Chapter 24: A Trip to Disaster XII
Aetheris-Veston Border—Awakened Camp. Dungeon.
Monsters.
In a way are very similar to evil spirits. Malevolent in nature, which were the same with evil spirits.
They are more like wild ferocious beasts.
No. Some ferocious beast can be tamed.
Those who have the capabilities to tame animals can more than well tame a wild animal or two.
If we were on that note. Then even evil spirits could be tamed.
And truly, if one tired, perhaps they'd be able to tame evil spirits or monsters, depending on their preferences, and that's if they were strong enough.
And if their tame targets weren't mindless beasts, then all the more.
Mindless beasts can't be reasoned with, and intelligent creatures like dragons though rarely seen could in fact be reasoned with, but taming them is an entirely different case.
Thus this would be as so to her—
"Since the same logic applies here. We can deal with the monsters by weakening them."
"Though you say that, but if you're exactly going with a Ward-type, it wouldn't work, ya'know."
Shane looked over Furinaga who had said that, and his reasoning was that she would be using a Ward-type magic to weaken the monsters.
And seeing as Shane hadn't guessed it correctly, on how she planned on dealing with it, she proudly kept her hands on her hips raising her chin up as if to mock him.
"It's probably a dispersion field."
"...Wait, wait, wait, you're planning on using a holy-class spell to turn the entire battlefield into a sanctuary?"
"Tsk."
Shane's eyes had slowly widened as Damian had corrected his thinking.
Then hearing him guess her thoughts, the Miko had clicked her tongue.
"Of course, the range will be small, so our position shouldn't be far from the instructors."
Furinaga Sakurai said in annoyance as she threw her head to the side with an obvious pout on her face.
Dispersion-type magic.
A type of magic that disperses itself around a certain range, such a type of spell could be a poisoning field.
The name already implies what the type of magic now is.
On that note, exorcism is very similar to Holy magic, as it uses the purification powers of those referred to as ancient spirits.
It isn't Holy magic, but you could say, a purification magic close to that of a Holy one.
"As such, it'll be more than effective against monsters."
Or at least, that was everything that summed up their plan. And now—
The operations had begun.
"Hahaha! Grovel beneath my feet."
[Material Creation].
This is unlike Shane's version, which uses mana itself to create ethereal weapons that could take on a semi-solid state.
Damian's ability allowed him to create solid steel constructs in any form he desired, limited only by his imagination, and if the materials could indeed form whatever he desired.
This on the other hand, while it was a supernatural ability was a [Unique Type] that rather uses the surrounding iron-bearing particles instead.
Though the particles need for the supernatural to work were thin, Damian had used mana to support the low supply.
After all, mana, in a way are still the foundation for supernatural to exists.
"Grovel beneath my feet!"
With a laugh that was borderline sadistic, Damian unleashed a storm of steel, weapons raining down like judgement itself.
The gorge he had carved into the battlefield had split most of their land hordes on the left and right sides, effectively dividing the battlefield in two.
For the small fries at the front of the battlefield, Damian had ignored them.
No, ignored then was not the right word, but in a sense, that indeed was what was happening.
After all, Damain hadn't moved from his spot.
Even with that, and without moving from his spot nor moving a single finger, he was clearing the battlefield more efficiently than those on the other side.
Raining down weapons, Damian had his hands crossed, his body suspended in the air.
An expression that you wouldn't see on his face was now plastered there.
A smile. An expression that bothered sadistic as his eyes glowed.
This was an expression you wouldn't see Damian have on a normal day. In other words, this person over here is a battle junkie.
"Mongrels like you aren't even worth my time."
Deciding he was done with the side dishes. Damian cocked his head slightly up, as his lips then parted.
His abilities were very much suited for something like this.
And when it comes to wiping out monsters that weren't even on his level, Damian can be said to be the strongest in that category, second only to Enma Creed.
His parted lips mouthed as word which was followed by a line of red that descended from the sky, wiping more than twenty percent of the horde he was facing.
WHOOSH and RUMBLE—
Were the sounds that resounded as winds raged across the land, sending a violent wind across the battlefield.
"Heh. So much for the small fries."
Slowly, he began descending till his feet touched the ground.
As that happened. On his two hands, a pair of daggers slowly materialized as he stared at the distance.
"Now then… how about the remaining lots of you entertain me."
On the other side.
As soon as the bolt of red hit the ground with a loud RUMBLE, sending that violent storm of wind. Those on the other side of the battlefield felt it.
"Damn! Just what on earth is happening on the other side?"
"Gregory! Focus, don't be distracted by what's not in front of you."
Ayaka had said that from her own end, weaving between the lunging fangs of a wolf-type monster.
Then with a burst of speed, planting her foot into the ground, dispersing her mana, she severed its head, sending it tumbling lifelessly to the ground.
"I know, tsk, but I can't just believe it."
Even as he spoke, a more than three-ft bear-type monster barreled toward him, its paws swinging down in a brutal arc.
However, he had reacted even when he had been sneaked upon.
Rather, it was more right to say that the Beastfallen had let the monster do so, by purposefully dropping his guard down.
His own clawed hand shot up, catching the beast's attack midair, then, by planting his foot onto the ground.
Redirecting his strength from his legs to his arms, he shoved the creature back with sheer force.
"Beast cannon!"
Then with a high pressure shockwave bursting from his palm, he ripped through the bear and obliterated the weaker creatures unfortunate enough to stand behind it.
'Though we are of the same superpowered-type, it's still goddamn annoying.'
But he didn't question it.
Though they might have their suspicions that the Creeds were already enlightened humans, still, seeing them in actions, especially—
FWISH!
Shane who was accurately supporting the students with his accurate sniping abilities.
Though he—Shane—was far away from their position perched atop a ledge that overlooked the entire city-wide forest-plain type dungeon, he could still support them this accurately.
As said before, ranks were only to determine how strong an individual was.
Anyone who had been Enlightened should more or less possess enough powers to lay waste to cities easily.
More so, the strongest who could affect an even wider society than a city alone.
"Guy! Preparations are completed!"
It was then that Sakurai's voice resounded.
Then as she said that, in the sky above, a transparent blanket had appeared from thin air, and was placed over the battlefield.
And the effect was even almost instant. Monsters that were below the D-rank equivalent, more or less died due to how strong the purification ability was.
Furinaga Sakurai. Amongst those that had the highest mana capacity, other than the Creeds, she was amongst them.
After all, she herself was the Miko for one of the most Ancient Spirits to ever exist. Not to mention that Spirit, who has been rumoured to have been Goddess.
Kukurihime no Kami.
And for someone like her, possessing that much mana was natural.
Additionally with others that had more than subpar mana—though creating a sanctuary like this was hard to control.
With the help of the others, sharing the mana burden, she could put most of her concentration on maintaining the Dispersion-type field.
"Now! Lure the monsters in!"
"Alright!"
Seeing as lower monsters weren't much of a problem anymore, the entire class-A along with the instructors began making a strategic retreat to lure them into the field.
And like they planned so had it worked.
"Alright. I guess it's my turn, eh?"
Naturally, all these strategies were to conserve the powers of those who would be the main force.
And with the small fries already out the way, the ones who they'd be facing were the significantly stronger ones.
Celeste had muttered under her breath as she said forward, flicking her cigarette forward, then with a snap, at the incoming horde.
"Flashfire."
The cigarette which she had thrown, had shot forward, flames consuming it.
And before you'd notice—
Highly compressed flames, similar to that of a jet thrusters shot forward, eliminating even more hordes, before they had entered the field.
"Naturally, this is just the opening arc."
Things had been made easy for Celeste.
Damian had narrowed the entire battlefield to less than half, taking around twenty percent of the original horde of monsters with the gourge he had made.
Really, to think that they were enlightened humans was really a shock for her.
But that wasn't all.
The forty percent left that had been divided on their side were reduced to thirty-five by the students' efforts.
Naturally, things had been going well.
Perhaps, what even surprised her more was the support they were receiving from the far back.
It wasn't Shane's sniping skills.
Rather it was his ability.
She had seen a student with a cut mark by their arm, however, the moment she blinked, that cut mark had disappeared.
The ability to [Revert State Change], or the ability to [Swap State], or [Change State], anyhow you'll call it.
It was a simple ability really.
As the name implies, it is the power to swap the state of things.
If someone were injured now? He could simply swap their current state with the state they were in before they were injured.
By that, he eliminates the fact that were ever injured.
[Injured now] → Swapped → [Before they were injured].
Because of this simple ability, Shane can be said to have an ability bordering omnipotence.
If he runs out of mana, he could just swap his exhausted state with a state before he experienced exhaustion.
And like that, he himself could fight on forever.
"—But enough about my students. You damned shits, come!"
Celeste and other instructors with Shane as back up had effectively begun taking care of them.
The stronger ones were all that were left.
The other instructors on the other hand had a tough time dealing with the higher-class monsters though they were weakened, but Shane's timely support was the one thing keeping them alive.
As for Shane on the other hand, he had simply continued his job, while perched on a ledge that overlooked the entire battlefield.
Holding a golden bow materialized from his manner, with this being his attempt at copying Damian's material creation.
When coupled with his presumed abilities to "heal," Shane was the very best support they could have at this moment.
His arrows, on the other hand, weren't simple golden structures made from energy.
A sequence of magic was made for each arrow.
First is a golden circle that appears in the trajectory Shane would shoot the arrow at.
Then, that golden magic circle is one that had other sequences of magic inside it.
"Strengthen, hasten, pierce, quick"—amongst many other enchantments.
Enchantments.
On the other hand, weren't just reinforcements, like strengthening your body or boosting your reaction time, no.
One could use mana to make one resistant to heat.
They were not being resistant per se; it was more like they were reducing heat's effect on them.
Other than lessening heat's effect, they could also speed up projectiles by negating friction, or overload an object or spell with mana to boost its destructive power exponentially.
Additionally will be pierce which would distribute force to one spot for penetration, pierce is best used against someone who uses barrier-type enchantments.
And like so, Shane had used it.
"Fly."
Once again, Shane had shot one more arrow. Before releasing a sigh.
"What about Damian…"
From his vantage point, Shane, who had bought a few seconds to lax, had trailed off when he looked over to the other side of the battlefield.
He winced.
"—This much is enough to bring me down; come, you little shits."
Damian had begun dancing across the battlefield.
It wasn't an elegant dance like Arianna's, nor was it chaotic.
A better word would be pure violence. Unrestrained one, heck, beautiful even.
Damian didn't need powers like Shane.
No, Damian didn't need all that; what he had pursued and always pursued was pure violence.
Pure, as in not to be confused with brute violence and the likes.
Violence so unreasonable that even abilities like Shane's would waver before him. That was the type of violence.
A wolf monster that had just jumped at him was cleaved in half before it could open its jaws.
Yet, he didn't stop moving.
As the two halves of the beast fell to the dirt, his arm twisted, and his longsword—still slick with blood—was hurled straight ahead.
Another monster, an ogre-like brute, barely had time to register the incoming weapon before the steel buried itself into its chest.
And yet, he still wasn't done! As soon as he released the longsword, his free hand reached into the air—grasping at nothing.
Then—a greatsword materialized in his grip.
Without a moment's hesitation, he twisted his body, the massive blade meeting the descending club of another ogre, blocking the attack with a deafening CLANG.
"Hehehe— ENTERTAIN ME MORE!"
Then, as Damian had said that, what happened next was obvious.
It rained.
What rained?
Rain of steel and crimson.
From the sky, dozens of weapons fell, piercing the ogre-type creature, and others like its kind before they even had the time to have registered what was happening.
Impaled. Skewered. Executed in an instant.
Unreasonable violence.
"Haah… yeah. I'll just leave him alone…"
He muttered, rubbing his temple.
"It's been a while since he's had a good fight, anyway."
Shane said that, drawing his attention away from Damian, turning his gaze over to the other half.
"What about Celes?"
Looking over to her....
"You little shits! Burn to ashes! Prominence—!"
Yeah. A fired-up Celeste is dangerous too. If anything, he prefers the lazy Celeste over the fired-up one.