Alicia tried to cover everyone's retreat by firing a few shots at the monster, but it did not even falter in its steps. Fortunately for her, as well as the other ranged fighters, they were stationed at the rear of the formation, and thus did not bear the brunt of the attack. Instead, it was the frontline fighters such as Dong Fang Yue Chu and Craig who suffered the most.
Dong Fang Yue Chu was already up, having recovered from the shock. Seemed like the stinger didn't have that potent a venom, after all.
"You guys, run!" he ordered Harvey, Stan and Wang Fei, and took off to engage the screeching monster. Currently, the magic gunners were pelting it with shots, but their magical bullets, as well as the other elemental spells fired off by other mages, were having little effect. The Fiend was too fast, and even then those spells that did hit failed to do anything more than annoy it.
The majority of the mages, however, had given in to their fear and were fleeing for their lives. Alicia and the other ranged mages were desperately trying to cover their retreat, but the monster was too fast. The black demon lunged forward, disappearing into a blur, and the students discovered that they could not outrun it, even with physical enhancement spells or speed buffs. The monster retaliated against the barrage of spells, screeching violently as it slashed another three running teenagers, who collapsed immediately. Several fountains of blood burst into the air like a geyser.
"Fall back!" Dong Fang Yue Chu shouted as he fought his way to the front. His crackling fist slammed into the side of the monster's head, causing it to jar a bit, but it lashed out and tore his front. Gurgling, Dong Fang Yue Chu went down in a spray of blood.
"President!"
Harvey leaped in, swinging his sword down upon the hellish creature. It swatted him away, and he slammed into the ground with a deafening crunch, and never got up again. Whirling toward him, the monster sought to finish him off, but bullets slammed into its hard carapace. Stan was adding to the Black Roses' volley of fire and blasting it with his dual guns.
"Keep shooting!" Alicia shouted. "We'll slowly wear down its defenses!"
The monster staggered under the combined onslaught, acidic blood splattering on the ground and sizzling. With a cry, it disappeared from the site of bombardment and reappeared in the gunners' midst.
"Watch out!" Stan shouted as he pushed one of the Black Roses' first year girls away. The monster's claws raked his midriff and almost tore him in half. His guts spilling out, and his torso bending away and apart unnaturally, Stan toppled over.
"Stan!" Wang Fei shrieked.
Unfortunately, Stan wasn't the only victim. The girl he sacrificed himself to save was next, her head torn off and sent flying. More Black Roses members died, despite Alicia's best attempts to rally them to a fighting retreat.
"You…!"
Alicia shot the monster as she ran toward it, her magical bullets slamming into its carapace. Skidding to a stop in order to brace herself for a massive recoil, she quickly took careful aim. She had finally finished the casting for her railgun spell, and she unleashed an extremely powerful shot that would have blown it apart.
If it hit.
The monster dodged her railgun shot almost effortlessly and appeared in front of her in a blur. Alicia fired into it at pointblank range, trying desperately to cast another railgun spell, but she was too slow.
The creature swiped at her.
"Alicia!"
Miranda dove in and hit her, knocking her aside. The claws cleaved Miranda apart, sinking deeply into her torso from shoulder to hip. Split apart, Miranda swayed a little before collapsing, a sea of blood pooling underneath her.
"Senior Miranda!" Alicia screamed, tears streaming down her eyes. Lifting her guns, her eyes blazing with vengeance, she bombarded the monster with everything she had, but its tail whipped forward and struck her with destructive force, sending her flying. Blood coursed down her face and neck as she crashed against one of the barbeque pits, unconscious.
With their leader gone, the morale of the remaining defenders instantly collapsed.
"Run!"
"Get away!"
"It's too strong! We can't beat it!"
"Mommy!"
"Save me!"
Few people were left to fight now. Wang Fei tried to help the unconscious Harvey up, only to drop his friend when the monster approached. His nerve failing him, he ran, but the monster swiped at him, taking his head clean off his shoulders.
By now, the monster had advanced right into the tables of food, uncaringly knocking them over and sending skewers of meat and vegetables, as well as containers flying and crushed in its wake. Even with the inadvertent obstacles, its pace wasn't slowed down at all. Swinging its claws and flailing its tail, it crashed right into a table where the birthday cake was.
Sheng Ri Kuai Le was cowering under the table, and she screamed when the monster knocked it over, twisting the metal and plastic into scrap. Her birthday cake, which was a giant monstrosity in itself, had been demolished into brown sludge, the red raspberry sauce dribbling onto the ground eerily like blood. The candles bobbed in the crimson pool, their flames extinguished. The monster stomped past the cake knife, crushing the metal under its weight.
The birthday girl was so petrified that she was frozen with fear. Unable to budge even an inch, she could only watch helplessly, her eyes wide, as the monster approached her. Without any hesitation, the monster plunged its claws deep into her, breaking her out of her stupor. Sheng Ri Kuai Le began screaming in both terror and excruciating agony.
Nobody bothered to save her. They were either dead, too heavily injured or running away for their lives.
Mercifully, the monster didn't prolong her suffering. With a single flick of its claws, it beheaded Sheng Ri Kuai Le. Her head rolled to a stop on top of what remained of her birthday cake, her mouth frozen in a silent scream and her eyes gaping in horror at oblivion. Her blood had splattered across the remains of the chocolate cake, mingling with the red raspberry sauce, the two fluids becoming one and no longer indistinguishable from each other.
Stepping over Sheng Ri Kuai Le's headless corpse and crunching it, the monster uncaringly progressed forward. Its inner jaws slowly clicked out, and it disappeared into a blur.
The scene of fleeing survivors had turned into one of carnage. The monster had caught up with most of the teenage mages and torn them to bits. Many of them lay in pieces. Some were still conscious, screaming from horror or holding their detached limbs in shock. Pearl and the healers were going around, trying to heal whatever wounds they could, or preserve the lives of those in critical conditions, despite the massive risk to their own lives. Currently, the monster paid them no attention. It was more attracted to those students who were running and screaming instead.
Ironically, the healers' decision to stay where they were, keep a low profile, and continue healing their severely injured comrades was what saved their lives.
Pearl looked up, shaken. She had stabilized Craig's condition, and was now tending to a stunned Alicia. Neither of them had regained consciousness. Lily was helping Dong Fang Yue Chu up, her shield shattered after an engagement. Blood streamed down her face, and she gritted her teeth in frustration. However, a blow from the monster had shattered her spear, and unarmed, she stood no chance against the creature.
"We should run," she murmured to Pearl. Sheila nodded, as she limped forward while supporting an unconscious Craig.
"Wait!" Pearl hissed as she tended to Alicia, who was slowly waking up. The Black Rose president looked up, dazed.
"The…the monster," she whispered. Pearl shook her head.
"We can't fight it. It's too strong." She took a deep breath and glanced at the distance. Four more screaming students had just gone down, their corpses resembling victims in a slasher film. "We should go now, when we still have the chance."
The number of survivors were pitifully low. The healers had done what they could, but the vast majority of the people left in the wake of the monster's rampage were killed. Dong Fang Yue Chu muttered something as he stared blankly at the corpses of Stan and Wang Fei. Only Harvey had survived, but he was staggering, his mind still numbed from the effects of the blow he had received.
"What about the others?" Alicia demanded, her voice hoarse and soft. "We can't just abandon them! We have to…"
"If we try to help them, we'll all be wiped out," Pearl told her gently. "And there's nothing we can do. Either we all die together, or some of us escape."
"And…we have too many wounded here," another healer added as he helped up another student. Alicia recalled his name being Usato Ken. He shook his head bitterly. "None of you are in any condition to fight. And it's our responsibility to bring the injured to safety. We can't allow you to risk yourselves in a meaningless battle."
"What he said," Pearl agreed.
"This isn't meaningless!" Alicia argued hotly. "There must be something we can do…!"
"If you want to risk your life, that's your choice," Usato Ken said. He wasn't trying to sound cold, but he looked resigned, as if he recognized that Alicia wouldn't change her mind. "But…think about the casualties we suffered. If you engage the monster, you'll draw its attention to the injured here. I ask of you to at least allow the people here to survive."
Alicia gritted her teeth as she turned to watch the berserk monster, which was advancing in the opposite direction, where there was still a mass of mages left. Ken was right. While Alicia had no compulsions against risking her own life, she had no right to ask the wounded and critically injured to do the same. She had no right to put the healers and other students in life-threatening danger.
"Go," she said as she rose to her feet and checked her guns. "I'll hold the monster off and buy you guys some time…"
Her vision swam and she fell over. Pearl quickly caught hold of Alicia before the latter could hit the ground.
"You're seriously wounded," the Super Power Society president explained kindly. "You've done more than enough. Your job now is to lead the survivors and injured to safety. Can you do that?"
"I…" tears sprang to Alicia's eyes, especially when she saw the dead. Miranda was gone, her body torn apart. Elliot was lying near the barbeque pit, his body in a pool of blood. Nicholas was nowhere to be seen. Jin Hao and Aoi had survived, just barely, and were helping each other up. It was clear that they were in no condition to fight.
So many Black Rose members dead. So many injured. Alicia wondered briefly that if Troy's presence would have made a difference. That man was so strong that he could probably destroy even a rank B monster with astonishing ease.
There was a reason why he was ranked number one in Jing Tian Academy, above even Holy Saints president, Harrison Reed.
But he wasn't here, and they were. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Alicia rose to her feet and nodded.
"Let's go," she ordered softly. Everyone complied and began organizing their retreat in an orderly fashion, as opposed to the panic escape of the majority of students in the opposite direction.
"?!"
A hiss from behind them drew their attention back to the monster. Their sudden movements had seemed to attract it, and it slowly turned toward them.
Her face paling, Alicia raised both of her guns in determination and took aim at the approaching demon.
"Seems like we've to fight after all," she murmured quietly.