It had been more than thirty minutes since I started fighting, and there was no end to these monsters.
Every time I slayed an abomination, another one took its place.
Every time I saved someone, I saw someone else die.
The situation was getting tougher and I was exhausted.
I had already informed the Academy officials about what was going on in Isthara, so the reinforcements must be arriving any moment now.
I just had to hold out until then and do my job – which was to save as many civilians as possible.
And I was doing just that.
A group of kids were stuck in a burning building and their parents were gathered outside when seven abominations attacked them.
Thankfully, some local Awakened of the city, and a few police officers reached the site just in time.
The police officers began rescuing the trapped kids, while the Awakened started fighting the monsters.
It was all happening right in front of my eyes, so I decided to help and charged into the fray as well.
That was five minutes ago. Right now, I was struggling against an abomination.
The abomination lunged at me directly, its gaping maw full of razor-sharp fangs.
I barely managed to twist my body to the side, dodging its bite by a hair’s breadth. But before I could counter, a spiked tentacle came swinging toward me.
It was too fast!
I managed to barely block the attack with the flat side of my greatsword, but the impact still sent me skidding backward, boots scraping against the blood-slicked pavement.
My arms throbbed from the force of the blow, and I could feel my stamina slipping away.
It was not good.
This was my twentieth life-or-death fight in the past half hour, and my body was starting to feel like lead.
My hands were aching and my movement was becoming dull. I hadn’t yet received any major wounds or bruises or broken bones, but I was starting to hit my limit.
The only good thing about all this was that I still had enough Essence to fully unleash the power of my Origin Card for a few more attacks.
The abomination shrieked, its deformed body writhing unnaturally as it charged at me again. I braced myself, gripping my sword tightly.
And as soon as the monster was close enough, I knelt and pressed my free palm to the ground, casting my innate power.
The pavement under the beast’s feet turned mushy and soft akin to quicksand, and it instantly lost its footing.
Before it could recover its balance, I immediately hardened the ground under it back to concrete and rooted it in place.
Now, these creatures were smart for low-level Spirit Beasts, but at their core, they were still monsters.
It was in their instincts to kill and devour any living being they saw aside from themselves.
Whereas a normal human would have switched to being defensive after getting trapped in a position, the beast kept attacking.
I hadn’t expected that.
A piercing shriek ripped through the air. The creature thrashed violently and started flailing around its thick tentacles in a blind rage.
One of those tentacles struck me across the chest, and pain exploded through my ribs as I was sent tumbling to the ground.
I hit the road hard and rolled with the impact, then groaned in agony while standing up to my feet.
“You stupid beast,” I gritted my teeth and saw even more tentacles snapping toward me. I hopped back and landed just out of the range of its tentacles.
From that safe distance, I summoned a Card. In response, a fire arrow quickly blazed into existence in my hand.
I took aim and whipped the arrow toward the creature. The arrow struck the beast in the eye and detonated with a fiery explosion.
The beast screeched and growled in pain as all of its tentacles tried to reach me, wanting to strangle me to death, but I was just out of its reach.
Smirking, I summoned another flame arrow and threw it. Then one more. Then one more.
The arrows exploded one after another upon hitting the beast’s skull in quick succession.
And after around five arrows, the beast was dead, its head blasted into smithereens as its decapitated body toppled lifelessly to the ground.
Then—
“Hey, watch out!”
A voice shouted from the side.
Suddenly, a chill ran up my spine as I felt something behind me.
I turned around on instincts… and saw a beast’s maw inching closer to me at an alarming rate, about to swallow me whole.
“Whaa–!” My breath caught in my throat as I tried to take a step back and raise my sword.
But there was no time.
The beast was already upon me.
I just couldn’t react fast enough.
For a second, both my lives literally started to flash before my eyes. My heart raced as the world seemed to slow down. I really felt like I was going to die.
Once again… without achieving anything.
Once again… full of regret.
Just like that.
But then… something strange happened.
I felt an icy itch spread across my right forearm. It felt so cold that it burned.
However, before I could register that sensation, the night sky lit up.
At first, it was subtle, like the stars had grown brighter. Then the stars started moving.
Only they weren’t moving.
They were falling.
…And they weren’t stars, at all.
A rain of incandescent light streaked down from the heavens, crashing into the city streets like divine judgment.
Pillars of radiance slammed into the abominations, turning them to ash in an instant.
The one that was about to kill me hardly had any time to screech before most of its grotesque body was disintegrated by the blinding light, leaving only its head to plop to the ground right before my feet.
And from those glowing pillars of light, people emerged.
They were clad in the Academy’s combat uniform.
Needless to say, they were the reinforcements.
They were second-year Cadets.
As soon as I saw them, relief flooded through me. The effect of adrenaline in my veins subsided and crippling exhaustion returned.
The strength left my body and my knees buckled as I crumpled to the ground like a lifeless blob.
My gaze, however, was fixed on the beast’s head – it was all that remained of the creature who was about to kill me.
This… thing was going to end my life.
This weak, mindless, pathetic creature almost took me out.
“Hah,” I exhaled, then suddenly flinched as I felt a hand on my shoulder.
Swiftly turning my head around, I saw a tall young man standing beside me. He had tan skin, sharp features, and curly black hair.
Dressed in the Academy’s uniform, he was slightly bent over, his hand comfortingly placed on my shoulder.
“Hey, don’t worry. It’s me, a fellow human,” he reassured with a weak smile after unintentionally surprising me. “Sorry for sneaking up on you, but you’re Samael Theosbane, the first-year Ace, right?”
It took me a moment to understand what he had said because aside from the fact that I was shocked, he also had a thick accent.
Finally, I nodded awkwardly.
“Hi, I’m the Ace of second-years. My name is Aarav Caldwell,” he introduced amicably. “Are you okay?”
I lingered for a moment before nodding again. “Ah, yeah. I’m fine.”
His smile brightened.
“Good. The medical team will arrive in another few minutes. Sit tight until then and relax,” he said while straightening up.
All of a sudden, he summoned two Cards.
A pristine white armor materialized around his body and a shiny red spear appeared in his hand from a rain of swirling light particles.
His face was covered by the visor of his helmet as he turned around and faced the city.
All around us, the second-year Cadets had already scattered, engaging the remaining abominations with practiced efficiency.
Unlike the chaotic brawls I had endured for the past half-hour, their combat was methodical — precise strikes, coordinated movements, and overwhelming power.
“You did good,” he said, his voice muffled by his helmet. “Now leave everything to us.”
He then spun his spear once and stepped forward.
The moment his foot touched the ground, he vanished.
No, not vanished — he moved so fast that my eyes barely kept up.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared above a towering abomination, his spear wreathed in crackling crimson light.
With a brutal thrust, he drove the weapon straight into the monster’s skull.
Boom—!
The air trembled as the tip of the spear erupted with explosive force, sending a shockwave that shattered the creature’s head into a mist of blood and bone.
Its body crumpled lifelessly to the pavement.
Even in my exhausted state, I couldn’t help but stare in awe.
That guy was… so cool.
I looked up at the sky as the pillars of light from which the second-year Cadets had emerged began to fade into nothingness.
Soon, the night sky was dark again.
I couldn’t help but sigh in awe once again, this time not at any second-year but at Selene Valkryn.
Yes, it was her power that teleported so many Cadets here in a flash. She eradicated more than half of the Spirit Beasts in the city with surgical accuracy, and that wasn’t even an attack.
That woman… was also so cool.
Too bad she was secretly standing against humanity.