Seven Sins System Chapter 19. Horde

Despite their shock, I held out my hand calmly since I already knew what it was.

'Shadow Barrier!'

A transparent wall covered us. Although the fire spell wasn't aimed directly at us, the heat and impact were something else.

[A barrier has been formed.]

Explosion accompanied by wind and smoke that enveloped us. Reflexively, my entire team raised their arms to protect their eyes. But my barrier had blocked all impacts, wind, and heat.

As the smoke got thinner, they had already made their usual battle formation. Their hands were ready with their weapons. Their gazes were fixed on where the attack came from. But instead of a monster roar, we only heard Julia's angry voice and I already knew why.

"Lower your weapons. It's not a monster," I ordered. Yet I didn't take my eyes off the attacker and my annoyance was clear from the tone of my voice.

Once the smoke cleared, we could see Julia arguing with a paladin. A great sword and a cool shield in his hands. His uniform looked different from the others. Rather than a suit, silver armor covered his body, reminding me of a typical knight in shining armor several hundred years ago. I could remember how I slaughtered a lot of them since their shining armor blinded my view.

He was the only paladin-class mentor in Clourmity Academy, Theo. He was much taller and more muscular than me. His short hair was slightly curly with a slight bang that almost covered one of his eyes. His hard jaw made his face look even more masculine. His yellow eyes and a tail covered by snake scales behind him clearly showed his status as a lizardman. Behind him, a female bunny demi-human mage looked down in guilt. It seemed Theo just made her do something she didn't want to.

"You could have injured the entire team 8, Theo!" said Julia angrily.

But Theo replied by folding his arms in front of his chest. At the same time, his weapon and shield were shattered into pieces.

"Pfft! That's impossible. Isn't Dr. Allen their mentor? Besides, this is his first mission, I decided to test him. Just for a reminder, a mentor who can't protect his team is the same as trash," he said in a nonchalant tone.

Then he turned to us. No, but to me.

"After all, he should have ordered his mage to use a fire spell, not an earth spell," he mocked.

Yeah, I had heard of his glorious achievements. He often destroyed the monster camp alone. As a tank, he had the endurance and strength to inflict a good amount of damage. Not to mention his level and HP points that were above the others. So he rarely needed a combat doctor. They called him a prodigy. But I called him an asshole.

[Name: Theo Sunrider]

[Level 71]

[HP: 1545/1545]

[MP: 412/412]

'Calm yourself, Azrael. You are undercover. You can beat him as you like after this mission is over. Just don't kill him,' I reminded myself.

"That crazy paladin..." Barry hissed in anger. He almost raised his lance again, but I caught his wrist and lowered it, asking him to restrain himself.

The same as the others. Even though the others tried to maintain their composure, I could catch their anger.

I forced myself to smile.

"Thank you for your warning. I appreciate it. In return, I will also remind you of one thing. A mentor is prohibited from attacking other mentors or students on the battlefield. Violations will be considered serious crimes. I hope you can remember it, Theo," I said in a cynical tone.

"It's Mr. Theo." He said in an emphatic tone. His arrogant smile was still on his face.

"You're still a junior Dr. Allen. Please have some respect for your senior. You're just a little lucky because the academy needs a lot of combat doctors. Also, my student didn't attack your team. So I didn't make any violations. It's your fault for bringing your team too close to my mage's target."

I was aware of his cunning strategy from the start. That was why I stopped Barry and asked my team to lower their weapons. Theo could twist the facts and blame us.

"Pardon me, Mr. Theo. But I think that the fire spell was too much for a mound." Based on the impact, it was enough to take down a Mad Boar in one hit.

But his arrogant expression did not change.

"Really? Well, my mage only has the best spells. So she's never used a low-level spell." He turned his gaze to the bunny mage who was gripping her staff in fear behind him.

"Am I right, Rachel?" he glared.

"Y-Yes, Mr. Theo," Rachel squeaked. It was clear that she was in on his intimidation.

"Just remember, Mr. Theo. I will not forgive anyone who hurt my students," I said straight to the point.

Theo laughed at what I said and walked over to me casually.

Stopping in front of me, he grabbed my collar and glared at me.

"Very funny. You're just a combat doctor. What can you do?" Our eyes glared at each other.

Julia and the other mentors tried to get his hand off me. While my students tried to warn him. But he didn't budge. That was the last straw of my patience. So I decided to give him a lesson that he would never forget in his life.

I ordered one of my tentacles to morph into a giant worm monster and headed under his feet. I planned to trap half of his body and make my tentacle eat half of his legs. The agreement stated I couldn't kill mortals, but that didn't mean I couldn't make him cripple, right? That would end his career for sure and throw him into the abyss of desperation. 

Unfortunately, in the middle of the shape-shifting, my tentacle suddenly flung back and forth fiercely before several huge monsters ripped right into its eyes.

"Khhh..." Even though I put on my poker face, I couldn't help but flinch.

[You have taken 125 physical damage.]

[Regeneration will be activated]

[Your HP will increase by 1 point per second]

[Your tentacle has been killed.]

[It will respawn in 5 minutes]

Just like me, my tentacle has an amazing regeneration ability. As long as it was not their eyes, they could handle any attack and regenerate without dealing any damage to me. But since it died quickly, I knew it was a bunch of high-level monsters. At least by mortal standards.

I bent my head down and ordered my other tentacles to turn into little birds to find out what it was. That previous tentacle was quite close to this place so this was not good news. After all, my tentacle should have killed all the Mad Boars and Chiefs in the forest.

What I saw next shocked me. A horde of other monsters was approaching us. They looked angry and restless. What confused me even more, there was a variety of types of them, not just one. This indicated something was wrong with this place.

Note: Darren and Ion's pics are on Glossary