Chapter 14: Limits.

Day 4, part 7.

The world slows to a crawl as I stare at the half a dozen giant fireballs that is flying straight at me.

‘Ah, so this is how it feels when you see your life flash before your eyes.’ I ponder absently as my life flashes before my eyes.

“Prove yourself worthy.” an echo sounds, deep in my mind.

Snapping out of my daze, I grit my teeth and press down on my mana with all my will; willing it to form an impenetrable shield. An aegis.

‘It's do or die!’

As the fireballs draw closer to me, the heat upon my face quickly changes from hot to burning as the horrid smell of burnt hair reaches my nose.

Biting back the pain of my flesh getting singed, I finalize my shield and quickly make it expand outwards; with my mana pool acting as it focal point as I realized I won't make it in time if I try to materialize it the way I usually do.

Expanding outwards, the edges of a light blue bubble appear from my chest and a split second later has already expanded to cover all of me.

It doesn't stop as I am covered however; as it continues expanding outwards until a 5 meter radius is protected by the bubble. Eri and her teammates included.

As the giant fireballs hits the bubble they explode with a roaring boom, creating a roaring inferno that sends flames flying in every-which direction.

Fortunately for us however, none of the fireballs or flames manages to get through the aegis shield.

Neither does the heat reach us as the bubble stands firm.

With the exception of it swaying slightly under the pressure, it seems wholly unaffected otherwise.

As seconds pass the stalemate remains unbroken; the flames raging around our vicinity show no signs of fading; In the same manner, the bubble shield keeps us safe from the raging inferno on the other side and shows no signs of wear.

This could go on for some time it seems; however I can feel I am quickly reaching my limit, as my strength is waning with ever increasing speed.

“I can't hold it for much longer!” I shout to the others as I grit my teeth and focus on maintaining the barrier.

“Hold on a few seconds!” Someone shouts sounds over the roaring inferno on the other side of the shield.

Gritting my teeth, I struggle against my limit, and a growing nausea; as I continue to pull mana forcefully out of my mana pool, with quickly increasing difficulty.

As my body's strength fails me, I fall to my knees. A few moments later I am barely able to keep myself sitting upright and my vision is going black. Through sheer power of wilI, I let out a yell with my last ounce of strength: “I can't hold it anymore!”

“...etus diues! Frost nova!” I hear someone shout a split second after as the last of my conscience leaves me and I fall limp to the ground.

----------+×÷=×

Awakening with a start, I am quickly pressed down again by something.

A quick glance around tells me I am still out in the vicinity of the battlefield, but not actually on the battlefield.

A quick glance reveals that a bit further away from where I am laying, corpses of behemoths still remain; as they lay there frozen solid in various random poses from falling awkwardly.

“Stay down. You are still weak.” a gentle voice comes from beside me. “Barely any time has passed since you collapsed.”

Looking over, I see Ley is sitting beside me, face showing a bit of worry.

As Ley notices me looking, I get a reassuring smile. “Here, drink this.”

Trying to move my hand, I quickly realise my body lacks the strength to lift it, never mind move it normally.

Letting it flop back down weakly, I look over at Ley apologetically. “Could you feed it to me? I seem to lack the strength to move my arms…” I say, feeling awkward about my lack of mobility.

Replying with a quick; “Sure.” Ley helps me drink the strange blue liquid from a rather small bottle.

As soon the liquid comes into contact with my mouth I feel a sudden rush of energy fill me.

The taste though; it's like lemongrass mixed with caramel and… coconuts, of all things. Not bad, per se but…not what I would consider good either.

“He's finally come to huh?” a familiar voice suddenly comes from above my head. “Took you long enough, ya slacker.” Eri says as she very lightly kicks my head.

Not having the energy to retort to her, I simply look around our surroundings slowly.

“Hey, I'm talking to you.” Eri says irritably as she kicks my head again; this time a little bit harder.

Promptly ignoring her, I look over at Ley and say: “It looks like you all finished the behemoths off alright. Everyone ok? I don't see the others…”

Looking a bit bewildered whether it would be better to reply or let Eri speak, Ley looks between me and Eri a few times before finally answering me hesitantly.

“They're fine. Kali went to report and Hel is keeping wat-”

“Hey! Don't you dare just ignore me!” Eri shouts as she moves next to me and glares at me angrily. “ I am a noble! You WILL listen and reply when spoken to! Know your place, commoner!!” she hisses at me.

Still being very weak and unable to move, I sigh and look up at Eri and look her straight in the eye for a long moment.

“Well?” I say finally. “What need does this noblewoman have of this lowly commoner then?” I say, voice dripping with thinly veiled sarcasm.

Face going red, Eri glares at me angrily for a moment.

“I… I! …” Seemingly lost for words she stops herself before she even starts.

Taking a deep breath, Eri slowly exhales while looking up at the sky.

Gaze turning down again, she meets my gaze and holds it for a moment.

“I need to talk to you. Later. When this is over.” Eri says, turns and promptly leaves the vicinity, stopping a dozen meters away to scan the surrounding for monsters.

Looking over at Ley, I nod questionelly towards Eri.

Ley simply shrugs weakly.

“I couldn't say...”

Shrugging, I glance around the immediate surroundings.

“Well whatever. I guess I'll find out later; like it or not.” I say slowly.

Taking a deep breath, I try to relax my body. “How long was I out for, anyway?”

Hesitating, Ley gives me a look I can't quite place.

“It-... It has been around 30 minutes or so now since the battle.

you…were gone for a little less, maybe 25 minutes?" Locking eyes, I notice a hint of sadness is hidden there.

“We-... we thought we had lost you for a while there.” Ley says slowly, but then gives me a smile.

“Eri was frantically trying to get you to wake up again; but when you wouldn't wake no matter what; she then gave me that elixer to give to you.” Ley says and gestures towards the bottle formerly holding the blue liquid.

Continuing, Ley says: “Not sure where she got it, but I know elixers are expensive. Very expensive.”

I can only sigh at that last remark.

---------+××÷×

After another minute or so of rest, my strength has returned enough for me to slowly move around.

Tentatively, I carefully try standing up while being prepared to catch myself if I fall; but there seems to be no real problem except a slight weakness that is noticeably fading.

Looking around, I notice that most of the fighting is occurring in the area around the main gate.

The main gate which my team members are fighting desperately to hold.

“Shit…” I mumble to myself as I take in the situation.

The main gate is being rushed by monsters; a quick estimate puts them at around 7,000 or so.

To make matters worse, only a few are of the common beast type that we almost exclusively faced at the start of the battle.

After a moment of observing the fight, I quickly walk over to Eri who is standing a few meters away and keeping watch. Arriving next to her, I stop a meter or so away and look over towards the main gate.

“I need to get in there and help… Any bright ideas?” I ask her.

Snorting, she gives me a look.

“Why don't you just rush them?” She says while sneering. “Can't be any less suicidal then everything else you've already done today…”

“Rush them, huh…” I repeat seriously while pondering if she actually thinks I'm really that stupid or whether she actually believes I am suicidal.

If I'd had to choose, I'd have no choice but go with stupid.

I sure as hell don't want to die yet, that's for sure.

“Uhh… You're not seriously thinking about rushing them, are you?” Eri asks me uncertainly.

Glancing at her, I look back towards the main gate and the thousands of monsters in its vicinity.

“Of course I am; thousands of enemies vs me? I almost feel bad for them.” I reply sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes at my remark, Eri also looks over at the main gate.

A moment passes before she starts humming quietly.

“I just had a bright idea.” She says and smiles at me mischievously.

I shudder involuntarily as a sudden cold wave rushes up my spine.

‘I have a baaad feeling about this…’

“... Let's hear it then.” I say, against my better judgment.

End of chapter 14.