Chapter 21:
A silver whip flew through the pierced wall.
“Argh!” Lian screamed, sending herself flying to the side.
Quang-!
The next moment, the silver whip struck the spot where Lian was standing. If he had been a moment too late, Lian would have been killed instantly. Amid this chaos, a message flashed before Abel’s eyes.
[Quest ‘Escape’ has been triggered!]
[Make it out of the tower alive!]
[The ‘Steadfast Sponsor’ event will be given as a reward for completing the quest!]
[Additional rewards will be given if no one dies during the escape!]
‘This damn quest.’ Abel cursed under his breath and picked up his pace as the messages blocked his view momentarily. Now wasn’t the time to check the content of the messages.
“Hurry!”
He heard Tania’s voice shout behind him, and he crouched down and leaped high.
Thud!
Abel’s body landed in Tito’s cockpit. It wasn’t a smooth landing, but Abel quickly crumpled himself into the cockpit, simultaneously placing a hand on its core.
Woooooooo
The cockpit slammed shut as soon as he put some magic into the core. Abel soon went on to raise the coordinate rate. Magic surged from his body, circulating between the core and Abel’s body, awakening the sleeping gigant.
Wooo-!
Soon, the Tito was on its feet. His joints were stiff from being a half-decorative object, and it was unarmed, but it was still a Tito. Abel didn’t have to think long before he set Tito in motion. The target was right in front of him. It was where Tania stood.
Kaaaaang!
Tania raised her sword, slashing the whips as they drove into the tower. If not for the mighty warrior before them, one or two cadets would have been seriously injured. However, Abel did not expect her to resolve the situation entirely.
No matter how powerful she was as a warrior, her sword was just an ordinary iron sword, and she had no secondary armor. She was good as naked.
‘The compatibility could be better.’
Abel observed the creature through the hole in the wall. It was a round sphere with dozens of whip-like tentacles attached to it. He remembered that the ‘fragment of a colossus’ was characterized by its freely moving tentacles and filthy, sturdy body.
Even the most magical warriors would find it difficult to do real damage with a bare-iron sword. It was even more difficult for Tania as she had to protect the other cadets, so she had no choice but to be on the defensive side, so Abel moved the Tito to get between them without hesitation.
Aaaang!
A whip struck him in the shoulder as he forced his way in, but he ducked and deflected the blow, so it didn’t hurt as much. When fighting with a gigant, there is a fighting method unique to the gigant. They have no sense of pain.
While they suffer mental damage when they take significant damage, they don’t feel the same pain from a single blow. As long as it didn’t get destroyed in one hit, it can survive.
”I’ll stop this,” Abel shouted at Tania, “That’s why it is necessary to move boldly when fighting with giants!”
Kaaaaang!
The whip went right over the Tito’s head and hit the wall. It was an attack that would have taken his head off if he had made a mistake, but Abel didn’t blink.
BANG!
Kwang!
Stabbing, holing, and avoiding. He did not give in to any of the fierce attacks and quickly closed the distance between him and the fragment of the Colossus.
“Everyone get onboard! Hurry!”
Meanwhile, Tania slipped back and climbed onto Tito while encouraging the other cadets.
‘Enough.’
Infamous Scans
Now, there was no one left between the monster and Abel. That means he doesn’t have to worry about other people.
“Haaaaaaap-!”
Abel deliberately drew the monster’s attention. The monster swung its tentacles even faster as if stimulated by it. On the surface, Abel seemed to be in danger, but in reality, he was not.
It was because everyone was getting on Tito and trying to join Abel. When others joined in, it only took a moment for the tides to turn. The monster must have noticed that too and suddenly moved its round body without swinging the whip.
Wow-!
The middle of the main body opened wide, and some eyes appeared. Abel’s body stiffened the moment their eyes met. The unprecedented energy restrained his body.
“You filthy people!”
Taking advantage of the opening, the whips flew toward Abel in unison. Abel thought the creature seemed strangely pleased, but he was wrong.
Boom-!
Suddenly, intense flames erupted from the cockpit, blocking Tito’s frontal view. Demetri’s flame, which he had received as a quest reward earlier, automatically activated to form a flame shield.
Kaang!
The whip was unable to penetrate the intense flames.
“Now it’s my turn.” Abel smiled as he was finally released from paralysis and used his Shadow Step.
Woosh!
Abel’s body glided forward. The creature tried to swing its tentacles back, but Abel had already gotten to it. Abel held the creature’s body. It was hard to deal with a creature like that when you’re unarmed. Not in a normal way. Of course, Abel had no intention of dealing with the monster in a normal way.
Boom!
Holding the writhing creature tightly in his arms, Abel whirled around violently. He could see Tania aboard Tito. Without warning, she lunged forward and threw out her fist. Her fist was an eerie shade of red.
Bang!
With a deafening thud, the monster’s body which struggled frantically, collapsed in Abel’s arms. Shortly after, a message appeared before his eyes.
[You have successfully completed the quest ‘Defeat a fragment of an Intermediate Colossus’]
[As a reward, you will receive the skill ‘Thunderbolt’]
It was a more generous reward than he had expected. But there was no time to rejoice in it.
“Hmph, hmph.” Abel breathed heavily.
An intense headache hit his head. It was a side effect of using enormous magic and mental energy to stop the monster’s writhing at the last second. It was good that Tania acted quickly, or he would have been rolling on the floor already.
“Abel!”
Someone tapped Abel on the shoulder as he struggled with a headache. It was Daniel.
“Are you okay?”
“Are you crazy? What if something went wrong?” Hanna also rode up on a gigant and shouted at Abel. Her voice was full of concern.
“Uh.”
Abel replied in a weak voice and looked around to assess the situation. The first thing he saw was the corpse of another monster nearby. He’d been so focused on the battle that he hadn’t realized it, but it seemed another monster had invaded in the middle of the fight.
Daniel noticed his gaze and sputtered, “That one was taken care of by the soldier over there. Oh, and he said the elevator was too dangerous, so we’re going to have to take the stairs.”
It wasn’t just one or two fragments of the Colossus that targeted the tower. Instead, they just encountered a small army, with the main body concentrated on the ground and in the tower’s lower levels.
“I feel better now.”
Abel told them he was okay and stood up on his own. The two looked at him uneasily but realized that the situation was urgent. So they didn’t say anything. Abel walked with them to where Tania was.
“We need to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“Abel.”
Tania gave Abel a subtle look. She was supposed to reprimand the cadets for their dangerous behavior as a teacher, but the damage could have been much worse if Abel hadn’t acted quickly.
Moreover, his calm judgment and control of the aircraft were admirable, especially for a cadet. Tania, a reasonably experienced rider before she became a teacher, quickly organized her thoughts and spoke up.
“Yes. You’re right. We need to get out of here first. The situation is dire. Trying to force our way out of the tower might be more dangerous. This is the wall of glory, lined with fine soldiers and riders.”
Rationally, it would be much safer to wait for them to come to the rescue after clearing up the debris of the fragment colossus below. However, Tania decided to escape after confirming that the view through the hole in the wall was unusual.
Abel nodded, knowing fully well how the situation was.
‘There is no support anyway.’
Originally, reinforcements should have arrived as soon as the incident occurred, but that was not the case. And Abel knew why.
It was because a special entity was clinging to this tower and spreading a barrier to impede recognition and block out noise. The only ones holding the monster that attacked the tower’s lower floors were the troops originally guarding the tower.
‘There’s a high possibility that the outsiders don’t know the current situation of the tower at all.’
The appearance of a peculiar object and the abnormal behavior of the gigant were things that the empire could not have imagined. It would have been the same for anyone. The current situation was so out of the ordinary that it was similar to a dog raised at home suddenly walking around on two legs and talking to people.
Starting from today, many things will change. Abel looked at Tania after taking a magic amplifier he had packed separately.
Tania looked away from Abel and looked at her other cadets and spoke,
“Get yourself together, everyone. Let’s get in formation and move.”
Tania looked at the soldier and then led the way, while the soldier stayed at the back and the cadets in between.
In the front of the line.
Tania continued tensely, “I just want you all to think of getting out of here alive.”
“Yes.”
They began to descend the tower.
»————- ★ ————-«
Arrrrg!
Bang~!
The sound of crashes and bangs pierced their ears as they descended the stairs. Even though Abel was inside the tower, he had a pretty good idea of what was happening outside. But he couldn’t afford to worry about the outside. As far as danger goes, this place is just as bad.
“The sound is…” Hannah, who was standing directly behind Abel, muttered in an uneasy voice.
Somehow, Abel could also sense it. The noise from below was diminishing, and it was clear what that meant. Either the monsters that had attacked the tower were nearly finished, or the troops guarding the tower were about to be wiped out.
Thump, thump, thump.
Tito streaked down the stairs in rows. Nothing happened until they were halfway down, but about five minutes later, May, who had been quiet, spoke up.
“It’s coming.”
May’s voice was sharp and not sleepy as usual, and her words held an obvious truth.
Kagak-.
They could hear the sound of scratching on the wall. Something was coming up their way. Tania froze and quietly raised her hand. The stairs were quite wide, but it was not a good place to fight. Even though their Titos weren’t as huge as the riding type, it was well over 3m tall.
Kagagak-. Kagak.
However, they did not have a chance to choose the battlefield they wanted, and the sound was getting closer. Abel listened to the sound coming while awakening the senses of his entire body. The sound suddenly stopped, and Abel counted to three before shouting.
“Get down!”
A few reflexively ducked at the cry, while others were pulled by Abel himself with his two hands.
Aaaaaang-!
It was shortly afterward that one of the walls burst open. Sharp thorns scraped across the wall, sending shards of stone falling. Some groaned as the falling stones hit them, but Abel shouted without care.
“Run! Now!” Abel shouted, pushing past those standing in front of him.
There was no time to explain anything. Everyone was stunned, and they quickly ran down the stairs.
Kwang!
Bang!
Kwang!
The next moment, the entire wall where they stood exploded in unison.
“Kiriririk!”
A new monster came in through the blasted wall. A ‘spider‘ appeared.
“Kiaaaaaa-!”
The spiders screamed, and the life-threatening chase began.
[To be continued.]