The entrance of the cave was covered by huge rocks, not leaving even a single window for air to come in and for light to peek through.
Only the Eclipse Platform's glow gave them a dim dark green light that barely lit the entire cave.
The Professor fell on his butt as he felt his soul leave his body.
As his eyes adapted to the darkness of the cave, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind him, and he subconsciously turned around.
Jacob stared down at him, his face contorted with rage. He was carrying a broken glass jar, its sharp edges barely visible through the dim lighting of the room, using his good hand.
"I guess karma really does exist," the researcher said with a shaky voice which made the professor tremble.
The professor was only carrying a handful of books. He had absolutely no weapon to fight back. Should I beg? Fuck this. Suddenly, he thought about something.
Just when Jacob raised his left hand in preparation to stab the professor, the professor yelled, "WAIT!"
His voice echoed inside the closed cave.
Surprisingly, Jacob stopped.
"You... You need me!" Professor Hugh frantically waved his hands in front of himself. His usual high and mighty demeanor had already been flushed down the drain. "I'll help you dig out of this place!"
Jacob, hearing this, clicked his tongue, clearly unamused.
Before Jacob could move again, the professor kneeled in front of him. "I won't be able to escape here, too, so I'll be needing your help. Trust me, I won't harm you anymore."
Hearing the professor beg, instead of mellowing down, Jacob felt his hand throb in pain which only fuelled his rage even more. "I would rather die in this cave rather than knowing you're alive somewhere around this world."
The sharp edge of the broken glass jar fell forward.
"THINK ABOUT YOUR FAMILY!" Professor Hugh yelled.
Jacob's hand froze in mid-air, his weapon hovered just above the professor's head. He felt his good hand tremble, but he couldn't bring himself to shove it downward. In the end, he threw the broken glass jar towards the wall of the cave. "AHHHHHHH!"
Shatter!
He panted as he felt hot tears stream out of his face. He inwardly thanked the fact that it was too dark for the professor to see his pitiful state.
Jacob also fell to the ground on his butt.
He silently calmed down the rage burning inside him.
Temporarily, that is.
….
Sera City, eastern wall.
"Where's Brigadier Arvent!" Captain Haron yelled at the troops, not caring whether he was heard or not.
It had already been 40 minutes since the report about Brigadier Arvent coming to their rescue.
Thankfully, the other group of Remorans who were assigned on or near the western gate had finally arrived. They provided as much support as they could, despite being out of breath from hurrying over.
A special unit composed of mostly elite Remorans had also arrived earlier. Their joint effort with the other Remorans enabled them to prevent the second beast horde from pouring in by erecting a solid layer of defense just behind the frontline troops.
With the help of the ballistae squadron, they were able to keep the beasts at bay.
But now that the Remorans were busy fortifying their defenses, they couldn't provide as much support to the Serans like earlier.
….
The Serans outside the gate were fighting for their lives.
They desperately tried to drop the number of beasts that they fought in preparation for the next fight. Those who had already finished their targets off hopped on to another battle in order to assist their fellow Serans.
If not for the two high-level C-ranked Brigadiers and five low-level C-ranked Colonels present, they would've been wiped out already.
The surviving E-ranked mages were almost entirely out of magic power. Only the adrenaline kept them from passing out.
Out of the 400 or so beasts they engaged with earlier, only about 20 remained.
However, their side also suffered heavy losses, most of which are regular soldiers that fought in the front line. Their numbers dropped by about 900. More than 2 deaths for each large beast.
Strictly speaking, this was already a good ratio. It couldn't even be compared to the ones from a couple of hundred years ago.
But deaths were still deaths.
No matter how small, it was still a loss.
Now, they only had a bit over a thousand frontline troops who were already out of breath. If the second horde of beasts were to break through their layer of defense, they would all be up to the mercy of Hecate.
Suddenly, a ballista operator pointed towards the north and yelled, "REINFORCEMENTS!"
….
A man wearing white plate armor, gritted his teeth as he rode on his horse. His short cloak embossed with the insignia of a white turtle flapped through the air.
Earlier that morning, his group of 80 soldiers that consisted mostly of C-ranked and D-ranked mages were deployed to the border of Mt. Eirene to capture any person that left or entered the mountain.
In the afternoon, he and General Samo, who had left much earlier than him along with his own troops, were supposed to negotiate with Professor Wilhelm Hugh about the release of the captive researchers.
However, an hour into their journey, a report from a messenger bird suddenly arrived.
Sera City was under siege by a horde of magical beasts. Having sent out most of their elite personnel towards the border of Mt. Eirene, not many were left to defend the city.
An immediate callback to the troops was issued.
Without wasting any more time, they immediately headed back. But as if the heavens were trying to seal their city's fate, they suddenly encountered another group of magical beasts.
Just when they needed as much time as they could get, they were forced to take a roundabout path.
"Hiya!" Klein Arvent whipped his horse to make it go faster. From a distance, he could already spot the large figures of the beast.
When they were only about a kilometer away from the beasts, Klein Arvent yelled, "MEN!"
"AH-WOOH!" the soldiers responded in unison.
Swords, Hammers, Axes, Staves, Tomes, all types of weapons, were lifted up in the air, signifying their will to fight.
Klein Arvent looked back and smiled smugly at his men's response. "You know what to do!"
"AH-WOOH!"
"See you in the battlefield." Klein started casting a spell. After a few moments, he jumped into the air, ice crystals formed beneath his feet leaving a trail of snow as he advanced forward.
"FOR THE GLORY OF THE EMPIRE!"
"FOR THE GLORY!"
Klein moved forth as if he was surfing on invisible waves. He hovered just above the ground as ice pushed him forward. A C-ranked mobility spell, Frost Rush.
In just ten seconds, he traversed the kilometer that separated him from the battlefield. He took out his mace and shield from behind his back and crashed in the midst of several large beasts.
B-ranked mage, Brigadier Klein Arvent!
A-ranked spell… Klein lifted his shield up as several claws and sharp teeth headed straight towards him.
After two seconds, the shield dropped hard against the ground.
"KRAKEN'S AWAKENING!"
BOOOOM!
Several sharp ice tentacles emerged in front of Klein, impaling any beast regardless of size! Afterward, the ice tentacles turned into a massive wave that pushed outward!
Klein Arvent spat on the ground. Then, he jumped up.
Again, he activated Frost Rush in order to rampage in another spot.
Hovering above a few gigantic beasts, he casted another spell. Water vapor started gathering on his weapon. After his spell, the vapor solidified, turning his weapon into a gigantic mace made of ice.
He swung the gigantic mace forward as he dropped from above.
WHOOSH! SHATTER!
The mace broke into several pieces.
Ice crystals flew everywhere along with the blood of the beasts he bashed.
A beast that was not affected by the attack suddenly rushed towards Klein with great speed.
It was a grizzly bear. It brandished its paw as it swung forward.
As it closed in on Klein, he didn't even bother preparing. He simply casted a spell and lifted his shield in front of him. The shield was immediately coated by ice that rapidly grew in size. It then firmly latched itself on the ground with the two spikes that grew out from its bottom.
Clink!
The bear's paw connected with shield, pushing it along with the Brigadier backward. The two spikes connected to the ground formed two deep grooves on the ground as the shield skid.
Klein Arvent was inwardly impressed by the grizzly bear's strength. Amongst its peers, it was surely hard to come across.
Unfortunately, that only meant that it should die sooner.
Once again, ice started gathering on his mace, but this time it didn't simply enlarge. It changed shape.
Instead of turning into a larger mace, his weapon turned into a gigantic hammer. After the hammer formed, the shield made of ice immediately broke into pieces.
What greeted the grizzly bear was the falling hammer.
Seeing the huge weapon fall down towards it, the bear fell on its forelegs and crumpled itself, only exposing its back.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
A huge explosion was followed by a loud shattering sound. The hammer broke into pieces and ice rained down all around.
Klein casually walked over, wanting to see the dead beast. However, what he saw completely surprised him.
The bear was still alive. Blood dripped from its mouth continuously.
As Klein's eyes fell on its back. He realized why.
The fur on its back shone from the bright light, completely unlike how it looked before. The grizzly bear could actually turn its fur into steel, greatly mitigating the damage from the hammer.
But with the hammer being a blunt weapon, the bear couldn't completely nullify its damage.
"Tough one, eh," Klein Arvent commented.
Although the beast was still alive, it was already close to dying.
As several other beasts rushed towards Klein, he created a large barrier made of ice around him and the grizzly bear, just so he could execute it in private.
"You would've been a tough opponent if you became a colossal one," Klein Arvent said as his weapon turned into a spear, "you should be happy being personally executed by me, the White Turtle."
Klein Arvent shot forward at an immense speed, completely betraying his title. The spear pointed towards the head of the bear.
The bear couldn't move anymore.
SHIK!
The spear pierced right through its head.
….