Free Web NovelChapter 122: Fourth Installment
Mika was about to transform.
[Wait.]
"?"
He stopped midway, having a confused expression on his face.
[Before you transform, I would recommend you to listen to me first.]
"What is there to talk about now of all times?" Mika whispered.
Harik and Rachel, who were also ready for combat, looked at Mika.
[The information you received concerning the new installment may have covered most things but I still want you to listen to me carefully.]
"..."
Clara, the demon who went after Mika and the rest, did not wait and raised her hand.
"Everyone, watch out!" Mika shouted.
She flicked her hand up.
But Mika’s instincts told him to jump back immediately.
At the same time, he sensed something cutting and piercing the air.
Clara twisted her hand slightly and swung it to her right side.
"!"
"Ugh...!"
Mika received a few fine slashes on his left arm while Harik’s stomach was slashed.
The wound on him was fortunately shallow.
[The fourth installment itself is not a physical weapon again.]
"Do I have to listen now?!" Mika replied quietly as he was slightly stressed.
Clara’s arm was retracted.
"..."
This time, she swung her hand in an arc above her head as if she was throwing a ball at them.
However, Rachel disrupted her by casting magic.
Multiple thick roots emerged from the ground and gathered in front of Harik and Mika, who were in the direction of Clara’s potential attack.
The roots received many deep cuts.
"I knew it." Rachel muttered sternly.
The cuts on the roots were clean and parallel to each other. The distance between each cut was also the same.
[The fourth installment allows you to make use of ’time’.]
Mika was listening but he did not show it as he was busy focusing on his opponent.
But he also knew that he had to listen to the system first before transforming as he had to be careful.
With a demon invasion on such a scale, he had to use his power at the right moments.
"Harik, Mika! This demon can create slashes through her hands and fingers!" Rachel said.
"This may get annoying..." Harik replied as he clenched his teeth.
"..."
Mika narrowed his eyes on Clara.
But she suddenly dashed to them.
Out of reflex, Mika put up his arms, however, he was not her target.
"Tch!"
She appeared before Harik and stretched her hand to him.
Obviously, he jumped back.
But then, something strange occurred.
Harik stopped falling back midair.
"Uff!"
He landed awkwardly on the ground.
[As of now, you may know that you can change your sense of time.]
"What was that?" Rachel wondered shocked.
It was as if something bound him.
Clara turned around and changed her posture.
"?"
Harik was still on the ground when she took up the stance of someone, who was about to throw something with great force.
In the direction of her gaze was the academy.
"Ack!" Harik groaned for a short moment as he noticed something tightening around his left leg.
And then, simultaneously with her movement, Harik was thrown in that direction.
Mika and Rachel were taken aback as they heard his body crashing through the academy’s thick and sturdy walls.
"..."
Clara glanced over to those two shortly before she headed to Harik.
"We have to go after her." Mika said, looking at the baffled Rachel.
"There may be something else to her ability..." he added pensively.
Rachel nervously nodded her head.
Thus, the two went after Clara.
[However, you are able to use this installment’s secret technique three times.]
"Don’t beat around the bush and say what it is."
Rachel was ahead of Mika, therefore she could not hear his words.
[You see...]
Mika was listening carefully, whereas Rachel noticed Harik.
He was in their sight now.
But he was currently fending off Clara, who launched one mysterious attack after another mercilessly.
There was an enormous hole in the wall, where Rachel and Mika could pass through.
"Wait!" she suddenly warned Mika, who was not paying attention.
She stopped in her tracks as she slowly approached the hole.
Carefully, she moved her hand to the hole.
"Ugh!"
But she quickly retracted her hand away when she noticed a sting on her finger.
She looked at the small cut on the finger.
"..."
Mika leaned his face closer.
[These are strings.]
"Thought so..." Mika responded sternly.
Then, he turned to Rachel.
"Rachel, can you use your magic and bust through the wall?"
She smiled confidently.
"How can I say no to you?"
Meanwhile, Harik struggled to dodge her attacks. freewebnøvel.coɱ
Since he was thrown inside the academy, which was void of any other students or staff members, he got hit even more.
His muscular body was covered in lots of cuts.
Some were shallow but some were also deep.
Blood constantly dripped on the ground.
He clenched his teeth.
Of course, he knew that he could not win against her on his own, however, as a student of the white class, he would not go down without a fight.
Under his feet, a puddle appeared and it spread itself at a fast pace, covering the whole floor in just a few seconds.
"..."
Clara remained unfazed, looking at the water.
Then, from various spots enormous water pillars emerged and moved around in snake-like manners.
Harik stretched his hand out, which indicated the signal to attack.
The water pillars were directed at Clara.
"..."
However, even that attack was not enough to make her break a sweat.
"Unbelievable..." Harik muttered with a crook smile.
Each water pillar was cut into multiple pieces and dispersed.
For a moment, it felt like it was raining.
But it was due to that moment that Harik also realized it.
"Strings...?"
He noticed many water pearls in the air.
But once he looked closer, he could conclude that water stuck on the strings.
Those strings were spanning from one place to the other.
It seemed almost impossible to get to her.
"?!"
Then, he sensed something binding itself on his leg again.
"It’s over for you now." Clara said coldly.
With a string attached to him, she was about to pull him towards her, which also meant that he would be pulled into the web of sharp strings.
"Damn it!"
She pulled on the string.
Harik felt how the wind was caressing his face as he lost his footing.
And then, he felt his body getting slashed everywhere.
But at that moment, the wall crashed and thick roots invaded the place.
Paired with the roots, Mika emerged.
His appearance already changed when he was about to slash through the strings.
"Mika..." Harik murmured weakly.
The slashes reached his face and even caused cracks in his sunglasses.
Mika swung Excalibur horizontally, destroying the web of strings.
Harik landed on his back.
"Harik! Are you okay?!" Rachel shouted, coming through the hole, too.
His shattered sunglasses fell to the ground. freewёbnoνel.com
"Don’t come near me!" he shouted vigorously all of a sudden.
He immediately placed his hands on his eyes.
"Oh~"
Clara seemed amused by what she saw, even going so far as to flash a slight smirk.
"..."
Mika, in return, widened his eyes as he was not expecting that.
"P-please, don’t look at me..."
Harik sounded broken and pitiful.
"How interesting... Indeed, very interesting..." Clara said in a mocking tone while she walked over to them.
Mika closed his eyes before he directed his fierce look at her.
"I will end this, so please be patient, Harik."
"Rachel, support me." he added as he unbuttoned his jacket.
"Yes." Rachel said firmly as she rushed to his side.
Out of consideration for her friend, she did not glance over to Harik, who balled himself up.
"Take this." Mika stated, throwing his jacket over Harik.
[1 minute and 8 seconds left.]
Mika sighed.
"Well, let’s try this, shall we?" Mika said to himself.
"..."
Clara was on guard.
Mika closed his eyes again and when he opened them again, everything began to become slower.
"!"
And the next thing Clara knew was that Mika was behind her.
Shocked, she turned around only to realize that her right arm was cut off.
"Hrngh!" she suppressed her agony, pressing her other hand on the wound.
[1 minute and 3 seconds left.]
Five seconds passed even though it appeared like only 1 second passed.
Blood spurted out from Mika’s upper body.
There were traces of three cuts across his chest and shoulder.
"I should have expected this quick reaction of a B-rank, I guess." Mika muttered.
Clara was about to push her hand forward but was restrained by roots.
"You scum!" she insulted Rachel vexedly.
"..."
Effortlessly and abruptly, Mika cut Clara’s head off.
Her lifeless body fell on the knees, causing a splash.
The water around it turned red.
Mika walked away and undid his transformation.
[1 minute left.]
His eyes wandered over to the panicked Harik.
He scratched his head as he was unsure how to approach that topic.
It happened in a split second.
But when he looked at Harik, he did not see the dark blue eyes, which were typical for water mages.
Instead, he saw the eyes of a demon.
