Chương 20: [LD-1] 19. Resonance

XIX Resonance"Behind me!" Kiba yelled. A silver haze consumed his hands. He lunged. The dark comet parted before him, and gouts of earth exploded where the separated halves burrowed into the ground. The warlock's square jaw twitched. Shadows swirled into another bolt. Waves of mana gushed from the beast. They rippled down the gap in my uniform and made my back shiver.

'That's twice as strong as before. What a crazy amount of power…' Missiles rushed for the warlock's head and forced the beast to turn away from us.

"This is our chance!" A girl sliced a goblin grunt's head clean off its shoulders. She had tanned skin and wore a jewelled brooch in the form of a flower. But more identifying were the spare set of golden-rimmed glasses.

'That must be Lily.' [Razor - lvl. 4] She was the highest level among all the gathered students. A gleam above us. Kiba spun and slapped the arrow out of flight. Robert shaped a barrier to block another. His water was well-suited for blocking piercing missiles. But his control was poor, and the volume of his shield too little. He couldn't stop more than one arrow at a time.

"Good timing," I said.

"Kiba, let's get them to the others!" He nodded. We stuck to the edge of the chamber, which allowed us to stay out of sight of the section of the gallery directly overhead. The warlock hurled shadowbolt after shadowbolt to hinder our path, but Kiba had his number. I frowned.

'How can it sling so many spells?' There was a difference between the monster races and humans, sure. However, even being generous, a lvl. 16 should not be capable of casting more than twenty spells. This thing was like a turret!

'Are all of its abilities max level?' The thought of that terrified me to no end. One of the students in the other party erected a rock for us to hide behind when we got near and fused it with the bigger wall they were using as a shield. Everyone glanced at Kiba and I's level. The moment the numbers registered, their shoulders sagged. We may not look like much, but two level sevens were a godsend in this scenario. I regarded Alexa's little sister.

"Lily, right?" She nodded.

"I'm afraid I don't remember you." Her gaze remained locked on the gallery while she spoke.

"Kiba and I have been traversing the floor with Alexa. She's fine." Her gaze snapped my way. She bit her lip.

"Thank Saint Isshin…" Despite the maelstrom of emotions my comment must've stirred up, she quickly recollected her focus.

"Where is she now?"

"We split up because of… circumstances," I said. The source of said circumstances was careful to keep his head pointed the other way. The warlock, angry that we had made it to the quarter of the other students, doubled its efforts. Three massive bolts roared through space. Kiba dashed from behind cover. Multiple mages fired their own, much smaller bolts—some of which fizzled before reaching their target. Others raised earthen barriers that were barely as thick as two fingers pressed together.

A few of the students didn't cast at all and instead sipped on mana potions.

"We found them in a storage room," Lily said. Her hands tightened around her blade.

"This is our last round…"

"The warlock isn't running out?" I said. She shook her head.

"It's using the core as a power source." My eyes widened. How was— I ducked, and the flying object burrowed into the floor. One of the goblin archers had found a perfect angle. Robert created a barrier and closed the gap. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Kiba slammed into one of the three shadowbolts. He didn't cleave through it like he had the last. Instead, his arm muscles bulged. With a yell, he threw the sphere at the wall.

Immediately afterwards, he leapt back and swerved between a volley of arrows.

'This is bad.' Besides the fact that Kiba was going to rampage and get us all killed if he slipped up a few times, our melee users were locked down. All the warrior classes crouched behind the barricade for dear life. That explained Lily's frustration—they were literally waiting for their deaths. If things went on like this, they would have to do a death-charge to get out.

"Kiba!" I called.

"Stay on the lower floor. I'll go up and take care of the archers!" Lily spun on me.

"Are you crazy? There's more than ten of the bastards up there!" Not only that, but I spotted some hobgoblins in the mix. Whoever went up there was getting drilled the instant they set foot on that gallery.

"Someone has to do it," I said.

"Can one of your earth mages create a platform and boost me?" Working on my catafalque had strengthened my body, but a jump of over three meters was still too high.

"I will do it," a boy crouched on the other side of Lily said. His uniform was torn in many places. However, from the way his muscles were poking through the cracks, his tunic had always had trouble hanging on. The blood smeared on his face wasn't his either, giving him a defined, warrior's appearance.

"Name's Roland." [Earth Caller - lvl. 4] He and Lily were the only level fours.

'These two must've led these students.' I nodded.

"Roland." Then I scanned the floor for a marker.

"I'll dash for that big rock there. Send me up as soon as I crouch."

"Roger. I'll follow you up and try to provide defence where I can." I flashed a thumbs up. Wouldn't say no to another suicidal maniac helping me.

"I'm going on three." My fingers counted down, and my legs stomped into the floor once I reached zero. I stopped next to the rock, crouched, and gauged my jump— The flash heading for my throat made me jerk.

'They're fast.' Earth shifted beneath my soles. My jump carried me over the arrow, and I touched down. In a single heartbeat, the whole of the gallery was either aiming at me or storming my way. I imagined the bones of a giant and swiped the air. The bone shell took form. It was three times bigger than any shell I'd ever created. A glance at my mana told me it didn't take three times the amount of energy, though. Strange. But a boon that I wouldn't say no to. Five arrows shattered on the shell.

Some more sailed wide. Cull snapped into my grip. I breathed in deep, then shot forward. The edge of the scythe cried out in hunger as it whirled on the first of three hobgoblins. I scanned their levels. [Hobgoblin - lvl. 10] [Hobgoblin - lvl. 9] [Hobgoblin - lvl. 8] Not the worst. However, unlike the one that'd chased Rick and his party, these were carrying shields and spiked clubs. I caught sight of a shadow vaulting up the platform on my rear but cast it out of my mind.

The gallery circled around half the chamber but was narrow. Barely enough for the three hobgoblins to rush at me side-by-side. Three-on-one was a problem. But there was a benefit: the archers no longer had a clean shot on me. One of the hobs screamed, its throat-rupturing yell swallowed by the eruption of shadow below us and clashing skills. The beast raised its buckler. That its form was shoddy, I could tell without any training of my own. Yet the hob's face was confident.

It may not have proper technique, but its placing was spot on. Cull's edge would not make it past their defence. And when I was stopped in my tracks, the other hobs would clobber me to pulp. Already, its eyes burned with greed and the desire to see my mutilated corpse. The light died when Cull split both shield and the attached limb. My god-weapon continued through its cheek, splitting the lower half of its face from the upper. I spun with the force and whirled on the second hob.

So much rage exploded inside the beast at watching its ally fall that its fangs pierced its lip. The arc of its club would smash straight through my face— Earth burst under its feet, and the beast toppled before it could make good on its promise. But its dream was not yet gone. The last of the three monsters twisted its club around like a whirlwind. The wind drew me in. It was too fast for me to dodge or call on another shield.

I raised Cull in a flimsy block, which caught the brunt of the blow, but the scythe was slapped away and the attack barrelled into my chest. I flew back as I expelled the contents of my lungs. Roland caught me before I tumbled past the boundary of the gallery.

"You alright?" he called, shaping a tall but narrow wall for us to hide behind.

"Yes," I coughed.

"I'm fine." The spikes on the club had been dulled. Probably from over or careless use.

'I got lucky.' Though part of it was also my increased durability.

'I really need to thank Kil when he's back.' I shelved the thought for later. Enemies poured from the entrances to the gallery. Runts, hounds, more hobs. I grimaced.

'We didn't kill a single archer yet, and reinforcements were already coming?' An arrow cracked on the rock surface protecting us. I spat a curse. The issue was that I couldn't charge through all of them to get to the archers. We needed some ranged… A shrill cry echoed from the end of the gallery. One of the goblins dropped its bow and grasped listlessly for the arrow embedded in its neck. It fell over the edge to the ground floor.

Another arrow sailed from below and struck a second goblin, though it only grazed the monster. Right! Now that the goblin archers had switched targets to us, the other students had space. As the realisation struck me, light woven into a long, thin strip descended from up high and ripped into the hob which'd landed a blow on me. Lily landed beside us, her blade ringing from the energy racing around it. I rushed into the fray before she'd regained her balance. Our missiles rained on the gallery.

The hob Roland had floored went down again when an arrow sank into its knee. I raked Cull's tip across its back. The warmth from the kill rippled up into my arms— A dog with an arrow burrowed into its flank leapt out of my blind spot. My heart skipped.

'Shit.' Cull was pointing in the entirely wrong direction to intercept. I had to drop… a thread of cold climbed up the weapon's shaft into my arms, and the beating in my chest slowed to a stop. An image flashed through my head, much like it did when Kil resonated with me. My arms twisted. Cull's tip reversed, and I split the dog snout to butt with a backwards swing. Blood showered my clothes. Quickly escaping gasses slipped into my nostrils. Any other time, I would've gagged. But I was too surprised to react.

My gaze flicked down at Cull. What the hell was that?