At that point, Erik got out of the shelter room with the other students. He was sure that if he remained a minute more, he was fated to die. More than a hundred people followed his lead, but others were already dead because of the Blirdoth's miasma.
"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!" Erik shouted. He was trying his best not to freak out. Whatever produced the miasma had to be powerful, and he didn't want to see it for himself. The young man then started to run away. He couldn't risk staying near the corrosive gas.
He ran as fast as possible towards the nearest exit from this underground base, which led him outside into the open air. There, he saw dozens of people who looked like they were in agony. They all had their eyes closed tightly while breathing heavily. Some even vomited blood onto themselves or on the ground around them. It was hard to believe there was something with power so horrific outside. It was similar to Amber's power but much stronger than hers.
However, as Erik was outside, the young man looked at his surroundings. Countless insect-like creatures were running on the surfaces of buildings, clearly defying gravity. Some of them jumped, pinning down people in the process and then slicing their throats with their razor-sharp insect jaws. The students tried to fight back, but the monsters were too powerful.
"FUCK!" Erik shouted. He was attracting multiple monsters toward him. "RUN! RUN!" he shouted to his fellow students with all the voices he could muster, and everyone started running.
Erik turned left and right, looking for an escape route. However, whenever he found one, a monster would appear before him. Erik was way more powerful than the other students, and he knew he was able to fight those monsters. These creatures were Eganesus, eight-legged invertebrates with angular heads covered with deep grooves and very long antennae, two compound, narrow, dark green eyes situated high on their heads, and a protruding jaw.
The Eganesu had skinny thoraxes with segmented waists and stunted swollen abdomens. They also had four enormous, powerful wings; two long, powerful forelegs that ended in hands with adhesive pads; and six stubby, thick hind legs.
The beasts were completely pastel green with dark purple swirls. Erik decided that the best thing to do would be to run away from the Yellow Palace, so he went forward toward the entrance gate and the destroyed defensive artillery. However, an Eganesu barred his way, forcing Erik to unsheath his Flyssa and engage in combat.
He swung his sword at the creature, hitting its abdomen. The beast howled in pain before flying up into the sky. As soon as it did, another came after Erik. However, the beasts were too weak for him at his current level, so he swung his sword again and killed the thaid.
The other students observed Erik fighting and tried to do the same. However, the beasts were too powerful for them, so they had a lot of problems. The older men and women helped the students protect themselves, but they were not enough to save all of them. However, Erik started gaining experience from the kills.
[MULTIPLE HOSTILE EGANESUS KILLED: MANA ABSORBING PROCESS STARTING.]
[0%...1%....5%...30%...70%...100%]
[MANA SUCCESSFULLY ABSORBED, STARTING CONVERTING PROCEDURE.]
[3...2...1...0]
[MANA SUCCESSFULLY CONVERTED INTO EXPERIENCE. 4005 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED TO THE HOST.]
[LEVEL UP.]
As Erik was able to open a path, he shouted to the nearby students, "RUN!" But before he could do as he told the others, one of the beasts lunged at him with frightening speed, almost knocking him off balance. He quickly grabbed the creature by one of its legs and threw it to the ground, plunging his blade into its head.
Once it stopped moving, Erik briefly turned behind, and as the students and the others started running away, all the other monsters started targeting him.
"Shit!"
He started running, but after a couple of meters, a giant creature went past the building and started following Erik and the other students. The other students were several hundred meters away from him, but Erik knew that he had to reach them if he wanted to save himself. He was planning on using them as bait.
However, Erik quickly turned to look at the monster. He immediately recognized the beast; it was a Blirdoth, but its size was off the charts. He understood that it was this creature that released the corrosive gas since Blirdoths had this kind of power.
The thaid was leisurely strolling, running slowly toward the group of fleeing humans to savor their fear. Erik looked back at the monster's body. There were signs of wounds and injuries as if the thaid had come up from a battle.
That was most likely true since it had to get past the army to get here, and since the eastern gate had been breached, it was clear it came from there.
The Blirdoth looked at the running prey with an amused look; it stomped the ground with its massive paws and kept chasing the running students with a hungry look.
Erik turned around to see the enormous creature pursuing him; its face was horrifying, and the idea of dying by something like that gave him chills.
<What the hell do I do?> he thought. Erik quickly scanned the area for any possible escape routes, but there were none. He then wondered how the Blirdoth could become so gigantic and what the hell was happening. Erik's heart raced as he realized that he was in a highly complex situation. As things progressed, there was no way for him to escape death. He took a deep breath and ran faster.
Among the fleeing students were the old men and women working for the Red Palace. Staying with them was the right thing to do, but he wasn't sure they would be able to do something against this monstrosity.
While Erik was lost in his thoughts, he managed to arrive at the other students. Multiple people were looking at him, wondering how he was able to close that much distance between them and the Yellow Palace, reaching them so quickly.
"We must do something," Erik shouted at the students. "If we don't try to fight it, we will end up dead!" The others looked at him as if he were crazy--who could possibly try and fight this beast?
However, the Red Palace workers knew that he was right and that they had to try at least to stop the beast if they wanted to save themselves and the students. They weren't aware of how strong the beast really was.
The workers started channeling mana to use their brain crystal powers. The students knew they had to join the adults at that point, as it was clear how the thaids were slowly gaining ground. Erik saw one of the Red Palace workers channel an insane amount of mana, and after a couple of seconds, a translucent shield appeared.
The shield was strong enough to repel the thaids' attacks, giving the workers and students a moment to catch their breath and regroup. However, they knew that they couldn't rely on the shield forever and had to come up with a plan to defeat the beast if they wanted to survive.
At the same time, attacks were flying in the direction of the smaller monsters. The students were unsure they could manage them, but they had to try. Clearly, they were going to be useless against the bigger thaid.
The attacks finally hit what they were meant to hit. Several beasts were set on fire, making tongues of smoke that went all the way to the sky. Some were electrocuted or pierced by wind arrows, among many other kinds of attacks. Despite their efforts, it was evident that the group's attacks were no match for the Blirdoth.
The beasts shrieked and screamed before their deaths; their bodies were then trampled by the other thaids as if they were nothing.
At a certain point, another adult created a giant dome that enveloped part of the group and left some of the students outside. Erik managed to get inside, so he was safe, at least for the time being. The dome provided a temporary shield against the Blirdoth attacks. Still, it was clear that the group needed a more permanent solution if they were to survive in this hostile environment.
"Let us in!" someone shouted, pounding at the dome. But the dome remained impenetrable, and the group was left to witness the gruesome scene of the thaids approaching their comrades.
"Don't let me die! Please!" another said. Erik felt a pang of guilt as he watched his fellow students being attacked, but he knew there was nothing he could do to help them from inside the dome.
What ensued was a bloodbath. The students outside the defensive perimeter tried to use their brain crystal powers. Some summoned creatures to fight or run away, but it was futile; the creatures quickly overran them.
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