=====Vol 2 Chap 16=====

Out of instinct, I conjured out a barrier to surround our group, protecting us from the debris soon to drop on us. The dust from the explosion was, if anything, very self-descriptive of the power of such a glacier, having taken down more than half of the sturdy walls.

The shock from the explosion preceded the debris, causing a dull yet clear sound to resound out of the barrier, which shook violently. Some people hugged themselves in fright, others crouched on the ground before slowly turning their heads after noticing that it was safe to some extent.

Unconsciously, I frowned my brows due to the sudden appearance of the glacier. Who and how could such a huge thing appear out of nowhere? While I haven’t tried it myself, and am unable to give a point of comparison, I’m quite confident that it must take a huge amount of mana, or an immensely strong Power to do such a thing, I haven’t noticed any fluctuations of mana nor any person close to the castle. Alas, unless I break away from the group, I am unable to prove any of my deductions, but, at the very least, whomever did such a thing has a high chance of being a friendly, so I turned my head towards the shivering people.

“Move, the barrier won’t be able to hold for long.” I lied, but it was effective enough to get their legs moving.

Few kept glancing back in fear, looking through the near-transparent blue barrier towards the castle, but Roland turned their attentions away when that happened. Thankfully, we moved away far enough that the castle got out of our view, making several people sigh in relief. As for me, I kept the barrier up for a few more minutes before turning it off. Just as I did so, a headache blasted through my head, without any prior warnings. Not once had it happened before, but I could also feel mana draining out of me in massive amounts.

Feeling dizzy, I felt my legs give out, but I was fortunately caught by Fiona, causing her to look at me worriedly.

“Are you alright?”

“O-of course.. I-” I tried to reply; however, it was at that moment that I blacked out.

…

Darkness surrounded me, but different was how I would describe it. The usual darkness made me feel uneasy yet it was harmless, yet this one felt less empty and more alarming. I tried moving through like normal, but no matter where I went, it all felt the same, if not worse.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something in the darkness. Something weaving through just like me, but it seemed as if it were... Smiling?

The body’s shape was impossible to deduce, but the only thing clear enough was its face, to some extent. I tried reaching out to it, but as soon as it noticed me, its smile grew wider, making me freeze in my place as it muttered words, reminding me of my first experiences from world travelling…

You are not in control.

The words didn’t come out, but its lips did all the work. Out of panic, I tried casting magic at it, yet nothing came out except the headache, seemingly stronger than the one I experienced before falling unconscious.

Its smile devolved into a snicker, then it walked away, diving into the darkness beyond. My body shivered, unable to discern the reason. Why? Why.. am I feeling afraid? I tried snapping myself out of it to no avail, up until I woke up, my breath unsurprisingly erratic.

…

I was greeted by constant shaking with a sweaty odor sticking onto me, causing me to flinch at the sudden smell. Once my eyes were opened, I noticed a burly man giving me a piggyback, his name was Oscar. My brief movement didn’t go unnoticed by him, causing the shaking to stop suddenly.

“You awake?” His rough voice echoed in the darkness of the night, attracting many of the survivors attention.

“What happened?” I asked quickly with worry clearly laced on my words.

He didn’t answer, but instead slowly lowered me down till I was able to stand up, not without wobbly legs. Confusion ran down my face as I felt the lack of mana inside me, or at least the huge decrease in amount and inability to regenerate it. I quietly summoned a ball of fire, but it seemed to be horrifyingly weaker than normal. Then I remembered, just before I blacked out, I felt mana gush out of me like a dam had been broken, but I was sure that I sealed off any parts where mana might leak. It was a basic thing to do to become a mage, but having the seal break was completely outside of my expectations.

Suddenly, I crashed into a solid object. Staring at it, it turned out to be a tree, yet I clearly remember my country having no forests at all, causing my confusion to spread out.

“Umm.. Where’s Roland?” I asked Oscar who was walking next to me, but he just shrugged, and I sighed in response.

Out of curiosity, I tried to open my main menu, but it wasn’t working. I blinked, my head starting to hurt. What is happening to me? A headache started ringing in my head, causing me to wince from the pain.

A short idea came to my head, and I needed to test whether it was true or not, so I grabbed a nearby tree with one hand and tried pulling it out fully, being sure that I could have pulled many times its weight. Thankfully, it seems that my strength wasn’t affected, then a sigh of relief escaped my mouth.

Oscar stared at my arm with a gaping mouth, reminding me to drop down the tree and keep following the group. Today was a hectic day, and I’m sure we need to reach our destination as soon as possible, cause I won’t be able to protect them in this state, nor will they trust me to do so. Life is precious, as such they won’t entrust it so easily to others, especially in such a harsh time where people will start adopting the law of the jungle, and I don’t doubt some have already did so…

…

We ran.

With barely any mana to throw spells at the chasing goblin riders, we ran to the nearest settlement, now unfortunately in ruins, in hopes of temporary shelter and a chance for me to go out with Ki blazing. If not for the fact that they wouldn’t target me alone and head for the others as well, I would have already jumped into the horde, but alas.

Each group of survivors went out in sixes, with at least one fighter with them, and split up in hopes of confusing the goblins. As for me, I yelled out a war cry while throwing debris from all around me, and the sound of ground meat following soon after. Thankfully that grabbed some of their attention, but not all. I sighed and dashed into the horde with a Corromium greatsword in hand, slashing as quick as possible without bothering to dodge or block any of their attacks due to my confidence in my stats, which I am currently unable to access.

Cries and howls came from the goblins and their wolf mounts respectively, but I couldn’t care less. No matter what, I won’t make the same mistake as before and hold back. I must end this quick and check up on the survivors. I must.

The unending horde kept running at me after the death of a hundred of their species, hellbent on revenge, but also from the fear of being the ones dying next. My death would mean the end of the group, and they know that well.

It wasn’t until an hour had passed that the last one standing was no more, and it was then that I noticed the exhaustion my body was experiencing. Fatigue made my steps heavy, and it didn’t help that it was quite a long walk before I was at any of the buildings that the survivors hid in, so I decided it would be for the best if I sat down and started Ki Meditation, which I had never used outside of training due to the abundant mana I had.

So I sat in a lotus position and started meditating. I hoped for the survivors’ safety, doing my best to meditate so I could check on them sooner. Never would I have realized how people lacking mana would feel so helpless, but I pushed that thought away in favor of a more efficient meditation..

...

It had been several hours since Archillies’s charge into the horde. No riders were seen after the first half hour, but the same could also be said of Archillies. The survivors were cautious for as long as they were in this ruin of a building, nevertheless I couldn’t do anything but encourage.

“Roland, I think we should send someone to check, otherwise we will stay here forever.” A woman complained, sick of waiting.

“Alright. One more hour, if not, we are moving.” I said.

She nodded and went to comfort the children in the group, while I stared out of the window, vigilant of any movements..

…

Meditation was an incredible idea, but after a few hours I started feeling horror. Horror of what, I didn’t know, but it kept me shaky and unable to continue meditating. It was all well and good at the start. Mana was refilling, my body was healing, and my headache was fading. But..

I shook my head and stopped reminding myself as I walked into the ruins till I was able to sense some of the survivors. I called them out and they responded near instantly, rushing out of the buildings and grouping up. One after another, the whole group was reunited, but before we were to leave, we had to scavenge since our supplies were running out.

Our group was large, not in the sense of hundreds, but about 30 people large. Half of which could barely do anything as they were children. It took us a few hours, and we were able to find a few unlooted shops and mini markets. With all the resources and happier mood, we set off on our destination, hope filling our hearts, mine included.

Only a few hours later did night dawn on us, so we set up camp. The stars shone clearer than before the time I left this world, and the cackling of wood filled the air.

“Hungry?” Asked Roland as he held out a granola bar.

“I guess..” I opened the wrap and took a bite.

We sat next to each other in silence, the wooden stools giving us as much comfort as could be in this time around.

“This.. This is a harsh time to be living in.” Muttered Roland with a tired voice.

“I agree, but there is hope. In two more days we will find a community to take us, no longer having to be on the run!”

“Do you believe that? That we can keep moving on?”

“I guess?”

“I just.. Feel exhausted, constantly worrying over the people and having to guide them.. Then there's you, and I have a premonition something is going wrong with those powers of yours. You just.. Never seemed so tired and restless before.”

“I don't know. Ever since that time I fell unconscious after the glacier fell I've been feeling dread.” I looked up at the sky, feeling as if I'm being watched.

“I… Don't know, but we will try our best together.” He smiled.

I nodded with the hope that we continue on till the end. The granola bar was finished, and so came the end of the conversation.

In the meantime I tried my best to meditate and feel out the mana surrounding me. A lot seemed to be gathered around Roland, while the ambient mana in the air was practically invisible. Compared to the amount of mana I stored, the ambient mana in the air was only a few times higher than what I had when I first gained the System. That made a lot of sense, actually. If the concentration of mana inside me was too much compared to the world, some of it would have had to escape.

I sighed then stood up, deciding to search for any monsters to let out some stress.

Or maybe try and fix my mana issue, as it seemed that my ability to block out escaping mana was not as good as I thought..

…

=====Vol 2 Chap 16 end=====