Ten monsters weren't a force that regular students could face in an open field and without any plan. Khan had seen a group of more than twenty Niqols almost losing against one creature with abilities, so the sight of that pack made him hesitate.
The situation wasn't exactly terrible. The monsters mutated from the Talelos seemed to retain the same physical weaknesses. They were massive and resilient, but they could only charge forward and swing their paws. Those simple offensive patterns were easy to handle when facing only one specimen.
Fighting ten of them at the same time was a big problem, but Khan could imagine a group of Niqols with exceptional battle prowess winning that fight. It would take them some preparations and a slow approach, but the battle was feasible.
Khan would have even felt confident in dealing with ten monsters on his own if his proficiency with the Divine Reaper had reached the competent level. His attacks with the knife were deadly and ignored every protection, but that happened only when he managed to perform them correctly.
The speed and flexibility of the Lightning-demon style, the deadly power coming from the Divine Reaper, and the [Blood Shield] gave Khan a complete set of abilities that turned him almost unbeatable against those types of opponents. The issue was that his foundation had deep flaws. He lacked experience with his new techniques, and they were far from perfect.
Those hypothetical plans were almost pointless in front of the two big monsters. The ominous feeling radiated by the pale-red flames and the dark gas declared how the pack wouldn't only rely on mere physical attacks and simple charges. Those creatures could probably express the same deadliness that Khan had just started to feel proud of.
Khan inspected the situation from every angle and perspective, but nothing changed. His battle prowess was unreliable, and his companions were useless. They could probably launch the iconic palm strikes of their species, but they would die as soon as the pack touched them.
An ideal world where Khan managed to sprint through the monsters and perform ten perfect executions in a row existed, but he didn't believe to be there. The previous tests had shown him that only two out of three attacks came out fine and that when the monster was already powerless. The tension of an actual battle would make his number of failures increase.
"[Summon the Aduns]," Khan eventually ordered. "[We can't fight this]."
Edil wanted to give voice to a heroic comment that could inspire the group to remain in the area and fight, but he didn't lie to himself. He was willing to give his life for his planet, but his sacrifice would be pointless there.
The Niqols silently agreed to Khan's order and summoned the Aduns. The academy had prepared strategies for similar situations, so they didn't mind abandoning their position so soon.
A professor or other higher-ups would occupy strategic areas that could make them able to come in the student's aid relatively quickly. The closest soldier to Khan's position would take three hours to arrive in the plain, and the monsters couldn't do too much damage in that period.
The monsters didn't charge toward the four students. They approached them slowly as if they were studying the scene. Still, Snow and the three dark Aduns' descent forced the two ability users to react.
The monster with flames coming out of its fur roared before its hair pointed forward and launched a few large fireballs toward the descending eagles. The attacks were oddly fast for their size, but they destabilized before reaching their targets. Yet, their explosion filled the sky near the students with an expanding heatwave and fiery trails that reached the ground.
The heatwave forced the Aduns to halt their descent and spread their wings to shoot outside its range. The Niqols showed ugly expressions at that sight, but Khan promptly turned to retreat.
"[Let's get out of their range]!" Khan ordered, and the Niqols understood his simple tactic, but the same went for the monsters.
The eight normal monsters charged ahead after the fiery specimen growled. The ground trembled for real now that those heavy creatures stomped it repeatedly, but Khan didn't fear them. They had started to run too late. The Aduns would have enough time to pick the students up and escape in the sky.
Yet, even that seemed to be within the monsters' calculations. The creature that was releasing black gas pointed its mouth on one of the holes in its mask and blew while unleashing the full power of its lungs.
Khan was holding back his speed on purpose to remain near the Niqols, and the latter weren't too slow. They still met the superior standards that the aliens tried to create, so even their weak battle prowess was decent according to human criteria. The Aduns in the sky moved freely and without obstruction, so they were only waiting for the students to put enough distance from the monsters before descending again.
Nevertheless, the black gas that the monster blew from behind its mask moved faster than students and Aduns. The rare light that had started to fill Nitis disappeared as the dark gas engulfed the area within four kilometers.
Khan immediately noticed that his sensitivity to mana couldn't help him in that environment. His senses couldn't pierce that thin gas. He couldn't even notice the three students behind him. He could see almost decently, but that was too little when eight monsters were running in that direction.
Breathing became difficult, but Khan didn't experience any violent reaction. Instead, the Niqols had it slightly worse since they stopped moving to crouch and cough. Their attunement with mana didn't make them adapt to the new air quickly enough to avoid ending up in that condition.
Khan found himself in a troublesome situation. He didn't know how large the cloud was, but nothing could catch him if he continued to sprint at full speed. He could save himself, but the three Niqols would die.
On the other hand, the monsters couldn't have the best teamwork. The two leaders with abilities probably were the only specimens smart enough to come up with simple hunting tactics. Those creatures had mutated less than seven hours ago. They couldn't possibly know the full extent of their new powers.
'The two strong ones probably can't sense me here either,' Khan thought as he did his best to imagine the creatures' simple mindset.
The ten monsters had decided to create that group in less than seven hours. They had to belong to the same pack already, which would explain their instinctive teamwork. Khan could even guess that they had an innate talent toward the hunts due to their nature, but their intelligence couldn't go too far.
Khan could imagine only one tactic if he decided to consider the creatures intelligent enough to fuse their newly developed abilities with their usual hunting patterns. The eight normal monsters had shot ahead before the arrival of the cloud, which meant that they had to set their direction beforehand. They were probably still running even if the gas was suppressing their senses.
'If it's just the eight without abilities….' Khan thought as determination appeared on his face.
"[Focus on leaving the cloud]," Khan ordered as the Niqols started to straighten their backs. "[I'll buy some time]."
"No!" Kakhir shouted as a cough tried to interrupt his explanation. "You are more valuable than us during the crisis. Leave us here."
Khan felt deep shame for having considered leaving the three students behind. His eyes widened in front of their timid determination. They were weak, scared, and useless in that situation, but they were already willing to sacrifice themselves for Nitis' greater good.
Kakhir revealed a weak smile when he thought that his words had managed to convince his companion, but stupor filled his face when Khan grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back on his feet.
"[Run in that direction and leave]" Khan ordered while pointing at their previous direction.
"[Nitis has the priority]!" Kakhir shouted while dropping any intention to use the human language.
"[I'm a human]," Khan smirked. "[I only care about battle merits]."
Edil and Elita had recovered enough to hear the entirety of that conversation. The three Niqols weren't too close to Khan, but they had learnt to know his character. They saw through that blatant lie right away, and complaints immediately tried to come out of their mouths.
"[They can't catch me]," Khan interrupted them. "[Just go. I can't fight with you slowing me down]."
Khan continued to smile, which allowed the Niqols to see right through his intentionally rude words. He was trying his best to make them leave, even if that meant offending them, and their desire to live eventually made them accept his intentions.
"[We'll call the professor as soon as we exit this thing]," Elita promised as Kakhir helped her standing up.
Edil nodded at Khan before the three resumed their march. Khan had kept track of the passage of time during that interaction. Almost a minute had passed, so the monsters had to be almost on him. However, the Niqols were still too close, so he sprinted in the direction where he hoped to find opponents.
Khan felt angry at himself. He hated the fact that he had considered sacrificing the three Niqols when they were able to show such an intense determination. Khan felt the need to pay them back for teaching him how those pure feelings could survive even in an awful situation. He also needed to vent. Luckily for him, he could do both things at the same time.
It felt strange to rely only on his vision after spending months using his sensitivity to mana as his first form of perception, but he didn't forget how to use them. Khan could see clearly even while sprinting among the dark gas, and a huge figure eventually appeared in front of him.
Khan didn't even give time to the figure to become clearer. He accelerated until his skin started to hurt and calculated the arrival of the clash perfectly.
The normal monster continued its mad, blind charge through the cloud, but a vague figure suddenly appeared in the darkness before it. The shadow rotated on itself and dug the ground due to the amount of momentum accumulated in the sprint to throw a rotating kick.
Khan's sole slammed on the side of the monster's head before the latter could realize what was happening. He had successfully hit the uncovered part right behind the mask, and the creature ended up changing direction due to the violence released in the impact.
Khan saw the monster sliding by his side, but he chased after it while rotating the knife in his hand. He stretched his arm until the tip of his weapon was right above its skull, and he performed a simple stabbing gesture once an azure glow shone.
The knife didn't release any sound when it pierced the monster's head and dug deep into its brain. Khan didn't even look at the creature after he retracted his weapon. He had performed the technique correctly, so his opponent was dead. That was the way of the Divine Reaper.
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Author's notes: I didn't expect the three hours to be so long. I was about to fall asleep on the keyboard yesterday, so I ended up hitting the bed. Today's chapters will probably have some delay, but they will come out.
