Dean Beacon Smith
I stood in the central control chamber as the healer kept casting skills on my arm. If he hadn't been wearing professional robes of the Five Star Institute of Healing, I would have removed my arm and not risked the complication now. They could not let the College fall.
The disgrace of being the Dean and allowing the College to be destroyed wasn't even the issue. It was knowledge. All the students, staff, and faculty were priceless treasures. The College could be replaced or rebuilt, but no one could replace or rebuild the people. If the people here died, it would herald the end of an age and the rise of darkness and ignorance. They could never allow that to happen.
One of the runic technicians shouted out the current status. "Weather wards are failing! Particulate density is too high! Temperatures are rising. The weather wards will not break! They will melt!"
"The flight systems were compromised. Some kind of micro-monster has spread into the lower tunnel networks. A purge is being carried out, but there are massive Mana disruptions. We can't shift the College," the flight technician said.
"Gravitational leveling has failed! The tilt is getting worse. Capsize in less than ten minutes," another flight technician said.
Everything was going wrong. My mind raced, trying to figure out solutions. That was when I realized the perfect solution. We would either all die or save everyone. It was a shot in the dark, but the only shot to save everyone and everything. I just had to hope.
"Quiet! Purge the flight engines of Mana. Reroute all Mana to gravitational leveling and activate the lower hemispherical defensive shields," I declared.
"But we would crash?!"
"Yes. That is my command as the Dean! Hurry!" I ordered. The more time we waste, the worse things will get. Life and death could hinge on seconds.
"Purging flight engines. Decoupling Mana sinks. Deactivating internal Mana compressor linkages."
"Increasing Mana flow to gravitational leveling."
"Lower hemispherical defensive shields online."
I reached over and flicked a couple of buttons with my left hand. My right arm was destroyed. That hadn't been a Soul Projection by Legend Xanatos. That had been some kind of ethereal skill, something that should be exclusive to monsters, like insight skills. But if anyone could pull off such a skill, it would be Legend Xanatos, the leader of the Dark Cabal.
I reached out and grabbed the microphone, which everyone on campus could hear. "All individuals brace for rapid descent and impact. All individuals brace for rapid descent and impact."
I said it twice and then put the microphone to the side and flicked a couple of buttons, turning off the College-wide announcement system.
"How do you feel about your arm?" The healer beside me was quite concerned.
"Pain, and there is poison. My soul is also damaged as well."
"I suspect a monster bite of some kind. A Soul Serpent would be my best guess," he said.
"Do your best. I need to focus," I told the healer, who nodded and chugged a Mana potion.
Healers, even I had to respect the backbone the Five Star Institute of Healing put into its students. Even though everything was collapsing around them, they kept their calm; it was admirable.
I brought up my good hand, pulling out several potions from my spatial storage. I chugged several of them down in rapid succession. While it wasn't the best idea, I could worry about side effects if I survived what was about to happen. My predecessor had freed the College, and I was about to crash it to plug an erupting volcano that someone had created beneath it.
While I might not be as capable in combat as my predecessor, I wasn't incapable of acting to help the College. There was a reason I had changed my name to Beacon Smith. It was because of the Aura skills that were my legacy and focus of my life's work. I would have to draw deeply, but the one thing everyone needed right now, I could provide.
Bringing my left hand up, I twisted my fingers to match a runic symbol. It would help with the visualization and use of this spell. I would use all the power I could get to affect the entire College. There was a reason the control room was at the very center. I could feel us entering free fall as I lifted off my throne.
"Aura of Hope!"
Legend Xanatos
"Clever, very clever," I said while floating in the air watching my little drama play out. The College leveled itself out and was now plummeting. "I guess I shouldn't have made the volcano precisely under the College. I should have done one side, given them hope."
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Alas, it was too tempting a target. You can't just make a giant flying bastion of knowledge, hope, and goodness and not expect me to target it? After the first disaster, I would have thought they would have learned their lesson.
The ritual of making a volcano wasn't easy. I had to use up several useful minions for the ritual, which had consumed them. But revenge was important. If people thought they could mess with me, I would mess with them back.
The College's shields held for a moment before they buckled, and the strain bent the runic arrays placed onto springs.
A clever way to transfer force, one I would have to remember.
The shields broke. The base of the College completed its descent, slamming into the top of the newly formed volcano.
The impact created a massive shockwave, both in the air and on the ground. Unfortunately, the people had either fled or were consumed in the ritual. Hearing them scream as their flesh melted from the burning ash cloud would have been perfect.
I felt a wave of Mana emanating from the College as the volcano was plugged.
"Beacon Smith, you truly live up to your name. But the fun part about being me is that I always have something else planned," I said to no one.
I knew the College would figure a way out of their predicament, even with the Mana Parasites I had unleashed into their contraptions.
Those things were incredibly annoying to deal with. Not very dangerous, just annoying. Even for a regular person. The main issue was that they were hard to kill, and they reproduced quickly, even if someone cut them up or smashed them. Only burning or Mana starvation could kill them.
But no matter.
It was time to unleash more monsters.
I hadn't just made a volcano. That would have been too predictable and easily solved. I wanted them to suffer. Everything would improve only through suffering.
That was why I had arranged for a passage to be created to the dungeon as the ritual to create the volcano happened. Double the trouble, double the fun. There were records of such things in the past. Dungeon entrances are in dangerous and hellish locations. Long ago, the High Vostner had sealed them off.
Dungeon entrance passages could technically form anywhere. But the dungeon had preferences. The dungeon would pick boring locations if locations weren't blocked.
That was what the Low Vostner civilization had done. Closing off all the entrances they could find. It was foolish, since that forced the dungeon to create passages to the surface in more dangerous locations.
And these locations weren't like the nice and kind passages that were found in cities. They would connect to far more dangerous environments in the dungeon and be prone to dungeon breaks. All that linger Mana from the ritual and the College, it would be a temptation for the monsters inside.
Then there was the fact that Beacon Smith just slammed the entire flying bastion of failure into the new dungeon entrance. The dungeon wouldn't like that. Like poking someone in the eye. Others might not appreciate history, but the Dark Library had been full of interesting historical stories that provided more inspiration.
But even that wouldn't be enough.
What was better than a volcano? Why, a volcano sinking into the ocean! The draw of magna hadn't been that great, but it was enough thanks to the impact of the College on the ground. The strip of land sticking out into the ocean was slowly sinking.
If the place had to exist, then I would keep it out of sight. Let them enjoy a hellscape of a boiling ocean as their new location on top of the dungeon entrance.
"Well, that was a fun diversion," I said with a smirk. But it was time to leave before the legends tracked me down and used every skill they had.
My little trick wouldn't work if they went all out. But the risk of doing that had held them back. As for Justin, he would run around and keep helping me out. He was an investment that was paying itself back. Even after his mother had ruined things, I was digging myself out of that hole. I just needed to recover the Dark Library, and everything would be better.
It wasn't at the College. I had checked while implementing my little scheme to hide my search. Flying away from the disaster, they knew it was almost time for the Mana gathering arrays to erupt inside the dungeon entrance.
The dungeon wouldn't like that, but it was no longer my problem. Lava-themed monsters would surge forth, burning everything. I landed on a road once I was five miles away from the College. I brushed off my robe and looked down at the road I had landed on. Walking was good for the body, even if it was tedious.
"Going somewhere," a voice said. I slowly turned, and the Relentless flickered into my vision around me. Their carefully made platinum and gold robes and masks were unmistakable. They were strong legends that were sealed away unless there was a target they were planning to kill and collect money from.
"All three of you?" I asked. I didn't fear them, but this fight would be incredibly unpleasant. They had no names, only masks, cloaks, and the most annoying fighting style ever created.
"Elena might be dead, but your head is still worth quite a bit, Xanatos. We always collect before we go back to sleep. If you submit, we will make it painless," the leader of the strongest bounty hunting team said.
Three members, all legends, and all quite dangerous.
"You were waiting for me to tire myself out," I replied.
"Hmm, indeed, and your bounty will go up. The College is such an obvious target for one like you," their leader said.
"I know, right?! At least you get it. Well, I suppose I will add three more legends to my kill count," I replied.
"Perhaps. Or we will add you to our kill record."
I let out a sigh. This was going to be annoying. They would not attack directly. The poison gas that surrounded me did nothing. Not even the sense-deadening had any effect.
The hidden soul anchor they had with a clone of some kind underneath the ground was inspired. I tapped my foot and crushed the clone and the soul anchor.
"Do better or we can part ways without you dying," I said.
"Not when you are in front of us."
They really were going to drag me to the death with their annoying way of fighting. They avoided direct conflict if they could help it. Just one scheme after another, wearing a target down. I was good, but not good enough to counter all the nonsense they could unleash.
The Relentless earned their name for how they fought. Completely inefficient and insanely expensive, but my bounty had reached the point they will act. Another reason I had attacked the College was hoping to disrupt it, but I was one step too late.
I flicked my hand. The Lost Blade appeared in my hand. A tier 6 weapon that I had gotten out of storage after my fight with Elena to use as a trump card. Over a million people were sacrificed to forge this ultimate weapon. Now it would feast on life once again. It looked underwhelming. Chipped, hints of rust, and tattered leather hilt wrapping, but its power was immense.
The Relentless became tense. They might be good, but they didn't have the depth and knowledge that I did.
Time to get slightly serious.