(Julius Argenti POV)
After climbing up into the fly system, I sensed incoming soldiers. The commander had figured out that we were all in the dining hall and was planning to surround it, trapping us in.
The mages out front increased to 50, while the rest waited on the first floor. They were going to send them in at full force.
Thankfully, the C ranks still hadn't made a move and were still on the rooftop. I checked the time and noticed that 15 minutes have passed.
'Veronica will be in around 10 minutes. Just need to hold them off until then.'
I notified that will Ashley that the enemies were closing in on our position.
'I guess there's no need to be subtle then. I'll use the guns.'
We also had the high ground, so we had a split second in which we could see them before the enemy sees us.
I passed 6 of the guns to the people on the chandeliers while keeping one for myself. I showed them how to use them. I don't know how proficient they will be with such a weapon, but I hoped they could fire it accurately.
I connected with Ashley ask her to inform the students on the chandeliers to fire on my mark at the three entrances.
I sensed the mages dropping down. They were still out of sight, but their shadows could be seen. They slowly approached us. The ones at the front entrance also hid behind the doors.
'NOW!'
The mages rushed forward, intending to kill us with a surprise attack. But with my mana sensing capabilities, their actions were already exposed to me.
The dining hall was filled with gunshots as the mages that came in were great with a hail of bullets. Other students also launched their own attacks as well.
'Stop Stop Stop.'
After confirming their deaths, I told every to stop firing. It took a second for my order to go through. I didn't want them to waste their bullets.
After the dust cleared, all that was left was a bunch of bodies riddled with bullets and scarred by magical attacks. Their bulletproof vests didn't stand a chance against the accelerated bullets.
The more mana the user of the gun had, the faster the bullets went. Since all of us were talented students with several times the mana a regular D rank had, the bullets easily pierced the vest.
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'They're wasting their mana and bullets. Though at least nobody has died.'
The attacks from mages also caused an unintended side effect. The walls caved in, causing the entrances to be blocked.
This allowed me to collect the bodies of the dead and pass the weapons out to more students.
'They can't deal with us using conventional measures. They have to use more extreme measures.'
We had the high ground, allowing us to attack before them. They only had two options now, either use the C ranks to distract us, allowing the other soldiers in the dining hall or create holes in the building, allowing them to enter that way.
They were both viable options but I suspect they'd go with the former. The latter option had the chance to collapse the entire building.
'Wait! Maybe that's what they want.'
I wasn't confident in surviving a building falling on top of me, but if everyone pooled their mana together, we could create a mana shield strong enough to survive the collapse.
'The C ranks are moving.'
I sensed that two of the C ranks were scaling down the building from the outside. They were quickly approaching the ground floor.
'We won't be able to kill them instantly. If the soldiers enter the dining hall, it'll be a massacre.'
Someone needed to hold them off. My first thought was that I should go, but then nobody would be able to see the incoming soldiers.
After a few seconds of deliberation, I decided to send James and Amina. Violet and I were needed with the rest of the students.
Amina's strength was equivalent to mine, so I decided to trust her to hold them off. Though we were C ranks, our strength was close to B rank. Amina might be able to defeat them both by herself, but I wanted to send James as a backup.
The dining hall actually has two other exits on the left and right, leading to the reception and the waiting area respectively, but solid mages created an {Earth Wall} to block them off.
We didn't do the same for the main entrance and the entrance to the stairs because if there was no way into the dining hall, the attackers would have used powerful explosives the bust their way in.
James with his solid attribute created a hole in the wall before filling it up and going outside.
***
(Amina Moria POV)
We enter the reception, where there were several guards patrolling. I managed to kill them without much effort.
James was rubbing his hands nervously as we walked outside the hotel.
"How can you kill so easily? Those people had lives and maybe a family."
I guess it was understandable. It was the first time he had seen a dead body. Some he considered a friend was the person who murdered them in cold blood.
"You get used to it over time. Also, it was either their lives or ours. I prefer to be alive thank you very much."
I'm pretty sure he wasn't convinced by that, but that's all I could say. It was ultimately up it him how to deal with deals with the guilt. If he gets consumed by it, then he was never meant to be a mage in the first place. At some point, a mage has to kill people.
I saw the incoming C ranks outside. They seemed to be waiting for us.
"You're finally here. I didn't think you kids had the guts to confront us outside."
The tall man with blonde hair and pale skin spoke to us.
"Yeah, it would be disastrous if you entered the dining hall. We don't want anyone to be killed, so I'll stop you here."
They both smiled as they drew their weapons. The blonde-haired man wielded a spear and the other person who was even shorter than me wore gloves with claws on them.
"James, stop the D ranks from interfering. Make sure to kill your opponents. It's your life or theirs. Choose which is more important."
I turned and faced the two C ranks.
"Come, I'll be your opponent."
The shorter man was insulted by this.
"You're just a brat, don't get cocky."
No more words were exchanged. I rushed forward, meeting my targets at the centre.