310 Chapter 310: Flames of a Tyran (1/2)
”Hurry! On the double!”
The mercenary lieutenant was waving his men onward, shouting for them to accelerate their pace. Behind the mercenaries, the students continued to jog. We would be preparing our spells, but we were over a hundred meters away from the venue so there was little point to it. And I couldn't afford to waste time standing around to complete my bigger spells while there were explosions and screaming people about.
If small spells could save a life in the meantime, then I would do so. Just because they were small or minor spells didn't mean they were any less effective in saving a life than the big ones (yeah, I already knew what some readers would whine about). As if to prove my point, a group of fleeing civilians came into view. A piece of falling debris crashed down upon them, and I quickly summoned Orion to blast the debris apart. Even though I couldn't prevent dust from raining down upon them, they were still alive and unhurt.
Much better than what would happened if I didn't take out the debris…they would have been crushed into bloody paste under tons of rubble.
”Over here!” Dong Fang Yue Chu shouted as he unleashed his own volley of fireballs to obliterate falling debris. The civilians raced toward the mercenaries, and the lieutenant gave quick, sharp orders to have several men stay behind to protect them. The Knights of Pendragon Academy, my friends from Jing Tian Academy and I hurried onward with a few glances, but we didn't stop.
Not when the main battle and the bulk of the civilians were still ahead.
”TYRANT!”
Amidst the chaos of running evacuees and the erupting infernos, I heard Troy's furious voice. Whirling about, I saw my dark-skinned friend hauling himself up and over several piles of burning rubble to confront his nemesis. Opposite Troy King, a similarly dark-skinned person, with dreadlocks, a fancy mustache and a ripped jacket that bared his arms, stood, an insidious grin on his menacing face. He clapped his hands as Troy approached him.
”Ho…you're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming straight at me?”
”Are you seriously trying to rip off Jojo's Bizarre Adventures right now?” I yelled, even though I knew Tyrant wasn't going to hear me. ”And we already ripped it off a few chapters ago! Don't reuse the same joke too often!”
”Sorry, but I can't resist it. This situation is way too gold to not make that homage.” Tyrant shrugged, and for some reason I was reminded of Dio. A dark-skinned Dio with perfect, white teeth. Must be those bulging muscles.
”I can't beat you if I don't come closer.” Ignoring the exchange between me and Tyrant, Troy coldly advanced toward his brother. I groaned.
”Not you too, Troy!”
”Richie.” He regarded me with an apologetic look. ”Sorry, but can you stay out of this? From this point onward, this is my fight.”
”No, Senpai.” One of the female Knights from Pendragon Academy, dressed in blue and white armor and wielding a spear that was longer than she was tall, spoke up as she pointed her spear at Tyrant. ”This is our fight!”
”I swear to God, if I ever hear you utter that line again, I'll tear your tongue out.” I couldn't help but cringe. What was next? The descent of the Fourth Primogenitor? The appearance of vampires in this story?
While Troy confronted his brother, the mercenaries and students rushed toward the collapsing shelter. We cast basic and small spells to blast falling chunks of debris and rubble out of the way so that they wouldn't crush the poor civilians who couldn't get out of the way in time. There were still surviving soldiers who had accompanied Troy this entire time. They were doing their best to escort the civilians out of the crumbling building, using their own magic or bodies to protect them.
”Those fire spells…” Dong Fang Yue Chu murmured in realization. As a fire mage, he was the one most sensitive toward spells of the same element. He glanced in the direction of Tyrant. ”He's responsible for casting them!”
Fortunately, with Troy distracting Tyrant, he was able to divert a significant of firepower away from destroying the building and attacking the civilians. We could help them escape. As Troy said, there were thousands of them, and they were quite a handful to take care of.
With the Hell's Hounds mercenaries and students of Pendragon Academy, however, we were able to work something out and evacuate all of them safely. Or so we thought, but…
”You think I'll just let you go like that?”
Tyrant managed to knock Troy back a few steps, and with a wild laugh, he threw out his hand. An immense inferno manifested at one of the exits, the one where the vast majority of the civilians were fleeing through, and took the form of a gigantic horse.
”How apt…” he mused, chuckling darkly. ”I have brought the Trojan Horse into this city to level it and kill every resident.”
The horse neighed thunderously, its black fur bristling and its fiery mane blazing. It had to be almost nine meters tall in height, and a single kick demolished an entire wall. Its lips pulled back and its mouth opened wide to unleash a torrent of flames that incinerated a significant number of screaming civilians. Even though the mercenaries at the front struggled to erect a magical barrier to deflect the hellish flames, at least a third of them found themselves incinerated instantly.
”The fuck is that thing?!” Theodore growled furiously, his hair singed.
”A Soul Beast…just like Richard's!” Harrison understood what we were facing. As the flaming hell horse reared up to unleash another deadly stream of flames, he threw his hand out to cast a holy spell, despite knowing he wouldn't be able to withstand it.
Fortunately, I had managed to conjure Black Tortoise in time. A water barrier appeared around the crying and weeping civilians who had survived the blast, clutching burned limbs or searching for loved ones burned into a crisp by the attack. I didn't have time to take in their sorrow. The survival of the remaining soldiers and evacuees were my priority right now.
Seeing my water barrier up, Harrison quickly switched magic and buffed my water barrier. At the same time, Dong Fang Yue Chu opened up with a fire wall in hopes that his defensive would prove more resilient against an attack of the same element.
It worked. Almost.
Initially, Yue Chu's fire wall swelled and expanded rapidly as it absorbed the flames, and it seemed to actually become stronger. However, the flames from the Trojan horse overloaded the barrier before long, and it burst apart in an explosive death before the irresistible torrent of fire continued onward to collide with my Black Tortoise's water barrier.