenly, a brilliant—albeit mana-heavy—idea struck me.
I needed a way to get down and back up quickly. A pulley system. I could construct a massive pulley out of reinforced ice and use my ice chains as the cable. If I went down to find Soul and things got too hairy to escape on foot, I could just winch myself back up to the safety of the wall in an instant.
I went back down to find John and told him, "Get up on the wall with me."
"Why? Are you going to throw me to the monsters as bait?" John asked, suspicious.
"Just get up there, will you?"
We climbed back up together. Exhaustion began to seep into my bones—Wait, why didn't I feel this tired earlier? It must have been the waning effects of the Goddess's Blood. I constructed a massive ice pulley, about a meter in diameter, and wrapped a long ice chain around it. I secured one end to my waist and handed the other to John.
"If you see me about to die, pull," I said.
John nodded. I cautiously descended, creating an ice chain bridge between the wall and the nearest rooftop. It was a massive mana drain. Stepping onto the chain, I felt like I was in a horror movie. Once I reached the roof, I shattered the bridge to conserve mana. I moved across the rooftops, picking off monsters that tried to scramble up after me. I couldn't kill them all, but I could at least knock them back down.
Still no sign of Soul. Then, I caught a reflection in the window across from me—I was standing right above a blacksmith's workshop. A grin spread across my face. I smashed through the roof and dropped inside. The shop was deserted; the smiths must have been outside when the chaos started... and they never made it back.
I scavenged for anything useful, but it seemed all the weapons had been sold out. However, my eyes widened when I saw a massive hoard of steel ingots in the back. Damn, I want it all! But it was likely too heavy for my chains.
CRACK!
The sound of shattering ice echoed. Don't tell me... I grabbed the chain at my waist—it had snapped. And it wasn't a clean break; it had severed far out of reach. "Great... just great." Whatever. If I was stranded, I might as well take the steel. I stuffed the ingots into my bag; it must have weighed at least 50 kilograms. It was brutally heavy.
Suddenly, I glanced outside and froze. I saw a head—severed and flying through the air, gripped by a monster. The hair was purple. My heart stopped for a beat. But as the head spun toward me, I let out a massive sigh of relief.
It wasn't Soul.
"Where on earth is Sol?"
Suddenly, a thought struck me. If I moved carefully, I could reach the kingdom's outer wall in minutes. I could stash this steel where no one would find it, then head back to help the others. Haha... I guess greed is starting to get the better of me. Even knowing that, I stuck to the plan. I scaled the rooftop and began a grueling ninety-minute trek across the skyline.
Finally, I reached the outer wall, but a shimmering red barrier blocked my path—the boundary of the Special Field. I had no idea how to break it. Then, I noticed something odd and kicked at the stone floor. Why the hell is every wall in this kingdom hollow? Below me, sitting inside the wall's structure, was Sol. She looked disturbingly relaxed. How did she even get in there? I lowered an ice chain as quietly as possible. The moment Sol saw it, she looked up and began to climb.
"Where did you come from, Phukan?" she asked as she reached the top.
"From Earth, I guess," I replied with a smirk. It had been a while since I'd been this sarcastic. Sol smiled back, but then—
SMACK!
Her hand collided with my skull. "Ouch! Keep it down, or the monsters will hear us!"
"Whatever. Anyway, why are you hauling all that steel?"
"I don't know. I just wanted it."
I set the steel down and looked back toward Arcadium Primus. It looked painfully far away. It'll take forever to get back... unless I gamble. I downed my last mana potion, threw the empty vial toward the barrier, and grabbed a massive coil of rope—kilometers long—that was sitting on the wall. I anchored it firmly to a stone pillar, summoned a path of ice, and leapt into the void.
"Hey! What are you doing!?" Sol screamed.
I didn't answer. If my calculations were right, I'd be back at the academy in seconds—assuming I didn't fall to my death first. I gripped the rope tight, my mind entirely focused on manifesting the ice path ahead of me.
Ten meters left... five meters...
Suddenly, the sound of forming ice stopped. I was out of mana. Using every ounce of strength left in my body, I lunged toward the academy wall. I let out a jagged breath as my fingers found a grip. I hauled myself up and looked at John, who stood there, utterly speechless. I tied the rope to the ramparts, securing it tight.
I just hope the students of this academy aren't too weak to cross this line.
"John, go get the other students. Now!"
I spoke through gritted teeth, every word an agonizing effort. My body felt like a machine that had finally run out of fuel. My ears were ringing, my vision blurring, and the sound of my own internal organs seemed deafeningly loud. But I refused to let consciousness slip away. I slumped to the floor, forcing air into my lungs. That's better... Suddenly, the sound of students scrambling up the wall echoed through the air. I quickly struck the stone floor, slipping into the hollow structure to hide. I sat there, just breathing, as the world began to fade into darkness. Please... let me only be out for a minute...
When I forced my eyes open again, it seemed the evacuation hadn't fully begun yet. Perfect. I could hear the guttural snarls of monsters clawing their way up the wall, and the first few students were already beginning their precarious descent onto the rope. The line was thick; it could handle the weight. Once I was certain the battlements were clear, I hauled myself back up and began picking off the monsters with my bow. They didn't see me—no one was brave enough to look back.
But as I turned around, my heart nearly stopped. The Headmaster was standing right there.
"Um... Headmaster? What are you doing here...?"
"I should be asking you that, Student Phukan. Why haven't you crossed the rope yet? Or have you simply run out of strength to climb?"
"I'd just rather not," I replied bluntly.
"Ah, choosing to end your own life then? Suit yourself," he said coolly before taking flight toward the kingdom's outer wall.
I just hope Sol and John don't go around telling people I'm the one who rigged this rope. I tried to manifest another ice arrow, but... Damn it! The meager mana I'd managed to recover was gone again.
Then, a sound like a thunderclap ripped through the air. A projectile—a spear, moving at what felt like the speed of sound—streaked across the sky. I couldn't even track it with my eyes. It was hurtling straight for the rope... and it wasn't going to miss.