Ch.76Chapter 76. The Beginning of the Incident (5)

The undead wyvern was surprisingly agile despite its size.

Unlike before, when I swung my sword infused with mana, the wyvern retreated with quick wing beats.

‘It’s quite perceptive.’

If it had stayed still trusting the strength of its bones like just now, I would have sliced the Death Knight riding it in half. What a shame.

Grrrr-

The wyvern growled lowly while flapping its wings.

Then it began to exit through the same hole it had created to enter.

“Huh, it’s leaving?”

I hadn’t expected the wyvern to leave the building without hesitation.

That gave me a moment to think. Fortunately, there were no casualties from the wyvern breaking into the building.

Though it seemed some people were injured by falling debris.

“Everyone move calmly! Head toward the entrance!”

Looking down, I could see the students were being controlled fairly well.

Professor Amillion Starpen was at the center of it all.

Thanks to Professor Amillion, who was shouting with veins bulging on her neck, the students were following instructions well despite the emergency.

Since I couldn’t see Yuria, she must have already gone outside to help Erika.

‘Will they be alright?’

Originally, I had planned to stay close to the students to protect them, but things seemed under control now.

The academy professors were responding faster than expected, and Erika seemed to be handling things well outside.

Confirming the situation below put my mind somewhat at ease.

“Who are you?”

Shing-

In that brief moment when I was looking down at the complex situation below and the wyvern that had gone outside—

Someone had placed a sword against my neck.

I could feel the sharp blade and subtle pressure from the mana surrounding the sword.

It was Kassis Sinclair who had pointed his sword at me.

Behind Kassis, I could see several professors leaping into the air.

“Focus on protecting the students instead.”

Ting-

I said this while pushing away Kassis’s sword with my finger.

He probably perceived my voice as female thanks to this black mask.

“…Are you on our side?”

Kassis asked while withdrawing his sword without resistance.

“At least I’m not on the same side as that undead wyvern.”

“Right, I saw you swing your sword at it.”

“Then hurry and go protect the kids.”

“…”

Kassis hesitated at my words.

He probably felt there was no need to help below since Professor Amillion seemed to have things under control.

Even I could see it was stable.

“The entrance is probably swarming with undead. It would be better to have one more person there.”

“…What?”

“No time to explain. Just protect the students, okay?”

Whoosh-

With those final words, I pushed Kassis aside and jumped toward the hole the undead wyvern had created.

As I emerged outside, the wyvern and Death Knight charged toward me as if they had been waiting.

It really was agile despite its size.

Perhaps because it had only bones and no flesh.

The undead wyvern rushed toward me at several times the speed of a normal wyvern.

Keeeng-

As the wyvern extended its front claws to grab me, I met it with my sword.

‘It’s strong too.’

Not only was it unusually fast for its size, but it also had strength befitting its bulk.

When I deflected it, the wyvern seemed surprised and retreated again instead of continuing its attack.

Whoosh- Whoooosh-

“Wow.”

In the dark night, the bone wyvern hovered in the air, flapping its wings under the soft moonlight.

With the moon visible beyond the undead wyvern, it was quite a magnificent scene.

“Don’t you have something like fire breath?”

Grrrr-

The undead wyvern growled as if it understood my words.

Since it reacted, I thought it might shoot something, but disappointingly, it didn’t.

Instead, it flapped its wings more vigorously, preparing to fly at me again.

“That’s a bit disappointing.”

Well, even living wyverns don’t breathe fire or anything like that.

Expecting that from a dead one would be asking too much.

Swaaak-

The flapping wyvern rushed toward me again quickly.

This time, instead of extending its front claws, it led with its head.

The undead wyvern charged at me with its mouth wide open as if to bite me.

‘Not bad.’

I thought as I watched the approaching bones.

Large, fast, strong, and sturdy bones.

Kwang!

A tremendous sound erupted as the wyvern’s sharp teeth met my sword.

This would make a perfect second undead pet after Greenie.

Grin-

A smile involuntarily spread across my face.

Tremble-

At the same time, I felt the wyvern’s teeth touching my sword quiver slightly.

Though it couldn’t see my expression because of the black mask, the wyvern seemed to sense my smile.

I wasn’t sure why it was trembling.

**

“Ah, when are they coming?!”

Kwang-

Erika shouted while swinging her sword irritably.

As she swung her short dagger, skeletons collapsed in heaps with the sound of something breaking.

But soon, as if each bone had a life of its own, they began to reassemble themselves.

The skeletons that hadn’t had their skulls destroyed were quickly rebuilding themselves.

“Sigh.”

When the undead wyvern crashed into the building, she instinctively knew.

Neither Yuria nor the captain would be able to come help.

In fact, the mental messages she had been exchanging with the captain had stopped at that moment.

Still, she thought someone would come out quickly to help, since everyone in the building, like it or not, would have understood the situation.

Chang-

“Ugh. I’m not cut out for this kind of combat.”

This time, Erika’s sword didn’t reach the skeletons.

A Death Knight nearly two meters tall had swung its heavy sword to block Erika’s strike.

Though the Death Knight was sent flying by the impact.

Erika’s style was completely unsuited for this type of battle.

Her specialties were stealth, tracking, and other quiet, covert operations.

That’s not to say her combat ability was weak, but Erika was vulnerable in one-against-many fights.

One-on-one, she was confident.

‘Why isn’t anyone coming out?’

Erika suppressed her desire to track down and dismantle the head of the Death Knight that had been sent flying, and held her position.

If she left now, skeletons and Death Knights would pour into the building immediately.

If that happened, they would encounter the many students rushing toward the entrance.

What would happen after that was something she didn’t want to think about.

No matter how much she disliked nobles, she didn’t want people to die.

“Ugh, everyone’s so slow!”

Just as Erika was about to cut down another heap of skeletons with a heated voice:

“Am I too late?!”

Crackle-

“Ah.”

Though it wasn’t the voice Erika had been waiting for, it was still a somewhat welcome one.

Simultaneously, she felt a chilling sensation all over her body, and the skeletons in front of her began to freeze one by one.

Erika quickly looked toward the source of the voice.

Someone wearing a black uniform with a hood, just like her, was approaching with leisurely steps.

She knew immediately from the relaxed gait even in this situation.

It was Yuria.

“You came so quickly?”

“The students will be coming out soon. We need to create an evacuation route so they can escape safely.”

“They’re really coming out this way? Tell them to use another entrance.”

“There is no other entrance.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

Yuria shrugged at Erika’s incredulous response and drew upon her mana again.

Though Yuria had frozen a heap of skeletons with her cold energy, they kept coming endlessly.

Moreover, the Death Knight that had been frozen was breaking the ice by itself and starting to move again.

“These friends are tougher than I thought?”

“You need to freeze them more thoroughly. They’re moving because you’re doing a half-hearted job.”

“Hmm. But I’ve still frozen more skeletons than you’ve taken down, Erika.”

“…”

Erika was annoyed but couldn’t argue.

She definitely couldn’t compete with a mage in this kind of one-against-many battle.

Especially if that mage was from the Phrysis family, specializing in ice magic.

Whoosh-

While Erika bit her lip in frustration, another massive wave of mana began to surge from Yuria’s hands.

It was much denser and greater in quantity than the mana that had struck the undead earlier.

Erika instinctively took a step back, waiting for Yuria’s spell.

“Be careful!”

“I’m already out of the way.”

Crackle-

Whether Yuria heard her response or not.

Yuria had already released her mana forward before Erika could finish her reply.

As mana spread from Yuria’s hands, everything in front of her began to freeze rapidly.

It was a much colder chill than before.

A chill so cold it felt sharp.

Crack-

‘Damn. This is broken.’

It felt like being caught in a blizzard on a snowy mountain.

The mana Yuria released was freezing not only the approaching skeletons and Death Knights but also the ground and surrounding trees.

And the range was no joke either.

“Phew. I wonder if this is enough.”

“…”

Erika deliberately didn’t respond to Yuria’s words.

An area with a radius of about 1km had frozen over.

At least on the surface, there appeared to be no moving figures.

“This is ridiculous.”

“What is?”

“…Nothing, forget it.”

“Shall we create an evacuation route now?”

“…”

Erika frowned deeply as she watched Yuria drawing upon her mana again.

Though she also used magic, this kind of spell was absolutely beyond her.

‘This is why natural talents are so annoying.’

Reminded again that Yuria was from the Phrysis family, Erika leaped up.

“Where are you going?”

“To help the captain. And we need to find the vice chancellor or whatever. He’s not around here.”

“I see.”

Erika left, leaving Yuria behind.