Chapter 825: Undead Ambush
~RUMBLE!~
By the time they heard the noise, it was already too late.
The group was already surrounded by the enemy, as well as a terrible bog of the same poison that was slowly killing a lot of the members.
"T-this is...!"
Even though they were in the dome, none of the more perceptive Dragons could deny everything they sensed-or everything they could see.
"... This is bad!"
************
The undead army of dragons approached, a terrifying sight against the darkening sky.
Their skeletal wings flapped with an eerie, hollow sound, and their empty eye sockets glowed with a ghostly purple light. Each dragon's body was a twisted mass of bones, some still bearing tattered remnants of flesh and scales.
The ground trembled as they moved, their massive, clawed feet crushing everything in their path. Dead trees snapped like twigs, and broken rubble broke apart as even and the earth cracked under their weight.
From a distance, their bony figures looked like a nightmarish storm cloud, rolling forward with relentless purpose.
At the forefront was the largest of the undead dragons, its skull crowned with broken horns. There were four in total.
This was a Dragon General; and it let out a bone-chilling roar―a sound that echoed like the howls of the damned. The other dragons answered with their own roars, creating an absurd melody of terror that filled the air.
As they drew nearer, the stench of decay became overpowering. The wind carried the smell of death, a sickly sweet odor that turned the stomach.
And then came the worst of it all-the Miasma.
The perverse energy rotted everything around them, and as they approached the base of Group 2, they brought that rot along with them.
Needless to say... this was incredibly bad.
No matter how one saw it, this place would be the graveyard for a lot of Dragons, if not all of them.
"We need to move now!"
Kar'eena swiftly took charge once again, causing all her newfound subordinates to snap out of the state of pure shock that they were in.
Most of them were paralyzed the moment they felt the emergence of the Undead, who seemingly popped out of nowhere.
"There's no time to-!"
-B00000000000000000M!!!
Before she could complete her statement, the dome that shrouded both Staff and Students was bombarded by a myriad of powerful Dragon Breaths.
The walls-enchanted or not-did not stand a chance.
In one loud burst of loud explosion, several cracks and holes appeared all over the dome, causing the entire structure to begin caving in on itself.
If they remained inside, they would be buried alive, but if they took a step out those walls, there was nothing but overwhelming foes waiting for them.
It seemed both their actions and inactions were synonymous with suicide.
But-
"Everyone pull it together!"
-Once again, Kar'eena took the situation by the reins and swiftly addressed everyone.
"Since we are all ready for departure, we will begin our ascent from a hole that I'll tear up in the ceiling."
"B-but that's suicide! They're waiting for us out there!"
"The darkened skies too... it's sheer Miasma. We won't be able to fly with such dense clouds of the stuff."
Kar'eena heard all of this and gritted her teeth.
She knew all of this to be true, but she was just trying to rationalize that option, considering the second one was worse in her head.
"There's only one option left, then. We dig using Magic and navigate our way through tunnels until we safely get out of here.".
There was only one problem about this whole thing.
-Time.
-B000000000000000000000000000000MMMM!!!-
The dome shattered apart, causing most of the debris to burst away from their positions, but a few were crashing down-about to fall upon the innocent students and staff. "Absolute Departure!" Kar'eena let out a cry, using a Wind Spell to send all the broken rocks away from the helpless populace, practically saving the lives of everyone around her.
One look from the frightened ones made it clear how dead they would be without her.
Unfortunately—while it wasn't a direct consequence of Kar'eena using her Spell-the group was now in an incredibly vulnerable position.
After all... their dome had finally been destroyed.
Any second now, and the Undead Dragons would charge at them from their very short distance and try to rip them all to shreds.
It would be a gruesome death for everyone indeed.
'I have to do something! This... this is the only way!' Kar'eena thought to herself, and her conflicted expression showed exactly how she felt about the whole thing.
"I'll begin to work on the Tunnel. I'm the best Elemental Mage here, and I'm also the strongest. Saving the students is top priority, so I will be in charge of guiding them away from this place. Any complaints?"
No one could even say anything, even if they wanted to.
"I need you all to buy me more time, though..."
She looked at the staff around her-both the ones who had Miasma Poisoning, as well as the
healthy ones.
Most of them would not survive this, and the least she could do was be honest with them.
Based on abilities, it would be best if she were to face the Undead Dragons-especially the
leader, who was a General.
The thing was way above the league of the others.
Kar'eena knew, but she refused to say anything. Doing that would only reduce the resolve of everyone who had made up their minds to die.
'I can't do that...'
Instead, she rallied up the students with her loudest voice and called them all to her.
"All students, follow the sound of my voice and gather in my location. The staff will surround
us and provide us cover while I create a path of escape to you."
Fortunately, the Undead Dragons did not have ears or mental faculties to understand their
blatantly announced plan.
... Or did they?
-B0000000000000M!-
Volleys of Dragon Breaths were suddenly sent to the moving students-some of which broke
past the defense rendered by the helping staff.
In the end... for yet another tragic round...
"ARGHHHHHH!!!" Several students shrieked as they met their ends.
And this was only the start.
As Kar'eena was busy creating the tunnel with her Magic-making it as large and suitable for
escape as possible, more students and staff were dying.
Their cries reached her ears, but she decided to shut them all off and focus on her task.
That was the only way to save everyone!
**************
'This is getting more intense than I thought.'
That was Lucielle's thought as she looked upon the sight of people dying to her left and right.
Some Dragons tried flying away, but their wings would get blown off, or they would be
exposed to too much Miasma and fall back down... dead.
Lucielle was mostly a spectator to all of this, but even she couldn't ignore the intensity in the
air.
It didn't last for too long, though.
"STUDENTS! GET IN THE TUNNEL!"
The moment they heard this, all the students rushed towards the source of their salvation
without dawdling for even a second longer.
It was unfortunate for students who were far away from the Tunnel, since it would take them
a lot of time before they could enter the hole-even if the hole was incredibly large, so a to accommodate a lot of people.
"Let's go!" Lucielle and her friends rushed towards the tunnel.
She could see Ad'oni running very close to her, along with the rest of her classmates. The crushing, choking wind caused their hair to dance as they desperately moved their legs in
order to be safe.
Then-
"Where's Mi'ja?"
-Lucielle realized that one vital person among them was missing.
One look back, and she could see her friend currently lost in the stampede, her leg fractured,
and one of her wings destroyed.
It was clear that she got caught in the crosshairs, and now that the next volley was about to come... it was all over for her.
She would inevitably be among the many casualties in this cruel ambush.
Mi'ja would di-
~VWUUUUSH!~
In a spark of white and red Mana, Lucielle charged towards the wounded girl and reached her
within a second. In another second, she held Mi'ja, tightly buckling her in her grasp, and then
thrust the both of them away from the incoming strikes.
There was no time to hear anything from anyone, or to make conversation.
Lucielle simply carried the scared Mi'ja, and the both of them successfully made their way
into the hole in the ground.
"Thank you, Luc'ia! Thank you so much!" Mi'ja thanked her profusely, but Lucielle hardly
paid any attention to her.
Her eyes were wide open with shock as she held the Dragon girl... wondering why in the world
she saved her, despite wishing death upon her many times.
'Why? Why couldn't I just leave her to die? It's what I wanted... right?'
Despite asking this question, she already knew the answer.
Back then when she saw Mi'ja about to be killed-the image of a certain girl overlapped
with the Dragon girl. Lucielle was nearly disgusted that she remembered her sister when
looking at a Dragon, but it was true.
After that, her body simply moved on its own.
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. There'll only be one today, though... due to exams and all.