Chapter 127: Explosion
Suddenly, just as Nolan’s foot hovered over the villa’s threshold, Lirazel’s voice rang out, sharp, clear, and filled with desperation.
"Master! Where are you going?!" Her tone cracked through the night like a whip, stopping Nolan cold in his tracks. The breeze that had tugged at his cloak now felt like chains, holding him in place.
Nolan clenched his jaw. He turned, eyes blazing with resolve, heart pounding as if it might break free from his chest.
"Lirazel," he said, breath heavy, "my students are out there. They’re fighting, probably dying, and I—" he pointed at himself with a trembling finger "—am their teacher. I have to help them. That’s my responsibility!"
But Lirazel stepped closer, her spectral form flickering in the dim light. "No!" she cried. "We need you here! I need you here. Master, don’t you understand? I haven’t even fully materialized. That enemy—that thing that’s coming for us—it will kill me! And if I die—if this dungeon den collapses—you’ll die too! You’re the only defense we have left!"
Nolan’s fists balled at his sides, his nails digging into his palms so hard he thought they might draw blood. "What about my students, Lirazel?" His voice cracked, his gaze fierce. "What about them? Do I just abandon them? I taught them, I guided them. They’re mine to protect!"
The two glared at each other, the tension thick as stone. Lirazel’s voice dropped to a tremulous whisper. "Master... they are not your responsibility anymore. Are you going to take care of them forever? Is that what you think being a teacher means? At some point, they have to stand on their own. And look! Look at them!"
Her arm lifted, pointing beyond the villa’s walls.
Nolan’s system flared, pulling the battlefield into his view. His students—Selin, Ruvin, Erik, Calien, and the others—stood in a line, faces streaked with grime, eyes alight with fierce determination.
They worked in unison, slinging the rope-bound knives he had taught them to wield.
One after another, the knives flew true, embedding into the skulls of the twin-tentacled octopus creatures.