"Why are you here? Shouldn't you evacuate with the other students?" asked Gabriel, concerned.
"I rode on a dragon, then unlocked my full-" Levi started to explain, but Gabriel interrupted him.
"It's okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Gabriel said as they headed upstairs together. Levi couldn't leave Gabriel alone, otherwise, he could end up on the newspaper's obituary page.
"Why didn't you run when the attack happened?" Levi asked Gabriel.
"I was asleep and didn't notice the attack until the villain broke through my door," Gabriel explained.
Gabriel wanted to run. Though he was weak, didn't want to die showing his back to the enemy. Levi was waiting for the siren to sound off, signalling the beginning of the "Trial of Heroes" event, but it hadn't yet. He wondered if someone had tampered with it.
Most of the students had evacuated due to the noise produced by the silkworm, and the commoner's dormitory was now safe thanks to Levi's efforts. However, the noble dormitory wasn't secure yet.
Levi's goal was to make sure all of the "ten" heroes survived, including himself, but it was easier said than done. As they ran towards the roof, they heard noises coming from another room. They rushed to investigate and found a villain and a student in a corner.
"Why did it have to be him of all the students?" Levi thought.
The villain sensed their presence and turned to attack, but Levi shot an arrow, piercing his eye. The villain screamed in pain, and Levi fired another arrow, killing him.
Gabriel was shocked and petrified by the events. Levi remained stoic, looting the villain's body and taking his arrows back. Jack, in the corner, was shaking and scared. Levi offered a helping hand, knowing that the villain would come after them after he killed Jack.
Jack looked at Levi with newfound respect. The person he had bullied was now his saviour. Levi ignored Jack and looked at Gabriel, and they continued their journey to the roof.
Gabriel waved at Jack and suggested he come with them since it wasn't safe below. Jack nodded and followed them. Levi activated his Search Skill to see if anyone was there but the roof was empty. He again went to the ledge of the roof and this time he saw even more chaos.
The awakeners were barely holding on, as the stronger ones were dealing with the silkworm. He could see Fiona also in the battle. Even though she was an S-rank she was having a hard time landing a hit on the silkworm.
The minions spawned by the demon and its silk were really annoying, though some of the damage of definitely getting through.
The main problem was that the villains had already planted the bombs in five of the noble's dormitory buildings and now they had joined the battle.
There were still some students inside the buildings who could not escape cause they could get caught in the crossfire of this fierce battle.
'I need to change my plans.'
He looked at Gabriel and Jack.
"You guys go down, inform anybody you can to get those students out. Tell them that the villains have placed some bombs on the ground floor in each building and after you do that do not try to help anyone. Just escape."
This was a risky move as Gabriel could get killed but Levi had no other choice. None of the teachers and awakeners noticed any of the bombs. Right now, they are focused on protecting the students inside the building and not letting any of the villains go inside or leave this area.
Levi did not know how to disarm those bombs- he hoped one of the professors knew.
Gabriel was concerned about Levi. He felt something off about Levi's demeanour as if he was about to do something where he could risk his life.
"What are you going to do?"
"You don't need to know. Just do as I said."
Levi gave a rude answer but right now he did not have time to act as a "polite" dude. Jack and Gabriel looked at each other and headed downstairs. Gabrie looked at Levi for the one last time.
The back of someone strong, confident, alone, standing as if he has the burden of the world on his shoulder. A lone warrior who does not know what he is fighting for just a shell without anything to hold inside it.
'I want to be his friend.'
Gabriel thought as he continued with the plan.
Levi then activated his Hunter Eye, took out a smoke bomb from his pocket and threw it on the ground.
'The smoke lasts for 5 minutes, I need to create an opening for the professors to kill the silkworm.'
Levi could kill the villains but the professors would definitely investigate the cause of those deaths and Levi would be found out and this time he could not collect those arrows to remove the evidence.
******
"Does this creature have no limit at all?"
Fiona said as he kept on attacking the silkworm and its minions but none of them seemed to show any sign of stopping. Her sword art focused on agility and speed rather than strength so most of her techniques were easily being blocked.
Some of the professors were barely holding on and backup had yet to arrive. Fiona was not tired but he doubted if she could go on for any longer.
*Swish*
An arrow flew past Fiona and hit the silkworm. The arrow only pierced millimetres into the demon's body. She looked at where the arrow came from and saw a cloud of smoke on one of the buildings. She then enhanced her vision with her mana and saw right through the smoke.
"HUH!"
She couldn't help but shout.
"Why is he here?"
Levi knew that Fiona could see through the smoke but still better for him to hide from others who could not see him.
'I need to come up with a good lie.'
Levi said as he shot another arrow towards the silkworm. The attack was not doing much but the silkworm felt a prickling sensation on his back. If Fiona was a dragon in terms of strength, Levi was just a mosquito but sometimes a mosquito can be a lot more dangerous than a dragon.
Fiona wanted to jump on top of that building, hit Levi in his head and scolded him for his recklessness but right now when Levi's arrow hit, she saw an opening in the silkworm's defence.
Levi was not attacking the silkworm's body but the silk around it. His power mixed with [Essence] was enough to do the job. He also started attacking the small minions that could block Fiona's attack.
Fiona took a stance and launched her sword art.
"Nature Bending Art: Radiant Dawn"
The air wound her vibrated- heatwaves formed around her whole body and her sword. Once she swung her sword, the air around her moved into a single line and moved towards the silkworm.
The demon quickly formed thousands of silks to block the attack.
"Tsk"
The demon had blocked all of her attacks using the same technique but this time it was different. Levi shot his arrow and the arrow managed to pierce half of the silk which was enough for the attacks to pass through.
The green sword aura moved through the air hitting the silkworm's body and killing its minions around it.
*Shriek*
The silkworm screamed out in pain. Fiona was again about to attack and Levi was there to support her when he heard an explosion from one of the
buildings.
The fire was building up in that area. Levi was so focused on the fight that he did not notice how the attack happened. He looked at Fiona and heard her mouth him
"Go"
She did not want a student of hers to risk her life but right now, he was the best option they had and the attack earlier r was plenty enough for Fiona to deal the last blow.
Levi followed his teacher's order. He jumped down from the building. When he was about to hit the ground, he lodged an arrow into the wall stopping his momentum. He then rushed towards the fire and the explosion site as he looked at the burning building.
That was the worst place where the attack had happened. It was the dormitory for the high-ranking students and one of the ' ten' heroes could be there.
Levi could only hope that none of them were dead as he made his way into a sea of flames.