Tale Of Unknown: Hero From Zero
11. Grief News
Seeing Riyan's body falling into the ravine with the ferocious monster and the floor ruins, Typhania shouted hysterically, followed by the other disciples. Their eyes were wide open to see Riyan sacrifice his own life falling with the [Chimera] just to help them.
"RIYA!!"
Unable to stand still, Typhania finally ran to the edge of the cliff, where Riyan free-fall. Tears broke down in the air as soon as he took a step as quickly as possible. No one can respond to the actions of Typhania, except Rizu. He deployed the [Root Binding] magic, a magic that could bind his opponent using plant roots, to scuttle Typhania. As a result, Tifania fell in a funny style.
If the situation allowed, all the disciples would definitely laugh, but at the moment they could not let out a word.
A moment later, Typhania realized that there were two roots wrapped around his feet and made him fall. Even so, he doesn't care. He crawls trying to escape from the winding roots of the green plant controlled by Rizu while repeatedly calling out the name of the man who just saved a group of heroes.
"Riyan! Riyan! Riyan! Riyan! Riyan!"
Since Gilbert could not move, Johan walked over and stopped the vain attempt. When he saw Typhania's current expression, his eyes widened again. The girl's tears flowed swiftly inundating the stone floor, and her hands were stretched to the maximum extent to reach the edge of the abyss.
Johan, who was looking at Typhania's condition now, started to wrinkle his face, he held back the water that was slowly seeping out of his eyelids. Then, he crouched down and clasped the left shoulder of Typhania. So hysterically, Tifania could not feel Johan's grip at all.
"Tifania..."
"ROYES!!"
Johan could do nothing to appease a girl who was currently roaring to call out Riyan's name. On the other hand, Gilbert felt weak to witness the event that shocked her mentally. His body was frozen like a stone. Perhaps numbness was the most appropriate depiction for him.
'He... sacrificed himself? For us? Riyan?'
His heart was not prepared to accept this cruel reality. For someone who holds the hero class, he understands these consequences, but his mind does not expect that the victim will actually fall. His mind became slowly chaotic.
"Yeah!!"
In that moment of gripping atmosphere, a scream came from behind. Suddenly, the disciples who were still in the labyrinth hall were shocked and turned their heads. When their eyes looked inside their back passageway, Rei and several other disciples were running as fast as they could to escape from something. They're really scared.
"The slime!! There was a large swarm of slimes from the front!!"
Hearing that, the disciples who had been in a situation of fear, now became panicked, even Gilbert was quite surprised. It was true, from the direction where they ran, there were clumps of viscous liquid with various colors jumping up and down. Their size is not too big, only limited to dispensers and half a meter high.
Even so, the disciples looked frightened. After fighting against the monstrous monsters that were lost from the fifth floor, the [Chimera], now they had to face a large horde of slimes that had suddenly come. Graham, Hendra, Rizu, as well as several other disciples swiftly ran backwards to fight the colorful slime horde.
'So [Chimera], now slime?! In large numbers anyway?! What the hell is going on!?'
While saying that in his heart, Rizu prepared her magic wand to exert some magic to hold them, even if only for a moment. Slime in this world is not as weak as in RPG games, they are much more terrible than that. Why call it horrible? It was because their bodies were in the form of fluids.
With such a viscous liquid body, the slime could only be attacked using magic. When attacked using physical force, the slime will usually get stronger, rather than weaker. That physical attack that pierced through his liquid body would not hurt him at all, because that was the nature of the liquid thing.
"[Feeder]!"
Together with those words, his staff let out a fireball shot that shot straight towards the slime horde in front. One of the basic magic, [Feuer]. This magic is the lowest level of fire magic, which can only summon flames. But it seems that Rizu has turned the fire that was supposed to come out in the form of a blaze, into a tennis ball-sized fireball.
Booms!
A small explosion was heard, but the attack did not seem to affect those with a terrifying amount. If traced, perhaps their number would reach 100, or even more. The slime-slime continued to leap forward regardless of the attack from Rizu just now. The girl looked annoyed knowing that her magic had no effect.
"Damn, even Rizu's magic is not ignored. Gilbert, how's this?!"
Seeing that Rizu's attack was not successful, Graham asked Gilbert who was trying to stand assisted by Layla. He was still staggered, but at this moment everything looked towards him, except Typhania who had fainted from exhaustion. The eyes of the disciples were very hopeful of him.
He straightened his body and looked ahead, although his mood was a bit runny. As a leader, especially a leader of heroes from another world, he must not show his weak side anymore. He is still shocked by Riyan's sacrifice, but he must be able to forget the incident for a moment and focus his mind on their own safety.
"Listen to me, everyone!"
Gilbert raised the volume of his voice until the disciples were shocked. Since the slime was a slow-moving monster, he felt he had to raise the spirits of his friends to face those slime creatures.
"I know you're scared, panicked, worried, worried, and so on, but it's not the time for that."
He decided to give a short speech to get rid of the fear of the disciples.
"As you witnessed earlier, Riyan had sacrificed his life valiantly to bring the [Chimera] to death in the abyss behind me."
Hearing the news, the disciples who had just arrived at their place due to the chase from the slime were shocked half to death. The eyes begin to round, sweat drips, the body shakes, and the mind is empty, that is their reaction when they know what they have missed so far.
"We all know that Riyan is a jerk, we know that. But, that person was willing to sacrifice his own life for our safety! For us who stay away from him every day! For us who daily harass him with bad words! For the sake of us who daily seclude him in the classroom! Even now, even in the other world, we still do those things to him!"
Gilbert voiced her speech as loudly as possible, followed by emotions that subconsciously slowly flowed out through every word of her lips. The disciples were stunned to hear Gilbert's words, and began to shed tears of regret and regret. Even at the end of Gilbert's eyes was seen a drop of floating water.
"I know I don't have the right to speak like this, but this is a sign of my regret. I regret ignoring it. I regret calling him a jerk. I regret not paying it any heed. I'm sorry for all the bad things I've done to her."
While saying that, Gilbert's tears came down her cheeks which then fell to the floor. His head was slightly bowed, signifying deep regret. The disciples who were listening to his speech reacted with the same reaction as their leader. A moment later, Gilbert raised her head and wiped her tears.
"Therefore, for the life he has sacrificed in order to save us, these incompetent heroes, we must be saved. No one should be left behind, everyone should get out of the labyrinth without any more casualties than this!"
He pulled out the sword, then raised it high up while closing his speech. The disciples answered him with excited replies, after wiping their tears. One by one, they picked up the weapons they were carrying and turned around, facing the disgusting slime crowd.
"Breaked!!"
""ooooooo!!""
According to Gilbert's orders, they all advanced undaunted. The formation had been changed during the walk forward towards the slime horde. The owners of the shield were at the forefront, melee weapons in the form of swords, spears, and others behind them, whereas the disciples who were talented in magic were behind concentrating and the arrow user flowed mana into the bow, then pulled the rope.
The battle resumed again, this time against the hordes of live slime.
***
A few minutes after recklessly breaking through a group of slimes, Gilbert and the others were finally cornered. In fact slime was nothing to them under normal conditions, but right now the disciples were shrouded in immense anxiety and fear of not being able to get through that bunch of living slime. Moreover, their strength was also greatly reduced due to fighting against the stray monsters that came from the fifth floor.
With a breath of breath, they were squeezed by a wall and a crowd of monsters coming from the second floor. As Typhania lost her consciousness, Johan ran while carrying her on his shoulder. Its status is enough to lift someone as heavy as Typhania.
"Damn it, they're endless."
Complaining that, Gilbert readied his sword and poured mana into it. A few seconds later, he slashed his sword into the air exerting one of his skills, [Slash]. Only once slashed, about 3-4 slimes were instantly killed, but were quickly replaced by slimes that were in the back row.
"[Record]"
Out of curiosity over the power of the slime, he exerted his appraisal skill to find out how strong the enemy they were fighting was actually.
---
Name: Green Slime
Race: Slime Monster
Grade: General
Level: 34
Life: 530/530
Mana: 65/65
Physical Strength: 170
Magic Power: 210
Resilience: 400
Attribute: Water
Skill: Acid Arrow, Acid Slime
---
Seeing the status of one of the slimes before him, Gilbert suddenly panicked. Not because of the status of physical strength or magic power, but he was surprised because of the special abilities and endurance these slimes possessed.
"His resilience status is too great for ordinary people, it is difficult to advance if only I can destroy it easily."
Complaining that, Gilbert clicked her tongue in annoyance. As a hero and one of the strongest among them, he has a great status, but he is not sure if his friends can follow him to kill these slimy monsters one by one.
"Gilbert, the shield user is willing to clear the way."
"Huh?"
When Hendra delivered that, Gilbert was shocked. Because it was too tense, he himself did not pay attention to the condition of the disciples behind him. He turned to his friends who had large iron shields, they smiled confidently. At once, a plan was drawn in Gilbert's head.
"Hendra, how many disciples wear spears?"
"Hm, there's more or less four people."
"What about a witch who's Rizu or Typhania's class?"
"In addition to those two, there might be three people. Why are you asking that?"
Gilbert was silent and did not answer Hendra's question. His eyes were closed and his brain set up the most effective formation to break out of this Hexaphilia labyrinth. A moment later, eyes opened and again looked at the shield user. There were six people, including Yushu who was also a spear user.
'If this plan works, we can definitely get out of the labyrinth in 10 minutes.'
Muttering that, Gilbert walked towards the shield users and his friends who were behind, then conveyed his plan, while the front lines were taken over by Graham, Hendra, Rizu, and Corona. There were indeed some who did not understand Gilbert's plan, but the chief of the heroes explained his plan to be simpler.
"Do you understand each of your roles?"
""Yes!""
"good. Do what I tell you!"
""Ready!!""
Together with the exclamation, all the disciples who listened to Gilbert's plan immediately dispersed and headed for their respective positions. The shield users advanced to the very front and formed a line to the side. Behind him, the spear users caught up and slipped their weapons on the sidelines of the shield. To Yushu, he held his own spear. After that, the magic user line also came in the back row.
All the students looked confused, but Graham, Hendra, and Johan smiled happily. Rizu who understood, immediately looked for her position and joined the witches. On the other hand, Gilbert, Graham, Hendra, and Johan jumped out of line, then prepared to finish off the horde of slimes that surrounded them 10 minutes ago.
"Everyone, get into the line! We're gonna break through!"
Hearing Rizu's direction, all the remaining disciples instantly filled the back row. It did take some time to perfect the formation, but Gilbert couldn't wait any longer.
"Run ahead at a constant speed! Stay awake!"
""Yes!!""
While calling out his voice, Gilbert set his foot and jumped forward slashing the slime that was in front of him using [Slash]. Skill can be said to be magic, it can also not be. The skill requires mana to exert it, just like magic. Even if there was someone who wore an ordinary sword, then exerted a skill with a direct slash, the slime could be injured. This was the reason why Gilbert always used [Slash].
Without even knowing backwards, they continued to advance through the swarm of disgusting living slime. Gilbert and the three others who were outside the formation, exerted all their might to clear the slime as much as possible. There were some who escaped, but the monster was instantly greeted by the harshness of the shield and magic from the disciples behind. The unconscious Typhania is carried by Layla and Rizu.
After about 5 minutes, they met Faleon and the two Alivonian generals in the hallway. The two parties were quite surprised when they saw each other, especially the crowd of disciples who were still inside the formation. Of course, Faleon and his two brothers immediately approached them while cleaning up the annoying slimes.
"Gilbert! How are you guys doing?!"
"We're fine."
Upon arriving at Faleon in their ranks, Gilbert and the three other disciples fell to their knees exhausted of mana. They spent too much mana to slash through every slime that existed, they ended up falling. Faleon approached Gilbert and gave him a green pill, while Faizal and Fileza continued to move to finish off the remaining slime.
Gilbert ate it, then the mana increased by about 20 points. Then Faleon distributed the same pills to Graham, Johan, and Hendra to eat. The pill was a mana enhancement pill, made from a mana-producing specialty herbal plant.
"General, there's bad news I have to tell you."
"What's that?"
Hearing Faleon's immediate reply, Gilbert subconsciously lowered his head. His face was filled with an expression of great uneasiness that he had never shown to anyone. Seeing his looks, Faleon became worried, reluctant to ask that.
"Alright, let's get out of this labyrinth first, then talk about everything noble."
"Good."
Gilbert pulled out Faleon's extended hand to help him stand up. Gilbert and Faleon lead everyone out of the deadly labyrinth, Faizal and Fileza guarding from behind. Since the strength of the three generals was still above the heroes, they automatically had to guard the kingdom's precious assets.
When Gilbert asked why they had re-entered the labyrinth, the cause was that one of the crystal balls on the outside had turned black. Faleon decided to jump straight inside once he saw the color of the crystal change. Gilbert was worried and scared. He was confused as to how to explain this to Alestein. One of their friends was killed, just for their sake.
On the other hand, Faleon became alarmed when he did not see any form of Riyan. Even so, he believed that he was only fooled by the existence of the thin man. Faleon threw all negative thoughts about Riyan away and set foot into the palace.
***
At this time the disciples returned to their respective rooms, except Gilbert who was kneeling one foot before Alestein reported everything that happened inside the Hexaphilia labyrinth.
"I see. I understand."
Hearing the shocking news from Gilbert, Alestein was completely shocked, including all the soldiers who were in the king's room, of course Faleon and his two brothers as well. Faleon could not hide his surprised face. He immediately descended from his original position to the right of Alestein, and stood in front of Gilbert.
"Gilbert, is that true?"
The blonde-haired young man simply nodded with a sad look answering the general's question. Faleon could not say anything to respond to Gilbert's reply. His heart was turbulent, a feeling of pain came crashing down on him. His hands clenched tightly. Then, he stepped away leaving the king's room without saying a word.
"Sister!"
"Stop, Fileza. Leave him alone."
When Fileza was about to catch up with Faleon, he was stopped by Alestein so that his body was completely stopped. He turned to Alestein and looked at him with a confused look mixed with sadness.
"But..."
"He needs time. That person feels a lot more guilty than you all."
Gilbert, who had heard the last sentence, was surprised, but he did not ask for further explanation. He felt it was inappropriate to ask her after everything she had done to Riyan.
"Then, your honor, I resign."
"Yes, okay. Calm yourself and your friends, Gilbert."
"Good."
After which, he stood up and walked out following Faleon. He stepped straight towards his room without being bothered by the slightest sound. Upset, angry, confused, sad, disappointed, all those feelings were mixed in his heart.
On the other hand, Remia, who had just been told the news by one of Faleon's emissary soldiers, fell to her knees on the kitchen floor. Her tears instantly burst out as soon as she heard of Riyan's death through her own ears.
Actually, ever since slapping Riyan the other day, this servant girl felt guilty. He repeatedly apologized, but did not dare. When he confirmed his heart to apologize, Riyan and the group of heroes had gone towards the Hexaphilia labyrinth. For that reason, he decided to wait for Riyan to return, then apologized for his abusive treatment. Unfortunately, when the group of heroes returned, they only brought sad news about Riyan.
The kitchen was filled with hysterical cries of Remia. The kitchen staff were also sad, but not up to like the servant girl. All they could do was try to calm down Remia to prevent any louder sounds.
In a quiet hallway of the palace, Faleon resuscitated his back on the wall and slowly fell to the floor. His hands were bleeding, as a result of the fist being too hard earlier. He bowed his head, his tears falling down the ceramic.
'This is all my fault. I know the most about his abilities, but I also push him the most. If only I hadn't told him to leave, then something like this...'
Amidst the darkness that enveloped the passage, Faleon, the great general of the kingdom of Alivonia, cried alone. No matter how strong a person is, if his heart is attacked, then he will not be able to hold it, even a great hero.
