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Chapter 109
The academy was chaos itself.
People who had not yet managed to evacuate, monsters attacking humans, and students fighting back against them—all were tangled together, turning the place into a scene of pandemonium.
There was no end to the number of people screaming in horror at the grotesque corpses of slain monsters. It was natural—ordinary citizens rarely had the chance to face monsters up close.
Fortunately, most of the monsters so far were low-ranking ones that academy students could handle without much difficulty.
But if Lionel was right, the longer the dimensional portal remained open, the stronger and more difficult monsters would surely appear.
As soon as Jaelyn exited the main entrance, she spotted a student struggling against a flying-type monster.
She aimed her magic tool and fired. The monster, struck by the mana projectile, was knocked down immediately.
The student who turned to thank her quickly ran off to aid another student fighting nearby.
Ilyana and Nathan had already formed a team, pushing forward while cutting down any monster that stood out. Heren, upon spotting the wounded, had fallen back to administer treatment.
Having entrusted Jaelyn to Adrian, Lionel drew upon his power and erected a massive barrier in the sky, blocking any more flying monsters from descending southward.
Just then, three bat-like monsters called Zhelan spotted Lionel and Jaelyn, circling menacingly overhead as they prepared to attack. Adrian had just drawn his sword to intercept them when a shrill scream split the air behind them.
A woman clutching a small child was shrieking in terror. They hadn’t made it out in time. A bird-type monster with a razor-sharp beak was circling them.
Adrian cursed under his breath at the sudden turn.
“Damn it.”
“Ah—Adrian. Go! I’ll handle this!”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
Without taking her eyes off the Zhelan, Jaelyn gripped her magic tool more tightly and gave a firm nod.
“Don’t get hurt.”
Adrian hesitated a moment, then tapped her shoulder and sprinted toward the scream.
The instant he moved, the Zhelan that had been targeting him shifted to attack. Jaelyn fired first, taking down the one following him.
Even without precise aim, the engravings on her magic tool adjusted the targeting automatically. The projectile struck true, and the Zhelan plummeted to the ground.
She fired again—once, then twice—at the one diving toward her.
But the final shot failed to fire. Panicked, Jaelyn pulled the trigger over and over, but it was useless. The mana stone was completely drained.
Meanwhile, the Zhelan was closing in by the second.
Lionel had erected a large barrier across the air between buildings.
The monsters were increasing in number; the barrier wouldn’t hold for long. But it would buy enough time for the civilians to evacuate.
Oddly, though, the monsters were multiplying more slowly than he expected. Stranger still, only flying-type monsters appeared—there wasn’t a single ground-type in sight.
After confirming that another monster had bounced harmlessly off his barrier, Lionel turned and quickly cut down one coming straight at him. He scanned the surroundings.
It was chaos everywhere, bodies and monsters and students colliding. Yet somehow, in that sea of faces, Jaelyn’s stood out as the only one clear and vivid in his vision.
Her arms were braced, eyes fixed upward, her expression flustered.
Following her gaze, Lionel saw it—the Zhelan diving straight at her.
“No.”
His breath caught.
Time itself seemed to slow.
If he was even a moment late, Jaelyn’s small frame would be shredded by talons and fangs.
There was no time to think. His body moved on its own.
Shutting out the noise of screams and battle, Lionel pushed off the ground, leaping onto a nearby rock and launching himself skyward. His sword pierced the base of the monster’s wing, slicing clean through its body. Torn apart diagonally, the Zhelan crashed to the ground.
Jaelyn’s eyes were squeezed shut, her face splattered with the creature’s blood and fluids.
Lionel had seen that expression before. A memory buried deep in the recesses of his mind surfaced violently.
The feelings now were nothing like when she had been trapped in the hologram arena.
Back then, rage had boiled through him, consuming everything.
But now—now all he felt was relief. Relief that she was alive. Relief that nothing had happened to her. That was all that mattered.
The half-dead Zhelan twitched, flapping one broken wing. Lionel crushed it underfoot, driving his sword through its head to end it. Then he stepped toward Jaelyn.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly. Reflected in their clear depths was his face—contorted as though he were about to cry.
His hand trembled as he gently wiped the monster’s filth from her cheek.
This… this was why he had so desperately longed to become stronger.
The reason burst forth all at once, like a dam breaking inside his mind.
The monsters kept pouring out, but oddly, fighting them was getting easier than when they had first emerged from the hologram stadium’s west gate.
Thanks to Lionel’s barrier, civilians had already evacuated. Students from the Swordsmanship and Magic Departments, guided by the community on monster appearances, had gathered and formed a frontline.
Even professors still at the academy had joined, moving in precise coordination.
Having rescued Jaelyn from the Zhelan, Lionel pulled her back behind the student lines. Ilyana and Nathan joined them along the way.
There, they ran into Sasha, who had just arrived.
“Sasha, h-have you seen Stephan?”
Sasha quickly reassured the anxious Jaelyn.
“Don’t worry. A monster almost swallowed him whole, but I dragged him out and tossed him into the silver birch grove.”
“Th-thank goodness.”
As Jaelyn and Sasha spoke, Lionel kept his eyes on the battlefield.
“We need to go.”
Sasha frowned. “Go where?”
“To close the dimensional portal. As long as it’s open, killing these things here is pointless.”
“I’m coming too.”
“You sure?”
“Of course.”
“…All right. Heren fell back to treat the wounded, so having you with us will be a huge help.”
Unlike with Jaelyn, Lionel didn’t stop Sasha. Jaelyn felt a pang of disappointment, though she didn’t show it.
Sasha was strong—it made sense Lionel trusted and relied on her more.
He glanced at the swarm of monsters spilling down the main road and shook his head.
“We can’t go this way.”
The street they stood on led directly to the portal’s location. Unsurprisingly, the largest wave of monsters was pouring down that very path. Forcing their way through would be near impossible.
Squinting at the faint outline of the portal’s edge above the rooftops and trees, Sasha turned to Lionel.
“You need a way to reach it without being swarmed, right?”
“Exactly.”
She murmured, thinking. “If it’s at that location, then…”
“It’s at the academy’s Founding Memorial Plaza,” Jaelyn answered.
“In that case…” Sasha pointed toward the Humanities Building further down the line. “The Humanities basement connects to the Political Economy building. That one’s further north—closer to the plaza. We can move through the buildings and come up behind the portal.”
“Good. Let’s do it.”
Lionel whistled sharply, calling Adrian back from the front lines.
Losing such a key fighter made the line falter for a moment, but the students quickly steadied themselves again.
The group slipped into the Humanities Building. Its basement was crowded with evacuees hiding from the monsters.
They had no real news to offer—things were changing too quickly outside. The best they could do was reassure the frightened people that they would be safe if they stayed put until the monsters were completely driven out.
Pushing past the evacuees, they soon found the passage that connected to the Political Economy building, just as Sasha had said.
Climbing up to the first floor, they headed for the main entrance. The building was dark and chilling.
Students had barricaded the windows with desks and wooden planks, holding them down with their bodies to prevent monsters from forcing their way in.
Whenever the windows rattled, terrified screams erupted. Sword and magic students patrolled the halls, ready for the worst.
Near the entrance closest to the plaza, more lockers and shelves had been stacked. Several strong students leaned their weight against them to keep the door from giving way.
The corpses of a few monsters lay near the entrance—clear evidence of a battle fought inside.
The door itself rattled now and then, struck by monsters slamming into it from outside.
Adrian stepped toward the Swordsmanship students holding the barricade.
