106 Chapter 106: Castrating the Crastrate (1/2)

”Richard?!” Alicia was gaping at me, her mouth wide. ”When…how…did you…?”

”I got lost. Sorry.” I tilted my head sheepishly, and gestured toward the cliff where I just jumped off from. In the excitement, I had completely forgotten that I used to be afraid of heights. This was one way of getting rid of my acrophobia, which had plagued me since childhood in the other timeline. ”I ended up wandering in the mountains for quite a while until I sensed the Crastrate.”

”You bastard!” Dong Fang Yue Chu exclaimed, laughing. ”You almost didn't make it in time!”

Holding him up, Lily nodded. ”If you came a few seconds later, the monster would have torn all of us apart.”

I nodded, keeping an eye on the monster while quickly casting another powerful spell. Earlier, atop the cliff, I was so distracted by my fears and hesitation that I couldn't concentrate on casting a proper spell. There wasn't much time to cast a spell anyway, not with the Crastrate advancing so close to my friends. But now that I had bought us some breathing room, I seized the opportunity to begin casting a powerful spell.

”Are you all right?” I asked. Then I shook my head. ”Stupid question. Sorry. Can you guys move?”

”We're trying,” Jin Hao replied with a grim grin. ”None of us want to stick around.”

”Good. Get out of here. I'll hold the Crastrate off.” I glanced at the unconscious people. As I suspected, Craig was one of them, hoisted up by Sheila.

”Did you kill it?” Harvey asked, wonder in his haunted eyes. I shook my head.

”Nope. There's no way it would die from a single kick. It's a rank B monster, you know. A Fiend-class. Crastrates are very powerful.”

Even as I explained, I suddenly realized something was amiss.

”Where's Stan and Wang Fei?”

Dong Fang Yue Chu lowered his head, while Harvey looked away, unable to meet my eyes. Suddenly understanding, I stared in the direction of the corpses and caught sight of both my juniors among the dead.

”…”

Dark fury curled up inside me, momentarily surpassing the heavy, immense demonic aura that had been suffocating me this entire time. Clenching my fists, I turned toward the sprawled Crastrate.

”I'm going to murder that fucker,” I hissed. Summoning Sagittarius, I finally completed my spell and cast Alnasl. Fitting my flaming arrow, I took aim at the sprawled Crastrate. While I did so, I issued a command to my stunned friends without even glancing over my shoulder to look in their direction. My attention was completely focused on the monster. ”You guys had better hurry before I nuke the entire place to oblivion.”

”Are you sure you can defeat it?” Alicia asked anxiously. ”It's a rank B monster! It's too powerful for you!”

”He's Vice-president Richard!” Harvey said confidently. ”Of course he can defeat that monster!”

”You have too much faith in me,” I muttered with a shake of my head. ”The most I can do is buy you guys some time and stall the Crastrate.”

”Are you sure you should be fighting that thing alone then?” Jin Hao asked skeptically.

”All the more you should hurry and get the hell out of here,” I replied firmly. ”Once I buy you guys enough time, I'll run away on my own.”

”Hey, you can't handle that monster alone!” Dong Fang Yue Chu struggled to stand to his feet, gently shrugging off Lily's assistance. ”I'll stand with you!”

”In your condition? Sorry to be blunt, but you'll only get in the way.”

”Richard's right.” Lily tugged at Dong Fang Yue Chu softly. ”He can't afford to protect you and fight that monster at the same time.”

Dong Fang Yue Chu gritted his teeth in frustration, especially as he sank against Lily when his legs gave way. He had been hurt badly. My fury rose another notch when I saw clearly how battered he was.

”Make sure you don't die,” he commanded me. ”President's orders. I won't allow you to die here.”

”Just make sure you guys get to safety, and I'll follow you shortly.”

As friends evacuated the area, I released my flaming arrow at the still form of the Crastrate. It didn't even get up as my arrow struck it, the whole place exploding into a roaring inferno that turned night into day.

But I was under no illusions that my Alnasl destroyed such a high ranking monster. If it was so easily killed, then it wouldn't be ranked this highly.

”?!”

A deafening screech filled the air, almost causing me to cover my ears in fright and pain. However, I remained resolute and stayed vigilant. Training my eyes on the dark shape amidst the inferno, I prepared another devastating arrow. However, the dark shape disappeared into the smoke before I could fire off a second arrow. I blinked in surprise. Before I knew what had happened, something sharp and heavy struck me in the abdomen and sent me flying across the valley.

Coughing out blood, I rolled to my feet and fitted Alnasl to the Sagittarius. Taking aim, I released the flaming arrow toward the snarling, triumphant monster.

Again, the night seemed to turn into day as Alnasl struck the Crastrate with the force of a star, lighting the entire site up with a blinding explosion. I crashed heavily onto the ground as the shockwaves buffeted me, grimacing as I clutched my wounds. Blood streamed through my fingers while I fought to stem the bleeding.

”Aw, damn.” I gritted my teeth as I weathered the pain from three long, deep gashes on my torso. ”What a mess.”

Breathing heavily, I staggered to my feet. All around me, the Jing Tian Academy students were turning around to look at both me and the inferno that resulted from the explosion. The second one was bigger than the first, for some reason. Probably because I unleashed a lot more mana in panic after taking a serious hit.

Not that I wanted to hold back, but I needed to regulate my mana consumption or I would end up too exhausted to flee after buying time. Actually, I had no intention of escaping. From the very moment I had jumped off the cliff, I had already begun casting a long, powerful, incredibly complex summoning spell, but obviously the Crastrate wasn't going to wait for me to complete it. If I hadn't intervened when I did, I wouldn't have any friends left to save.

Killing the Crastrate in vengeance was little comfort if all I did was watch it kill my friends in front of my eyes.

”Stop looking and go!” I roared at my friends. ”Hurry up and get out of here! I don't know how long that thing will need to get back onto its feet!”

My words shocked them into movement, and they hastened their footsteps to widen the distance between themselves and the campsite. Harvey, in particular, was wearing an expression of disbelief. After all, surely nothing could survive a devastating attack like my Alnasl?

I wished Alnasl could take the Crastrate out. I really wished it did. It would make my job so much easier. As it was, I could see the Crastrate standing in the center of the explosion, huge fumes of smoke pouring off its body.