———Lerim———

  <1: 47 pm>

  “...I want to cry.” I said, having no energy left to even compin loudly at this point. Those gliding snakes are no slouch, and they are going to hit the ground and cause havoc very soon.

  There is unfortunately no one else around to help. They all went inside, hoping that all of these things are mere illusions.

  If there is any soce to the situation, it is that there seems to be a few people roaming up high in the sky shooting many of them down. Too bad they don’t bother to go after the stragglers that got away, are they just that zy?

  A bunch of attacks were unched up there. I can see energy beams, elemental attacks, some just go in for slicing things up.

  Too bad this binocur isn’t very good. It’s just an old junk I scavenged a few years back. It can’t zoom that far up in the clouds. I can’t actually make out who is actually fighting up there. Seems to be a rotating cast of characters, some flies in other directions, some came over here, so on and so forth.

  It caused the scene in the sky to become even more hectic as more giant gliding snakes started to appear. Where in the world do they even come from in the first pce?

  One of the flying guys is pretty big, and seems to be wearing a lot of heavy armor. Pretty such the only silhouette I could easily make out since whoever this is is much rger in size.

  The sky being darkened means it is even harder for me to get a good look at everything. If I were to make a guess, about a tenth make it past them, and even then it is simply because they are too occupied to look for every snake descending down from the clouds.

  A bunch of explosions in bck and purple this time around. With that kind of aesthetic won’t people think you are a vilin? Who is even casting that?

  Anyway, as much as I want to observe and commentate to no one but myself, there is a reason I bring my sword with me.

  *Crash*

  Just had to nd in front of me. Great, at least I can get over this quickly.

  *Roar*

  I called it a gliding snake, but it looks more like a cobra. Bck scales and white body. Roughly the size of a two-storey building.

  This thing immediately noticed me once it reached the ground, crashing into the middle of the road. Those road workers will probably have a lot to do after this.

  Guess I need to take care of this myself. It doesn’t look like anyone else is here to clean up the mess…

  *Dash* *Parry* *Swing* *Evade*

  I quickly ran in and tried to slice it in half, but it reacted fast enough and blocked the attack with its tail, then tried to take a swipe at me before I leaped out of the way. It does see me as a threat, it seems.

  *Crackle* *Bst* *Ssh*

  I cast a fast electric bst, aiming right at its head and jumping in to do a follow-up attack. Its skin is tough, and its scale probably even more so. Is there any easy way to take this thing out?

  Unfortunately I did not learn about how to take down a snake. There wasn’t really a need until now. More importantly, does this monster even work by the same rule as a regur snake?

  *Parry* *Block* *Evade*

  It starts swinging its tail at me, and at one also trying to swallow me whole by lunging itself towards me with its mouth open. What an annoyance, get the hell away from me!

  *Lunge* *Stab* *Ssh*

  Anticipating it to lunge at me again, I choose to confront it instead of retreating, jumping into its mouth with my hand held tight on my sword, and managing to catch it by surprise and piercing through its head from the inside, then slice the wound open and crawl out.

  “Ugh. Disgusting.” I didn’t slip into its stomach or anything that nasty, but being covered in blood wasn’t pleasant.

  It’s quite strong physically, but it’s not that smart. Taking one down isn’t that big of an issue, it seems. If I can deal with it, no reason others can’t if they worked together. Stop sinking your head in the sand for crying out loud.

  *Crash* *Crash* *Crash*

  One. Two. Three… Three of them… Just kill me, why won’t you…

  ———Jeff———

  <1: 59 pm>

  “Why did she have to run off like that!” Malk compined as we lost sight of her.

  “I think a more important question to ask is why did we even chase her?” Gregori chimed in. “You know she will be fine on her own. It’s us that doesn’t have the perfect chance of coming out unscathed. Also, the barrier around the school will shield us, so we should go back.”

  “Okay smartass, why did you follow us then?” Qyunda retorted.

  “Because you guys ck the brain for the squad. Orrel isn’t willing to come here to help, so I’m selflessly taking that role.” He mockingly said. “Anyway, let’s go back before Kenni also decides to run out.”

  “Ah. Too te for that.” …Wait, when did she follow us!? “See ya!”

  *Fp*

  “...Well that was not good.” Useph remarked as she flew off, unable to come up with something else to say. No, seriously, did none of us spot her during the chase?

  *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash*

  “Oh you gotta be kidding me!” Qyunda loudly compined and changed her stance as we were surrounded by six of these giant snakes. That’s one for each of us here, surely we can take it on!

  “Now this is just targeting!” Jeyst also compined.

  “Indeed, this looks rather deliberate.” Sixson chimed in as well.

  None of us have any weapons, but I’m pretty sure we can fight them with just our fists. It might take a while but we should win as long as no more reinforcement comes strong.

  *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash*

  …Why is now the time I am jinxing something!?

  “Shit.” Qyunda cursed out, which is pretty damn fitting considering the situation. This isn’t exactly something we can come out in one piece, at least not likely.

  *Leap* *Ssh* *Slice*

  “Huh?” Before these giant snakes could attack us, suddenly someone jumped in and started slicing down these snakes, their body sliced clean in half or more in a short period of time. Taking their attention away from us, thankfully.

  “Who in the world is…” Qyunda starts asking, then shuts her mouth when she realizes who rescued us.

  A simple white shirt with bck suit and pants. Two rge fox years and a tail, both matching the color of her hair which is bck. Her eyes are blue, her gaze is sharp, and she is wielding a simple thin sword with no intricate details on it.

  She looks back at us while the other snakes are also gring at her.

  “Great, there are actually kids roaming around despite the warnings… Scram.” Her voice was cold as she raised her hand towards us.

  *Hiss* *Slice* *Ssh*

  The snakes don’t actually care to give us any space and tried to attack her in the middle of the conversation, but she nonchantly sliced them all into ribbons, not leaving a single one alive.

  *Shine*

  “W-What is this?” Gregori asked in confusion as the six of us were suddenly trapped in a bubble. W-Why is she doing this all of a sudden!?

  *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash* *Crash*

  Suddenly more snakes appeared in the area, having nded and aiming to fight us immediately.

  *Fly*

  “““Aaaah!””” The bubble suddenly moved at a high speed. Where in the world is this thing taking us!?

  *Crash*

  “Ooow…” I groaned out as the bubble was suddenly dispelled and… Oh. We’re back here inside the school area.

  “That was… super uncalled for.” Qyunda said as she got back up. “That person…”

  “Whoever she was, she is clearly way stronger than us.” Gregori interrupted her with his own thoughts on the matter. “With how that was going I can see why she sent us back… How does she know we are students here any… Nevermind, it’s not like there are other schools nearby.”

  “That was probably the right call on her part. Honestly, why did we even think about fighting all of that?” Jeyst said, their voice showing fatigue already.

  “In our defense, there was no way we could’ve known so many snakes would’ve nded on top of us.” Malk expined. I mean can’t we just look up in the sky or something? He is doing that right now. Any snakes that weren’t killed on its way down bounced off the barrier and went elsewhere. “At least it’s good to know that not all the defenders are occupied in the sky. Who are all of them anyway?”

  “No clue, aside from Wiina that we saw on Karra’s broadcast, we couldn’t possibly recognize anyone else. For one, we have no way of closing the distance to get a good look.” Sixson gave his opinion on the matter.

  “There are so many that we don’t know. And they are all up there fending them off…” Jeyst remarked.

  “What? Are you suddenly inspired to be a hero or something?” Gregori mockingly asked. “As nice as that sentimentality is, you are a bit too hated for that. Too political.”

  “Excuse me!? Oh I’m so sorry for being this way!” Jeyst mockingly compined.

  “Looks like all of you came back… Aside from the two missing…” Orrel walked over and greeted us. Looks like he realized that Kenni also ran off on her own. “At least it’s the two usual suspects. Then again, it’s not like we know where Jass and Karra are.”

  “Isn’t Karra streaming from somewhere inside the school? We don’t need to worry about her.” Gregori said. We can’t really tell from the stream where she is actually at, aside from it being pretty damn high up. “With Jass… I trust someone like him to be smart and stay out of trouble. I wouldn’t worry about him personally.”

  “How about we go back to the cafeteria? Seni and the others are still there.” Orrel suggested.

  “At this point, why not? Can’t say I like the vibe of outdoors right now.” Qyunda said and the others nodded in unison.

  We all walked into the building and looked for the nearest teleport pad. The hallways and corridors are all full of people since the school advised us from leaving in the first pce, despite also telling us that the school will be over early as well.

  *Zoom*

  “Ah, you guys are back!” Seni called out to us. This pce is even more busy than ever. Probably a bunch of people yapping and stress-eating and all that. Anyway we got a spot for our entire gang here… minus four people.

  “Man, what the hell are you guys even doing? No way you were catching up with her.” Nicks said, just rubbing it in.

  “Indeed. That just wasn’t needed at all.” Wers chimed in. Are we just gonna get clowned on the entire time?“So were you actually in any trouble out there? You all look a bit disoriented.” Orrel thankfully tried to change the subject for our sake.

  “We didn’t actually get into any fight, if that is what you were all concerned about.” Malk spoke up for the gang. “Someone forced us back here with a spell. Trapped us in a bubble and sent us flying here. It’s rather ridiculous.”

  “And who would that be? Rico? Wiina? Maybe Elrik?” Wers asked for more details… Huh, now that I think about it, those guys are probably also up there in the sky as well.

  “Someone with bck hair and fox ears and tail. Can’t say I recognize her…” Malk expined, trying to remember if he had seen her somewhere before.

  I definitely had, and so did Qyunda, and Gregori… Unfortunately, I don’t wanna get tortured again, so I think it’s best for me to stay quiet about knowing her.

  “...Don’t ring a bell.” Wers said, coming up bnk as well. “That’s interesting, so there are more strong people out there we don’t know.”

  “It’s rather obvious there’s a lot more we don’t know, including all the people up there in the sky, or what this event actually means.” Gregori chimed in. “We can only wait and see at this point, which is a bit frustrating.”

  “Hmm…” Everyone is trying to think of the possibilities, but I come up bnk already.

  “...Is the ground shaking for anybody?” Qyunda suddenly asked.

  …Uh oh.