Running Through the Downpour
I sprinted through the relentless sheets of rain from the sudden downpour. I just charged ahead blindly. It was only after running until my lungs felt like they were about to burst that I realized this wasn't working.
I got too worked up.
My head was spinning so much in that moment that I couldn't think straight. I needed to catch my breath and force some rational thought.
What should I do first?
The most important thing right now was to prioritize. What mattered most? Keeping the protagonist safe. So, that meant finding Noah.
Where would Noah be?
The girls' dorm?
I immediately reached out and summoned Anna. Amid the pitch-black curtain of rain, a pair of wings unfurled.
"Master? Are you all right?"
"Find Noah!"
"Pardon? What do you...?"
"Head to the girls' dorm and look for Noah. If she's not there, come straight back to me. Got it?"
"─Understood."
Anna quickly grasped that the situation was dire and bolted toward the dorms. Her speed was like the wind itself—I knew I'd made the right call sending her. Watching her receding figure, I regained control of my breathing. Calm was starting to return.
At the same time, the rain soaking me was chilling my body fast. The sweat-drenched heat that had been killing me moments ago turned icy cold. Time was short.
I figured out my next move.
If Noah's not at the dorm, she's 100% under attack right now.
It had been the same during the tutorial. The protagonist, with nothing to her name, had been ambushed by monsters purely by chance. So she was probably in a similar spot now—fighting monsters somewhere.
She'll be fine.
I had no real certainty, but blind faith in the game's story kept me steady. Noah would be safe.
This is the academy. The place where even a thrown rock hits a summoner.
In the story, the faculty discover tunnels dug by demons, from which the demons summon monsters and send them into the academy. The teachers fight the demons at the tunnel's end, mutually destroying each other and passing out, leaving the protagonist to finish off the remaining monsters. It was early-game story content, clearable even with a trash 1-star account.
"Master, I'm back."
"Noah?"
"She wasn't at the dorm. No one knew where she'd gone."
Anna returned soon after with her report. Just as I'd thought—Noah was likely locked in battle somewhere. The problem was figuring out where.
This place is too damn big.
In the game, locations were limited, and since it followed the protagonist's perspective, you never had to worry about exactly where the fight happened. But in reality, the entire academy was the stage, making it impossible to pinpoint where Noah—the protagonist—was or what she was doing.
The realization hit me like a brick. I looked at Anna. More precisely, I recalled the text in her status window.
The Holy Knight Who Saved the Nation, rescuing tens of thousands of people and saving her country─and thus, her prayers reached the heavens.
"...Anna."
It was just a single line of in-game flavor text. No rational gamer would pay it any mind—it was unscientific superstition at best.
But.
"Demons have invaded the academy somewhere right now."
"...Is that so? I sense no presence at all."
"Pray to your god. Ask where they are."
This was all I had to rely on. Anna smiled faintly at my words, clasped her hands, and offered a prayer to the heavens.
The downpour roared─.
The sky was sealed shut. Thick black clouds blocked the view, as if every path to the heavens had been clogged. It felt so ominous, I half-suspected the demons were behind it, blurring the world before my eyes with despair.
Yet people still prayed.
─Whoosh.
A hole pierced through the dense rain clouds. Beyond it, radiant sunlight poured down. The light from 150 million kilometers away became the conduit for a will far more distant—the will of the divine.
"Master."
The Holy Knight slowly opened her eyes and gave a gentle smile.
"I'll guide you."
As directed from on high. With that, Anna grabbed me and soared into the sky.
* * *
"Hah, hah... E-Earth Golem. You okay?"
─Puuuuh....
Rain hammered down. The torrential sheets drenched the ground, soaking her earth-manipulating summon until it couldn't properly control the muddied soil. What should have been a quick fight dragged on.
[Groooowl─]
Luckily, the monster she faced was a fire-type, weakened by the rain and unable to unleash its full power. Puff, puff. Each fiery snort evaporated with a hiss in the downpour, startling the monster into hesitation. It seemed to think the rain was her summon's doing.
[Grrr!]
"Earth Golem!"
But the monster, patience spent, charged with brute force. Its fire breath was hampered, but its physical prowess remained intact.
Thud-thud-thud─!
Noah activated her Original Art the instant the monster closed the gap—an earthen wall. The beast had flinched at it before, but this time it barreled through without fear.
Splat─!
The wall, which should have stopped anything solid, had turned to sloppy mud in the rain. It slowed the monster but couldn't halt it.
"Kyaaah!"
Mud splattered everywhere, pelting Noah and her summon. She dodged like evading bullets at 100 kph. In that split second, her summon—now alone—was pinned and overwhelmed.
"E-Earth Golem!"
─Puu, puu....
Crunch. The monster's jaws severed the summon's body from its head. As it dissolved into a rune and vanished, Noah began trembling in terror.
R-Run...
She had to flee. But she couldn't. Her eyes fell on the fallen teachers in her view. If she ran? The monster would target them first, slaughtering them without resistance.
They were nobles. They were teachers. It'll be fine, just abandon them and go—those insidious thoughts crept in.
"...No way it'd be fine."
Unlike her, with only a 1-star summon, these teachers were 3-star summoners, humanity's hope. Each one could do the work of hundreds like her. She couldn't abandon them.
"...C-Come on!"
Gripping her shaking legs, Noah stood. Bare-handed against the monster. Winning? Impossible. Even lifetime-trained knights couldn't beat these things. But buying time? That she could do.
Look at this storm. With rain this bad, the unconscious teachers would wake soon. She just needed to hold out that long. That brief window.
"You won't get to the teachers─!"
Drip-drop. Rain blurred her vision. Right—it was just raindrops. Not her tears. Not fear of this monster. Self-assuring, Noah blocked its path.
It was like this back then too.
A memory flashed: shortly after the entrance ceremony, isolated as a commoner with no friends. Monster attack then too. How had she survived?
Ian... saved me.
A prince on a white horse, appearing from nowhere. But hoping for the same miracle now was greedy. She wasn't a princess. No prince would rescue a mud-caked Cinderella.
[Groooowl!]
The monster howled and lunged. Lightning-fast from afar, Noah squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't block that charge unscathed. But she could thrash like a bug.
Don't underestimate this country girl. Come on!
And then, Noah flew backward from the impact crushing her limbs and guts.
"Kughhh!?"
No cute girly scream—just no voice at all. Tears welled from agony, limbs quaking.
[Purrrr─]
The monster snorted habitually, shaking its head from the steam's heat, glaring irritably. Meeting its eyes, Noah knew instinctively.
─I'm dead.
Terror seized her. Muscles locked; she couldn't move. Even without fear, her body wouldn't obey.
All she could do was close her eyes and pray.
─God, I won't beg for my life. Just save those fallen teachers.
With that, she slowly shut her eyes.
"...?"
But the end never came. Brain numb from pain? Dead before feeling it? Cracking her eyes, Noah saw two backs shielding her: a male student in academy uniform, and a winged knight in full plate.
Ah, God.
Thank you. With that, Noah passed out.
* * *
"Noah, Noah?"
No response, no matter how long I called. No way she died? The game protagonist, just like that?
"She's just fainted."
"...Yeah?"
"Yes. I've fainted plenty in my youth—I know."
Thankfully, Anna judged it a simple faint. Relieved, I surveyed the surroundings. The area was wrecked from intense combat, several 3-star summoner teachers unconscious. Only one low-tier monster left—the kind a common 1-star could handle.
Teachers fought the demon to mutual destruction?
Had to be. I nodded at Anna to handle it. True to her 3-star status, she dispatched it in seconds and returned.
"What about the teachers...?"
"Gather them in one place. I'll heal them."
"...You can do that too?"
"I'm a Holy Knight."
Not in the game, but it made sense—Holy Knights were a type of priest, capable of healing wounds.
As she said, we gathered the fallen. Anna began praying. Like before, a hole tore through the clouds, beams of light shooting down on them. This time, the light was intense enough to scatter the clouds entirely.
Sunlight returned. As darkness lifted, people from outside gathered, assessing the scene. Watching them carry off the patients—including Noah—I sighed inwardly in relief.
Good thing she's okay.
It was a relief she hadn't died.
......Saying it like that makes me sound smitten with her.