Chapter 67.

Adrian tried to appreciate the refreshing cold air and the massive amount of experience he was getting.

They were the only positive aspects of this mess.

He was nearly a kilometre above the ground. Monsters were drifting towards the dome. Frustration was rising.

Adrian summoned a thousand swords within himself and manifested them into reality in batches of a hundred. He was fast enough that for the most part, it was only corpses that hit the ground. A sword beam from one of the floating swords orbiting him annihilated the remainder and the rare few survivors who managed to land on the dome were prey for the vicious plants he had grown on the surface.

Poison and Acid were truly wonderful.

It was effortless and Adrian felt a weight lift from his chest, people had stopped dying here, but his frustration remained.

Adrian Dashed again. He cut across the city with Blindsight. The dome proving to be no obstacle to his senses.

Hundreds of corpses. Thousands of injured people. A mother weeping over the brutalized form of an infant. Tired adventurers who had collapsed in the middle of the street laughing as they realized that they were alive.

He saw it all. But he didn't see Motoyasu.

Adrian landed near a gate, skeletons, massive insects and giant dogs, was already approaching, and used his projected swords to sweep the area with a Sword Beam. He left the sword behind. It was possible that they'd need it later.

He repeated his actions all around the city, flattening the entire area. Reducing forests and uneven ground to plains. It would probably have some negative impact on the economy and ecology of the area.

Adrian didn't bother considering such factors.

The Wave was an odd one. It was located directly above the Hourglass and was heavily focused on the city. The monsters were much stronger than the ones he had faced before, something he suspected was because both Itsuki and Naofumi had spent time without fueling the barrier, and they weren't stopping. Even stranger was how it had used his teleportation skill to bring him here. Not the Hourglass'. It was why he was only frustrated with Motoyasu's absence rather than terrified.

Of course, it was the Hourglass behaving oddly that made him feel lightheaded.

Malty had somehow managed to summon a Wave by draining an hourglass. His previous assumption of the Hourglass working against her as possible but he could see a lot of other options as well. The situation was fucked up. He had assumed that it had been some form of possession or mind control or something, but it was just like Malty threw a tantrum and ruined the Kingdom that she could not inherit.

Cruel and stupid was pretty much her go-to strategy.

He shrugged it off, furious at himself for being distracted, and focused on the wall guards. A Dash took him to the man who was barking orders. The armoured knight jerked backwards and flailed around for a moment after Adrian appeared on the wall overlooking the east. The dome expanded above the walls protecting them a little once he realized that they were exposed.

It frustrated him. The Knight was at least level 60 but he was far too slow. These people wouldn't be able to stand up to the Wave properly.

"Sw-sword Hero," the man said, before going down on one knee, "It is an honour-"

Adrian suppressed his desire to roll his eyes.

"Stand up," he said, impatience heavy in his voice, "I need to know where all the nearby settlements are. Now."

His final word was emphasized when the man stared at him dumbly. Adrian felt like leaving. Telescopic sight combined with the heights he could reach should allow him to find all the settlements that were nearby. He needed to get there soon. Adrian was not naive enough to think that he had done enough. The capital was safe for now but the Wave had been in full swing when he had arrived. Hundreds of monsters were around the city as well and while he'd cleared them out it meant that there was a good chance that the nearby villages were still in danger.

His caution was getting people killed.

"Well?" he asked, tempted to blast the idiot and ask the next person.

"There are five settlements, sir." said a man behind the one on his knees, unlike his superior this man had only saluted Adrian, "I can show them to you on a map."

Adrian nodded and changed his sword form to project a map using his cartographers' sword.

"Will this suffice?" he asked, dashing to the man's side.

The soldier flinched but nodded and pointed out the locations. Adrian nodded and dashed away, irritated by his behaviour.

He had seen all of these settlements before with his skills.

Adrian moved and attacked. There were plenty of monsters to slaughter on the way. He felt relieved that he was strong enough to kill everything in his path. It wasn't enough, not really, but it was better than being helpless. He couldn't imagine anything worse than being teleported and then proving himself to be too weak to matter.

He arrived above the village and grimaced as soon as his senses grasped the situation. Adrian didn't wait or plan.

He fell.

Within seconds he was blazing towards the ground, cold wind buffeted him, projected swords moving even faster than him killing the more difficult targets. Moments before he crashed he triggered a Dash. The cold cut off instantly and he landed in front of a farmer holding a pitchfork, desperate to defend a child who was hiding.

A slash was followed by an immense firestorm.

Adrian carefully directed it to hit only the monsters. His mana guiding the flames away from the people.

Blindsight let him understand his failure.

Five people were killed. Many more injured. Homes were in ruins.

It was a microcosm of what had occurred in the city. Only a handful of monsters had managed to arrive here, mostly flying beasts or those on the outskirts of the Wave, but even that was enough to devastate the village.

Adrian didn't wait for them to react. He wasn't sure what he could say to them that didn't sound like mockery. A series of Dashes let him move around the perimeter of the village. He noted the paltry, shattered defences and placed a handful of seeds in a dozen different spots. A small trickle of SP later they had started to grow into a proper defensive fortification.

They expanded underground first before rising upwards and sideways to meet each other. The ten-meter tall fence that was created drew gasps from the village folk. Adrian noted awe and worry but no fear. It had not had time to arrive.

The tops of the trees began to change shape. Swiftly they folded inwards towards the centre of the village. A dome forming around the village, support pillars dropping as he slowly cut the village off from the rest of the world.

Adrian landed inside the area before it was sealed off. He directed the support pillar near him to form a flat surface. Something akin to a table.

"Healing Potions. Magic Water. Stamina Potions. Salves. Food" he said, manifesting some of each item as he spoke to the man with the highest quality robes in the village, "please use them freely. I'll be back to check on you within half an hour or whenever the Waves end. Don't leave the dome."

He waited. Then realized that he had killed the monsters and created the dome in less than ten seconds. Their surprise was understandable.

Still, "Do you understand?" he asked, more forcefully this time and got a nod.

Adrian nodded back and then dashed upwards. The dome closed behind him and flowers bloomed inside lighting the village up. He promised himself that he'd return and help them restore their homes. It would be the work of moments for him and it would probably matter a great deal to them.

He glanced back at the Wave and grimaced at the sight of monsters already pressuring the defenders on the walls. The dome was doing well but little else was.

He should have sealed off the entire city. The defenders on the walls were quite useless.

Adrian launched a dozen long-range sword beams to cut down the numbers, wincing at the hit to his SP even through the Status Enchantments. He moved. Feeling like there was a hole in his chest he ignored the defenders for the moment. There was a nearby village that he had to shield and it was their job to protect the walls. To die if need be...at least in theory. He very much doubted they trained for things like a Wave centred directly on their city with no warning or preparation time.

He was leaving them to die.

Adrian promised himself to be better prepared. None of this would be a problem if he had an army. A real army rather than the mess that Melromarc had.

Then, he remembered the bitch that had managed to trigger the Wave and cursed her instead.

His worthless thoughts were removed once he arrived at the village. Monsters infested this one as well.

Sword flew. Screeches rang out for an instant before they were silenced.

Emotions don't matter, he reminded himself, I have a job to do.

It didn't remove the bitter feeling of helplessness as he saw the dead again.

Two hours. One second. Five minutes.

It had taken two hours for the Chimaera to emerge. One second for it to die and five minutes for the Wave to fade after that.

It was only after the reddish hue vanished that he realized that dawn had passed him by during the battle. The sun was there, weakly poking its way through the clouds. He heard a loud cheer from the soldiers and adventurers on the walls.

A laugh escaped his dry throat and he pulled out some water from his sword. For a single moment, he shut his Blindsight and drank the cold, clean water. It was a guilty relief not to see the unmoving bodies or that shattered parts of the city below him.

He landed on the dome, sending a fragment of his SP to the plants and causing the dangerous variants to recede. Adrian moved with a deliberately slow pace, bsorbing the monsters, trying not to think and simply taking deep breaths.

He couldn't convince himself for long. Adrian began to Dash around quickly absorbing the monsters so that he could remove the dome from the city. He'd built it rather hastily and he didn't want to find out that it was unstable once weathered by time.

Skeletons, bees, snakes, spiders and many others were consumed. He unlocked hundreds of swords but it felt odd. Adrian tried to shrug it off but it didn't fade away. As he analyzed the area with Blindsight it felt even worse.

It took him a moment to realize that he felt bad for gaining this power after failing to protect so many people. Adrian didn't think that he was some kind of God or all-powerful being. He was being irrational. Stupid. He knew that it wasn't his fault...at least not completely.

Emotions didn't listen to logic.

He could see the hundreds of bodies strewn around the city. The guards had been mobilized. People were being helped but many more were trapped in rubble or moaning in pain or staring blankly with nothing in their faces.

Adrian let out a shuddering breath and moved upward after the last monster was absorbed. The rays of the sun lightly caressed his face but he ignored the warmth and focused on the five villages he had fortified. They seemed to be fine with only some weak monsters struggling to overcome his barriers.

Adrian moved swiftly. Within a minute the monsters near them had been eradicated and the domes removed. He left the fences as they were, only adding a gate, as an apology for trapping them in the dark.

He couldn't imagine many things more terrifying than being trapped, dependant on the kindness of a stranger, helpless and worried.

Adrian moved up higher into the sky and tried to relax. He savoured the illusion of freedom; of being truly unconstrained. His mind began to slowly reach stillness as his breaths grew longer. The cold air spread from his lungs to his mind. He sipped at a Stamina booster.

This had been a disaster, but recovery was possible for many of the people down there. It was also an opportunity.

But to make full use of it he'd have to deal with an immense challenge.

Politics.

Before his courage faded Adrian repositioned himself directly above the central pillar that was anchoring his dome, open a small hole in the dome and let go of his skills.

His stats let him contemplate for a very long time even as he enjoyed an absurd version of skydiving. His hands were comfortable despite being exposed to the frigid air, his breathing was calm and his heart rate steady.

It was oddly boring to skydive when you felt no fear of falling. The thrill had been destroyed.

Adrian triggered his Dash and emerged outside the tent that the arguing nobles were using to coordinate their plans. He could see Agatha pacing while speaking to the others who were seated. They were scared of her. It amused him. Then, Mana sight confirmed his suspicions and inflamed his anger.

He walked in with a pair of floating swords as his escorts. The guards didn't try to stop him once they got a good look at his sword.

Adrian kept a placid smile up.

"Good morning," he said, as he called on the roots nearby to make a throne for himself, it rose underneath him and slowly the entire tent was uprooted and consumed as a building formed around them. He did his best to make it as Majestic as possible. A mirror of the throne room that Aultcray had first attempted to control him with.

It felt right.

The nobles stared at him nervously as the room around them changed. None of them protested as their chairs were removed forcing them to remain standing. The table they had been organized around was destroyed and their servants were gently pushed out by a couple of vines. Vines that were quickly covered in crystals, mana draining crystals. Only Agatha caught that. She observed them with incredible focus and only relaxed once she was certain that they were on the walls.

The atmosphere had changed. The smell of wood, the beautiful crystals that were arrayed around the room, the flowers that acted as the light source, the fact that they were forced to stand while he was seated on a throne.

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