(Unedited)
…
Desperate but powerless, this is the feeling that Jenny Mae is currently feeling while watching the large beast which suddenly jumped towards her. This happened because the energy barrier surrounding them has already collapsed.
The barrier is the only reason why the convoy has not yet collapsed and has reached up to this point. But it seems that it has been overwhelmed by the large number of beasts that are surrounding them. And so with the collapse of the barrier some beasts are able to enter approach the convoy.
She is not resigned to this fate and the thought of her achievements and missions came to her mind. She remembers the first person she killed and thought.
"Is this how he felt when I was inserting the knife in my hand in his heart?" she thought as the expression of that person was etched in her mind.
The look of desperation and unwillingness to die is always in her memories. This made her sleepless for a long time and as many fell and the blood of her targets accumulated, her sleeping time gets lesser. She would always have those nightmares.
Suddenly she remembers that it has been a long time since she had a nightmare. When did it stop? Then a handsome face appears and his gentle smile made her calm down.
"That's right. It all ended the day he helped me…" she thought as the face of Curt Nilfiem and his gentle and shy personality seem to have attracted her a little.
Then her thought came back to reality upon smelling the foul stench of the slowly approaching large maw of the beast.
Jenny closes her eyes and waited. But suddenly, she felt warm blood splattering on her face and the foul stench covering her.
She quickly opens her eyes and what she saw is a tall man wearing something like a gas mask with blood all over his body. She did not see his face, but only saw his eyes under the glass covering of that mask. She is not sure why but she felt calmness upon seeing those eyes.
Suddenly she felt down to the ground feeling weak.
"Firebraid… Let's get back inside!" shouted Coldface as he carried her towards the armored vehicle.
"What is happening out there?" asked their leader as she helped Jenny inside the vehicle.
The two front convoys have been destroyed by the beast and the status of the people inside it is unknown. But it seems that there is a very strong individual attracting the horde's attention.
"What? An esper is helping us, who?"
"I don't know, I'm not sure… but the entire horde is attracted to that person's aura and began chasing after him."
"What does he look like?"
"He wore a mask… Look there!" Coldface suddenly pointed towards a direction where a large number of beasts began to gather.
"Let's go, we have to move now… Let's take this chance to escape… the mayor is of utmost importance."
With her words, the armored vehicle relays the command and began moving.
Meanwhile, Curt has already attracted the horde to a distance and those that remain are being picked by the soldiers protecting the remaining convoy.
Suddenly inside his heart, Curt heaves a sigh of relief upon seeing that Jenny Mae is safe. He didn't know what she is doing in this dangerous place but one thing is for sure, he had saved her which is already enough for him.
However, right now, he is being besieged by a horde which is making him feel a lot of pressure. He knew that with one wrong move, he would die and be eaten by the horde.
His eyes were suddenly directed towards the ruined northern gate.
"Let's take them out of this area first." He muttered as he began moving while freely dodging and slicing the two knives in his hand.
The beast horde is in berserk as if they smell some potent drug which is making them crazy. Meanwhile, Curt is also feeling the same thing. The more he kills the more he felt his body becoming lighter and his speed getting faster.
"Am I… Am I breaking thought?" he thought but did not have time to muse over it.
…
"Sir, that person is taking the horde towards the northern gate… what should we do?" a soldier asked after they let the convoy enter the inner gate.
"We have to activate the barrier in that area first. Then investigate why did this happen." The captain of the infantry company guarding the inner gate said while watching the monitor.
"Move out now!" he shouted.
With his command around 30 fully armed soldiers immediately marches outside and hop on five armored vehicles.
They immediately reached the northern gate which was destroyed and killed the remaining beast which is loitering around it. From the gate, they can see that the man has already taken the horde around 100 meters away from the destroyed gate.
"Get into the control room!" shouted the leader of the squad.
Then 10 of the 30 soldiers separate and immediately enter a tunnel leading to the control room.
"Sir this is bad… the tunnel is flooded with giant insects."
"Clear the area now! We have to clear it or else we will die in here."
"Sir we can't… the number is far too many. We need at least 50 men to finish them off…"
"What? Damn it! How could this happen? Who did this?" the leader shouted as he relayed to the captain the situation at the outer gate.
Bang!
Upon hearing what happened in the control room of the outer gate, the captain smashed his fist on the sturdy wooden table.
"How dare they do this?"
"Sir, I'm guessing that this is the work of those radical people." A soldier wearing silver-rimmed spectacle said on the side.
"You're right… but what can we do? If we sent more soldiers in that place and the horde comes back then we would have sent them to their death..." the captain muttered while clenching his fists.
The captain could not make his decision so he decided to report this to the higher-ups of the city. Upon learning this predicament, the higher-ups of the city immediately conveyed a council to call upon all of the battle espers in the city to assist the soldiers. At this time a lot of the city leaders are already worried and some of them are already in a panic.
This is because they all knew what would happen if that barrier gate could not be closed. It would only take less than an hour or two before the whole city would fall into mayhem and pandemonium. Hence everyone is worried.
…
Meanwhile, outside of the barrier, Curt has been fighting for a long time and has already left a long trail of bloody mess and gore all over the forest. Some of the beasts even began to devour those fallen beasts on the ground and stopped attacking Curt.
However, the slowly rising energy in that human's body is very attractive to many and didn't even pay attention to the bloody carcasses spread on the forest ground.
Suddenly, Curt felt his body becoming weaker as he has already spent much of his energy. With resolute eyes, he suddenly controlled the LEP energy in his body and the rising attractive energy suddenly vanished which made those beasts around him who seem to have been in euphoria while attacking him gained their consciousness.
Seeing this, he didn't think twice but immediately ran towards the forest while slowly removing his blood-covered clothes.
"Damn it… I was too overboard…" he muttered as he can feel his body slowly feeling the pain for overexerting his strength.
After taking off his clothes he was left with only his underwear. He knew that there are still some beasts that are following his scent so he needs to dispose of his clothes. But he kept his blood-covered gas mask on.
Soon he suddenly heard the sound of flowing water and knew that this is the river that flows towards Kor city.
He quickly rushes towards that direction and upon seeing the river didn't hesitate to jump towards it. But he didn't stay in the small river as he knew that it is not safe. And true to his conjecture, immediately felt strange movements in the water.
Curt swam as fast as he could to the other side. Upon reaching the river bank, he didn't stop and continue running away from it.
This is because behind him follows a group of 1 meter long fishes with six thin legs. He could see a large number of this fish-like beast jumping out of the water while following behind him. Seeing this, Curt's felt cold shivers running down his spine.
Hiss!!! Hiss!!!
The fishes did a snake-like hissing sound as they chase after him. But Curt didn't stop and is currently running madly with only his blue underwear on, a gas mask, and two plant harvesting knives.
Soon he noticed that the fish-like creatures didn't follow him and he heaves a sigh of relief. He soon arrives near the wall and followed it as he just circled around. Not long later, he saw the gate and found out that the barrier gate is still not closed.
The soldiers are currently fighting off some of the beasts that are trying to enter the opened gate.
He also noticed that they seem to have some reinforcement.
Curt saw the powerful elemental control of the espers as they defended the gate.
"How could I enter that place?" Curt thought as he looks at his almost naked figure.
Suddenly he saw some large leaf and immediately had an idea. He quickly gathered his remaining LEP energy and began creating makeshift clothes made of large tree leaves.
After wearing them on, he walked towards the gate at the side.
When the soldiers saw him, they all seem to recognize the gas mask.
"It's the guy with the mask… he… he's still alive."
"Wow, he must be really strong to have survived that… But what… what is he wearing?"
"I think… I think those are leaves… maybe he lost his clothes due to a large number of beasts…"
"Let him in…"
The soldiers didn't stop, Curt and let him through their blockade.
"What is happening, why is the barrier not closed yet?" Curt asked as he slumped at the corner.
"We have a huge infestation problem in the control room… We didn't have any choice but to seal it to prevent those insects from coming out." A soldier near him replied.
"Hmm…" Curt thought for a while.
Coming to this place, he has already seen the LEP energy barrier and how it is being controlled. He could not deny that the barrier is truly amazing as it does not only protect the people in the city but also would disintegrate any creature coming in contact with its surface.
"I need a fire esper to assist me…" Curt suddenly said as he stood up.