Standing still as they shout their hearts out, Jun and Emily watched as the chakram sliced Lily's chest or it should have but was prevented when an orange barrier broke before it could kill her.
And as it broke, Julie was flung to the back as a mana impact suddenly hit her.
Julie's eyes were widened in shock so as to Jun's surprise as well.
Jun had no idea where that orange like barrier came from but he took a quick glance at Emily, suspecting that it was her doing.
However only Emily knew that strange phenomenon and a relieved smile formed on her face.
That sight only made her remember a certain boy that protected her once with a similar reckless method.
Never would she have thought the same would also happen even when he wasn't even present.
Although no one could hear her now, Emily let out his name as if it was a wish for him to thank him at that moment.
Alas the fight still wasn't over yet.
As Lily fainted and laid on the cold ground, Jun had a terrifying glare to the beastman that was flung towards him.
"[Chain Star]"
Timing his skill perfectly, Jun swung his blade at Julie's chest.
Not allowing herself to die so easily, Julie gritted her teeth hard as she directed her body in midair to meet Jun's blade head on.
Sparks flew as their weapons clashed but Jun had the upper hand in that short clash of blades.
With his blade glowing purple, Jun slammed her right down to the ground.
Unable to balance herself from the sudden change in position, Julie hurriedly tried to salvage her positioning while also trying to shroud herself once again.
But Jun wasn't going to let her out of his sight again, knowing that this might be a critical opportunity, Jun didn't hesiate to wield his blade.
After seeing what state she drove Lily to was enough for him to not hold back at all. Lily's unconscoius figure reflected in Jun's eyes only furthered his rage
With his other blade glowing the same hue, he striked Julie from her side as to keep her in his attack zone.
Feeling a greater impact from his initial strike, Julie desperately blocked his attack only to give Jun more space.
After Julie had blocked his strike, he slice her stomach successfully though it was a bit shallow.
Julie seemingly groaned in pain as she tried to back away after getting hit but Jun dissapeared in front of her only to get sliced from her back.
Using his [Blitz] skill after his third strike, he was able to land a final hit on Julie from behind as his blade which at the fourth strike had the highest intensity and damage.
Managing to combine two skills at the same time was training that Lily and him was trying to accomplish for the past few days they've trained together.
And it finally paid off in the moments that he needed to do it.
Although Jun wasn't even elated that he had brought down his opponent nor performed a high level use of his skills.
Feeling frustrated that he was incapable of ending it sooner because he let himself be restrained just made him even more agitated by his own lack of power.
Shaking off those thoughts he stared into his opponent who was bleeding profusely from the front and back.
Jun then glanced at the pool of blood that had reached his feet. He almost immediately puked from the sight but held it in as there were still assassins other than her present.
Julie was already unconscious or dead for that matter and after observing that, he looked at Emily's direction to see that she had already brought down the barrier.
She was tending to Lily who had fainted not from wounds but from mana depletion. Golden lights quickly glowed from her staff which had a form of a spear from before.
After regrouping with them, Jun let out a sigh of relief as he checked that there were no visible wounds on Lily.
"...Oh yeah..we can talk now" he said.
"Yes, seems that the skill she activated was linked with her mana supply" Emily further observed while still tending to Lily.
"..Lily's allright for now but even with our conditions Jun, we should help the others out"
"..Yeah but where are the-"
"..Jun?...What?"
As Emily turned her attention to the other battlefield, she became pale as white after seeing the situation.
Alice was kneeling down using her large cannon, blood covered her face as she tried to stay awake.
Sophia and Amana were also in grave conditions since both of them were frozen in place from their feet up to their waist.
And due to mana depletion and exhaustion, the two could not break away from the ice that's slowly killing them.
Their situation might have looked bad but for Brian's party, it was worse.
With half his face black as charcoal, Donovan was laying on the ground with severe burns all over his body.
Despite such burns, Emily could still confirm with her trained eyes that Donovan's still alive.
It was a horrifying sight to see, it was as if he was deliberately scorched slowly as to not kill him instantly.
Another one also got burned, Shivan had his two arms scorched. He was still conscious, leaning on the wall for support since he couldn't use his arms anymore.
And beside him was Brian who was using his spear as a cane to stand, his left arm was bent in a weird direction but aside from the blood flowing from his shoulders, he was the most fine out of the three.
It was brutal, it seemed that they were being played around with considering that they had Brian of all people on their side.
Although for Brian, he wasn't alone unlike someone that was pinned down by a giant ice claw.
Ray's complexion was pale as if all the warmth in his body froze, it was also bad that he had ice claws piercing the sides of his back.
It seemed that he was about to pass out or die any second but his eyes were directed upwards.
All of the surviving students were looking up including Jun and Emily who felt that they didn't need to do anything anymore.
Floating leisurely in the air, his two brown wing were flapping slowly. His long hair was flowing smoothly as he looked down with half opened eyes.
Despite his demeanor, the pressure he was emitting was unlike the assassins that was hunting their lives.
His mana permeated all throughout the area, forcing anyone present to look up.
"...You guys~ can't you dive without pulling shit like this"
He complained to his beat up students as if the cultist also looking up at him were not worth his time at all. He even let out a yawn.
In an instant, the giant wolf leaped to crush Ulden in it's sharps fangs but as if it was an illusion, Fenrir found itself on it's master side without it's four legs intact.
It howled in pain as Marie tried revitalizing her pet.
"Oho~ A kin of Fenrir? You have one nasty pet little lady"
Floating down to the ground, Ulden walked briskly towards the flaming demonkin who was smiling from ear to ear even in the situation he was faced.
He was delighted in seeing such a monster right in front of him.
"...Terrin Ulden, The Untouchable..." Malik muttered in excitement as his flame burned more intensely.
"..Seriously, please don't call me that, it's embarrasi-"
Without wasting any time at all, Malik leaped while activating his class skill.
"[Undying Rage]! Fight me Ulden!"
His body let out red hues as his eyes lost any kind of recognition or sanity in him at all. He brought down his halberd at the same time he landed down on Ulden.
"[Shift]"
Without knowing how, Malik was transported on his initial spot all of a sudden. Alas he couldn't care less as he charged straight ahead.
"[Shift]"
Once again, he was transported to his spot again but with a lance stuck to his shoulders this time.
And before he could take another step multiple lances fell from the ceiling out nowhere.
Pinned down by lances all over his body, Malik still tried to stand up and fight. All sense of reason were lost on him in his current state.
"..What an annoying fellow~"
Ulden then unnoticingly had a lance on his hands. Raising his arm lightly, Ulden took one step forward.
"[Impale]" he then threw his lance.
His lance pierced through Ulden's chest without resistance. Malik was kneeling on the ground, his head hung low and his vigor all lost.
A howl then soon came after, four lances were impaling Fenrir's four limbs which had curiously grown again.
Another one pierced through the huge wolf's chest in an instant while lances rained down on it's master.
She was using her four ice claws while also dodging constantly, all Marie could do was evade and look impasively at Ulden.
It was an unbelievable sight, those assassins were about to kill all of them but with just Ulden's appearance, they were rendered powerless.
Jun and everyone else thought those bastards were going to be finished but still, Jun, Emily and Alice had some qualms about finishing off a kid.
Although Ulden didn't care at all because in his eyes, his opponents were simply just enemies to be disposed of.
In Jun's frustration, he failed to notice something out of place.
"Malik, Marie! We're leaving!"
Julie sat up even when she was bleeding profusely. She then broke a black box as a swirling vortex instantly swallowed up their bodies.
Fenrir, Malik, Marie and Julie had their own portals that were quickly swallowing them up.
Seeing this happen, Ulden tried to disrupt the portal only to be assualted by electricity coming from those portals.
It didn't reach him though but it kept him busy.
"...This lightning..I see.." his eyes showed a hint of bloodlust.
Realizing that Ulden couldn't stop them from escaping, the students with mana left tried their hands on stopping them.
"""You're not leaving this place!"""
With his one hand, Brian threw his spear with all his might towards Malik, he assumed that he was still alive seeing that he was also escaping.
Emily did the same, transforming her staff into a spear once again, she threw it straight at Julie.
Jun used [Blitz] to shorten the distance and while minding Emily's spear, he slashed at Julie's neck.
Alice also used her last remaining mana as she shot out a weakened version of [Howitzer] towards Fenrir.
Ray on the other could not move and had no mana left, he could only stare right at Marie in that moment.
*Vuam
Tried as they did, their attacks did not reach as the portals close all at once. They all had missed their last chance.
"...So she used [Fake] huh, that bunny lady" Ulden muttered beside Jun.
Startled by his sudden appearance, Jun almost brandished his sword at Ulden only to stop himself instantly.
"...[Fake]?..is that why she didn't die or-"
"She wasn't dead in the first place, it only made her look convincingly dead. She even fooled me~"
"...I.."
Jun then gripped his swords, looking back on how he dealt his assumed final blow to her back.
"..Well that isn't important right now, we have to get you kids to the infirmary again~"
A red magic circle then encompassed all of them at once. It was a familiar sight indicating that they were finally leaving the labyrinth.
Emily was tending to Alice and Ray's wound in a frantic pace, not minding that they were being transported out.
Amana and Sophia were still stuck in ice, their two other party members were still asleep while Brian and Shivan was about to collapse anytime soon, Donovan was still sprawled out on the ground.
Jun loosened his grip on his swords, closing his eyes as the intense red light from below swallowed all of them up in it's light.
And such, their rush dive test come to an abrupt end.
ok, so MC was beaten and his trump card useless, a teacher who has power over space but cannot prevent teleportation besides being casually yawning and indifferent to the near death of his students, no one died and everyone escaped.
well, this shounen story mixed with xianxia's cockroach is not for me
I wish willpower for those who stay
The mc saved the day actually, maybe you forgot because it’s been some time, but Ray was trying to break the magic item sustaining the barrier(which was the reason why OP teacher didn’t appear until now: he couldn’t detect the assassins), which he managed to do with his trump card last chapter. You’re also forgetting someone blocked the teacher when he tried to close the portal and that was the only moment when he took things seriously
Yeah, that was unsatisfying.
@Hantaros Right, there are quite a lot of factors that created this outcome.
This makes things more real, since the assasins did not fight to the death.
Also, as I understand this was the stronger squad, since the original sealer was not a fighter.
MC creates a lot of ripples
I feel the same. It actually felt promising at the start and I had the impression the MC had actual autonomy. Turns out that even with all the prior knowledge he has to bow down at every corner and play the fiddle to barely string along.
I know this is done to keep things "interesting" (as a MC who always wins and knows everything makes things too repetitive and boring), but it just feels like the other million transmigration/isekai stories I have read.
Yada yada MC doing things disrupts the future events, yada yada hidden enemies and plots that were never revealed in the the story despite the MC knowing so much about it, yada yada enemies get the get-out-of-jail-for-free card because the good guys are always careless and/or direct their empathy towards people who literally tried to have them all killed (let's be real, little brainwashed girl tries to kill you and you sympathize a little with her? Sure. Little brainwashed girl tries to kill not just you but your entire gang/friends/classmates? Wtf. No. You don't sympathize with that level up f*cked up.)
I didn't actually mean to go on this long of a rant but I guess I just feel that passionate about it.
Disappointed is the least I could say about the way things went.
Guess I will still stick around with the story for a bit to see how things turn out just because curiosity is a real pain.
You summarize it very well, I just realize this novel is not for me also
@Aoso you know the funny thing is that most of what you said isn’t really wrong: this story isn’t very original and there’s quite a few common plot points for the genre, I just don’t see that as a problem, it’s enjoyable and has enough internal logic that it doesn’t annoy me(the child assassin for example: it’s dumb of Ray to go easy on her, Ray himself knows that, but he’s also been established as overly helpful in his previous life, a guy so stupidly kind and supportive that he became an enabler for his friends vices and then got thrown under the bus when it was convenient). For curiosity’s sake though, what would you have changed in the story?
@Hantaros You knows there is not much of a point for me to read anything if I could just change anything within a story I don't like (where would be the fun in that?).
But just for argument's sake, let's assume I could change anything, let's take a look at our MC. As you said, he had such a shitty past because he enabled his friends and as a consequence had to suffer for it, so magically he gets a second chance and all that. What's the point of all this? The Literal description of the story says that he resolved himself to stop being the punching bag for everyone and everything. He does everything possible to not be that, but somehow his mentality is still the same as when he was back in his old world? So the description is an outright lie.
Next, take a look at the scenario. They all get dragged into an extreme life-or-death situation DESPITE him supposedly knowing so much about the story. Where is his resolve? His efforts? His autonomy and consequences of his actions? They all magically survive, the enemies magically get away with no losses. It feels empty, meaningless without the consequences and the resulting reflection.
The MC decided to no longer be a wingman but somehow becomes a dense harem MC who has no clue of the affections targeted torwards him, which is supposedly justified by his existing knowledge of the characters. Again, where is the meaning of the story or of the MC's actions if in his view people cannot change and therefore start liking him?
I went on a rant again but TLDR: If I HAD to change anything it would be to add weight to the MC's actions, a few deaths, or at least one, should have been a wake up call for him, that he hasn't changed at all and that he needs to put his resolve into action because the way I see it, he just keeps stringing along, magically completely unknown enemies pop out of nowhere, the whole storyline he knew goes to sh*t and suddenly every advantage he had with his knowledge means nothing (because they are counteracted by enemies growing stronger, etc.).
@Aoso I see, thanks for satisfying my curiosity,
@Hantaros I think that deaths are not necessary for Ray.
For example, if romantic interests are anything more than trophies, they will make Ray aware of their feelings. Some of them have personalities more eager to pressure him.
As for the danger, Ray is stuck at clearing everything like the game. He thinks more in lines of amassing personal power and he tries to do it pretty earnestly.
What he lacks here is insight and effort to acquire intel.
His failures stem from this and his inability to communicate properly with people.
In general stories (especially shonen) tend to endorse egocentric mindset, where friends make no palpable contributions to the progress or need to be rescued by protagonist. The dramatic change has to be made by protagonist and anybody else trying will obviously fail.
At least that's how my experience with novels looks like.
In lines of Ray's character, something unthinkable needs to shake him, but that might be just unexpected danger or confession.
After all, Ray was never supposed to be popular among girls.
As far as internal logic of the story goes, to me Ray is fine for now.
@Quesa I can agree that for the development of the story (or Ray's character) to be good doesn't necessarily have to involve any character deaths. My main gripe is about how the whole scenario was written in context of the situation.
As you have aptly put it, Ray might need something truly unexpected to happen for him to change. Wouldn't a death of one of the main cast be a real slammer? An opportunity for growth and not just a death of a no-name side character nobody cares about just for the sake of having a death?
Maybe a pyrrhic victory at the cost of most of them getting crippled (permanently or for a long time; not some wuxia healing crap where they regrow organs and limbs and cannot die unless nuked by 20 nuclear bombs worth of power) would also have done the job. At the the very least it would have been a wake-up call for Ray.
If anything of what I wrote is taken as legit criticism you will hopefully see why I shot out all these paragraphs of complaints. As you said, the story heavily follows the typical shounen plot which is very Main character centered. Having a story like this and then caging the centerpiece in with every possible deus-ex (like how the villains magically get away with teleportation, the supposedly overpowered teacher doing nothing) doesn't feel and isn't good to read.
I get that conveying hardships/difficulties is part of a story but doing it this way doesn't make the reader go "Wow! The villains are so multidimensional and capable!!" or "Goddamn! Even the OP MC can fail at something, haha, he will learn from this and next time go BRRR and demolish the baddies!"
@Aoso I have to say that our views seem to align in some degree.
I have the same grievances over blatant plot armor and neglect for consequences of various situations that takes place in many stories.
Most importantly, usually the turnaround in anyhow realistic world would have caught the invaders off guard. Especially if they believed so much in their advantage. There would be misshaps.
It would be nice to have a follow up with explanation on why despite confidence the invaders still prepared dutifully for escape from lost fight against some inexperienced youths.
Moreover, they had a plan for failure, but none spare plan to finish the job.
Was it enough to stir population?
Was it the worst case drill prepared because of the mighty teacher or something else? Since Druid was supposed to protect the sphere, they were not expecting him to to well?
There are quite a lot of things I can explain in my own head, so I can roll with the story and enjoy it.
For example, I assume that mighty teacher was never expecting somebody to dare actually interrupting his test and the scale made it harder to monitor (though, how much?)
I agree it would be good to have some more detail in the story itself (so nothing would be pulled from the thin air) , yet I am more worried that story may get stuck in routine that will put all relationships in effective stasis or render them into pointless ornaments that yell their catchphrases sometimes.
That is the thing that personally bothers me the most, since too often stories tend to make friends into yes-man or just tools. Then, lovers are made into trophies with close to none individuality and no agency of their own.