Atlas Reign

Chapter 6 Hero

s**t! s**t! s**t! I am late... Oh god, I am totally screwed. I overslept big time... I hope Professor Gazzer will not get mad this is like the 4th time this week.

Ahhhh... My parents will be absolutely mad at me, I can already imagine my mom bickering at me and my dad hitting me with his earth magic... Arghhhh..... Come on... Come on... Faster dammit.

I ran as fast as I can to get to the academy, as I was running I spot some kids enter a building. That building looks old and probably abandon. I ran past them with great speed. Suddenly, I heard a siren and I stop my steps. They drive past me and enter the road near the building.

Wow, that was fast, I think it was the BMP. I want to drive one of those cars one day. Big brother is a member of BMP, and he is my role model. I hope I can be just like him one day, but judging by my current rank in the class it might never come true.

Well, it all because I was working so hard to improving my skills until I get tired, so yeah that is how I overslept and people misjudge me that I was late because I play video games or watching some television series on my phone, but the truth is that I get tired when practicing and that tiredness affects both of my academics, sports, and training exercise in the academy. I need to work on my stamina.

After I watch the BMP car enter the road near the building I start to run. Suddenly, I heard screams coming from the building. I dash towards the building and found the entrance to get inside, as I ran towards the entrance I heard another scream, but it was not a child scream instead it was a monster howls.

Shit, there is a monster inside, forget about being late to school children's lives are at stake here.

I enter the building using the entrance that the children use. I sprint towards the sound of the howls.

Inside the building, there are several abandoned desks, chandeliers, chairs, old computers, dining tables, phones, and many more. It appears to be that this building was once a hotel and I can tell by the dusty carpet and the amazing statue that I ran past.

I need to stop admiring and focus on saving the children from the monster, as I was running I can still hear the screams of a child. The screams echoing through the building. I need to be quick there are still chances for me to save them, as I enter the hallway on my left I was shocked at what I saw. Blood trails going ahead of me, I need to follow it.

I follow the blood trails, I can hear that the screams began to weaken. s**t, I need to hurry before the monster completely kills the child. I can only grab on the thinnest hope that the child can still be saved.

I ran along the hallway and follows the trails. The trails lead me to a hallway on the right I turn to the right and what I saw horrified me to the core.

The child is being eaten by the monster, but what scares me is that the monster is a Type 3. It is a monster called Wolflion.

Wolflion is a monster that can camouflage itself. They move in a pack. They have better hearing, smell, and sights. Not only that, but they can also see the heat of other creatures in the dark. A lone Wolflion is dangerous when it is not in a pack. They will kill anyone who gets close to them. To think that they manage to be in the capital is scary.

I can tell that the child is still alive but barely. His chest is moving up and down while still being eaten. I need to get the monster's attention, but how?

An idea struck my brain. I can cast rock and throw at the monster. It is risky but that child's life is in serious condition. I need to get him at a hospital and not to mention finding the rest of the children.

Shifting my focus on the monster, I began focusing my mana to flow through my body and onto my palm. After that, I imagine that I was holding a rock and the rock manifested with the rock on my palm, I throw it to the monster.

The rock hits the monster and shifted his eyes towards me. Our eyes meet, and I can tell by the monster's eyes that he is annoyed, and he began to prey on me. Now my life is in danger, I need to run like. Right now.

I took off instantly in the opposite direction. The monster dropped the child and is now chasing me. I used my earth magic to create several obstacles to slow down the monster along the hallway. The monster manages to avoid the obstacles swiftly and is gaining momentum.

I turn right and create an obstacle behind me. The placement of the obstacle is on the blind spot of the monster and I think it will crash on it and slow it down. The monster turn in the direction of where I was going and stumble upon the obstacles. It works, the monster crash on it. What a relief.

The monster gets up and continued to chase me.

I continue along the hallway, and I am starting to get tired, I need to end the pursuit right now. I spot an abandoned elevator shaft maybe if I use my dark magic, I can create an illusion of a wall and then use myself as bait then dodge at the last second.

Likewise, I began starting to concentrate my mana again and imagine a wall right in front of the elevator shaft. The elevator shaft began to engulf in darkness and a wall is being formed. Perfect.

I stop my step in front of the wall and I create several obstacles in front of me. The monster sees me and sped up. I cast several rocks and sent them flying towards the monster. The monster dodges the incoming attack effortlessly.

The monster dash and is within several meters in front of me. The monster jumps towards me and I dodge to the left. The monster flung itself towards the wall and pass-through it. The monster falls to the bottom of the elevator.

I hope that will be the last time I saw the monsters. I stood up and run in the direction that I ran from. After a while, I came back to where I first encounter the monster and I saw the child laying down on the floor. I ran towards him and check on him. His right arm, right leg, and half of his body are completely eaten away. I create a cast around the child's wounds to stop the bleeding. I need to get him to a hospital quickly but there are still children in this building.

“Dammit... Where are the rest of the children?” I said with frustration in my voice.

I carry the child and began to run towards the exits while screaming to let the other children know that I am here to rescue them. Furthermore, I keep running and screaming as I turn left along the hallway. Suddenly, I heard a child cry from one of the rooms. Carefully, I began to focus my ears on the source of the sound, and it came from a room on the right ahead of me.

I walk towards the room and the sound of the cry became louder as I near it. I twist the doorknob. It is completely blocked from the inside. The children began to cry louder when I kick the door. I need to tell them that I am not a monster.

“Hey, kids I'm human, you can move whatever you block the door.” I reassured them.

“Where is the monster? Is it still around?” A girl's voice can be heard. She was crying.

“The monster had been taken care off. It is safe.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“You can trust me.” I reassured them.

“Okay...” another child said that with a murky voice.

From the outside, I can hear that they began to remove the things that are blocking the door.

I twist the doorknob again and entered the room. A large group of children comes rushing towards me hugging my lower half. I start counting the children and there are 5 of them including the ones that I am carrying made it 6. They are all roughly age 8 or 10. All 5 of them do not seem to be injured. That is a relief, I do not have to carry 1 more child.

“Oh no..... Is he dead?” the girl with the yellow shirt said.

“No... Not yet... We need to get him to the hospital quickly.”

“Follow me and stay close.” I told them.

All of them nods and began to follow me.

We run along the hallway towards the exits, as we are running I have an urge to ask them questions.

“What are you kids doing here? Aren't you guys suppose to be at school?” I ask them.

They began to look at each other. Something must have bought their attention towards this place. Suddenly, one of them spoke up. It was the boy with a redshirt.

“I spotted a monster entered this building yesterday when I was on my way home.”

“I told them that there was a monster here in our group chat, but no one believes me.” he confessed.

“I..... I mean... We told him to give us proof.” the girl with the blue shirt cuts in.

“And he told us to follow him today.”

“All 5 of us agreed to it and decided to skip school.”

“We followed him to check if he is telling the truth.”

“It is all his fault... Because he was showing off.”

The boy with the green shirt interrupt.

“It's not my fault!!! You guys are the one who doesn't believe me.” The redshirt boy yelled.

“ And you... You push him, didn't you... When the monster dashed toward us... He will die because of you!!!” he yelled at the boy with the black shirt.

Hearing this sudden confession, I turn my head towards the black shirt boy.

“Push him???” I ask the black shirt boy.

He stops his step, and we all do the same.

“It..... It...... Wasn't intentional... My arm just moved...” he cried.

“You push him as bait didn't you?...” the yellow girl cried.

“No... It wasn't... I don't know what I did was wrong or not... But it kept us alive didn't it... All of you run away when I push him... So we all guilty here!!!” he yelled.

They all turn away in silence.

“I can still hear his cry for help... He kept yelling why did we leave him there...”

“It wasn't my fault!!! It wasn't my fault!!! It wasn't!!! It wasn't!!!” he cried out.

Hearing this for the first time made my stomach sick and chills behind my back. They abandoned their friend so that they can live, but this child made the wrong and best choice possible for that situation. If it were not for him, many of them will be killed instantaneously.

I need to calm them down and get them to safety.

“Hey, all of you... He's still alive... You can apologize to him when we get him to a hospital.”

“So, let's get away from here.” I reassured them.

They all nod and we began running along the hallway.

We ran towards the exits and suddenly I heard a monster growls behind me. The time moves slowly when I turn my head behind me. The monster began to reveal itself from invincibility. I can see the monster's red eyes.

Time moves faster and the monster dash and attacks me. I quickly create a stout shield made of earth to block its attack. The monster hit the shield with his claw. The shield blocks the attack, but the force breaks the shield, sending me flying away and drops the child.

I look at the child on the ground. Thankfully he is still breathing. Then I shift my gaze towards the monsters as he shifts his eyes on the girl with a yellow shirt. It wants to attack her. I need to get his attention.

I cast a rock towards the monster. The monster shifted his eyes from the girl towards me. I can feel the monster bloodlust.

I scream towards the children to getaway. They began to run. Suddenly, the monster shifted its gaze toward the black shirt boy. It jumps in front of him and held its claw in the air and strikes the boy's neck.

The boy's blood is sprinkled on the walls before he falls. Blood poured on the floor. The other children were horrified by it and froze on the spots.

“RUNNNNNN AWAYYYY!!!!!” I scream on top of my lungs.

The monster shifted its gaze on the blue shirt girl. She began to scream. The sound of her screams can be heard throughout the air. Suddenly, the girl began to glow, she has mana illness and I think it is the ones that explode. I need to get to her before the monster does. The monsters saw her and prepare to attack her. I need to stop its movement first.

I create earth casting on the monster's feet and harden it so that the monster cannot break it and holding the monster down. The monster tried to move and breaking it, I can see that the cast began to break even with hardening it.

The cast will not last long. I dash towards her to try to calm her down. Suddenly, the monster whips its tail on my foot and I fall to the ground. Then, the monster wrapped my body with his tail and throws me to a wall and into an empty room.

My body crashed to a table and destroy it. I scream in pain when my body crashes with the wall and table. With my body on the ground, I raise my head towards the wall that I made and saw that the lights began to glow brighter and brighter.

I tried to force myself to stand up, but it was too painful. The child's glow brighter and the monster manages to break free from the cast. It dashes towards the girl. The girl saw the monster coming to her, and she screams. What comes next is a bright yellow flash and the girl explodes bringing the building to collapse.

Quickly I create a sphere to shield me from the incoming debris but before it was complete a large rock falls on top of the earth sphere and breaks the sphere. I cast my left and right arm with rocks and cross my arms to absorb the impact. The debris falls onto me and the impact was too strong.

I fail to protect the children. I have failed my friends, teachers, families, and most important of all my brother. Furthermore, I failed him, and now I am going to die.

“I'm sorry, Invo.” I muttered before I lose consciousness.