Chapter 359
SUKI!
IAM designated a flag to Yohan and Reuel each, with the remaining one handed to one of the twins. These three were only allowed to activate it for five seconds and no more, to avoid drawing the devilborns for their respective flags.
If such a thing were to happen, it would be a disaster.
Natsuki would be the only one fully activating hers, drawing in the maximum of two hundred and fifty spawnlings each time. With this setup, they would take on as many creatures as possible within the day.
And if necessary…
IAM might have to challenge at least one devilborn today.
It was a massive workload. It would demand constant effort, repeated engagements, and exhausting, drawn-out battles. But with this group—geniuses in their own right—and with the likes of Yohan, Reuel, and Natsuki present, he had no doubts.
They could do it.
As preparations began, IAM stepped away from the group and approached a lone figure still asleep, seemingly cut off entirely from the world. Despite several attempts from others—shaking, calling out, even louder efforts—she hadn't stirred in the slightest.
IAM stopped in front of her.
He studied her Immeasurably cute face as undisturbed, small faint noises escaped her lips in steady rhythm.
It made him feel slightly sick.
He took a slow breath, then bent down, leaning closer.
"Wake up."
"Puwah!"
A strange, startled noise burst out of her as she shot upright, immediately slamming her head against the tree behind her. The other attempts from others—shaking and shouting—had failed to wake her, but IAM's quiet whisper did.
Lethe froze for a second, then looked at IAM, her expression flushed with a disgraced and embarrassed look.
"A battle is about to start," IAM said, his tone was neutral.
She tilted her head slightly, confused, before her gaze drifted past him. The sight of everyone preparing, weapons in hand, formations forming, made it click.
She shook herself lightly, pushing away the drowsiness as she slowly stood, picking up her hammer like a doll.
"I… I… proba…bly… sho…uld… join… th…em…"
She gave a small, apologetic nod and began to walk past him.
"Where are you going?" IAM asked.
She paused.
Turned.
"I… I…"
"You will not be joining this fight."
His finger pointed toward her as his head tilted slightly, his incomprehensibly deep eyes fixed on her without wavering.
"You will be right by my side… protecting me."
"P-protect…"
The word seemed to echo in her mind, foreign and unexpected. Something she had never imagined being asked of her...
She nodded frantically as She then moved to stand just behind IAM quietly.
IAM had found the perfect solution to protect himself in case of any danger—in the form of Lethe—as he turned to face the battle.
The black flags were activated as waves upon waves began to build, the clash becoming intermittent as the battlefield shifted in uneven surges.
Scenes of students valiantly facing the creatures could be seen clearly as the battle progressed, but the more eye-grabbing focus was naturally toward Yohan.
He was surrounded by three high spawnlings.
One of them was shaped like a warped tub, its surface resembling soft, collapsing plastic. Its grey, sticky body was riddled with dozens of small holes that opened and closed in uneven pulses, each one exhaling bursts of blue flame.
They didn't do any physical damage but caused one to feel strange illusions.
Oily residue continuously seeped from its pores, stretching in slow threads before dripping off in thick, uneven drops as it shifted. It had no facial structure at all—just that hollow, perforated mass, as if expression had never been part of its design.
The second was a rolling mass of unstable green slime, constantly deforming as it moved. Within its semi-transparent body, a single leg floated unnaturally, suspended without connection for no apparent reason, twisting and turning in ways that didn't match its outer motion.
The creature propelled itself using multiple elbow protrusions scattered across its surface, each one bending at incorrect angles to push its mass forward in jagged, uneven rolls. Its mouth was large and lined with sharp, uneven teeth producing a grinding snap each time it shut as it moved.
The third stood in humanoid shape, though nothing about it remained stable. Its proportions were wrong in subtle but escalating ways, especially its head, which continued to swell outward as if internal pressure was forcing expansion beyond what its body could contain.
The black, fleshy surface of its skin rippled in constant waves, tightening and loosening in alternating sections, as though different parts of it were struggling to maintain cohesion. Each movement carried strain, like the form itself was resisting collapse while still being pushed toward it, creating a disturbing sense that it was being held together only temporarily.
Yohan looked at these creatures with no fear as he lunged at the first one, pulling back his skeleton arm gauntlet before smashing it directly into its body.
A heavy, meaty impact rang out as it shrieked. Its blue flames burst outward across him, spilling over his form—but he didn't pause. Instead, he drove in with his other hand. The flames that had spread onto him immediately shifted, transferring back onto the creature itself as it was forced to endure its own effect.
Frightened shrieks followed as it began suffering from its own illusions, its movements becoming unstable. Yohan continued striking it without hesitation. Each time the creature released more flames in a defensive reflex, he simply redirected them back into it, forcing it further into its own collapse. The cycle repeated rapidly, its reactions turning more erratic and desperate until it could no longer maintain itself, ultimately bursting into nothing under the accumulated strain.
Yohan turned away from the high spawnling he had dealt with in seconds, redirecting his attention to the other two.
The remaining spawnlings who subtly took a roll and step back...
A smile appeared on his face.
"Don't run… it's only going to hurt a little."
With that, he moved forward like a battering ram, closing the distance in an instant as he engaged them in a violent exchange.