The fight soon resumed after my quick introduction to another reincarnation named Pan; I've got to hand it to the guy. If he hadn't shown up when he did, I would be six feet under right now; Julius completely mopped the floor with me, reminding me of my weakness.
The fight against Julius just proved my point even further. I'm leagues ahead of regular people, and that makes me a freak of nature, but compared to Julius and this new guy Pan, I'm nothing but a tiny little fly making random noise and being a burden to them.
The world system is indeed extraordinary; how come I proliferate in such high leaps while regular people grow extremely slowly and in much smaller numbers? How come Julius is capable of holding massive amounts of energy like it's no big deal and, worse of all, when it looks and sounds like he never had to earn any of his powers?
The disparity between races is also nothing to scoff at. At the same time, witches grow considerably slower. It is also true that we live the longest among all other races, yet why would our aging process just happen to slow down at the perfect time? Something smells off from all of those details.
It's almost like this world is not even real; we are all living in a very complex world that doesn't really exist. To further drive this point forward, the whole 'world tournament' thing bugs me; how come there's such a thing as a world tournament? Are we even real?
[Last fifteen minutes remaining]
[Deploying legendary beast test subjects]
The divine system voice speaks in such a tone that I can't help but get shivers down my spine as I watch in silence the battle that unfolds outside the walls. The soldiers bravely place their lives on the lines, all to keep the people inside the perimeter safe with the help of a strange woman and a gray-skinned male.
Yet even with the support of two clearly elite subjects, the defense line has shrunk quite considerably. Now, all of that is threatened by the sudden appearance of a vast, tall cloud that materializes a rather large enemy. The cloud is dark and thick with shades of red.
Inside the clouds, a shape can be seen forming ever so more menacing; the thing forming inside the cloud looks like a gigantic lizard-like monster with many heads. Could this world also have hydras like the ones from Legend in my world? Are things like that even real!?
{Ode to Azhdaha - Yu peng chen}
Soon, the ground shakes like crazy as the cloud slowly vanishes once the gigantic one-hundred-meter-tall hydra is finished. The hydra looks like a giant lizard with many heads and incredibly deadly looks and height. I mean, the whole thing was bigger than the Lord's entire mansion. It was HUGE!
Monsters appear out of nowhere during this event, and all of it sounds like a higher being designs it, but why would it be so elaborate just because? Was this world a show for some sort of deity or for the general public to view? Am I like a character inside a light novel? My train of thought is soon disrupted when the earth shakes even more violently, causing me to trip over a small rock.
Whatever the reality of this world was, it was clear the designer did not intend to make it easy to discover music, even less when there are things like a massive hydra threatening my life right now. The hydra violently reminds everyone of the severity of the situation as it begins to shoot fire at the defense line.
"SHIELDS!" The army commanders scream as the hydra pummels their line, followed by the quick action of our mysterious allies that try their best to distract the hydra with their incredible speed and strenght, yet not even they seem capable of damaging the hydra in any meaningful way. Then, the death toll increases even more.
[Current number of casualties: 6,856,490]
Almost seven million people worldwide have lost their lives during this intense battle, but ever since the creatures appeared, the death toll has only ramped up even more, gaining eight hundred thousand deaths within the first two minutes of their appearance; the whole thing must have been a bad joke.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I silently keep on watching as I try my best not to hurt myself even more. After all, I wasn't in the condition to fight anymore. I had lost all of my MP, and all my remaining bars were below one hundred, including my HP, which meant I was a literal piece of fragile paper on the verge of death.
Yet my flame did not burn out, burning harder than ever as I saw hopeless brave men charging a massive hydra forward, not leaving their battle posts for even a second; their commitment to fight simply shocked me to my core; how come they could keep fighting while I hid away like a coward?
{Rumble Rumble}
The hydra roars and stumps all over the battlefield, taking hundreds of lives every time it opens its mouth to shoot flames at the soldiers who kept on fighting even with the odds stacked against them, even though their strongest man 'Austin' didn't even make a dent in the hydra's thick skin.
"BURN!" Austin screams at the top of his lungs as he uses a unique fire ability that summons a massive flame bird out of his sword, crashing against the enormous hydra. However, the flame bird looks awfully small in comparison, like a tiny little songbird next to a pterodactyl.
Even though his attack seemed futile and barely caused any damage to the hydra, this man kept on pushing forward along with the unlikely allies that I didn't even know the names of. Everyone was fighting with all their might, but the hydra proved too much, even for that new guy, Pan.
The hydra kept creeping forward ever so slightly, causing the people hiding behind the defense line to panic and start screaming like crazy instead of trying to improve things. Still, I understood their feelings of despair as I began to feel those same feelings myself when I saw that colossal thing effortlessly murdering thousands of soldiers like it was easy.
"Looks like they are in trouble," Says a feminine voice right behind me. I knew that voice, which then was no surprise to me. Once I turned around, I saw Veronica standing there watching me.
"I thought you were bedridden," I say to Veronica as she takes off her resting clothes just to show off her usual combat clothing, which wasn't anything too fancy, just a metal skirt and a very tight metal corset to protect her chest and belly.
"And I thought you were strong enough to face a thing like that on your own." Veronica placed her finger right where it hurt the most, but she was right; I thought of myself as she did of me. I thought I was invincible, but it turns out I'm far from it.
"I've fought with everything I had; if I could still go and help, I would be there, but right now, I would only be a burden. I'm sorry." I say to Veronica, who only places her hand over my shoulder, handing me over some healing potions before she goes outside to fight right in the queue.
Her body, still covered with some of those dark spots, soon clashes with the hydra that quickly pushes her far away, just like everyone else before her, but just like the others, she stands back up and flies back with all her strenght once again over and over.
It was then that I thought of an idea as I watched the people around the mansion and outside around the perimeter panicking and screaming. Could I perhaps give the guys fighting a little boost with the help of my unique hope skill? Hope to rejuvenate?
{Incursione - Yugo Kanno}
Without much to lose, I soon ran outside to the panicking public and began to put an order in the people with a straightforward yet strange request from everyone. I knew the chances of my idea working were low, but in a moment like this, the people fighting needed all the help they could get, and if my idea worked, my skill could provide them with just enough power to push the enemy back.
"I need everyone to calm down and start praying! Place your faith in me just once so that our defenders get the boost they deserve!" I scream at the top of my lungs to the people, who soon start to calm down once I begin to give them some small hope that maybe they could all contribute to the battle effort.
While I try my best to gather some holy prayer magic, the people fighting the hydra are having a callous time getting their asses whopped by the creature, not being able to even damage the thing in any meaningful way, including Pan, the guy who had sent Julius running away.
Perhaps the strenght of that man didn't translate well against massive enemies, or maybe he had used all of his strenght against Julius and was thus weaker than before since he had to use a considerable amount of power to humiliate Julius in such a decisive fashion but whatever the case it was clear they all could use a little boost only further fueling my desire to help them.
{Minute 1:20}
"Holy magic! Hope unique skill! HOPE REJUVENATE!" I started to cast away whatever holy MP was coming my way toward the people fighting the hydra, consisting mainly of Pan, that weird new lady, Austin, and Veronica, all suddenly getting a white aura around them, which probably took them by surprise.
Austin is suddenly able to get a massive hit on one of the creature's legs, which seems to damage it in a meaningful way for once, causing one of the hydra's legs to be heavily bleeding for a second before it quickly regenerates like a slime would.
I didn't exactly know how much of a boost I was giving all of them, but one thing was for sure: now that they had access to the holy power, I could provide them with the help of the people, their weapons, and techniques, finally seemed able to damage the hydra in a meaningful way.
Still, I could only do so much as the technique began to take its heavy toll on my banged-up body, causing my nose to bleed a little bit just mere seconds after casting the skill. How long could I keep it up? I guess I was about to find out.