Chapter 268 Undying Flames
Chapter 268 Undying Flames
"Anna, you need to take a break!" Layla yelled at her, all the while shooting the undead with a crossbow, "Using mana potions might fill your mana, but won't regenerate your stamina."
"Just... keep shooting..." Anna replied in her tired voice.
Hundreds of undead kept charging at them. With no place to back away, this was their final stand. A dozen of them against an endless horde of zombies. As if these odds weren't enough, more troublesome situations kept arising.
Ideally, it might seem as if Anna's flames were the perfect counter for the undead. But the reality wasn't so simple. Yes, Anna's phoenix flames were more than enough to kill the zombies, however, she couldn't continuously spew the flames for long periods of time.
Not only would her body heat up exponentially and she would drain her stamina and mana, but the oxygen around her would also burn up fast as well. Thus she would either die of over-exhaustion or suffocation.
'The gas mask is reaching its limits...' Anna thought, 'Damn it, think of something... come on...'
With the zombies, came the black smoke. So far, they had been able to keep a safe distance from the smoke, thanks to the masks, but it didn't seem that was going to be the case for long.
Anna could get rid of the smoke by burning it away. But that would require her to increase the temperature of her flames, which would once again, backfire on them.
Anna's skin slowly began changing into shades of red. With each passing moment, the redness of the skin got deeper and deeper. Steam could be seen coming out of her body, it was her sweat that was being boiled and turned into vapour the moment it got out of the pores.
Watching her overdo herself like that was too much for the rest of them to handle. So, they amped up their efforts as well, in a desperate attempt to take some burden off of her.
But the undead were relentless with their attacks. Whatever the students had learned about them was proving to be useless. Their 'weak' points, didn't even exist which made it more difficult for everyone apart from Anna to deal with the zombies.
Seeing his students struggle in front of his eyes was too much to bear for someone like Kakaroff. He had always behaved poorly to them and yet they were ready to fight till the end for someone like him? That wasn't right.
Sadly, he did not have many offensive abilities but he could help the students in other ways.
He placed his hand on the wall and closed his eyes, "If there isn't a path to escape, I'll make one."
The next moment, the walls distorted and a path opened up. Apart from his talents in alchemy, Kakaroff had only one ability, [Transmute]. The ability allowed him to manipulate any substance that he came in direct contact with, let it be earth, water or air.
However, this ability of his had a lousy drawback. While he was casting the ability, he was rendered immobile. Which meant he couldn't move. Since he had done a bit of research about the Corpsification gas, he couldn't afford to die there, hence he refrained from using the ability till now.
But now since he had to choose between everyone's death and his student's well-being, he chose the latter.
"COME ON! Get going!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, "I can't maintain the power forever!"
Suddenly, the students saw a ray of hope. As a result, their will to fight back was renewed. They finally had a way out of that hell.
"Go! Go! Go!" Anna yelled at the rest of them, "I'll hold them off and join you."
Layla was a bit concerned, but nodded her head and rushed out of the tunnel Kakaroff created. The others followed her suit and rushed outside. Soon, only Kakaroff and Anna were left behind.
"Go, Anna!" Kakaroff shouted at her.
She nodded and shot out a final burst of fire to push the undead back and sped towards the tunnel. She looked at the professor who smiled at her, but a moment later, that smile disappeared as a white spear protruded from his neck.
Dozens of spears made of bones were hurled toward them. Anna was able to dodge them, and only received minor injuries, but Kakaroff got pinned to the walls, blood oozing out of his mouth and half a dozen wounds. He was gone and with him, the tunnel.
"Damn it..." Anna cursed under her breath, "This really is the end, isn't it?"
Anna might have been safe from the spears, but her gas mask wasn't so lucky. One of the spears had managed to tear the filter off entirely. She had no doubt this was the end of the road for her.
Even if she could miraculously survive the horde, the smoke was going to get her for sure. There were two choices in front of her. Either she could have her pathetic death and get swarmed by the zombies, or go out with a bang. To be honest, the choice was simple.
"A bang it is..."
She smiled and stood tall as the zombies rushed in. This was her moment, her final moment. She remembered her family, wishing they were safe. But apart from them, there was someone else she couldn't help but think of...
"Why am I thinking of him right now?" Anna shook the thought of Ashton out of her head, "If he was here, he could have found a way out of this hell hole. He always does... maybe that's why I'm remembering him... right?"
She took a deep breath inhaling a ton of smoke along with oxygen. She needed as much fuel as she could gather for her final move... even if it meant she would have to absorb the corpsification gas.
Soon the zombies had her surrounded. However, there wasn't a tinge of fear on her face. Rather than that, she was smiling like a certain idiot in her mind.
"Oh, fuck... OFF!"
A blinding light erupted from her body, and the temperature of the surroundings soared astronomically. The zombies might have cornered her, but she wasn't going to down on their terms.
In an instant, the undead bastards were turned to dust. Anna had killed them all... but at the price of her own life. A death fitting of the princess of the flames... or was it?
"Cough, cough..."