103 Chapter 103: Party Crasher (1/2)
Immediately, Alicia rushed to where the speakers were located. Vivian was in the process of selecting a new song, now that the current was about to end, but Alicia quickly stopped her. Heaving, she leaned over and hastily made a request.
”President Alicia? What's the matter?”
”I've to make an announcement. It's an emergency!”
Vivian remained confused, but she didn't argue. Nodding, she moved over to allow Alicia full control of the sound system, offering a microphone to her president. Alicia accepted it gratefully and hurriedly thumbed the switch.
”Everyone! I'm sorry to interrupt you all, but there is an emergency! There is a high ranked monster approaching our position at the moment! Everyone, please prepare for combat!”
A silence filled the air shortly after Alicia's announcement. Only the sounds of the crackling flames from the campfire and sizzling barbeque pits could be heard.
”She's right.” Craig let go of Sheila and glanced toward the edge of the barrier. ”I can sense something extremely powerful and demonic heading in our direction.”
”What should we do?” Sheila asked, trying to suppress her panic when she also detected the vague but unmistakably evil aura from a distance.
”We fight!” Dong Fang Yue Chu declared boldly. At his side, still holding his hand, Lily nodded.
”That's what we mages are trained for!”
”But from the aura, this monster doesn't seem like something we can handle,” one of the other party-goers murmured.
”Yeah, it's too strong!”
”Rank B monster, at least.” Elliot had stopped roasting a row of skewered meat to assess the situation. ”It is way beyond anything students like us can handle.”
”But there's so many of us!” another party-goer argued. ”There's no way it can defeat all of us! As long as we all work together, even a rank B monster won't be able to withstand our combined forces!”
”Actually, our numbers might not matter.” Nicholas was pale as he trembled from fear. ”A rank B monster is categorized above Elemental-type monsters because they possess more than enough power to destroy half a city on its own. If I'm not mistaken, rank B monsters are more commonly known as Fiend class monsters.”
Everyone fell silent at that.
”…if it's so powerful, why didn't we sense it until it was so close?” someone from Holy Saints asked nervously, hoping there was some sort of mistake.
”The barrier.” Alicia looked grim. ”The same barrier that protected us and rendered us invisible to low and mid-ranked monsters also closed off our senses and isolated us inside this space. However, we can sense it now because the barrier is…crumbling.”
To their horror, they realized that Alicia was right. The barrier had been steadily weakening ever since the Fiend-class monster made its approach. As it drew closer, the barrier began to dissolve under its mere presence.
”What the hell?!” Pearl murmured as she stepped away instinctively. She had been dancing with a guy from Super Power Society, and the both of them had to hold each other up to prevent themselves from toppling over. ”Did it just destroy our barrier with its demonic aura alone?!”
”…it really is on a different level altogether,” Jin Hao muttered in fear. Beside him, Aoi nodded frightfully, her complexion ghastly. The two of them had been dancing when this intrusion occurred. And now no one was in the mood to continue partying.
Not when there was such a formidable foe approaching.
”Does it matter?”
Fortunately, there were some who were still resolute in the face of overwhelming strength. Craig stepped forward with a determined scowl.
”Either we run, or we fight. There's no use whimpering around. That monster is getting closer even as we waste time crying and whining. Those who want to run, hurry up and get away. I don't know how far you'll get before the Fiend catches up with you, though. Those of you who want to make a last stand with me, let's begin getting into formation.”
Drawing his crimson spear from his spatial pouch, Craig activated it, allowing it to lengthen and glow fiercely in the gloom of the campfire.
”That's right!” Sheila also gained some courage from her president. She also took out a spear and a shield. ”We stand and fight!”
”I'm with you!” Dong Fang Yue Chu agreed as he began casting fire spells. Flames wreathed his fists as he got ready for combat. Seeing their president prepare for battle, the other Ultimate Outcasts joined him.
”If only the vice-president is here. Do you think his soul beasts are capable of destroying a rank B monster?” despite his fears, Harvey still somehow remembered me. Stan scoffed.
”I guess we'll never know. Vice-prez is lucky. If he was here, he might end up getting killed along with us. He probably had the right idea to give this party a miss.”
”Wasn't he supposed to come?” Wang Fei asked, puzzled. ”I thought he was on his way.”
”He better be smart enough to turn tail and run if he senses this monster on his way here,” Stan muttered, his voice surprisingly free of resentment. There was little point in having everyone die here together.
Everyone made their own decisions. Several decided to take their chances and cowardly flee while their schoolmates held the monster off for them. Many resigned themselves to their fate and drew their weapons, getting ready for combat.
The dreadful, evil presence permeated the entire area, now that the barrier was finally destroyed. The party-goers were glancing around, gripping their weapons tightly as they sought out the location of the monster.
”…I don't see it.”
”Where is it coming from?”
”But…it feels so near.”
”Yeah, why does it feel like it's practically on top of us?”
”But I don't see anything. Don't tell me it's invisible?”
”Don't screw with us! How can there be a monster with perfect invisibility?!”
Despite their training and constant ranking matches in the arena, the vast majority of students did not have practical experience in the field. Relatively few of them took any missions. I mean, in my Ultimate Outcast Society alone, only I ever took to the field. Dong Fang Yue Chu, for all of his training under my dad, never actually took a mission. And first-year students weren't allowed to participate in missions, for good reason.
Not that it would actually help much in this case. Even those who regularly took on missions, like Elliot, Nicholas, Jin Hao and many of Black Rose members, knew they were thoroughly outmatched by the approaching monster. They weren't confident of destroying a rank C monster, never mind rank B monster.
The only ones who ever had experience defeating a rank C monster were Craig, Dong Fang Yue Chu, Pearl and Theodore. However, Theodore wasn't present, and the guy who nuked the rank C Crimson Spider King – yours truly – was absent at the moment. And now they were facing a monster that was on a whole different level.
”…?”
Even as the majority continued to search for the source of the immense demonic aura, a few began to hope that the high ranked monster had overlooked them, and had no intention of attacking them. Perhaps it was just passing by, and they happened to be on its route. The students were probably so insignificant, akin to ants and a human, that the monster probably didn't even notice them.