The scenery of the city, swept away by explosions, was tragic.
Pits presumed to be caused by blasts were scattered everywhere, and around them lay dozens of people moaning in pain. The screams of the crowd were countless.
It was an event in which not only Academy students but also many ordinary citizens participated.
It was as if a bomb had exploded right in the middle of it; one could hardly gauge the scale of the damage. Even I, who had suspected an attack, was at a loss.
I had never imagined a self-destructing monster would exist.
Living beings, after all, operate based on the instinct for survival. An animal that causes an explosion at the cost of its own life, no matter how monstrous, defied common sense.
Unless it were a manipulated creature with malicious intent.
If I was in such a fluster, needless to say, others were in even worse condition. The surroundings had turned into chaos, with the screeching voices and people running away in all directions.
It was futile. Simply leaving the place wouldn’t end the attack.
Proving my assumption, several cats began to swell in size. The flesh multiplying like swellings quickly enlarged the cats several times.
The sight of those cats, adorned with tumors, was utterly grotesque. Even their growls sounded thick and boiling.
At a glance, their numbers could be counted in the dozens.
Of course, the procession included not just non-combat personnel but many from the Swordsmanship and Magic Departments.
No matter how disorganized they were, they were all Academy students who had passed talent assessments. If they coordinated their responses, even hundreds of monsters should be manageable.
However, the lack of real combat experience and the horrific sight of bl**d and flesh flying about were problematic.
Among the third- and fourth-year students, some quickly drew their weapons to respond, but the majority of first- and second-year students fled, screaming.
I plunged a hand axe into the head of a vicious cat monster.
With a crack, the sound of its skull shattering erupted, and bl**d and brain matter splattered out. The hand axe that smashed its head flew into the sky, creating a trajectory.
Bam! Bam! The faces of two cat monsters that had been attacking the fallen were struck in turn. As the beasts screamed and staggered back, I shouted loudly.
“Don’t run! Help the injured first!”
At my booming command, a few students hesitated but began to approach the injured.
They looked dazed, but they would soon realize the truth: my orders were indeed the best course of action.
I dashed to pick up the fallen hand axe, drew my sword, and responded to the cat monsters.
Having already struck two of them in the face with the hand axe, the cat monster, drenched in bl**d, was too disoriented to maintain its focus and merely flailed its front paws randomly.
Naturally, such futile resistance wouldn’t bother an experienced swordsman.
With just one step, I severed the paw of the cat monster, and my sword buried itself deep into its vicinity. The raised sword cleaved the cat monster’s neck like a guillotine.
With a clean sound of ‘swoosh’, the head of the cat monster rolled to the ground.
bl**d sprayed out, but I didn’t care. My body spun back to deal with the remaining cat monsters.
The level of the monsters wasn’t particularly high.
The issue was that it was unclear how many of those self-destructing cat monsters remained.
No matter how much their bodies were enhanced by magical power, they couldn’t fully withstand the force of that explosion. Several injured students rolling on the ground were already proof of that.
“First and second years, help the injured! Priests from the Magic Department, treat the injured, and the Magic Department, start supporting from the back. Advanced students from the Swordsmanship Department, get out there immediately! Evacuate the citizens!”
Senior Delphine was responding swiftly as I had previously hinted.
It was more effective for the heir of the Yuridina Clan to give orders than for the despised second son of a countryside baron in the Academy.
Indeed, it seemed to work, as soon as Senior Delphine shouted a few more times, the students began to move in sync.
Some already part of Senior Delphine’s group were evacuating the citizens.
Given the risk of explosions, it was now most important to lower the population density. I could finally breathe a little easier and maneuver through the battlefield.
Every time I skirted between monsters, bl**d splattered onto my body.
I didn’t stop until I had crushed skulls, severed necks, stabbed hearts, and heard the sounds of bl**d and brain splattering everywhere.
Some students were watching me with horrified eyes at the merciless violence.
Those gazes contained a mix of admiration, envy, and fear.
Most were younger students with little real combat experience. I shook my bl**d-soaked hair and smiled at them, saying, “What are you looking at, brats? Aren’t you swinging your swords?”
As if my words were electric shocks, my juniors faltered and immediately grabbed their swords. Their quick movements pleased me.
After seeing that, I exhaled deeply.
By now, I had already slain over ten monsters. With that level of contribution, I could afford to catch my breath.
If we had been completely caught off guard, a major disaster would have occurred, but fortunately, it wasn’t too late to quickly regroup, and the damage wasn’t extensive.
Especially, the contributions of some students stood out.
Of course, not just me; Ceria and Celin were also calmly doing their parts. Senior Delphine showed brilliant performances as both a commander and a swordsman.
Senior Elsi poured out the firepower she had prepared in advance without reservation.
“……Light, overflow!”
The ground radiated a blinding light as it surged wildly.
The crackling noise repeatedly struck my eardrums. The shrieks of the cat monsters echoed high into the sky.
Soon, several cat monsters collapsed, reeking of burning.
Noticing my gaze, Senior Elsi turned her face toward me and waved her hand with a delighted expression. It felt like she was saying, “I did well, didn’t I?”
If she had a tail, it would surely be wagging now.
I chuckled at the thought and dismissed it. Senior Delphine winked at me when our eyes met.
They were somewhat odd seniors, but in battle, they were more reliable than anyone. It didn’t seem like I had to worry about them for a while.
However, I still had concerns, and that was regarding the civilians. Unlike Academy students, they were ordinary people without combat abilities.
In hindsight, I thought it might have been better to push the civilians into the inner circle of the procession. Seeing that I was gradually more at ease, it seemed we would have enough capacity to protect them.
Of course, that misconception was bound to be corrected soon.
The first to sense the unease was me.
Flapping sounds were unusually loud and frequent. Following the instinctive command, my eyes blankly turned to the sky.
A flock of birds was flying above. Strange birds with dark feathers and bl**d-red eyes, whose names I didn’t even know.
Their particularly developed claws caught my attention. And each of those claws was holding small living creatures that suddenly expanded into my view.
It was a cat.
Thud, a small cat fell from the sky.
The vertical trajectory pointed toward a specific spot: the center of the barrier, where the Lady Virgin Saint and priests were treating the injured.
Realizing this, curses slipped involuntarily from my lips.
“d*mn…”
However, before I could even say that properly, my body was already soaring through the void. There was no time to hesitate.
By the time I pushed through the crowd and jumped toward the Lady Virgin Saint, several seconds had already passed.
The Lady Virgin Saint looked up at me with a bewildered expression.
And at that moment, my eyes met with the falling cat.
Its rotating pupils seemed to mock me.
I gritted my teeth and used the step I took to swat the cat away with my sword. The small body of the cat soared into the sky once again.
But it was too late. Realizing that, I quickly enveloped the Lady Virgin Saint and the patient she was caring for.
A loud bang resonated, and a dull shock struck my back.
It felt like my insides were shaken. It was the price of choosing to envelop someone instead of evading the explosion. It wasn’t a serious injury, but I was definitely hurt.
bl**d even began to leak out. My body, having absorbed the impact that the Lady Virgin Saint should have endured, tumbled through the air and rolled onto the ground.
I heard a ringing sound in my ears. For a moment, I couldn’t gather my senses.
And when my senses returned, the first sound that struck my eardrums was a scream.
“Ah! Ah! Aaaah!”
It wasn’t just one cat falling. Aside from the one that fell toward the Lady Virgin Saint, several more cats appeared to be falling.
A few students seemed to grasp the situation upon seeing me dash madly, but it was insufficient to stop the damage completely.
Everywhere was in chaos. The center of the barrier, where the non-combatants were gathered, was far too vulnerable.
The absence of priests who should have been treating the injured was especially painful. Most of those currently rolling around were priests or existing injured.
Some of them might suffer permanent aftereffects. No, it would be fortunate if they didn’t lose their lives.
The grim future weighed heavily on my mind.
I had let my guard down. I never imagined that not only cats but also birds would be monsters.
If I had known beforehand, I could have prevented it.
What shook my despondent spirit was a hand that shook my shoulder vigorously.
I turned my gaze blankly to find the face of a trembling woman in front of me.
It was the Lady Virgin Saint. Her trembling hand reached toward the bloodied edge of my mouth.
“Are… you okay?! Wh-what do we do… I’ll… I’ll treat you now, just wait a moment. I have to treat you right away…….”
“L-Lady Virgin Saint, cough! L-Lady Virgin Saint.”
I tried to open my mouth as if nothing was wrong, but it was impossible since I had to spit bl**d. The sight of my stuttering voice made the Lady Virgin Saint’s eyes widen in panic.
She immediately summoned her divine power. The brightness of it was far greater than what I had seen at that moment; it was a reflection of her overwhelming anxiety.
It seemed she was trying her best to heal me.
I appreciated it, but I quickly grabbed one of the Lady Virgin Saint’s hands.
Her expression turned confused as she looked at me.
“W-We need to take care of the injured first.”
The Lady Virgin Saint’s eyes briefly went blank as she looked at me. Yet, I merely smiled wryly as if I was serious.
And in the next moment.
“Are you out of your mind?! You’re the injured one right now!”
With a smack, the Lady Virgin Saint’s palm struck my back.
At that same moment, bl**d erupted from my mouth.
Of course, my bravado didn’t work at all.
It had been just a few minutes since I had realized that the Imperial Princess was not present in the barrier.
