The Gamer's POV

Evelyn gritted her teeth as she crawled for a bit back toward where the cadets were engaging the creatures.

As she crawled, Julius’s voice suddenly rang in her head. ’My lady! Behind you!’~~

Evelyn turned to see the one of the bats descending on her with both its jaws and claws open. Her eyes widened and, using all her strength, she immediately rolled to the side. The creature then slammed into the sand where she had been a second before.

Without slowing, Evelyn rolled up to one knee, gripping her kama tight while also expelling mana into the air. In the next instant, her wings of blood detached and hardened into spears that shot forward.

The creature immediately turned to her, but before it could even move, the liquid spikes pierced through the monster’s leathery chest and neck, shredding its wings as they burst out the other side. Gray flesh and dark, thick fluids sprayed across the white sand, and the creature’s shriek was cut short as it was pinned to the ground by the solid blood.

At that moment, several of the creatures swarming from the halo saw her and changed direction.

Seeing them, a deep frown crossed Evelyn’s face, and she called out mentally to her bond. ’I feel weak, Julius...’

She bit her lips as she was still reeling from the deep gashes in her leg and neck. Her eyes were bloodshot, and it took everything she had just to stay upright.

Barely a second after she had called, the kama in her hand dissolved into blood and Julius materialized beside her. Then, as he quickly stepped away from her, he muttered, "Do not worry. I’ll defend you until you can regain your strength."

Evelyn tiredly dropped to her knees, breathing heavily.

Unlike Evelyn, who fought with a raw, predatory brutality, Julius fought more like a mage and was more tactical in his fights.

His red eyes shone as he pointed at the dead bat on the ground. A thick stream of blood gushed from its mouth, rising into the air like a heavy ribbon. With a sweeping motion of his hand, he sent the liquid curving through the air. The blood acted like a liquid blade, slashing the necks of three approaching creatures in one smooth arc.

Julius then pulled his arms inward as if embracing the air. Suddenly, a large dome of blood surfaced around him, Evelyn, and the three fresh kills.

Inside the safety of the shield, Evelyn immediately scrambled to one of the fallen bats. She grimaced as she tore into the wound and began drinking its blood.

While she was doing this, the creatures outside began slamming their bodies against the Blood Aegis, their claws scraping against the shimmering red walls.

To defend the dome, Julius tightened both fists, then threw his hands open. Dozens of sharp, massive spikes erupted from the surface of the round dome, impaling the bats that were trying to break in.

He didn’t stop there. Closing his eyes, he began to move his hands through the air as if drawing and pulling at invisible threads of mana. As he did, blood from the fallen creatures outside the dome erupted in thick streams, thinning out into fine, needle-like strands as they shot across the battlefield. The strands crisscrossed through the air like a massive, gory spiderweb, piercing through the heads of the swarming monsters.

The environment was quickly transformed into a web of impaled carcasses. As Julius raised his hand in a slow, rhythmic dance, hexagrams made of dark blood began to etch themselves onto the chests of the dead bats. After which, he activated the skill Eternal Covenant.

But when he noticed that nothing happened, a frown immediately crossed his face. The failure meant the bats didn’t have souls, and this confirmed his theory that these creatures were just constructs of the lord’s imagination. They lacked souls and weren’t graded, which was why their strength was so inconsistent. Some were strong and others were weak, but all of them were hollow.

Well, since that didn’t work, he spread out his hands and decided to use the creatures from Evelyn’s own army. Suddenly, the surface of the dome stretched and figures made of condensed blood began to pull themselves out of the shield, running out into the sand to meet the swarm.

There was a monster that was humanoid but with the heavy, cloven feet of a boar and the head of a ram, which had four horns protruding from its thick skull.

There was another shaped like a giant scorpion, but with two massive, dripping stingers that twitched as it scurried across the sand. There was even a massive griffin among them.

These were the monsters that Evelyn had killed on her way to the Home of the Hollow Ones. Not too long after they rushed out, Julius began to move in his rhythmic dance again, preparing more magic.

But then Evelyn stood up and spoke urgently. "Careful, Julius. We need to watch our mana."

Julius halted and turned to her. Her face was still pale and smeared with blood.

"Are you okay, my lady?" he asked.

Evelyn rubbed the jagged gash on her neck. The injury still refused to vanish, though it had healed enough to no longer hinder her movements. She reached out her hand toward one of the dead bats, and a spear made of thick, dark blood coalesced in the air and flew into her grip.

As she turned toward the edge of the dome, she replied, "I’m fine. I’ll go help the others. Cover me."

Julius nodded. He reached out his hands, and two curved blades made of blood solidified in his palms.

Evelyn exhaled, then began running. As she reached the edge of the dome, she passed through the membrane. In that moment, wings of blood formed from the moisture on her back, lifting her into the air.

The field in front of her was chaotic. Most of the bats were swarming in tight, suffocating circles. But it wasn’t just bats anymore. There were so many other creatures crawling and fluttering through the sand. She could see that out of her unit, only five people were still alive, and they were quickly being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the hollow constructs.

Without wasting time, she dashed through the webs of blood and dead constructs toward the thickest part of the swarm. Not long after, Julius, who now also had wings of blood on his back, followed her into the storm.