Chapter 22: A Trip to Disaster X
Dungeon.
Note: Association and Great Clans would be called Magic Affiliates, or Joint Organization, or even Affiliated for short, from now on, as they also act as an organisation, unless they're being mentioned individually.
Obviously, it didn't make sense for a horde of this level to have spawned from nowhere.
This would have been classified as one of those situations whereby the measurements of the dungeon rank didn't reflect the danger inside.
Normally, by studying the fluctuations, one could determine the rank at a glance.
After all, the fluctuation is determined by the average strength of the monster dwelling inside the dungeon.
But this wasn't the case.
With the overall strength of the hordes being around the equivalent of B-rank, they had to be extremely careful.
At this point, it wasn't orcs anymore.
Ogres who are even superior to the normal orcs. Not only that, large wolf-type monsters amongst other hordes of them.
"This is seriously bad."
Celeste muttered as she looked at the students who now seemed to catch on.
"Instructor calm down." Shane said before glancing to the back. "Kaiden, report status."
Kaiden, who hadn't been there, suddenly appeared from nowhere, tilting his glasses upwards as he did.
"Not good, the outside is being attacked."
Since the moment Celeste mentioned her bad premonition, the Creeds had already moved.
They had consulted Enma, their eldest brother, the one who possessed a special constitution for sensing irregularities like this.
And after confirming something was wrong, Kaiden had personally gone to investigate the gate.
By passing his senses, outside the gate despite the dimensional barrier separating the Dungeons from the outside wall, Kaiden had done so.
And as he did, he was able to observe the situation outside.
From there, all these had now happened.
"Hey, hey, isn't this a terrible situation?"
"My, my, What does the esteemed Creed Brothers have in mind?"
"If it's a fight, we're ready!"
"Ngh. I can assist."
"Most of us are still full of fighting spirits!"
Most of them had approached the Creed standing alongside the instructors.
Not all of them were like Celeste who though was now barely able to maintain her rank, was still strong.
"...Oi! You brats—"
"Instructor, this isn't the time to whine, if I'm not wrong, the Anti-Order are behind this, which means even this has been prepared for us. They plan on wiping us out…"
Celeste who had begin to think this was above her pay grade had seen the students looking like this was any of their concern.
She couldn't allow that, could she?
However, Shane had said gravely, making most of the students listen cower behind.
For them?
Nobody could blame them, one day, they're students, the next day, they are in the middle of a disaster that didn't concern them.
And if the orchestrators were to say that, all that would have been said is that they should blame their luck for just being there at the wrong time.
No doubt, is what they'd have heard.
That was why the leader in suit had said it would have been better to die in an explosion without knowing what hit them, than to die in a dungeon which eventually collapsed.
"Shane—!"
"Instructor please quiet, I'm thinking."
Celeste who had opened her mouth to warn he shouldn't do anything rash, however, hearing his words, she scratched her head.
More so. His tone wasn't disrespectful. He was simply too focused.
And he was right in telling her to do so. She alone couldn't take on a horde of those numbers.
Even amongst them, she could sense it, monsters around the same rank as hers, heck, even wrapped more ominous mana than normal.
"Enma, I'll leave the weaker student body would in your capable hands."
"...Oki..."
Next, he turned over to the instructors.
"Listen. I'm sorry, but in this case, we have no choice, with this number, something like a dungeon break could occur, and if it does, it's even worse."
"Our opponents had put it in such a way that even if we flee the dungeon, there would be a dungeon break on our back, and then, things can very much spiral into further disaster."
In the span of seconds, Shane had deduced everything. Even if he didn't want to admit it, the enemy must have planned this over time.
It wasn't something they could have just done on the fly.
And what was more disturbing was how monsters of such strength had been hidden like this until now.
No, it's possible.
If they were sealed into a dungeon in such a way whereby the sealed monsters wouldn't affect the overall average of the dungeon.
But even then, how had they-?
No, they was no use thinking about that for now.
What he should be concerned about is how the Anti-Order would reach their goal of passing the entire incident off as a dungeon break while masking the fact that it had been a terrorist attack.
"No way. That's messed up."
"It darn is. They plan on changing the masses' perception of the Magic Affiliates, as Shane had deduced, he's right."
Alfonso had spoken, and then Damian had added ruffling his hair while keeping gazes on the instructors.
"So, Shane, do you have a plan in mind?"
"Rather than plan, I'd rather you say a temporary solution."
It was obvious students from classes D down to F while they did have areas they were good in, not all of them had combat experience.
Not to mention against high-ranking monsters like this.
Hence, Shane didn't count on them once.
The useful ones were mostly the A-class students, followed by the B-class under Arianna's lead.
While he hadn't seen most of the C-class and D-class strengths, he made inferences from the representatives.
"Alright, we'll do it like this."
While Enma is keeping the lower-ranked students safe, classes B to C would help quell the situation outside.
Arianna had been put in the lead; additionally, Lucas would be supporting them.
"E-eh? Me?"
"Quit it, you have survived training with me; additionally, haven't I been training you in case something like this happened?"
Lucas had yelped; however, Damian had interrupted and had shot a glare at him that shut him up.
While the rest were curious about why Damian had trained him for something like this, but, it wasn't time for that.
Shane had continued.
"A-class and the instructors alongside me and Damian would temporarily handle the situation here. And in the meantime—"
But he was cut off by Arianna who flicked her fan open as she spoke.
"Reinforcement, I know; however, even the fastest reinforcement wouldn't arrive until hours later."
To top it off. Kaiden had causally added.
"Moreso, Shane, a barrier has been constructed. [Transportation] isn't possible, which means no high-ranking Awakened are coming anytime soon."
Their situation keeps on becoming worse and worse, the more they speak.
However, Shane had simply looked over Kaiden languidly, with a smirk on his face.
"You already know the reason why I didn't call your name. I'll leave that pesky barrier to you. Shatter it."
Hearing that, Kaiden's glasses had a glint of white on his glasses, as his lips subtly curled up.
"Alright."
But while all that was being said.
"—Wait, wait, wait. Shane, while your plan is brilliant and I have no arguments, I'd have to say no on the last on. Even though they are A-class, I can't allow them to forefront the battlefield like this."
Celeste had disagreed, and honestly, Shane agreed with her, however, before he had even said a word, this time, unsurprisingly, it was Enma.
"...Even in this circumstance… They are still Yosen students…. Take a look at them yourself…"
Celeste's breath hitched as she heard those words.
And slowly, Celeste looked over to most of the A-class students, additionally, the rep of the other classes too looked determined.
"Arghhh! Fine, you idiots!"
Celeste ruffled her head in extreme annoyance.
Were anything to happen, the blame would be on her.
No, screw the blame, if anything were to happen to them, she wouldn't let it live.
Yes. The stakes were high, but she was hoping Shane would have come up with a better plan than getting the A-class involved.
In fact, as nervous as the other instructors were too, certainly, they agreed with Celeste.
Even the one who didn't see eye to eye with her, also had agreed with a nod, while trying to think of a way out.
However—
"Instructors, even the B and C along with the D to F rep would be risking their lives, don't underestimate them. And besides… as long as I'm alive… None of them would die."
Hearing that, she looked over at Shane thinking it was some kind of brag, however, seeing his serious expression which she only ever saw once.
"Excuse me, Damian, what does Shane over there mean by that?"
Certainly, everybody had been curious about the Creed.
No one had truly seen them exert power, thus, deciding that remaining curious no longer helped, Arianna had asked.
"It's as he says... Well, to put it in simple terms, as long as nobody dies, even if it's an extremely fatal wound, he's able to heal them."
"Hah!?"
Arianna had let out a gasp unbecoming of a lady. Her fan nearly slipped from her fingers. It was truly something to be surprised about.
Elixirs were just like that, especially the High-grade ones.
The only thing that could do something like that was the [Saint grade Heal - Absolute Heal] which can even regrow limbs.
"...."
"...."
There was a brief silence; however, it was merely one of his abilities.
Rather than heal, it was a supernatural power that doesn't heal in the conventional way most know it to be.
While Damian said it was heal, it was more like reverting their state to before they got injured.
However, there was no reason to explain that to them.
"Kaiden's chains too are the same."
Supernatural abilities.
Different from mana-based powers, magic, which allows for awakened to cast spells like fireball with the use of mana.
Supernatural abilities are slightly different from that. [Arianna's Orchestra] could also be classified as a supernatural ability.
Turning data into information and turning it into a performance.
She wasn't surprised hearing it was a supernatural ability, but the fact that his supernatural allowed him to even heal extremely fatal injury was what surprised her.
"I see, because I was always holding you back, I didn't have many chances."
"Rather, I'd say, you underestimate us; we have yet to show what 'we" can do."
Shane had asserted with a serene yet eerie smile.
But, to Celeste? It didn't matter.
"...Fine, I'll be counting on you. I'll leave you in command of the operation."
Celeste had said that, taking out another of her cigarettes, now obviously more relaxed than before.
"But that said, how do we communicate? If I'm not wrong, communications would be disrupted."
Arianna also brought forth another problem they would have to deal with, but even then that was no problem in the slightest.
"How's it coming, Kaiden."
"It's a prototype, but hopefully it's enough."
"Leave it up to Kaiden. Your analysis is really something."
"He says it's a prototype…. But I'd bet it works better than expected."
They had it covered.
Kaiden had analysed the barrier when he extended his senses out of the dungeon which normally shouldn't be possible due to the fact that space is being folded when Mana becomes too dense around a particular area.
However, such a feat had been carried out by Kaiden who had supernatural abilities.
Supernatural abilities were more versatile than magic used by mana, as most of these abilities required little to no mana, but indeed drained stamina upon usage.
In other words, one could say supernatural abilities were more versatile than most mana-based abilities, of course, also depending on the type of ability instead.
Afterall, in the end, Mana is still the foundation for these supernatural abilities.
"What the hell is even' happenin?"
"Nothing much, Kaiden just created a communication channel by bypassing the barrier's properties, nothing much."
The fact that Damian said it was nothing much had earned some ire from the students.
"Even though we're fellow superpower users, I can't help but feel small when I'm in front of them."
Alfonso had said that with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. But it certainly was reassuring around them.
"Don't be down… You're also strong…."
Enma, who had also been silent again, spoke beside Alfonso.
"Ooh shiit! The heck! Y'all should stop sneakin' on me like this!"
"Ciaris too is the same... A superpower wielder.... As with you too."
Ciaris who had also been missing, rather, his thinned out presence had coalesced back.
"Hn. How does Enma know?"
"Both of you stop it!"
"Well … the ability… to make other lose their perception of you… unless using hypnosis …. or concealment … is impossible."
And even then, if one has better sensory abilities, they'd be able to sense a user using concealment.
However, for Ciaris, it's different, it's like his existence is subtly being forgotten.
But for people like Enma, even a presence like Ciaris is barely forgettable.
Then, it was now—
"Alright then, we've spent enough time dallying. Yosen First year. Our enemies had underestimated us, and they believe they backed us into a corner, however, let's turn the tables against those fools who dares to disrupt Order."
"YES!"
Well, the attack was mostly meant to change opinions of the masses against the Magic Affiliates.
However, now, because of four individuals, such thinking would be turned against them.