The Beginning After The End (Beckoning Fates Book 3) (27 page)

No… looking carefully, it wasn’t
ice.
 
It was glass!

A small scratch on my arm brought
my attention back to the fight in front of me but my mind couldn’t ponder how
Professor Glory was able to do that.
 
I knew that superheating sand but in order to produce that amount of
heat while still battling…

“KRRAAAAAAAHHHH!”
 
The ear-deafening
cry
made us turn
our heads back.
 
Professor Glory just managed to land the finishing blow on the smaller
Queen.
 
Our Professor wasn’t in the
best of shape, her armor scratched and dented in various places while blood
trickled down her cheeks.
 

“All right!”

“NICE!!”

“Go Professor!”

The defeat of one of the Queens
dramatically boosted the moral of the class, as each of the students’ renewed
vigor allowed us to fight back harder against the Snarlers that seemed to
instantly generate spontaneously.

“GRRRRAAAAAAHH!!!”
 

“BOOM!”

Upon seconds of hearing the loud
crash, Professor Glory flew past the front line and landed hard against a wave
of Minion Snarlers.

Allowing myself a few seconds to
look back, a wave of nausea hits me as my eyes are glued onto the sight of the
bigger Queen Snarler gorging on the corpse of the fallen Queen Snarler.

As the larger Queen began devouring
the smaller one, I couldn’t help but become perplexed by what was happening in
this dungeon.
 
There were more than
10 floors in this dungeon, with minion Snarlers inhabiting all but the 10
^th
floor, where the Queen Snarler dwelled.
 
The reason this dungeon was considered a beginner dungeon was because
the Queens never left the 10
^th
floor, allowing for easy training up
until the very last floor.
 

Although the Queen Snarler was a
B-class mana beast, a large party of E-class Adventurers was still capable of
defeating it.
 

Another question that popped into
my mind… was it normal to have more than one Queen in the dungeon?
 
From what I read, Queen species were
very territorial, and immediately battled against any potential competitors to
maintain control.
 

Professor Glory didn’t really think
much of it but I couldn’t help be bothered by it.
 
This brings me to my last inquiry… How
are those two Queens so much stronger than they normally should be?
 

I could understand Professor Glory
having a hard time against two B-class mana beasts that are considered dungeon
bosses, but she shouldn’t be losing.
 
The Queen Snarler that I read about was easily supposed to be disposed
of by an A-class Adventurer.

“Ugh… why is that one so much
stronger?”
 
As Professor Glory got
up, she had to cleave a couple of minions out of her way.
 

As I fended off waves of Snarlers,
my attention kept on drawing back to the Queen Snarler eating its former
ally.
 

“Professor, does this usually
happen?”
 
I ask.

“Well I’ve heard that some species
of mana beasts do indulge in cannibalism but I’ve never really seen this
particular case.
 
Why now of all
times, I have no idea.”
 
Shaking her
head, she picks up her other sword on the ground and makes her way towards her
opponent.

“GRRAAAHH!”
 
As the Queen Snarler finished consuming
her fallen comrade, a bizarre change occurred.
 
Its once grey fur turned jet black and
the small horn on its forehead that I failed to notice at first grew
substantially and curved upwards.
 
The once beady red eyes turned sharp and menacing, almost psychotic as
its mouth started foaming.

Professor Glory doesn’t say
anything but I know that there was a growing sense of doubt on her mind.
 
Until now, getting back home safely was
considered just a matter of time, but even my body couldn’t help but shiver
involuntarily from the murderous intent that exuded out of this beast.

“Cough… Professor!
 
We can’t… cough… keep this up!”
 
Tessia shouted amidst the growls and
hisses of the enemy.

Tessia’s condition didn’t look too
good and brought to my attention a rather obvious problem we were now
facing.
 

“Everyone!
 
No more fire spells!
 
The entrance of the cave is blocked so
our supply of oxygen is limited!”
 
I
roared out.
 

From the burnt pile of corpses
accumulating, the air was becoming thick as some of the weaker students began
coughing uncontrollably.
 

The Queen and Professor Glory were
in a stalemate, with our Professor on the losing side.
 
As I focused on the main battle, I could
see that the fighting style of the Queen Snarler completely changed.
 
There was no trace of hesitation or
sense of self-preservation.
 
Each
attack it lashed out at Professor Glory was with the intent to kill without
caring for its own body.
 
Usually
that should’ve been its downfall, but that unique Queen Snarler’s black fur was
able to absorb most of the damage from our professor’s attacks.

“Cough… Arthur… I think… my mana
core is beginning to cough… act up.”
 
Tess, who was a few meters behind me, fell to her knees as she began
clutching her abdomen.

Fuck.
 

‘Papa!
 
What’s wrong?
 
Are you okay?’
 
Sylvie’s voice pops in my head.

‘We ran into a problem, get here as
fast as you can and head down the stairs.’
 
I respond before focusing my mind on what’s happening here.

Several factors began weighing down
on my mind now and I began to get a sense of nostalgia from my trip to the Dire
Tombs.
 
Did I have the power to
clear the mountain of rubble blocking the front entrance to the stairs and even
if I did, should I just take Tess and escape by ourselves?
 

No. Tess would never forgive me if
she knew that I left everyone else in here to escape.
 

Then after making a way back up, do
I stay behind and help Professor Glory kill the mutated Queen Snarler?
 

Whatever decision I choose to make,
the first thing I had to do was clear this rubble.
 
It was important that I clear a path
back up in one try; since it was obvious the Queen wasn’t going to let us all
escape.
 

“Professor, keep the Queen
busy.
 
I’ll try to open a way out of
here for us!”
 
Professor Glory had
to work even harder to keep up with the Queen since she couldn’t use any fire
techniques.
 
After giving me a nod
in affirmation, I get to work.
 
Tessia wasn’t in any state to help and everyone else was too busy
fending off the army of Minion Snarlers.
 
Lucas had to resort to using heat spells to try and deter the Snarlers
since oxygen levels were becoming more and more scarce.
 

I would have to do this by
myself.
 
I had to calculate this
well.
 
If I were to use a large
enough fire spell in this state right now and fail, we were all going to begin
suffocating in here.
 
Water?
 
Ice? There were too little water
elemental mana particles in this cave to release anything strong enough to
drill a hole through the mountain of rock.
 
The once ice-filled cave was now dry and arid with a thick layer of
smoke being produced from some of the burnt Snarler corpses.

That left me with wind and earth, or
a mixture of both, but even with the level I am right now, I wasn’t confident
in being able to produce a powerful enough attack.
 
I thought of maybe using phase two, but
with Tess in the condition she was in right now, I had to stay conscious at
least until we get out of this dungeon.
 

Was there really no other
option?
 
As my mind began spinning
for possible solutions, I see Professor Glory receive a pretty large blow to
her right arm.

‘I’m almost there Papa! Hold
on!’
 
Sylvie’s voice gives me an
idea.

That’s it!

“Curtis!
 
I need your help right now!”
 
I roar across the battlefield.

“Arthur, I don’t think I can afford
to…”

“Come, NOW!”
 
I bark back before he can refute.

Curtis was a bloody, grimy mess,
but from the shallow wounds on his body, it was obvious that the blood on him
wasn’t his.
 

“What is it?”
 
He pants heavily.
 
I could tell he was exhausted by the
wear on his face and body.
 
His
shield was badly dented and his sword looked dull from the repeated use.

“Do you think your beast will ability,
World Howl, is strong enough to clear the rubble?”
 
I turn his head to snap him back into
attention.

“Arthur, I don’t think I have the
mana to even be able to go into my first phase.”
 
He shakes his head hopelessly.

“Just answer the question.
 
Is it strong enough?”

“Y-yeah, if I had enough mana, I
could potentially produce a blast bigger than the one on the mock team battle
where you, um, got injured.”
 
He
scratches his head, confused by where I was going with this.

I thought about maybe directing the
blast at the Queen Snarler but even if it were strong enough to maybe kill it,
it would be impossible to accurately get only the Queen and not Professor
Glory.
 
It was safer to just go with
this plan.

“Okay.
 
I want you to not question what I’m about
to do and just focus on going into your first phase and producing the blast
strong enough to clear that mountain of rubble.
 
Got it?”
 
The amount of urgency and authority must
have gotten through to Curtis because he just nods and turns around.

Taking off my seal and putting it
in my dimension ring, I make sure to control the amount fluctuation in the mana
as to not tip anyone off.
 
Everyone
is occupied with the Snarlers but if I don’t control the mana release like
Professor Glory did after she released her seal, I would draw attention from
the Queen Snarler.
 

Feeling the untapped pool of mana
that I now had access to, I place both my hands on Curtis’ back.
 

From the amount of mana I will into
Curtis, the Prince involuntarily drops to one knee before he’s able to adjust
his body to the sudden bombardment of mana.
 

Mana transference has been studied
for many years according to professors and many of the books in the library,
but it was a hopeless cause for them.
 
They believed that if a mage was fire attribute, receiving mana from
another fire attribute mage should be possible, but after countless tests and
failures, they deemed it as implausible; the reason being that even if someone
is a specialization, the mana inside their bodies aren’t purely of only that
element.
 
Hypothetically, if someone
was able to condense and refine their core to highest sense, then with another
one of someone of that same level and element, they could transfer mana to each
other.
 
Other than that, it would be
impossible, except for me.
 

The fact that I’m able to
manipulate all four elements allows me to adjust and mimic and input the types
of mana and the ratio of each element of the person I’m transferring it
to.
 
It was sort of like what I did
for my sister and Lilia when teaching them mana manipulation in their body but
on a much bigger scale.
 
Of course I
haven’t perfectly mastered this so I’ll be wasting a lot of mana, but this was
probably our best bet.

As I began slowly controlling and
limiting the amount of each elemental mana particles I transmit to Curtis, I
can’t help but grit my teeth in self-deprecation at the turn of events.
 

There were so many small signs that
I chose to ignore, thinking that it would work out fine, and that I could
handle it.
 
Was I treating this life
I had right now for granted?
 
Being
fortunate enough to have this amount of power at my age has definitely made me
lose my past sense of rationality to a degree.
 

No longer a King, tied down by
rules and politics as well as not being tied down by my own physical
capabilities, I’ve become careless.
 
In this world, the limits to my potential were boundless.
 
Reaching the White stage or even further
wasn’t a dream but a matter of time and effort.
 

The thing that appalled me the most
and what I hated to admit was that, I was, in a sense, a bit like Lucas.
 
I was nowhere near as much of a jerk as
him and I had people I actually cared for beside myself, but I was becoming
arrogant, like Lucas, arrogant to the extent of carelessness.

“I-I don’t know what you just did,
Arthur but I feel great.
 
I think
I’ll be able to go into my first phase!”
 
The Prince says, bringing me back to reality.
 
I sense the change his body is going
through internally sense I’m the one transferring my mana to him.
 

“King’s Wrath.”
 
Curtis let’s out a growl as his body
begins to change.

*CRACKLE*