༺ Empty Space -2 ༻
A few hours before Eon exited the portal.
The girls’ room at Shubaltsheim City Hall was engulfed in a heavy silence.
This was because Titania had not regained consciousness for an entire day after summoning a spirit to find Eon.
Marian lay on one corner of the room looking worriedly at Titania, who appeared to be asleep, and asked
“Why is it taking so long? Did something really happen?”
However, there was no one to answer her question. No one knew the answer to her question.
Feeling frustrated, Marian had just asked the question once but had not expected a real answer, so she just sighed deeply.
“Shouldn’t we wake her up forcibly soon?”
“We can’t.”
Oznia spoke in a rarely firm tone.
“Titania isn’t asleep. She may appear to be, but she is focusing on merging with the spirit. It could be more dangerous if we wake her carelessly.”
This was something already explained earlier. However, a day had already passed since then.
“What if she never wakes up? You said dark spirits all have unpredictable and dangerous natures. What if that spirit does something bad to Titania?”
“The likelihood of that happening is… low, I think…”
If the terms of the contract had been absurd from the beginning, it might have been a different matter. But once a contract is formed, it is rare for a spirit to harm its summoner. They had confirmed on the first day the summoning happened that the contract between Titania and the dark spirit was fairly made.
However, ‘rare’ means that such cases do exist. Oznia had knowledge about spirits, but information about dark spirits was lacking, even in the academic circles.
Therefore, Oznia felt a deep sense of responsibility for having entrusted Titania with such a dangerous task.
“If it really becomes dangerous, I will wake Titania up. Even if I have to go into her mind.”
The students, who did not fully understand how difficult and burdensome it is to enter someone else’s mind, simply assumed that Oznia would have some way to handle the situation. Yet, they could sense that her demeanor was far from ordinary.
Once again, heavy silence settled in.
The whereabouts of Instructor Eon were unknown, there was no way to know when the city would be attacked, the arrival time of the rescue team was uncertain and no one knew when Titania would wake up.
Marian felt frustrated by the reality that she could do nothing but wait in this situation. Elizabeth lightly grabbed her hand.
“Marian, you’ll hurt your nails.”
“Huh?”
Marian realized that she had been unconsciously biting her nails, a habit that had disappeared after she was severely scolded by her grandfather when she was seven.
“Surely the instructor is just in a difficult place to find and that’s why it’s taking time. So don’t worry too much.”
“…Yeah, I guess so?”
While the students were comforting each other, suddenly a noisy sound came from outside.
Tense and rigid shouts. Screams mixed with fear. Sounds so irritating to the ears that they could not be understood.
“What’s going on?”
Gwyn opened the door to check outside. And immediately came face-to-face with Instructor Lirya.
“Kids!”
“Instructor Lirya?”
“Is everyone gathered? No students missing?”
She was unusually serious. Gwyn asked, slightly tense.
“Yes, we’re all here… but what exactly is happening? It sounds really noisy outside, could it be…?”
“It is exactly what you’re thinking. Undead are swarming the walls right now.”
The worry that had been lingering finally turned into reality. As the students froze in surprise, Instructor Lirya spoke with a grave tone.
“The attack will start soon. We have to move right now!”
Following Instructor Lirya’s directions, the students quickly gathered the bare minimum of their belongings, and Gwyn decided to carry the still-unconscious Titania on her back.
The hallway was incredibly chaotic with instructors and internal security personnel running around, as well as confused students who had not yet grasped the situation. Schultz and other male students were already out and about.
“Does everyone remember where the shelter is? I’ll stay back to make sure no students are left behind until the last moment. You all should go straight to the shelter and absolutely not come out until it’s safe!”
Instructor Lirya said that and then dashed down the hallway. She was probably going to notify each student of the danger individually, as she had done with the Opal Black class. Gwyn glanced at the retreating back of Instructor Lirya for a moment and awkwardly turned her head.
“Safe until when? When will that be?”
“…Probably when Instructor Eon returns.”
No one disputed that statement. They had all seen how Instructor Eon fought.
However, at this very moment, when the city was about to be attacked by the undead, the person they could rely on the most was not present.
Even if they called it a shelter, it was merely located in the basement of the City Hall building. If the city walls were breached and the undead entered the city, it would just be a matter of time, sooner or later.
Everyone knew it. There was no truly safe place in this city as long as they were here.
Someone had to buy time.
***
In the end, the students of the Opal Black class did not head to the shelter.
Instead, they hid above ground to observe the situation. They decided to move only when they could no longer hold out with their own strength alone.
“Heup!”
Chwak!
Gwyn unleashed the swordsmanship technique that she had agonizingly developed over the past month.
The swiftly executed sword stroke sharply cut through the ghoul’s neck, and the ghoul fell forward, its neck severed while it was in the posture of slashing with its claws.
The Rock Sword was a technique that could deflect anything with defense and lead to a counterattack. However, even in defense there was skill involved. No matter how sturdy one’s body was, if you kept blocking attacks head-on, damage would inevitably accumulate. Therefore, it was essential for the inheritors of the Rock Sword to have the discernment to read the opponent’s attack.
Is the enemy going to stab or slash? Is it an upward slash or a downward slash? Is the enemy aiming for a one-hit kill, or is the real intention behind the first strike another attack?
Only by discerning the opponent’s sword could one execute a perfect defense at the exact right timing. Creating an opening in the opponent through that was precisely the Rock Sword, and that was exactly the teaching of swordsmanship.
However, Gwyn had a different idea here.
If the priority was to read the opponent’s attack, why wait for the attack to come? Why not strike first?
An opening was not only created when you blocked an attack but also when the opponent was about to attack. When they cock their arm back to swing their sword forward, when they take a short breath to put strength into their entire body, etc.
Although it was a fleeting opening and extremely difficult to target, an opening was still an opening. Gwyn had refined her swordsmanship by targeting such openings.
In other words, her swordsmanship was one of ‘counterattacking after observing the enemy’s first move’.
Witnessing the enemy’s first move and then aiming for the counterattack is akin to a high-wire act where a single mistake can lead to death. However, Gwyn’s natural talent for the sword and her agile body, reminiscent of a leopard made this difficult feat possible.
“It’s still incomplete, but…”
It was a sword technique perfectly tailored to her. When compared to forcibly swinging the ill-fitting Rock Sword, Gwyn’s swordsmanship was much more finely honed. Even Louis, who was several levels above her in skill, could not help but admire her technique.
Of course, the person she really wanted to show this swordsmanship to had disappeared somewhere.
Every time Gwyn swung her sword, another undead invariably lost its life. Her precise and quick movements indicated that she had certainly stepped, even if just a bit, into the realm of the strong. However, even such heroics were overshadowed by the spectacle unfolding in the sky above.
Cling!! Gwang! Clang!
[Kyaaa-!!]
“Grrrr…!”
“Sigh…”
Staring at the relentless bolts of thunder and lightning, Gwyn silently clicked her tongue.
It was a majestic sight, almost unbelievable to have been caused by the power of a single individual. Though Gwyn was confident in her own strength, what was before her eyes was on a completely different level.
When the silver-haired girl gestured, purple lightning rained down from the sky. Each time, dozens, sometimes hundreds of undead were burnt to ashes. The number of such lightnings was not just one or two but hundreds and the number of falling undead multiplied several-fold.
It was no wonder that the ‘flower of war’ was said to be the magician. Properly prepared magic could even overwhelm an army.
The girl named Oznia was the same girl who the ‘Crimson Sage,’ Ruellyn Elsid, had declared he had nothing to teach her, no nothing he could teach.
What she needed most was just one reason to become stronger, as she seemed to understand everything she needed on her own without being taught. And now that the city was in danger and she had decided to fight alongside her friends, Oznia was spontaneously realizing and using magic she had never learned before.
“Should I have learned some magic too…?”
Gwyn muttered with a bitter smile. It was a casual remark, but she felt a small pang of jealousy that her friend, was the most relied-upon person here rather than herself.
Gwyn also swung her sword diligently.
Thanks largely to Oznia, the battle had momentarily reached a lull. Most of the undead around the city had been incinerated by Oznia’s magic, and the adventurers who had regained their senses thanks to the students’ efforts, were able to repel the undead that had entered the city.
“Hurry, hurry up! Reinforce the city gate!”
Louis didn’t waste the precious time the students had earned. He quickly led the surviving adventurers to reorganize their defensive posture and swiftly replenished their dwindling supplies of arrows and potions.
About half of the combined forces of adventurers and city guards had survived. Yet, Louis thought that if it hadn’t been for these students, it would not have been strange for them all to have been annihilated. The situation just a while ago had been that perilous.
‘So these are students from the Philion Academy, huh? No, these kids seem to be something even more special…’
Suddenly, Louis recalled a certain instructor who had not been intimidated even in front of the three Master-class individuals, including himself.
Perhaps it was because their teacher was exceptional.
Just at that moment, a chilling and creepy voice reverberated from above, inducing feelings of repulsion and discomfort in those who heard it.
[Heh, so this small-scale city is holding up so well because you have an absurdly powerful magician, eh?]
Everyone in the city heard his words. Despite the great distance, his voice clearly resonated as if some kind of magic was being employed.
[Even that monstrous guy couldn’t escape this dimension with his power alone… but you can never be too cautious. I shouldn’t waste any more time. It seems I’ll have to step in myself.]
Louis looked out over the city walls in shock.
Leading an army of nearly a million undead, the commander of the Immortal Corps was marching directly towards the city.
