"Watch out!" Julia exclaimed the moment she regained her senses. Her reaction speed coupled with her strength allowed her to push Abigail out of the way when a killer beam travelled right through the place they landed.
Even though Julia was able to push Abigail out of the way and get herself out in time as well, the suddenness of the whole situation drove her to act without much thought in control.
The force she used in pushing Abigail away ended up injuring her right hand, crippling her then and there. As an archer, that was damage she couldn't afford to sustain.
Abigail screamed in agony as the pain coursed through her system. The force of the push also sent her flying many metres away, ending up all the way to one of the walls, further worsening her injuries.
She almost lost consciousness as a result and if she was completely out of the way, she would have still ended up being collateral.
"Ugh…" She groaned and slowly turned her head to look at the area of damage. Of course, there were no wounds as the injury was internal in addition to her broken bones.
"Shit…" She cursed her bad luck as she was almost assuredly out for the count. The ringing explosions in the distance continuously grew dull to her senses as she struggled to stay awake.
'I guess this is as far as I can go…' She hadn't done much in terms of fighting the void creatures, however, from the looks of things, she might die here.
Naturally, this was simply a simulation in a VR world, but she had no way of knowing that in the current situation. "Abigail, are you alright?"
She heard the voice of her saviour, but it sounded faint to her ears. Her eyelids were growing heavier and heavier, the darkness calling out to her.
"Julia…" She called out in a low voice and raised her head up with some effort. Even then, to her, Julia appeared three images trying to overlap and failing.
She felt Julia reach her hand out to the back of her head, "This is bad…" she heard Julia say but wasn't sure what she meant.
When Julia brought back her hand, it was stained with blood, Abigail's blood. She had sustained a head injury as well.
Without wasting any time, she accessed her storage space and brought out some supplies to treat her injuries. One of the classes they took in the first years was knowing how to survive and what to always carry along when a hunter goes hunting.
That lesson had finally come in handy, but she first needed to find a spot where the chaos wouldn't reach them. She quickly found a good spot and carried Abigail there.
Her pace was slow as she also needed to avoid the attacks being thrown around and all. A minute later, she arrived there and placed Abigail down where she treated and bandaged her wounds. She also made sure to check on her broken bones.
She was very much aware that her push had injured her. Once she was done treating her, she stayed close by and just watched over her.
'This is a mess.' She thought as she looked at the ongoing fighting. All sorts of abilities rained down and students lost their lives like pigs to the slaughter.
'I see some of our classmates are also fighting.' Of course, she cared little about them and only made sure to watch for any attacks that might come their way.
'Hmm… Alex, where are you?' Her thoughts once again drifted to Alex when she had enough room to breathe.
'I couldn't find you on the fourth floor and I can't find you here either! Just where are you?!' Her emotions were sipping out little by little the more time she spent searching for Alex.
Worry was not the only thing that plagued her mind; simply not having her Alex by her side was what was driving her insane. But the events happening around her wouldn't give her too much time to be sad and depressed.
Julia caught something in the corner of her eye and her head turned in that direction. A void creature had noticed her and Abigail standing in a relatively safe space without trouble, and as benevolent as it was, it decided to keep them busy.
"Tch!" Julia snorted loudly and blazed her sword with her mana. She instantly appeared before the void creature a couple of meters away, her sword cutting through the air from above. It cut through the void creature with the swiftness and ease of cutting through butter.
'Hm?'
However, Julia still noticed something different. While it was easy to cut through the creature, she noticed this one was particularly stronger and tougher than the ones she had fought previously.
Understanding the reason behind this, she quickly finished off the creature with another combination of sword skills before it had the chance to regenerate.
'More mana was needed, huh?' She thought and looked around. The number of void creatures was dwindling by the minute as more and more students appeared. Naturally, some students ended up injured or dying.
'They should be finishing soon, and we can get out of here,' She then returned to Abigail's side. She was still unconscious and resting. 'On second thought, resting for a bit shouldn't be too troublesome.'
She was the reason Abigail ended up in that state and while her actions saved her, it had also placed her in a difficult position where Abigail might not be able to protect herself properly. The least she could do was wait for her to wake up.
Sometime later, the fighting came to an end, and the students began to disperse, choosing the right path from their scans and disappearing.
Then there were those who were too injured to continue, so they had to remain behind. However, those with teammates couldn't just leave them behind. It was essentially abandoning them for death.
There were no more void creatures around, but who was to say they wouldn't be coming this way? There were many paths after all.
Julia sat by Abigail and watched the show as students argued about what to do and how to do it. "Haa…" She sighed to herself, '…even I am in a similar situation.' And her gaze moved to the sleeping girl.
"Hey…"