The blazing tornadoes of fire lit up the sky. The flames atop the babel tower signaled the worst-case scenario to be true. The adventurers remembered the plan — the second ring adventurers waited for Finn, who was taking the short way down, while the third ring, which Akira was part of, began retreating to protect the evacuation zones.
But Akira had other plans. Looking at the second ring adventurers fighting a horde of rats worth only one geyser's spawn, he thought about all the geysers he had seen from the rooftop.
Thousands of rats filled the square. Green orbs of light and wind rained down upon the wave. Explosions of magic cleared large areas of rats, giving defenders time to form ranks. But soon, more rats dug out from the ground to fill the gaps.
'They'll manage,' he thought. Putting away his umbrella, he turned and ran toward the people who needed his help, the inhabitants of Daedalus Street.
As he ventured deeper into what people called the second labyrinth, he let his instincts guide him toward the sound of battle. The more dangerous the place, the better the chance of finding someone to rescue.
Akira took another turn and came face to face with a massive wave of rats. The street was filled with them, and the wall of bodies reached the second floors of the buildings.
SCREEECH!!!
Seeing new prey, the ravenous beasts sent a smaller wave toward him while the others tore apart the buildings in search of food.
"Underestimating me?" Akira muttered. He placed the fake spear wrapped in cloth back into his inventory and pulled out the two red spears given to him by his master. Spinning them to get a feel for the grip, he smirked. "You made a big mistake."
The mindless beasts leaped, exposing their soft bellies. A slash from the longer spear bisected them easily. The rats on the ground took the opportunity to rush closer. One jumped toward his leg, jaws wide open for a bite.
Akira backstepped and thrust the shorter spear through the rat's head. With a twist of his wrist, he dislodged the weapon. Spinning the longer spear, he blocked another wave, tearing through several more rats before stepping back again.
He smashed skulls under his feet, kicked rats into walls, bisected others, and pierced through their armored hides. He used every bit of experience he had but the number of rats didn't seem to decrease. Every dodge pushed him further and further back, away from the people who might need him.
'This isn't working.' Jumping back, he returned both spears to his inventory.
'I'll have to go big.'
Taking out a knife, he sliced his palm, letting the blood flow freely.
Screeee!
The armored rats honed in on the scent. Those that had been spreading out now converged toward him.
The wave filled the entire street, climbing higher until it eclipsed the buildings.
"What got them so riled up?" Akira muttered. He placed the knife back in his inventory and drew one of his red spears again. Sliding his bleeding palms over the shaft, he let it soak in his blood.
Planting the blood-soaked spear tip into the ground, he carved two runes side by side and connected them with a line. As the rats approached, he jumped back, dragging the spear to carve another straight line.
As the wave washed over the runes, he placed both palms on the spear, focusing his mind to activate the first symbol. The magic followed the trail of his blood into the rune, which began to shine a bright blue light as it gathered energy from the surroundings.
Akira waited until the rats were as close as possible, he needed every moment for the spell to charge.
"Chain Lightning."
The first rune transferred its magic to the second, releasing threads of lightning that struck every rat in range. The electricity jumped from one to another, losing power with each leap.
THUD!! THUD!!
Dead bodies rolled toward him, piling up and forming a wall that blocked the street. The scent of ozone and burnt flesh filled the air.
"Now it's time to rescue people." Akira could hear distant screams echoing down the street.
Before he could leap toward the sound, an uncomfortable truth hit him: There are always more rats.
SCREE!
Another horde climbed over their fallen brethren.
Akira backed away. "Oh crap."
He quickly carved another rune and activated it, sending another wave of chain lightning that killed hundreds but more rats poured over the corpses.
Taking a blood-replenishment pill, he kept running, testing different elemental attacks through his runes. A fiery blast engulfed the rats but the rain immediately doused the flames.
'Okay, flames don't do much in rain. Obvious. Why did I even try that?' he thought, exasperated.
Now he knew a few things. First, ice and lightning worked best in the rain which should have been obvious. Second, the rats seemed attracted to his blood. Whether it was specifically his blood or just blood in general, he wasn't sure.
With that knowledge, he formed a plan. He stopped setting up runes and sprinted toward a place he had passed earlier.
Pulling out a bottle of blue ink from his inventory, he poured it over his hair. Painting a rune on his hand, he placed it on his head to dry his hair.
'That should be enough for a temporary fix,' the now blue-haired Akira thought.
Seeing the familiar fountain down an alley, he ran toward it, reaching a square with a fountain in the center.
'A single alley to enter and exit, buildings all around it. Perfect.' Akira began inscribing runes on the ground while running around the fountain, using his spear as a brush and his blood as ink.
The rat wave entered through the alley, chasing him. Akira kept close to the buildings, he wanted to make the circle of runes as large as possible. As he reached the halfway point, he faced another wave coming from the front. The rats didn't mindlessly chase him; they had split into two waves, cornering him.
"All or nothing," he muttered, charging headfirst into the rats.
Akira swung his spear with all his strength to make a path for himself, not forgetting to carve runes into the ground. But even with all his mastery, he wasn't strong enough. The rats bit at his flesh, and every time he killed one, three more took its place. The smell of blood only made them more aggressive, while his wounds weakened his strikes.
'I really hoped not to use this,' Akira thought, equipping his first cosplay as he was submerged beneath the wave of rats.
The mass of rats in the square spun around the fountain like a snake coiling in its nest.
SCREECH!!!
The sound of their screams filled the square. A bump appeared on the writhing wave it traveled toward the alley, the only exit.
Squelch!!!
The bump exploded in a gory mess of rat organs. From the carnage, a blue-red streak shot straight up.
To catch him, the rats climbed over each other. More poured in from the alley, forming a cone of bodies reaching for the figure. A bright red, square wide circle pattern of light glowed beneath the wave at the base of cone.
As the figure reached the apex of his jump, it became clear: a man with blue hair, one red eye, and the other closed. His lower face was covered with a mask. He wore a deep ultramarine full-body suit covered in runic protections, gray metallic pauldrons, and a metal plate over his abdomen. A red spear gleamed in his hand.
Akira twisted his body midair to face the ground. Pulling his arm back, he hurled the spear with all his might.
The red spear tore through the top of the cone, piercing through countless rats to reach its target the glowing red circle of runes below. The gathered magic from the air and the blood of the rats supercharged the circle. The runes on the spear lit up, activating the second function of the array—a spell Akira had made and dedicated to his teacher.
"Skadi's Rose," he whispered, his red eye turn back to black as he closes it in relief.
The circle turn bright white, the runes cool the rain and mold into vines with thorns. The vines wrapped around the rat cone, freezing it solid. As they climbed higher, they grew thinner, colliding at the top and twisting into delicate, icy petals.
Akira slid down the vines using his metal boots. Reaching the ground he dislodges his spear from ice and looked up to see the thorn-filled vines reaching toward the sky, crowned with a beautiful icy blue rose.
"I think she'll like it," Akira mused as the rain washed the blood from his tattered suit. The rats had bitten nearly every inch of his body—the only reason he was still standing was the skill granted by cosplaying as Cú Chulainn: Battle Continuation.
Looking at the damaged suit, Akira felt a pang of sadness. It was the first gift Scáthach had given him when he started training under her. Although it had an auto-repair function, it only worked if the runes were intact. The rats had chewed through many of them—he would have to rewrite the runes himself, overwriting her original work.
CLAP! CLAP!
"Thank you!!"
Windows of the houses around him opened—people, young and old, called out in gratitude.
"Well, I think it was worth it," Akira smiled, looking at all the lives he might have saved.
He drank a health potion and pulled his mask down, inhaling the cold air. But then he coughed violently, covering his mouth—his palm was stained with blood. Feeling his nose clog, he wiped it and saw more.
"What the…" Akira muttered, taking out his phone to check his status.
IAmBatman (Offline)
IAmIronMan (Offline)
IAmOnlyAStoreManager (Offline)
Utako Kasumi (Offline)
Rider (Offline)
PaperAngel (Offline)
Akira Akatsuki (Poisoned/Injured)
'Poison?' He opened his inventory and clicked on the potion's icon to check its properties.
[Item: Health Potion]
[Attribute: Restores user's Health
Description: Made by genius Naaza. A good one for the price of 500 valis. For her savior, she didn't even dilute it.
Precaution: Just like any potion, don't drink regularly, or you'll get poisoned.]
'Damn…' For the past few days, Akira had been getting injured regularly. To cope, he'd been drinking potions like water but now he knew he couldn't.
'I can't stop here. I just started doing something good.' Akira placed his mask back on. Giving the kids a thumbs-up to show he was okay, he turned back into the alley.
Just like his skill Battle Continuation, he willed himself not to stop, as long as a shred of strength remained in his body.
...............…...
(A/N: Atlast fight starts. Next few chapters will be about this trial)
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