Chapter 49 - - 49: Bigger Problem

Chapter 49: Chapter - 49: Bigger Problem

Right at the moment after Elena fought back the second earthworm by using her magic core ability ’Wings of Nightmare’ and hit by a sudden exhaustion of using the ability second time in the battle and that is in such a hurry, the third earthworm seized the opportunity and attacked Elena from her left.

"Elena!" Lily screamed in horror.

The earthworm’s open mouth was only a few inches away from Elena, she barely had any time or power to cast a spell before the creature reached her.

"Sweesh..." But the next moment, a sharp sound of something flying past is heard as the girls saw a bluish color object attacking the earthworm that was about to attack Elena, pinning the creature down for a moment.

Then they sensed a figure approaching them at a very fast speed.

"Barrier! Now!" They heard a rough voice. But knowing the owner of the voice, the four girls Elena, Hina, Candice and Grusha hastily created barriers to cover themselves and others.

Then the figure finally became clear as it reached near them. It was obviously Kai, but what the girls saw was not just him flying their way but also a storm twice the size of Kai himself following over his head and being pulled by the magic staff he was holding.

Kai closed the distance in just a few seconds and finally slowed down as he swung his magic staff downward at the earthworm that was already injured by Elena’s previous attack.

The magic staff which is not usually that heavy to wield for Kai, now feels like carrying an elephant from the force of the ’storm hammer’ as he attacked the earthworm with it.

"Whack!" The moment Kai’s storm hammer makes contact with the earthworm, a heavy smashing sound is heard as the already injured body of the earthworm squeezes under the impact of the attack, meeting its demise.

At the same time the earthworm that was pinned down nearby by the will arrow was also caught under the impact of the storm hammer being blown apart after the attack hit the previous earthworm.

The creature got pushed away several meters by the impact of the storm leaving only one earthworm that had popped out of the ground before and being held in place by more poisonous vines that had grown out under the effect of Lily’s magic.

Hina seeing the situation turning safe, made her move and again used her magic core ability despite knowing that it would leave her almost exhausted. The glowing formation of light is shone again as the beam hits the earthworm being held under the vines.

"Die!" Candice yelled angrily as she again cast the spell that created an ice sword and sliced the weakened earthworm in two.

Meanwhile Kai hasn’t stopped in his actions even for a moment. The instance he killed an earthworm with his storm hammer and regained his balance from the recoil of the attack, he again launched himself towards the last earthworm that was pushed away from the attack.

Kicking the air three times, in an instant Kai reached several meters above the earthworm and cast magic.

Several miniature storms are created before Kai’s floating figure. The next moment the miniature storms transformed into several smaller versions of ’Storm Spear’ and attacked the earthworm whose body is already being by ’Will Arrow’ preventing it from escaping.

It was ’Piercing Storm Needles’, as its name suggests, the large needle of winds created from the miniature storms pierced through the flesh of the blackskin earthworm, causing its black blood to flow out.

But that wasn’t all. Just when the attack ended, Kai kicked back at the compressed air behind him, propelling himself forward.

At the same time more wind energy is gathered at the tip of his staff which he swung like a sword and a six feet long blade of wind energy is released, accurately hitting the most damaged part of the earthworm, slicing its body apart.

"Huff..huff..." Kai took several deep breaths. He has been moving his body at high speed while constantly using magic to run, fly and fight.

But his mind is not filled with the thought of resting nor the scenes of the battles, there’s only one thing in his mind.

"--Elena."

Catching his breath, Kai immediately turned around and looked at the group and immediately spotted the person he was worried for.

*Phew... She’s safe.*

He let out a sigh of relief but the next moment all his relief was swept away as he felt the ground below him tremble faintly. All his senses screamed, telling him to move and so he did.

Kicking the ground with full force and using the wind to increase the speed, Kai reached Elena’s side in an instant and held her hand.

"Kai--" Elena uttered in surprise at Kai’s sudden approach but before she could say anything else she saw Kai’s tense expressions.

"Everyone, Run!" Kai exclaimed, urging the girls to run as his senses are telling him that a bigger problem is coming.

Everyone already knowing how dangerous their situation is didn’t even think of asking the reason as they all started running towards the way Kai came from.

Not long after, others also felt the tremor under their feet, like something is moving underground.

"Are there more of those things?" Luna asked as she runs..... unusually fast for an auxiliary mage.

".....by the feedback I got from the plants, there’s only one behind us but...." Lily said nervously "it’s more than thrice the size of others."

Her words landed like a bombshell in other’s ears. The monsters they fought were already stronger than the most first year students, they can’t even imagine fighting something thrice its size.

*What’s going on? We have already killed more monsters than there were supposed to be in this event but there still seems to be a bigger danger*

Kai contemplates over the changes, trying to understand what has caused it and how to deal with this situation.

Honestly he is exhausted and drained after using so many spells rapidly, otherwise he would have tried fighting back the creature and making time for the rest to escape but in his current situation, he will not be able to hold it back for long.

The ground behind the group, finally started to crack, then it burst out, a really big blackskin earthworm standing around 15 feet tall outside the ground while a part of its body still stays inside.

The creatures started slithering like a snake as it rapidly approached the group.

"D*mn it we can’t outrun it." Luna said in frustration, seeing the situations again turning dangerous.

"...Then there’s no other way. Use your ability." Hina replied to Luna after thinking about it.

Understanding Hina’s intention, Luna slowed down as she raised her magic staff which shone with a brilliant light and a miniature moon of light appeared above it.

Unlike normal light magic which radiated warmth and purity, Luna’s moonlight felt calm and tranquil.

The pale silver glow spread outward in all directions and tiny strands of light emerged from the miniature moons. The strands moved silently through the air before attaching themselves to every member of the group, including Kai.

The moment the connection was established, everyone felt a strange sensation as though an invisible bridge had formed between them.

The rapidly draining mana inside Kai’s body suddenly felt... less suffocating, and the same was true for Elena and Hina.

*What an incredible magic!* Kai thought in amazement as he felt his magic power recovering at an incredible speed.

This is Luna’s magic core ability ’Moonlight Connect’, by connecting allies through magical threads invisible to the naked eye, Luna could create a temporary shared mana network.

As long as the connection remained active, designated members could draw mana from other connected allies.

She established the connection among all seven of them and she transferred her, Lily, Candice and Grusha’s remaining mana to Kai, Elena and Hina, knowing that those three had the highest chance of defeating the monster.

"The connection has been established" Luna said with pale expressions.

Maintaining the technique itself already required a considerable amount of concentration yet she is also transferring her own mana to the trio.

The three strongest combatants of the group had effectively gained access to the mana reserves of seven people.

Unfortunately...

The giant earthworm wasn’t planning to give them time as the monster burst through several trees while chasing after the fleeing students. Its massive body twisted violently through the forest shattering the tree’s on its way.

The earthworm suddenly accelerated far faster than something of its size should have been capable of.

Realizing that in the current situation fighting is more favorable than running, Kai turned around and got ready to face the monster.

Several streams of water are released from the ground turning in the shape of serpents and attack the earthworm from several directions, ’Sea Serpent’s Den’.

Then more water gathered around the creature and took the form of a one bigger serpent which lunges at the earthworm and coiled around it to form a restraint, ’Sea Serpent’s Coil’.

The reason Kai has chosen water magic over wind is because of the abundance of moisture in the soil due to monsoon which let him instantly cast the magic from the ground angle.

Seizing the opportunity, Hina once again cast her magic core ability ’Glowing Demise’ by using the power borrowed by the ’Moonlight Connect’.

The golden beam of light is shot from the formation, landing on the blackskin earthworm as a faint glow envelope its body, weakening its defenses.

"Elena now!" Kai called out as he himself launched ’Storm Sphere’ at the creature.

Elena nodded as black wings composed of darkness reappeared behind her but instead of attacking immediately, she poured even more mana into them through Moonlight Connect.

The wings started to expand and in just a few moments they grew almost twice their previous size.

"Let’s see how tough you’re!" The dark feathers shot toward the giant earthworm like dozens of black arrows, impaling its body with injuries.

Under the impact of both attacks, the creature’s body which was already weakened by ’Glowing Demise’ suffered rapid damage as black blood gushed out from several parts.

But contrary to what Kai and others expected, the creature didn’t stop, in fact even its speed wasn’t slowed down like it can’t even feel the pain and it rushed towards the trio like its only goal is killing them.

*You got to be kidding me*