Aetheric Chronicles: Reborn As An Extra

The students continued to fight amongst themselves, each one desperate to claim the treasure for themselves. The Thunderfly King, with its newfound intelligence and cunning, took advantage of the distraction, weaving through the crowd with ease.

But Adrian was already one step ahead...

With the cloak concealing his movements, he slipped through the chaos unnoticed, his eyes fixed on the glowing form of the Luminous Root.

As the Thunderfly King reached out to grab the treasure, Adrian made his move. With a swift and silent step, he darted forward and snatched the Luminous Root from the ground before the monster could lay its claws on it.

Not wanting to repeat Ardel and Kairen's mistake, he quickly stored it in his golden storage ring. Then, he quickly retreated from the scene, not wanting to deal with the Thunderfly King again after being discovered.

'Let's find the others and leave quickly.'

____ __ _

Meanwhile, The Thunderfly King stood frozen as it watched the treasure suddenly disappear. It even lost the aura coming from the treasure.

Its eyes filled with fury, its wings hastening to beat as it scanned the area frantically for any sign of the stolen treasure. But all it saw was chaos and confusion as the students stopped the fight over the elusive Luminous Root.

After all, it was gone.

The Thunderfly King's eyes blazed with fury as it realized the treasure had been snatched away right before its eyes. And it was sure the thief was among these creatures.

"SCREE-!"

In a fit of rage, it let out a deafening screech that echoed throughout the chamber, causing the ground to tremble and the students to freeze in fear.

With a swift movement, the Thunderfly King unleashed its full power, its wings crackling with electricity as it prepared to unleash a devastating attack on the students.

The other Thunderflies also stopped chasing after the students. Instead, they started flying between them, creating a huge net of thunderflies with the students in it.

As the Thunderfly King prepared to unleash its devastating attack, the students found themselves trapped within a swirling mass of Thunderflies, unable to escape the impending onslaught. They wanted to get out, but as soon as they moved, lightning bolts would be thrown at them.

Panic spread among the students as they realized they were completely surrounded, their only hope of survival fading with each passing moment.

But amidst the chaos, a voice cut through the fear and confusion.

"Quickly use the Crystal!"

"R-Right! There is still that."

"I forgot it!"

"Quickly, let's use it!"

Many of the students quickly crushed the crystals in their hands, their figures disappearing one after another.

However, there were still some students left, some not wanting to give up, some confident in their abilities, and some still searching for the treasure.

"Tch, these morons." Adrian clicked his tongue in irritation as he noticed some of the students still being here.

He was the one who just shouted. Initially, he wanted to leave quietly, but when he saw the Thunderfly King unleashing its full power and controlling its subordinates, he couldn't just leave anymore.

Not to mention, his group was also trapped in this lightning web of flies.

'What should I do now?' His mind searched for an answer.

Suddenly, his vision went black, his figure became motionless. His eyes stopped moving, giving off a faint silver glow. About three or five seconds later, the glow diminished and his body started moving.

"Huff-Huff...-!" He took quick breaths as he looked around. "Darn it."

He cursed under his breath and looked at his storage ring. "Sigh... It won't be easy..."

With a swift motion, he shorted the distance with the Thunderfly King.

"Hey, You BIG STUPID INSECT!" He shouted at the monster. "Look what I have!"

Adrian held up his hand, revealing the Luminous Root that he had safely stored in his golden storage ring. The glow of the artifact illuminated the chamber, catching the attention of both the Thunderfly King and the remaining students.

The Thunderfly King's eyes widened in surprise and fury as it realized that it was Adrian who had managed to steal the treasure right from under its nose. It let out another deafening screech, its wings buzzing furiously as it prepared to unleash its wrath upon him.

Meanwhile, the remaining students watched in awe and disbelief as Adrian revealed the stolen treasure. Some of them began to panic, realizing that they had been fighting over something that was now in the hands of another. While some were unwilling to believe it, such as Emeric who stayed instead of leaving.

And Adrian already had a plan.

"Come and get it if you dare!" he taunted, his voice echoing through the chamber.

And the plan worked.

The Thunderfly King, furious even forgot what it was going to do and directly charged toward Adrian, with its subordinates following after it.

Meanwhile, Adrian already started running, already at the entrance of the path they came.

Soon, he and the monsters disappeared from the underground chamber.

"Damn it. He got away with the treasure!" Emeric clicked his tongue in frustration.

"Y-Yeah. H-He got away."

"Y-You would have gotten it if not that 1st rank."

His underlings tried to agree with him though they knew what Adrian had done in their hearts.

"T-Take it back!"

Suddenly a voice shouted at them.

"Huh? What did you say?" Emeric glared at the owner of the voice. "Who the hell even are you?"

However, his eyes widened slightly as he saw Aria beside them. It was then he remembered Aria had teamed up with Adrian and his group before.

"Adrian did that to save all of you," Aria spoke up, her gaze cold. "If you dare to speak him like that... I am truly disappointed in you all."

"!" Emeric felt his heart clenching as he heard her defending Adrian.

The students fell silent, their eyes darting nervously between each other and Aria. They had never seen her look so disappointed, and it weighed heavily on their conscience.

Emeric's underlings shifted uncomfortably, exchanging uneasy glances as they realized the gravity of the situation. They had been so focused on their own 'desires'

that they had failed to see the bigger picture.

"Let's go," Aria said, her voice firm but tinged with disappointment. "We need to help Adrian. He can't take them all by himself."

"Yes," Ardel and Kairen replied while Lila silently followed after them.

______ ___ _

"Damn, they are really persistent!" Adrian exclaimed as he ran from the monsters. 'Maybe, I shouldn't have done that...'

'!' The next moment, images appeared in his mind. Several students lying in a pool of blood, dead. Lila and Kairen were also among them, while Emeric, Aria, Lyra, and Ardel were severely injured.

Yes, he saw a vision when he became motionless for a few moments. If not, he would have definitely regretted his decision.

'If not those subordinates of it, I could've taken on the King by myself...' He thought as he glanced at the monsters. 'If only I could divide them from each other....'

Though the idea was good, he was already out of the cave, in the open, so it would be hard to do it.

And before he could put his plan into action, he heard the buzzing of wings behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the Thunderfly King and its subordinates closing in fast.

'No time to waste.' Adrian pushed himself to run faster, leading the monsters deeper into the forest.

Thankfully, with the help of the artifact he got as a reward for getting first place yesterday, his speed and reflexes have increased by a considerable rate. If not, maybe he would've already been caught up.

'Wait? If I remember right, up ahead should be the territory of the ThunderClap Hypers.' Adrian thought of a good idea as soon as he remembered the info. 'Aurelius and his group should be already finished with the Alpha ThunderClap Hyper. Then... Let's speed up!'

As Adrian approached the border of the ThunderClap Hypers' territory, he could sense the energy in the air shifting. The atmosphere grew charged with electricity, a sign that the ThunderClap Hypers were nearby.

'Are they still fighting?' Adrian thought inwardly as he could hear the sounds of fighting. He hesitated whether to go or not.

'Ok. Let's gamble.' He didn't stop and continued and just before he reached the area where a battle was taking place, he stored the root in his storage ring and waited for the Thunderfly King to catch up. Maybe they were in the enemy territory or they were just tired, their speed slowed down by a small margin.

In this free time, Adrian quickly took out three potions and gulped down them in one go.

"Scree-!"

"BZZZ-! BZZZ-!"

In just five seconds, the flies were already close to him, throwing the vials back into his storage ring, he sped up and directly went toward the battle area.

In a few moments, he arrived in a large clearing. He saw numerous Hypers engaged in a fight with Ren and Irithel. But what piqued his attention was the big ThunderClap Hyper, the Alpha of the pack, towering over the others with its crackling blue fur and imposing presence. It seemed to be the center of the battle, fighting with Aurelius and his sister.

'It looks like I arrived just in time.'