The Selection Exam [8]
"Huh?"
Elizabeth's body froze from shock when the same beast she had just defeated appeared behind her, its eight eyes glowing like crystals.
The illusion then cleared, revealing that it was Adrian who was pinned to the wall by her sword.
He had a terrified look in his eyes as he bled out from her sword.
Elizabeth trembled while her wide eyes stared at Adrian with disbelief.
"When did…? The beast can enter minds! But when…?" she murmured to herself.
She was so overwhelmed by fear that she couldn't even turn around to face it. Somehow, the beast had forced her feelings to explode, and now she couldn't even move at all.
'Shit!' she screamed from within.
The beast then growled at her and Its acidic saliva dripped onto her uniform cloak while it opened its mouth. It was planning on swallowing her whole at once.
But she noticed something was a off. Why weren't its minions here after its roar from earlier?
Cackle**
Immediately after that thought crossed her mind, Elizabeth felt an electric shock from down her spine before a mysterious blue light of energy blasted through one of the floor walls and hit the Class S beast with force, sweeping it away in a blink of an eye before it could eat her. And following the blue light, three fireballs flew past her at an intense speed and made the entire floor quake from the explosions after finding their target.
Instantly, she regained control over her body and created another fire spear that launched at the beast to add to the already powerful attacks, causing an even bigger explosion of flames that melted the rocky walls.
"Liz!" A familiar voice called out her nickname from within the smoke and dust that had risen after the explosive attacks.
But she instead rushed to Adrian to see if he was still alive after the accident. If he were to die here, she would end up blaming herself because it was her sword and inexperience that led to all of this.
She saw him. He had fallen from the wall, but the sword was still in him.
"Adrian!"
"Phoenix's flames!" She bellowed, casting a healing spell on him to stabilize his current condition.
And slowly, she pulled the blade out to reduce the blood loss. Once it was out, a bubble of water created itself around him and began the real healing process.
"How…" she was baffled by what was happening. This wasn't her magic that was doing the healing right now, she barely had any mana left in her body for advanced magic.
"Sage water magic!" Bairon answered as he walked out of the smoke with a wand in his right hand and a sword in his left.
"Sorry we're late. The thirtieth floor is a bit difficult to reach," Arthur said, showing her the green blood oozing off his sword from the spiders they had just killed.
Elizabeth just smiled with her lips as she tried to process everything. Moments ago, she thought she was going to die. It was hard to believe she was still alive, "Thank you—"
They all froze after they sensed a sudden burst of magical energy from the tarantulus they had just defeated.
It roared even louder and released a telepathic wave that Bairon blocked for everyone. Arthur heard what it said.
'IN ALL MY YEARS, I HAVE NEVER BEEN DEFEATED. THEN THEY SEND A BUNCH OF KIDS COME TO STOP ME. I HAVE CONSUMED GIFTED BEINGS FAR STRONGER THAN ANY OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
"I can understand it." Arthur noticed.
The atmosphere changed, and everything around them started to suspend into the air as if gravity magic was at work. The entire floor was slowly collapsing from the magical energy blowing up from the monster.
"Fuck…" Bairon cursed, seeing this display of the beast's power. It was even greater than that of the ogre from before.
"What…what is it?" Arthur panicked.
"The creature has gone berserk; it is now releasing all the power in its core. We'll have to kill it,and destroy the core before it wipes us all out!"
Elizabeth stood up and looked at the beast as it climbed out of the hole it had created. It had gained a new form, and its physical parts were slowly melting away like wax as a new monster emerged from it.
"None of us have the mana to go against that thing," she said. "A few more spells and I will be immobile. You?" she turned to Bairon.
"I don't think I can defeat it. High-level water spells take a toll on me, so I only have enough mana for one last lightning spell!" he exclaimed, glaring at the beast with worried eyes.
"Then I will stop it!" Arthur swept in.
"Really…?" Elizabeth was shocked.
What she didn't know was Arthur had figured out something about his sword. It was different, and it could modify his magic. He wasn't sure how, but after what happened with the echidna, he was sure this was not your ordinary magic sword.
And this was the perfect time to confirm that. Defeating something of this scale would grant him a spot in the academy as a dark knight.
He nodded, "Yes, but first, I need you guys to feed mana into this sword. I think I can destroy its core by mixing both your magic and mine into this high conductor. I will create a combination of fire and lightning magic and end all of this in one move," he explained.
"…but mixing magical energy might kill you. We have different attributes, you might not be able to handle it," Bairon warned him.
Though Arthur had already made up his mind. He was going to bet his life on the words the demon girl told him.
"Use your sword once in a while."
That's what she told him. She had recognized the uniqueness of his weapon.
'She knew.'
He tightened his grip on the sword's hilt and said:
"If I die here, then I want to die knowing that I fought till the end. We can't forfeit, not when we've come so far. So I need you two to trust me on this one."
Elizabeth sighed. "Obsidian told me to the both of you, so I'll do so. Let's do it."
"Good." Arthur responded. He wasn't going to repeat the mistake of not fighting back this time. If it meant he had to dig into the darkness of this world to keep this life, then so be it.