Run!

Sadly, I wasn't able to achieve the peaceful sleep that I hoped for that night. I woke up at midnight as I heard a commotion outside.

I looked out through the window of my room and saw some people rushing in to fight a monster, not too far away from the place I was in. From the few unclear glances I could get at the monster, I assumed it was a Dark Wyvern. Well they were quite scary but not to the level where the Royal Guards couldn't kill them.

'But what the hell are they doing inside the town? Hah... Should I just try sleeping again? '

"Owen! Owen! Come down quickly"

Throwing water to my plans of having a little more of my sweet dreams, I heard my mother calling me from downstairs. I didn't quite understand the direness of the situation so I immediately went to her to check that out.

"What mom? I don't think it's dangerous. The Royal Guards are going to come here soon anyway"

"Well, the thing is...they did arrive and three squads of Sequence 3 knights were wiped out" She yelled, the signs of both worry and fear can be seen in her face.

"What?! That's impossible" It took me a moment to understand my mother's words as I blurted out purely off my instincts.

Sequence 3 knights are really strong, at least strong enough to defeat hundreds of goblins alone. And a squad of that can literally clear a whole C Rank dungeon alone. For not only one but three squads to be wiped out, of course I couldn't comprehend it.

"How much of an idiot can you be? Can't you see the situation we're in? We're evacuating for now." The girl with the same bright golden hair like my mother said to me with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Y-yes sister"

"Be quick. Try to be useful at least once in your life"

"Esme! Don't be so hard on your brother. He's trying." My mother said in hurry while running and packing from around the house.

My sister went upstairs making a 'hmph' sound. Marielle was already holding onto my mom's hands, ready to leave anytime. I too quickly packed some of my stuff and my only A-grade spear which was gifted to me by my father's friend, the advisor of Duke Cambrow, who was a very powerful noble.

Holding the spear, I checked out its stats one more time.

[Spear of Destination]

Grade A

Type: Weapon

Skills: Thrust(2-star); Nevermiss(Expendable)(Uses: 1/1)(4- star) ; Self-destruction(Expendable)(Uses: 1/1) (6-star)

(Warning: Item cannot be used again after "Self-destruction" is used)

Certain items like weapons and armors also have certain skills in them. But as they don't really belong to us originally and can only be used when we have the item on ourselves, they're not purely considered as our own skills.

But in case of real combat, they are as useful as the other skills we own, or sometimes even more than that.

'It's really great no matter how many times I watch it.'

Leaving these thoughts aside, I went outside and saw both my sisters waiting there with my mom.

"The portal near the town hall is open now. From there, we'll go to the Capital and meet your father. He'll arrange a place for us to stay" My mother said as she hurriedly scanned her surroundings.

"Okay"

We all readily agreed to her as we realized the situation was actually more serious than we originally thought.

"Is there only one Dark Wyvern?" I asked, looking at the terrifying monster at the distance.

"Well, no. There are three of them. And unfortunately, the third one's near the area of the town hall too. Even so, we don't really have a choice but to go through there now. The other portal near the church was already destroyed by a Wyvern while fighting the Royal Guards"

"But mom, is it possible for a Dark Wyvern to be that strong?"

There was something seriously wrong here. First, they looked much stronger than the usual ones that we all heard of. And second, I couldn't come up with something as to why and how three of such things arrived in the middle of Starmeadow Town.

"No, there is something wrong with them. It's like... they are much more sinister. And something like they are… created"

"Created? What do you mean? "

I can see my mom's face going pale as she answered me. "...I-I don't know. It's just... they all give off a very ominous feeling. I did face Dark Wyverns before and trust me, they were nothing like these things here."

I didn't press it any further and decided to pace up with others.

We arrived near the Town Hall after a while and the first thing we saw was a number of people waiting in a long, long line just to use the portal. A few guards were making sure that the people didn't make a scene here.

I could see them looking anxious and scared, maybe hoping that they could also pass through the portal before the monster arrived. We also followed the same procedure as others but it didn't look like we're going to pass through it anytime soon.

'This is not good. For some reason, I can't help but get a bad feeling.'

The guards present here were only Sequence 1. They can't stand against the monster for a minute, let alone fight it.

Every second felt like hours as we waited in that line but still there was no sign of us getting any closer to the portal.

'Come on... Just go faster!!'

Rooaaarr!!!!

Then as to prove my intuition correct, I heard a terrifying howl from behind the long queue of people. My legs stopped moving and my face lost its colour. The guards too were shaking while trying to hold their weapons up. There wasn't really a question as to what really caused the fear among us.

Of course, one of the Dark Wyverns was here.

'W-we can't make it. There's no way! '

As if thinking the same thing, Esmeralda opened her mouth and shouted, "Mom, we've got to rush."

It wasn't only her, but the people ahead also started running in disarray and just within a couple of seconds, the whole queue changed into a horde of people.

"Y-yes honey, watch the front and run. I got your back"

With a slight nod, Esmeralda took hold of my younger sister's arms and started running towards the portal. The portal was itself in chaos. The people we're rushing in without any destination, only wanting to get out of this place. Suddenly, I felt a shiver running down my spine as I looked at the monster and saw its red abyss-like eyes.

'It's staring at us...No; it's staring at the portal.'

I completely lost my breath the next moment when I saw the monster flying towards us with an unbelievable speed. I couldn't even blink once and the next second it was right in front of my eyes.

I could see my mom rushing next to me as she chanted a spell.

{Shield of light}

The Dark Wyvern has a dark attribute as its name suggests, and so it's naturally weak against light attribute magic.

'Then why? Why didn't it work?'

My mom was pushed back about five meters with a single strike as she vomited blood and was even struggling to stand. Some of the guards immediately rushed in while others were frozen in their place, losing all hope.

The portal was still far off, flocked with people and I knew there's no way we could make it.

'Think, think. At this rate we're all going to die. I need light but I can't use light magic. Should I create a light with fire magic? No, a light from a fire and light magic are completely different. The light from the fire magic is only going to attract the monster, not injure it. Wait, attract... the monster?'

I looked back and saw my elder sister crying while supporting my mom to stand up. Marielle was looking towards me with a worried face. I smiled faintly at them. Maybe Esmeralda understood something; I could see her eyes wide open while looking at me, as if telling me not to do anything stupid.

"Take mom and run. I'll buy you some time."

"W-wha-"

"Hurry!! We're all gonna die at this rate."

"Don't be stupid, Owen! Do you think you're a hero or something? Even the Royal Guards couldn't do anything, and think you can win or something?" Esmeralda was quite persistent that she wouldn't leave.

"I have a plan, trust me."

I knew that she wouldn't leave whatever I said to her so I already left them and rushed towards the Wyvern while shouting towards her for one last time.

"Run!!"

I could see my elder sister shouting and crying, my mother's horror filled face trying hard to say something, and my younger sister too scared to comprehend anything around her. But my mind was already filled with many things other than listening to them.

Esmeralda tried to follow me up but the crowd was simply too much for her, even more so while helping my mother. I could see her getting dragged in it.

The portal was still several hundred meters away and here the monster was killing the guards one by one, as if enjoying it.

I took out two of my shirts from my backpack as fast as I could and wrapped one around my Grade A spear. Casting a fireball spell to the shirt, I tried aiming my spear at the monster.

[Spear of Destination]

Grade A

Type: Weapon

Skills: Thrust(2-star), Never miss(Expendable) (Uses: 1/1)(4-star) ; Self-destruction(Expendable) (Uses: 1/1) (6-star)

(Warning: Item cannot be used again after "Self-destruction" is used)

'Two expendable skills. My plan might not work as I am too weak. No, there's actually more chance of it to fail than it is to succeed.

At the level I'm in, I can't leave a mark, let alone injure it with the spear. I need to aim for... its eye, yeah. That's the only place not covered with its tough scales.'

As someone who never trained that well in spears, it was a really hard job for me. But I knew I could only make up for it with my mana.

My father trained me decently in mana but I was nowhere good enough yet.

Still, I tried to bring out every ounce of mana from my body in an attempt to wrap it around the spear.

I could feel my nerves and veins burning as I forcefully pulled out the mana. I knew this wasn't that of a correct way but I held on as it was working more or less.

I wasn't ready to sacrifice myself, but if that's what it takes for my family to survive, I would have no regrets. Maybe it was because I was right in front of my death that my mind started becoming clearer than anything.

The spear started glowing slightly surrounded by tiny mana particles.

"Arrgghh!" The pain only worsened every second and I couldn't help but let out a loud cry. Blood and tears started dripping from my eyes as I started feeling nauseating. Still, I carried on thinking my whole life depended on it.

Well honestly, it did.

But I knew, this was it. I wasn't strong enough to do more than this. And this level of mana was clearly not enough.

Aaaahhhh!!!

More…

My lips started bleeding too and I could feel my sight blurring. I wasn't sure it was because of the blood or the fatigue.

More…

Suddenly, as if a blessing from above for my selfless sacrifice, I felt a warm feeling around my neck, then slowly flowing through my whole body.

My pain eased out to a great extent and I saw a notification window in front of my eyes. On it was something so bizarre that I was having a hard time believing it.

So bizarre that I had to consider again if all this was all just a dream.

[Stigmata of Void (0-star) is activated]

[Stigmata of Void (0-star) is now active]

[New skill "Mana Borrow" learned]

Stigma of void : ☆ (0-star)

Passive : Beginner Swordsmanship (31.63%), Beginner Spearmanship (25.17%), Beginner Mana Manipulation(19.89%).

Skills: Fireball(1-star), Mana Borrow(???)

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