Chapter 67: Chapter 67- Disaster In The Distance (Part 1)
After an entire week of training, Talon was already a master at the spear at a level where he could easily compete with people who had trained for years using that weapon. His spearmanship skill, coupled with his monstrously fast comprehension speed made his progress look almost like a lie.
Even by Acrypha's standards, Talon was ridiculously good at learning new things and implementing them almost instantly. He didn't take long to grasp complicated stuff even though it would normally take years and years to master.
However, for one reason or another, Talon didn't seem to be leveling up his spearmanship skill. Even though he keeps receiving notifications telling him that his spearmanship is improving constantly.
"This is really annoying," Talon murmured as he exhaled a long breath and readjusted his position. He had been training for the past two hours and his eyes had been led to the countless 'Your Spearmanship skill has improved' notifications again and again.
However, even after 20 of them, his skill was still level 3, something that annoyed him.
"Why is it not increasing, Acrypha?" He turned around confusedly.
"The more your skill levels up, the more is required for it to move to the next level. In your case, training alone won't cut it. To break through, you need to fight and kill monsters using the skill." Acrypha explained.
"Oh, that makes sense. I don't know why I didn't figure that out myself." Talon murmured as he rubbed his chin.
"At higher levels, it would take you far more than that to level it. Some entities would take hundreds of years just to level one of their skills."
"Hundreds of years?!" Talon blurted in shock.
"Of course, what do you expect? The strength they will gain from that simple level is far beyond anything you can fathom. At extremely high levels, the difference between each level is like heaven and earth."
Talon shook his head with an overwhelmed look. He really can't fathom how massive the difference is and it hurts his brain to even try to understand it. So, he gave up as quickly and focused on his spear.
"Well, training is still good since I want to learn how to use the spear before I fight monsters with it."
"Practicing is key. Leveling up is good but the true learning is that you engrave into your very body with continuous training." Acrypha added with a nod of her head.
"Why does that sound like a quote an old man from the mountains would say?" Talon chuckled.
"Hey, who are you calling an old man, you little rascal?"
"Ah, sorry, old granny, not man." He smirked mischievously.
"Hmph! Find an old granny as beautiful as me and we can talk. No, scratch that, find any woman as beautiful as me." Acrypha puffed her chest angrily.
"Is that a challenge?" Talon raised an eyebrow.
"It's not a challenge if you're bound to lose it." Acrypha winked.
"So arrogant." He rolled his eyes at her jokingly. "But, truth has to be told, you are by far the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. By a far margin too." He shrugged.
Acrypha: "..."
Talon was looking away so he didn't notice the change in Acrypha's expression when he said those words.
'This kid has a smooth tongue and he doesn't even realize it.' Acrypha thought to herself as she touched her chest. For some reason, her heart raced a little when she heard those words.
Being someone of great standing, Acrypha naturally heard compliments countless times. However, this one felt different and she didn't know why. Perhaps it was the lack of any malicious intent in his words and the straight honesty that made it feel special or maybe it was something else, either way, Acrypha liked it.
However, before she could even speak, suddenly, she noticed something weird. Looking down, Acrypha noticed that the pebbles and rocks on the ground started to shake out of nowhere.
It was subtle at first and could even be ignored, but it slowly grew in intensity and rhythm. Squinting her eyes, Acrypha snapped her finger at Talon. "Hey, come look at this."
"Hm?" Talon raised an eyebrow as he approached her. "What?"
"This…" She said as she pointed down.
Talon's eyes trailed down to the ground as he noticed the subtle shaking of the rocks. He frowned slightly as he crouched down and stared at it in silence. That's when he felt it, the shaking had moved to his body.
"An earthquake?" He murmured in confusion.
"No, this isn't an earthquake." Acrypha shook her head. "Focus on the rhythm."
The young man was confused at first before he listened quietly again to the rhythm and counted the seconds before each shake. It didn't take him long to realize what Acrypha meant as his eyes widened and he stood up.
"No, don't tell me…" Talon's voice turned dead cold. This wasn't the first time he had felt that rhythm, hell, it was still a vivid memory in his head. Looking around, he rushed to the nearest high-ground area and climbed it to check for himself.
Reaching the top, he gazed into the horizon with his sharp eyes. With his enhanced focus skill, staring almost ten miles into the distance was an easy task. What he saw shook him to the very core.
The buildings in the distance were shaking violently as they started collapsing one after the other as if they were a series of dominoes. The trail of dust they left behind was so gigantic that it covered Talon's vision.
However, that didn't hide the culprit for this destruction. A horde of monsters, at least 400 strong, was moving through the city, wreaking havoc as it moved. They didn't seem like they had any intentions to stop. Crazed howls and cries echoed in the vicinity, shaking the world with terror. It was a sight straight out of a nightmare.
The worst part was… That horde was heading straight toward the campus.
"Oh no, no, no." Talon gripped his spear as he turned around. "They're moving towards us!"
Without waiting a second, Talon descended and rushed back to the gymnasium.
'If they enter the campus grounds, we're all screwed. Shit!' He cursed. Talon wasn't sure why that horde was suddenly triggered into moving this violently toward the campus ground but he was sure that it wasn't going to end well if he didn't do something.
However, Acrypha didn't immediately move with him as she kept staring at the horde with sharp eyes.
'Something is off about their movements… It's almost as if they're following something.' She thought to herself before she turned around and flew after Talon.
The two reached the gymnasium quickly as Talon rushed inside.
"Everyone, leave everything you've been doing and grab your weapons now!! Everyone moves to their assigned groups and get ready!!" He yelled as he rushed inside.
"What?"
"Huh?"
All the students were confused by the sudden yells as they flinched. Seeing Talon, they noticed the dead serious expression on his face.
"Everyone, move! Monsters are approaching the campus from the outside! I need everyone to get ready to defend this place!"
"Huh?"
"Monsters?"
"From the outside?"
The students were naturally confused. But, since Talon's orders were clear and straightforward, they immediately moved, unaware of the severity of the situation.
"Go Young-Soon, organize them. Hei-Ran and Mo Shin make sure everyone has a weapon ready and move all the archers or long-range weapon users to the roof."
"Y-Yes, sir!" The trio didn't even wait a moment as they dispersed accordingly.
Meanwhile, Talon headed toward his room as he opened the door. There, he found Hyun-Jae had just woken up and was staring through the window.
"What's going on?"
"A horde of monsters is approaching this place in an hour or so," Talon said as he approached her.
"What? Why?" Hyun-Jae blurted out in shock.
"I don't know what triggered them but they don't seem like they're going to stop. We need to stop them or this entire place will go down on our heads." Talon replied with a serious tone.
"How many…?" Hyun-Jae asked as she picked up her sword with a serious look.
"A few hundred at least. Most of them are weak monsters, some are a little high-leveled from what I've seen. I already ordered the students to get prepared. We will need any help we can."
"Are they even ready for such a thing?" Hyun-Jae asked with a frown. "Most of them barely learned to pick a weapon and kill a Dimension Walker."
She knew that the students barely killed their first monsters a few days ago. They were far from accustomed to it to even face such an ordeal.
"There is no other choice. We can't kill that many monsters alone. The least they can do is to protect the gymnasium from any monsters that escape us. I know we can handle the rest." Talon said as he turned around.
'Goddamit! Even then, how many can I even kill on my own?' Talon cursed inwardly as he ran his hand through his head.
This was going to be brutal and he knew it very well. Yet, such a brutal challenge appeared out of nowhere and was threatening all the things he built up so far.
Meanwhile, the horde of monsters grew closer and closer as it crushed its way through anything in its way. The sheer destruction it left behind was unimaginable, flattening the entire place. The countdown for their approach started.
(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )
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