Chapter 45: White Fire
Jade Callahan didn't know where it had all gone wrong. Sure, the monster had killed the team leader, but that's only because she wasn't paying attention, right? Right?
Surely the three of them, that were among the top strongest in year one, should be able to take care of it. Especially Lucas Dawn, the S-ranked among them, and the one said to be the strongest in year one.
So, how did it turn out this way?
Maybe they should have run immediately. The monster ran towards them without fear, charged right at them, and then proceeded to slaughter all the other year one with them.
Then it looked at Lucas and smiled. It was a clear challenge.
"...let's take care of the weaker one before we clash...."
Lucas had flared up. His whole body had turned slightly red, as if he was made of liquid fire.
And then the three of them fought the monster.
The trio didn't really stick to formation because they could fight both long-distance and short. But anytime they faced a stronger enemy, Jade usually took the role of long-range, controlling the flow of battle with his arrows.
It didn't go well from the start because the monster ignored the arrows that stuck to him. Arrows that were strong enough to drill a hole through lesser monsters were shrugged away as if they were nothing.
It was a brief and intense fight.
And for the first time in their lives, after they'd Awakened their Talent Ability, they knew what true despair was.
Seris's head was smashed into the wall so hard that she fell down limp.
The monster caught one of Jade's arrows and sent it back with such force that he didn't see it until it hit him on the right shoulder, pinning him against the wall.
But it was Lucas Dawn that suffered the most. The monster seemed fascinated with him somehow, so much so that it beat the shit out of him.
It was total despair.
And not only was it painful, it was humiliating. They'd been beaten without inflicting any damage on the opponent.
But what is humiliation in the face of death?
Jade's left hand twitched, and he watched the monster intently, waiting for a chance. He might not be able to pull his bow, but he wasn't strong just because he could fire arrows.
Once the monster bent down to punch the already bloodied face of Lucas, the arrow that he was gripping twitched and then fired by itself, as if it was given wings.
It was also so fast, but the monster didn't even bother. It simply tilted its head back an inch, and the arrow passed it by.
The monster didn't even look at Jade as it gripped Lucas's two hands and then began to pull.
Lucas, who had been muttering to himself the whole time, screamed and then he... fainted.
Jade Callahan could not believe his eyes. "We are going to die."
But then something very strange happened.
Lucas opened his eyes again, but they weren't his eyes. The eyes that he opened were slitted silver, eyes that looked at things with ancient curiosity.
His hair caught fire, but it wasn't red fire.
It was White Fire.
It burned with a luminous glow, soft and gentle to look at, but the intense heat that followed instantly dried out the room, and every living thing found it hard to breathe.
Jade began to gasp for breath.
The monster left him alone and jerked backwards a few steps, its eyes filled with excitement, as if it finally got what it wanted.
"This brat really couldn't handle something this small, and he dared to declare that he would be the strongest? You know not the immensity of the heavens, you snotty one," Lucas, that wasn't Lucas, said.
"Wake me from my sleep for this?"
Just then, the monster emitted a strong bloodlust that filled the room, so strong that Jade simply couldn't move or breathe anymore. It was as if a monster was standing beside him, waiting to swallow him whole.
The monster wasn't even fighting them seriously since?
Lucas smiled, a nasty smile. "I might as well take care of things here. After all, a parasite can't survive without the host."
The monster jumped at Lucas, blurring into a smear of afterimage as it lurched a punch at him.
"Pest," Lucas said, and the monster caught fire and burned out of existence.
Not even the ashes remained.
It was that fast? That easy?
Jade felt as if he'd just witnessed something that he shouldn't have.
Lucas... what are you?
Lucas didn't even look at him or Seris, who was on the floor. He simply walked down the tunnel. "I should deal with the other pest as well." freēwēbηovel.c૦m
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As Severin made his way outside, he digested the technique of Evasion.
It was actually simple.
Everything in the world, living or not, has a presence. That's why someone will catch a ball being thrown at them or react in time not to step on something they shouldn't.
And it was why the body reacts before someone even knows they've been tapped. The brain felt the presence and acted.
But what happens when that presence was erased?
Severin made his way out of the trap, and then he faced the tunnel of traps. "Let's see what my subordinates have been up to."
He ran down the tunnel. His steps were so silent and his movement calm and coordinated that all the traps—from a giant axe falling from the roof to wooden spears jutting out of the walls, he dodged them all.
With his new rank, his speed was faster, and his stamina had increased.
He could feel every bit of the weapons coming at him.
Erasing his presence meant that he could feel all the other presences around him.
From stones to ants to the poison dagger coming his way.
He felt the gears behind the wall, waiting to move more traps his way.
He felt the research lab behind the wall and the power-filled OPT.
He felt the...!!
Severin came to a sudden stop, dodging the arrows that swished past.
Research lab?
He turned his head slowly. "So this is the hideout."