132. Evacuation

132. Evacuation

Claire and Priscilla to the left, and I to the right. We split into two groups and began rescuing people.

Thousands of dragons were bombing the ground from the sky, destroying buildings. Burning, freezing, electrocuting. Explosions and screams echoed from all directions, creating a scene of utter chaos.

“Ur, should I bring down those things in the sky, or should I rescue people?”

“If so many dragons fall, it will be a mess down there, Master!”

“That’s right… I should drop them after evacuating the people.”

If I slice and kill the dragons in the sky, their corpses will remain, and if those corpses fall, that will be a disaster in itself. If people are unlucky enough to be underneath them… I don’t even want to think about it.

If I swing my sword with a bit more force, I could obliterate those flying in the sky without a trace, but in that case, it’s hard to predict the damage to the surroundings. Since I’m better at sweeping an area than applying force precisely, it seems like the right decision to conserve my strength here.

“Ah, I hear someone.”

I turned my head towards the sound and saw a female student desperately running and dodging the bombing. Then, building debris fell on the student, and the girl screamed as she saw the shadow cast upon her.

I rushed to her, scooped her up, and moved her away from the impact zone. The debris landed with a thud.

“Are you okay?”

“H-huk…?”

“I’ll take you to a safe place.”

I kissed her forehead to reassure her and smiled, then moved at top speed to send the student to a professor. It should be relatively safe there with the professor’s protective shield.

As I left, I thought the student’s blushing face was probably just my imagination. I continued my search.

“Why did the dragons come to the academy?”

“I don’t know. Dragons… ah, no, dragons usually don’t leave their nests.”

“Well, I’ll just kill them all.”

There is no mercy for monsters. I pierced and burst the head of a blue dragon blocking my path. Blood splattered and stained my sword, but fortunately, Ur had an automatic cleaning function.

“Seeing things like this makes dungeons seem convenient. Monsters just vanish with a ‘shwoop’ there.”

I clearly heard the reason why monster corpses don’t remain in dungeons, but I can’t quite remember. Anyway, it was clear that I envied that automatic cleaning function.

“What, they’re here again?”

Three dragons landed in front of me, spreading their wings wide. Red, yellow, and green in order, they looked like a traffic light.

“You-“

Seeing the yellow dragon open its mouth, it seemed to be about to breathe fire, so I killed it. Then the dragons on either side widened their eyes and hastily tried to escape, but before they could flee, I split them all in half and killed them.

I thought I was used to seeing monster innards, but they’re still disgusting. When I was in the north, I trained to slice and annihilate hordes of monsters at once, so I didn’t have to look at detailed anatomical charts like this.

“It’s convenient that skeletons leave nothing but bone dust when killed.”

“Yes, yes?”

“Huh? No, Ur, I’m not talking about you.”

Let’s hurry with the rescue. I headed towards where I heard the human voices.

“Kyaaak!”

“Help us!”

As I navigated through the buildings towards the source of the sounds, I saw two people being attacked by dragons.

One was a man, and the other was a woman. Of course, I had to save both, but since I only have one body, I first hugged the woman and saved her. For the man, I helped by kicking the dragon away.

As I was about to take the two to the professor, I heard screams again. The situation seemed urgent.

I spoke to the two I had rescued.

“Can you move?”

The two students nodded.

“Then go that way. The professor will be there. I’m going to save someone else.”

“Yes, yes….”

It’s essential to reassure victims in an emergency. I stroked the head of the student in my arms to comfort her. After patting her back one last time, I hurried to another location.

The source of the screams was… a building engulfed in flames.

“It sounds like it’s coming from inside the building, right?”

“Yes!”

“We need to hurry.”

I can’t destroy the building as it might cause unforeseen damage. So, I have to go inside and rescue them. I took a step forward.

“Cough, ugh, the smoke is so bad. And it’s dark.”

The lobby of the building was quite spacious. Fallen ceiling materials and shattered furniture were scattered as debris.

All the lights were off, perhaps because the wiring system was damaged. And as if fire had spread from the floor below, smoke seeped from the stairs, filling the room, making it impossible to see anything.

Extinguishing the fire was not a problem. When I squeezed Ur tightly, the cold air that emanated easily swallowed the flames. The smoke, wherever it gathered, disappeared outside the window with a casual swing of my sword.

“Those unlucky dragons can’t defeat Master! Hahaha!”

Leaving the strangely excited Ur to her own devices, I continued to ascend the stairs, following the sounds. I could only pray that there was no one who used to be human in the places that were blackened and reduced to ashes.

After climbing about four floors, I saw a female student. Perhaps she was trapped by the flames and couldn’t escape, the student was slumped against the window, half-conscious. She seemed to have inhaled a lot of smoke.

“Are you okay?”

“Hye….”

I heard that in such situations, one should be given fresh air. I stuck my face out the window as far as possible and took a deep breath.

And then I kissed her.

“Hooop….”

“Ugh?!”

It’s not much different from kissing. The only difference is that I’m blowing air into her. Instinctively, I pressed down on her resisting tongue with force and pushed my breath deep inside her. My breath filled her insides to the very depths.

“Ugh, ugh….”

“Uum.”

After pumping oxygen into her several times, when I pulled away, the student’s eyes were wide open, looking at me.

No, she still seems dazed. Is she not fully conscious? Her eyes are unfocused, and her face looks flushed.

“Heehee….”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes….”

“Then I’m glad.”

I stroked the student’s head. Then, as I hugged her tightly, her breathing became rough. I meant for her to feel safe, but given the circumstances, she doesn’t seem to be able to relax.

“Is there anyone else in this building?”

“No… I think everyone else has left… Ah, there’s a laboratory in the basement. It’s an illegally constructed area, so it’s not connected to the outside at all, so they probably didn’t hear the alarm.”

Illegally constructed? Why on earth would they do something like that?

The student avoided my gaze when she heard my muttering. Hmm, considering the smoke rising from the basement earlier, it might be too late, but I should still do what I can.

I gently placed the student on the ground and told her to hurry and find a nearby professor or staff member. I added that it would be safer than escaping alone, as everyone else is busy with rescue efforts.

The student nodded vigorously and, before leaving, made one last request.

“C-can I have one more kiss?”

“Huh?”

Suddenly?

Well, she probably wants to feel reassured. It doesn’t matter. I leaned forward and kissed her cheek, and then she giggled and went down the stairs. I just hope nothing happens to her before she reaches the professor.

“Let’s go too.”

“Yes!”

Feeling the vibrations of the ongoing bombardment, we followed suit. Unlike the student, we didn’t head to the lobby but went further underground. Still, black smoke was billowing from the underground floor.

“There’s no way for the smoke to escape here….”

There are no windows in the basement, and while there are ventilation shafts, the ventilation system seems to have stopped along with the lights. No matter how much I swing my sword, the smoke only scatters and shows no sign of disappearing.

And most importantly, it was dark. Pitch black.

Since all sides were blocked by walls, there was no faint light other than the blazing flames. The northern nights at least allow you to see the world by moonlight, but this is impossible. Moreover, the black smoke billowing made the darkness even darker.

Let’s put out the fire first.

I squeezed Ur and spread ice. The fire subsided.

“… Now I really can’t see anything.”

It was an darkness as if painted black with a paint tool. As I pondered what to do, Ur spoke.

“I can see stairs going down in that corner! It seems the ‘illegally constructed’ part was true!”

“Ur? You can see there?”

“Yes! Ur was a Death Knight! Darkness is my homeland!”

Ur boasted proudly. Seeing that, I suddenly had a good idea. I changed Ur into human form and gave her an order.

“Ur.”

“Yes!”

“Light.”

“Yes?”

Then Ur became a luminous Ur and began to shine brightly.

Alright, let’s hurry with the exploration.