Assault (1)
The school grounds turned into a scene of utter chaos in an instant.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“S-Save us!”
Tourists who had been enjoying the sea view from the shoreline screamed and scattered in every direction. The students who had been playing in the water were likewise thrown into panic, stumbling about in confusion, unable to decide what to do.
Unfortunately, the shoreline was quite far from the nearest shelter. If they couldn’t escape right now, the chances of falling into mortal danger were extremely, extremely high.
Yusoha immediately spoke to Eclipse.
“Eclipse.”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go right now. There’s no time to call anyone else. Besides, for something on this level, you and I should be more than enough, right?”
“Sure.”
Figuring out exactly how this had happened could wait until later. Right now, the priority was clearing out the enemies before their eyes. Once the monsters were dealt with, competent people would analyze the cause on their own.
Yusoha shut down her spiraling thoughts and drew up her mana. Ever since returning from the North Korea expedition, her strangely amplified mana surged through her entire body. Alloys harder than steel clung to her form, shaping themselves into an elegant suit of armor.
“Now that I think about it, what about you? You didn’t bring anything, did you?”
“Doesn’t matter. This is enough. Just throw me a weapon when I need one later.”
“That much is easy.”
The two exchanged words as they kicked off the ground.
BOOM!
The earth around them exploded as their figures shot forward like bullets.
Tourists and civilians stared in terror at the twisted half-human, half-fish creatures. Beasts with fish heads and human legs—monsters that had never been introduced in any media. The fear of the unknown drove the students into confusion.
Still, they were students who aspired to become Awakened. Even amid the panic, they somehow pulled themselves together and began drawing up their mana. They hadn’t brought weapons since they’d come to the shore to play, but they seemed to believe they could at least put up some resistance using mana.
Waves of mana wove together to form protective barriers, shielding the fleeing tourists. Even if their power was weak, as long as they possessed even the slightest amount of mana, they had to do what they could. That was the basic attitude expected of any Awakened.
Of course, some students simply ran away without a second thought. It couldn’t be helped. This was the first time a gate had opened directly inside the cradle of Awakened training.
Students who had completely lost themselves to panic began desperately struggling to escape however they could.
“Out of the way!”
There were even students who shoved tourists aside to flee first. Fortunately, such people were few in number, but the tourists couldn’t hide their shock at seeing students from the Awakened Academy behave that way.
Yet there was no time to dwell on that shock. The monsters were coming for their lives in real time.
“Hold them back!”
BOOM!
The sturdy bodies of the monsters slammed into the mana-woven barriers. A nauseating fishy stench pierced the students’ noses. Aside from those maintaining the barriers, the others channeled their mana in various ways, desperately trying to strike the monsters directly.
CRACK!
And some of them actually succeeded. Flames, blades, and ice spikes made of mana pierced the monsters’ bodies. When the students saw red blood pouring from the beasts, a sliver of hope bloomed in their hearts.
“It works! Pour it on thicker!”
The students squeezed out every drop of mana they could and hurled attacks at the creatures. The monsters that had already been hit by their spells collapsed helplessly under the follow-up barrage.
The sight made the students grow a little cocky.
“What? This is doable.”
“Yeah. Maybe we could even make it as active Awakened?”
They chattered excitedly for only a moment before their expressions hardened again at the sight of yet more monsters pouring in.
“You’ve got to be kidding…!”
Each individual monster didn’t seem all that strong. But there were far too many of them. No one could tell how many were crawling out of the sea, but the once-crowded shoreline was now completely blackened by their numbers.
Despair began to shadow the students’ faces.
“Just how many are coming…? Hey, aren’t we in danger too at this rate?”
“…We should hold them off a little longer, get the tourists to safety, and then run like hell.”
Even the students who had been focused on attacking realized the situation was turning sour and immediately began reinforcing the barriers. The shields they created were fairly solid for student work, but the problem was the sheer number of monsters.
The beasts surrounded the protective dome and relentlessly pounded it with their bodies. Under the overwhelming physical assault, the barrier began to shake.
The students’ expressions grew grim. They had planned to run after buying a little time, but at this rate, escape itself looked impossible.
“Where the hell are the professors and everyone else?!”
Even as they screamed inside the barrier, all they could see was monsters. The despair of possibly dying here slowly tightened around their throats.
And then—
“…What is that?”
Far out at sea, the water’s surface began to writhe. A few sharp-eyed students caught sight of ‘it’ between the gaps in the monster horde.
“…A dragon?”
Suddenly, the churning sea exploded upward as a massive sea dragon revealed itself. The creature swept its golden-yellow eyes across the area and locked gazes with the students. Several who met its stare collapsed on the spot, their minds consumed by terror.
“Hey, snap out of it!”
Some students even fainted outright. How were they supposed to process a situation like this?
Then the beast let out a tremendous roar.
-Kiyaaaaaaaah!
The ear-splitting cry shattered the students’ concentration. The barrier had already been trembling under the monsters’ blows; now that focus was broken, cracks began to spread across it.
Just as despair settled in their minds and the thought of death took root—
BOOOOOOM!
A deafening explosion tore through the earth.
From the shattered ground emerged Yusoha, her golden hair whipping behind her as she stood clad in armor. She quickly scanned the surroundings. A revolting fishy stench that made one want to retch filled the air. Fish-headed mermaids were launching a surprise attack on the students.
And beyond them… that sea dragon. At a glance, it was clearly no pushover.
“Tsk.”
Yusoha frowned and channeled her mana.
CRACK!
A golden flash burst forth, and the heads of the fish monsters surrounding her flew into the air.
“…Huh?”
“Are you all okay?”
She spoke to the confused students with surprising gentleness.
“…Ah, yes.”
The students who recognized her widened their eyes in shock.
“If you’ve come to your senses, fall back. You don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
“I’d like to escort you all the way to the shelter, but… given the situation, just stay put and stay safe.”
“Understood!”
The students looked at Yusoha with faces bright as if they had met their savior. It was as though they were gazing upon a goddess.
“Eclipse. I’ll handle the monsters here. You take care of that sea dragon.”
“Got it.”
Yusoha formed a heavy, solid greatsword and handed it to Eclipse, then began to focus. In that instant, a powerful wave of mana swept across the ground.
The monsters warily eyed the strange surge, but when nothing immediately happened, they charged straight at Yusoha in their midst.
CRACK!
And then… every last one of them was impaled by the countless hard spikes that erupted from the ground.
While the students watched the spectacle in awe, Yusoha turned her gaze toward Eclipse, who was already sprinting into the distance. The sight of him running in a suit while carrying a greatsword was incredibly unnatural… but what did it matter? As long as he handled the monsters properly, that was enough.
Trusting in Eclipse, Yusoha looked away and charged toward the remaining monsters still swarming the shoreline. Every time her golden sword flashed in her hand, a monster’s head flew off. When waves of mana swept the ground, countless spikes burst upward. And that wasn’t all.
Yusoha, who could manipulate mana with perfect freedom, even lifted entire sections of the earth itself and crushed the beasts beneath them. It didn’t take long to clean up the monsters that had been pouring onto the shore like mad. Once they were all dealt with, Yusoha turned her eyes toward the middle of the sea.
There, Eclipse was sprinting across the water’s surface, greatsword in hand. The strange part was that she couldn’t sense any mana emanating from him as he ran. He was truly dashing across the ocean using nothing but pure physical strength.
“…Wow.”
Even Yusoha couldn’t help but be impressed by the feat. Just how was that possible?
If even she reacted that way, one could only imagine how the other students felt. Now that the shoreline was safe, they simply stood there with their mouths hanging open, staring at the two figures in utter disbelief.