Just as these words left Sofie's mouth, the group ran out from their cover and began their attack.
As they rounded the corner, the two targets became visible to all of them, revealing their appearance.
One was a young giant lizard, similar to a sheep in stature. It wasn't particular too dangerous but it was venomous and would be troublesome if you were bitten.
The other was a spider mount, also similar in size to the lizard but slightly smaller. It had slower speed, but could climb walls and escape if they weren't careful.
Both of these monsters seemed to have gone rogue, or weren't properly tamed if they broke out and decided to cause havoc like this.
Dropping to the ground, Elva cleared these thoughts from his head as his hand touched the floor, sending mana into the Earth.
Large dirt walls spiked up from the ground, trapping the startled beasts in a corner as a wind carried hot embers of a flame straight towards them.
One of Elva's classmates casted a buff on their seniors, increasing their speed and strength.
The spider seemed to panic as the hot sparks of a flame hit the hairy legs, but managed to put it out quickly.
Before it could recover though, a pressurized water cannon aimed straight at it, blasting through and taking off 2 legs.
"Screeech!" The monster cried out, as it tried to escape.
Meanwhile, the lizard monster seemed unfazed by the fire, its thick scales protecting it from the heat as it slithered toward them.
"Not so fast."
Ezekiel appeared, scowling as he held out his hand, a faint visage of sharp bear trap like teeth surrounding his open palm as he abruptly closed his fist, making the sharp teeth bite down on the lizard.
Slightly stunned, Elva wondered what sort of magic that was, but snapped back to reality as the lizard lunged in pain toward the now exposed Ezekiel.
Johnathan followed up quickly, using his magic to activate a gauntlet on his hand, which socked the lizard in the face.
Elva's classmates and him alternated between helping their seniors. Sophie and the student with fire magic were a natural counter to the spider, so those two mainly focused on it.
Ezekiel and Johnathan took turns launching and defending against the lizard, which was a harder target to damage, so Elva and the others mostly concentrated on the left side of the fight.
Suddenly, Elva felt a shadow fly over him, and felt something off as he looked up, and saw a large bat head directly towards the distracted Sophie.
"Sophie behind!"
Ezekiel yelled out, noticing the monster as well, and tried to go and help her, but was forced to defend another lizard attack.
Sophie heard the call too late, as she turned around and met face to face with the bat's sharp teeth...
"Kugh...!"
Elva let out a grunt, as a thin earth wall shot up from the ground, and blocked the incoming bat just barely.
Sophie was stunned as she felt the sturdy dirt wall graze the tip of her nose, but quickly regained her senses as she blocked the spider's attempt to take advantage of her distraction.
The other water student and Elva redirected their focus towards the bat monster, the easiest of the three, but they soon found themselves helpless as the bat weaved through their attacks.
Soon, the group found themselves in a battle of endurance as all the team members were split into threes, splitting their uneven strength.
Just as Ezekiel was about to make in the call to retreat, an unexpected presence arrived.
"Whew, that's a lot of beasts you guys attracted."
A sort of mean, sly voice was heard as a sudden darkness enveloped the area.
Darvillion made his entrance, wearing a dark magic uniform cloak as he hopped down from a window and looked towards the approaching bat that had redirected its focus to him.
"You dare?" He turned, a corner of his mouth curling as the bat was pierced by a sharp dark spike, sickeningly letting out a sound as it penetrated through its heart.
At the same time, a dark spike emerged from the ground and shot through the lizard's head, as well as a third spike stabbing into the spider's torso. All of which had emerged from the pitch blackness around them, which slowly faded with the death of the rogue beasts.
The latecomer who had arrived at taken all the glory in an instant.
Scanning the area nonchalantly, Darvillion gazed at the faces of his peers with a hidden prideful expression.
"Were you guys just focusing on attracting those things? If so, I must applaud you, I only found one so far..." He clapped his hands half heartedly, his head and eyes rocking back and forth in boredom. "Reckless, which professor allowed only 3 upperclassmen to handle a group of inexperienced first years?"
Darvillion scowled.
"This lineup would only work if one of the first years were me, the Crown Prince, Perukono, or Lizzy Youtech." He nagged fiercely, looking disappointed, especially at Ezekiel. "Well if I were on this team I would only need one upperclassman, heh."
"You rude little...!" Sophie tried to shoot back.
"Ah, insulting your savior now? What a trashy move."
"Urgh.."
Elva could almost see the pair of devil horns emerging from Darvillion's head, as flashbacks of Viv talking to him began to play.
"Stay away from the Crown Prince and his gang, if they ever try to talk to you just run away." Viv scowled angrily. "They might use you as a loophole."
Back then, Elva wanted to ask what sort of loophole Viv was talking about, but he had already angrily went to sleep. So, he just took his advice and steered clear of the high key gang.
As Sophie and Darvillion began to bicker about other stuff, Johnathan tried to mediate the situation desperately, and Ezekiel looked distant at the whole ordeal, absentmindedly leaning against the wall and staying silent as always. He only showed a flicker of expression whenever Darvillion mentioned him in passing.
Suddenly, Darvillion's eyes drifted towards Elva.
"Oh? Aren't you Vivillian's buddy?" He gave a mischievous grin, creeping closer in an instant and wrapping his arm around Elva's neck. "A friend of my friend is also my friend! Am I right~?"
"...Sure?"
"Great! Seeing your appearance, you're probably a commoner, but I don't discriminate."
Darvillion stuffed his hands in his pockets. "You should hang around with us sometime, you can find me at the magic specialization department."
Elva felt confused as Darvillion spun around him, blabbering nonsense about something he couldn't understand. By the time he was done talking, Elva felt somewhat dizzy just from the aftereffects of Darvillion revolving around him as he talked.
"Ha, you remind me of Perukono when we first met." Curling his lips higher, Darvillion patted Elva's shoulder. "I like you already, so I'll give some advice to you."
Darvillion leaned closer.
"Go back and behave in the buildings, inexperienced ordinary burdens like you will only hold up the operation." Despite spitting out these edged words, Darvillion still had a smile on his face as he shrugged and turned away.
Ezekiel looked up from his slightly sullen posture, and met eye to eye with the slighter shorter Darvillion.
"So you're the guy who contracted with a spirit." He said snidely, sneering at his face brazenly. "A shame, I thought my year older upperclassman would be more impressive than this."
Before Ezekiel could even respond, as abruptly as he appeared, Darvillion gave one final grin to the now enraged Sophie, and disappeared like ashes into the wind.
"That ******** little ******* ****** ****** *****!" Sophie let out a slur of curses, some of which could ruin the innocence of many children if heard.
Johnathan looked apologetically at the underclassmen as he tried to soothe his friend, Ezekiel not caring as he gave Elva a disdainful glance while he passed by.
"...??"
The group naturally disbanded to recover inside one of the buildings, and Elva found himself alone back inside, with only his thoughts to entertain him.
Was he getting too mild?
After years of living with the fiery tempered, bad mouthed, slightly creepy roommate of his, he slowly began to feel like he was getting closer to achieving inner peace each year.
Now after experiencing such an unjust situation of being the victim of harsh words and an undeserved dirty gaze, Elva found himself slightly getting red from embarrassment and anger. The memories in his head began to replay on repeat, with Ezekiel's inspecting gaze and Darvillion's mocking expression.
...This is nothing compared to what I've gone through.
He chanted these words within his heart, calming himself down rather quickly.
Though, his eyes slightly dimmed as he thought of a certain roommate he knew.
To be honest, seeing Viv while he was a child was scarier than fighting those small beasts.
Despite the strong fear he had in the past after seeing Viv's utterly terrifying ability for a child to see, his younger self chose to ignore it, because for what choice did he have back then.
The only survivors of a burnt down village, a past destroyed and all memories with it being the only thing left behind.
A trauma bond.
It was a word that he had heard recently from a few of his peers during mealtime.
When people who go through similar traumatic events connect with one other because of their shared experience.
A shackle, more like. Was what I thought, but...
...Did Vivillian even care about things like that...?
There wasn't any hint of regret, or sign of sadness whenever the destruction of their village was mentioned. To Viv, his reaction seemed more like it was a passing comment about the weather, not dwelling nor bothering to.
When Vivillian became the first ranked student in the school, many people tried to approach him, yet Viv coldly turned them away. This made many others try to contact Viv through himself, failing to do so when he saw their real intentions.
The truth is...
The image of a young boy flashed within his memories, his emerald colored eyes shining as he calmly waited at the other side of the street after crossing, dressed in shabby makeshift orphan clothes just like him.
{"You coming?"}
Yes, he was coming.
Trying to step forward, Elva felt his body freezes as a child ran through his own body and towards the street ledge.
Looking up from the ground, he saw a child standing on the other side of the street, facing Viv.
On his side of the street, it was a dirty strip filled with grief and poverty and the wailing of an orphaned infant, and the quiet hums of the nuns that tried to soothe them from the loss of their parents.
The dead gazes of the dozens of child workers, sleep gone from their eyes as they sat on the curb, spending their few pennies to eat the last bread at the bakery.
Shaped with hardship, these children probably had dreams just like him.
The nosy bustling of a carriage drove past, making him cover his eyes as polluted water splashed towards him.
"..."
Looking up again, he regretted it.
Just on the other side of the street, it seemed everything nice was lined up.
From a candy store he had craved to go as a child, a toy store filled with all things nice, and most importantly, a building unparalleled to the likes of him, a noble's house, filled with the happy dreams and aspirations of a child who could become anything they strived towards.
The bright lights were almost eye hurting as Elva turned back to his own side, seeing the dark winter drench the buildings in its frost.
I am inferior.
A strange feeling of alienation slowly surrounded him, as he looked at the person he thought he knew best out of everyone.
While everyone around him seemed to sparkle like jewels, only he would shimmer in dust.
Time passed by quickly, as the children held direct eye contact, growing with the fast passage of time in this distorted landscape.
However after a certain time had passed, Viv broke his gaze, and turned to leave, presumably to chase his own aspirations and become a full fledged adult.
"..."
Elva was helpless to stop him as he saw another version of himself stay stuck in place, snow gathering on his coat.
Was this all a one sided friendship?
Was it pity in Vivillian's eyes that allowed him to stay by his side?
Would this be the reason why he has been able to stick close for so long?
...However even if it was, what could he do about it?
Another confession he kept to himself was...
He enjoyed Vivillain's company, despite the constant fiery temper and pointed words at him. It was a slight depressing feeling that he had learned to embrace with each day he stayed by Viv's side.
But on some days, it really did feel as if Viv truly did care for him. And on those days he would stay by his side even more, enjoying the calming presence of just being there.
But he couldn't stop the feeling that something wrong.
As they spent more and more time together, Viv grew on Elva, but it was like a one way path, with only a single destination at the end.
Sometimes it was as if he constantly fueled someone else with his own life.
Every time his affectionate gaze turned towards Viv, only an empty one stared back.
After all, why would a noble, top ranked student at Einsvul willingly maintain a friendship with an ordinary person like me?
"..."
The self decrepitating thoughts was unusually dark for his mind, and it snapped him out of his trance. It seemed his younger self's past thoughts were coming back to try and stab into the chinks of his armor.
Scratching his head. Elva felt confused on why it was so easy for his mood to drop so suddenly. He wasn't usually this pessimistic, maybe in the past he was however.
Vivillian may look at me differently, but he still values me in his own way...probably.
Elva smiled as he thought this to himself, even if Vivillian's gaze toward him only regarded him as a dog, he was happy as long as they were together.
They were content with their differences, and it seemed they cared for each other then their own way.
So what if I was inferior?
Finding a couch nearby, he walked forward.
Just enjoying life with the people I treasure is all that I long for now.
Embrace inferiority and love ordinary.
Thinking of this, Elva smiled softly as he sat in a chair, leaning against the back.
How funny, he swore that he had bigger dreams than this...
—-
"How annoying."
Darvillion clicked his tongue as he moved away from the window ledge quickly, hopping and weaving through buildings before jumping into a random window.
Purposely stirring up Elva's emotions earlier, Darvillion wanted to use the chance to slightly peak inside Elva's mind and see his thoughts. It was too bad the effect of his magic ran out too soon.
Yeah, he's only a little curious. Plus it was for the benefit of Viv himself, checking to make sure that his roommate had no ulterior motives...
Saying these words in his mind to justify his own twisted motives, Darvillion felt a frown come on his face as he reminisced about the situation.
"Tsk, I was close too. It was getting juicy..."
He patted off his clothes, muttering under his breath as he looked outside. "That Elva kid would probably get along great with Perukono."
"So this is where you were."
A sudden deep voice boomed threateningly behind Darvillion, sending a shiver up his spine as he froze.
"..."
Slowly cranking his head, the dark face of Mr Strong could be seen, when and how he managed to appear behind Darvillion without him noticing in this quiet, secluded room was beyond him.
"Fooling around again...especially when an emergency is going on and you signed up yourself to volunteer towards the cause..." Mr Strong seemed to have been putting down the beasts diligently, as Darvillion could sense a shaking mana flow coming from him.
"Ergh."
Grimacing, Darvillion showed a sour face, as he resigned himself to suffering from low mana deficiency tonight.
..
My name is Vivillian Ambrosia, a not so ordinary student at the prestigious Einsvul Academy...Actually I lied, in truth I'm a fully grown adult man on Earth with an ordinary life. Wait, what was he thinking about again?
Feeling almost delirious with how much physical strength he drained, Viv couldn't help but look breathlessly at the frozen girl in his grasp with wide eyes.
"..." Lizzy glanced up, with a cold gaze. "Are you trying to subtly tell me that I'm heavy?"
"..No."
He gulped, seeing their destination in sight not too far away. However, it really did feel like he was about to die from how tired he was.
If he lives past today, he will definitely begin working out...
Dragging Lizzy onto the now paved floor, she let out a yelp in pain.
"Ow! That hurts..! Can't you drag me more carefully, the stone is scratching my skin."
Complaining fiercely, she let out a wince as she moved her eyes, seeing a red scrape on the bottom of her calf.
I'm so doomed.
Coming to this conclusion, he looked down towards Lizzy. Now it felt as if he didn't even have the strength left to ditch her and walk towards the shelter himself.
Letting out an inward groan, he fell to his knees and ignored the questioning chatter behind him as he stopped to catch his breath.
"H-Hey, are you seriously gonna stop here now? We are right in the middle of the walkway, ugh I'll keep quiet for the rest of the time if you just get up right now and push through."
Lizzy began to chatter faster, cold sweat gathering on her face.
However, Viv felt his mind slowly clear and space out, as he absentmindedly stared into the distance.
Seeing how her only hope was unresponsive, Lizzy tried to crank her neck up but couldn't due to the stiffness in her body from no mana flow.
"No way...did he faint while kneeling...?"
An almost indescribable feeling of disbelief and anger was heard in her voice.
Suddenly, a croak was heard behind her, and Lizzy felt chills rise as her eyes drifted to her side, where a fat 2 foot tall toad sat peacefully, its beady eyes locked right on her.
"..."
She is so screwed.