I didn't get enough sleep that night. It was probably one of the most stressful nights I have ever spent in my whole life...
'Today's the day... The S+ grade Dungeon is going to open...', I sighed as I packed my things except Amaranth and the weight robes.
I wore the robes and the spirit boots, checked all of my talismans, checked the condition of Amaranth and got ready for the worst.
The dungeon break happened early in the morning when most people were still sleeping.
'6:30...', I saw the time on the clock.
*Luub Duup Luub Duup*
My heart was beating extremely fast because of stress.
I clenched Amaranth as hard as I could and gritted my teeth.
*WWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!*
Suddenly out of nowhere, an extremely loud siren rang throughout the islands, waking up everybody and sending shivers down my spine.
'Mage's Fortitude!', I activated the Mage's Fortitude and waited for the monsters to come.
I ran out of the hotel building and saw what could only be described as a tsunami of monsters.
The ground was shaking and the buildings were all swaying left and right.
Undead. Hordes of Undead. Skeletons, Death knights, Dullahans, Undead sorcerers of great might, even undead wyverns. All of them were under one command - the Undying Archmage, who was still inside the dungeon gate.
The dungeon gate itself was so massive, that you could see it from even the edges of the island. It glowed with an eery purple colour and emitted a dark mist that seemed to swallow all light in its vicinity.
'Shit! This is not something I can do anything about! I need to get to that place before the undead make their way here!!!!', even mage's fortitude didn't completely nullify the shock and fear I was feeling.
I immediately started sprinting as fast as I could to the place I had in mind. It's an island that only appears during low tides. And it just so happens that the island just revealed itself in the morning.
In the novel, the protagonist barely manages to get on the island while the teachers and school staff hold back the undead. Everything on the main islands gets devastated. Turned into necrotic beasts and dark plants.
The undead are quite slow in the water, so staying on the island definitely helps.
But even getting on the island is a huge challenge. You can't just swim, or else the undead will get you. You need a boat. And there are only 5 of them that are available...
*KHAAA!!!!*
"Force Smash!", I smashed away a skeleton that came up to me and hit it with another "Stone Barrage!" "Enamel" combo, killing it.
"Syphon.", I used Amaranth to replenish my mana. As long as I kill the opponent, I can replenish my mana indefinitely, which is great.
'Tsk! The undead isn't just spawning from the gate, but also all over the island!', I realised.
There wasn't just one giant gate, but many many smaller gates through which the undead were spawning.
*KHHAHAAA* *CLATTER CLATTER* *PHHWE PHHEW!*
3 skeletons appeared out of nowhere. There were 2 archers and a swordsman.
Luckily, I dodged the arrows. After the arrows hit the ground, I immediately used "Psychokinesis!" on the arrows, lifting them up and throwing them at the two archers at almost the same speed they shot them at me.
"Force Smash!" "Stone Barrage!" "Enamel!", I killed the swordsman who was wearing some armour with the old combo.
Also, I didn't forget to syphon the mana from them.
As I was running through the skeletons and the debris, I could see the other students struggling with the skeletons too.
Many of them were dying at the undead's hands... Things did not look pretty in the slightest...
But, in the distance, I could feel a strange heat coming. Like some kind of wave, hitting me with intense force even from so far away.
What I saw was something extraordinary.
It was William. He was using Fire Magic, his speciality. Each of his spells killed hundreds, if not thousands of skeletons and legions of death knights.
Giant balls of pure heat and light were being rained upon the undead and they were taking severe damage.
William wasn't the only teacher fighting, Mrs. Anna was also destroying the undead at an exponential rate. Her sword's aura was cutting through hundreds of undeads per sweep.
But it was clear that they would not win the fight long term. They were exhausting their power and stamina at rates that were not recommended. At the rate they were going, they would probably exhaust their powers within a few hours and not even scratch the army of the Undying Archmage.
That's how strong the Undying Archmage is. After all, he destroyed an entire world before coming to Earth. It's only natural that he would have an army that massive by his side.
But at the moment, I did not have time to worry about such things. I looked away from the fighting and battle and focused on my own path to the boats.
But, as I was about to take another step, I heard a scream. It was a familiar voice.
'EVE!', I exclaimed internally before sprinting to go investigate what the noise was about.
But as soon as I took a step, I froze. Mage's Fortitude kicked in full gear and stopped me from taking another step.
'This isn't anywhere near the place where Eve would be in...', I thought.
'As I thought... must be a Mind Flayer...', I concluded before turning around and continuing my journey towards the boats.
The boats were located a few kilometres southeast of the hotel we were in. But with there being thick foliage and undead everywhere, it would take a good hour to reach the place even while risking your life.
As I was running, my phone suddenly rang out loud.
'Who the hell is calling me right now?!', I thought before picking up the phone.
I took out my phone and was startled to see the caller's name.
'Eve?! Why?!'
I picked up the phone.
"Eve?! Why are you calling me?!", I yelled into the phone.
"*Sniff... help... help me... please, Samuel... Help me, please! I don't wanna die!", her voice was suppressed and sounded horrified.
"Eve?! What's wrong?! what happened?!", I asked her.
"I'm... I'm stuck... There's an Undead Sorceror... It killed all of the other girls... I'm the only one who managed to hide... Please... I think it's searching for me right now... please help me...", She explained with a trembling voice.
"... Wait there... I'll be right there...", I said before hanging up the phone.
'An Undead Sorceror... That's basically a death sentence...', I thought.
I had to do something. I couldn't just let Eve die on me like that... But there's no way I can fight an Undead Sorceror on my own...
'Do just have to leave her behind...?', I thought with dread.
Suddenly-
"HEY, YOU! WHERE'S EVE?!?!?", I heard someone yell out to me.
"Sophia?", I was dazed at her presence.
"WHERE'S EVE?!?!", she yelled again. Her voice was trembling and her eyes looked watery.
"Sophia! Calm down! Let me ask him!", Julian suddenly appeared behind her, covered with dirt.
"Hey, do you know where Eve is?", Julian asked calmly.
'... This could work... If I have the Protagonist by my side, I can at least distract the Undead sorcerer enough to rescue Eve... Although I don't like working with him and especially Sophia, I have no choice if I want to save Eve...', I thought bitterly.
'There's no point in having pride and being stubborn right now... My current top priority is the safety of Eve...', I decided to swallow my disdain and work with them for the time being.
"... Eve is...", I then told them the complete story.
"WHAT?!", Sophia yelled again, which was getting quite irritating to me now... I usually detest loud things...
"Calm Down, Sophia!", Julian shut her up and talked with me again.
"Do you think we should go save her, or would it be too risky?", Julian asked me calmly.
'Look at this bastard... he doesn't give a shit about Eve's life...', I once again swallowed my disdain and gave him my opinion.
"I think we can do it... There is a certain amount of risk involved, but we can pull it off.", I told him.
"Hmm... Then... I don't wanna-", I didn't let him finish the sentence.
"If we do manage to save Eve, or rather, defeat the Undead Sorcerer, the Academy is bound to give us suitable rewards for it... Maybe even better rewards than scoring first in both the practical and written exams...", I said.
'The bobber has been cast... now... will you bite, Julian?', I thought with a dark tone.
Julian's lips curled and created a crooked smile.
"Of course! How can we leave a fellow classmate and friend behind? Let's go help her!", Julian said.
'Fucking twat... He doesn't give a flying fuck about what happens to Eve... Materialistic bastard...', I cursed him out internally.
'But thanks to him being materialistic, it became easy for me to gain his support...'
"Yeah, of course! Let's go to where she is then. She sent me her location by text. She isn't that far away.", I said, "Let's not waste any more time."
With that, we all left to go rescue Eve and defeat the Undead Sorceror.