Dragon Princess Will Do Her Best To Prevent The World's Destruction

Chapter 53: And So It Begins

"Isaac, get over here!" I yelled at my classmate as I pulled him violently over to my side.

Purple smoke flushed into the room, creating a sudden vortex of confusion and something nefarious with the hall of the academy at its center.

"Nia!? Wha—" Isaac was rightfully confused.

I tried my best to make my voice clear amidst the chaotic scene, "Please stay put!"

Even though I had said something like that, I knew about the situation as much as Isaac did. There was just so little that I could glimpse from that brief moment of explosion and screaming. Rin had always repeatedly stated that in a situation of chaos, the best thing to do was to simply relax and take in everything with one's senses.

Yet, I was only able to smell the suffocating stench of the unknown smoke, see nothing but the same smoke, and hear only screaming and shouting of fear and surprise. I wanted to reach out and touch the smoke, but something told me that this weak body of mine probably shouldn't come into contact with that strange entity. In the end, none of my senses was any help to me.

Rin's advice naturally only applied to those who could see as far as the curve of the planet limited them so, hear as far as sound could physically travel without dissipating completely, and interact with basically anything without a care in the world due to their improved resistances against the artificial inventions and the wrath of nature. For those who were basically living their lives as cripples, it was nearly impossible to apply her advice in scenarios like these.

Even so, I had no right to complain. The strong did not become strong because they complained. The weak remained weak because they complained. In spite of all that, sometimes the weak still remained weak even without complaints. There were many things that were preordained from the start, and most often than not, effort was merely a multiplier factor, not a base value.

"A person...? No, a lot more than just one," I murmured as I spotted several shadows moving about in the smoke. "Identify yoursel—"

A dagger whizzed past my hair, taking off the edge along with it. Alarmed, I immediately drew my pistol, then fired a single round into the air. If I couldn't get an accurate sight on my target, then firing blindly into the smoke was a bad idea. Judging from the lack of light as well as the consistency of the purple smoke, it appears majority of the doors were still left unopened.

That would mean there still was a good amount of people in the hall, so I was likely to hit an innocent if I wasn't too careful. So, for now, I could only intimidate them with a gun that they hopefully should know the dangers of. If they didn't, it should still keep them back out of caution.

However, it appears those unknown entities didn't have a very rational goal in mind. Multiple throwing knives flew out of the smoke and towards my direction, forcing me to twist my body in an attempt to evade the attempts at my life. Somehow, they were able to see, or at the very least sense, me through all the thick smoke. Perhaps some sort of magic?

Whatever it was, they were both trained and deadly. That much was obvious if I looked at multiple areas of my body, as numerous wounds were already opened up by the onslaught of knives. Ugh, what a shameful display. Even though I was used to much faster speeds—such as when Rin would overwhelm my kinetic vision during training spars—but I was only able to dodge the strikes aimed at my vitals.

Well, the good news was that the wounds were extremely shallow. Shallow to the point where if there was any sort of poison applied on those daggers, it wouldn't take any effect, provided it wasn't a strong poison. Well, even if I was somehow poisoned, I had a fail safe item with me.

I retreated back into cover, where I was immediately greeted by a panicking Isaac, "Nia, you're hurt!"

"A flesh wound," I gritted my teeth to suppress the pain of the air tearing away at my injuries. "This much is nothing."