Point-of-View: Shin Tanaka

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  I took a defensive stance as a wave of power burst out from the Earth Sage, his hair stiffening and standing up on end as a chill ran down my spine, a slight sense of unease enveloping me.

  Calm down, it's going to be fine, I just need to keep an close eye on him and keep my guard up, so long as I do that……I then quickly sprang back as rows of earth spikes burst out towards me from the ground, before swinging my sword across to shatter them as they closed in on me.

  Should I keep my distance or try to close in on……wait, where'd he go?

  "Quite impressive, for a human to be able to react to my attacks like that," Suddenly came his voice, from behind me.

  I quickly spun around, just in time as a huge earth spike burst out towards me, as I barely managed to get the flat side of my blade in the way and block the attack, but the force sent me flying through the air and knocked the wind of me, the impact traveling through my arms and rattling them.

  As I began to fall back down towards the ground, several rows of spikes burst out beneath me, aimed to skewer me as I neared the ground. Right as I closed in on the rows of spikes, I unleashed several slashes to tear up the ground and blunt the spikes, landing on my feet and maintaining my balance.

  "Impressive, indeed……but not good enough," He remarked……from right in front of me with his right fist drawn back.

  "Shit……oof!" I began to raised my sword in alarm, but his fist was faster.

  Before I could get Excalibur in the way, the Earth Sage's fist struck my midsection and sent me flying back as I lost grip of my sword, my back hitting the wall of a building with immense impact and eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from me, the windows of the building shattering upon impact. Pretty sure that hit gave me a bunch of fractures……

  "I will commend you for putting up as much of a fight as you did, but without your weapon, you are significantly less of a threat……it is time to end this," Remarked the Earth Sage, reaching down to pick up my sword, his hand instant getting repelled as he touched it.

  I then raised my palm forward, the blade flying back to me. I caught the handle as it got within my reach, spitting out a bit of blood before meeting his gaze and exhaling slowly.

  "Don't get too ahead of yourself, your arrogance will be the death of you. This fight is just getting started," I stated coldly, pointing my sword at him……

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Sylvar Miirphys

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  This is fucking pathetic……I'm just hiding. But……I don't have much more of a choice. I can't see at all, and I couldn't breathe through my nose……if this adhesive had fully covered my entire face, I'd have died by suffocation already.

  As it is, I'm already feeling pretty light-headed, since it feels like I'm breathing while heavily smothered……in my anxiety and rising panic, it was hard to breathe through my mouth, especially since my throat was getting more and more dry with every breath.

  After my opponent escaped and I realized that even attempting to pull this adhesive off would impossible, I considered cutting it off using my spear, but if I accidentally cut my face or end up hitting one of my eyes, it probably won't end well for me.

  And having destroyed the area around me with my hurricane earlier, I figured I was a sitting duck out there so I crawled around till I found my way inside what I think is a building with a broken-in wall. Also, that girl's severed arm is still attached to my right arm with that sticky substance, so……that's nice, I say sarcastically.

  Damn it, from now on, no matter who my opponent is or how weak they are, I'm going to go all out and kill them right from the get go, I'm tired of those who are so much weaker than me inflicting serious damage on me, time after time.

  Well, fat good that does me now, it doesn't change the fact that I'm effectively sidelined from the battle, and in definite danger of not getting out of it alive. Am I stuck with this shit over my face for the rest of my life?

  Because I've been tugging like crazy using that hand that's stuck to her severed arm, and it's definitely not working. Not only is my hand also stuck now, but on top of that, each time I tug, it feels like I'm about to tear the skin off of my face……and since I can't cast spells and heal myself, I'm not taking the risk.

  I let out an internal sigh……because, you know, I can't sigh for real with my throat as dry as a fucking desert-and leaned against the wall of……whatever I'm hiding inside. Fuck me……this is the worst……

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Lidui Uensh

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  Damn it, I don't want to die here! I was around the center of the Rustlands, along with thousands of other Adventurers. We had set up several barricades all around us at regular intervals using Earth Magic, but they weren't holding for long, with enemies closing in from every direction.

  We had set up a system recently, where the Guild sends an alert through a Spell Card to civilians, a spell that's similar to a Call spell. Civilians are instructed to carry this Spell Card with them everywhere they go, and when they receive the alert, they activate the Spell Card, which then teleports them to the underground safe zones.

  Of course, not every civilian carries the spell with them everywhere they go, so plenty had been left stranded when the enemies infiltrated the Rustlands, but from what I've seen, it looks like the vast majority managed to get away.

  And you know what……I regret not heading into one of the safe zones myself. I hadn't seen any of the X-Ranks, and while it looks like the other S-Ranks along with the Demons, the ones I've seen anyway, are holding their own reasonably well, the lower ranked Adventurers and Volunteers are getting absolutely massacred.

  I give it half an hour before all our weaker troops are completely eliminated, and once that happens, it won't be too long before the rest of us are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the enemy.

  I then looked up as a loud crash echoed out from the west, and then the north……followed by the other two directions, as the Earth Magic barricades were taken down and the enemy forces had us surrounded in every direction, chaos starting to erupt as we clashed against them.

  I quickly climbed up the nearest building, as did a lot of others, to try and break away from the crowd in order to regain their bearings. A couple of Elves flew up towards me as I reached the rooftop, one of them firing an arrow at me, which I blocked with a blob of water, before swinging my arm across and firing the water towards the Elf in a sharp slash, which he evaded before the other one fired a wind blast at me.

  I jumped out of the way to narrowly avoid the blast, as I shot out a needle-like water projectile from my mouth, which pierced the neck of the second Elf, killing her, as the other one fired out a couple more arrows at me, increasing their speed and spin with Wind Magic.

  I deflected one with a water slash and began to evade the second arrow, but I couldn't fully dodge it, as it grazed the left side of my neck, leaving a small cut there. He then shot towards me as he was out of arrows, drawing out and swinging a dagger at my midsection as he closed in, which evaded by springing back, right as he drove his foot towards me.

  I let out a gasp of pain as his foot slammed onto my stomach, knocking the wind out of me, but before I could fall or stumble back, I gritted my teeth, maintained my balance and grabbed his leg with my right hand, digging my fingernails into his skin to keep him from pulling back.

  "Damn you, let go of me, hu……!" He began to exclaim, before I cut him off by cutting off his head with a swift water slash from my left hand.

  I then collapsed onto my knees and glanced over the side of the rooftop I was on……good, looks like no one else is coming after me right now, I'll just hide out here for a while. And no doubt about it, our side is at a huge disadvantage, which is only getting worse.

  I could see a couple of Volunteers with their backs to each other, fighting a group of five Halflings, outnumbering them by more than two to one. They were swinging at the Halflings with their weapons in fear and desperation.

  One of the Halflings then closed in on one of the Volunteers, who took the bait and unleashed a big swing of his blade at the Halfling, who blocked it easily and sprang back, the Volunteer losing his balance and stumbling forward a bit……and then, in the blink of an eye, the other four Halflings swooped in for the kill, slaying both Volunteers in an instant.

  And the rest of the battles taking place in the area were going more or less the same way, with their forces cutting down our side at an alarming rate……we're going to lose this fight, aren't we?

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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