Sorry I'm late... I was feeling a bit sick the last few days...
...
In the northern district of Academy City.
A beautiful woman with caramel-colored hair and eyes and slightly pointy ears was floating in the sky together with a golden-haired fox girl.
They were Wave Golden and Eve Moonglow, Headmistress of Academy City, and Saintess of Moonlight Glow respectively.
In front of them, several monsters of different shapes were growling hungrily and staring at the two women with eyes full of greed.
Sometimes, the monsters attacked them, but the girls would kill them easily. In fact, there were hundreds of corpses on the ground, belonging to the monsters they had killed.
However, the expressions of the two women were serious. Even though they were completely uninjured, their expressions were grave as though they were facing a great enemy.
And the reason for that was the man hovering across them.
He was wearing a hooded robe that hid his features completely, but the mana exuding from him belonged to a peak demigod. He was someone at the same level as Wave and Eve.
Moreover, he was not alone. Six other demigods were flanking him, surrounding the two women.
"… What a nasty situation." Wave clicked her tongue. "Any ideas Eve?"
"None." The fox girl shook her head expressionlessly.
"Damn it then. I guess we just have to kill them then, huh." Wave shrugged her shoulders.
Suddenly, though, an expression of surprise appeared on her face.
"… Hey, Eve, did you receive the message as well?"
"I did."
"How surprising. To think that the boy managed to find the location of the nodes so quickly. As expected of my student." Wave chuckled. "Finally, a piece of good news. That boy really is full of surprises."
"Mm. But there is a problem."
"The remaining node, huh." Wave furrowed her brows.
In fact, Wave had located the nodes much sooner than Bloed. She discovered them before the magic array was completely activated.
But when they reached the location of the first node, they were attacked by a group of monstrous-looking creatures that stopped them.
Moreover, they were not normal creatures.
When Wave and Eva clashed with them, they discovered that their mana was being stolen.
These were creatures contaminated by the Blight.
The creatures were not very powerful, barely as strong as a demigod. But their large number and their ability to devour mana made them a troublesome opponent.
Of course, that was far from enough to stop Wave and Eve; and if they were given enough time, they could exterminate the creatures completely. But while they were occupied with the creatures, a truly powerful enemy arrived.
The hooded figure, followed by six other demigods.
The hooded figure was very strong. Even two demigods as powerful as Wave and Eve did not dare to underestimate him. Plus, he had the help of six demigods, making the battle even more difficult.
More than once, the two women were close to being killed.
'How troublesome…' Wave thought and clicked her tongue.
If Eve and she wanted to destroy the node, they first needed to get rid of the seven enemies. However, it was not going to be easy.
Plus– Wave looked at the right hand of the hooded figure.
'Eight, huh.'
Wave knew what the number tattooed on his hand meant.
It meant that he was the eighth seat of the terrorist organization, Returning Dusk.
Wave knew enough about Returning Dusk to understand that every single-digit member of Returning Dusk was a monster in one or another way. Some of them had managed to escape even after being besieged by tens of demigods.
Wave frowned briefly, but then, she put on a determinate expression.
"We will somehow destroy this node. As for the remaining node, they will have to take care of it."
"Mm." Eve nodded. That was the only way.
'It would have been easier if the demigods in the city decided to help,' Wave thought. But besides a handful of demigods that rescued a few students, most of the demigods in the city stayed quiet when the attack started, observing the situation without intervening.
In fact, some of them even joined the enemy.
Wave smiled bitterly.
For the first time, she realized how fragile the city she built was.
…
Bloed and Regina hurried to the location of the node while killing the Devourers they met in the way.
To go faster, Bloed activated Leto's flight mode and used it to rush towards the location of the node. Thanks to that, they managed to arrive at the place in less than two minutes.
"The node is being protected by a barrier," Bloed observed as soon as Leto landed. "Regina, can you destroy it?"
Regina nodded and materialize an energy blade on her hand. But when she was about to cut the barrier into two, a voice came from inside it.
"You should stop."
The voice belonged to a middle-aged man with a kind face and a gentle expression. He was wearing a mage robe and holding a long staff in his right hand.
Regina frowned as soon as she saw the man.
"A Demigod."
The man smiled.
"You are one as well, right? Strangely, I can't feel any fluctuation of mana coming from you."
Regina did not reply. Just then, Bloed raised an eyebrow.
Suddenly, he unsheathed his saber and slashed towards his right!
In the next instant, a figure appeared in the place where he slashed, charging towards him while baring its fangs!
An ambush!
The figure seemed like an eyeless lizard. It was half a meter tall and three meters long. Its mouth was filled with countless teeth, and its body was so agile that Bloed barely managed to see it.
But–
Before the creature could reach him, Bloed's saber cut it into two.
"… A devourer," Bloed muttered while looking at the body of the creature.
The demigod inside the barrier whistled in surprise.
"You are pretty good, boy. That creature could barely be considered a demigod. To think that you managed to kill it in a blow."
Bloed nodded. Certainly, the speed of that creature surpassed a normal A-Rank by far.
Unfortunately, it did not know that surprise attacks were useless against Bloed nor it knew how lethal Bloed's saber was. Besides, Bloed's [Molecular Disintegration] countered the ability of the devourers to absorb energy, so it was completely defenseless against Bloed's saber.
Plus, even if Bloed failed to kill it, the creature would have died regardless. After all, Regina would not allow it to hurt her master.
Due to that, Bloed did not feel proud about killing the creature.
"Regina, destroy the barrier. We don't have time to lose." Bloed instructed Regina again. Even when he was aware that there was a demigod inside the barrier, he was confident that Regina could destroy it.
But then, he heard the demigod chuckling.
"Did you think it was the only one?" He said. "No, that was just the beginning."
Following the man's words, many more creatures like the first one appeared around them.
Eyeless lizards growling in hunger crawled from the walls and the ground, surrounding the pair. There were at least thirty of them!
It was enough to kill any normal demigod!
But–
"Get lost."
With an indifferent expression, Regina swung her hand.
In an instant, tens of energy weapons materialized around her, flying towards the eyeless lizards.
And before they could react, the energy weapons pierced them, killing them instantly!
The demigod inside the barrier froze seeing that scene. But then, he saw Regina raise the energy blade that she was holding in her hand and aim it at the barrier.
"W-Wait, wait…!" The demigod hurriedly shouted.
But Regina ignored him.
"Break." She swung her blade.
And the barrier was cut into two.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels