SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will - Chapter 412 New People

“These people are idiots. They’re killing themselves just so those three can escape.” Moon cursed under his breath.

The controlled Evolvers surged toward him in a wave of bodies and spells, throwing themselves at Moon recklessly, as if their lives didn’t matter to them. They weren’t fighting to win. They were fighting to buy time, spending their lives like currency so the three First Star Evolvers could disappear into the corridors behind them.

Moon ordered his team forward.

“Push them back! Separate the ones you can, kill the ones you must!”

The archer took command of the formation immediately, directing the tanks to the center and the mages to the flanks. The team crashed into the wall of Evolvers and the chamber descended into a brutal, grinding melee once more.

Spells flew here and there, but it was no longer near as aggressive as bodies began to drop with Moon fighting at the front — but he wasn’t just killing. Between every lightning bolt and magma strike, he was casting Cleanse. One hand crackled with lightning while the other pulsed with cleansing.

Most attempts failed. The chaos of battle made it nearly impossible to hold a target still long enough for the spell to take effect. But Moon kept trying, targeting anyone who stumbled, anyone who fell, anyone who was pinned by his lightning or team long enough for Cleanse to find its mark.

After nearly six tries on the same target, it worked.

The shield materialized around Moon’s body the instant the curse broke. A translucent barrier that shimmered faintly. Two spells and arrows struck it, but the shield absorbed all three before cracking on the fourth hit.

Moon’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. The durability was better than he expected. A passive defensive bonus triggered simply by cleansing someone successfully. In the middle of a fight like this, it was exactly what he needed.

“Don’t attack this one!” Moon shouted, as he faked making the man drink a potion before pulling the dazed man behind his team’s line. “He’s with us now!”

The process continued. Ten minutes of brutal combat. Moon cycled between fighting and cleansing, his team holding the line while he worked. Each successful cleanse bought him a shield. Each shield bought him a few more seconds of safety.

But kills were unavoidable.

Many of the controlled Evolvers fought with a ferocity that left no room for mercy. They charged headlong into spells, threw themselves at the tanks with no regard for their own lives, and kept attacking even after respawning with crippling debuffs. Some of them ran out of lives before Moon could cleanse them. The numbers thinned visibly. As the crowd shrank, separating and cleansing became easier. Moon’s team corralled the remaining Evolvers into smaller groups, pinning them down while Moon administered the cure.

When it was finally over, the only sound in the chamber was of the Evolver’s heavy breathing.

Out of the forty-five Evolvers who had stood against them, thirty-seven were dead, their bodies lay scattered across the scorched stone floor, mixed with rubble and broken weapons.

Three had escaped, and five had been cleansed. They sat on the ground among the carnage, their minds returned to them for the first time since they could ever remember..

The realization hit each of them in various degress. They looked at the bodies around them. The blood on their own hands. The destruction they had been part of, willingly or not.

Moon watched them in silence.

On his side, the cost had not been zero either. One of his warriors lay still near the eastern wall. A woman who had fought beside them since the second day. She had died fighting, two bodies lay beside her.

The archer stood over her body, his jaw tight, his fists clenched at his sides.

Nobody spoke for a long time.

“Bury her.” Moon said quietly.

The archer shook his head, “She has family. Two daughters and a son. They deserve to see her. She wasn’t alone in this world like the most of us.”

Moon looked at him for a moment. Then, he nodded.

“You’re right. Store her body in good condition. Once we’re done with this, we will return her to her next of kin.”

The archer crouched beside the woman’s body. He straightened her half-broken armor, folded her hands across her chest, and closed her eyes. He stayed like that for a few seconds longer than necessary, his lips moving without sound.

The others gave her a silent farewell too.

Then, the archer wiped the tear that had fallen from his eye and stored her body inside his storage ring.

He stood up, exhaled slowly, and turned back toward the group. His expression was hard, but his eyes were clear.

He was ready to keep going.

“Everyone drink your potions. Once you’re ready, we continue.” Moon addressed the group, “They’re using a reactive strategy. They’re playing off our attacks rather than coming at us. They won’t strike in the next hour or so. Rest well, get your thoughts together. Collect your spoils.”

He placed a healing rune on the ground at the center of the chamber. A soft, warm glow radiated outward from it, covering a wide area.

“Stay within the rune’s range. It’ll provide decent healing bonus while you recover.”

The team began to settle. Potions were pulled from pouches and storage rings. Corks popped. The sound of gulping and heavy breathing filled the chamber as twenty four battered Evolvers tended to their wounds.

Moon moved among them quietly. As each person tilted their head back to drink, he secretly cast [Minor Mend] on them, timing it to coincide with the potion hitting their system.

The effects blended seamlessly.

“Whoa, this potion is hitting way harder than usual.” One of the mages said, flexing her injured arm in surprise, as the wound began to close faster than she thought.

“It’s the healing rune.” The brute said, nodding toward the glow on the floor. “Boss took some from Frey. Of course it’s strong.”

“That rune is something else. I’ve never felt a potion work this fast.”

“Must be the enhancement he put on it.”

The group murmured in agreement, each of them attributing the accelerated healing to Moon’s rune work. Nobody questioned it further. Nobody looked twice at Moon.

He continued until every member of the team had been mended, then sat down against the wall and drank his own potion in silence.

Once everyone had healed, spoils were collected, and minds had rested, Moon stood up.

“It’s time to end this, let’s go.” His team stood up, everyone getting into formation, following the young man that was half their age.