457 Five Nodes (4)

Meanwhile, Eres, Liu Ying, and Raven, followed by Prince Calisto's men, hurried toward the node in the west.

Just like Bloed and Regina, they saw a lot of chaos and dead bodies on the way to the node. The sight made the group frown, and their expressions turned grave.

Moreover, when they noticed the strange monsters wandering the city and killing indiscriminately, their faces turned dark.

"… The Blight." Liu Ying said through gritted teeth.

As three of the closest people to Bloed, the three girls knew about the true identity of these monsters. In fact, the three girls had fought them before.

But even they were surprised by the sheer number of monsters in the city.

"It looks like the situation is worse than we thought." Eres frowned.

"Should we kill them?" Aya asked, but Liu Ying and Eres shook their heads.

"The node is our priority." Liu Ying spoke. "We should take care of it first."

Eres and Aya nodded.

The group continued advancing in the direction of the node, occasionally killing the monsters that appeared in their way. Eventually, they arrived at the location of the node.

But when they arrived, the scene on there surprised them.

"… So many monsters." Aya gasped.

At least twenty monsters could be seen growling and roaring in hunger. Moreover, every monster seemed much stronger than the monsters Liu Ying and the others had seen before arriving here.

But the monsters were not the only ones there. A group of people was facing them.

Aya recognized one of them instantly.

"Miss Isabella!"

"Huh? Aya?" The girl who was hovering in the air while unleashing spells towards the monsters was startled after hearing Aya's voice.

She was a beautiful girl with purple hair and blue eyes. Intense waves of mana were surrounding her, and several magic circles appeared and disappeared around her every second.

Her name was Isabella Castor, leader of [Genius Society] and publicly known as the second strongest student in the city.

She was accompanied by a group of students who were fighting the monsters together with her. Every one of these students was very strong, with the weakest being at the initial stage of A-Rank. Moreover, some of them were close to Isabella's level.

Liu Ying and the girls managed to recognize some of them, including a young man with a sturdy built and fierce expression. He was George, the leader of the Martial Arts Club, and the fourth-strongest student in the city.

"Aya, what are you doing here?" Isabella asked in surprise. However, she did not stop attacking the monsters with her spells.

"Bloed sent us here to destroy the node," Aya said and Isabella nodded in relief.

"Great. We were needing a hand. Your two companions are Miss Liu Ying and Miss Eres, right? I hope you can help us."

"We will." Liu Ying agreed. "What is the situation?"

"We were nearby when the magic circle activated and noticed this barrier. I knew that this was important, so I brought the strongest members of [Genius Society] with me to destroy it. However, I did not expect that so many monsters were protecting it. Fortunately, George appeared with the members of the Martial Arts Club, or we would have been forced to run away."

Liu Ying and the others nodded.

They could see that the situation was bad. Even now, the members of the two clubs were being pushed back. Fortunately, Isabella and George were very strong, so the group barely managed to hold on. But at this rate, they would be annihilated before long."

"We will help!" Liu Ying said as she, Aya, Eres, and Prince Calisto's men charged towards the monsters. Isabella did not refuse their help and instead warned them in a serious voice.

"Don't let them touch you and don't attack them with mana. They can absorb it."

"We know." Liu Ying, Eres, and Aya nodded.

As soon as the three girls entered the battlefield, the precarious situation of Genius Society and the Martial Arts Club improved slightly. Liu Ying used [Silent Touch] and killed a monster attacking a student, and Eres, who had experienced the ability of the monsters to absorb mana, did not hesitate to use [Skysword], killing two monsters in less than five seconds.

Of the three, Aya was the only one that did not have any means to fight the monsters directly, but she hid in the shadows as she threw flying daggers at the monsters fighting the students, helping them every time they were in danger.

"What reliable allies. Hahaha, it looks like we will be able to kill these monsters after all." George laughed heartily as he attacked one of the monsters.

Unfortunately, even with the addition of the three girls and Prince Calisto's men, the situation was still unfavorable.

When the monsters realized that Liu Ying and Eres had the means to injure them, they focused on them, making it impossible for the two of them to play a bigger role on the battlefield.

Of the remaining students, only Isabella and George had the means to kill the monsters, but even they were in a bad situation. After all, the two of them were used to fight using mana, and against monsters that devoured mana, they were at a clear disadvantage.

"… Dammit," Isabella growled. "We can't go like this."

Even now, the situation was quickly worsening. In the last five minutes, three students had been killed!

Isabella had tried to save them, but her magic was not that effective against the monsters. Her only option was to use overwhelmingly powerful magic with more mana than the monsters could devour, but that kind of magic put a toll on her.

Moreover, these monsters were very powerful. Every one of them was at the level of a peak A-Rank practitioner, and some were slightly stronger.

"We can't go like this." Liu Ying agreed as well, realizing the gravity of the situation just like Isabella.

"Do any of you have a plan?" George asked while he kicked a monster away.

Liu Ying thought for a moment before looking at Isabella.

"Miss Isabella, are you able to destroy the barrier protecting the node?"

Isabella thought for a moment before nodding.

"… I can. But I need a bit of preparation. Twenty seconds should be enough."

"We will get you the time you need then. Our priority is to destroy the node. After that, we will retreat. If we continue fighting these monsters, we will die."

Isabella was startled, but she nodded.

"… Everyone, that is the plan. We need to protect Miss Isabella." Liu Ying told the others.

"Understood."

"Leave it to me."

"Nn."

"We will protect our leader!"

"We will show these monsters how strong we are!"

Eres, George, Aya, and some of the students fighting the monsters replied excitedly.

Isabella nodded and started to cast the spell. In the next second, an enormous amount of mana surged out of her body!

The mana quickly turned into a magic circle in front of her, but that was just the start. With every passing second, the magic circle became brighter and more complex, and the mana in it became denser and denser.

The monsters seemed to realize the danger of the magic that Isabella was about to release. As soon as she started to cast the spell, every monster looked in her direction before screeching in rage!

"Careful!" George shouted as he stopped the attack of a monster that charged towards them.

He immediately felt the mana inside him being drained away, but he just grunted and pushed the monster away, before blocking another monster.

The rest of the group also suffered attacks from the monsters. They surrounded Isabella as they protected her from the crazy charge of the bloodthirsty creatures.

"Dammit!" Liu Ying grunted and released her aspect. Her overwhelming physical strength together with [Silent Touch] allowed her to resist the monsters better than most people, but even she was having trouble defending against them.

She heard several students groaning in pain and saw some of them being torn apart by the monsters, but she did not have the leisure to help them.

These were the longest twenty seconds in Liu Ying's life. She felt as though these twenty seconds were eternal.

But eventually, she heard Isabella's voice.

"I'm done!"

In the next second, a giant magic circle appeared above the barrier.

"[Light Anhihilation]!" She shouted.

And a pillar of light descended from the sky.

...

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