Our steeds galloped through the road, the wind causing my silver hair outside my hood to wave and flap in the air. Forests of trees flanked the path. With each closing distance I was coming to my destination, for some reason, I grew nervous. I had no idea how I would react if I would ever lay my eyes on one of those that killed me. Should I even talk to him? Or directly attack him? How would I go about doing that?
At any rate, I shouldn’t really underestimate a hero. We were supposed to be some overpowered beings meant to destroy the most powerful entity that threatened all of humanity. And now, I had no idea how strong they truly were. Even my death knights didn’t have the full picture of it. I might need more preparations than something emotional.
Noticing that the horses had become tired, we had to switch to trotting for the time being. I have to say, these horses were truly reliable, all their training was not wasted.
“Felt any issues on the items yet?” I asked. “Any distortions or anything at all?”
“Nothing at all, mistress,” Gavin said.
“I do notice that it consumes a trickle amount of my mana,” Avelyn added.
“Yes, I optimized it so it wouldn’t consume too much mana. You lose less than you regenerate.” All magic items require mana to use. And the disguise rings were constantly active, so they consume mana every second. But it should be pretty miniscule and tolerable, especially for my death knights. When they got ‘revived’, they got more powerful, after all. “Am I right?”
Elyscia nodded. “Indeed. I feel it takes mana, but I regain my mana faster. I regenerate mana way faster than before.”
“That is good,” I said. “The faster your mana restores, the longer you will be able to fight.”
“Is this how the undead are?” Avelyn held out and stared at her hand.
Gavin shrugged. “Those kinds of details are hard to learn about the undead. Not like we could study them that easily when we just prefer to destroy them. Although, perhaps the mistress could answer that.”
They all looked at me, anticipating an answer. Yeah, there was a problem with that.
“I wouldn’t know. They’re not my undead.”
The undead I would have a lot of knowledge about would be my own. What the other undead had was none of my business.
“Speaking of studying the undead,” Elyscia said. “I heard an organization headed by a hero is studying all kinds of creatures. Even the undead.”
“Is that so?” Hearing that, it would seem my classmates had actually settled in. Making their own organizations. Realizing that, it kinda annoyed me. “For what reason are they studying them, though?”
“... For the sake of humanity, last I heard.”
“... Hm. I guess studying your enemies would be beneficial.”
Just like how things were back in my world. Scientists study a lot of creatures, even dead ones. Even viruses. Anything that could potentially bring about the apocalypse when you make a mistake. But hey, you only live once! Let’s just drag everyone else despite the risk of, for example, an airborne virus leaking out of a lab and starting infecting the entire world. But then again, knowledge is crucial for survival.
As we continued on moving forward, we all suddenly sensed something coming towards us, the ground on our feet slightly shaking. Like something massive was running. We pulled our reins in, prompting our horses to stop.
“It’s coming from ahead.” Gavin and the others drew out their swords.
Avelyn squinted her eyes. “I don’t see anything on the road.”
I looked around and sharpened my senses. It was pretty much certain it was some sort of monster. As Gavin said, it was ahead of us, but not on the road. It was running in the forest. I raised my hand and pointed to the forest ahead of us.
“There.”
My knights looked in that direction, and trees started coming down. A moment later, a massive creature violently emerged from the forest, howling loudly that it shook the air. It looked like a giant boar with more fierce features. He had large sharp hooves, dark brown fur, and its face was sharp with protruding fangs. And it was as big as an elephant.
It had wounds all over it, and the way it howled, or rather, squealed, was painful to the ears. Like an actual crying pig. And it was a bit annoying. That aside, it seemed to be running, and it was heading towards us.
“Bulkhog,” Gavin said. “You don’t typically encounter them on the road.”
Elyscia got off her steed and brandished her sword. “Except if they’re being chased down.”
“Can you take care of it, Elyscia?” Gavin asked.
“Of course.”
I had fought that kind of monster before. Thinking about that past, I couldn’t help but smile. It was a bit funny, in retrospect. It was a time of, I guess you could call it, an outside training. Anyway, we were divided into groups, five members each.
***
“What is that pig?” my teammate said while chuckling, finding the creature funny. His name was Cyrus Carver.
We were here in the middle of nowhere, not far off from the kingdom’s capital city. We were hiding behind the bushes, watching over a giant boar, which quite disturbed me a little. It looked pretty scary. And I was very quiet, fearing that it would hear me and mess it all up for everyone.
“Hey now, that looks pretty dangerous. Don’t joke around.”
“What are you so scared about, Arlo? Hehe.” With a smirk, Cyrus casually patted the guy’s back. “There’s a lot of us here. I’m sure we can kill something like that. I’m a heavy hitter, you know.”
I admired that confidence he had. But it was something I just could never have.
“Hey you two, be quiet. That thing could hear us,” the girl, Lila, beside me said with a hush.
Arlo awkwardly chuckled. “Sorry. But it’s Cyrus who's making a lot of noise.”
Cyrus casually shrugged. “Come on, it's pretty far away. It shouldn’t hear us from here.”
“What makes you so sure about that?” Lila pointed an annoyed glare at Cyrus. “It’s a damn monster.”
“It’s a pig.”
“Lila’s right, Cyrus,” said another guy, Kael. “Monsters could have sharp senses. Especially their hearing and sense of smell.”
Cyrus scoffed. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”
“Are we seriously gonna fight that thing?” Lila said with a scared expression.
“If you don’t want to fight, then leave this to us.”
“Seriously?” Lila frowned.
“If you don’t want to fight yet, Lila,” Arlo faced her with a gentle smile. “You don’t have to force yourself. This should be something we can handle.”
“... O-Okay.” Her cheeks turned slightly red as she lowered her gaze.
“What about you, Syndra?” Cyrus called out to me. “Don’t tell me you’re also backing out?”
I nervously clenched my fist. “Unlike your powers, I can attack from a long range. So I think I’ll be fine.”
“Sure, I guess you can do that. Kael?”
“Do I even need to say? I’m just a healer. When you’re injured, I heal.”
“You should really start becoming like those healers from anime. You know, that can throw hands.”
Kael furrowed his brows. “Don’t be unreasonable. And those are bullshit.”
Yeah, I agree. Those are bullshit.
Just some stories that wanted to subvert expectations and stuff when it came to overpowered protagonists. And some of them just become too quirky, which was unnecessary. Just my opinion, though.
“Hey man, whatever you think. Just say you’re a pussy.”
“Oh, screw you!”
At that moment, we heard loud stomping, and the ground was shaking. We immediately realized we made a mistake. The giant boar was suddenly charging towards us, it definitely heard all the noise we were making. Even though I didn’t make any mistakes, we were a team. It was all our fault the monster found us.
We were caught off guard, and the monster bashed against Arlo, throwing him into a tree.
“Arlo!” Lila exclaimed in panic.
I saw the monster about to swing its butt at her, so I quickly reached out for her shirt’s collar and pulled her away. She was heavy, but the adrenaline was carrying me through. In our frantic action, we fell to the ground, but at least we got out of the monster’s way.
“You okay?!” I asked her.
“I-I’m okay.” She instantly looked at Arlo, her eyes widened in shock.
Arlo impacted against a tree terribly, leaving it damaged. Blood leaked out of his mouth, but he was still alive, eyes still slightly open. But that must have hurt tremendously.
“Arlo!” Lila suddenly started rushing towards him.
“Wait— Careful!” I tried reaching out, but she forced herself free.
Why is she putting herself in danger like that?!
Which could also jeopardize the entire team.
She even seemed to just ignore the monster, she didn’t look at it before running. Some people were just too emotional, ignoring everything around them, it was a bit frustrating. But I understood their turmoil. I turned back towards the monster, where I saw Cyrus was attempting to confuse the beast.
He thrust his hand, sending a shockwave at the monster. He left a crater on the ground as the monster stepped back. And when it averted its attention, Cyrus would send a shockwave directly at its face. It caused small tears all over its body. But not enough just yet, and it only made the monster more angry.
It howled deafeningly, and I had to cover my ears.
It was a frightening beast. Looking at its large hooves, large body, it looked unstoppable. I could even imagine how it could splatter me with just one stomp. It scared me, my limbs were shaking. I didn’t want to die. I just wanted to stay in the distance, where it was safe.
It was then I noticed Kael lying on the ground, trembling and frozen in place, staring at the beast. He was only a couple of feet away from it. I glanced at Arlo for a moment, then back at Kael.
He must heal him before he dies.
Every moment wasted, the chances of Arlo dying grew greater. If only that Kael would just snap out of it and do his job. I took a deep breath, my heart racing. I had never been so pressured and terrified my entire life. The fear of failing an exam, or talking with your crush, could never compare to this.
Come one… Brave through it…
I thought to myself.
Clenching my fists, I gathered all the courage I had. Although, it may not amount to much. After taking a long deep breath, I started running towards Kael, while keeping watch of the monster’s actions. Thankfully, it was distracted by Cyrus, and I successfully reached Kael. I grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him away. My arms strained as I carried his weight.
Guys are heavy!
Once we were at a safe distance, I shook him by the shoulders. “Hey! Snap out of it! Heal Arlo!”
“H-Huh? Syndra?” He still looked completely confused.
I pointed at Arlo and Lila beside him. “Heal him!”
“Arlo…?”
I forced him to stand up. “He’s fatally hurt! Save him. Go!”
“Y-Yes!” Kael rushed towards Arlo, and he even almost tripped.
I immediately turned my attention to the monster and moved into position. Cyrus was still battling the monster, only pushing it back by the shockwaves he was unleashing. However, the beast was relentless, always stepping forward. Cyrus grew increasingly worried, scared, and tired.
I held out my hand and concentrated.
Focus, focus. You can do this. Shape something.
Magic shaped into my palms, forming into something pointy.
“Dammit! Stay away!”
I raised back my eyes to see the panicking Cyrus.
“Little help here?!” As he took a step forward, the back of his foot hit a small rock, and he tripped backwards. “Oh, s-shit!”
I moved in to have a clearer sight. The monster took a step forward, closer to Cyrus. I held out my hands as a mini spear floated between them, and I aimed at the monster. When I was ready, I released it. The spear shot through the air and plunged into the monster’s left eye.
The monster shrieked, stumbling around. I immediately began shaping another projectile. However, before I could complete it, the monster turned towards me.
“Eh?” I could sense the intensity in its glare.
It charged towards me headfirst.
You gotta be kidding me!
I started running away. I didn’t turn my head to take a look, because I was more than certain it was right behind me. This was ridiculous. This was what I got for playing hero. I hated it so much, risking my life like this. But people needed help, there was no other choice. I couldn’t just leave my classmates to die because I was afraid.
I ran in circles through the trees, but it just ran through them like a truck.
What’s the use of running in circles if my team isn't going to help me?!
I pointed my hand backwards, guessing roughly where the monster was. Instead of shaping my mana into something specific, I just released a stream of magic in a cone shape. I sensed I hit it, and I glanced back.
It was indeed a hit, but my magic was just too weak to stop it completely. So I only slowed it down a little, and it was still pushing through. It was then that Cyrus appeared from its side and thrust both his hands, unleashing a powerful burst of shockwave.
The monster’s flesh vibrated and started tearing the flesh. The monster fell sideways with a grating cry. Cyrus kept on shooting his magic. I quickly shaped my magic into a translucent magical spear again, making it spin with quick speed.
I aimed at the beast’s head and launched the spear with tremendous strength. Instead of hitting the head as I intended, the beast shifted its body and my spear hit the neck. But that stunned it a little. Cyrus stepped in and cast a powerful shockwave into the monster’s head several times, shredding it apart.
Then, all things became quiet. Nothing left but the sound of rustling trees, or the passing birds.
I panted heavily, leaning on a tree. Relief washed all over me.
I thought I was gonna die.
But thankfully, it was over.
“Yes! I killed it!” Cyrus was pumping up his arms in celebration.
I then saw the rest of the team walk up to him. No one died. And everyone celebrated, congratulating him.
I just stood from everyone’s back, just relieved that I was still alive.
***
It was a funny memory. I was still struggling to use my innate magic. And I was running all over the place. Everyone was in a celebratory mood. I only remembered Kael thanking me that time.
I watched as the boar ran towards us. But then a group of people came rushing in from the forest.
“Stop running already!” He swung his sword at the pig.
“Kill it!” Another threw his spear into it.
And then there were magical arrows that shot towards the monster. The creature fell to the ground, and the group landed the killing blow.
“Finally!”
“Wow, this guy moves fast!”
“I told you guys you should have brought a net.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”
They were adults, consisting of three men and two women. They were wearing leather and plated armor, but were quite shabby looking. They were not soldiers or knights. But I had seen people like them before.
“Adventurers?” I muttered.
Gavin nodded. “It would seem they are.”