117 3.29 Rescuing the civilians - Part 2

After almost half an hour, I was finally able to put off the fire, but maintaining it for this look took a lot of toll on my body. As a result, I lost control and fell on the ground.

The fall was a little painful since the mana cloak around me had become weak. At this point, I was barely keeping myself conscious, and it felt like all the energy in me was drained out.

I realized that everyone else was still in the dormitory when I left this morning. I hadn't contacted them since then. Though by now, they must already be aware of my situation.

[Yoru, can you hear me?]

[Nara, what happened?! You sound unwell.]

[I am fine, please don't worry about me. How are things there?]

[We are fine too. But there were a lot of people injured during the attack, and there aren't enough people to treat them, so we are helping.]

[Okay, please continue doing that. And if possible, help the knights in defense too. But tell everyone to prioritize their own safety first.]

[Got it… you take care of yourself too.]

[I will. Tell everyone that there is no need to worry.]

I pushed the ground with my fist and stood back up. I was still merged with Flare, but it looked like she too had weakened after all the rain we caused.

I closed my eyes and tried sensing the surrounding mana.

The part of the town we were in had already been destroyed by the fire. There were no demons around us, but I could sense them rampaging all over the residential and trading district. Fortunately, Knights and Nobel's district were still alright.

There was destruction and chaos everywhere around me, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. There was only one me while there were tens of demons at this point. Even with my abilities, I could only be in a place at a time.

[Hey Zero, what should I do?]

[Hmm… Well, sometimes you just need to be satisfied with 'what you can do'. Just do what you can, disasters are unavoidable.]

[I already know that. What I want to know is the way to resolve this.]

[As I said, just do what you can and go for the source. Sometimes the loss of few lives is unavoidable for the greater good… Also, don't you feel something is strange?]

[Now that I think about it, it does feel like something is strange.]

I wasn't exactly able to pinpoint what, but it felt like something unnatural was going on. So, I tried closing my eyes and sensing the surrounding mana again, and this time I realized what that was.

Even in the midst of all this chaos and death, the mana around me was surprisingly pure. The place which should have been covered in the thick miasma barely had any miasma at all.

If they were collecting all the miasma in one place, it was obvious what they were going to use it for.

'If that's the case then I have no time to be fooling around.'

I pulled a metal rod out of the nearby rubble. It could barely be considered a replacement for my mithril sword, but at this point, this was the only thing around me that I could use.

I fused it with my darkness magic and Flare's flame to create the dark flames. Flare's flames were back to how they used to be, but my body wasn't ready to handle the large quantity of mana flow yet.

I could sense that the miasma was being collected at the far end of the residential district, so my destination was obvious.

I slowly started walking in that direction. My feet felt numb at the start but after a while, I was able to run.

When I reached closer, I could sense several high-level demons on the way. Unlike the lesser demons, the high-level demons looked humanoid with miasma leaking out of their bodies.

They were completely black like lesser demons, but their movement was a lot faster. If I had to compare, they were at least thrice as fast as Markus.

I was tired at this point, so I had no intention of fighting them as I moved forward. I was just planning to freeze them and deal with them once I was done with their summoners. As far as I knew, demons weren't able to use the holy magic, so they shouldn't be able to break through my magic ice.

As I was running, a high-level demon came charging towards me from the side. I could already sense it coming, so was prepared for the counter.

I rolled forward to dodge its claw and fired a Dark-flame slash at it. The demon was left frozen in a block of ice.

When I was focused on the high-level demon, two mid-level demons came charging at me from behind. I fired another slash at them and froze them as well. But this time, when I tried standing up, I could barely hold myself together.

'Damn! I was planning to avoid summoning Zagan here, but I guess I have no choice.'

"Zagan, I think I will need your help here."

A red magic circle appeared on the ground, and from there, Zagan appeared as usual. 

"Sorry man, I didn't want to do this to you, but things are tough for me."

"Well, if you are feeling sorry because you summoned me to deal with my species, then don't be. They are no longer the demons I know. Now, they are just the cursed soul summoned using miasma. If I destroy them now, they will probably get salvation from this curse."

"Wait, can't they be turned back to normal?"

"If the demon lord reincarnates, he might be able to do that. But when that happens, the era of chaos will return. I think things are okay the way they are now."

"If that is the case then, I want you to clear my way as I move forward."

: The Clubs