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Chapter 210: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat

Chapter 210



I took shelter inside a nearby building along with the citizens, escaping the barrage of stakes pouring down with the rain.


The people who had fled were sitting on the floor of the building, panting heavily to catch their breath.


Everyone's bodies were trembling like aspen trees.


It might have been hypothermia, so I started a fire to dry the bodies of the people soaked in the rain. The terrifying bombardment that had been pouring down just moments before had now, as if it had never happened, subsided into silence.


Although a brief moment of peace had arrived, I couldn’t conceal my wretched feelings.


30 seconds.


That was the time it took for my teacher, impaled by the black stakes falling from the sky, to melt away, and for me and the citizens to flee to this place.


It had only been a short span of 30 seconds.


How much damage had been done in that short time?


“......”


I looked around, counting the number of people.


It was obvious, even at a glance, that there were significantly fewer people than before we escaped.


I counted to be sure.


Thirty-one, thirty-two... that was all.


Just 30 seconds ago, there had been forty-five.


In a mere 30 seconds, thirteen people had died.


I slammed my fist on the floor, biting my lip hard in frustration.


The stakes falling through the black rain were camouflaged with the same black color as the rain, making them difficult to see with the naked eye.


Moreover, they fell at a considerable speed, so it would take at least a trained hero to react to them the first time they saw them.


For an ordinary person, the only way to avoid them was to keep running without stopping.


However, if one was vigilant, they could somehow deflect the stakes falling towards those within their reach.


I knew that the attack was coming.


The teacher had warned me.


That made it all the more agonizing.


I knew, yet I couldn’t protect more than this.


Because I lacked the capability, I couldn’t protect those who were beyond my reach.


This fact made me so frustrated that my tightly clenched lips bled.


The wound on my lips healed instantly, and the metallic taste of blood disappeared quickly, but even though the wound had healed, the pain lingered for a long time.


I blankly stared at the empty spaces here and there, recalling the faces of those I couldn’t protect.


Those eight people who, frozen in shock after witnessing the teacher melt away, couldn’t respond to my shout to run under a roof.


The four people who, despite having family among those who died, turned back to try and rescue them, only to be impaled and melt away like them.


And the woman who, after slipping in the rain just as she was about to reach the building, threw the baby she was holding towards me with all her strength, asking me to take care of it, before being impaled by the stake and melting away.


If I had been stronger, I could have protected them.


While I was biting my lips in regret and self-reproach, I heard the sound of the baby in my arms whimpering.


Perhaps the baby instinctively knew that the person holding it was not its mother, as it squirmed this way and that before bursting into tears.


The cry of the baby, who would now never be held in its mother’s arms again, sounded so sorrowful that it seemed like tears would flow from my eyes as well.


“...I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But I promise you, I’ll protect at least the rest of these people, no matter what.”


That’s why, even more so, this was not the time to be sitting idly.


I whispered those words into the baby's ear, took a deep breath, wiped away the tears that were about to fall, and looked up at the people.


I saw people, who couldn’t even take comfort in their survival, gathered around the fire I had made, shedding tears.


Since everyone else was crying, I couldn’t afford to cry.


The voice asking me to take care of them constantly reminded me of my role.


Save the energy you would use to shed tears and use it to save these people.


Think of a way to rescue the lives that you are responsible for protecting.


I clenched my fists tightly and forcibly infused strength into my body, cooling my head down.


What was needed to break out of this situation was, first of all, information.


I took out the communication magic tool from my arms and contacted the entire team that was helping with the evacuation nearby.


“...This is Scarlet. Is everyone safe?”


[...This is Mei. I just barely escaped the attack from above and took shelter inside a building.]


[Jessie, it’s Jessie... I’m fine, but the people who were evacuating with us suffered a lot because of that attack... Sniff...]


It seemed that everyone had taken shelter inside a building as well, as one by one, the voices of the teams connected by the communication link could be heard.


Aside from a few, most were speaking with voices that were tearful or struggling.


It appeared that, like here, there were many places where ordinary people suffered heavy casualties during the evacuation, even if the trained members themselves were mostly unscathed.


Having witnessed people melting away to their deaths right in front of their eyes, it must have been difficult for everyone to keep their sanity.


But now was not the time to mourn what had happened; it was time to think about what needed to be done from now on.


I steeled my heart and asked the others.


“...Does anyone know anything about the attack that just rained down? Over here, all we know is that it melts you if it hits.”


Everyone responded that they didn’t know anything beyond that, but then someone came forward with information.


[It’s Dwight. I was evacuating people close to the demonic beast, and I saw it. That was an attack directly launched by the demonic beast. It seemed like it hardened the tendrils on its back and fired them.]


So those black things were tendrils, not stakes.


It was like a Hydralisk from StarCraft, shooting those from its back.


Knowing that made my blood boil.


That damned beast must have realized what the heroes were trying to protect and launched that attack on purpose.


Mocking us, as if to say it knew all about our intentions.


But to think that such a widespread attack was something it fired directly.


Even with its heightened senses of hearing or smell, how could a demonic beast without even eyes accurately detect that many people and launch an attack in this rain?


As I thought about what method it could be using and worried about how to evacuate people from the demonic beast’s incredibly keen detection, a voice came through the communication link.


[This is Marin. I’m a bit late because I just finished evacuating people. What were you talking about?]


I found Marin’s overly calm voice surprising and explained to her about the demonic beast’s attack earlier. She responded in a tone that suggested it was the first she’d heard of it.


[...We didn’t get hit by that kind of attack at all.]


“You didn’t get attacked?”


[Maybe it’s because of this... All of a sudden, it started raining with a dangerous-looking color, so I used my ability to keep the rain from touching anyone.]


That was it.


As soon as I heard Marin’s words, I asked everyone to excuse me for a moment, then opened the door and reached my hand outside.


As soon as the ominous black raindrops touched my hand, a menacing sound echoed, and one of those tendrils came flying and impaled the spot where I had just been holding my hand out.


When I pulled my hand back in, the tendrils, which had been embedded in the rooftop of the building, paused, and as soon as I used fire to dry my hand, they stopped with a sudden jerk.


Once I finished the experiment, everything made sense.


It must have been detecting living creatures touched by the rain and firing at those locations.


So that’s why the demonic beast suddenly made it rain. It needed the rain to detect people for its wide-area attack.


When I explained what I had just figured out, a few people mumbled in agony.


If they had known this beforehand, they could have saved more people.


Everyone understood that feeling, so we stayed silent for a moment before we started discussing ways to evacuate people.


We began by taking stock of the heroes who could use their abilities to prevent people from being touched by the rain.


But the conclusion we reached was,


[...Damn it, this is going to be tough.]


[...We don’t have enough capable people, and we’re short on time to get everyone to safety.]


It was impossible to evacuate all the citizens in dangerous areas to safety in the current situation.


Although the heroes were desperately holding the line, the demonic beast was steadily advancing toward the center of the city, even at this moment.


At the very least, the people hiding in the buildings along its path needed to be evacuated. But outside, it was raining a deadly downpour, where even a single touch meant death.


However, not every hero had the ability to block the rain, and just a quick calculation was enough to conclude that it was a difficult task.


This place itself was within the danger zone, and I didn't have the ability to safely evacuate people.


If I were alone, I could just cover myself in flames, evaporating the rain as I moved, but I couldn’t set people on fire just to keep the rain off them.


I sighed deeply and glared at the rain pouring down outside with utter resentment.


The rain, which was dyeing the city black with despair.


Rain mixed with what was once people, turning into a murky black stream flowing somewhere.


“......?”


It was then.


I rubbed my eyes, momentarily taken aback by the strange sight, and looked outside again.


No matter where I looked, the scene was the same.


The rainwater was flowing in a single direction.


It was a bizarre sight.


The rainwater was ignoring the variations in height and flowing in just one direction.


There should have been puddles forming here and there, but the flowing rainwater was avoiding those spots completely.


Could it be that this rain, much like its color, wasn’t ordinary?


[■■■■■■■!!]


The sound of wailing coming from the direction the rainwater was flowing seemed to confirm it.


But that wasn’t important.


What mattered was that the rain was only flowing along the surface.


I picked up the communication device and opened my mouth.


I had thought of a way to evacuate more people.


---


A hero capable of evacuating people without them touching the rain.


Sylvia was also one of those who could do that.


The abilities of the star spirit could be applied in various ways, so creating a barrier to block the rain was an easy task.


She was currently using that ability to evacuate people.


“...Are you sure it’s safe here?”


However, the people were still anxious, their voices trembling as they repeatedly asked if the place she had brought them to was truly safe.


Sylvia responded to their concern with a gentle smile.


“Yes, you don’t have to worry. Other people have evacuated here as well.”


“But...”


It was safe, so there was no need to be afraid, but they still hesitated, seemingly too scared to move.


Seeing this, the girl beside them offered something to hold onto to overcome their fear.


“Here, take this. If you have this, you won’t be scared.”


“Oh... thank you.”


People are afraid of the darkness.


But even in such darkness, as long as there is light, they can find the courage to move forward.


Those who received the torch, burning brightly despite the damp weather, found the courage to step into the pitch-black darkness, one by one.


Watching this, Sylvia spoke with a small smile.


“Honestly, evacuating people into the sewers was a brilliant idea. We would have been in big trouble without you, Scarlet.”


“...It’s nothing special. I just thought of it by chance when I saw that the rainwater wasn’t flowing into the sewers.”


“But if you hadn’t thought of it, we wouldn’t have been able to evacuate this many people.”


Despite Scarlet shaking her head, dismissing her actions as nothing special, Sylvia spoke sincerely.


No matter what she said, countless people had already safely evacuated thanks to Scarlet’s idea.


The sewers were indeed the best evacuation shelter in the current situation.


The rain didn’t reach there.


Being underground, the attacks couldn’t reach there either.


And above all, the manhole covers leading to the sewers were just a short distance from any building.


It greatly reduced the burden on the heroes needed for the evacuation.


After joining up with her near the nearby building, they had almost finished evacuating the people in the surrounding buildings.


Just a few more places to go, and then they could rest a bit.


While Sylvia was thinking that, Scarlet asked her a question.


“Sylvia... Did you overexert yourself?”


“...Is it that obvious?”


Sylvia responded with a bitter smile to Scarlet’s question.


Overexerted? Of course, she had.


From earlier, she had been exhausting herself by continuously casting calming spells to soothe the panicked people, and even that wasn’t enough, so she was also maintaining a barrier to block the rain to evacuate people.


It had been a long time since she had pushed herself to this limit with her stamina and mental strength.


Had it not been for Scarlet’s clever idea reducing her burden, she would have collapsed long ago, drained of all her strength.


But in this urgent situation, which hero wouldn’t overexert themselves?


Even the person next to her was tirelessly creating torches to give to those entering the sewers and warming up the people shivering in the cold.


And further away, there were heroes risking their lives in battle to buy time to evacuate the citizens.


Thinking this, Sylvia answered Scarlet with a light smile.


“It’s hard, but since there’s not much left, I’ll rest after we evacuate all the citizens. Let’s hang in there a little longer.”


Nodding at Sylvia’s words, Scarlet, along with her, began moving once more to evacuate the citizens.


How many more people had they evacuated after that?


Before they knew it, they had circled all the nearby buildings, and were in the midst of sending the last remaining people into the sewers.


Three people.


Two people.


And then, the last one.


“...Hic, I’m scared.”


“It’s okay. Your mom and dad are waiting for you down there, right? And your big sister gave you a torch so it won’t be dark, so there’s no need to be scared.”


Sylvia, holding the young child who clung to her, trembling and on the verge of tears, gently patted the boy's head with a smile.


Finally, the last one.


Once this child was safely evacuated, she could take a brief rest to recover her strength.


Just as she was about to hand the child over to his parents, who were reaching out from the sewer below,


Perhaps the thought that this was the last one had made her relax.


The backlash from overusing her abilities hit her, and she felt her vision waver.


At that moment, the protective barrier she had been maintaining vanished.


With a soft drip, the black raindrops fell onto the face of the child she was holding.


At the same time, she heard a sound, as if something had been waiting for this moment, something being shot through the air.


Ah.


Realizing her mistake and her inability to block the incoming attack, Sylvia, with the last of her strength, wrapped her body around the child, tightly closing her eyes.


And with a dull thud,


a heavy impact was felt.


But it wasn’t the pain of something sharp piercing her body.


“...Huh?”


Sylvia let out a strange sound, bewildered by the unexpected sensation, and then felt a slow, spreading warmth on her back.


What was this that was soaking her back?


Could it be rain?


But what she felt on her back was far too warm to be raindrops.


That eerie warmth made Sylvia open her eyes as if hypnotized.


Drip.


She saw droplets falling once again onto the face of the child she was holding.


But this time, the color of what fell was not black.


The liquid that left a mark on the child’s cheek was a vivid color that reminded her of a certain girl she knew.


That bright red liquid told her what had happened.


“Ugh... Hic...”


As if he had seen something terrifying, the child sobbed.


The tears streaming down from the child’s eyes mixed with the black and red droplets left on his face, creating a sinister hue.


It was wiped away by a hand that reached over from behind her.


The child's eyes reflected a scene he didn’t want to see.


There, in the reflection of his eyes, was a red-haired girl, blood trickling down from her mouth.


Ah.


Just like the child, a sob naturally escaped Sylvia’s mouth as well.


Then, the girl reflected in the child’s eyes and opened her mouth.


“...It’s okay. I’m fine.”


With a smile, as if trying to reassure both the child and herself, the girl kept repeating that she was fine.


Fine? Really?


The question swirled in her mind along with the images of those who had melted away from the demonic beast’s attack.


She wanted to ask her if she was truly fine, but,


as if she had forgotten how to speak, only hiccuping sounds escaped her lips.


She wanted to turn her head and check her condition, but she couldn’t muster the courage to do so.


As if to calm herself, who was trembling more than ever, the girl who held both her and the child quietly whispered.


“The weather... is rough... It’s raining... here...”


“Ah... Hic...”


“Let’s go inside... okay?”


With those words, the girl gently pushed both her and the child into the sewer.


The child’s parents, frantic, hugged their child tightly.


“...Thank goodness.”


A voice came from above.


Sylvia tried to speak towards that voice.


Scarlet, you should come in too, she wanted to say.


However,


when Sylvia, who had entered the sewer, looked up,


with a soft thud,


she saw the manhole cover, already closed.


“Scar... let?”


The voice that barely escaped her lips echoed hollowly through the sewer.


But there was no reply.


When Sylvia, wanting to find her, opened the cover and stuck her head out,


Scarlet was already gone, as if she had melted away into the rain.


------------------------


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