---

Chapter 15: Not the Time to Give Up

In a corner of rubble and debris, the Black-Haired Boy propped himself up and casually tossed the huge rock that was above him aside.

With his Steel Bones and Evil Dragon Blood Armor, a few tons of broken stones were nothing to him. Roy was unscathed, while the falling rocks and steel were left severely deformed.

“Alice, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, but Master…”

“I’m okay too.”

But others weren’t so lucky.

Roy looked around and couldn’t help but furrow his brow deeply.

The theater was filled with adventurers or the offspring of nobles; while they couldn’t take hits like Roy, they had their own ways to deal with emergencies.

Yet the common folk made up the majority.

Even those who weren’t crushed on the spot still got hurt in the collapse. Cries and screams filled the air, resembling a disaster site.

And this was just the beginning.

The biggest threat was still that Cultist controlling the Bone Dragon.

Glaring at the scrawny old man in the distance, Roy wished he could turn this holiday-ruining jerk into dust.

The guy wasn’t targeting him; if he were, the attacks would be more accurate.

Thanks to the barrier laid by the academy’s headmaster, as long as he didn’t overuse his False King powers, ordinary cultists wouldn’t recognize his False King Blood identity.

That meant he was completely caught up in this mess by sheer bad luck.

The thought of it just made Roy more frustrated.

Sure, he had bumped into cultists twice before due to fate’s whim, but this time he was just trying to enjoy a show. Why did he have to run into these jerks?!

If the cultists wanted to work overtime, fine, but why are they ruining my vacation too?!

And what about those Red Sorcerers? This cultist was about to unleash a massacre—where are they?!

But Roy quickly pulled his gaze away.

Since the enemy wasn’t specifically after him, he had no intention of getting into a brawl.

The immediate priority was to get Alice out of danger.

Besides, there were civilians.

Roy wasn’t exactly a great person, but looking at that child crying for their lost parents, or the pale old man with a leg crushed under a boulder, watching those blood-soaked, panicked individuals, he found it hard to just ignore them.

Extraordinary Beings had a duty to protect the ordinary.

Even putting that aside, Roy didn’t want to watch these people die when he could help.

“Protect the civilians. We need to evacuate through the emergency exit.”

Just as Roy instructed Alice, the Bone Dragon leaped up and blocked their escape route.

“Everyone, do not refuse the grace of my master!”

With Kalman’s shout, numerous eerie pale magical circles lit up beneath the Bone Dragon’s feet.

One by one, grotesque skeletons and rotting corpses wielding swords and knives slowly emerged from the magic circles, lunging at the crowd with a vicious snarl.

People scattered in a panic, like sheep targeted by wolves.

“Don’t be afraid!”

“These weak undead? I’ve killed more than I can count!”

The few extraordinary beings bravely stepped forward, drawing their swords and easily slicing through the skeletons and corpses.

However, the undead summoned by cultists were nothing compared to the naturally occurring ones!

Within seconds, the dismembered skeletons began to tremble, reassembling like nothing happened. And the corpses, lacking self-healing, were even more resilient; even when torn in half, they would keep lunging at enemies, biting down fiercely.

“They can’t be killed!”

“Help! … Ah!”

Those first few extraordinary beings were instantly overwhelmed by a tide of skeletons and corpses, falling victim to the wild hacking and biting.

The extraordinary beings’ defeat became the last straw for the crowd.

Countless civilians fled aimlessly, worsening the situation and hindering the remaining extraordinary beings. Meanwhile, skeletons and corpses mercilessly terminated them, just like slaughtering livestock.

The humans killed by the undead ignited with a strange pale flame, turning into their kind within moments.

“Don’t engage them up close! Use ranged attacks!”

“Who even uses fire?!”

“Just a bunch of adventurers, stop giving orders!”

“What the hell?! Is this really the time to argue?!”

Unlike the elite Windriders or the fine-tuned faction members, these extraordinary beings were adventurers and nobles, unfamiliar with each other and unable to coordinate. In the chaos, they fought individually, lacking any effective counterattack.

In contrast, the undead moved like a well-oiled machine, efficiently coordinating to overwhelm one extraordinary being after another.

The adventurers and noble youths cursed at each other while being pushed back, forced to retreat to the center of the theater.

The massive Bone Dragon, towering over ten meters high, circled around like a hungry beast, slowly closing in on the terrified crowd.

This creature wanted to gather them all together for a one-hit wipeout!

Realizing this, the extraordinary beings grew more frantic in their counterattacks, but they still couldn’t break through the unyielding undead surround.

Nothing was more despairing than watching death approach.

Adventurers and nobles, gazing at the fearsome undead and the terrifying Bone Dragon, turned pale and fell into despair.

But just then, they saw the Black-Haired Boy darting past them.

“Now is not the time to give up.”

Not the time to give up? What can you even do?

There were scoffs in the crowd, confusion, and some even muttered curses at this hot-headed fool trying to show off. Meanwhile, more people were frantically running for their lives, barely noticing the Black-Haired Boy.

But the next moment, Roy cast a backward glance.

In his dark eyes flashed a haunting golden light.

An overwhelming pressure surged like an invisible tsunami, causing both extraordinary beings and civilians to instinctively calm down, rooted in awe.

Everyone then witnessed that scene.

Facing a sea of undead threatening to swallow him whole, the boy swung his sword upward, charging against the current.

【Blood Qi Condensation】!

Crimson blood energy erupted from the blade, forming an unbeatable strike.

The pale, decayed wave was shaken.

With a thunderous blow, countless undead were pierced through, shattering into pieces. Even that once-mighty Bone Dragon was pushed back half a step, crashing awkwardly into the rubble.

Roy let go of the now-shredded sword, offering the crowd a faint smile.

“I said, now is not the time to give up.”

 

---