CHAPTER 73 - MORALE
After an hour I had arrived at the academy with the help of Director Cynthia's bond. When I had arrived, he quickly advised me to visit the director since she wanted to see me for the longest.
I quickly nodded and headed my way towards her room but when I entered it was empty. I tried looking around for her in the campus grounds but I found nothing of her, that was until I decided to head towards Arthur's training grounds.
Maybe she was there, I thought to myself.
When I had arrived at the room, I opened the doors. Seeing not one, but three people in one room, Cynthia Goodsky, Gideon, and Emily Watsken.
Their faces lit up when they saw me for some reason. Almost like I had died or something. Except for the inventor, he looked more annoyed at me than thankful that I was alive.
"Oh you are alive." Gideon spoke in a dismissive tone, turning his direction of view to Toby the robot in front of him.
Emily smacked him with force before speaking to me in a sad and relieved voice. "Forgive him Luke he is quite worried about you ever since two days passed without any contact. He just doesn't speak his mind well."
Upon hearing this Gideon opened his mouth but it was quickly shut the moment Emily turned with her fist showing.
"With you here that means things have gone well?" Director Cynthia asked, walking towards me with her arms opened for a hug.
I didn't either agree or disagree with her statement, instead I just returned the nice gesture that she was giving.
"Hopefully things didn't go bad while I was away did they?" I jokingly asked with a fake smile that didn't quite reach my eyes.
"While you were away there have been some cases of students appearing with a type of drug that increases their mana aptitude but three folds, however their bodies do not correspond with that type of drug and their mana leaks from their body–"
"And they died right?" I finished Director Goodsky's sentence for her.
Her eyes widened in confusion. "How did you know?"
I shake my head in ignorance. "I just had a hunch that if things were about to get bad while I was gone that meant a student lost their life." My eyes deviated from the director and to the room we were currently in. So this is the room Arthur Leywin got just by adding more into his contract of his teachings.
Interesting.
As I continued to look around, I found myself looking at the empty space that were only holes of what seemed to be a battle here. "Aside from you, Director, was there someone else using this room?"
She stayed quiet for a second, her eyes widened but it was quickly masked by her professionalist director mask. "Yes, there are another couple of students that use this room. Well more specifically, by a couple I meant–"
"Two other students. Tessia Eralith and Arthur Leywin I assume?"
"How did you… No, it should not be a surprise of what you know or see anymore."
A small smile left my face. "And where are they now?"
I expected the Director to answer my question but it was Gideon who did. "Well those brats are in their small little field trip that Professor Glory is administering as we speak." The mad scientist waved his hand like it was no big deal but to me it was, this meant that Alea was going to find out about the retainer Uto and her life was about to be taken.
Gideon noticed my grim expression but tried reassuring me by saying, "It is only a low level dungeon named Widow's Crypt. What is there to worry about, they have the elf princess and the quadra-elemental boy."
"I would only wish that it was a low-level dungeon." I said not loud enough but only audible enough for those close to me to hear. "It might just be me but I feel like things are not what they seem. I am just going to where they are and make sure everything is okay."
I got a nod from both people but Cynthia was the only one worried like me, Gideon on the other hand was just agreeing with her.
And with that, I left the training room and headed towards the dungeon.
Passing the campus, looking at the students that were having a good time without realizing that they were going to be in danger in a couple of days from now. But they didn't know that and instead of laying over that fact, the most I could do was to embrace the day that was to happen, to be there when things were at their most chaotic times. That was the role I was giving to this academy. I was the sole Guardian of Peace that was entrusted by Director Goodsky to the well being of this academy and its students.
And so I was going to do what was expected of me.
But I would also change the rails of this twisted history.
Now, there isn't a time to let my feelings and thoughts affect my current actions that fueled me now.
[Tachyon]
ARTHUR LEYWIN POV:
As dozens and dozens revealed themselves from hiding, the Snarlers started snapping their jaws while letting out low growls.
"P-Professor… are there supposed to be this many S-S-S-Snarlers?" One of the upperclassman females in the other group stammered out.
"This is so odd. Even in the lower floors, there are never this many Snarlers bunched together." Professor Glory braced herself and stayed firm. Because of the low morale in our class, if even our professor took a step back in hesitation, everyone would panic.
"There are a lot of them but they aren't impossible to handle. However, since this is just a class excursion, I think it's best to go back up, just in case. Safety is the priority right now." Just as Professor Glory started to slowly usher everyone back towards the stairs, a fireball flew past her and exploded in a crowd of Snarlers.
"BOOOM!" as the fireball exploded, six Snarlers all shot out in different directions and lay motionless.
"See? These nasty little beasts are weak. Professor, don't tell me you brought us all here just to go back? Even a small fire spell was enough to kill six of them." Lucas scoffed as he lowered his staff.
I could tell Professor Glory was hesitant because of the unusual amount of Snarlers suddenly appearing in the first floor.
"I-I think we should try and train here, Professor." Curtis had a determined look on his face as several other students, because of Lucas' display, gained confidence as well.
The Snarlers that have all come out seemed a bit frightened now, as they warily kept their distance, studying us with their unintelligent eyes.
"Okay, but if I feel that something isn't right, we're immediately out of here, understood?" With a stern voice, she waits for the class to agree to her condition.
"Good. Split into your two teams and take different parts of the floor. We don't want any friendly fire happening here. And Lucas, if you do something like that again, there will be consequences." Professor Glory shot a menacing look towards the arrogant blond, making him reluctantly comply.
"Prince Curtis, take your team and make your way towards the left side of the cave. Princess Tessia, take your team to the right of the cave and hold your ground. I'll be keeping an eye on you guys at all times but stay vigilant and don't underestimate the Snarlers, especially in these numbers." With that, Professor Glory motioned for the two teams to rush forward.
"Arthur, I want you to be the vanguard since you're the best in close range. Clive and Roland, you guys take positions to his left and right behind him and make sure he's covered. Lucas stays in the center between Arthur, Clive and Roland; I'll cover your back. We're going in the diamond position we learned in class!" As soon as we headed towards the miniature army of Snarlers, Tessia's shy self all but disappeared as her Student President side took over.
The Snarlers began to yell and growl at the poor Roland. "Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!" Roland, obviously intimidated by the fifty-odd Snarlers all snapping their jaws at us, took out his weapon, which just looked like a handle of a sword.
Clive also took out his metal short bow from his dimension ring and he drew it back. Where the arrow should have been was a long metal needle wrapped in a gust of wind.
I took out Dawn's Ballad as well, which was still wrapped in white cloth. I left it sheathed and lowered myself, getting ready for a quick draw in case any of them suddenly jumped.
"Spread and destroy! Ember wisp!" As we approached the horde of Snarlers, Lucas released one of his favorite spells and soon started floating around us.
Reaching just 5 meters from the horde, I tucked my sword tightly to my waist and prepared to draw as more than ten of them jumped towards us.
Dashing even faster, I leaned forward even lower and augmented the sword still inside its sheathe. Augmenting a wind to accumulate inside, I had to use all of my strength to keep my blade from coming out of its sheathe until the last minute. With the same theory as a loaded spring. I waited until I was just in front of the airborne Snarlers before I released the pressurized blade.
As the speed of my blade broke the sound barrier, I winced in pain as I felt my shoulder dislocating. That skill worked a lot better than I thought it would… I shouldn't experiment with skills in actual battles.
The front lines of the Snarlers both in the air and on the ground were either knocked back or cut in half but I couldn't follow up with anything as my right arm dangled, dropping my sword.
Several more Snarlers took the place of the fallen and galloped towards me, using all four limbs now.
Several arrows whizzed by me and promptly impaled some of the Snarlers almost on me.
I look back and give Clive a nod before picking up my sword with my left hand. As I looked to my left, Roland was wielding a whip made of water as he gripped the handle he brought out in the beginning. The water whip whirled erratically as some attacks missed the targets by a large margin, making me think that Roland was still learning his family's art.
The cave glowed in red and blue as different fire spells went off from both our side and the other team's side. The Snarlers were trying to surround us as they began spreading out and keeping their distance. The ember wisps that Lucas summoned were still shooting off small streams of fire but the Snarlers were getting crafty, throwing chunks of ice from the ground at the wisps in hopes of extinguishing them.
"Arthur, are you okay?" Tess sees me clutching my arm as she's fighting off two Snarlers.
"Um… I think I'll be fine." I grit my teeth and positioned my right arm back into its place.
"Gah!" I couldn't help but let out a cry.
The skill I haven't even named yet worked a lot better than I thought, managing to kill over fifteen Snarlers at once. Too bad my body wasn't able to withstand the force just now.
The Snarlers weren't very strong, but after about thirty minutes the seemingly endless numbers that didn't dwindle were taking its toll on us. Clive and Roland were sweating profusely while Tessia was a bit pale. Even Lucas' spells were becoming a lot less flamboyant as he had to keep in mind the limit of his mana pool now.
"Is it just me or are there more Snarlers now then there were in the beginning?" Roland shouts as he manages to kill three Snarlers with the help of Clive.
"I think you're right. The numbers aren't adding up." Clive responds as he looks at Tessia for further instructions.
Between the corpses on the floor and the ones still kicking, the numbers, just on our side, added up to roughly over one hundred. That was more than double from the beginning.
"I think we should head back over to Professor Glory. We're not going to be able to keep fighting like this for much longer." Tess announces. As we made our way slowly back to where the entrance to the dungeon was, it seemed like the other team had the same idea.
Professor Glory noticed both out teams coming towards her and so she made her way to us, cleaving Snarlers left and right with her sword.
"Professor, I don't think we can keep going like this. The Snarlers keep coming!" Tess shouts over the waves of Snarlers.
"Both teams! Follow your leaders! We're going to back up!" Without hesitation, Professor Glory motions for us to head back up the stairs when we hear a loud crash.
"BOOM!"
The icicles and stalactites, along with other rubble from the roof of the cave came crashing to the ground as two figures came floating down, flapping their larger wings to hold themselves steady.
"Are you kidding me? What are the Queen Snarlers doing on this floor?" Professor Glory didn't bother holding her rage as she took out another giant sword from her dimension ring.
"Class, make sure to not let any of the Minion Snarlers get in my way. I'll handle the two Queens. I don't know what's going on but I'm getting you guys out of here if it's the last thing I do." With a click of her tongue, she pulls off something around her neck and throws it on the ground. As the necklace shimmers and then turns grey, the mana fluctuating around the Professor Glory changes.
She was using a seal!
"Prepare to back up Professor Glory! Don't let any of the Snarlers get past us!" Tessia commands as she holds her bladed staff out in front of her.
"Aye! Vanguards protect the Conjurers!" Curtis steps up, brandishing his sword and shield.
I took a step forward too, gripping my sword with both hands to support my throbbing shoulder. There were 7 of us in the front as Lucas, Tessia and another girl started chanting spells. My eyes couldn't help but to focus on Professor Glory as she wielded two giant swords, one on each hand. Fire and what looked like sand were rapidly circling around her two swords as Professor Glory was chanting inaudibly.
The fire and sand began intertwining as the two Queen Snarlers, both a few times larger and nastier, with wings, began cautiously surrounding Professor Glory. The Queen Snarlers' front two limbs had 4 long, sharp claws that glistened in a coating that I assumed might be poison.
"HAAAHP!" Professor Glory, her two giant swords ablaze with fire and sand, charged towards the smaller Queen Snarler, beginning the battle.
I held back on using spells, choosing to simply hack and slashed my way against the Snarlers by augmenting my sword. Their thick coat offered them a little resistance against spells and attacks but it didn't take much to kill them. What became more of a problem was from the corpses of the Snarlers. Their dead bodies began piling more and more around us, getting in the way of our attacks. Looking around, I was relieved to see that the vanguard were still holding up. Both Curtis and Claire had minor scratches and bruises, but they were in a much better shape compared to the other students.
I took a glance back and what I saw threw me by surprise. Professor Glory was pushing the Queens, who were estimated to be on the upper spectrum of B-class bosses, back, by herself. What surprised me more was the way she did it. She was obviously a dual elemental Augmenter in earth and fire, but she was producing projectiles that looked like ice shards…
No… looking carefully, it wasn't ice. It was glass!
"KRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The ear-deafening cry made us turn our heads back. Professor Glory had managed to deliver the finishing blow on the smaller Queen. Our Professor wasn't in the best shape, her armor scratched and dented in various places while blood trickled down her cheeks.
"Alright!"
"NICE!!"
"Go Professor!"
The defeat of one of the Queens dramatically boosted the morale of the class, as each of the students' renewed vigor allowed us to fight back harder against the Snarlers that seemed to instantly generate spontaneously.
"GRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"
"BOOOM!"
After seconds of hearing the loud crash, Professor Glory flew past the front lines and landed hard against a wave of Minion Snarlers.
Allowing myself a few seconds to look back, a wave of nausea hit me as my eyes are glued onto the sight of the bigger Queen Snarler gorging on the corpse of the fallen Queen Snarler.