inside the widow's crypt
My core was slowly but steadily creeping towards the stage beyond white. I figure it will take at least a few more years, but I'm really excited for it.
As we stepped into the widow's crypt, there was a distinct lack of snarlers. I thought this was weird, and apparently I wasn't alone.
Professor Glory voiced her thoughts, "That's odd, usually, we'd see a fair amount of snarlers already. Why don't I—"
All of a sudden, hideous noises began echoing all around us. Peeking out from behind the numerous boulders and from small caverns spotted around the walls of the cave were an uncountable amount of beady red eyes.
"Th-That's a lot of snarlers..." I could hear Roland gulp as his eyes widened. It wasn't just him that was shocked at the sight but everyone in the class. Even Curtis and Claire looked. I looked at Professor Glory and from her expression, I didn't think she anticipated seeing this many snarlers either.
"P-professor, are there supposed to be this many snarlers?" Asked an upperclassman
"No, this is weird. Usually, there aren't as much snarlers even on the lower floors."
I looked around, seeing even more snarlers around us.
"There are a lot of them but they aren't impossible to handle. However, since this is just a class excursion, I think it's best to go back up, just in case. Safety is priority right now." Just as Professor Glory started slowly ushering everyone back towards the stairs, a fireball flew past her and exploded in a crowd of snarlers.
"See? These nasty little beasts are weak. Professor, don't tell me you brought us all here just to go back? Even a small fire spell was enough to kill six of them," Lucas scoffed as he lowered his staff.
"I-I think we should try and train here, Professor." Curtis had a determined look on his face as several other students, because of Lucas' display, gained confidence as well.
"Alright. Split into teams and take up different parts of the floor." Said professor Glory as she turned to face Lucas. "And Lucas? You do something like that again, and there will be consequences."
Finally, a time to unleash a little.
I started slashing snarlers left and right, when suddenly I heard
"Teams, follow your leaders! We're getting back up!"
Two queen snarlers suddenly showed up.
We kept the minions away, but professor Glory was quite bashed up. Even so, she managed to kill the smaller queen snarler.
Upon seconds of hearing a loud crash, Professor Glory flew past the front line and landed hard against a wave of minion snarlers.
Allowing myself a few seconds to look back, a wave of nausea hit me as my eyes glued onto the sight of the bigger queen snarler, gorging on the corpse of the fallen queen.
"Why is that one so much stronger?" Professor Glory got up as she groaned, cleaving a few minions out of her way.
As I fended off waves of snarlers, my attention kept on drawing back to the queen snarler eating its former ally.
"Professor, does this usually happen?" I asked.
"Well, I've heard that some species of mana beasts do indulge in cannibalism but I've never really seen this particular case. Why now of all times, I have no idea." Shaking her head, she picked up her other sword and made her way towards her opponent.
As the queen snarler finished consuming her fallen comrade, a bizarre change occurred. Its once grey fur turned jet black and the small horn on its forehead that I failed to notice at first curved upwards, growing substantially. The once beady red eyes turned sharp and menacing—almost psychotic—as it began foaming from its mouth as well.
Professor Glory didn't say anything but I knew that there was a growing sense of doubt in her mind as the beast charged at her.
While professor Glory was working on keeping the mutated queen snarler away, I blew open a way for the others to escape.
"EVERYONE, GET OUT!" Professor Glory roared.
As everyone started escaping the dungeon, Tessia came up to me. "Arthur, we must help her! She's obviously losing!"
"Yes, I know. Go, I will help her."
"No! You can't take the burden by yourself again! I can fight, I'm strong! Let me help!" pleaded Tessia
"No, and that is final. Me and professor Glory will take care of this!" I said in a loud voice.
"No, whether you allow it or not, I will help! I'm not a child, and I can decide for myself!" rebutted Tessia, attacking the queen snarler with a vine.
"Alright, just don't get hurt."
professor Glory was being quickly overwhelmed by the queen snarler.
I took a step forward, imbuing it with a great amount of mana, and shot off towards the queen snarler at unimaginable speeds.
"Let's try this move" I said with a smile
[Nuclear slash]
It was a move specifically designed to deal with large enemies, blowing up their bodies in one fell swoop.
My blade dug into the queen snarler's flesh, and her entire body went up in a grand explosion.
What I didn't account for, was that the explosion would open up a large hole and simultaneously fling me into it at large speeds.
I reached the bottom after ten seconds of falling, and I heard a sound. Wait.. Those were the sounds of battle! I immediately rushed toward the source of the sand, not even the hardened mana infused stone being able to stop me pulling it apart like sand.
And what I saw was pure terror.
A dozen dead bodies lying on the ground, soldiers fighting.. A similar demon to the one that killed Sylvia.
Unexplainable rage welled up within me, which I could barely keep out of control. It seems whatever it is was able to sense my bloodlust, shooting off towards me like a comet.
"Let's play."
[Phase Two. Realmheart]
It stood over two meters tall, with long, thin arms dangling by its sides. It wore thick, dark bandages and a shabby black mantle perched on its shoulders. On its head, it had two small obsidian horns, which were filled with a large amount of pure mana, akin to something like a mana battery.
I waited for it to come, but it suddenly stopped.
"Hello, pup." It said, pointing at the dead soldiers. "Are you here to join them?"
"Who are you?"
"Uto, the retainer of the Scythes."
I could see someone approaching our location. It was.. Lance Alea?
Alea spotted me, giving me a confused stare. "Huh? You're.. Arthur Leywin. Run! What are you doing here?"
She was in bad shape. Blood flowing from her mouth, cracked ribs and shoulder.
"You're in bad shape." I said
"That doesn't matter! You have to.. ugh. get out of here!" She said with an obviously pained voice
"Don't worry, I'll get him. Just sit this one out, okay?" I said with a smile on my face.
I faced Uto, suddenly unleashing all my mana.
I encased dawn's ballad in a sound spell, constantly keeping it vibrating thus increasing its sharpness tenfold, and a lightning spell.
[Thunderclap Impulse]
All my senses suddenly felt sharper, my mind sped up by lightning.
As I lunged at Uto, black spikes kept popping up out of seemingly nowhere, but thunderclap impulse allowed me to easily cut through them.
"Tch, if this is all you can do, then you pose no threat to me." I said, in a serious and quiet voice.
"A lesser has no right to lecture me!" Screamed Uto, seemingly enraged by what I said.
As soon as I closed the distance, I conjured tens of ice spears around myself, preparing to shoot them should Uto ever be in a bad position. He lunged off the cavern wall, a spike forming in his hand that was extended towards me.
I put my muscles into overdrive, squeezing every possible bit of speed out of them. I exploded forward, into Uto, the spike narrowly missing my head. A dozen other spikes were already around me, but it was too late.
Slash
Uto's arm flew clean off at the shoulder, and he got a terrified expression.
Stashing the hand in my storage ring, I continued the onslaught. I had ruined his center of gravity, so finishing the job was easy, but I instead cut off his other arm.
"You will be fun to interrogate." I said coldly, but another spike formed.
"You can cast magic without arms? Impressive."
"The scythes will not forgive this!"
Oh, I almost forgot.
With a slash, both of his horns were cut clean off.
"This should stop you from casting magic, right?" I said with a sinister smirk.
I took a look at my core, my mana capacity being about two thirds full, but I saw something interesting.
My mana core has developed rapidly during this fight, shaving off about another month from reaching the next stage.
I knocked Uto unconscious, and Sylvie brought us to the surface.
at the castle gate
The guards saw us approaching. "Who are they?"
"I don't kno.. is that lance Alea?" responded the second guard
They immediately rushed to put Alea in intensive care, the wounds on her body worsening.
Later that evening, the lances and me got together.
"So you mean to tell me, that some kid was able to effortlessly kill someone that lance Alea couldn't even scratch!?" yelled lance Bairon
"Yes, that is correct. That someone was apparently a retainer called Uto."
"Lance Alea, did you see him kill this.. Uto?" asked lance Varay
"No, but I could tell that Arthur Leywin was extremely fast - barely a blur in my eyes, but they then took the fight away from me and my group."
"I still don't believe it! A child doing something a lance cannot!" Said Bairon, looking at me with anger in his eyes.
"Mica thinks he's telling the truth."
"Yeah, Bairon. I think so too, you should give it a rest" Said lance Olfred, giving me a compassionate look.
"Mica thinks if you are really doubtful of his power, why not fight him?"
"Yeah, I am willing to, of course, only if lance Bairon accepts." I said, giving Bairon a smug look.
"I accept"