The Gamer's POV-Chapter 281: Battle of the Lords: A Merry Tune Amidst Carnage
Back on the bridge...
Some minutes earlier.
——
After the vanguards left the bridge, things grew far more dire. At this point, the Nagas who were in the lake had all decided to surface at once, and it was hell for the cadets who had to hold them back.
But it was especially exhausting for Athena, who struggled to keep as many people as she could alive. The number of daffodils that she had brought with her from the inner sanctuary had halved and her mana too had begun to fail her. Unfortunately, there were just so many people who needed her help, especially among Cedric’s subjects of influence.
However, despite trying as hard as she could to intervene, more than a hundred of them had been either turned to stone, had their heads bitten off, or had exploded into acidic goo at this point.
And more of them were falling as the minutes went by.
Athena gritted her teeth as she ran her sword into the chest of a Naga, pushing it back before finally slamming and pinning it to the ground. The creature twitched, and once it died, Athena was left gasping for ragged breaths. She stayed there for a moment, leaning her full weight onto the embedded blade just to remain upright.
She really was exhausted. Plus, she also had herself to worry about, seeing as she was not in a good state. Her own body was a mess of shallow cuts and her armor was dented in several places. Of course, she could have easily healed herself, but doing so took more mana than it did when she tried to heal others.
Because of this, she had decided early on that if a wound was not life-threatening, she would ignore it to conserve what little energy she had left.
At that moment, the pleas of the cadets reached her again through the daffodils scattered across the bridge. Several meters away, she could see three cadets who were losing a fight against a single naga. One girl was already screaming as the gray tint of petrification crept up her torso.
Quickly, Athena forced her hand upward, and a cluster of daffodils rushed toward the blonde cadet. Just as the stone was about to claim her head, the flowers dissolved into wisps of emerald light that flowed into the girl’s eyes. As they did, the petrification on the girl began to recede.
It didn’t take long before the entire stone shell crumbled away, leaving the girl gasping on the floor.
At the same time, Athena turned her attention to the left. Her daffodils were hovering over four separate cadets who had been lashed by naga tongues and were seconds away from melting into sludge.
While maintaining those heals, Athena wrenched her sword from the dead naga. Then, with the last of her physical strength, she pivoted and hurled the blade across the bridge. The blade sank deep into the head of a naga that had been lunging at a wounded boy.
As it turned out the wounded boy was Dion who unfortunately was in a bad way. Patches of his armor had melted away and his skin was red and raw from the corrosive slime. He was reeling from the searing pain, and was barely able to stand.
Athena mentally redirected a few more daffodils toward him, then began hobbling toward the creature to retrieve her sword.
However, barely a second after the first step, she swayed as she suddenly grew lightheaded and a wave of nausea racked her gut, which signified that she really was out of mana.
At this point, she knew that she had to stop putting it off and request mana from Cedric. Truth be told, she was quite bothered that he may not grant her request, considering that he too had a lot on his plate at the shore, but since the situation was dire and she had no other choice, she quickly flew up into the air. Then, she turned to the direction of the shore and whispered solemnly. "My lord. If it..."
She was still speaking when she suddenly felt a massive surge of energy pouring into her mana core. Then her eyes widened when she heard his voice in her head:
’You should have asked much earlier, Athena. I know I told you to look out for the cadets and my friends. But you also need to look out for yourself too. At the end of the day, you are my first priority on that bridge.’~
***
Current time...
——
Atop the limestone cliffs and far to the left, away from where the lords stood, was a fortress made of white stone. Somewhere before that fortress began and close to the edge of the drop, a young humanoid girl who looked no older than twelve was squatting on the hard, rocky ground.
The only thing that distinguished her from a normal human was the extra eye positioned on the top of her head. She kept peeping at the battle taking place far below, and despite the distance, she seemed to see everything perfectly. As she watched the carnage, she whistled a merry tune as if the violence tickled her fancy.
Behind where the girl squatted lay a naga that was not in its battle form. The creature was choking and twitching, heaving like someone in agony but unable to scream.
After a moment, the whistling girl turned around and crawled on her knees toward the suffering naga. She stared directly into its eyes and began stroking its hair.
As she did, she whispered, "Shhh. Hush now, hush, child. You are making me forget the song. I do not like that."
The naga continued to tremble, and the fear in its eyes was absolute.
At that moment, the little girl heard footsteps walking slowly toward them. She slowly lifted her eyes toward the newcomer, and a smile brightened her face when she saw the person approaching.
It was a teenage girl with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.
It was Yami.
