Chapter CXLV - Kingdom Crisis (part 1)

I landed right next to Arfius, who is fighting the closest batch of monsters.

There are six monsters grouping on this spot, and they are fighting the magicians belonging to the kingdom. When Arfius arrives, the mages cheer, but Arfius himself couldn't really do much.

"Arfius!"

I can't randomly throw a firebomb in the middle of the city, so I have no choice but to use my sword to kill them.

And the monsters got turned to a bloody mess in mere seconds.

"Huekk... You really can't hold back..."

"Arfius, listen to me. The people are more important. While I fly around killing them, I want you to save the people. Got it?! Just make sure they don't die, because I can still heal them!!"

"That would be putting in a lot of work for you!!"

"Yeah!! But can you kill them yourself!!?"

Hearing my question made Arfius pissed, but there really isn't much he can do.

"All right… I'll take care of the civilians. Spare none of them!!"

I nodded and flew like a blast. 

Every time I saw an explosion in the city, I headed there in mere seconds and sliced the head of the monster in an instant. After killing every single one in that area, I flew away again.

Those things have some tough skin like metal. Killing them was a breeze because I enchanted my own muscles until it was strong enough to slice through, but it did put an incredibly heavy strain on both my body and my sword.

I just hope my sword can survive for this day... Just this day. As for my body, it was heavily trained for days like this. It can handle a slight strain.

I kept on moving from place to place, swinging my blade and spraying blood to the ground while killing the monsters.

Some of them had some annoying abilities like spitting acid. I had to put up a shadow barrier so that it doesn't hit the magician behind me. There are also the ones with incredibly strong skin, like a Misoh Chimera, and I had to smack my sword three times in the same spot just to completely cut its neck.

I went around the whole city for the whole thirty minutes, and all the monsters finally died.

When the final group was killed, I was already extremely tired from flying around at my maximum speed. Plus I am keeping my partial transformation for half an hour already. Normally I can only put it up for ten minutes.

I am already beyond my limits today… and I can already feel the strain on my entire body.

This would be a lot easier if I can just shoot some nukes at them, but I can't destroy the goddamn city, can I!?

I ended up standing still in the middle of the street with a giant corpse of a serpent mutant right next to me. I am so extremely tired and in pain, that I don't even want to move a muscle.

BZZTT!!!

Arfius arrived right next to me like some sort of flash. Seeing how tired my eyes are made him feel bad, but he had to tell me something.

"All the civilians are saved... So far, only three people have died. All three are mages from the kingdom."

Damn it…

Three people are dead.

I couldn't save them…

"What… about the civilians…?"

"Most of them are hurt, but they are alive. Just like you asked."

"... Good. Any other monsters left?"

"All gone. You did a great job."

"Hah... Thank goodness."

I fell down to my knees, and my form disappeared as gravity pulled me to the ground.

Arfius dropped down to aid me, but I lifted my hand to stop him.

"I'm fine."

I slowly stood back up, but damn... 

My eyes are heavy as hell, and my body is even heavier. I feel like I have no more power to walk now, and yet I still have to heal those people who are wounded.

But I can still walk. I can still...

My body slowly lost its balance, but Arfius was quick to move. He grabbed me and helped me walk.

"Stop acting tough. You just ran wild for the entire half an hour."

"Heh... I can still go for another hour..."

"You can't even stand. Let's go back."

"W-Wait… the wounded people..."

"Leave them. You are in no condition to help them, not even yourself."

"... Damn it..."

I just followed him and we both went back to the academy. We are on the other side of the kingdom, so the walk took a while. But along the way, we met up with some magicians from the kingdom. They recognized Arfius, who ran around the city like a blur and saved people.

Seeing us walking, they decided to help out. Now I am being carried with a litter, back to the academy by the magicians while flying.

Arfius stayed behind to help with the civilian evacuation. He thought he could be useful in helping them.

Arriving at the academy, the headmaster quickly took me in and placed me in the infirmary. There, I rested for the whole evening.