章 17: Retreat!
After the dungeon gate opened, Anna, who is the only S rank present right now on the Roult island, showed up in front of the dungeon gate.
She looked at the dungeon with a sour expression on her face. All of the students gathered to assist the blockade.
After an hour of lengthy and nerve-wracking wait, the dungeon finally stopped absorbing mana. It started to spin slowly, and just like that, several low-rank monsters started to come out of it.
From low rank to high rank, a vast army of monsters emerged from the gate. Several different species, with the exception of the truly rare ones, made up the monster army that marched here.
Several rare species, such as phoenixes and dragons, are difficult to spot because they inhabit isolated areas. It is very rare for them to pop out of a dungeon.
Not to mention, legendary species like phoenixes and dragons possess intelligence from the moment they are born; they never engage in battles where they are forced to serve as cannon fodder for others.
In this world, you can't have dragons and phoenixes as your pets; if you tried to enslave a dragon the very next day, a huge army of giant dragons would greet you on your doorsteps with a concentrated dragon's breath, right at your face.
Despite the lack of camaraderie among species such as dragons, the discovery of a dragon's enslavement incites intense anger.
As a result, the aspiring youngsters who have always wanted to be dragon knights can only dream of riding dragons while still sitting on a pig's back.
...
The fight started immediately with the monsters' entry; both sides began to attack each other, and the battlefield became extremely chaotic.
Despite the one-sided slaughter of the monsters, their overwhelming numbers began to exert their dominance, forcing the defenders to retreat.
Rio fought nonchalantly until the very end, slashing his sword in a dull manner. He was distancing himself from the center of the battlefield.
It is not that he is scared; it's just that he doesn't want to get entangled with more than he can't chew.
Unlike the other named characters, like Link and Lia, who are fighting on the very front, he knows he does not have heavenly protection.
'Although I can kill early B-rank monsters easily now, several A-rank monsters are fighting with Ms. Anna there. Any one of their casual attacks can instantly kill me.'
Heavenly luck protects named characters like Fade from stray attacks. But the same is not true for him because he is just an extra.
'I would use my energy more when retreating.'
After deciding his course of action, Rio continued his stroll around the rear of the battlefield, slashing a few monsters nonchalantly.
Then suddenly, a huge explosion caught his attention.
'I was wondering why Ms. Anna, who is an S rank, needed to retreat from a mere A rank monster in the novel, but it seems the reality is rather mind-blowing.'
The S-rank gate continued to release monsters incessantly, but the most concerning aspect was the emergence of several A-rank monsters from the dungeon gate. The stream of monsters is endless; there's no stop to it.
Despite being an S rank, Ms. Anna is unable to defeat numerous A rank monsters on her own, especially considering that she is a mage rather than a warrior type. Due to this, she is at a disadvantage in the current situation.
Looking around, it can be seen that she is being attacked by at least 20 A-rank monsters together.
'That's a dangerous situation. Not only that, but the Gate is still releasing more monsters. She can't bear the pressure for long and will soon issue an order to retreat.
And as Rio had expected it even more A rank monsters started to come out of the dungeon gate, as if they were forcefully being sent here to fight. Maybe an S-rank monster is forcing them to come here.
If they can succeed in taking over this place and keep the dungeon open for a long time, they can upgrade the S-rank dungeon gate, and thus even more high-rank monsters will be able to come out of it.
'According to the novel, they succeeded in doing so and upgraded the gate before the reinforcements could reach this place.'
...
Anna saw that even more A-rank monsters were coming out of the dungeon gate, and she immediately ordered the officials to start evacuating the people of the island nearby to ensure their safety.
Slowly the defense line started to retreat more and more, and monsters started to push forward more and more. The battle started to become unfavorable for the ones defending as time passed.
When Ms. Anna retreated, the rank monster who was fighting her directly targeted the people defending on the very front of the battlefield.
A huge onslaught started several awakeners, and some unlucky students got killed instantly by their attacks. Seeing that the battle was turning unfavorable, Anna ordered the students to retreat to the ship too.
Yet some students who were caught in the monster tide were still not able to retreat on time and got overwhelmed.
In the end, no one waited for them, and even Anna shook her head. It was clear that they had been sacrificed and no one would save them now.
This is exactly why Rio did not join the fight in front. It is good to be in front if you know that you can push forward during the battle. But when it comes to retreat, the people on the very front are targeted first.
There will be no way for you to get out of that situation, and you will be like a rat trapped in a cage. Waiting to be killed by the monsters following you, right behind your back, taking pleasure in your despair-filled face.
Just as Rio was going to retreat, he remembered something and looked around to find a certain person. And after looking carefully, he found her retreating in a panic state.
...
Lia was visibly exhausted and was struggling hard to even take steps. Yet seeing the monsters following behind, she had a desperate expression on her face.
'I can't die here; I will get out of it!'
Lia was encouraging herself by saying this in her mind. But her tired body was not listening to her desperate will.
'I shouldn't have rushed to the forefront to compete with Kira; tsk, what do I do now!'
Suddenly she saw a huge lion-type monster rushing straight at her. It was a B-rank monster, and in her exhausted state, there was no way to defend herself.
The monster showed no concern for her condition and proceeded to attack her face with its front paw, only to halt just inches from her face.
As if time had stopped for the monster, it stayed in its place for a second, then collapsed down with a bang. An experienced chef skillfully sliced its body into several pieces. In an instant, a B-rank monster was reduced to neatly cut meat.
Then she heard a calming voice with which she was extremely familiar:
"Need some help? Tsundere-chan!" (Rio spoke with a grin on his face)
Hearing him tease her even in this situation, she suddenly felt the urge to punch this bastard in the face.
But due to extreme exhaustion, she fainted. Just as she was about to fall, Rio caught her and carried her on his back.
After taking Lia, Rio immediately left the battlefield and started to retreat towards the ship, the Stormwalker.
...
While on the way, he started to think about the previous event.
The novel he read in his previous life described Lia as an extremely beautiful girl before a lion-type monster destroyed her face.
Yeah, in the later parts of the novel, Lia always covers her face under a mask to hide her face.
During the battle on Roult Island, she charged right at the front to compete with Kira. As a battle maniac, she immediately used her strongest skill, which quickly depleted her mana.
This prevented her from retreating in time, allowing a lion-type monster to catch up with her. That monster had very sharp nails. It directly attacked her face several times and ruined her beauty, which she had been proud of since a young age.
Anna later rescued Lia, as she was the sole daughter of an S rank. She enjoyed the privilege of being rescued, thus saving her life.
But it was already too late at that time. Her face has been ruined already.
Why did she not use healing potions, right? There's a big flaw in the healing potions of this world. That is, wounds can only be healed within a particular period of time by potions and healing skills for maximum effectiveness.
When Lia was rescued, she was injured for around 2 days. Yeah, the monster did not kill her; instead, it dragged her out of the battlefield and took her to a hidden location.
As mentioned earlier, every monster of B rank or above has a certain intelligence in this world.
That lion was not an idiot; it had been demonized, and thus it tended to enjoy others' misery. It liked to play with its prey.
So, for two days, Lia got tortured by that monster. The monster repeatedly targeted her face. Due to pain, she was not able to use her healing potions, which she was carrying in her space ring.
This prolonged torture instills a fear of monsters in Lia's heart. She became an extremely depressed type of person, and her targeting Kira became even more extreme after that. Thus, making her a full-fledged villainess.
In the end, she tries to get on the good side of the boss monster of the SSS rank dungeon by telling him the secret information about Fade's party, which will be going to fight him.
However, her miscalculation led to her death at the hands of the monster. Thus, concluding her sad story.
...
'But as I have saved her, she shouldn't be going on that path now. It's a relief I remembered about it before I got late.'
When Rio was going to retreat, he suddenly remembered the side story of Lia; thus, he decided to save her.
Anyway, he has a good relationship with her; it's not that bad to save her from going on the way to her doom. It won't do any loss to him anyway.
Since he could save her, he just did it; there were no particular reasons behind it... definitely!
After about an hour of running at full speed, Rio was already in front of Stormwalker. He immediately boarded the ship.
Looking around, there were already several students on the ship. Most of them have injuries and are being treated by the healers.
Rio took Lia to an empty bed in the healer's office and laid her down while waiting for the healer to check her health condition. In a while, the healer came and checked her.
The healer declared her okay; she was only unconscious because of mana exhaustion. She can be discharged.
Hearing it, Rio took her to his room, while a sense of relief was filling his heart. This fact brought great confusion to Rio since he had never felt affection due to being an orphan for two lives...
'Why am I taking care of a potential villain? What's wrong with me... sigh~'
Without Rio knowing himself, he had started to care for someone for the first time in his two lives.
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