Chaos

Lumi was told to run away.

"I'll get the numen," he said, meeting her gaze. "And I don't want you to get in my way."

As the priestess ran away from the scene, she couldn't help but feel the on and off presence of divinity. Sometimes, she could sense it from afar, but at times, it vanishes as if it disappears like a bubble.

There was something about it she couldn't finger into.

As Lumi took a sharp turn to an alley, she meets several more monsters that were coming in hoards; except this time, adventurers are fighting them.

"S-stay back!"

The sword of the adventurer swordsman then feebly clanged to the morphed mutant's one arm. The mutant simply grabbed the swordsman by his torso from its other arm, then clenched its large fist, making his innards come out as blood spluttered to the air.

"Eeek!!!" The mage who was with them grimaced as most of the swordsman's blood went into her.

"This is for my friend, y-you monster!" One of the men holding an axe said as he slashed the morphed mutant who killed the swordsman. However, this only made the mutant angrier. It screamed and charged into an enraged attack, filling the scene with gore and blood splatter.

Lumi couldn't help but feel nauseous just by merely looking at it.

The monsters then took notice of her, then without hesitation, they attacked in hoards.

She then propelled her hand forward, channeling divine power into her palms as golden light shot through, momentarily blinding the monsters and the adventurers alike.

Then, as the light finally dissipated, the priestess was already gone.

**

"This is seriously stressing me out…" Lumi exclaimed as she held on tightly to the cloak Siegren gave her.

As she ran away from the alleys, what welcomed her was far worse—the bloodshed from the capital was direr than she have imagined. The monsters, the undead, were feasting on the flesh and the mana of the bodies of the adventurers and the civilians who got caught up in the chaos that ensued.

Lumi covered her mouth as the stench of rot from the monsters and the thick mist of malevolence enclosed her nose.

'This is nauseating.'

The scene reminded her of the time the Estelan temple was attacked by Siegren. The blood pooled on the cobblestone floors as the aisle of the streets gets overrun by monsters who overpowered the adventurers of the Aclarian country.

The garlands that were proudly hung into the buildings were now on the bloody terrain, stomped by the undead and the living alike.

Lumi walked stealthily amid the battle as she watches a clear, one-sided battle occur.

"Gggrawh!!!"

Lumi's eyes widened as a morphed mutant punched from behind. The barrier she made reverberated, making her turn around to see the monster tower over her.

She gritted her teeth, conjuring more divine power as the monster continuously slammed its fist into the divinity materializing into a golden barrier.

The force exerted enabled cracks to appear.

'The same thing is happening as before!' Lumi bit her lips as she used both of her hands to strengthen the barrier.

Though she was still cloaked, there is no hiding her divine power. The templars will be able to narrow down her location the more she uses her divinity—and aside from that, she would be attracting more monsters.

The morphed mutant then drew both of his hands away, then suddenly it balled its hands into a fist, then at the same time it punched the barrier.

More morphed mutants then came, doing the same thing.

The ground below Lumi cracked as the mutants continuously repeats their voracious attacks.

'I'll have to use it,' Lumi gritted her teeth as she looked at the mutants through the gap on the hood of her cloak.

'I'll have to conjure divinity at a greater scale—' Lumi then felt her hands tremble. 'But my mana…'

She hasn't even recovered fully from what happened earlier in the underground dungeon! If she happens to use her power now, there is a chance that she'll collapse.

The catalyst for divinity isn't tailored to things like fighting monsters—rather, the catalyst acts as a reservoir, and not the medium itself!

"Nngh…" Beads of sweat dripped from Lumi's forehead, trickling down to her chin.

She has to do something!

"ARGH!"

Lumi blinked.

One of the morphed mutants that were attacking to get her had been kicked!

Landing on her two feet was a girl with a tan complexion. Her green hair tied in a ponytail fluttered in the breeze as she lifted her feet and expertly kicks the other monsters, giving them an uppercut with her bare toes.

Her movements were quick, and she was agile. As the morphed mutants fell to the ground, Lumi dispelled the barrier she created and then went to end the life of the monsters using her divinity, along with the other girl who gave them a kick in the nape, smashing their heads with her heavy stomps.

Lime green hair met blue ones.

"You…"

"This is my payment for freeing me," the girl said, before punching an infernopest who lunged itself to attack the two.

"I'm Istel. You didn't let me finish my sentence before," the girl smiled. "How about you?"

'She's eccentric, talking normally when things are like this.' Lumi said to herself, looking at the monsters Istel killed.

Then, an explosion occurred from the far distance, snatching Lumi's attention.

"I want to know the name of my benef—"

"Lumi," the priestess answered, before immediately walking away from the girl.

"W-where are you going? Isn't it better if we stick together?" The girl shouted from the distance while killing the monsters.

Lumi didn't look back—instead, her gaze fixed on the person that she saw on top of the broken edifice where the explosion came from.

'I can't be mistaken,' Lumi scowled.

"Siegren," Lumi muttered as her pace sped up, until she was running back to the place where the explosion occurred.

"How do you even expect me not to get in your way…!"