The Extra of The Lunerra-Chapter 93 Volume III - 14: Attack on Academy

"Aiden!"

The moment I heard my name, I was snapped out of my thoughts. When I quickly turned around and looked in the direction of the voice, I found a girl, Celine, running toward me.

Her hair was tangled. There were cuts and blood stains on some parts of her clothes. Her face was not as scared as the other students, but clearly terrified.

Having been the target of countless assassinations since childhood, she had a certain tolerance for blood and brutality, but what had happened at the academy was too much, too sudden, even for her. She didn't look too good, but she wasn't bad either.

At least she was alive.

I paused for a moment, then clenched my teeth and my fist.

This is all my fault, I know I'm guilty, but now is not the time to freeze.

I should at least try to keep the survivors alive and not die myself. Isn't that the best thing I can do in this situation?

It's probably the Absolute Mind that makes me think like this. I really don't know whether to hate the skill or be grateful for it...

"Aiden, duck!"

At the sound of Celine's shout, without thinking, I threw myself with all my strength to the right, quickly looking behind me.

An arrow, obviously loaded with mana, had just shot out from exactly where my shoulder had been, but not only that. As soon as I threw myself to the ground, I found a student pointing his spear at me.

The spear was aimed at my arm but not too fast, I could see it coming at me and so I stepped slightly to the side and managed to catch it by the handle. I pulled the student to me with the spear and with my free hand I punched him in the face as hard as I could.

The student was not very strong and that one punch was enough to send him to the ground, groaning.

I realized something else with this. Even though I had learned the basics of swordsmanship, I had no idea how to fight unarmed. Not only had I not adjusted my strength properly, but my hand hurt.

"Are you okay?"

When Celine finally reached my side, she looked me over to see if I was alright, while constantly scanning her surroundings. Even though her skill gave her an excellent sense of danger, she was using it to its full potential by never letting her guard down.

"For now, yes."

She took a deep breath, seemingly relieved, but still with an anxiety she couldn't hide. She was almost trembling. Her eyes darted back and forth in terror. She was having difficulty making sense of what was happening.

I could understand her. Without the Absolute Mind, I would have been in a much worse situation than she was.

"Do you have any idea what happened? About half an hour ago two royal soldiers came and searched my room, then they told me to stay there, but just then six more came in. I don't know what happened but all of a sudden they attacked their own men, I barely managed to throw myself out, and now the whole academy is in an uproar."

Even in the short time we were talking, a few members of the organization noticed us, it was a miracle that we hadn't been noticed until now. We were standing almost in the middle of the chaos.

"The ones with a red and black wristband are the enemy but don't rely on that alone. Also, those attacking us are not trying to kill but to neutralize us, at least that's what I understand from what I've seen. Most of them have their eyes on us, they probably have a target list that includes us, and they have gates through which they can send men. So we're going to run and not look back, but if someone appears in front of us, we may have to fight." 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.𝗼𝗿𝐠

I wanted to give a longer explanation, but I didn't have time, the spies had spotted us and rushed at us.

I took out my sword from the dimensional button in my pocket and gripped it tightly, and for a moment I felt a sense of relief. It was really bad to be unarmed, but I wasn't going to stop just because I had my sword.

"Run, Celine!"

Professors, royal soldiers, even someone like Melany if we come across... We need to meet up with a group that is on our side. Otherwise, we will eventually be captured, and that is something we don't want.

*******

'Now Adrian.'

At Lithoa's instruction, I slammed the shaft of my spear hard into the face of a woman dressed in black, who collapsed with a groan, and I thrust my spear into her chest.

She struggled for a moment, then her eyes slowly closed and blood began to spread from her body onto the concrete.

She was the third attacker I had killed, but just dealing with these three was exhausting. And she wasn't the last, either. A group of about thirteen or so students, a mix of staff, and black-clad people were staring at me with hostile eyes.

"Julian! We can't hold out on our own, there's no end in sight. We need to meet someone on our side!"

Julian used his mastery the moment he managed to grab the arm of the man he was fighting. The man let out a cry of pain and threw himself to the ground as he saw the cold ice particles spreading from his arm to his body.

Julian ruthlessly stepped on the arm he had frozen and the ice shattered with the arm inside as if it were nothing. Then Julian swung his sword at the man's chest, cutting a large and deep gash in it.

"Die!"

He didn't hesitate in any way as he killed, even cursing recklessly.

I had no hesitation either. I was used to seeing people die when I lived as a beggar, and yet Julian, unlike me, was just... savage.

"Julian!"

"But where are we supposed to meet who, Adrian? We have no idea who's doing what and where!"

I couldn't help squinting my eyes when I noticed a group pouring in on us even as we were talking.

"There are more and more of them, we have to run!"

As the men fought, they were especially careful not to make lethal attacks on Julian and me. If they weren't trying not to kill us, Julian and I would have been finished a long time ago. Even now we were almost out of mana, both of us with countless scratches.

"Aahh!"

My eyes widened as a child, only six meters away from me, was knocked down with a hole in his stomach by a man in black armor, obviously our enemy.

These men are killing young people who have done nothing. They are trying not to hurt us, but they don't care about the others. In fact, because I was here, these students had to fight them.

Someone dies because of me, just because I'm here.

Haven't I... decided to be a good person?

Didn't I become a good person after that conversation I had with Aiden when I met him... Haven't I changed?

Am I not strong?

Didn't I think I was strong until now, and even when I was so strong, wasn't I hesitant because I didn't know where I could use it?

So why do I feel so... weak now?

I'm ranked first in the academy, I train for hours every day, I'm learning one of the best spear styles for my age and myself, and I have an experienced instructor who I've never met anything she didn't know, but I still can't do anything while people around me are dying.

Just like then, I am helpless.

Why?

What more do I need to do to become even stronger?

What do I need to do to fight back instead of running away like I did that day?

"Adrian! Run!"

Julian tapped me hard on the shoulder as he passed me like a gust of wind.

Ah... right, I should run.

I started to run after Julian but this time another thought sprouted in my mind.

I'm running again... I can't do anything but run again... I still lack the strength not to run but...

What can I do? Just because I'm angry doesn't mean I have the power to beat them all. My stats aren't going to miraculously jump a few grades.

I involuntarily clenched my fist as I ran, so much so that after a while my palm was burning, and bleeding, but I didn't stop. I just kept running, because I was desperate.

'Snap out of it, idiot! You'll get depressed later, watch where you're going! Or you'll die!'

I clenched my fist even more, after Lithoa's warning I focused on the road ahead, even though I didn't want to.

Even if I don't want to admit it, Lithoa is right, I don't want to die yet. Even if I feel guilty, even if I'm as bad as the person I tried to change in the first place, I shouldn't die now. I can't say goodbye to life without doing what I have to do.

So I put it aside for now, at least until I manage to survive. Now... let's think.

We still have no idea where we are running to. On top of that, there are almost nine people chasing us and I can even sense a C or C+ grade among them.

It would have been much easier to get caught if we hadn't thrown ourselves directly into the chaos to escape, but fortunately, we are easy to miss between the explosions and other battles.

~beep!

As I was running, a rather loud notification came on my watch, and I didn't understand what it was at first, but then I realized that the same notification had come on Julian's watch.

<<------------------------------

All academy students and staff, please run as fast as you can to one of the areas marked on the map. Stay away from anyone with a black and red colored wristband and avoid fighting as much as possible.

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The content of the message was quite clear, they didn't even bother to write anything formal because of the urgency, and the person who sent it was the academy itself.

"Julian! We're heading for the nearest point, let's go faste-"

I froze for a moment when I didn't see Julian next to me.

"Ju- Julian?"

"I'm not a D grade, unlike you! I'm trying!"

I felt a huge sense of relief when I quickly turned around and saw Julian a few steps behind me, only slightly behind because he was slower than me.

I was really scared, even for a moment. I thought I had lost one of the two friends I had made in my life.

"Tch."

Julian clicked his tongue after yelling at me and looked back out of the corner of his eye. Then he saw a hand only a few inches away from him and cursed momentarily.

The moment he cursed, I threw my spear with all my strength at the side of his head.

The man who had caught up with Julian saw the spear and shielded himself with his hand, but he couldn't stop the spear from piercing his arm.

He was probably C grade, because the spear I threw with everything I had didn't even do him any real damage, other than sticking in his arm, but it was enough to slow him down.

When Julian saw that he was free, he hurled another short curse in his direction and forced himself to run even faster.

Only half a minute later, one of the marked places, the academy's huge canteen, came into view.