Anika was talented, and she knew it.
Anika often felt like she should have been the star of her time, the protagonist in her own story.
But just her luck, another freakishly talented individual had to burst onto the scene right alongside her, stealing the limelight and overshadowing her every move.
It was the kind of thing that grated on her nerves like sandpaper. Yet today, amid the chaos of struggle and survival, something felt different.
In the midst of desperately fighting for her life, why was she even entertaining thoughts of envy?
It was a puzzling realization, leaving her questioning whether this was all her existence amounted to – a prison built from her own insecurities.
"Help me! Please!"
The anguished cries of others echoed around her, a symphony of suffering that she couldn't afford to dwell on.
She couldn't bring herself to look, fearing that her resolve might falter if she did.
Her hands, trained for the task, emitted concentrated beams of energy – a basic Blaster ability.
But in a situation like this, it hardly felt special. Anyone with a modicum of mana control could pull off such a trick.
Anika took secret pride in mastering this technique within just a week of joining the Academy.
Though, she had to admit, she had a slight advantage due to her early grasp of mana control before even setting foot in the school.
It was supposed to be her ticket to outshine the other "once-in-a-thousand-year geniuses."
Amidst the chaos, a demon lunged at Anika, jolting her out of her thoughts. This one was different from the initial wave she had managed to dispatch.
It belonged to a middle class, a monstrous hybrid of horse and bear, with a grotesque face nestled in the bear's throat – a true nightmare in physical form.
She instinctively recognized it as an abomination, a reflection of the twisted nature of these demons.
Her finger aimed at the creature, conjuring a tennis ball-sized orb of Ord at its tip.
But each passing second dimmed its glow, a clear sign that her Ord was depleting.
'I'm running out of mana.' The realization struck
. With over a dozen low-class demons already eliminated, she knew better than to believe she could take down every demon in her vicinity.
'I need a single explosive shot to create an escape route.' But as she formulated her plan, her gaze shifted to her fallen classmates.
The initial ten had been reduced to a mere five, with just one teacher remaining.
an adventurer who, despite having a stockpile of talismans, was fighting a losing battle. Talismans could only do so much.
Her blast struck the horse-faced demon, causing it to stumble, yet it pressed on toward her.
Fear coursed through her veins, but it was overshadowed by her determination.
This wasn't how it was going to end – she was destined to become one of those Legendary Players from the tales, a vessel of divine talent that she wouldn't squander.
In the midst of her internal struggle, another demon landed nearby, a four-armed gorilla with vacant, fish-like eyes.
The two charged at her, and with a surge of desperation, she attempted one final blast.
But a wave of dizziness washed over her, and only then did she realize – her mana was spent, drained by panic and urgency.
Yet, just as the demons closed in, a silhouette leapt onto the back of the horse demon. A sword pierced through one ear and emerged from the other, felling the beast.
The gorilla demon reacted swiftly, aiming a punch at the assailant. But the attacker deftly dodged, making use of the gorilla's own momentum to slip beneath the swing.
With round glasses that seemed a tad too big for his unassuming face, and eyes that usually held a distant, almost absent gaze, the one who had intervened was none other than Derek.
For Anika, Derek was a complicated figure. A person she resented for not matching up to her talent, for not displaying the jealousy or competitive drive she expected.
Instead, he always seemed preoccupied, as if his mind were occupied by matters beyond the mundane.
But now, as he locked eyes with her, something was different. Anika saw a new intensity in his gaze, a cold and focused determination that sent a shiver down her spine.
As the demon gorilla swung its fists down, Kon pointed the sword toward the fists and the gorilla stabbed its fist at the sword.
The gorilla demon screamed in pain and tugged at the sword. Derek let go of the weapon, and the demon stumbled.
Derek didn't even take 1/10th of a second to worry about losing his weapon. He took out a small knife the size of a finger and threw it at the beast's eyes with pin-point accuracy.
"Rarrrww!!" The demon roared and swung his arms around wildly. Derek didn't even flinch away, as if fear wasn't something he even felt.
Then with another smooth move, he threw another knife at the demon's other eye and blinded it.
A snake with hairy spider legs stepped out of Derek's shadow. It was a demon with a special ability and Anika was about to warn him. But before any noise could come out of my mouth he threw a knife and stabbed the snake demon straight through its head.
He didn't even look to confirm his attack had landed. Did he have eyes on the back of his head?
Suddenly, half of the demons in the vicinity turned their eyes on him. They were either low-class or middle-class demons.
Immediately they charged, with maddened roars.
Anika felt like she should help him somehow. But she was too scared to do anything. Instead, she backed off.
Ever for a split second longer, she wanted to live. So running was the best option, leave him behind, and take her chances to run away.
But she couldn't do that. She hated everyone in her year. But they also had families, and people waiting for them.
"I don't want to die," Anika muttered under her breath and stopped backing away. Not because she was no longer afraid.
But because of what she saw unfolding in front of her, it was something straight out of a storybook.
It was outside of logic.
'Am I hallucinating?' She wondered.
The way Derek moved wasn't fast. Unlike the time when Mr Chain fought against the demon, she could see Derek's moves clear as day.
It was like a beautiful dance. A strange deer-like demon with human-like legs tried to skewer him.
Derek grabbed a dog-like demon with human ears and kicked him in the deer demon's charge. Which skewered the demon dog.
Kon tricked the gorilla demon, by getting his attention. The gorilla would throw a punch or slam, and Kon would move out of the way just as he was about to be hit. Causing the gorilla to instead hit another demon.
A lot of these mid-class demons, Derek didn't have the power to even injure them. But he used their attacks against each other.
Also, the bigger the numbers that surrounded him, the better. As there was more room for error on the demon's part.
Suddenly, the blades of grass under his shadow moved and tried to grab him.
Derek jumped forward and used as a jumping board a demon that looked like a human with an orb for a head.
Demons started dying one by one. Not long after, a pile of over twenty demons formed around him. About three of those demons were even middle class.
"A monster, an absolute monster…" Anika muttered under her breath, her legs felt weak.
She couldn't believe her eyes! The guy who anyone couldn't notice from a crowd was now taking down demons she stood no chance against.
By the end of it, he stood atop a pile of demon bodies. He was breathing heavily, but the strange thing was that there wasn't any injury on his body.
Anika knew she should have escaped by now or tried to find a hiding place. But she couldn't take her eyes off this average-looking loser.
"Damn, that's badass," suddenly the man sitting on a tree branch and smoking from a long pipe said something.
"My dude. You haven't even been an adventurer for a week and you're already taking out mid-class demons."
The man scratched his chin and smirked. "You're not that strong. Actually, you should be having difficulties with low class demons.
That's why you knew you wouldn't be able to kill mid-class demons with your weapons and threw other demons' attacks at them. Simply marvellous!"
He clapped. The smile on his face was something an older brother might show their younger sibling when they got good grades. It was pride!
Derek didn't answer and started walking toward the man who was clearly the one behind the attack.
"Damn. That's creepy," the man took a puff out of his long smoke pipe, blew the smoke out of his nose, and smiled.
"I'm pretty good at sensing mana and negative intentions within it. Well, I'm actually the best at it. But I don't sense any malicious intent from you."
Derek didn't answer or say anything. He just walked toward the tree, took out a talisman, and put it on the tree. Immediately the tree caught on fire.
"Wow, you don't even have any fear in you," the villain clapped with joy and jumped down from the tree, Landing right next to Derek. Which caused him to swing a blade, without even looking.
The evil man dodged. But mid-swing the blade slipped out of Derek's hands and became a projectile.
But the man used two fingers to catch the projectile. "A perfect attack for that situation. I think I'm starting to get a hang of your ability."