The Second Wave (2)

Aria was unsatisfied at the arrangements. There would be mass slaughter outside, but the women and children were to stay inside the city. They were the so-called 'last defences' of the kingdom in case everyone fails, or at least it was what they were told.

'An extremely sloppy excuse', if Aria were to describe it. Nonetheless, it was indeed busy inside. More and more people flooded from within the gates, mostly being carried. Each one of them were crying out in pain as the team in charge of mending their wounds could not keep up with their sheer number of patients.

"Ah!! My leg! My leg!"

"Somebody, save my friend!"

"I don't want to die!!"

Varying screams from varying people with varying reasons for their calls as well as a brief introduction to what person they are. One shouted merely to soothe himself of pain, one shouted for the sake of his own life, and one shouted NOT for the sake of his own life.

It was chaos. Aria had brief occasional glances of the outside, but it seemed even greater chaos out there. There she saw deaths, and deaths, and deaths, and even more deaths.

'Is this really what he wanted?' Aria thought as she recalled her not-exactly good person of a friend.

His existence was the abyss itself. The moment one peers onto him as they try to see secrets from within, the more they find themselves drawn. A man with many contradictions. He was kind—even though he doesn't realize it himself—but cruel. He was cruel, but soft onto others. He hated lies, yet constantly deceives. Aria could list more from his curious existence, and still fit his complex behaviour.

However, if she was to summarize all of it in a single sentence; he was a normal person forced to change. At the very least she believes so.

Aria increased her pace as she walked. The healers all have their hands full, yet here she was dawdling around with nothing to do.

She sighed. The boredom was already getting into her. And it looks like she wouldn't be able to stop herself from going out.

'Sorry, everyone.'

She turned to the castle gates, as she prepared her gear. The people around won't stop her. Try as they might, they can't. So it was easy. She just had to go past the gate.

However, an unexpected guest arrived.

◇◇◇

The crown prince, Jaime Selvenia, was completely devastated. He witnessed his friends die in front of him, and he was powerless to stop it. He swung, stabbed, and pierced to many monsters already, but it wasn't enough. There were too many of them—far too many in fact.

"Your highness! You must retreat! We're getting pushed back!" one of the knights shouted.

"Mind your tongue!" Jaime hissed. "I will not back down from here!"

He wouldn't retreat. The western wing was the place his father entrusted him, and he would not betray expectations. He furrowed his brows, grit his teeth as he held his rapier tighter. He thrust, stabbed and struck true to the monsters again, and felled even more.

But no matter, there were simply far too many of them. Cutting down or stabbing through a hundred wouldn't do anything to their sheer number. And that fact made Jaime even more angrier.

It was the Wave. Who made it, and why? Why do people have to die for this bullshit? Why do many have to suffer? And why does she have to fight?

She. The girl who's name he didn't even know. She came like storm to his library, and casually ignored the rules he'd set up. She was a strange one. Despite being a girl, she wore male garments, spoke like a man, acted like a man, but it would not deceive his eyes.

She was hiding her self inside her, and she herself was aware of it. But why go through such trouble to such lengths? What was her reason so?

Jaime didn't know. But something in him wouldn't let him forget her existence. Perhaps it was because of the shameful encounter with him, or perhaps her insults were still vivid in his mind. In any case, his heart would quicken every time he recalled her confident yet stern poise. He could feel his head lighten, and his lips would unconsciously curve upwards.

He hadn't experience such symptoms before, and he was curious of how she did it to him.

'I guess I have to get the truth from her, I guess?'

That's right. He could simply see when this was over. Thinking so, strength seemed to well up in him as he fought with renewed vigour.

A 3 meter ape slashed at him with its long claws, but Jaime easily avoided it. They were slow. He then prepared to counterattack, but then he noticed...

'Blood...?'

Blood was dripping from his neck. He didn't know where he got the wound, but it was undoubtedly his. And for a brief moment he wondered, a voice entered his ears. A familiar one.

"Tch. Looks like I missed the right coordinates...I need more practice on Void Slash..."

After he heard it, cold chill suddenly enveloped his body as the world spun.

His head had been cut off and rolled as it flew in the air. During the last second, he saw a man covered in blood as it slaughtered both his men and monsters alike.

It was a devil.

◇◇◇

Aerym, an ordinary knight from common birth fought as she struggled to keep the monsters at bay. They were the ones in charge of the eastern wing, and they looked like they had the upper hand. However, that was only what it seemed.

'This is too much!' she complained inwardly as she and her allies tried to hold back the waves of monsters.

Their commander was pushing them beyond limits, and continued to issue orders without rest.

Aerym, who was born as a commoner didn't like nobles like that. She hated being used and treated like a disposable pawn, but she had no choice. Soon, their formation would crumble, and the eastern wing would be annihilated.

She grit her teeth as she continued to fight back, until she noticed something.

'Huh? A barrier?'

A barrier had been erected that separated the monsters and the soldiers. Though it seems spells could go through the barrier, it wouldn't be enough to make them win. The mages would soon run out of mana, and if that happens, it would be their doom. Then who would do this?

As she thought about the possibilities, a massive magic circle appeared in the sky. It spanned the size of about 20 meters, as it glowed in a flaming colour. It then disappeared, and what replaced it was a rain of flames and burning rocks.

It seems someone nearby recognized the spell as they cried out. "I-It the Fire Storm spell!! A Third Tier spell!"

'Third?!' Aerym was shocked.

Third Tier would mean that the caster was at least in the Third Step, right?!

With the current state of the world where mana-rich monsters roamed the world, it certainly easier to Level up, but at current, there had been no records of people who reached the Third Step. The only possibility would be...

"...an Ancient...?"

As she muttered so, a flash of white light suddenly appeared from above, as it then fell down the ground. The moment it made contact, the flash brightened as the monsters near the area disappeared. In its place, a black haired young man stood with a shining silver spear in hand. He stood as he faced the massive horde of the monsters without flinching. Aerym knew what that spear was...

"...a Divine Weapon..."

However, it seems it was far from done yet.

The next moment, a flash of green appeared from the sky, as it them split into countless more green flashes, as it rained down the waves of monsters. That one attack alone murdered hundreds of monsters that they would have suffered casualties in order to fend off.

And right after that, everyone heard someone's yell.

"Ooh Yeah! Here I come, bitches!!"

Next was the cracking sound of electricity, and the bursting of flames, as a powerful explosion suddenly shook in the middle of the horde.

More small explosions then resounded from the same direction, but for her, that didn't matter.

After all, she had a feeling. She was saved.