The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 267

Chapter 267

Chapter 267: Justification

I wouldn’t have thought much of the difference in size if it wasn’t for the way the ascenders reacted to it. It wasn’t just their expressions of shock, it was the way they stared at me immediately after, as if I was somehow the cause.

Whether they truly thought that this was my fault or not, I wouldn’t find out until after the battle. The steroid-infused carallians were popping out of the ground by the dozens and it didn’t seem like they’d stop and wait for us to finish a conversation first.

“Tri-layer Circle Formation!” A clear voice rang from within the chaos.

The ascenders looked at one another—myself included, mostly because I didn’t know what the hell a Tri-layered Circle Formation was. The rest, however, had hesitation and reluctance written all over their faces.

“Now!” the same voice roared. It was an ascender from Daria’s team.

His resolute voice cut through the ascenders, spurring them on to follow his command. Aside from myself and Caera’s team, the rest formed a loose three-ringed circle centered around Daria and another ascender holding a golden wand.

Any idea what a Tri-layered Circle Formation is? I asked Regis.

‘No clue.’

Going rogue like Caera, Taegen and the brown-haired swordsman spelled defiance or ignorance, neither of which were good at this point. I got into position between Trider and another melee ascender in the outermost ring, deducing that this formation was centered around keeping Caria, who I knew was a conjur—well, whatever the term was called by the Alacryans, and the lanky guy with a crooked nose, protected.

There was no signal that indicated, no words that marked the beginning of our battle. We simply fought while I controlled my strength in order to not stick out.

The carallians’ strength mirrored their enlarged stature yet their speed was unimpeded. Still, I had gone through worse and came out only stronger.

Crescents of white arched around me as my dagger flashed with deadly speed and accuracy. With aether augmenting my body, my kicks and strikes made me an impassable storm.

The Tri-layered Circle Formation constantly shifted to avoid the accumulation of carallian corpses, and it all seemed like it was going well until the first ascender was killed, opening up a hole in the outer ring.

“Garth!” shouted a lean ascender positioned in the middle ring. He wielded a quarterstaff with a dozen or so orbs of lightning floating around him.

Immediately, the two on either side of the dead ascender seamlessly filled in the gap and we continued unabated. If I hadn’t seen the different camps set up for each pair or trio of ascenders, I would’ve assumed that they were all a part of the same highly-trained unit.

My attention then shifted to the inner circle of our formation. Despite my initial bias against Daria because of her rather suggestive attire and coy attitude, it seemed her skills were top-notch. Her main arsenal seemed to consist of conjuring spears of ice from the moisture in the air as well as creating explosions of wind around her enemies.

The long-range mage beside her only used fire magic, but had a wider variety of spells under his belt, from hurling spheres of fire to waves of scorching heat capable of melting the carallians’ tough hide. Both were precise with the strength and accuracy of their skills despite being encircled by a ring of defensive ascenders focused on protecting the two of them as well as the outer ring that fought to kill as many carallians as we could.

Spotting a carallian approaching, I kicked a corpse on the ground, hitting my target with it while shoulder tossing another carallian that tried to sneak up to my right. I gripped the dagger hooked to my finger and drove its blade through the struggling carallian’s eye before absorbing the remaining aether from its corpse.

Despite the added strength, speed, limbs, and spikes that protruded out of the carallians’ bodies, they carried more aether, which made fighting them actually easier for me.

Suddenly, a pained cry drew my attention. I turned to see Trider pressing down on his side with blood seeping through between his fingers. Simultaneously, his free arm was blocking the jaws of a carallian from biting down on him.

Damn it.

Turning back, I dashed to Trider, slashing the back of the carallian’s knees and stabbing the side of its throat in whirling succession.

The gauntlet-wielder looked at me with a dazed and puzzled expression. “Why...”

“We can’t get another gap in the outer circle,” I justified. “Stay alive.”

He was an Alacryan. Why did I care whether he lived or died?

I tried reasoning with myself that it would be hard for me to get through this convergence zone without their help, but I knew that wasn’t the case.

Perhaps I thought that the more I interacted with these ascenders, the more I could learn about these dungeons, or Relictombs—as they called it—and even more about Alacrya itself. And if I really did wind up in Alacrya after getting out of here, it made sense not to draw attention in the heart of a continent I was at war with.

But the more I thought about it, the more I began to think that I was regarding Trider and the rest of them less as my enemies and more as just people that wanted to get through this ordeal; the same as me.

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