"F-Follow me to the dorm." Runthral gasped for breath, staggering his steps as he raised the floor to form a protective tunnel overhead.
The students that had survived in the Canteen numbered 220, a sizable number. However, they had been fighting nonstop for over four hours by now. Not only were they tired, but they had also run out of consumable ingredients stored in the Canteen.
The Academy Canteen's port was visited by a ship before every meal time. It was to keep the ingredient stock as fresh as possible. But this also meant there was only enough food at the place for the Academy's population of students to consume once.
It was food meant for 2800 students, more than 12 times the consumption capacity of the students at the Canteen. However, most of the ingredients were destroyed by the Troitails.
That resulted in the present situation, where even Runthral was running out of Prana. Once his reserves got dangerously low, he decided to rush to the Dorm. 'The narrow corridors there provide us with better means to defend.'
The two entrances leading to the Dorm would form a chokepoint, making defence less tiring. Hence, once he communicated his intent to the rest of the students, he was steadily leading them to the Dorm.
Primary Nature–Subtle Terrain Domination!
The ground formed a tunnel and protected the students from Troitail attacks. "Quick! Run! Run!"
Boom!
A section of the tunnel collapsed and water gushed in. One of the students bravely took the lead to block the water flooding in, cranking his Mystic Mist Art to the extreme.
A few seconds later, the entire section collapsed from above, causing water to gush in like a tsunami. The Troitails had bombarded the place with dozens of attacks. The student didn't even get the opportunity to react, instantly crushed by the collapse.
"Hiik!" A small group of students cried to their friend's death, but kept sprinting at top speed while Runthral barely managed to extend the tunnel underground and kept it structurally stable for a precious few seconds.
Ka-Boom!
There was a series of explosions, which sprung up on Runthral just as he opened up another section in the tunnel. As the water rushed at him, Runthral retracted his attention on the earth around him and redirected it to the approaching water.
Swoosh!
The water stopped a few metres before him and was pushed back. Veins bulged on his forehead as Runthral pushed the water out of the entry hole with force, ejecting it like a geyser. He then moved the surrounding earth to close the hole, panting towards the end, "A-Almost there!"
Thud!
A hole appeared before one of the Dorm's entrances. The ankle-length water immediately poured down the tunnel entrance while splashes resounded rhythmically as the students rushed out in a hurry.
Two of the oldest students carried an unconscious Runthral and rushed inside, tensing up to see a couple Troitails crawling within.
Right as the two Troitails reacted, a 12-year-old student rushed down the flight of stairs from the second floor, carrying a Troitail scale in his palm. He promptly aimed it at the two Troitails and released a geyser of water.
Then, skating across the water on the floor, he slid underneath a Troitail, curved around its lower body, leapt up and pulled out a scale in one motion. He was clearly experienced with the technique, as upon extraction, he exploded the scale's contents and directed their explosive force at the two Troitails.
A few moves later, he ended up killing the two Troitails, smiling wryly as he addressed the incoming crowd, "Seniors! Please brace for impact."
As he spoke, the intact scales on the corpses of the two Troitails exploded and filled the corridor with water, which gushed towards the entrance.
"PUSH!" At the leading student's shout, dozens of students, with Prana to spare, applied Mystic Mist Art at once. They pushed the column of water towards the walls, which avoided them and ejected out with greater force.
The students avoided it by moving in the centre. And they had used this ejection force to flush away the Troitails that were gathering around the Dorm.
"Thank goodness you're alive, Gilgil." The leading student revealed a relieved sigh upon recognising the 12-year-old student. "That's reassuring."
"Don't be too relieved." The 12-year-old, Gilgil, shook his head, "I'm mostly spent too."
"Talk later," He waved his hand in a hurry, beckoning the students to rush in, "Let's move up the floors first."
"We've erected a barricade on the second floor…" He paused speaking upon noticing the unconscious Runthral, "How did he faint?"
"He exhausted himself while protecting us all along." The leading student gritted his teeth out of embarrassment, "If not for our incompetence, he would have wiped out all these Troitails."
"Hmm…" Gilgil nodded but didn't comment on the matter. He focused on leading the students to the second floor and addressed the newcomers, "Stay away from the windows. We're better off avoiding the rooms."
He then pointed at the upper floors, "We have set up camps above. Rest and recover there first. And once you're ready, come down."
"We're already exhausted our Prana reserves…" The leading student spoke in hesitation, only to shut up once Gilgil motioned for him to maintain silence.
"Just move up." Saying so, he rushed into one of the rooms and condensed water to form a slab of sorts, which behaved like a mirror once he layered its back with some crystalline sediments. Like using a periscope, Gilgil monitored the movements of the Troitails, "They'll be invading in another five minutes."
He eyed one of the able bodied students nearby, "There are two corpses below."
"I'll be back on time." The student nodded and rushed downstairs. A couple minutes later, he returned, carrying a large sphere of blood using psychokinesis, having extracted it from the two Troitail corpses that Gilgil had killed.
"Get it refined into medicine." Gilgil said and pulled out a bottle from his hold. He drank its contents and groaned, "My stomach's full."
When the two older students carrying Runthral arrived on the third floor, they noticed a file of students busy refining the collected blood into medicine, which the students fighting the Troitails consumed to recover their Prana.
All the rooms were open, for the students had filed into the corridors to contribute to the fight. All except one room door were open.
"Wait…" Runthral regained consciousness right as he was carried past the room with the closed door. His head turned incredulously towards the door, 'Maybe it's only closed because no one's inside.'
'Yeah, that ought to be right. He shouldn't have survived long enough to reach his room.' Runthral considered, 'But what if he survived?'
For a moment, he considered entering Boiboi's room. Other students weren't able to, but he easily could. However, a few seconds of thought later, he refrained from taking action, 'If he unleashes that trump card of his, every student in our vicinity will fall unconscious.'
"Dammit!" Runthral cursed under his breath, approached a student refining medicine and drank the contents.
In the meantime, Torq was chilling in his room, meditating while he consumed his reserve of medicine, 'It's great that there are enough competent students here. Since they have set up a chain of operations and established a line of defence, they won't be dying anytime soon.'
"Thank goodness I riled up the right person." Torq smirked, for he was the one who had banged upon Gilgil's room, until the latter opened the door. He told Gilgil the basics of establishing a line of defence at the Dorms.
Unlike the rest of the Cooter Clansmen, Gilgil at least bothered to hear Torq's plan. And then, he implemented it by rallying everyone.
In less than an hour, a line of defence had been established, with Gilgil taking command.
Since Boiboi's presence would only disrupt the chain of command, atop souring the already plummeting moods of everyone, Torq returned to his room and cultivated in peace. 'It was worthwhile taking the initiative with Gilgil.'
Torq chose to approach the other party for one reason, 'In terms of talent and the arrogance used to wield and display it, he's one of the best in this generation.'
"After all," He smirked, "Even in the chaotic future, he reigned strong as a Settlement Leader."