The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy - Chapter 339

Chapter 339: The Beginning Of The End [I]

Dawn came hard and pale over the ravine.

Christina stood at the head of the line, her golden armor flashing in the weak light.

And strangely, she was going to be the one leading the army since Aestrea gave her the order to do so.

Of course, Christina tried to ask where he was going, but he interrupted her with a melting kiss that broke her resistance.

After the kiss, she had almost melted, and before she noticed, Aestrea was already gone.

“Move!” she ordered.

And so they did, moving like a huge tile.

The outer slopes had exactly two hundred scuts, and to deal with them and save strength for later, they decided to set up traps.

The plan was simple, as between them, there were more than twenty Gods of Invisibility, so they took the chance to plant plenty of traps in the scout’s feet.

It took them more than a single hour to set up all the traps needed, but when the Gods of Invisibility came back, Christina instantly ordered the army.

“Positions!” Christina suddenly shouted.

Armor instantly rattled in response, as the soldier’s wings unfolded, shields lifted, and lines tightened.

The air hummed with restrained violence.

She raised her hand.

“Five minutes!”

The mist shifted.

From somewhere far above came the faint echo of laughter from one of the scouts. They didn’t yet know death was already creeping through their ranks.

Then… it began as Christina waved her hand.

BOOOM!

The first snare detonated.

A scout vanished in a burst of white light and divine flame.

The explosion echoed off the slopes, rolling down in waves of thunder. For a second, there was silence, then came a chorus of shouts.

“AMBUSH! AMBU—”

BOOOOOOOM!

A second explosion cut him off.

Then a third.

Traps went off like storm fire, one after another.

Whmm!

Braaam!

Crk-crk-CRASH!

Each blast tore the air apart, showering rocks and smoke into the fog. Figures stumbled, glowing silhouettes of divine flesh seared by magic.

“CHARGE!” Christina roared, pointing her sword towards the walls.

FLAP, FLAP!

Her army surged forward like a freaking tsunami.

The sound was fucking noise, as the thump-thump-thump of hundreds of boots pounding mud, the hiss of arrows cutting air, the clash of metal on metal.

Shields collided, spears shattered.

The fog erupted into a maelstrom of movement.

Christina ran at the front, sword raised.

Her blade burned gold, cutting through the haze.

A scout quickly lunged toward her with twin daggers spinning in his hands. She blocked the first strike with her shield; sparks flew, hot and bright.

The second dagger grazed her arm, a shallow cut, but it stung. She turned, pivoted on one heel, and brought her sword down in a clean, brutal arc.

SHHHHK!

The god fell, body splitting light before collapsing into ash.

Behind her, shouts rang like waves breaking on rock.

“Left flank! Hold the ridge!”

“Medic! MEDIC, NOW!”

“Push forward, the slope’s clear!”

A line of fire flared to her right, and a squad of pyromancers unleashed a volley, setting the hillside ablaze.

The heat hit like a wall.

Smoke mixed with mist, curling black ribbons across the battlefield. Through the haze, the silhouettes of dying gods looked like burned-out candles.

CRAAAAACK!

A thunderous crack split the air, and a scout detonated a ward bomb, sending half a dozen of Christina’s soldiers flying backward.

One of them hit a rock with a sickening crunch. She heard the scream before she saw the body.

Her jaw clenched.

“Get those wounded out of range!”

“Yes, Commander!”

She leapt over the fallen, driving her sword into another enemy’s chest.

The impact sent a tremor up her arm.

She yanked the blade free with a grunt, blood, if it could be called that, splattering across her greaves.

The world around her was noise — roaring, clanging, shrieking.

Divine power cracked like lightning overhead as mages hurled spells through the air. Bolts of light hissed past, hitting trees and shattering them to splinters.

The mountain itself seemed to groan under the weight of battle.

“Suppress the archers!” someone bellowed.

A dozen of their own archers stepped forward in unison, loosing arrows that glowed silver-blue.

Thwip!

Thwip!

Thwip!

The scouts fell in a rain of soundless deaths, light bursting from their chests.

The air stank of iron and ozone.

“Keep moving! Don’t let them regroup!” Christina’s voice was hoarse from shouting, but she didn’t stop as she thought of the reward Aestrea would grant her.

That was her main motivation!

She could already picture him waiting at the mountain’s peak, his softening when she brought victory to his feet.

That thought alone burned hotter than the flames licking at the ruined ground around her.

The slopes were nearly silent now, broken only by the groans of the wounded and the crackle of fire eating through wet grass.

The outer layer was almost theirs, but “almost” wasn’t enough.

A group of thirty-seven enemy gods still held a ridge near the upper path.

They were the last remnant of the scout force, but they were quite strong for the injured soldiers to handle in their current state.

After all, Christina was holding back the stronger gods for the middle and core layers.

Christina turned to one of her captains.

“Pull everyone back. Let the healers work. I’ll send one of the elite group.”

One name came to her instantly.

“Frey.”

A ripple of energy followed her words.

From the haze, a tall figure stepped forward, silver armor scarred from earlier battles, eyes glowing faint blue beneath a dark helm.

Sparks jumped across his shoulders, crawling down his arms like living veins of lightning.

He was the strongest God Christina had recruited, and Christina was pretty sure that he could deal with them easily.

Christina looked at him before her lips parted:

“They’re holding the ridge above the ravine. Thirty-seven left. Take it alone.”

Frey smiled, the corner of his mouth twitching with confidence.

“Only thirty-seven?” His voice was calm, as if he were stating a fact.

“Then it won’t take long.”

He walked away without waiting for another order.

The world shuddered faintly as he moved.

Cracckle!

Each step left a soft rumble in the earth, like distant thunder rolling beneath the soil.

The soldiers watched him climb the slope, his presence pulling electricity into the air until even the mist seemed to tremble.

At the ridge, the thirty-seven enemy gods stood in formation, tired, bloodied, but ready to die hard.

Their commander, a broad-shouldered war god with molten eyes, stepped forward.

“You came alone?” he barked.

Frey stopped ten paces away.

“You’ll wish I hadn’t.”

“KILL HIM!”

The air cracked.

KRA-THOOOM!

Lightning erupted from Frey’s body, creating a blinding column of light that split the mist in two.

The ground tore open beneath him, stones lifting from the earth, suspended midair.

The first wave of gods lunged through the smoke, weapons glowing.

Frey vanished.

An instant later, he appeared behind them, leaving a streak of white and blue.

His fist slammed into one god’s chest, caving it in with a sound like thunder breaking a mountain.

CRR-THAM!

The body flew backward, smashing into two others before disintegrating.

“MOVE!” the commander shouted.

They surrounded him, blades flashing.

Frey turned his wrist, summoning a spear made of pure lightning. It hummed, vibrating with barely contained energy.

Swish!

He spun it once, and swept it through the air.

ZAAAKK!

The swing tore the air apart.

Space itself cracked, a thin black line appearing where the spear passed. The shockwave threw half the attackers off their feet.

The ground rippled like water under their weight.

Two tried to flank him from behind.

Frey didn’t even turn as his aura exploded outward.

KRAK!

Lightning wrapped around him like a living storm, and both gods screamed as their bodies turned to glass, then shattered.

“Stand your ground!” the commander bellowed.

“He’s just one!

“Try and find out,” Frey growled.

Fwip!

He drove his spear forward, piercing through a god’s stomach and pinning him to the ground before spinning, electricity arcing between his hands.

He lifted his palm toward the sky.

Clouds churned overhead.

The air went still, and just a second later… the space was blinded white.

THOOOOM!

A bolt of lightning, the width of a tree trunk, struck him directly and then spread.

The shockwave vaporized six gods instantly, tearing apart the ridge.

Stones exploded into dust.

For a split second, the world seemed to stop, sound vanished, light froze mid-burst, even the fire below dimmed, and then everything crashed back into motion.

Frey stood in the middle of a smoking crater, breathing slowly. His armor glowed red-hot, but he didn’t flinch.

Only seven enemies remained, trembling, burnt, half blind from the flash.

He dropped his spear.

The weapon turned to static and dissolved. Then he raised his hands, beckoning them forward.

“Come.”

And they actually did, screaming, desperate, divine energy flaring in every color.

Frey met the first with a punch that shattered bone and faith alike.

He turned, elbowed another across the jaw, sending him flying.

A blade caught his side, a simple, shallow cut, but he ignored it.

He caught the sword arm and twisted until it snapped.

The attacker didn’t even have time to scream before a lightning bolt burst from Frey’s chest and incinerated him.

The last three gods backed away.

“S-spare us, please! I BEG OF YOU!”

One of them instantly kneeled down while the others watched in horror.

“There’s no mercy left on this mountain.” Frey’s eyes flickered coldly.

He lifted his hand.

The air hummed once, then collapsed into light.

THAAAM!

When the flash faded, the ridge was gone.

“Phew…” Frey exhaled, his breath sparking faintly as the storm faded from his body.

From below, Christina nodded in satisfaction, thinking that her money was well spent on him.

Now, the last of the enemy scouts were gone, and the outer layer was theirs.

So… they could finally head for the middle layers, and maybe then, Christian would find Aestrea!

But unbeknownst to her…

Aestrea was already fighting in the core layers of the mountain.