Slashing through monster after monster, I kept swinging my sword, trying to survive amidst this sea of monsters that wanted nothing more than to kill me. While doing so, I constantly called out to Talis, hoping she'd hear me and come get me out of this hell-hole. As another monster tore through my calf, I twisted my sword, holding it backward as I stabbed it into the monster's head.
While my leg healed, I continued attacking, fighting with my life on the line as I narrowly avoided death, having done so countless times that it hardly even phased me anymore; after all, I had no time to be surprised or taken aback at nearly dying, I needed to stay focused.
'Dammit! Can Talis not hear me!?' If Talis wasn't able to hear me, my hopes of escaping this predicament and leading the monsters away were pretty much a pipe dream; any attempts to flee on my own were fraught with risks. Realizing Talis may not be coming, I stopped calling out to her and focused solely on surviving this ordeal, my greatswords flashing everywhere around me as they left a trail of disgusting brown blood.
It's probably been roughly three-and-a-half hours. I couldn't tell what was happening since, without my mana, I had no way of checking on the others; for all I knew, the other adventurers that got caught up in the bastard's betrayal could've all died, even the branch leader wasn't exempt from this.
"Alex!? Where are you, Alex!?" Widening my eyes slightly at Talis's faint voice, a surge of vigor flooded me as I fought with everything I had and then some, briefly killing any monster before they could even reach me. "TALIS! TALIS, I'M HERE!" I kept yelling into the sky, letting my voice lead Talis to me as she arrived, floating above me a few moments later.
"Alex! Your Queen has arrived!" I didn't even have the luxury of engaging in banter with Talis as I simply ignored her remarks. "Talis, take me away from Cassandra!" Slashing through the necks of two identical monsters, I briefly glanced up at Talis, which a monster took advantage of by clamping down onto my forearm, its powerful jaws nearly biting through bones.
Gritting my teeth, I quickly killed the monster, though with my arm injured, even if only for several seconds, the delicate balance I'd been desperately fighting to maintain was now being broken. Unless I wanted my arm to snap from the injury, I wasn't able to swing with full force, which meant monsters that I should've killed were quickly closing in on me.
'Tsk, dammit, there are too many!' Glancing at three injured, yet living, monsters lunge at me, their fang-filled maws wide open. Talis swooped down, practically saving my life as her talons dug into my shoulder before flapping upwards, taking me out of the sea of monsters. "G-Get off!" Eyeing a monster biting onto my leg, I brought my leg up and decapitated it before kicking its head off my body.
"T-Thank you, Talis… Saved my freaking life." Looking up at Talis, I gently rubbed her legs, offering her my thanks, only to notice her injured wing, prompting me to raise my rapidly healing arm. "Talis, lick my blood off." "Hmm, thanks." As Talis licked my ichor, her injured wing began to straighten out, while our flight smoothed out, losing its shaky edge.
"So, what's the plan, Alex?" Glancing down at the sea of monsters, which was easily still in the thousands, maybe even reaching the tens of thousand, I searched for any survivors, but besides the branch leader, who was at his wits end, I could see no other fighting, maybe the adventurers had managed to retreat or they all died, I didn't know, but what I did know was that I needed to get them away from Cassandra.
"Fly away from Cassandra, Talis… Maybe back to the Abandoned Forest." Absorbing Trina and Zartha back into my body, I glanced down at the monsters below me, watching as they followed, causing me to force the faintest smile. 'It's working… Yay.'
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3rd POV
Thrusting his spear with ferocious energy, Salta tore through the body of a monster before retracting his weapon and swinging it around him, decapitating several monsters, giving him a brief respite as his tired, injured figure slumped slightly as he gasped for breath. However, he was given no time to relax as a monster suddenly leaped onto his back and clamped down onto his shoulder, causing him to growl in pain.
Grabbing the monster's head, he tore it off him and tossed it into the air before thrusting his spear, shooting a beam of light that pierced right through the monster's head, killing it. "F-Fuck… Is this it?" Tightly clenching his spear, Salta eyed the lunging monsters, his eyes taking on a maniacal fury as he accepted his inevitable death. "Tch, come at me… I'll take down as many of you fuckers!"
Tearing his bloody, anscrapeded armor, Salta lunged at the monsters, his immense speed allowing him to reach the monsters first, his every thrust killing a monster; once he dealt with the first wave, he dashed towards the second wave with endless frenzy, only for him to stop when he realized there was no second wave… As a matter of fact, all the monsters that had been surrounding Cassandra were seemingly fleeing, running away.
"W-What the hell?" As Salta stared at the backs of monsters, his gaze was one of utter bafflement; monsters attacking a city wasn't something that had occurred in the past. However, the monsters were stray monsters from a nearby dungeon that had overflowed; what happened today was something that had never happened before.
This event would shake the entire world when it became widespread; every continent, every high-ranking official, every wealthy merchant, and every adventurer would all be thrown into disarray, their understanding of the world being slightly altered. Yet, not only did a wave of monsters, one strong enough to threaten a whole kingdom, attack a single city, but they also retreated at random.
Salta wasn't the only one confused. The soldiers, adventurers, mages, and knights, who were injured and hiding behind the protective dome, had seen everything. They had seen Talis flying above the sea of monsters, swooping down to pick someone up, and then flying away, watching as the monsters followed them.
"What? H-How did they do that?" "I-I've no clue. B-But they've saved us." "Y-Yeah. W-Whatever the fuck happened today, those two saved all of C-Cassandra." "B-But, they're sacrificing themselves, aren't they?" "Maybe… Probably." "Sacrifice. After what that fucking mage did, I would never expect that." "Tsk, d-don't look at me, you ruffians, that pathetic mage and I aren't the same!"
While several of them softly conversed, Lazuli, Yuki, Vanye, and Jasmine were standing beside each other at the edge of the protective dome.
"Alex. What are you doing?" Her soft voice of confusion and concern escaped her mouth as Jasmine stared off at the fading figure of Talis and Alex. "We should-" Yuki, a woman who desired action over words, was promptly interrupted by Lazuli, the head of the group, as she outstretched her arm, blocking her path. "Think, Yuki." Lazuli's voice was one of stern indifference as she eyed Yuki, who clenched her four fists.
"I-I know. I-I just want to help… It's the second time I've been useless. It didn't use to be like this; Alex used to be the one needing my help." Glancing downwards, Yuki bit her lip while subconsciously flexing in anger, causing her deformed armor to crack slightly. Vanye, tightly clenching her hilt, stabbed her sword into the ground while removing her helmet, her face an expressionless canvas, though her eyes were of fiery determination.
"It's because we're weak, Yuki… Alex is forced to handle this by himself because we're weak." Vanye's cold, brutal, yet truthful words sank into their minds, causing them to go quiet. "T-That's– You three are powerful, Alex is just a bit of a freak, I mean, his skills and traits are unfair." Jasmine attempted to ease the atmosphere, reminding them that despite their strength, Alex was a freak of nature, though none of them appreciated her kindness.
"That could all be overcome if we were stronger, Jasmine." Jasmine was unable to argue Lazuli's claim, since even though it was a bit crazy, she was entirely correct. It didn't matter how blessed, special, or talented Alex was; it could all be overcome with enough strength. Enough strength to help Alex, despite his uniqueness.
"For beings with the potential to become Gods… We're weak." "We indeed are." Vanye nodded in agreement with Yuki; their status was with a Mythical class, baby Gods in the making, yet here they were, too weak to help their own husband.
Even though they were incredibly far away, so far away, they shouldn't even think of comparing themselves to Demi-Gods, let alone Gods, their desire to not be seen as baggage to Alex twisted their minds, if just slightly.