Chapter 15 — Even Though I Powered Up, I Lost It All Before Having a Chance to Show My Awakened Abilities
Just outside one of Suudoria Academy’s dorms was the Sage Van and the newly enrolled first-year student, Hanakawa. The cafeteria had been destroyed, so they had stepped outside to see what was going on.
“This is a pretty big deal, huh?” Van said, staring up at the sky.
“No, no, no, this is not a situation where you can afford to be so flippant! This is a terrible disaster, is it not?!” cried Hanakawa.
It was possible the giant squid thing was just passing by and would be on its way after inflicting this damage. Hanakawa had hoped that would be the case, but he was clearly wrong.
The squid had descended onto the Academy and begun wreaking havoc. Grabbing onto a building, it was using its tentacles to smash everything around it and move slowly between the buildings. Though it seemed to move with a sense of dignified pride at first, it suddenly started attacking without warning. It would knock over buildings, crush them, pick them up, and throw them away. The ten tentacles each moved independently in a masterful display, laying waste to the city without getting tangled.
“This has turned out far different than I expected. Are there not a huge number of powerful students at the academy?” Hanakawa had expected the skilled students to annihilate an intruder immediately, but the creature continued its rampage unmolested. It didn’t seem like anyone was fighting back.
“It looks like they’re trying.”
“How so?”
“Hmm...like over there?” Van pointed to a building some distance away. A number of students were arrayed on the rooftop, launching attacks at random. Light, fire, lightning, and rocks were being shot towards the squid, but none of them reached it. The attacks all vanished long before hitting their target.
“It seems like it’s nullifying all attacks made with the Battlesong system. Most students here will be useless against it.”
“I have given some thought to this ability to nullify other abilities before. Even if such abilities are nullified, one would expect rocks thrown using that power to still work...though it appears they do not.” The students were also throwing rubble from the destroyed buildings at the squid, but after making it close to the target, the debris would drop to the ground.
“Yeah, it’s nullifying the acceleration that their powers give the objects.”
“If someone’s power enabled them to become extraordinarily muscular, could they use that muscle to throw projectiles at it?”
“That would also be nullified somehow.”
“That is hard to accept. I do not understand the logic...”
“Just assume that it nullifies everything.”
“Is that not an Aggressor? Is it not your turn to intervene?”
The main role of the Sages was to fight off the Aggressors. The Sages interacted with society in all sorts of ways, but that was generally little more than a hobby for them.
“That’s a relic that’s existed in this world from the start. If it didn’t come from outside the world, it’s out of my jurisdiction.”
“Then what do we do?”
“Run away, of course. Sorry, but it looks like I can’t help you anymore. If you survive, let’s meet again someday.”
“Huh? Wait, Sir Van, are you not quite strong? As a student of Suudoria Academy, did you not say this was trouble for you as well? Even if it is not an Aggressor, should you not help to fend it off?”
“Yeah, well, my power relies on Battlesong too. I’m not good at fighting enemies like that. Its nullification field is pretty big, almost a kilometer wide. If I get caught in that, it’ll be really hard to escape.”
“Then what should I do?”
“Do your best to survive.” With those words, Van disappeared.
“Hey! If you claim you are trying to help me, then stick with it until the end!”
But complaining to the empty air accomplished nothing. Hanakawa needed to think of how to deal with this situation, and there wasn’t much time to do so.
“That is right. I should start by attempting to escape!” He had no idea what the squid’s objective was, but his best bet was to get away from it. If he got caught up in its nullification field, he’d be weaker than an average human. If that happened, he’d have to be even more careful, since he would be unable to use skills.
“Hmm. Is moving away from it truly sufficient? Remaining outdoors seems to be the more intelligent decision...”
As he said that, Hanakawa stepped back into the cafeteria. The second-year student Ingrid should have still been there. If he didn’t understand what was going on, it would be best to stick with her, but the cafeteria was now empty.
“Of course! Naturally she would ignore me and flee on her own!”
Feeling somewhat unsatisfied, Hanakawa decided to run. First he would make his way to the main road. That would take him a little closer to the giant squid, but he wasn’t familiar with the city. If he tried to navigate the back alleys, he’d get lost immediately.
When he made it to the main street, he found a large crowd of students running. At first he thought they were running away, but it seemed like they were heading towards the squid. Looking down the street, he could see the monster still rampaging. Most students were choosing not to flee, but to fight.
Though that was impressive in its own way, Hanakawa thought it was more foolhardy than anything else. They were likely all confident in their own abilities. They thought of themselves as the protagonist in situations like this and figured if they faced the challenge head-on, they would somehow persevere.
“Ha! I will still flee, though!” Hanakawa turned away from the giant squid and ran. “Oh! Perhaps because I am over level 500, or because I am now a Monk, I have become significantly faster!” A single step sent him flying forward at a tremendous speed. He felt it would be easy enough to escape, but his confidence soon failed. Suddenly, he lost strength in his legs and tripped over himself.
“What... What happened?!” Hanakawa checked his stats, wondering if he had suffered some sort of status effect. The status window was grayed out, showing a large “Invalid” label.
“Invalid?! Does that mean my abilities are being nullified?! Am I within the squid’s nullification field?!”
Looking behind him, he saw the beast approaching. Unsurprisingly, the students weren’t capable of slowing it down. Despite their unfailing trust in their own abilities, they were helpless to stop the tentacles from grabbing them and throwing them into its mouth.
“It is the kind that eats people?!” Hanakawa stood up and began running again, but this time much more slowly. With the stats granted by the Battlesong system suppressed, he was just a fat high school student.
He quickly ran out of breath, his legs began to cramp, and his sides began to hurt. But a little bit of pain didn’t mean he could stop. That would mean death. No matter how much it hurt, he had to keep moving.
“I can’t...keep going...” Hanakawa heaved. “Even though I powered up, I lost it all before having a chance to show my awakened abilities...”
The squid continued to move down the main street, destroying buildings as it went. It seemed it would catch up with him, but luckily there were plenty of other reckless students getting in its way. The squid seemed happy to eat whatever was closest. It needed its tentacles to move as well, so only five were available to secure its food, limiting it to capturing five students at a time. In short, Hanakawa had some time before he’d be the next target.
“B-But where should I even run? I did not even have a chance to trigger the guided tour event! I have no idea what is in the city!”
For now, his only option was to try and get out of the nullification field. After that, hide from the squid. But he had long since run out of stamina. Though he felt like he was running, he was moving at more or less a walking pace. The other students were finally starting to realize there was nothing they could do and started running past him.
“This is...getting...dangerous... I will soon...be the closest...” Turning to look was a waste of time now, but still he did. Though he had no idea why, Ingrid had collapsed behind him. “Why are you here?!”
There was no way the super-confident Ingrid, so determined to train him, would run away from a mysterious enemy like this. She must have left the cafeteria to go fight the bizarre monster.
“Surely...there is no need for me to rescue her? There is nothing I could do to help...”
But without their powers, they were just an ordinary boy and girl. In this situation, Hanakawa should have been the stronger of the two.
“Ah! However, I cannot forget that rescuing her may be my one chance to gain popularity! Even if doing so does not lead to people liking me, it should at least prevent them from utterly despising me! Ingrid, are you okay?!” Hanakawa made his way over to her.
“First-Year Hanakawa...it seems I’ve shown you a disgraceful side of myself.”
“Stand for now. It has the ability to nullify our powers, so the likes of us have no chance against it.”
“It appears that way. I totally let my guard down. How pathetic of me.”
Hanakawa offered Ingrid his hand, which she took without hesitating, pulling herself to her feet.
“I believe our only option is to flee. Are you aware of a good location we might evacuate to?”
“Running in a straight line seems like a bad idea. Heading underground might be our best bet.” Ingrid pointed at the manhole in the street ahead of them. The cover was lying beside it, meaning someone else had likely already gone down.
“I see. It does not appear the tentacles can reach through, so we may be able to escape.” Of course, a hit from the tentacles would make the street collapse on top of them, but the squid didn’t seem interested in doing that. It was only looking for food. It was a bit of a gamble, but their chances seemed fairly good. “Then let us go. Can you walk?”
“I seem to have sprained my ankle, but I will manage.”
“Allow me to assist you, then. As long as you do not mind touching filthy swine like myself.”
“Very...well. I am not worried about such a thing, but either way, you should not debase yourself so.”
Ingrid leaned on Hanakawa. Normally Hanakawa would instinctively say something gross about how she felt or smelled, but in a situation as dangerous as this, even he didn’t have the composure to do so.
The two of them made their way towards the manhole, the sound of crumbling buildings and screaming students resounding behind them. The ten meters they needed to cross seemed almost insurmountable.
“Only a little farther. It should take us only a few more seconds.”
“First-Year Hanakawa!”
He turned around at Ingrid’s cry. The squid was right behind them. It had run out of targets and was now reaching for them.
Hanakawa mustered what little strength he had and threw Ingrid. She tumbled forward, falling down the manhole. That may have been dangerous too, but it was better than being eaten by the squid. The tentacle wrapped itself around him. Though it wasn’t being particularly gentle, it seemed it wanted to avoid injuring him before throwing him into its mouth.
“Ah! Why am I trying to play cool now?! I cannot use my skills, so this will actually be the end for me!”
The squid tossed Hanakawa into its mouth.
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