"Is everyone alright?" Liam asked in a voice that was loud enough for everyone around him to hear after he ended the life of the last ordinary huge rat.
He turned around and saw the pale faces of the dead-tired students before he turned back without bothering about their exhaustion.
"Buy an Energizer if you guys cannot move. I will leave you guys behind if you won't keep up!"
Liam knew that a bunch of students was struggling to cope with the reality and that they would collapse the moment they stopped. Threatening to leave them behind was his means to force them to go ahead. It was cruel but so was life.
Without his threats, they might actually give up on themselves and hope that someone else would rescue them. That hope was crushed by Liam's words which made them access the Arcane Shop instinctively and quickly buy one or two Energizers.
They downed the bitter liquid and followed behind Liam while trying to ignore the bloody wounds all over their body.
Only a few students hadn't sustained any injuries yet, including Rex, Kian, and the female student who was good at wielding the spear. Her name was Olivia Jellin according to Rex's intel and she was the heir of some wealthy businessman.
Liam didn't really care about the latter information. He was more intrigued about her Soultrait because it seemed to allow her to comprehend the intent of weapons much faster than anyone else.
But instead of bothering her, Liam chose to ignore Olivia. It would be a hassle to turn someone like a prestigious heir of a wealthy family into one of his pawns, even if it would only be temporarily.
She would help him solve the mission even if he were to ignore her. Olivia had to fight for her survival, after all!
Kian joined their group after the fight was over and they kept advancing to the humongous gymnasium for the next ten minutes. Their group was forced to fight two more groups of rats but they didn't pose much of a problem since everyone was getting more accustomed to killing.
The fighting pattern of the rats was imprinted in Liam's mind and he could easily kill the ordinary huge rats as long as there weren't too many charging at him at the same time.
He was bone-tired and his entire upper body ached but that was something he learned to ignore.
"That is the gymnasium? Pretty big, that's for sure," Liam mumbled mostly to himself when they arrived at the open plaza in front of the gymnasium that looked more like a modern Colosseum than anything else.
Liam had not paid visits to a lot of Colosseums before but the huge wall erected around the main entrance made him feel like they were about to enter a Colosseum. It was a weird assessment but didn't seem to be wrong.
The large arch of the main entrance spanned close to a dozen meters while the width of the gymnasium was several hundred meters. It was just as long and over 50 meters in height.
Calling it huge was a gross understatement.
"It's the biggest in the country and used by most Universities within Starim…but shouldn't you know that if…wait, you are not from here, are you?" Rex explained the same fact Kian had wanted to say earlier, just to hit the bullseye with his realization.
Liam's expression didn't change in the slightest at Rex's question when Kian decided to jump in their conversation.
"We are quite lucky that you were in the forest. Are you a biology major, or do you like the nature of the Jula Valley? The weather forecast said that it would be sunny today, so many people were probably out wandering through the forest when shit happened…these poor people…I pray for their survival!" Kian said with a sad expression on his face. His entire body was currently drenched in water and he was shivering a bit.
However, they were lucky to have Liam by their side. Their mysterious savior might be a little bit of an oddball, and he was very harsh, but it was quite obvious that he meant well when ordering them around. If not for him, they would have turned into the rats' lunch long ago.
"I am not sure if my answer will satisfy you but I watched the Jula Valley from the cliff south from here. But don't you think it is more important to slaughter a few more rats to help those people over there?" Liam asked, pointing toward the main entrance of the gym where close to a hundred rats, including more than a dozen Blazing Tooth Rats were fighting against a large group of desperate humans who were wielding all kinds of objects as a replacement for weapons.
He didn't even think of lying because he knew from experience that big lies would inevitably end up creating more problems than leaving out the most important parts of the truth.
Speaking the truth but leaving out some information made things much easier, especially at this very moment. It was easy to remember than keeping a track of lies as well.
Rex and the others couldn't clearly see through the heavy rain but they heard the screams and battle noises coming from the main entrance of the gym.
It caused their body to tense up once again moments after they had calmed a little at the sight of the towering gym. They were not yet in safe grounds, which the teacher and the students realized once again.
Nobody asked Liam where exactly he came from again as he took a deep breath. His left hand turned into a claw while his right hand tightly grasped the battle axe.
[1x『Arcane Energizer(F+ Rank)』+ 1x 『Painkiller(F- Rank)』have been purchased. 3 Arcanium have been deducted!]
He swallowed the pill that materialized in his hand immediately and downed the Arcane Energizer as well.
A moment later, he dashed toward the main entrance hall of the gymnasium to join the humans in their battle against the rats. His focus was on the dozen Blazing Tooth Rats. The students blindly followed him without actually realizing what they were doing. Only when it was already too late did they understand that they had to fight an even bigger group of rats now that they were so close to their goal.
They were afraid but still fought with all their might, showing only little hesitation as they thrust the steel spear toward their opponents.
Meanwhile, Liam turned into a slaughterer as his claw pierced through the fur and flesh of their opponents.
His identity might be exposed now that he had changed the shape of his hand but he could just say that it was his Soultrait, in the worst case.
As long as he said his eyes, the black horn and the ability to change the shape of his hands were his Soultrait, nobody would doubt his origin or question his identity.
However, even if the others wouldn't believe him, it was not as if he had to bother about that.
As long as his mission was a great success, everything was fine!
Though it was a bit of a risk to expose the claws that enlarged the fingers of his left hand by close to ten centimeters, Liam could simply say that his claws, horn, and eyes were part of his Soultrait.
Nobody would be able to tell for sure whether he was lying or not, even less if he were to give others permission to see his status panel. Liam didn't plan to show his status panel to anyone but there was not exactly much for him to hide, except the 'Halfling' part which could be considered a bit of a hassle to explain.
However, worrying about getting exposed was not exactly his biggest concern right now.
He charged at the group of a dozen Blazing Tooth Rats and pierced his claws through the eyes of one of them. The group of a hundred ordinary huge rats and dozen Blazing Tooth Rats were too focused on the ill-armed students, teachers, professors, and athletes that were using all means to survive.
That allowed Liam to sneak up and reach the center of the enemy's group where he wreaked havoc by moving nimbly with his weak and exhausted body.
[Blazing Tooth Rat has been slayed]
[+0.5 Arcanium]
[+0.5 Arcanium]
[+0.5 Arcanium]
Using the opportunity, three Blazing Tooth Rats turned into lifeless bodies before they could react properly.
Liam was not yet done wreaking havoc but he took a moment to take a deep breath before resuming his killing spree.
"Use your spare Arcanium to buy proper weapons!" He shouted loudly.
His voice traveled to the dozens of people who were fighting with all kinds of objects, except proper weapons. The only somewhat useful weapons were the javelins that were usually used by the spear throwers in the gymnasium.
However, they broke easily, leaving the athletes without any other weapon to protect themselves. This forced the athletes to retreat and rely on other people to defeat the rats.
"Don't act like braindead idiots and buy some weapons!" Liam thundered imposingly while his eyes stared mercilessly at the useless people who were quivering in fear and retreating.
The people stopped in their tracks, but none of them followed Liam's commands.
"Useless trash," He muttered quietly before using traces of the Arcane Power his body had replenished to use his Soultrait.
The Devil's eyes were activated and the sealed galaxy in his eyes sprang to life as they began glowing in an iridescent hue. The already frightened unarmed humans stared blankly at Liam who turned back to the monsters whom he slaughtered mercilessly.
He didn't move much anymore but that was not necessary to kill his opponents. His claws were razor-sharp and strong enough to pierce through the fur and flesh. This made it easier to inflict small yet severe wounds upon the rats whenever he evaded their attacks with small and agile movements.
He was trying to avoid wasting his already scarce stamina and moved around only in a radius of five meters where the bodies of the dozen Blazing Tooth Rats ended up lying lifelessly. A few ordinary huge rats accompanied the Blazing Tooth Rats but they were not noteworthy to someone like Liam.
Less than two minutes passed before the fight with the group of rats ended. None of the students who were equipped with his steel spears turned into a lifeless body, which was a great success.
However, Liam was more focused on the wounds scattered all over their bodies.
"Everyone who was bitten by the rats, buy a lesser detoxification pill if you feel unwell," He suggested before approaching the main entrance of the gymnasium.
He didn't bother paying attention to the people who hadn't even mustered the courage to buy a weapon from the Arcane Shop. They were still blankly staring at him, unmoving as if they had been petrified by a Basilisk.
Only when Liam walked past them did they dare to breathe again. Their hearts were beating rapidly and they turned around in terror, just to realize that a bunch of 30 or so students and their teacher were quickly rushing behind the masked man.
The students didn't even bother to tend to their wounds as they ran behind Liam. Their need to stay around their savior and protector overwhelmed their earlier anxiety and they kept close to Liam, following him wherever he went.
It was almost as if Liam was the golden compass that would lead them through any perilous situation.
He was their beacon of hope and the students didn't want to lose him at any cost.
Upon stepping Inside the entrance area of the gymnasium, Liam quickly noticed a few things.
"Five floors with the first two floors being open fields? Alright then…" Liam mumbled mostly to himself as he read the signboard of the gymnasium. There were running tracks, a bunch of rugby fields, and many other stations for all kinds of sports spread all over the five floors.
There was even an underground floor where several swimming pools had been built. Liam was not sure what he should think about that but he was pretty certain that the gymnasium was a great place for athletes and sportsmen to play and hone their skills.
That was great before the Arcane Apocalypse and it was even helpful now that the Arcane Apocalypse had started. After all, the entire gymnasium could turn into a fortress as long as the main and side entrances would be well-secured.
But even if the main and side entrances of the gymnasium were to take a hit, it was not as if monsters could flood the inner halls of the gymnasiums easily. The gymnasium had two layers, the outer layer was where the elevators, changing rooms, showers, infirmary, and the resting places were located. It surrounded the inner layer of the gymnasium where all kinds of 'stations' for the different types of sport were located.
'Even if not all places are protected well, there are only six entrances to the inner rings of each floor. One at each corner, and directly next to the elevators…it's like having two defensive lines…' Liam realized, nodding his head in satisfaction.
"A natural fortress…let's see what we can do with that!"
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