Chapter 21: C21: The Hermit
The fight was over.
At least that's what everyone else believed. I knew in the other parts of the forest there were likely fights happening and people dying. But the question was whether I had the guts to go and see what was happening. Had I changed things? Or was there some kind of fate in this world that everyone had to follow?
Despite everything, relief washed over my body. It was an indescribable feeling of happiness. The kind I never felt before. Was this what it felt like to survive?
All the adrenaline drained out of me and I lay on the green grass tainted by red. Corpses of both demons and humans all around me. It felt surreal.
I had experienced someone important dying in my last life. But never like this.
Not even half an hour ago, I was talking to Mr Fort. Now his corpse was shredded with half his face and chest missing as it was ripped apart. The rest of his body below his chest was nowhere to be found either.
The sounds of someone crying close to me woke me from my thoughts. It was the chubby girl crying next to Mr Fort's corpse. She had a large cut from her wrist all the way to her elbow.
I walked closer to her and took her arm. She looked at me with shock and was about to pull her arm away. Neither of us said anything. I bandaged her wound and put in some medical ointments so the wound wouldn't get infected. It wasn't some skillful medical job, but basic first aid that I wasn't sure I was even doing right.
"Sorry for your loss." Despite so many people dying, I had prepared for this and looked out only for myself. I wasn't a selfless hero. Life was cheap in this world. If you don't look out for yourself then that life would become even cheaper.
"E -Even though no one ever believed in me. Professor Fort always tried to help!" She hiccupped, and her words seemed to remind her of Mr Fort's kindness and she cried even more.
I said nothing and looked for other wounds. There was one on her leg, and a demon claw was stuck there. I pulled out the claw, and she whimpered.
The bone was visible from the wound. If this had been any other time, I would have thrown up at the grotesque sight. But by now I had grown used to it.
With me included, there were five survivors in total from this group. So I went and helped the others.
Before coming here I had already prepared some herbs and medicines for myself. Ironically, I wasn't injured in any way shape, or form.
As I was helping a boy with a broken leg set his limb straight. The silver-haired Anika came and helped me. Despite what her displeasure with me might have been before this whole mess. We now had to stand united or else some low class demon might stumble on here and kill us all.
With her help, we gathered all the human corpses we could find in one place. Except for us two, the other survivors all had some form of injury.
After a while, I could no longer even smell the blood and death. My nose got used to the smell. With the smell gone. I could now concentrate on the corpses, with their veins and bones showing, with their mouths agape. Taking in the carnage around me for what it was.
Fuck, this wasn't a good thing. The distracting smell was better. I didn't have to think of everyone here, and how devastated their families would be when they find out what happened.
"What do we do now?" Whispered Anika when they were far enough so the other three survivors couldn't listen in.
Her face filled with anxiousness. Like a schizophrenic, she looked around at every shadow that the moonlight created.
"Are you implying we should run away?" I asked for clarification. I didn't want there to be some naive misunderstandings of what she was saying. We were both smarter than some isekai protagonists… not like that was much of an accomplishment.
"Yes. Human blood draws demons from all over the forest. We aren't in a fighting condition. Also with the demon corpses here, it will draw in even those demons that partake in cannibalism," she said, her eyes landing on mine and I wasn't sure what she could be thinking at such a moment.
If I didn't have the knowledge from the Manga. I could have agreed with her and left our injured classmates behind. "No. I'm not leaving."
She was a Blaster and usually would have been a dangerous opponent. So I would have spoken softer, and not be so blunt. But she didn't have any Ord, and I was at a complete advantage. If she wanted to leave she was free to do so. But if she could do that she would have left already.
Anika by this time was arrogant enough, she didn't bring enough weapons with her. I don't blame her. After all, most people would have had trust in the system and the teachers protecting them.
There was a shuffle in the bushes. An old man with a cane, a long white beard, and bandages covering his eyes and the rest of the top of his head. "So many innocent lives snuffed out today… how sad…"
The old man spoke in a slow and methodical manner.
"Who're you?!" Anika got on guard. But she isn't thinking things through. She's panicking. If she doesn't have any Ord, or a weapon on her. What's the use of being on guard?
Her physical abilities aren't that good, so she can't defend herself in close combat. But I would have acted the same if I was in her place.
The old man looked sad when he saw the bodies of the teachers. "Who did this?"
His eyes were covered by bandages so more like, he turned his head toward the bodies.
"The Demonic Exorcist," I answered without missing a beat.
"I see," an overwhelming amount of Ord seeped out of the man. Wisps of smoke formed from his Ord and created a small cloud platform. He stepped on the smoke cloud and flew up high above the trees. Then he threw a talisman on the ground creating a golden barrier that covered the field.
"You know him," Anika nudged me. It wasn't a question, more like a confirmation.
"Yes, he's our headmaster," I didn't need to elaborate much. Our headmaster was one of the strongest exorcists alive. But he was like a hermit and rarely showed himself.
An Ord that was overwhelming beyond our senses enveloped everything around us. Filling the area with smoke. But that smoke wasn't normal, and it felt heavy.
"W -What is this pressure?!" Anika almost kneeled to the ground. Unlike me, she didn't have any leftover Ord to protect herself.
But even I could feel the pressure. He was trying to extend his Ord and try to sense where the Demonic Exorcist was.
Sadly, he should be gone far away by now. The headmaster knew that. But he might be looking for any clues.
A second later the suppressing Ord was gone, and so was the smoke. The headmaster wasn't anywhere to be seen. At least the barrier was still around. At the corner of my eye was a small trail of smoke, the same direction the Demonic Exorcist had gone.
"Who would have thought the headmaster had such a domineering special ability? My father always said that he was just a weird old man who liked being alone," she breathed heavily while getting up.
That wasn't a special ability. It was just the Blaster Affinity pushed to its peak. At its core, the Blaster affinity allowed someone to control their Ord once outside their body. But as long as one trained to extreme levels, and reached a level where they could create an element with their Ord. Something like this would be easy.
Though the headmaster wasn't necessarily only a Blaster, he had another affinity that help-
Booom!... A sudden explosion in the distance woke me up from my thoughts.
What happened?!
In the original Manga, the headmaster would show up to save everyone. But he wouldn't even meet the Demonic Exorcist as he would have already left by then.
Here that wasn't the case as the Demonic Exorcist took interest in my ability. In the manga he spared the nine students he considered interesting. That's why I created an ability like this. So in the worst-case scenario, he would consider me interesting enough to not kill.
As long as I stayed inside the barrier, I should be safe. But at the same time. If my presence had changed something where the headmaster would fight the Demonic Exorcist so early in the story. What about other things?
If the story had changed so much from the original. Would the people who originally survived die? I was quite worried about Bets.
This arc was almost at an end. There were things I had to do. But was the risk worth it?
My Perfect Me ability can be used for five minutes, in which my body will use all its abilities and power perfectly. But that ability had some harsh rules to work, and that drawback was that it could only be used once a week.
Also due to that limitation my ability came out better than I thought. After all, it even showed my stats and their limits. Probably the sense of danger in which I would have to test my ability in a life-or-death situation made it better. But that risk had paid off and I now had a permanent ability that was better than most out there.
Still, the choice was mine to make. Should I go out of the barrier and risk myself for more benefits and save some future comrades? Or should I stay here, and let this blow over?
Should I face the danger now, or later?
**
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