"Phew…we're almost there."
Zhang Hou Zi sounded relieved as we closed in on the shelter. It was almost within sight now, a massive dome-shaped building that resembled an oyster shell. There were a few lights blinking in the distance, suggesting that it still functioned, but we couldn't see any sign of people. That made sense – any humans would be seeking refuge inside the building, not wandering outside it.
"Don't let your guard down," Teacher Fielding warned harshly. "We still have about 400 meters left."
After the encounter with the Silver Skeletal Wolf, we ran into a Dire Wolf and three Cyclops Rats on two separate occasions. Having exterminated a rank B monster, the lower-leveled beasts were a breeze in comparison, and we decapitated the former through our combined efforts while incinerating the latter with well-aimed fire spells and a flaming arrow (from my Sagittarius). It didn't even take more than a minute to bring the low ranking monsters down.
We proceeded in silence, tension and adrenaline still running high. Even Craig didn't run his mouth, exhaustion showing on his face. It was only natural. We had a tough fight against the Silver Skeletal Wolf, and as short as three kilometers were, the journey was taking its toll.
That was when Harvey suddenly perked up.
"I see it! The shelter!"
His excited pointing was what led to Zhan Hou Zi's sigh of relief and Teacher Fielding's somber reminder. Despite our teacher's harsh tone, our morale soared buoyantly at the sight of our destination being so close.
Finally…finally we could rest! After all this fighting! And risking our lives!
As we drew closer, the foul stink of death and other unspeakable stuff drifted into our nostrils, causing us to wince. We were approaching a blackened river, which was filled with bloated corpses and demonic things that we couldn't identify from the distance. The Cyclops Rats had emerged from there, and we had fried them before they could climb up the river bank fully and ashore into the city proper. Not that we needed to bother – the riverside café that once boasted a lovely view over the river had been demolished, with blood running over ruined tables and corpses half-concealed behind broken chairs and furniture.
Even though none of us wanted to approach the stinking river, we didn't have a choice. The shelter was just across a huge, red bridge. Trying not to look too closely at the devastated café, we cautiously crossed the bridge. Like the road we had traversed earlier, vehicles lay abandoned, overturned and destroyed over the wide expanse of the road. In some places, fires still burned. Evidently there had been a battle here. A massacre, but the corpses were missing. Most likely a mage had intervened and fought off a bunch of monsters to buy some time for the civilians to get out of their cars and run to safety on foot.
With the shelter being so close to the bridge, I doubted the civilians required much persuasion to complete the rest of the journey on foot.
We were barely halfway across the foot when an unfamiliar voice called out to us.
"Hey! You kids over there! What are you doing here?"
We all froze when we caught sight of a young man in military uniform descending in front of us, his cloak flapping behind him. He acknowledged Teacher Fielding with a nod, seeming to recognize our teacher.
"Captain…"
"Drop it. I'm no longer in the military."
"Ah…sorry…uh…Teacher Fielding, is it now?" the soldier absently rubbed at his cheek, and then turned toward us. "And you kids must be students from Jing Tian Academy."
"That's right." Teacher Fielding stepped in and affirmed. "We're the vanguard team. The rest of the students and teachers will be following behind us in waves. About fifty groups, so it might take them some time to evacuate completely. We scouted ahead for a safe route – they shouldn't be in danger as long as they follow the route I transmitted back to them."
The soldier beamed. "That's good to hear."
"What are you doing here by yourself, Lieutenant Yang Bai?" it was Teacher Fielding's turn to ask the questions. "Where's the rest of the army?"
"We rushed here as soon as possible from the northern fortress," Yang Bai replied.
Oh, that was right. Now that he mentioned it, he was one of the soldiers I saw back in the Northern Fortress, with his brown hair and friendly smile. We had met briefly back when I was recovering there, before I nuked the army of three thousand monsters. I didn't speak to him at all, though, so I didn't recognize his voice.
"General Jiang Jun and the other soldiers have assembled at the shelter and are taking care of the civilians. They are still arriving in drips and drapes, and I was assigned to scout ahead to search for any survivors and guide them to the shelter." Yang Bai was smiling brilliantly. "I'm so glad I found you guys! Let's hurry!"
"Wait, the other groups…" Teacher Fielding began. Yang Bai nodded.
"I understand. I'll inform General Jiang immediately. I'm sure he'll dispatch reinforcements to escort them. I think we can actually ask them to form a convoy and evacuate as one. We should have more than enough soldiers to fend off monsters."
Yang Bai was already reaching for his smartphone and dialing the general's number. Whoa, 4G army was so advanced these days, making use of cellphone technology to fight intelligent wars rather than relying on brute force alone.
After he made his call, he turned back to us with what he probably thought was a reassuring smile.
"Okay, General Jiang has begun assigning escorts to your Jing Tian Academy. You guys should follow me. The general ordered me to bring you guys to the shelter safe and sound."
"How do we know we can trust you?" Bu Fan asked skeptically, his eyes darkening with paranoia. Yang Bai paused for a moment, looking unsure.
"Um…"
"I've known Lieutenant Yang ever since he was a cadet," Teacher Fielding replied, stepping in. "I understand your concerns, but we can trust him."
"Uh…is there something I should know?" Yang Bai asked, looking puzzled as he glanced from his former mentor to Bu Fan.
"We heard that the monster invasion this time is orchestrated by the Dark Church again." Despite Teacher Fielding's words, Bu Fan didn't let his guard down.
"Oh, I've heard about that too." Yang Bai nodded vehemently. "We'll catch those bastards and kill them. Hunt every single one of them down. They will never get away with this."
For the first time, I heard genuine rage blazing behind his usually cheerful voice. Yang Bai cast a glare at the ruins of the city behind us, clenching his trembling fists. He then took a deep breath and calmed himself down when he remembered his mission.
"In any case, we should hurry. We don't want to be talking out here when a monster comes by. You kids look like you've been through hell."
"Where's your Spirit Wolf?" I blurted out as I stepped to the front to join him when he spun away to lead the way. Yang Bai turned to gape at me.
"Huh?! Spirit Wolf? What are you talking about?"
"Aren't you a summoner as well? I thought you can summon a giant wolf…you know, the one with deep blue fur."
"What the hell are you talking about? I'm a holy magic user, not a summoner. I use white magic, I don't summon soul beasts."
Yang Bai looked genuinely confused, but Teacher Fielding interfered by smacking me at the back of my head.
"Pay my students no attention. They're always talking nonsense."
"Well, Bu Fan seems to think that you'll be a sudden traitor, a double agent working for the Dark Church to steal the Holy Spring."
"Huh? Holy Spring?" Yang Bai did a double take. "And Dark Church? Me? Working for them?"
He then glowered at me, his eyes filling with rage. I realized that I had made a horrible mistake. This guy truly hated the Dark Church to the core.
"Hey, there has to be a limit to your jokes. I don't care if you're a student, you've gone too far."
"Sorry. I've been reading way too many web novels lately."
"…right." Yang Bai regarded me, and then decided to write off my odd remarks as stress from walking through a devastated city that was infested with monsters. "Anyway, let's hurry. After I bring you guys back, I still need to go through the area to look for other survivors." His cheerful demeanor returned. "You guys are really lucky."
"Lucky?" Craig repeated incredulously. "You call this lucky?"
"I mean, you were lucky to run into me. I'll be able to protect you and keep you guys safe…"
"Um…" Harvey suddenly raised a hand, cutting the young lieutenant off. "Are those guys part of the military too? Are they here to escort the other students from Jing Tian Academy?"
"Huh?" Yang Bai stopped, and then turned in the direction where Harvey was pointing at. "I don't see any…"
"Down!"
Teacher Fielding reacted quicker and shoved Yang Bai to the ground. At his command, all the students immediately went down, diving for the nearest cover. Even though I couldn't see anything, I vaguely registered a dark flash. Something screeched as it swerved past the space where Yang Bai's head had been a few seconds ago. Teacher Fielding was back on his feet almost immediately as a dark shape darted forward to deliver a killing blow in place of the first strike.
A surge of light illuminated the area as the assailant kicked at Yang Bai and Teacher Fielding, but the veteran teacher rose and kicked his foot away. There was a huge bang as their feet collided, and the bright, violent light immediately vanished.
"Ba Qi, huh?" the newcomer mused. "Impressive as ever, Ruff Fielding."
Teacher Fielding didn't respond to the compliment and instead punched a hole through the assailant's chest. The newcomer crossed his arms and parried the blow, but the force of Teacher Fielding's fist sent him hurtling through several dented vehicles. He eventually disappeared into a car with an explosion.
"Ow, ow, ow…"
The assailant slowly rose from the crumpled car he had crashed into and shook his smoking arms. His hood had been thrown back from the blow, revealing a bald head. He grinned as he raised his head to look at a grim Teacher Fielding, revealing perfect, white teeth.
"You're the same as ever, Fielding, never holding back. That really hurt!"
Teacher Fielding's lip curled. "Rei."
"…who?" Theodore asked blankly.
"Rei…the Assassin." Yang Bai sounded horrified. "He's one of the most fearsome killers from the shadowy Assassin's Guild. He's supposedly specialized in light magic and can attack at the speed of light."
"Supposedly." Rei grimaced as he rubbed his arms. The black sleeves of his bodysuit were still smoking. "Yet I still can't take good old Fielding by surprise. How exactly am I attacking at the speed of light when my opponent can react in time to block me?"
"What are you doing here?" Teacher Fielding's voice was humorless and cold.
"Oh…let's make it simple." Rei dusted off his hands calmly. "I'm here for the Holy Spring. Give it to me, and we'll withdraw."
"Holy Spring? What are you talking about?" Teacher Fielding's face twisted in confusion.
"Oh? He didn't tell you?" Rei raised an eyebrow and turned in my direction. "That kid, Richard, is carrying the Holy Spring on him. I'm guessing he plans to deliver it to General Jiang Jun. obviously I can't let that happen. Even if it's me, there's no way I'll be able to defeat the venerable General Jiang and take the Holy Spring away from him."
Everyone was turning to me in surprise and disbelief, but I paid them no attention. Instead, I was embroiled in an inner turmoil. My blood ran cold when I heard that. How did he know?
"I don't know what you're talking about," I managed defiantly.
Rei snorted. Reaching behind him, he extracted something and threw it in my direction. The object thumped wetly against a car and then rolled toward somewhere near my feet, leaving a slick trail of blood.
I found myself staring into the wide, hollow eyes of Kuai Tou's disembodied head.
"You…you…!"
"That man was quite the tough nut to crack, you know?" Rei drawled. "Until the very end, he refused to say anything…even when I cut off his fingers, toes, and eventually his arms and legs. Fortunately, one of the Dark Church spies who stayed behind saw you emerge from the same tunnel as him about thirty minutes later. Since this guy didn't have the Holy Spring on him when we searched him, we concluded that it must be on you." he shook his head. "A pity…I didn't want to kill him…this man is a true warrior, who preserved his honor until the very end."
"You…you bastard…" I growled, my fists trembling from fury.
"What do you want the underground Holy Spring for?" Bu Fan demanded, his voice a lot calmer than mine.
"Who knows? That's up to the Dark Church. You know how it is. Assassin's honor – we don't pry into the private details of our client. We just kill whoever they want us to kill, and as long as they pay us, we don't care why."
Teacher Fielding was maintaining his aggressive stance, his eyes narrowed in frosty fury.
"You're right. I don't care why either…because you won't be taking the Holy Spring from us. You won't be laying a single finger on my students."
"Ah…it's been so long since we last fought, hasn't it, Fielding?" Rei laughed coarsely as he drew a katana from his back. Cracking his bald head from side to side, he rotated his arms to prepare for battle before holding his katana up. "I look forward to this…last time was a tie, wasn't it?"
"Do you honestly think you can win against all of us?" Craig asked, already preparing his crimson spear. Beside him, Sheila, Lily and Theodore were also drawing their weapons.
"Oh, but I'm not alone. Haven't you been paying attention?" Rei wagged a finger with his free hand. "I said 'we'll' withdraw if you do what we want, didn't I?"
As if on cue, figures stepped out from the shadows on either side of the bridge, cutting off any escape route. If we wanted to go forward or retreat, we would be forced to fight against them. Like Rei, they were all dressed in black, with hoods over their heads, and armed with katanas.
"Your students against my disciples, Fielding," Rei continued to drawl in that relaxed manner of his. "Who do you think will win? The outcome will show which of us is the superior teacher."