My System Academy

"Urgh!"

An undead was thrown out of a detached house and landed outside. Putrid blood oozed out of its gone limbs, letting out a nauseating smell.

Veron walked out of the broken wall, carrying Haera like a baby using only his left hand.

"How troublesome."

He was idly sitting beside Haera when chaos erupted everywhere. The previous owner jumped on him after smashing through the door.

'Is this the reason why some students of the Heavenly Magic Academy were here a couple of days ago?'

His pointy ears perked up after someone shouted not far away from his position.

"The caravan, they're in trouble."

Veron picked up the pace and jogged.

Stepping on the soft snow, he quickly arrived at an intersection. A group of corrupted warriors ambushed him, swinging their weapons without hesitation.

He stepped back with his left foot, narrowly avoiding the sharp blade of a brutish warrior. A thump echoed in the air, blasting the ears of the warrior who attacked and knocking him out.

'Sound Barrier.'

The air around Veron vibrated. When the blades made contact with it, they cracked outwards, sending the sharp bits onto their faces and injuring them.

Veron retracted the vibrations and let out a burst of them, pushing the attackers away with great force that their spines broke after hitting the ground or the walls.

He continued on his way and reached where Aurpiel and the rest were. The caravan guards were having a hard time defending against the undead warriors and civilians.

Some of the guards slashed and hacked at the aggressors while the others simply evaded them, afraid to hurt them in any way.

This made Greywolf, the caravan's captain guard curse at them for their cowardness.

"Idiot, what the hell are you doing? Do you want us to die instead?!", he shouted before blocking a warrior's strike with his sword.

He shifted the sword's weight to his left, forcing the warrior to slide off and giving Greywolf a chance to land a swift punch to its neck.

The warrior grunted and was angered by Greywolf's retaliation. He ignored the warrior and gathered the strength in his muscles in swinging the sword toward its neck.

Putrid blood oozed out like a fountain.

Greywolf did not stand idly to be showered in such disgusting fluids and used his chivalric will in shoving it away like how mages and wizards use the wind to push things mid-air.

There was a potential infection should he make contact with that blood.

"See? Kill them, damn it! Don't just move around and dodge their attacks!", Greywolf continued his reprimands.

"But sir, they're civilians!", the timid guard replied.

Because of his hesitance, the undead civilian was able to grab his head and bite his neck. Greywolf snorted, dashing to his subordinate and hacking both his and the undead civilian's head.

Another undead crept under his notice. It was about to lunge when a woman shouted.

"Root Entanglement!"

Several roots quickly sprouted and took hold of the undead mid-air. Greywolf turned around and sliced off its neck and jumped away before the blood could touch him.

"Thanks, Miss Meyera!"

The woman who stood above the carriage casted another spell, conjuring 4 green magic circles.

"Greater Grounded Puncture!"

The earth shook as large roots fiercely sprouted from the ground and skewered the undead who were on the way. It extended for another 10 meters before it stopped.

Casting that spell almost exhausted all of Meyera's mana. She knelt on her right knee and took deep breaths.

Greywolf was astounded by how powerful wizards were. Amidst his enjoyment, he caught a familiar figure approaching from afar.

"Sir Veron?", he mumbled.

When Veron got close to them, he blasted all the undead away, relieving the caravan guards of a huge burden. They then killed the rest and gathered together.

Once the chaos subsided, Aurpiel and Lila went out of hiding and approached Veron.

"Sir Veron, thank you for helping us.", Aurpiel bowed.

Veron was about to respond when a loud shout reverberated south of their position.

"Siegfried Clan! I will exterminate you all until the end of time! I don't care what others will think of me but I, Garron Winterice will never forgive you!"

It was filled with anger, distraught, and vengeance. The rest of the caravan except Veron shuddered in fear.

'That must be High King Garron who arrived here earlier. What a strong aura! Were they also met with the same adversary?'

Veron remembered the demonic creature from a few days ago. He reckoned that this must be their doing and not of the Siegfried Clan.

'We must cooperate with the army. There's no way for them or us to get out of this alive.'

The magical beasts were on their way. This sudden assault was probably intended to diminish the strength of High King Garron's army the moment the magical beasts arrive.

"Sir Aurpiel, I suggest we go over the source of that voice.", Greywolf advised, "It's not good to lay around here in the open where we could be attacked in any direction at any time."

Aurpiel simply nodded while nervously hugging Lila. He had to leave the decision to the experts this time. All he wanted was to be safe and sound after everything is over.

Seeing Aurpiel's agreement, Greywolf turned to Veron and requested.

"I hope that Sir Veron could accompany us as well."

Veron waved his hands, "Don't worry. I have nowhere else to go now and you are also right of wanting to go over that location, Sir Greywolf."

Aurpiel gestured at Veron to bring Haera inside his carriage. The poor elf was now completely ashen white with faint breathing and cold skin.

'Haera, I don't know if that man will come here and see you before you pass away.'

Veron softly put Haera's body on the seat.

'But I know that I have to keep you alive for as long as I could no matter what happens.'

As the caravan made way to High King Garron's location, the people from the Heavenly Magic Academy were busying themselves as well.

The four students gathered at the main hall with Jinmu on the lead.

"Are you all prepared?", he asked.

The three nodded.

"Will wait for senior brother Kai here?", Lucan inquired, "I doubt we'll be able to meet again in that village after what happened."

"Yes, we will wait here.", Jinmu replied.

Under the awkward silence, Olivia gathered her courage to speak up in front of everyone and apologized.

"Ji-Jinmu, Lucan… E-Emi… I'm sorry for what I did a few days ago…"

She was sorry for endangering not only hers but Lucan's life, and almost jeopardizing the special task just before it even started.

"I promise that I'll make it up to you three this time. I hope that you could still forgive me!"

Olivia bowed again.

Jinmu sighed, "It's good that you managed to accept your wrongdoings, Olivia. I am sorry as well, for reprimanding you too harshly back at that time."

She was surprised.

Jinmu had a soft-side too?

"It's not only you who is hurting to see innocent people die as well. At that time, we don't have a choice but to retreat.", Jinmu clarified.

He wasn't inhuman enough to ignore the deaths of the people who lived in that place. Jinmu simply did not want to die in vain helping those who he could not help using his current meager strength.

The main hall was about to get dramatic when Eluard walked out.

"Hey, juniors, I hope you didn't miss me well that much."

The four students fixed their emotions and greeted him, "Senior brother Kai. You have returned."

"There's some changes in our plans."

His words dumbfounded them.

'Change of plans? Did something bad happen?', Olivia was worried.

"The demonic creatures have set up an illusionary magic array formation on most, if not all, the towns and strongholds in the Norva Assili."

"I'm going over them and see what I can do against it. Meanwhile, the four of you will stay and assist High King Garron and his army."

"You're not going to be the main casts here, at least not for now. All you need to do is to look out for any suspicious demonic creatures and warn the army of their existence. You have your system panel to assist you in this task."

Eluard went in front of them and crossed his arms.

Truth be told, his students weren't of much use in this special task due to the immense difference in power. Eluard wasn't worried of it, however. He already planned for Arahon Agui to deal with that matter.

In addition, Eluard wanted a closure on Olivia and Emi's troubles in Norva Assili.  The former had her own familial problems while the latter was hoping to rescue her big sister.

There was also the possibility that their presence could lead to a higher chance of success. Regardless, Eluard was willing to go through this makeshift plan no matter how messed up it was in a strategic viewpoint.

That was the best thing he could do given how many things he had to handle in the slimmest amount of time.

"I'll teleport you to Sokovo Stronghold were High King Garron and his army are currently stationed."

"I have found a safe spot for the four of you to stay put and wait for the battle to begin. Jinmu, you will take point, okay?"

Jinmu bowed, "Yes, senior brother Kai."

Eluard continued.

"When the battle starts, always stay with one another and get to High King Garron's location as quickly as possible. Don't mind the magical beasts, or any demonic creature that you encounter."

"Ask for help if you are in trouble. Olivia's identity will greatly warrant the warriors to help you at all costs."

He started the teleportation process and chose a place near Sokovo Stronghold as their landing spot.

They closed their eyes and felt their bodies shiver in coldness as they arrived back in Norva Assili.

The moment Emi opened her eyes, a familiar sight of her devastated village was exposed.

"N-no…"

Eluard and the rest were shocked of this discovery.

The Sokovo Stronghold was filled with dead bodies everywhere. The bodies were rotting and stinking, proving that the conflict happened a few hours ago.

"This…"