Chapter 71. The Beast’s Transformation
Under the blood-red sky, the students stared at Xath’rael and saw that its body bore no trace of damage whatsoever not a single wound, not even a minor scratch. The sight sent a wave of dread through many of them, doubt creeping into their hearts. And when they’d seen four of their classmates’ heads torn from their bodies in a single strike, that dread had only deepened into something closer to terror. But they refused to let that fear take hold of them now. The fire still burned in their chests, because they understood one thing clearly if they did nothing, they would die here for absolutely nothing. So they refused to let despair win.
Watching those four heads separate from their bodies, Elizabeth tightened her grip on her sword until her knuckles ached. She had just watched four more people die before her eyes, powerless to stop it. But seeing that fear hadn’t spread through the rest of the students gave her a small measure of relief. She gripped her sword and pushed forward. She wouldn’t hang back any longer. She would fight alongside everyone else, on the front line. And she had to survive this.
As she advanced, Elizabeth spotted Dominic a short distance ahead, gripping his sword tightly with both hands. Dominic noticed her come up beside him, glanced at her briefly, then turned his focus back to the abomination before them. He spoke without looking away from it.
"Princess, how long do you think we can hold out against this thing?"
Elizabeth kept her sword raised, her eyes fixed on the creature ahead, matching his gaze. When she heard his question, she didn’t answer right away. She simply stared at the monstrous thing before them for a long moment before finally speaking, her voice low.
"I don’t know. But however long it is, it won’t be nearly long enough. We have to buy more time. If we don’t stretch this out as long as we possibly can, no one here is going to survive. He has to get here. And until he does, we have to hold the line."
Dominic listened to her words, and gripped his sword even tighter, because she was right. Though he didn’t want to admit it aloud, he’d been thinking the exact same thing. In his mind, he thought only one thing.
Lord Necrotize, when will you get here?
Dominic had no idea when that would be. But he placed his complete faith in him, because without him, there was no way any of them were making it out of this alive. Together, they advanced toward Xath’rael. And they weren’t alone Lloyd advanced alongside them as well. Elizabeth gripped her sword tightly in one hand, closing the distance with fierce speed. Beside her, Dominic gripped his sword with both hands, matching her pace. And Lloyd charged forward with a greatsword held in his grip. Seeing the three of them advance together, the students around them found their courage renewed, and began pressing forward once more, as a unified front.
Elizabeth cut past Xath’rael’s side, sweeping around to take a flanking position. Dominic held directly in front of it, with Lloyd standing firm beside him. Seeing the three of them surround it from different angles, Xath’rael seemed mildly intrigued. The lion portion of its face slowly began to turn toward them, rumbling low. But it made no move to attack it simply gave them the room to make their move first.
The moment Elizabeth reached its leg, she gripped her sword tightly and struck directly at the joint.
"Imperial Style, First Sword: Descending Meteorite."
Her blade came down in a clean, direct strike and this time, the attack landed. The instant it connected, one of the creature’s legs tore free and crashed to the ground. Seeing this, the students around them surged with renewed energy, pressing their attacks from every direction. Dominic gripped his sword tightly with both hands and drove a strike into the creature’s ribs.
"Aslan Style, Third Sword: River-Splitting Eternal Strike."
Dominic’s strike landed clean, driving straight into the creature’s ribs. It didn’t leave a massive wound, but compared to the first wave of attacks, this was the first time actual damage had appeared on its body and that alone meant something. Lloyd followed with a heavy swing of his greatsword aimed at its arm, and the instant it connected, a deep gash opened across the limb. For the first time, the combat department’s strikes had left visibly noticeable wounds on Xath’rael. But they didn’t stop there. By now, the magic department’s second wave of attacks was already primed and ready.
Xath’rael’s attention shifted, and most of the combat department students pulled back clear of it. The moment they cleared out, a fresh barrage from the magic department slammed into the abomination. But alongside their attacks, another student joined in this time one who hadn’t taken part in the first strike. She cupped both hands together, drawing her energy inward, gathering it into her palms.
Boom.
A massive bolt of lightning erupted from her hands, striking Xath’rael with brutal force. The gap between the lightning leaving her hands and it slamming into the creature’s body was so instantaneous that no one nearby even registered the attack had been cast at all. A moment later, someone spoke the name of the technique aloud.
"Thunderbolt."
The instant they heard the name, the sound of the impact rolled over Xath’rael’s body like a peal of thunder crashing straight down from the sky. The sound was so overwhelming that many students clapped their hands over their ears. Everyone turned toward the source of the attack. No one had to ask whose it was there was only one person in all of Silvercrest Academy who wielded the lightning element. Lyra Leonheart.
"So that’s where those thunderclaps we heard earlier in the forest were coming from," one of the magic department students said. Another beside her added, "She’s already reached Rank Three, as a first-year. That’s completely unbelievable. I doubt I’ll ever reach Rank Three in my entire time at this academy."
Even trapped in such a desperate situation, the students couldn’t help but marvel at Lyra’s strength and envy it a little too. Seeing this reaction, Lyra felt a quiet spark of pleasure. If people envied you, it meant you had something worth envying something they wished they had. She’d never felt anything quite like this before, and being the object of that kind of envy, for the first time, felt good. But she didn’t let that feeling go to her head. In a situation like this, letting her guard down would be pure foolishness.
Xath’rael, which had remained mostly indifferent through the earlier assaults, lost that composure the moment the lightning struck it. Fury flared in its eyes. It turned toward the source of the attack, and its gaze landed on Lyra. The instant it did, the lion portion of its face let out a thunderous roar. Rather than reaching for its claws this time, it extended both hands and clapped them together with tremendous force.
The instant its palms met, a massive shockwave burst outward from the impact, throwing every student in the vicinity off their feet. Several of them were sent flying into the invisible wall of the area restriction, slamming hard into the barrier. Many were left with minor injuries from the impact, but none of them were hurt badly enough to stay down. Slowly, one by one, they pushed themselves back up off the ground.
As they pushed themselves back up off the ground and looked toward Xath’rael again, they saw something entirely different from before. Its head had rotated the lion portion now faced forward, while the goat skull with its long curving horns had shifted to the left. The turtle head that had been at the back had moved to the right, and the mantis-like portion had swung around to the rear.
That wasn’t the only change. The mantis-like lower half of its body, below the waist, had transformed as well reshaping itself into a massive goat’s leg, its entire form covered in coarse, matted black fur, its hooves replaced with long, curving claws like a lion’s. The two four-foot blade-like protrusions that had extended from its waist had risen up, now positioned along its upper arms, while two more four-foot blades extended from its actual hands. The lion-faced side of its head glared out at the students before it with unmistakable fury.
Watching this transformation unfold, many of the students felt their hope drain away. Just moments ago, this thing had looked one way and now it had become something else entirely. Every wound they’d managed to inflict on it moments earlier had vanished without a trace, as though it were an entirely new creature altogether. Xath’rael began pounding one clawed forefoot against the ground repeatedly, as if bracing to charge. Then it spread its twin blades wide and broke into a full sprint straight toward them.