Chapter 95: One's Darkest Hour

Stories that could only happen in legends—the sight was happening right before them all.

Han and Ellynn were moving away from the Colossal Wyvern, a distance given to them thanks to the intervention of the [ Wood Elf ] and it was there that even he, a person who couldn't do magic, felt the stirring in the air.

Perhaps it wasn't even magic.

It was reminiscent of when the entire nature had seemed to revolve around the [ Wood Elf ], they stood alone in front of a beast that toppled cities and tore through the skies. A nature that spoke of endlessness, eternity and the earth responding to his call.

He summoned a power to be unleashed against a mighty foe.

And just in the nick of time.

The Colossal Wyvern broke and snapped the bindings ahold of it, unfurling its wings and let out a shriek that crackled the sky with lightning. One of its eyes was bleeding severely, one of those annoying flesh bags had stabbed its eye but it paid no heed as its main opponent stood in front of them.

This one was the strongest one but their mana were draining tremendously. It had already used up a portion in trying to get him binded. He could tell as much, he could feel the mana and magic in the air. He had already let the pitiful attempts at hitting him, all of those things thrown into his mouth. He cracked open his jaw and let out another burst of lightning.

They would pay for this insult.

But something else was in the air that made it feel uneasy.

Inside the forest that were already in shambles—out came a large spear.

It hurtled through the air.

It had moved so fast that the Colossal Wyvern barely shot itself up from the grounds, scarcely avoiding the weapon meant for destruction. Craters formed beneath the place where he had been only seconds before. It felt a pain in its side as he was in the air, the spear had grazed him but that was all it did.

And so the [ Spear of Nature's Wrath ] hurtled towards the city instead.

But that didn't matter, not to the Colossal Wyvern at all. He had only one aim and that was to eliminate everything around him for disturbing his rest. It screeched and dove towards the [ Wood Elf ] and was bombarded with a strike of light past its eyes. And yet another blast of lightning, made from the very same lightning that he used pushed it back.

It was tantamount to a punch—a light one as it only swerved him back.

And right before he could pay for his retribution, the [ Wood Elf ] disappeared in a whirl of wind and leaves.

Shaking his head for a moment and shrieking in anger, it struck its tail across the ground and towards the two annoying flesh bags. The [ Light Elf ] and [ Mermaid ] were finally given attention to and only a strong gust of wind had barely been able to hold back the monstrous tail to lash back at them.

Things were not going according to plan.

That statement was lingering perhaps in all of the heads of those present.

The [ Wood Elf ] reappeared within the dying forest and covered his mouth, warm liquid dripping down his mouth. Devastated was too small of a word to use. His attack had missed and he didn't have any strength to redirect it—the spear would lose all of its energy if he even tried to turn it back. He could probably get ahold of another mana potion but options fleeted past his mind. He could still escape if he wanted to—the Colossal Wyvern were attacking the other [ Players ] and he could survive.

If he failed the mission, the repercussions weren't going to be that bad.

This wasn't his territory.

He hardly had one.

In the open grasslands, their failure was apparent in the air and not everyone of them were forgiving enough to let it be a bygone. And neither were they willing to try and strike back.

It missed.

The attack had missed the Colossal Wyvern.

The [ Shadow Elf ] gritted his teeth as he picked up the [ Tiefling ] in his arms and escaped towards the forest as well. Well, there was a reason why the [ Wood Elf ] had been hiding in the Human Kingdom for some reason didn't they? He allowed Tierra to rest temporarily among the still standing charred tree as he watched the disaster unfold before his eyes.

Lucia was still alright, a pillar of wind temporarily blocked the tail but it wasn't the [ Wood Elf ]'s… it was his bastard's. And those two were still out in the open air.

"Go save them." The [ Tiefling ] was already harboring wounds much worse than the last time. Celestial energy burned and eviscerated through her flesh much faster when she was using her ancestral bloodline. And despite all of that, she was pushing him to save others.

The [ Assassin ] said not a word as he pulled out a healing potion from a fissure in the air and handed it to her. "We're all leaving. We still have the teleportation scroll—even a Colossal Wyvern wouldn't be able to go after us." He stated it in a matter-of-fact tone but even the [ Tiefling ] still had the look of distrust written in her face.

It had appeared out of thin air.

As if it had been plucked out from its home—only the Creators could do something like that.

And if that was the case, then their motivations might be less benevolent than any of them would have thought. But he couldn't think about that now, he had to intervene in the fight. It was only a good thing that he had kept most of his [ Skills ] unused and they would prove useful. He flickered one moment and then disappeared.

.

.

.

Of course deviations were supposed to happen. It was impossible for a plan to completely go smoothly as they were supposed to go—but everything went one hundred eighty degrees here.

Had that been their last ditch effort that had gone to waste?

The Colossal Wyvern should have gotten hit, he had barely seen the spear move through the air. It had been that fast for him and yet in the nick of time it had moved appropriately and dodged it. Why was there even something like that here right now?

His ally disappeared in a torrent of wind and leaves.

The [ Light Elf ] and [ Mermaid ] had blasted it simultaneously with a light attack and a lightning one. The latter had still managed to use their already broken conch shell and the Colossal Wyvern paid back their attack thricefold.

It lashed out its tail.

And he saw a familiar figure shot out their hand.

Wind appeared and barely held back the enormity of the tail. Ellynn had downed another potion which was probably a mana potion. She was already exerting herself to her limits—it was much stronger than any attacks she had done in the Academy.

Everyone around him was strong.

But that Colossal Wyvern was still much stronger than all of them put together.

It had already been pomelled back to back by attacks, both magical and physical. He was sure that all of his companions here, [ Players ] that were stronger than the average Human, and he even knew that they were on par or even stronger than the [ Professors ] from the Academy which was supposed to train the next generation of fighters… so why?

"Han we need to move." Ellynn's voice was shaky as she grabbed a hold of his arm and placed it over her shoulder. She was able to move past with the power of the wind of some sort—how was she even going to escape with him?

He eyed the creature in front of them.

It was insanely fast for either of them to outrun.

"No, we can't."

.. .

Perhaps it had only been through that unwilling decision to save the hostage that Jeanne and Owen didn't meet their untimely end. The two of them had just gone invisible and were maneuvering at a distance away from the attacks between the other Races and the Colossal Wyvern that they had missed being impaled by a large spear that shot towards the city.

And yet the two of them were still blasted back by the impact as the weapon struck the city.

Or the barrier rather.

The entire shield cracked and started to shatter.

Just like that.

A tier 7 barrier sustained by the outpour of mana from all the available [ Mages ] and the pre-existing runes were torn asunder by a singular weapon. The [ Cleric ] felt her back hit against the ground and felt it give away as she found herself hundreds of feet away from where she had last been standing. Her entire body was racked in pain even with the blessings of an aura that activated on its own.

And of course she couldn't even see her companion either.

"Owen!" She shouted and yet above the din of their surroundings and even the ringing in her ears, she couldn't hear her own voice at all. But they couldn't give up, not at all. Her heart wavered at the sight of the city's barrier and she considered if the attack had been something of an excuse to hit the city of Gloria.

And yet soon enough the man appeared before her vision.

Of course they would have something to reverse the effects of the invisibility potion but could they even hear her? She shouted again and saw the man rush towards her general direction. And yet her heart only paced even faster—it would have been better if he had stayed invisible, her gaze lingered towards the distance.

The Colossal Wyvern was still untouched but yet it was preoccupied.

It felt bad that she was relieved of such a notion.