C25: A Once in a Thousand Year Monster

I knew Creators had a better chance of creating something with their life energy on accident. It was the easiest affinity to make a dangerous ability for both your opponent and yourself.

With how dangerous Bets' ability was. There was a high chance it had a couple more hidden functions even he didn't know about. Like my status page, but in a more outrageous way.

My friend's breathing stabilized after a bit he breathed out. His gaze turned resolute. "Seems like I made a mistake. But it's still better than the other outcome of everyone dying. I don't regret doing this. Well, I do a bit. But you know, if I had a choice again then I would do it anyways if it meant saving everyone."

He was willing to put his life at risk for some people he doesn't even know? I wasn't surprised by his proclamation. He was a kinder person than me.

Conditions in a special ability weren't something you could get rid of. It's already done and there was nothing we could do to change it.

The other students hadn't heard what we said. They weren't looking so scared of Bets anymore. Seemed like he finally got the thankfulness he deserved.

Though I couldn't help but feel like the way they respected him was like a subordinate paying their respects to their Yakuza boss.

Despite berating Bets, and trying to convince him not to do something like this again. I understood where he was coming from. Deep down I even agreed that if I was in his situation I would have done the same. Better dying later than now and taking all your classmates with you.

Should I take some risks as well?

I stopped such thoughts for now and decided to concentrate on the present. "Anyone else wants to come with me and check on the last group together?"

My question earned me sideways looks. No one agreed. As expected. Unlike me, they didn't know how important it was for certain people to survive.

"I will come," Bets raised his hands. His ability wasn't combat-related, but it would be better than nothing.

"I'm going too," Gem raised his hand immediately after.

"W -We will look after the teacher," added one of the other students. It was clear as the day they were scared. I didn't blame them.

Though the help would have been better. At least I wouldn't have to go through this alone. "Then everyone else stays here, and be careful. Every demon within the vicinity should be gone, but one can never know."

With that said we set off. We used what little Ord we had left to set off. Well, they didn't have a lot of Ord left. My ability Perfect Me barely needed any Ord to activate.

"Hahaha, seems like your words made them piss their pants," Gem jumped over a log. We picked up our speed and were running faster than an Olympic-level sprinter, in the middle of a forest.

"They are better scared than too relieved and drop their guard. In case a low class demon comes and they all gather together and use the swords given to them by the academy. They should be able to handle a low class demon." I left unsaid that if a middle class demon came, they would be dead.

Even if we were there that wouldn't change the outcome. Gem had a good chance against a middle class demon. But he was low on Ord. Gem taking down a middle class demon while protecting his classmates would be next to impossible.

At this point, it all depended on luck. If they had bad luck then a demon would show up. Things were beyond my control by now.

No, things have always been beyond my control. No one can control what happens to the world around them. But at least I can control my reaction to those situations.

…

As we ran deeper, the forest kept getting darker. There were explosions in the distance. That should be the warrior teacher. His ability Blood Lost would increase his power the more blood he lost. Which gave him a more explosive strength, the stronger an enemy was.

Closer to us there was another fight happening between a human and a group of demons. The human was someone we were quite familiar with.

Sei, the most talented student in our class. The future rival of the protagonist.

On the other hand, the demons looked like they were around middle class.

One of them was a giant scorpion, and another was a praying mantis with the head of a cow. While the others were a raccoon that puffed up its cheeks and shot air bullets. The last two were a spider who was creating silk traps, and a book with a moving face painted in it. The latter two were cautious and kept a long distance.

Despite his looks, Sei was dodging the mantis demon's attacks that I could barely see. He wasn't much better than me physically, and he wasn't a warrior. I doubt Sei saw those attacks either.

He kept an eye on the scorpion demon. Who used its poisonous sting to attack every now and then, trying to find an opening. Also, he was dodging every other attack the demons were throwing at him.

Gem was about to move. But I put a hand on his shoulder. "Wait a bit. He doesn't seem at a disadvantage."

"What're you talking about? All he's doing is dodging. One of these attacks will land!" Gem was about to push my hand away but I gripped his shoulder tighter.

It might seem like Sei was on the losing end. But to me, it was clear that he was nowhere near losing. After all, Sei hadn't used his special ability yet.

Just as I thought that, Sei stopped moving and the mantis attack was about to pierce through his head. A mirror the size of a watermelon appeared in the way of the attack and the mantis' claw sank right into the mirror. As if the reflective object was made of water.

A screech rang out. The scorpion demon screamed in pain as a mirror manifested above him. Out of it came the mantis' claw that had now pierced right through its body.

The mantis demon seemed confused for a split second. But in the end, it decided to attack Sei with its other claw.

Those mantis' appendages were sharp. They pierced through the scorpion demon's exoskeleton with no difficulty.

A new mirror formed and the claw sank through it. This time the next mirror formed above the mantis' head. The demon's own claw ran through his head and almost cut him in half. The raccoon, spider, and book demons almost seemed afraid as Sei turned to look at them.

Sei jumped back, and no blood from the dead mantis demon spilled on him. The raccoon demon swung its tail and shot a wind blade that was invisible. The only indicator he had attacked was the sound of the wind cutting through the air.

A mirror manifested in front of Sei. It covered his whole body and the same mirror manifested behind the raccoon, decapitating him with its own invisible wind blade.

"He can reflect not just physical attacks?!" The ink face on the haunted book spoke. "We should retreat!"

"Don't be a coward! Master will kill us!" Exclaimed the spider demon. "Also with an ability like that, it's bound to have a big cost!"

She was right, an ability like that consumed a lot of Ord. Since it barely had any restrictions on it.

The ink face in the book narrowed its eyes and seemed to get back its courage. "I will curse him then. Be ready!"

Ink dribbled out of the book and formed a humanoid figure. It charged at Sei, the creature likely had some properties that would be able to curse and weaken its target. But as the creature got close to Sei within a two-meter radius, a big mirror appeared in front of him and swallowed the man made of ink.

The spider and the haunted book didn't say anything. They were almost expecting the ink creature to be reflected somewhere else. But what they got was Sei staring at them. "You're going to attack, or what?"

What the spider demon had said about Sei's ability using too much Ord was true. But she assumed that Sei was your average Exorcist.

"Screw this!" The haunted book made a run for it. But as soon as he did that, the book flopped to the ground. Ink dripping on the ground. The book was no longer possessed.

"Stupid newcomer, if it was so easy to defy master's orders. Do you think we would be risking our lives like this?" The spider demon charged at Sei in one last attempt. "You have no attacking ability. Your mirrors can only reflect. So a single strong enemy is your weakness!"

That was technically true.

"As long as I don't attack with power enough to get through my defenses, you're finished," the demon added.

Was she trying to unnerve him? Because that would be useless.

A mirror manifested in front of her, and then another manifested on top of the sky. The spider demon got absorbed in one and propelled through the other, she fell from around 100 meters from the sky.

"Good idea brat! But this small fall is nothing for demons at my caliber!" The spider demon mocked him, just as she was about to land on the ground.

Another mirror appeared below the spider and she fell from the mirror above. Then she kept falling perpetually. Like falling from one portal to another.

The demon tried to shoot out a web and pull itself away. But Sei's mirrors manifested wherever the webs were about to latch on. Stopping any plans the demon had.

She continued falling, her speed increasing even more. Then after a good ten seconds, Sei removed the mirror below and changed the position of the mirror above. The spider splattered onto a tree. Skewering herself through.

That was when we took our chance and came out. "See, I told you he doesn't need help."

Sei turned toward us. His sickly face was unreadable. "So you're here. Come with me to help the teacher. He's fighting against a high class demon."

His words were cold and down to the point. There was no option for refusal there. Some might consider his words rude. But right now wasn't the time to argue about stupid things.

"Show us the way," I said.

He nodded and we followed him. As we got closer to the sounds of fighting, more and more middle class demons appeared down the road.

Just how many of them had Sei killed? It was at least more than ten and done all that by himself. As expected of the protagonist's rival.

"What the hell is this?" Gem's face paled and he seemed to catch onto the situation. It must be a dawning realization. He probably thought he was the best in the class after killing a middle class demon all by himself.

But Sei was a monster. Anyone comparing themselves with him was bound to lose. After all, he was someone who would be the protagonist's rival throughout the story.

"So you drew all these monsters away from your group? You probably saved their lives," I said to remind him of his deeds. Sei wasn't a bad person, but his revenge will lead him down a bad path.

"It was my duty, and the least I could do," he answered with a monotone voice. As if fighting against so many middle class demons wasn't that hard.

The thing was that despite his monstrous ability he would only grow stronger and get better at using it. He had created this in a week, and there were no death conditions attached to it.

If it wasn't for the main character, Sei would have been too overpowered for his generation.

There wasn't much conversation between us, and it didn't take long to reach where the sound of battle was coming from