"Ready," April said.
The Indomitable had been stored at the research facility, which was damaged. The air was getting hard to breathe. At least we had survived the free fall and then crash as the College affected the surface and landed on top of the volcano.
"Let's move," I said with my sword in hand.
I had already opened the main door to the research building. The war mech stomped out while I rushed in front of it. Several buildings had partially collapsed, and a massive cloud of burning ash was descending towards the College.
The ground shook.
Crashing the College on top of the volcano solved the problem of the eruption, but the ash cloud was still around the College. The weather ward had completely failed. Once the burning ash settled enough, the fire would consume the entire College.
Now wasn't the time to panic. I just had to have hope that everyone would do their part.
That was when several Legends leaped into the air around the College and tremendous bursts of wind began pushing out in every direction.
Crowds of students paused and cheered.
"Clear the way!" I shouted as the war mech kept advancing towards the main plaza. We stopped at the edge, and the rest of our team found their way over.
The war mech was a good way to draw attention and to clear a path. The ground was constantly shaking, but that was probably just the volcano the College had landed on top of.
"My father is preparing a portal with several others. We should be able to evacuate along with The Indomitable," Stormy said.
"Good. The professors can sort this mess out, but we should head immediately into the dungeon," I declared.
We wouldn't be able to contribute meaningfully to this kind of disaster. Better to leave and let the College sort things out with the people they had on hand rather than interjecting ourselves into this mess.
It was a shame I didn't get the graduation dinner. They hired top chefs to create unique dishes.
The Dark Cabal, ruining people's lives, my skill levels, and my meals.
That last was the most unforgivable sin, I thought jokingly.
"Is the shaking getting worse?" Harren asked.
The Mana spiked massively as if waiting for his words.
Everyone froze in panic.
Then, the speaker system activated.
"Dungeon break! All non-combat individuals move to the designated emergency shelters and remain there. All combat capable individuals move to contain the dungeon break
!"The Dean's voice sounded incredibly stressed as it echoed over the College.
People began screaming and running out of the main plaza where they had come to in a panic.
"DON'T PUSH! DON'T PANIC!" April roared over the speakers of the war mech.
Thankfully, the booming sound caused people to wince and stumble, breaking the stampede that was about to happen.
The people evacuated quickly. Looking up, the wind pushed back the burning ash cloud. The shaking increased as another surge of Mana came upwards from the ground.
"Watch your firing angles! Focus on close range attacks only. No area of effect skills!" Such came the orders from one legend.
If everyone used attacks that were too powerful, the defenders would wipe out the College instantly.
The tension grew along with my Danger Sense until the main plaza bulged upwards.
I nervously clutched my sword.
Whatever was about to burst out, it was going to be bad.
The ground turned molten, and the heat was becoming suffocating.
"Aura of Ice," Stormy said as the ground around our team quickly cooled down.
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Other groups and individuals either leaped away or used similar skills. The molten paving stones sagged back down and then burst upwards.
"Ward!" I defended myself while stepping in front of Stormy.
Harren stepped in front of Sam as a massive molten worm burst out of the ground.
Multiple legends began attacking it, but the monster had a molten aura of some kind, disrupting many of the spell skills used.
A wave of Mana washed outwards over the College, not from below, and the temperature quickly decreased, but things seemed bleaker than ever as the massive monster slammed into a building, instantly disintegrating it.
"HIC firing!" April called out.
The weapon was bigger than Harren and me combined. It also has its own fuel tank now.
We moved out of the way while our casters put up shields. The mad dwarves had increased the power of the heavy-duty weapon. We understood that if they used it, it would vaporize whatever it hit.
Anyone with weaker combat skills was retreating while the legends were trying to take down the massive worm. The ground and air shook. The monster lost a sizeable chunk of its body to vaporization.
BOOM!
The monster jerked to the side as if someone had slapped it.
The nearby legends didn't even hesitate, unleashing their skills on the downed monster one after another.
I looked at the molten hole the monster had come out of, and a horde of lesser monsters was emerging.
The dungeon had formed an entrance directly in the center of the College.
It wasn't a normal entrance either. It was a vortex of molten ground swirling around in a pit. The monsters coming out of it were all molten versions of monsters that I had seen in the past. The massive worm was already dying, but the horde behind it would be difficult.
"Ice and temperature spell skills!" someone shouted.
"Protect me; I need one minute," I said.
While I didn't have the right spell, I could make one. That was the power of being a spellblade. Always have a tool for the problem at hand.
I was already focusing my attention on my blade as I swung it in the air, tracing out runes.
Every minor mistake felt like a slap to all the work I had done with runes, but perfect was the enemy of good.
Our entire formation had shifted. The Indomitable had taken up position behind me, firing lightning blasts over my head into the horde of molten monsters emerging from the dungeon.
Harren was standing in front of me, ready to block, while Sam and April had moved to my sides. While we hadn't practiced that many times as a team, we had discussed such maneuvers in combat.
I was technically the combat leader right now. It wasn't something that was said, but the others were deferring to my judgement. I knew we didn't have the strength to fight directly against the monsters, and our position was solid. April and The Indomitable could provide ranged support, while our casters secured our position and I worked on the runes.
"Heavy Blow!" Harren called out and swung his massive axe, which appeared to be new.
A molten monster was blown apart. I
almost made a major mistake but corrected myself in time. I couldn't afford to get distracted right now.
"They sense by movement, possibly air currents," Stormy called out and then unleashed several ice spell skills.
"Illusion Orbs,"
Sam called out.Several white spheres began flying outwards.
We were at the edge of the plaza facing the large hole the molten worm had burst out of. It was dead or dying, and the legends and other individuals focusing on combat were trying to push back the hordes of monsters emerging.
Stormy was calling out how the monsters sensed so Sam could distract them and relieve the pressure on Harren, who was holding our front. April was rapidly hitting the monsters with lightning bolts, but they weren't one-shot kills. I knew she had a weaker close-range weapon, but it was fire-based, which was completely inappropriate in this fight.
"Move," I called out, and Harren quickly stepped aside as I focused.
The runes spun in the air. The temperature dramatically shifted as a wave of frost spread outwards for three seconds. I had directed the effect towards the dungeon, so my teammates weren't hit. After the first three seconds, the runes fragmented, and I suffered a massive headache.
Ozy, who had been on my shoulder pauldron ready to protect me, hit me with a Cure and a Refresh. I felt instantly better. The Mana blowback wasn't good, but I had done well enough not to die instantly.
"Glacial Supremacy."
"Winds of Everwinter."
"Frost of Eternal Night."
Those three tier 5 skills also eclipsed everything I had tried to do.
All the monsters turned into frozen sculptures in a single heartbeat. A gust of chilling wind whipped through the entire plaza, cooling everything and everyone down, and the ground itself instantly cooled and shattered in many locations from the rapid temperature change.
I felt my Cold Resistance struggling for a moment, and then the pressure was gone.
"We need to seal the entrance. I need a team of at least four to protect me," a legend called out.
That was beyond us, and I didn't want to enter the dungeon through here. I looked to the side and saw the molten worm had turned into a massively cooling corpse.
There were no more monsters emerging, and my Danger Sense was calming down.
Looking up, ash was still falling, but the massive burning ash clouds were dispersing.
Legend Xanatos had done his worst, but we had survived, and the College was still standing.
That was the power of civilization and teamwork.
He might try to make a mess, but it was only a matter of time until someone caught up and ended him. After this, many people would certainly be much more motivated to hunt him down.
While the dwarves and the College hadn't created a massive uproar before during the first attack, since it could be attributed to his fight with my mother, no such excuse existed this time. The College would increase the bounty massively, and they had a vast network of alumni.
Xanatos and the Dark Cabal didn't just piss off the College, but all the graduates across the continent who had risen to positions of immense power. Merchants, rulers, advisors, and many others would be motivated now, even if they weren't legends. Anyone with a child learning here would become enraged. My mother caused destruction, but no one could blame her this time.
Xanatos had screwed up, and I smiled at this. Perhaps that curse skill would solve itself.
"Well, not half bad for our first true fight as a team," Harren declared.
"At least we didn't embarrass ourselves," Stormy said.
"I am going to need more fuel," April added.
"I can't believe we made it," Sam said.
"Nice job, everyone," I said with a smile, and Ozy let out a hiss.