It was currently late evening on the sixth day of this journey, and I was fighting a group of large monsters called Cyclops.

They were about three to four meters tall, one-eyed, and had incredible strength and decent agility. I was scouting ahead of the carts when I ran into them. They were easily the most challenging monsters I had faced yet.

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One of them swung their arm at me, I jumped over it, then plunged my sword into the middle of it's forearm and violently twisted the blade, before flinging a poison needle at its eye. Before it turned to dust, I used it as a stepping stone to jump above the rest.

There were six left.

I could easily take them all out in one fell swoop with my poison needles, but that would be too easy and boring. I sheathed my blades and charged up lightning in my fingertips.

As I reached the peak of my jump, I unleashed a web of rapid lightning streaks from each finger, like multiple simultaneous lightning strikes raining down from above.

What did I name this attack again...? Oh, yeah...

"Lightning Reign!"

As I began to drop back down, I drew out my blades and twisted my body into a rapid, vertical spin, my blades ripping through the monsters and slicing them into ribbons as I descended.

I landed and put away my blades, as the monsters turned to dust. I sighed and stretched, waiting for the others to catch up. We should arrive at Goldway around this time tomorrow.

So far, we hadn't run into any further ambushes, just the occasional monster attacks, which were more than manageable. We had avoided any casualties and injuries, and the carts and carriage were all undamaged too. It almost felt like this was going a bit too well.

As the others caught up, I dashed off ahead again. I had been doing most of the scouting, only swapping out when my Mana dropped down to about half my full capacity. Running and fighting for most of the day helped keep myself distracted, which was a lot better than wallowing in my negative thoughts.

As nightfall arrived, our path continued to be devoid of any enemy ambushes, and we soon set up camp for the night. As usual, I watched over the camp from the highest spot I could find.

And I still wasn't back on speaking terms with Persia.

She might still be avoiding me...but I wouldn't know, since I hadn't been able to bring myself to approach her at all over the last two days.

"Wow, I can't believe that this is still going on," Chuckled Gela in amusement.

"...why do you keep following me around every night? It's annoying, go guard the camp from...anywhere else," I responded with a sigh.

"It's boring to keep watch by myself though."

"..."

"So, I was wondering...why don't you just go down there and talk to her? Be a little forceful...I certainly wouldn't mind that if I were her."

"Wow, the cause of the problem is now trying to help solve the problem, isn't that ironic?"

"I don't particularly care about whether you resolve this problem or not, you know. Honestly, it's kinda fun. You probably haven't noticed, but each night before I follow after you during our shift, I give Persia a condescending smile and wave, her irritated expression is just hilarious!"

"Can you stop making things worse?" I groaned, firing lightning sparks at her face.

"I just don't like being bored- ow!" She replied, letting out a yelp as a spark zapped her nose.

The rest of the night went by without any incident, I slept pretty soundly after my shift ended, guess all that running during the day had tired me out a bit. The next morning, I was still pretty drowsy after waking up.

Maybe it was because it wasn't just stamina that I had used up, I had also been draining a lot of mental energy over this journey.

I yawned loudly and rubbed my eyes as we began moving, less than a day away from reaching our destination.

"What's the matter, you look a bit tired, Kuro," Inquired Instructor Trocuelo, looking back from the front.

"It's no big deal, just could've used another hour or two of sleep, but no need to worry, I can still function just fine, Instructor," I insisted, stifling another yawn, my eyes slightly watering.

"Hm, you have been doing most of the scouting till now...get some rest, swap places with someone from the second group. Get two hours of sleep and then keep guard during the second shift," Suggested Instructor Trocuelo.

"Er, no- that's really not necess-," I began, but cut off as he ignored me, peered inside the cart he was on, and said something to whoever was in there.

A few seconds later, Vi emerged and waved at me.

"Hey, I'll take over for you, Kuro! Leave it to me!" She grinned, hopping onto the top of the carriage.

"Wow, can't handle a little fatigue?" Remarked Misen condescendingly.

"I really don't need-."

"You've worked harder on this journey than the rest of us, so it only stands to reason that you'll be more exhausted than the rest of us. Get some rest," Insisted the instructor.

I really wouldn't have any problems staying focused while a bit sleepy, but arguing seemed like too much work, and besides...a short nap doesn't sound too bad right now.

"Well, if you insist...I'll take you up on your offer, I guess," I replied, letting Vi take my place.

Alright...I'll get a little more shut-eye. I entered the front cart and then froze, as I saw who else was occupying the cart right now. Persia.

She looked a bit fidgety, as she nervously glanced at me before averting her eyes. I wordlessly sat across her on the opposite end of the cart and looked down.

This...was awkward, to say the least.

There was no way I could fall asleep in this situation.

As the time ticked away, I glanced at her a couple of times, but my gaze would automatically avert itself as soon as I'd make eye contact. After about forty-five minutes of this unbearable awkwardness, I slowly mustered up the courage to talk to her.

I had had enough of this, it didn't matter what, I just needed to say...something!

Anything is fine, so long as it breaks this spell of silence between us.

"Hey-!" We both blurted out at the same time, before stopping and staring at each other in surprise.

Was I more surprised that I had finally said something or that she had finally said something? A mixture of both.

"Uh...y-yeah?" I stuttered in reply, struggling to maintain my gaze.

"U-um...you f-first," She quietly stammered, her face turning red.

This was it...

Say something...

Say anything!

Okay...here goes. I began to open my mouth, but right before I could...I froze as I felt a chill run down my spine. We were completely surrounded by a ton of bloodlust. How many people? Too many to count, but at least a few hundred.

No time to think.

"ABOVE US!" I yelled as loud as I could, poking my head out of the cart.

"Everybody out!" Exclaimed Instructor Trocuelo, as the carts came to a screeching halt.

I jumped out of the cart and rapidly scanned our surroundings. A large group of men in those creepy white robes were standing about fifty meters ahead of us, we were also surrounding on both right and left sides, the steep slopes on either side of us were teeming with them.

I'll refer to them as white-robes to simplify things.

"Weren't we using a scout!?" I inquired, drawing out my blades as Persia hopped out of the cart.

"No, we weren't...Ragiu was supposed to go on ahead, but he kept procrastinating and this happened," Replied Fuo with an annoyed sigh.

"Sure, blame me! It's not like that'll change the situation or anything!" He shot back, taking his spear into his hands.

I count...approximately five-hundred of them.

Suddenly, a wave of Elemental Magic attacks began raining down on us from all sides, as all the white-robes began charging up and firing at us. In a flash Instructor Trocuelo pulled out a Spell Scroll and activated it by the carriage and carts, a dense barrier forming around them.

"Don't worry about protecting the transport, just focus on staying alive!" He commanded, as the hundreds of attacks simultaneously shot towards us.

Azyl conjured a large roof of water above us, nullifying all the attacks that had been fired from either side above us. That left the front. A large rock came flying toward me, I raised my short-sword and unfurled a swift, vertical slash, cutting it in half as the two halves landed on either side behind me.

I backflipped to avoid a fireball and then quickly shot out an electric bolt to cancel out an incoming lightning attack. I twisted my body to avoid a burst of water, and then jumped across to avoid a large fireball.

These attacks...just like the guys in the cave, they weren't all that strong. But their numbers were going to be tough to deal with.

Crap, I don't have enough momentum to fully avoid that. As the searing attack neared me and I braced myself, I felt someone grab my arm and pull me out of the way of the flames.

"You okay?" Asked Persia, letting go of my arm.

"Y-yeah, thank-," I began, before grabbing her shoulder, stepping forward while moving her behind me, streaming lightning through my blade and slashing away an incoming lightning bolt.

I looked up as the air suddenly got cold, to see that Azyl had converted the roof of water above us into dozens of long, sharp icicles and firing them up at the men above us, taking out about a couple dozen or so of them. He looked a bit uneasy as he saw all the bloodshed his attack caused, but he didn't back down.

"You're pretty non-hesitant about firing off potentially killing shots," I commented, noticing Fuo staring at that last attack with both astonishment and envy from the corner of my eye.

"Well, I see it this way...I'd rather kill than be killed because I was too hesitant to kill someone that wasn't hesitant to kill me....I said 'kill' too many times there," He muttered, creating another overhead shield of water as they launched a second wave of attacks.

His attacks were powerful, but the uneven surface of the slope was strewn with cave entrances and cliffs, giving them plenty of cover to hide behind. Still, his attacks were taking out a fair amount of them...we might just about be able to do this.

We also had to deal with attacks from the enemies in the front, who were attacking from behind the safety of a barrier. So far, they seemed content with using long range attacks and trying to crush us with numbers while keeping their distance.

"Looks like that barrier doesn't affect any attacks that are fired out from inside it, but it does stop any attacks that are fired at it from the outside," Relayed Instructor Trocuelo, dodging a blast of wind and countering with powerful blasts of lightning.

"Uh, is it just me or is the barrier you put around the carts starting to crack?" Enquired Misen, gesturing to our transport as he drove his spear through one of their heads.

He was right, the barrier was showing signs of damage. We need to kill them all as fast as possible, we're definitely stronger than them but if this fight gets drawn out, we'll all soon be worn out.

"We aren't getting anywhere unless we start taking these guys out!" I yelled out.

Ekai blasted out a couple of massive, scorching fireballs at the enemies in front, the flames slammed onto the barrier, blazing fiercely but unable to break through. Still, he had briefly halted the attacks from the front.

"Ekai, try combining your flames with Azyl's water into an overhead steam attack, that probably won't kill them, but it should slow them dow-," I began to suggest.

"Good idea. But there's no need for any flames," Interrupted Azyl, before converting the mass of water above us into powerful, boiling gusts of pressurized steam that he blasted at the enemies above us.

Howls of pain echoed above us as the scorching hot steam spread across and into the overhead caves, as the attacks raining down on us slowed down.

"I'm starting to see you in a whole new, badass light," I grinned at Azyl, before activated Lightning Boost and dashing up the left slope, making a beeline for the overhead caves.

It was steep, but at enough of an angle to be able to run up it without much trouble. Before I reached any enemies, I quickly looked around to see what everyone else was doing. Ekai, Fuo and the two instructors were attacking the group in front of us, and though they were unable to break through their barrier, they were preventing them from launching another wave of attacks.

Over on the right side, Misen and Vi were charging up towards the enemies, while Azyl backed them up with rapid-fire icicles and water blasts from below.

Bom Nexped and Mijy Renceig were still by the carts, both seemed to have taken some damage and unable to fight.

And right behind me, were Persia and Gela.

As I reached a group of about six enemies huddled in a small cave, nursing their steam burns, I entered Bloodlust Mode and shot inside, taking them all out with my blades before they could even react. No time to savor it, I need to speedrun this killing spree.

I then exited the cave and continued heading up. Persia and Gela were both ahead of me now, the former using her wind blasts to rapidly knock the enemies off the slope in quick succession, sending them tumbling down to their deaths. Gela was taking out her opponents a lot slower, but that was because she was taking her time with each of them, making sure to inflict a heap of pain with her talon before killing them.

I then noticed a bunch of Fire and Wind Magic users above us pooling their power together into a large fireball. I began charging up lightning inside both my wrists as fast as I could, while looking for a good spot to fire it from. Given the angle of this slope, I needed to fire this from a higher spot than I'm currently at, but- ...that's when I spotted the perfect foothold.

"Persia! Quick, cut off both my hands!" I yelled, tossing my sword towards her.

She grabbed the blade, looked at it hesitantly for an instant before dashing towards me as I held out my arms, and sliced off both hands at the wrists. The instant she did, I increased my Lightning Boost to x3, dashed forward, then jumped up above the foothold I'd spotted.

"Wha- hey!" Exclaimed Gela, as I stepped on top of her head and jumped up off of it as hard as I could.

My Lightning Boost destabilized and damaged a few muscles in my legs when I jumped, but it was barely even a minor injury.

I fired from both hands as I reached the peak of my jump, dissipating the fireball and incinerating everyone who had been powering it.

I hadn't fully used up all the lightning that I had charged up, and still had a bit of juice left to spare in my wrists. I swung my arms across outwards, taking out a wide row of enemies in an instant.

The residual attack wasn't quite strong enough to fully incinerate them, but they were very much dead, or close to it, badly burnt and missing some body parts that my attack had scorched off. I think that took out just about a fifth of the white-robes on this slope.

Still, that had used up about thirty percent of my Mana, I should avoid using any more large-scale lightning attacks in this fight unless absolutely necessary.

As I landed, five of them surrounded me, and I noticed for the first time that each of them were wearing a necklace with a blood-red crystal attached to it.

What is that?

I'm pretty sure that the group I had taken out a couple of nights ago weren't wearing anything like this.

Whatever, I'll worry about that later, for now I'll focus on the ones in front of me.

One swung a knife at me, I ducked under his swing, used my left elbow to break his forearm in half, and then slammed my right hand-stump into his chest as hard as I could, the end of my forearm bone stabbing his heart.

I then drew back my arm, narrowly avoiding an ice shot and fireball. I then tripped one of them, before slamming him down using my elbows, at an angle that broke his neck.

Before the remaining three could attack, a powerful blast of wind knocked them away, as they rolled down the slope and crashed down onto the ground.

"Mmfph," Mumbled Persia, tossing me my left hand, carrying the right one between her teeth.

She handed it to me after I reattached the left one.

"Thanks...," I said awkwardly, my Bloodlust Mode automatically weakening as I spoke to her.

"Don't mention it," She replied quietly.

I then drove my sword straight past the side of her head, as she thrust her claws past mine. My blade stabbed into the head of a white-robe who had snuck up behind her, as her claws dug into the neck of one who had been behind me.

"Wow, you two actually made up," Remarked Gela, flying towards us while holding a half-dead white-robe by the neck with her talon.

Also, her forehead was bleeding profusely.

"What's with the corpse? And you probably have a concussion," I responded, flinging poison needles at an incoming group of enemies.

"Hm? Oh, I thought it'd be interesting to use a human as a hammer-like weapon. And this is your fault, my forehead slammed into a rock when you jumped off my head. Not that I mind, like I said before, I don't mind if you be a little forceful," She grinned, tossing away the lifeless body after plunging her claws into the neck, as more white-robes surrounded us.

How is someone that's so sadistic also a huge masochist?

"Too bad the rock didn't go through your head," Muttered Persia, blasting off one of their heads with a wind-propelled kick.

All the remaining white-robes on this side came charging at us, firing their Elemental Magic. As they neared us, I focused and re-entered Bloodlust Mode, before slashing off a couple of heads, while evading incoming attacks and flinging out my poison needles.

Not to change the subject, but it's pretty surprising that no one else seems to use this poison in this world, just a scratch from a needle laced with it means instant death, it was almost unfair how effective it was.

And it was readily available, cheap and easy to find too...so why am I the only person that I know of who actually uses it? It makes no sense.

Anyway, back to the fight.

I noticed Persia beginning to get slightly overwhelmed, and dashed towards her, flinging a couple of needles at the enemies that weren't close to her.

Can't risk hitting her with one of these.

I streamed lightning into my blades and drove my dagger through the back of the head of a white-robe behind her, before using my sword to slash across the throats of three others.

A sword came swinging towards my head, I parried it into the ground with my sword and flung my dagger into the wielder's throat, before pulling it back using wire, as the body dropped to the ground. Two more charged at me with daggers, striking me on either left and right sides.

As I blocked using both my blades, a third white-robe appeared in front of me, wielding a large hammer, which he swung at my chest. I quickly jumped back and brought my hands in front of my chest, as the end of the hammer clipped my right hand, breaking my fingers and sending my sword flying behind me as I lost my grip.

As they charged at me while I was still off-balance, I felt a hand pressing down on my shoulder. Persia sprang up from behind me, grabbed my airborne sword, used my shoulder to boost herself up and forward, before slashing straight across at their heads.

Gela flew over to us as Persia tossed the sword back at me.

"Looks like we've just about killed half of them. Ugh, I'm starting to get dizzy," She said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, you definitely have a concussion."

We continued fighting the enemies around us, slowly whittling them down. None of them were individually all that strong, at best I'd place them at B-Ranked capabilities, but there were just so many of them that it was easy to get overwhelmed if you let your guard down for even a fraction of a second.

Still, there weren't so many of them that it felt endless, we could clearly see that we had taken out a large chunk of their force, and were continuing to slowly but surely shrink it. Meanwhile, it didn't look like we had suffered any casualties yet.

Misen, Vi and Azyl had also dealt with most of the enemies on their end. Misen was using his spear to rapidly cut down his opponents, while Vi slammed down a barrage of her earth-shattering kicks, each one powerful enough to send out mini-shockwaves upon impact.

Looks like we still weren't making any progress in front of us though.

The air around was starting to get pretty hot and humid, Azyl's large scale steam attack had probably started it, but Ekai's massive fireballs were definitely contributing pretty significantly too, though they were unable to break through the enemy's barrier.

Fuo's rapid-fire ice arrows weren't doing any damage either, and Instructor Trocuelo was attacking with powerful lightning blasts, but was also unable to leave a dent.

Instructor Uensh fired off a few water blades, but soon gave up trying when it had no effect. The enemy's barrier didn't have so much as a scratch on it.

I can't worry about that just yet though, I need to focus on mowing down the enemies around us.

We had now cut down nearly three-quarters of the enemies who had been on this slope, but we were still dealing with a pretty large number of them, I'd estimate that we had just under fifty left to kill.

Thankfully, not only were they fairly weak, their sense of teamwork was quite poor too. That lack of co-ordination was a huge relief, we might not have stood a chance if these numbers had fought as a cohesive unit.

A flying rock came hurling towards Persia, she hurriedly wrapped wind around her left fist and punched it away, but was unable to avoid damaging her glove and knuckles.

"Damn it, I can't use my claws!" She hissed in frustration, unable to use her left hand, as she slashed at a white-robe with her right.

One came charging at her left, she wasn't in position to defend or counter with her left hand out of commission.

"Hey, what are you-!?" Before he reached her, I grabbed Gela's left hand and drove it forward like a spear at his throat, before tightening my grip and swinging her across like a tennis racket as I spotted another one approaching, her foot slamming into the side of his head and snapping it so hard that it turned 180 degrees.

"Thanks!" Grinned Persia, looking quite pleased at the way I used this particular weapon.

"Ow...I don't mind you being rough, but you kinda dislocated my shoulder," Gela remarked, grasping onto her left shoulder.

"Don't be a baby, a dislocation isn't a broken bone," I replied, slamming my palm across the front of her shoulder, pushing the dislocated joint back in place.

It wasn't much longer before we had finished cutting down all the white-robes on the left slope. Both my blades were slick and dripping with blood, and I had plenty of blood splatter all over me, almost none of which was mine.

Over on the right slope, only a handful remained, as Vi and Misen cut them down with ease. Azyl seemed to be taking care of the two who had gotten injured. The enemies in front of us were still unscathed behind their one-way barrier.

None of us had died yet, though all of us had cuts and bruises all over our bodies...well, I healed mine, but it still counts.

"Let's head for the front," I said, heading back down the slope.

As I made it to the ground, I noticed the piles of corpses strewn around the carts. The barrier that Instructor Trocuelo had activated around the carts and carriage was cracked all over, but they hadn't broken, so our transports were all intact.

Azyl had frozen the injuries inflicted on Bom and Mijy to stop the bleeding, but neither of them looked like they could fight anymore. Not that they had done anything in the first place.

Vi and Misen made their way down too, having finished dealing with the enemies on their side.

"Tsk, talk about dead weight. Were these two really the best available options after the rest of us?" Remarked Misen, raising an eyebrow at them.

He was being kind of a dick, but I had to admit that he had a point. And the fact that no one else said anything to dispute him was pretty telling.

"Are you okay, Vi? You look kinda pale," Inquired Persia, staring at her.

"Oh, uh...yeah. It's just a bit...unsettling. I've never killed anyone before, but I just took out so many within less than a half hour...I'm not sure how to feel," She admitted, a bit shakily.

"It was kill or be killed, so you don't need to feel remorseful, it's not like you went out and killed someone unprovoked," Replied Persia, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What she said. Take my advice and try not to think about it too much, at least for now. We're still not done here," I added, nodding towards the front.

She nodded and took a deep breath, but still looked quite shaken.

As we headed for the front to join Ekai, Fuo and the two instructors, I noticed a red glint coming from inside the enemy barrier. What was that?

"Hey, what's going on with the corpses?" Inquired Gela, gesturing towards the pile of lifeless bodies.

The corpses? What about them?

I turned back, and saw what she was referring to. A red glow was emanating from the chests of each of the white-robed corpses. No, that was from the red crystal necklaces I'd noticed them wearing. The lifeless bodies began to shrivel up into nothing but skin and bones, the red glows fading as the bodies were reduced to dry husks. At the same time, the red glint I'd spotted behind the barrier was getting brighter, as the enemies inside it brought a massive, red crystal to the front.

"Oh, no...those are Blood Crystals! They're so dangerous that all five nations have forbidden their use. They are large crystals that are created by crystalizing human blood using equal proportions of all five Elemental Mana types. This ritual forms a large red crystal, from which fragments are broken off and worn by any number of people. Each individual fragment will devour all the remaining Mana in the wearer's body after they die, and then transfer that Mana to the main crystal body, so long as it is within range. Then, using the right Spell Scroll, the collected Mana in the main crystal can be fired off in a pure beam of destructive energy or used to cause a large-scale explosion. Just a dozen or so corpses are usually enough to cause obscene levels of destruction, I can't imagine how powerful one that has absorbed the Mana of hundreds of dead bodies could be," Said Instructor Trocuelo, staring at the large red crystal in horror.

They pointed the end of the crystal towards us and one of them pressed a Spell Scroll against it. The tip of the crystal began glowing even brighter, as it began charging up its beam.

I couldn't see an escape from this.

I could feel the intensity coming from the impending blast, and my body was telling me that there was no dodging this.

"Am I seriously about to die here? This has been an awful week," Sighed Misen, staring at it with a bemused look.

The end of the crystal was now so bright that the entire area had been bathed in an ominous, crimson glow.

"Kuro, use this!"

I heard Azyl call out from behind me, I turned around to see a Spell Scroll thrown at me. I caught it, and stared at him in confusion.

"What is thi-?"

"Just activate it in front of you!"

Oh wow, I had NEVER heard Azyl sound so urgent.

I held out the scroll in front of me and ran my Mana through it, just as the crystal's glow turned blindingly bright and fired off a massive, red beam at us. It was like a destructive, crimson tidal wave rapidly rushing towards us. As the gigantic blast neared me, and I braced myself for impact....nothing happened.

It was right in front of me...but it wasn't shooting forward anymore...it was like there was an invisible wall in front of m-.

"A barrier scroll?" I said out loud, staring at the scroll grasped in my hand.

A seriously dense barrier at that.

"What the-...that might be the most powerful defensive barrier I've ever seen. Where did you get this!?" Exclaimed Instructor Uensh, grabbing Azyl's shoulders.

"I, uh...made it myself," He replied, a bit uncomfortably.

Wait, what? I mean, he always seemed to have a talent for filling out Spell Scrolls, but creating an original barrier this powerful?

"The extent of your abilities are kinda ridiculous, man," I laughed incredulously, as the beam began to slow down and fade, with not so much as a scratch left on Azyl's barrier.

The white-robes were staring at us in shock, unable to believe that we were still alive.

"Oh good, it held out. It's almost unbreakable, but it only lasts for like a minute," Azyl sighed in relief, the barrier fading just as he finished speaking.

Yikes, if that beam had still been firing just now...

"So then...don't suppose you have any tricks up your sleeve to take down their barrier?"

"...I can try something, but I don't know for sure if it'll work. Uh...could you cover me? I need a few seconds," He requested.

"Got it. Do your thing!"

He raised his arms, forming a mass of water around their barrier. His barrier had been in the form of a tall and wide wall, while their barrier was in the shape of a box with them inside it. He was currently surrounding that box with water.

They fired off desperate Elemental Magic attacks at him, but with all of the rest of us covering him, Azyl was able to steadily increase the mass of water surrounding them without a worry.

After about forty-five seconds or so...

"That...should be enough," He muttered, before moving his arms downwards and forming a compressing motion with his hands.

Instantly, the water surrounding the barrier began to close in on the barrier walls, pushing into in from every angle.

I get it...he was using his water to fully surround their barrier in order to then apply immense pressure on it from every single spot, to try and crush it inwards. His expression began to strain, his teeth gritted and body tensing up, as he attempted to bring his palms together.

"Conjuring up that much water is insane on it's own, but to control it to this extent should be near the realms of impossibility. How much Mana does this kid have, anyway?" Muttered Instructor Uensh in shock, as Azyl further increased the mass of water and strained himself harder to try and crush their barrier with it.

"Hm...if he does manage to crush that barrier...I believe all that water is going to come flooding towards us," Chimed in Ekai, taking a cautious step back.

I hadn't thought of that...yeah, if all that water collapses, we're all getting washed away in an instant.

"Almost....there," Grunted Azyl, his face beginning to turn red with the amount he was straining himself.

A loud cracking sound filled the air, as his palms finally met, the large mass of water appearing to cave in on itself as it crushed the barrier inwards like glass.

He did it!

Now to contend with the flood.

"Everyone, brace yourselves and grab onto somethi-!" Began Instructor Trocuelo.

He was interrupted as Azyl snapped his fingers, the entire mass of water disappearing in an instant.

"All that water was created with my Mana, so I can make it all disappear if I want to...though doing that uses up even more Mana. I'm completely drained of it now though," Panted Azyl, collapsing onto his knees as beads of sweat ran down his face.

Some of the white-robes had been crushed by the sheer pressure of that attack, but plenty were still alive, saved by the dead bodies of their comrades used as meat-shields.

"Now's our chance!" Yelled Instructor Trocuelo, dashing forward towards them as they began to regroup.

Yeah...time to take these guys down!

The rest of us charged in after him, to finish off the remaining enemies. However, none of them moved as we approached them.

I was getting a bad feeling...

As we neared them, they immediately pulled up masks over their noses and mouths, the white-robe in front simultaneously pulling out two Spell Scrolls.

Not good...face-masks like that could only mean that they didn't want to be inhaling whatever was about to fill the air.

Poison gas, maybe?

Oh, no...we needed to get away, but...we were already too close to them.

The white-robe activated one of the scrolls, light gray smoke blasting out from it. Instructor Trocuelo, Gela and Vi, who were in front of me, slowed down and collapsed as soon as they inhaled the gas.

Damn it, this was really bad...!

In the split second before the gas reached me, an idea hit me. I still had Azyl's barrier scroll on me. I planted my feet, then grabbed Persia and pushed her behind me, before moving my hand in front of me, the scroll firmly grasped in my fist. Another white-robe in front suddenly shot towards me rapidly, drawing out a hidden blade and slashing my hand off before I could react.

Fuck, I dropped my guard!

My severed hand flew backwards...and the barrier activated behind me.

How about that, I had ended up on the wrong side of the barrier...I sighed and shrugged as the smoke closed in on me...oh well, at least I had managed to save Persia.

As the gas surrounded me and I began to lose consciousness and fall, the last thing I heard was her voice letting out a desperate cry.

"Kuro!"

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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism! Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.