Sarah’s decision was decisive and correct.
In a situation where it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe, prioritizing the marking and elimination of individuals who had completely demonized was the optimal solution for protecting the survivors and the team.
She turned to look at Emma, her tone hurried yet clear: “Emma, perceive them. These… these people, is there still any possibility of saving them?”
Emma immediately focused her mind, a faint glow of perception magic rising in her eyes as she carefully scanned the hideous “crowd” surging from ahead.
A moment later, her face turned pale as she shook her head, her voice carrying a hint of unbearable pity:
“Senior Sarah, these first few rows… the vitality within their bodies has been completely eroded by a cold, evil energy, and their life auras are so weak they almost don’t exist, replaced instead by pure bloodlust… They can no longer be considered human.”
“It can be said that right now, they are no different from monsters.”
She paused and added: “But… it cannot be ruled out that in the back or mixed among them, there are still humans who have just been transformed and have not yet completely lost their reason. It’s just that in this situation, it’s very difficult to distinguish them carefully…”
A flash of pain crossed Sarah’s eyes, but the situation did not allow her to hesitate.
“I understand.”
She took a deep breath and quickly gave orders.
“Emma, you are responsible for using Holy Light markers or life perception to reverse-mark those individuals confirmed to be completely demonized! Luke, Ize, and I will perform precision attacks according to your marks! Try to avoid—”
She didn’t finish her sentence, as a last resort, he still didn’t want to expose his ‘scraping flow’.
Stay low if one can stay low!
Although his magic power was a bit low, it could still handle some commoners who had turned into vampires.
Hearing Luke’s words, he responded in a deep voice, his voice carrying a heavy helplessness: “The people who originally lived in this entire Raymond Territory might all have turned into this appearance now… Could the number not be large?”
This sentence was like a giant boulder smashing into everyone’s hearts.
Yes, what they were slaughtering at this moment were living people not long ago, the parents and relatives of these children.
Every time magic was released, it was accompanied by a heavy psychological burden.
Especially Sarah; every time she used magic and saw those eyes that were torn apart under the wind blades, her eyes trembled painfully, but the movements of her hands did not slow down in the slightest.
She knew clearly that mercy at this moment was cruelty to those fresh lives behind her.
Although the battle was going smoothly, they fell into an extremely passive situation—they had to be distracted to protect the group of terrified children behind them, some of whom were even starting to lose emotional control because they witnessed their “relatives” being slaughtered.
“Daddy! Mommy! Don’t hit my daddy and mommy!”
A younger girl suddenly wailed, breaking free from Emma’s hand that was trying to soothe her, and rushed recklessly toward a figure in the vampire crowd that had just been marked and was lunging forward with bared fangs and claws! That was her parent!
“Dangerous! Come back!”
Sarah’s pupils constricted; the distance was too close, and releasing magic would likely accidentally injure the child! Almost without thinking, her body instinctively charged forward, grabbing the little girl and pulling her back to protect her behind her.
However, in this lightning-fast moment, a vampire from the side-rear that hadn’t been marked but moved exceptionally quickly suddenly broke through the blockade of Luke’s fireball, opened its mouth full of fangs, and bit fiercely into Sarah’s fair arm that she didn’t have time to pull back!
“Puchi!”
Sharp fangs pierced through her outer clothing and embedded deeply into her flesh!
A burst of sharp pain arrived, and Sarah let out a muffled groan. A bone-chilling numbness and a sense of weakness from blood loss instantly transmitted from her arm!
“Senior!” Emma and Luke cried out at the same time.
A sharp glint flashed in Sarah’s eyes. Enduring the intense pain and the erosion of that cold energy, she suddenly swung her free left hand!
A giant wind blade several times more ferocious than before and with a wider range—it was the fourth-tier wind magic 【Wind Dragon Slash】. Like a reaper’s scythe, it swept forward in a fan shape!
“Boom—!”
The gale howled, and rubble flew! Not only the vampires marked by Emma, but also the entire area in front, whether marked or not, whether completely demonized or possibly retaining a trace of reason, were all ruthlessly torn and shredded under this powerful magic released in anger! A large area was instantly cleared!
After the magic, the scene fell into a temporary silence.
There was only the sound of black blood gurgling and severed limbs hitting the ground.
Sarah panted, her face somewhat pale due to blood loss and the energy impact. She looked at the even more tragic scene in front of her caused by her own hands, her eyes filled with complex emotions, especially when looking at those areas that were not marked but were cleared along with the rest.
Emma quickly rushed to her side. While hurriedly casting healing spells to disperse the cold energy and heal the wound, she said urgently: “Senior Sarah, don’t blame yourself! I sensed it just now, in that area… almost… almost no life reactions remained. They… they most likely… had all already…”
Emma didn’t finish, but the meaning was already obvious.
Sarah’s strike might not have caused any accidental killings.
The former residents of this land might have been wiped out long ago, all turned into such pitiful monsters.
However, the children did not understand any of this.
Brief dead silence was followed by an even more surging resentment and anger directed at Sarah and the others.
“Waa—! You killed my daddy and mommy! You’re a bad person!”
The little girl Sarah had saved, far from being grateful, looked at the direction where her parents had disappeared and screamed at Sarah while wailing.
“Why! Why did you kill them! They didn’t even move just now!”
Another boy picked up a piece of rubble from the ground and threw it forcefully at Sarah.
“Aren’t you mages? Didn’t you come to save us? Why didn’t you come when my daddy and mommy turned into monsters?! Now you come to kill them! You’re as bad as those monsters!”
More children joined the condemnation. Clods of earth and small stones fell like rain on the four people from the Star Academy.
Their small faces were filled with anger, sadness, and confusion, turning all the pain of losing their relatives into hatred for these “bad people” who “watched without saving” and “killed their relatives.”
Sarah stood stiffly in place, letting those insignificant projectiles hit her body. The wound on her arm slowly healed under the healing magic, but the wound in her heart was torn bloody by the children’s words.
She opened her mouth, wanting to explain, but found her throat as if blocked, unable to make any sound.
Yes, why didn’t they arrive earlier?
Why couldn’t they stop the tragedy from happening?
The children’s sharp questioning was like knives, stabbing into the most self-blaming part of her heart.
The justice and kindness she had always upheld appeared so pale and powerless at this moment.
Emma also stopped her spellcasting, looking at the indignant children with eyes full of confusion and pain.
She wanted to comfort them but didn’t know where to start.
Helping others and healing pain was originally her belief, but now, their actions in the eyes of the victims’ relatives had become another form of harm.
Luke’s face flushed red with anger. He stood in front of Sarah and Emma, waving away the flying stones, and said angrily: “You brats, are you being reasonable! If we didn’t kill them, they would have bitten you to death! We are protecting you!”
But his argument appeared so hollow and powerless in the face of the children’s grief over losing their loved ones.
A slightly older boy cried and shouted: “Then why didn’t you come to save them when they were still daddy and mommy?! Why only come now?! You’re just useless! You’re bad people!”
Luke was at a loss for words. He felt something was wrong. They clearly saved these children, so why did they become the targets of accusation instead?
This feeling of frustration and confusion made him unable to find a more powerful reason for rebuttal for a moment.
Ize watched all this silently, sighing in his heart.
This was the complexity of human nature, especially under extreme emotions, where logic and right or wrong are often submerged by strong feelings.
Furthermore, these people in the slum area had no education, so the concepts taught to their children were naturally different from those of aristocrats like them.
He had foreseen possible trouble long ago, but he hadn’t expected it to erupt in such a chilling way.
The protectors became the objects of venting anger. This battle was far more physically and mentally exhausting than dealing with those mindless vampires.
And Sarah and the others wouldn’t understand; this was ‘moral kidnapping’.
For such things, Ize had already become accustomed to them before he crossed over.
At the same time, the system’s prompt sounded.
【Divine Choice System at your service, please make a suitable choice as soon as possible.】
【Choice 1: Verbally comfort Sarah, telling her it wasn’t her fault: “Senior, you’ve already done what should be done.”, so that Sarah won’t let this matter leave a shadow affecting her mindset in the future. Difficulty: A. Completion Reward: Protagonist Value: +10】
【Choice 2: If I have no morals, I won’t be morally kidnapped. Directly kill all the children who raised ‘doubts’. Difficulty: C. Completion Reward: Villain Value: +10】
【Choice 3: Continue to be a bystander, watching all this coldly without taking any action. Difficulty: E. Completion Reward: NPC Value: +10】
Almost at the instant the prompt appeared, Ize took action.
Several strands of second-tier lightning magic 【Flash Lightning】 converged in the air, all striking toward the children who were ‘morally kidnapping’ them.
“Damn it, you monsters wearing children’s skins, drop dead!”
……
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.