A Nightmare of Shadows
I coughed up another mouthful of blood. My pale countenance and wound covered body was the aftermath of my fight. My gaze shifted and fixated on the two skill books in front of me. Despite my desire, at my current state, much less go over and pick them up, I could not even move.
The aching throb of my body was quite severe after all. While there was a general constant pain that surged throughout my body, the strongest, mind numbing sensation came from the hole in my shoulder. The hole that constantly oozed out what little blood I had left.
I forcibly shut off my sense of pain before, with shaky hands, I grabbed a health potion from my pants pocket. This was the 5th health potion today, which left me with less than 10 in reserve. If I continued to go through precious commodities like this, then in no time flat, I’d be left high and dry.
Again, while I did not feel the pain, moving caused the blood that flowed from my open wound to intensify. Death by blood loss briefly flashed through my mind before I downed the vial of red liquid.
I felt a few of my minor cuts close up, while at the same time, the constant pain lessened. After some slight hesitation, I used another health potion. The larger injuries closed, the [Laceration] effect vanished, and the hole in my shoulder, while it did not heal completely, at the very least, stopped bleeding.
My body was still far from perfect condition, but I didn’t dare to use another hp potion.
With my strength revitalized, I stood up. My feet were still shaky, and the ache in throat still persisted, but at the very least, I could stand on my own two feet.
My first priority was the skill books. Overcome by curiosity, I picked the two skill books up and immediately used [Identify].
Skill Book - Dissect
A manual that goes over the proper procedures to performing a successful anatomical dissection. This skill book allows one person to learn the active skill [Dissect].
Effects -
New Skill - Dissect
Equip Skill Bonus -
Synchronicity with existing skill [Dissect]. Over 100% effectiveness boost.
Skill Book - Shadow Step (Special)
A record that depicts the common movement skill associated with Shadow and dark type monsters. Shadow step is a skill that most shadow and dark type monster above a certain grade will naturally learn. This Skill book allows one person to learn the Magic active skill [Shadow Step].
Note: Due to the altered nature of the slain monster, the version of the skill learned from this skill book has been altered. Instead of using mana, the learned skill consumes stamina.
Effects-
New Skill - Shadow Step (Special)
Equip Skill Bonus-
Synchronicity with existing skill [Rushing Dash]. 20% effectiveness boost.
Upon seeing the two skill books in front of me, I unconsciously let out a sigh. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. One of them was useless, while the other one was useful...
The most irritating thing about this was the fact that the 1st skill book contained a skill I already had. After fighting a life or death struggle with my pseudo clone and barely achieving victory... to get something I already had as collateral… I felt a bit cheated.
While I understand why, it’s still pretty frustrating.
On the other hand, the remaining skill book, without a doubt, was something insanely amazing. Not only was it an extremely valuable movement skill that further aligned with the type of character “build” I’ve been progressing towards, on top of it all, the last tid bit about the skill made this particular skill book all the more valuable.
Shadow step was originally supposed to be a magic skill. Obviously, I can’t use mana, so magic skills, for the most part, are useless to me. Due to the special nature of that “Hide” mimic, who like me, probably couldn’t use magic, the skill book it produced was also affected. The end result was a “magic” skill that consumed stamina.
Well, technically, since it doesn’t use mana anymore, calling it a magic skill might be a stretch… In the first place, I still don’t know what constitutes as “magic”. For a person like me who's lived in a world filled with the mundane, everything that’s happened so far has been pretty damn magical. But for simplicity’s sake, I’ve decided to call everything that uses “mana,” magic.
I wanted to immediately learn [Shadow Step], but I stopped myself. The recent skill book acquisition reminded me that, prior to the attack, I also acquired two additional skill books, one from Satou’s corpse and another from the Wisp Elite.
I pulled out the other two Skill Books. I already identified the Magic Clad skill and deemed it something I couldn’t use, but due to the interruption from before, I never had a chance to properly inspect the remaining skill.
[Identify]!
Skill Book - Fever Burst
A magic transcript that highlights the usage and application of a magic debuff skill that is derived from the race special skill of the Orb Wisps. This skill book allows one person to learn the Magic active skill [Fever Burst].
Effects -
New Skill - Fever Burst
Equip Bonus
+20 intelligence
+15 wisdom
From what I could tell, the last skill book was basically a watered down version of the racial skill that the Wisps constantly used. It was the first, non directly damaging skill book I’ve run across, so it peaked a bit of my interest, but upon learning that the new skill was magic based, that interest was immediately expunged.
“It seems like a good skill… It’ll probably be useful during team combat, but it’s not really suited for me… I’ll save it for the others, but for now....”
Along with the Magic Clad skill book, I put away the [Fever Burst] skill book, and refocused my attention on the remaining skill books I had at hand. I glanced across the room. The President’s friends were busy either recovering from the battle or helping each other lick their wounds. I had time, and seeing as I had some time to myself...With little hesitation, I immediately learned [Shadow Step].
Due to Skill Synchronicity, you were unable to learn [Shadow Step]. Instead, the two skills [Shadow Step] and [Rushing Dash] have fused together to make a third skill.
Shadow Sprint (Active)
Skill Type: Rare
Skill Rank: Beginner
Skill Level: 1
Skill Experience: 0%
Effects
A movement skill that utilizes the shadows.
With no shadows, activation will temporarily augment the user’s agility by 200% for a duration of three seconds. Increased skill level will increase the augmentation and increase the duration.
Through the use of shadows, instantaneous movement to any location within 9 meters is possible. 200% agility augmentation for a duration of 2 second after the use of the skill. In order to utilize shadows user must come into contact with a shadow larger than the user’s body size.
Through the use of shadows, instantaneous movement to a shaded location within 120 meters is possible. Both the origin shadow and the destination shadow have to be larger than the user’s body size.
Use consumes 40 stamina points. Cooldown of 8 seconds. Consumption and Cool down rate lowers as skill level increases. Range and augmentation increases as skill level increases.
Reading over the window panel that suddenly floated up in front of me, I couldn’t help but crack a satisfied smile. My body was tired, and my mind was a mess, but seeing this new skill of mine… it was like a ray of light in an otherwise dark tunnel. Like coming home to a warm home cooked meal after a tiring day at work.
“As expected of a ‘magic’ skill… it’s pretty amazing…”
With the acquisition of my new skill, the subsequent skill book vanished from my hands, dematerializing into small specs of white light, leaving me with only the [Dissection] skill book.
“...”
I solemnly looked at the book. Truth be told, I had no intention of letting anybody learn this skill. I couldn’t quite put a finger on it, but the uncomfortable feeling that welled up inside me when I imagined someone else running around with this type of skill stirred too great of a sensation to ignore. I didn’t know why, but for some reason, I did not want anybody else to learn this skill.
Plus, that 100% effectiveness boost sparked my interest. Although I already knew this skill, was it still possible for me to “learn” from this skill book?
I thought about it some more, before finally, with no small amount of hesitation, I began reading the book. The contents of the skill book was rather self explanatory. It was just as how the window panel described it. The book was a basic outline on dissection. It read like a personal journal, but the information was like that of a text book.
After going through the thin, less than 10 page skill book (which consisted of a lot of pictures), the book began dematerializing in a burst of light while, at the same time, a new window panel popped up in front of my eyes.
Due to skill synchronicity, the prior skill [Dissect] has been effected.
Dissection + (Active)
Through constant experimentation and trial, you have gained the foundation into understanding anatomy.
Skill Type: Regular
Skill Rank: Intermediate
Skill Level: 9
Skill Experience: 89%
Effects:
Grasp monster weak points more easily.
Previously dissecting a species can allow for better understanding of anatomy.
When used in combat, the given effects will result (may vary):
Laceration - Severe form of bleeding effect
Amputation - Better chance at severing an appendage.
Perforate - Increased damage when attempting to break through armor or hide.
Dessicate - Severe form of blood loss. Best used in conjunction with Laceration.
Mutilate - inflict a violent and debilitating injury.
Anatomize - With sufficient understanding over a target, possible to grasp target’s weak points.
Use consumes 3 stamina. No cooldown time.
“Oh?”
Surprisingly, the effects of re-learning [Dissect] were pretty beneficial.
The first thing I noticed was the jump in skill level. While I did break through to Intermediate sometime during this week, I was still in the early stages, but now, through the use of that skill book, my [Dissect] skill suddenly jumped to intermediate level 9. What’s more, I only needed 11% more experience in order to break through and reach the advanced skill rank.
To me, this was a pleasant surprise. Up until now, raising skill level has been a terribly slow going process ever since I broke through to the intermediate rank. To see it suddenly jump up by multiple levels all in one go…
The 2nd, and probably most important change that occurred were the added combat effects. [Perforate], [Dessicate], [Mutilate], and [Anatomize]. Prior to today, my [Dissect] skill only contained [Laceration] and [Amputation]. With the addition of these four new combat effects, that brought the total to six. Of course, having my combat potential increase was definitely a good thing.
From what I could gather, [Perforate] was a sort of armor break skill, which would definitely come in handy when facing armored enemies, like the Gilas. [Dessicate] had good synergy with [Laceration], so I could imagine its use being something akin to a sort of gradual hp decrease debuff. As for [Mutilate]... without a doubt it was definitely a damaging type attack, and going by the information, it was probably the strongest out of the other 6.
[Anatomize] seemed the most useful in terms of practicality, but its description was still rather vague. At the very least, I knew that it wasn’t a directly damaging attack.
In the end, I was more than just satisfied with the results. In fact, I gained quite a profit from that fight. If I earned this much through one life or death struggle, then I’d willingly throw myself off a cliff or jump into the mouth of a hungry monster in order to reap the rewards.
After I finished the process of learning my new skills, it was then that I noticed that the other two were slowly making their way over here.
The teacher had his arm slung over the library girl as support and they were currently limping their way towards me. The girl’s shoulder had been bandaged, as well as the teacher’s abdomen. The shoddy, emergency medical work was hardly effective though. With [Identify], I could see that they currently suffered from severe status conditions like [Anemia] and [Severe Bruise].
I debated whether or not to give them a health potion, but after some introspection, I decided against it.
As they neared, I decided to field test one of my newly acquired skills. Going by the description, I should have enough “understanding” over the human body for it to work. With little hesitation, I inwardly screamed,
[Anatomize!]
The instant I thought this out, several glowing red dots entered my vision. The dots were spread out evenly across their bodies. They let out a menacing glow on the side of their necks, over their eyes, and directly above their chest, where their heart should be at.
On the teacher, his bandaged abdomen, close to where his kidneys should be located glowed, along side his crotch area. On the girl, her wounded shoulder let out a menacing red glow.
Seeing the sight before my eyes, I could not help but reflexively widened my eyes in surprise. In short, [Anatomize] was just as its description spoke of. It was a guide which pointed out the various weak points on a target’s body. Without a doubt, in the heat of combat, [Anatomize] would become an invaluable asset.
After 3 seconds passed, the red dots began to dim, before eventually vanishing completely. It was at this time that the two finally arrived before me.
“D-did you kill it?” The girl asked as her head swiveled frantically around the room.
“Yeah,” I grunted out a response while I proceeded to sit back down on the still wet floor. My muscles ached throughout the whole process.
“I…” The teacher began to speak, shrugging off the girl in an attempt to stand with his own strength. “I’m sorry. We weren’t a lot of help during the fight…”
His face was ashen and his expression was ashamed. He looked guiltily down at the floor while I could see his hands were clenched white. The girl besides him showed a similar reaction. As if reminded of her own powerlessness, she bit down on her lip while her eyes slightly redenned.
I paused for only a second before I responded. “Yeah. You two are too weak. Rather, you were only hindrances.”
As the words leaked out from my mouth, I could feel the harsh scraping of my throat. The two in front of me drooped their shoulders. They were trembling, but they could not say anything back in retort.
“Well, I guess the enemy this time around was a bit too difficult for you guys, but that doesn’t change the fact that…”
My words eventually died down as I let loose a tired sigh.
“Even if you were to lay down your life and exert 150% of effort, it still wouldn’t have made a difference. In this world, what a person needs isn’t passion nor determination. They need strength.”
I blinked once before I resolutely stared down at them. They were looking down so they weren’t directly facing me, but I saw their bodies jump in reaction to my glare.
“You two… are weak!”
The room entered a quiet silence, giving those two enough time for them to think about my words. I did not know what they thought about, nor did I have any interest. Whether they crumbled or whether they improved, that was but a secondary concern to me.
Eventually though, after a span of ten breaths passed, I finally broke the silence and, spurred by my current condition, asked, “Do you have any medical supplies?”
I already planned on conserving what little health potions I had left for a later time, so that left me to rely on my natural healing factor. Patching up my bruised and half lacerated body would definitely speed up that healing process.
After a slight pause, the Library girl replied, “Y-yes. We collected the medical supplies from the infirmary a while back…” She looked up at me for the first time. Her face instantly contorted into a grimace upon seeing my sorry sight. It wasn’t so much the open laceration nor the discolored bruises on my body, but rather, the blood. I was caked in layers upon layers of blood. Blood that was both mine and someone else’s. “... There should be a couple of bandages and gauze… enough to fix you up.”
“Good.” I nodded. “Give them to me. These cuts are getting itchy, if I don’t disinfect them soon, I might get an infection.”
Fixing my body was a relatively quick process.
After washing and dissecting the open wounds, I had the other two help patch up the cuts. Using some of the surgical sutures they acquired from the infirmary, I had my open wounds and larger lacerations stitched up. The end result was a shoddy piece of surgical work, but at the very least, it stopped the continuous bleeding from progressing.
With some gauze and bandages added for a finishing touch, most of the negative status effects like [Laceration], [Bleeding], and [Anemia] were either suppressed or alleviated. It was to the extent where my natural hp recovery can finally kick in. In time, I’ll be fully recovered with all my wounds healed, ready in time for the next wave of enemies, whenever they might come.
Leading the other two along, I walked over towards the other side of the cafeteria, where the entrance to the library once was. The same area where the two explosions from earlier originated.
As I walked, my vision was quickly filled with loose strands of dust and debris that still hung around the air. It made the breathing within the open space hard, and filled the desolate room with a sort of stagnant atmosphere. Seeing all the gathered dust that accumulated in such a short time filled me with a hammering sense of unease. I wafted through the fog of dust and debris, shouldering that uneasiness, eager to discover the full extent of the destruction provided by those two explosions.
The dust loosened, revealing a site of horrid devastation.
“This is…” I heard a soft gasp from directly behind me.
“...”
My gaze scanned through the whole area. In my mind, I let out an involuntary sigh of amazement.
To sum things up, the whole area, half of the cafeteria was utterly destroyed.
Two explosions had occurred.
One blast destroyed the entrance to the corridor that led deeper to the building, out towards where the gymnasiums were located. The walls had caved in and rubble, debris, and giant slabs of concrete completely blocked off that slightly narrow space. Even the hanging ventilation shaft from above the ceilings had toppled down, revealing a mangled and half-destroyed piece of metal.
The corridor itself was located near the library entrance, and judging by how the damage was spread out, I hypothesized that blocking off the corridor was accidental rather than deliberate.
After all, the main goal of the explosions should have been to destroy the library entrance in order to prevent the stream of shadow lurkers from surging into the library, where the remaining survivors were gathered. The fact that there were two explosions only solidified this theory. One of the blasts was poorly aimed and destroyed the corridor entrance, while the last blast was what finally, successfully executed their original intention.
Speaking of the last explosion, the destruction it caused was much more substantial than the first. The ceilings were thoroughly destroyed, the floors were half gouged out, and giant slabs of concrete and other rubble completely and thoroughly blocked off the library entrance. With the loose pieces of tile and pebble around the floor, the wisp of dust that lingered, as well as the good meter sized hole in the ceiling, it was as if a miniature napalm had gone off within the room.
Seeing all this, I could only let out another tired sigh.
I pulled out the walkie talkie from my pocket, and briefly tried to use it. As expected though, the walkie talkie was non-operational. It was completely broken, probably short circuited or destroyed by the electrical shock from earlier.
“Agh… the entrance is busted, the walkie talkie isn’t working… the world really isn’t cutting me any slack today…” I inwardly sighed while cursing at whatever vengeful god was currently having its kicks watching me struggle.
After some deliberation, I finally turned around and addressed the other two. “If we want to meet up with the others, then we’ll need to get out of the cafeteria and take a detour to the library.”
Hearing my remark, their expressions visibly stiffened while their faces paled. They shifted uncomfortably, before stating, “I-is that really the smartest decision?”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Huh?”
“I-I mean, everywhere else besides the cafeteria should be dangerous, right? Imagining all the monsters out there…”
“That’s true.” I consented, but before they could sigh out in relief, I continued. “Can you hear that noise?”
They simultaneously scrunched up their eyebrows as they exchanged confused looks with each other. “W-what noise?”
“Well… it’s kind of hard to explain. It’s sort of like a constant rumbling. Like the marching stampede of a small army. Listen.”
The two of them, while wearing masks of doubt quieted down as they strained their ears to hear. It took a while, but eventually, their expressions of doubt changed into one of acknowledgement, and then to shock.
Their faces paled, as I began to explain. “That noise… if I’m not mistaken should be the sound of monsters, and from what is sounds, several hundred monsters. More than likely… the dungeon boss mobilized the Tusk Boars.”
I’ve been hearing that marching stampede ever since the NEXT PHASE window panel popped up. I had my suspicions, but I eventually came to this conclusions after I considered everything else.
“In addition, there should also be more Shadow Lurkers around the school. After all, the possibility that they spawned elsewhere before the elite died still exists.” I added, which only further caused their complexions to worsen.
“T-that’s why we should just stay here!” The Library girl immediately blurted out. Her shoulders trembled in visible fear. “If what you’re saying is true then why in the world should we willingly throw ourselves out into the face of danger?! Do you really want to die that much?!”
“... Let me ask something.” I spoke softly, ignoring the rising tension and placid fear in her voice. “If, let’s say… a herd of tusk boars were to come streaming through that hallway… would you be able to survive? A mob of hundreds of monsters, rage filled with the intention to kill, in here, there would be no escape, and no sliver of a chance of survival. Even I would be left with nothing to do but consent to my own demise”
“....” A cold sweat formed on their brow as they imagined the scene I depicted.
“Truth of the matter is, despite how quiet things are right now, this cafeteria is just as dangerous as any other place in the school. Besides, what are you going to do in here? Stay and wait for help? Who will help you? In this blood stained, corpse ridden room, who will come and help?”
Their lips quivered, while their eyes swam in dreary despair.
“No help will come. No help has come in the past month or so, and that isn’t going to suddenly change now all of a sudden. It’s time for the both of you to decide. Keel over and wait to die, or fight. Fight for a chance to survive.”
“....”
A silence that permeated through bone filled the room. It was accompanied by the sound of chaotic, yet rhythmic marching, a marching that sounded both eerily close, yet starkly distant.
“I’ll fight…” A soft whisper. I could not tell which person said it, but glancing up at their faces, I could tell that they were both in agreement. It was a quiet fighting spirit that blossomed from their primal urge to survive.
I nodded, before I looked up. Above me, was the meter wide hole in the ceiling, carved out by the explosions from before. “Since we’ve come to a consensus, then naturally, we shouldn’t wait any longer. For now, we’ll take a shortcut, and go directly to the 2nd floor. Hopefully, they haven’t barricaded the 2nd floor entrance to the library yet.”
****
(POV Change)
A lone silhouette hastily sprinted through the night clad halls before finally darting into an unoccupied classroom. The room was partially destroyed, signs of decay and rot already visible alongside the deteriorating corpses within the room. The figure with the frame of a petite girl ignored all that, opting instead to dive down at full speed behind the overturned teacher’s desk, before she nestled herself inbetween the crook of the walls.
She forcibly slowed her breathing and clamped her small, porcelain white hands over her heavily panting mouth, before entering an uneasy silence. Not even 10 seconds passed before, under the cover of darkness, a vicious commotion filled her surroundings. From outside the dingy classroom, the sound of stampeding feet rang shook the walls and vibrated the floor. Enraged growls and vicious roars, all with clear cut killing intent gushed out unabated.
The noise and racket persisted for a while before, after what felt like an eternity, finally receding. Along with the softening sound of dying stampedes, the monsters that once filled the hall harmlessly passed, seemingly without paying the adjacent classroom any particular attention.
A moment later, a head of long, messy hair that dropped down all the way to the owner’s eyes popped out from the side of the door. Narrowed slits, hidden behind a curtain of hair swiveled back and forth, scanning the entirety of the hallway with trepid caution and inlayed fear.
Seeing the empty hallway, it was then that the silhouette let out a relieved sigh. Their body immediately dropped to the floor, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
The girl rested her head against the side of the door, while her arms clenched into tiny fists. Around her, goblets of black semi-liquid floated harmlessly above. This girl was Cielle.
With no monsters in sight, Cielle let out another tired and fatigued sigh. Her legs ached from the constant running, and her throat stung from a mixture of dehydration and overwork. She was exhausted. Ever since she found herself alone, every other minute, every other second had been a constant struggle.
Thinking about all this, Cielle’s most recent memories flooded back into her train of thought, filling her with an endless amount of grief and worry.
A giant explosion had gone off while she was attempting to regroup with the others. Before she had the chance to react, Cielle had been blasted into the adjacent corridor. She was knocked unconscious for an unknown amount of time. When She came to, her body was racked in pain, while in front of her, a towering wall of rubble and concrete had collapsed, blocking her passage to the cafeteria.
For Cielle, this was just the start.
After her separation, waves upon waves of monsters all inexplicably rushed to her location. For Cielle, a glass cannon with almost no defense, fighting monsters head on was almost laughably comical. Thus, with no other options available, she hid.
Cielle was constantly hiding. Scurrying in between hallways and desecrated classrooms like a stubborn roach that simply refused to keel over and die.
The monsters were constantly on her tail. They did not exactly know where Cielle was, it was just that, they were always within her vicinity. If she moved to a place without any monsters, it wouldn’t even take half a minute for that area to be filled with the noise of vicious roars and savage bloodlust.
Still though, it was obvious that they did not have her precise location. It was more like the monsters were being called to where her general location was. As if someone was controlling them, like pieces on a chessboard.
The monsters were always no more than 30 meters away from her, yet she could do nothing. Attacking one meant attacking the others, and if that were to happen... Thus Cielle ran. She avoided and hid, a constant struggle from start to present.
While her thoughts wandered, Cielle’s body moved automatically. Like a lifeless doll, she pulled out a box cutter which she always kept close in case of emergencies, and, without a single trace of hesitation, stabbed downwards, onto her opened palm.
The blade sunk in a good inch or two, causing Cielle to temporarily wince. She did not have anything convenient like [Sensory Remapping] to shut off and numb her pain. The stab, and all of its entirety, she felt it all, as clear as day.
She pulled out the box cutter, and, a moment later, a layer of transparent blue floated to the newly opened wound. Soon, it covered her palm and entered her flesh and the fresh injury soon healed. Almost immediately after, a transparent black seeped out from her hand, and floated behind her, joining the mass of [Black Gemini] that she had been accumulating all this time.
Cielle sighed once more, before once again peeking out into the hallway. From a distance, she saw the monsters from before. They were back tracking and walking, sauntering towards her location.
Her face paled instantly, and she scrambled back into the room, hiding her delicate frame behind the comfort of a mold ridden wall.
Through the walls, she heard the low rumbling and violent roars once more. Along with it, the sound of destruction. She imagined walls being destroyed, and rooms being ravaged as the sounds further enticed her growing imagination.
She had lived in this type of hell for more than a month now, but the situation was different this time around. This time, she was alone. Hide wasn’t here for her to rely on, her sister and Cher weren’t here to accompany her, not even the President and the miscellaneous people from the cafeteria were present. Cielle was alone.
For the first time, Cielle was truly alone.
She took a risk, and peeked out from a corner of the window that overlooked out into the hallway. The sight before her only further confirmed her imaginations. The monsters were searching. They were systematically searching through the adjacent rooms, all the while the seething rage and bloodlust they emitted further accumulated. A rag tag group which consisted of Minotaurs, Shadows, Werewolves, and whatever other monster still resided within the dungeon.
In no time at all, they would soon enter her room, and by then, what little hope of survival Cielle nurtured in her heart would be snuffed out, like a dying flame in the face of a fierce seasonal gale.
Cielle bit her tongue and hesitated. If she didn’t do something soon, then it would be basically the same as keeling over and waiting for death. Yet, the risk of actually confronting them was too immense to laugh lightly at.
After some hesitation which only further ate up at what little time she had left, Cielle moved into action.
She enforced her own will onto the mass of [Black Gemini] that floated behind her, and maneuvered a thin tendril of dark matter towards a crack on the window.
There, under the camouflage of the night, the already dark substance was like a ghost’s wispy trail, almost completely invisible to the naked eye. She controlled the tendril to move stealthily through the hall, before it finally arrived directly center of the mass of monsters.
She then separated a small section of [Black Gemini] from the rest, and mentally hurled it at the monster closest to her room. The monster was a minotaur who boasted a large build and numerous battle scars, and Cielle directly aimed for one of its most weakest points, the eye.
The attack unfortunately missed, and instead, grazed the beast’s bull like face. It wasn’t that Cielle was a bad aim, but rather, the situation was just too much. At night with hardly any visible light, and to add to that, from a distance of more than 30 meters away, it was already a miracle that she was able to control her magic so well from so far away.
Regardless of whether it missed or not, for her purposes the attack was sufficient.
The minotaur let out a blood curdling scream upon impact, and hastily turned towards the source of the pain, its eyes filled with an indescribable anger. Due to how Cielle had positioned the attack, the Minotaur ended up turning towards the other monsters, away from Cielle’s original position.
In response, the others all shifted their focus to the minotaur, drawn by its rage filled bellowing.
Before the Minotaur could do anything, Cielle fired off another round of [Black Gemini], hitting the same monster at roughly the same spot.
It seethed in anger and bellowed out once more, this time, its roars were a noticeable octave higher. Its head frantically swerved left and right, searching for what had assaulted him,but unfortunately for it, under the cover of night, [Black Gemini] was almost nigh invisible.
Cielle once again fired off another shot of magic. This time, she repositioned where the shot would land and from what angle it would hit at. The resulting hit gave off the impression that the monster closest to the minotaur was the one responsible.
As expected, lost in a haze of anger and irritation, the Minotaur could not think straight and immediately lunged at the subsequent monster - an Ipotane with a vicious horse head, and towered over 2 meters in height.
Cielle flashed a satisfied smile upon seeing the conflict she sowed. She once again maneuvered the rest of the tendril of [Black Gemini], inciting further conflict with the rest of the monsters within the hallway.
Only a short amount of time passed and Cielle had already used up all of the tendril of [Black Gemini] she had originally sent out. Thankfully though, her initial goal was accomplished. Before her, was a sight rarely seen by others. An amalgamation of monsters currently thrashed and fought amongst themselves. Whatever higher power had brought them here in the first place was thrusted into the back seat, deemed a secondary to the monster's’ own innate instinct for destruction and violence.
As they fought, Cielle sighed in relief, while she began to move towards the Classroom entrance. She did not notice, but Cielle’s countenance was now a shade paler after her stunt.
She crouched down besides the door and bent her knees in preparation. She breathed out shakily, turning back to stare at the monsters up ahead. Thoughts of doubt and fear swirled around her head, but she forced it all down with a steady gulp, and, before her mind could entertain those thoughts again, her feet suddenly bolted forward and propelled herself in the opposite direction.
She ran as fast as her legs could manage, a trail of [Black Gemini] floating directly behind her.
Her ears pounded with blood while her heart almost jumped out of her throat in nervous desperation. After 10 seconds of mad sprinting, she dared to shoot a glance back.
The instant she did, her whole body trembled in fear while her complexion further paled. Behind her, was a pack of raving monsters, all of whom had stopped fighting amongst themselves, and were currently making a mad dash towards her. The sight of their open jaws and rage filled eyes only further fanned her fear, before she turned back around and intensified her sprint.
As she ran, she madly stabbed at her arm.
A constant process of cutting and healing, she was so accustomed to this that doing it in mid sprint did not affect her speed whatsoever. In doing so, the trail of [Black Gemini] that followed close behind her continued to accumulate. In addition, the blood that poured out from her newly created wounds were collected into a container which she had been previously using to contain her [Black Gemini].
She ran for what felt like an eternity. Her heart was constantly pumping, her lungs were opened wide to take in as much air as humanly possible, while her hands moved in rhythmic fashion, creating new wounds only for them to be healed not a second later.
Eventually, she came across an intersection in the halls, and without any hesitation, instantly turned the corner, her feet almost tripping over themselves in the process. At the same time, her hands flickered, and the giant goblet of [Black Gemini] that floated behind her formed a transparent wall that covered the whole of the hall.
The monsters which blindly chased after her, ran through that transparent wall at maximum speed. A chorus of pain filled howls filled the room as they swatted out at the incorporeal matter. Some monsters tripped over themselves, while others unconsciously kneeled down in pain, causing a sort of blockade to form at the intersection.
They crashed and fell amongst themselves. What’s more, it didn’t really help that in addition to the magic wall of [Black Gemini], Cielle also coated the floor using the container of blood she had pooled. The slick surface reduced any and all traction which the monsters might have possessed, and caused the majority of them to slip and fall, much to their dismay.
Several of them crashed against walls, destroying lockers, and even a ventilation shaft. The ventilation entrance which was positioned close towards the ground had been smashed and undone by a giant minotaur whose body crashed along the floor, along with several other monsters.
Before Cielle had the opportunity to celebrate her little victory, her face contorted as her eyes locked at the scene further ahead of the hallway. Up ahead, no more than 200 meters in front of her was another calamity worse than the previous. Monsters that filled the space from end to end , all barrelling down the hallway and towards her direction.
Several hundred tusk boars, all dashing forward in a stampede of hooves. Their march was so intense that it shook the very foundation of the building. Unlike the pack of monsters behind her, the tusk boars were united. They were like one being, a mass of husky mountain-like bodies. Like a natural disaster that foretold certain death.
Cielle instantly came to a sliding stop, before, with slight hesitation, back tracked and sprinted towards the mass of fallen monsters. As she ran, her teeth shivered in fright. She could feel the vibrations of the approaching herd, not only with her feet, but with the entirety of her whole body. The air seemingly vibrated as the Boars got closer and closer.
Cielle’s eyes swam, madly swiveling across the entire hall, searching, looking for anywhere to escape to. Her eyes landed on the broken down ventilation shaft. Directly next to it was an angry Minotaur that was currently trying to get back up.
In that instant, all of her indecisiveness vanished as she made a split decision and dove for the ventilation shaft. The recovering minotaur noticed, and howled in anger.
To Cielle everything happened in slow motion. Due to her increased intelligence, her reaction time was now much faster than a normal human being’s. Even greater than Hide’s in fact.
She saw with open eyes as the Minotaur reared its fist back. Its hate filled expression flashed with angry prejudice as it prepared to fire a full frontal fist towards her.
In that instant, [Blue Gemini] shot forth and hit the monster square on its neck. The sudden interruption caused its attack to momentarily falter, but upon the lack of damage or pain, its eyes flashed red in seething rage once more as it moved into action.
Not even a second passed before a layer of [Black Gemini] seeped out from the Minotaur’s body. Cielle flicked her wrists ever so slightly, before that floating trail of darkness instantly shot out at a blistering speed towards the Minotaur’s face. Its eyes widened in surprise and before it could react, the dark trail of transparent liquid instantly hit its eye, temporarily blinding it. An angry bellow escaped its raw throat, sending flying spittle and saliva everywhere.
Cielle reached the broken ventilation shaft and scampered into its depths. Half a second later, directly next to the entrance, a resounding boom shook the foundation of the wall. She heard the crumbling of concrete followed by the frustrated howls of a bull.
Cielle crawled deeper, the permeating darkness seeping her everybody. From behind her, the thundering stampede could be heard, followed by the pain filled howls of the other monsters who were trampled by several hundred Tusk Boars.
Regardless of what happened outside, Cielle continued to crawl. As she continued deeper and deeper, the burdening loneliness that she’d been suppressing this entire time, gradually blossomed out. She let out an involuntary whimper, a pathetic sound which vibrated and echoed through the metal enclosure. Hot streams of liquid rolled across her cheeks, the restrained sniveling only intensifying with their arrival.
In her mind, a picture of Hide’s face appeared. It wasn’t only his, but also images of her sister, Cher, even the people from the cafeteria. Images of her parents, her aunt, uncle, the grandpa that used to take her out fishing during the summer. People she forced herself not to think about ever since the start of the apocalypse all suddenly surged forward, their memories only embittering the tears that fell down from her eyes.
Cielle eventually stopped crawling, and gritted her teeth, forcing herself into a whimpering silence. a thin stream of blood trailed down her lips, but she ignored it. She wanted to go, she wanted to continue moving, to join up with Hide and the rest, to escape the dungeon, to go back home.
Although she wanted to, she could not.
Her body simply refused to move. Her throat was scraped with exhaustion, her chest continually heaved up and down, while her arms and legs ached with bruises and fatigue from constant crawling.
Cielle’s vitality wasn’t that great to begin with, thus, her stamina had gone down at a blistering rate. Now, her body was currently going through the effects of [Stamina Exhaustion]. In addition, her mind was somewhat fuzzy, while a slight aching at the back of her skull persisted. This was the initial signs of [Mana Exhaustion].
“I need to rest…” She muttered quietly to herself. She noticed that it hurt to talk.
Using every bit of energy she could muster, Cielle used [Blue Gemini] on herself. Her main goal wasn’t to alleviate the pain in her bruised knees and arms, but rather to acquire the byproduct.
She maneuvered the subsequent [Black Gemini] to create two walls that surrounded each end of the ventilation shaft, encasing her body in a sandwich of transparent darkness. As she did so, the last vestiges of mana in her body was finally used up and she helplessly fell to the floor in a heap of exhaustion and fatigue.
Her mind could hardly think straight and the dull aching in her head had blossomed into a dreadfully painful throbbing that made it almost impossible to form any coherent thought. It wasn’t only her mind too, her body also suffered. Her rasping throat, the aching in her chest, as well as the overall weak feeling which seeped into her bones caused her to feel fragile and useless.
Cielle tried her hardest to ignore all that, and curled up in a fetal position. Her cold metallic surroundings, the permeating darkness, as well as the aching in her body was like lullaby which suppressed the rising feeling of loneliness in her heart. Hide’s face flashed once more in her mind, before she drifted off into chaotic sleep.
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Author's Note: If you liked this chapter, or this story in general, please rate or review.