Saving private Lya [3]

"Blargh!"

*Splash!*

Soiling the ground, I couldn't stop myself from emptying all the contents in my stomach due to the revolting experience of claiming a life. Despite me not even having touched the wolf, I just couldn't comprehend what I had just done.

"Fuck, I don't have... Blarh!"

As yet another wave of bile exited my mouth, I couldn't help but watch the timer that slowly but surely was about to spell the end of not only Lya but me as well.

[Timer: 0hrs 11min 12s]

'C'mon! Get it together!'

Even as I repeatedly yelled at myself internally, I just couldn't stop myself until I was absolutely empty inside, making me feel even weaker than after I had passed out as a result of the PE course.

But I didn't allow myself to fall.

*Spit*

Taking advantage of one of the many trees around me, I was still standing, albeit barely, and tried to spit out the remaining disgusting taste of vomit.

"Huff...huff..."

Even now, the image of the monster's eyes dimming was still freshly imprinted in my mind as I was unable to let it go. I had killed a living being in cold blood.

Obviously, I understood that I didn't have much of a choice and that I wasn't even the aggressor, but even then it felt disgusting. Yet, no matter how much I wanted to scream, shout and cry, I was all too aware that I didn't have time for that.

I didn't doubt that I would probably need a bit of therapy due to my way of handling things, but for now, I could only keep going forward.

'He is getting closer... but he is still quite far away...'

Currently, Lya appeared to be out in some open field, where I assumed she was fighting monsters with her familiars, and though the red dot was slowly but surely making its way there, I couldn't help but feel like he wouldn't make it.

Wiping my face, I reached down into my pocket and brought out the paper mask that I had hurriedly put away to make sure it wouldn't get ruined by vomit and put it on my face again.

At this point, it had already ripped to the point where it wouldn't cover my mouth anymore, but I didn't care. Or rather, I was in enough of a daze that I couldn't remember to care.

Right now, I didn't care about anything but making sure that I would survive. Even if lives were obviously worth a lot less in this world, that didn't mean that I didn't value my life just as much as I did during my time on Earth.

'Status...'

When my status panel appeared in front of me, I didn't hesitate for a second to use the free stat points that I had acquired. I had been naïve, thinking that I could just save them up and use them in the future when I had been able to think more about it.

Ignorance, that was what it was. I had been ignorant of what kind of world this truly was.

Despite me being consciously aware of how easily I could be robbed of my life, I hadn't actually understood what dying meant. There was no point in saving any stat points when I might die at any time.

If I wanted the opportunity to experience tomorrow, I would first have to survive today.

'And I'm sure as hell not dying today...!'

****

[Lya's Pov]

"Good job, Akira!"

"Woof!"

Petting the silky smooth, non-terrestrial-looking fur of my familiar, we celebrated the victory of yet another group of monsters. This time, we stumbled upon three goblins which Akira made short work of with the help of my supporting skills.

Though the core skills of my class were all about summoning familiars, I was also capable of helping them from afar with my other abilities. And I was happy that I had been able to prove to myself that I was able to fight like this.

"See, Akira? Father was wrong, we can also fight even if I didn't inherit the Spiritualist class!"

"Woof!"

It was only with Akira that I felt like I could truly be myself. Even if he was a spirit, he was still the only one that I felt truly understood me, likely due to the fact that I had a hard time expressing myself in front of others.

The Lavigne blood was famous for producing excellent spiritualists, a class that infused their own bodies with the power of spirits to gain immense strength. And so, when my father found out that I hadn't inherited that class, it was inevitable that he was disappointed.

Deep inside, I knew that he still loved me, but I also knew that in order for him to fully recognize me, I had to prove myself. So, how could I not feel inadequate when I hadn't even been able to fend off the other students yesterday without getting help from my classmate?

"Come to think of it, he was pretty weird, wasn't he Akira?"

"Woof?"

"Out of nowhere, he just dragged me to the park... Maybe I was a bit too hard on him? He did help me out, after all... But it was still scary..."

I couldn't help it. Being alone in that park with someone I barely knew was just so scary that I didn't want to stay to hear what he wanted to talk about. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious that he didn't have any intentions of hurting me, but I also knew that I wouldn't feel comfortable talking with him about it.

"Woof? Grrr!"

"Akira?"

Suddenly, Akira took a step away from me, facing the forest that surrounded the open field we were in with a growl. Over there a black and red animal exited the forest, and though I could see that it was some kind of wolf-like creature, it was far from looking like a normal dire wolf.

Its fur was almost reminiscent of Akira's, but instead of being extraterrestrial-looking, it almost looked like the fur was made up of some kind of mud-like substance, grimy and abhorrent.

'It's so big...'

It was at least double the size of a normal dire wolf and it looked a lot stronger as well. And it didn't take long until I realized why that was as my face got pale.

'It's a demonspawn!'

Despite having never seen one in my life, I was for some reason sure of it. That creature, that monster... was the product of a demon.

"We have to run..."

There was no way that a one-star freshman like me would stand a chance against that kind of monster on my own, and that was something I knew all the way down to my very core. However, as me and Akira, who could read my inner intentions, started backing away, its mouth opened up unnaturally wide as it let out a huge sound.

"Roooar!"

My body froze in response to hearing the blood-chilling roar that exited the mouth of the demonspawn, making it so I could only watch as it dashed forward with insane speed.

The grimy red and black fur blurred and in the next second...

"Grrr!"

"Akira?!"

Noticing the state I was in, Akira also dashed forward and quickly intervened with the demonspawn which was at least twice his size. And then, a mix of light-blue and dark red was created as the two wolves both tried their absolute best to bring the other one down.

Though the demonspawn was incredibly fast, Akira was by no means slower as he dodged a swipe by jumping to the side, whereas he then lunged at the throat of the red and black wolf. However, despite his managing to sink his fangs into the grimy flesh, the demonspawn didn't even seem to care about the pain.

Instead, it just lifted its paw and ripped my spirit into two with its claws, making it look like it was slicing through butter.

"Akira!"

In my heart, I could feel how my connection with Akira disappeared as he was forcibly brought back to the spirit world. My familiars couldn't die, but if they were lethally wounded they would have to return to the spirit world and recuperate.

The problem was...

"Roar!"

My body was still frozen stiff with fear, seeing the large wolf slowly walk forward. It was almost like the demonspawn chose to take its time as if it was enjoying the fact that I was so terrified that I couldn't move.

And as it moved forward, I desperately tried to back away, only to fall down on my butt.

"No... please... Stay away...!"

But no matter how I wished for it, the monster didn't stop. At least not until its large fangs were just inches from my face, now showing me the unfathomably black void inside of its disgusting mouth.

"Someone... save me..."

*Bam!*

Out of nowhere, the black and red wolf was suddenly pushed to the side as something collided with it, making it so he shifted his focus away from me. As I turned my sights, I thought that I saw something, or someone, standing there. Or at least I could see two shining red orbs piercing the shadows of the trees.

But then, something even more amazing happened.

"George...?

From the forest, a blonde-haired man came running, his hair and sword shining underneath the warm sun. His face was different from the times I had seen him in class. A face that bore no signs of the silent commoner that didn't want anything to do with anyone.

A face full of resolve, as well as a face that force the demonspawn to ignore me for now, as it knew that a more important opponent had shown up.

"Come, you stupid mutt..."