Chapter 52. Calibre is a bitch!

Chapter 52: 52. Calibre is a bitch!

I looked around but didn’t see Seraphine and Mandrisska fighting anywhere. Wait, I could ask Sister Maren where they were.

I made my way toward Sister Maren, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She was still shooting Sylvbeetles with her flame bow, flying from one corridor to another.

When I got closer, she suddenly turned, shooting a moon-flame arrow at my head, which completely caught me off guard. Luckily my Perception saved me. I saw the arrow move in frames, though fewer frames than the undead creature. The arrow was fast, and I barely managed to dodge it. It passed an inch from my ear, cutting the air around it as it accelerated.

This was a lower version of the arrow that ripped off Mandrisska’s arm and leg. Getting goosebumps from the arrow was bad enough, but remembering that fact made my bones crawl.

"Sister Maren!!! It’s me, Elias! I’m not the enemy."

Sister Maren, who was at her boiling point and about to fire another, heard my voice, recognized me, and stopped.

"Elias!?! Why do you look this way? And–"

"Ahhhh!"

A couple of students a few blocks away screamed, catching Sister Maren’s attention. They were probably being chased by Sylvbeetles.

"Wait here, Elias. I’ll be back in a minute."

"I can help too–"

Sister Maren flew off faster than I could call out to her. Sure, I was fine with it, since it was a disaster and saving lives came first.

? I think you should pay more attention to the system panel. ?

Lilathea spoke, breaking my focus and forcing me to look at the panel I’d been ignoring. But to be honest, reading panels in the middle of chaos is not something I’d recommend.

But if Lilathea said it, it must be important.

? Combat! ?

? Caliber: A single measure of a person’s total standing. It combines physical strength, mana capacity, reflexes, intelligence, battle sense, knowledge, experience, etc. into one value. The higher the Caliber, the greater the gap between you and anyone below it. Caliber can be read on yourself or on any target within the system’s sight. ?

? Mark Laplace’s Caliber: Level 25. ?

? Maren Vosk’s Caliber: Level 57. ?

? Fighting not recommended. ?

"... What does this mean? Sister Maren is stupidity stronger then me?"

I held my head in pure disbelief, not because I didn’t know she was stronger than me, that much was obvious, but because the numbers were so heavily apart.

? Indeed. Sure, the number doesn’t tell you who would actually win a fight. There are too many factors. But by seeing this value, you can get a pretty good idea of how powerful and dangerous your opponent actually is. ?

After listening to Lilathea, her words pushed me into deep thought. Thank God she showed me this earlier, I was overconfident, and that could have led me to irrational decisions.

"I only have physical strength, and in terms of magic I’m pathetic. Got it."

? Right. Good boy. And please don’t ask why this didn’t show up before. I’ll answer it later. ?

Feeling like an absolute weakling after getting a buff is the worst feeling ever. No matter how I tried to ignore it, it didn’t work. So I went in the direction Sister Maren had headed.

A few jumps in, I already saw her approaching, her heavy clothes flapping in the air, complementing her with a touch of grace.

"Didn’t I tell you to wait? Anyway, what happened to you? You’re a weird mess."

Sister Maren landed on the roof I was standing on and cupped my face, and I subconsciously leaned down. Her height is short, okay?

I felt her eyes saddening, even though they were closed and hidden behind her bangs. They were on the verge of crying.

"I made a mistake, sending you down into the dungeon. Thinking you would win... We thought you..."

? Good job, Mark!! You made some progress with her. Good job! ?

Her expression when she’d landed was anger, but it lasted a second, then it was regret, and now her senses were telling her a completely different story than her brain.

"Let’s not think about who’s responsible. Whatever happened, happened. I’m alive."

I said, and at this point Sister Maren was backing away, scanning me with her power. And the results left her speechless.

"You have... Don’t tell me. Your prayers were answered?"

An awkward smile appeared on my face as Sister Maren covered hers, from happiness and amusement. Then she turned to the other side to fix her posture.

"We need to have a serious chat after all this. Right now I don’t want to waste your time. Help out Seraphine until I get there. She’s in the garden in the middle of Sector 11. I’ll join you after I’m sure every student is safe."

I nodded. Sister Maren was still as smart as ever. I didn’t have to worry about my friends or Rue for now. Turning around, I thought, I need to get to Sector 11, the garden, as fast as possible. Then I stopped. Where is the garden, Sector 11?

"It’s to the south. You’ll see it when you get there. I forgot you’re new here. Now go as fast as possible!"

Sister Maren answered behind my back without me ever asking. I’d forgotten she can read minds. Now that I had the right direction, I headed south, jumping around for a few minutes, which led me to an isolated section.

Suddenly I heard them, fighting up ahead, the sound of bricks breaking, a polearm clashing against claws. With one final jump, the garden came into view, a massive floating structure connected to the surrounding buildings, held together by chains, about 20 blocks wide.

I didn’t even know a garden like this existed in the Greyclock Conservatory. Then again, I’d only arrived in this world 5 days ago.

More importantly, I saw them, Seraphine and Mandrisska, going toe to toe. Seraphine used her giant polearm, trying to hit Mandrisska every time but failing. They were both flying, Seraphine chasing her down, Mandrisska creating distractions with a few Sylvbeetles that followed her and attacked Seraphine. Seraphine dodged, getting angrier and angrier.

Every blow she made was heavy with resentment, asking questions that couldn’t be answered, especially by idiots. Mandrisska, still being one, threw oil on the flame, smiling and treating Seraphine like a plaything.

? Seraphine Vale’s Caliber: Level 55. ?

? Mandrisska’s Caliber: Level 69. ?

? Fighting not recommended. ?

I swallowed. If I was level 25 right now, what level was I before? Probably like zero. If I wasn’t scared at level zero, then why was I scared at level 25? I should be egoistic!

I jumped into the battleground, or the garden, it was damaged badly, it was a battleground.

Ignoring everything else, I ran toward them. I saw the frames shifting in a new direction, they’d become aware of someone approaching this quickly? I was almost 10 blocks away! Obviously I wasn’t on their caliber.

Get it? Caliber!

But I didn’t think they’d recognized me, which was good. I had a plan, the same thing I’d done with the undead creature. No, not plucking her limbs. That would definitely not work. I was talking about going under her and blocking one of her limbs so Seraphine could get an opening.

So I scaled up my steps, faster and faster. They were on the ground, but wings ready to fly. Seraphine turned her head enough to see what was coming, and Mandrisska’s gaze was already toward me.

I circled around a little to throw Mandrisska off-center and got under her, holding her hard, mechanical claw and pulling it. The only problem was, it only moved a couple of inches. Yeah, I looked like a child pulling his mom’s hand at the supermarket because he’s tired of waiting.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

Mandrisska narrowed her eyes at me, not only disappointed but disgusted. Let’s be real, they didn’t fly away because they knew I was a weakling.

"You know, you should focus on the battle!"

In fewer frames, I saw Seraphine behind Mandrisska with her polearm in hand, about to slam that giant polearm onto Mandrisska’s ear. On closer look, it was the size of a light pole, and she could move such a heavy weapon with more speed than my eyes could follow.

I became aware that my maxed stats were only allowing me to see how much more powerful these two were.

I saw Seraphine smile, a wild, crazy one, after all, she was about to show Mandrisska who she was. But Mandrisska wasn’t going to lose this easily.

I saw very few frames, but I saw it. Mandrisska moved her head down, retreating her claw and flying away. Dodging the attack.

Seraphine, predicting her movements, landed on her feet beside me. She threw her polearm aside, and it landed on the ground below with no bounce, as if it were part of the ground itself.

"Elias! I thought you were dead. I... Thank God you’re alive."

Seraphine yanked me into a warm hug, lifting me without even trying, pressing my face into her massive boobs. I’d die again for this. Her divine-powered wings lit up and wrapped around us, giving us a safe space to steal a moment from the fight.

I’m in heaven. I don’t mind.