I Reincarnated to Another World as a Woman-Chapter 300: Resonance Under Fire
A few attempts later.
"No, I don’t got this." Julian grits his teeth in frustration. He’s been trying to match Aegis’ frequency with the roar so they cancel each other out, and he hasn’t been successful.
The longer he fails, the longer people have to endure the roar.
Julian tries hard not to panic. He has never been good at working under time pressure. In his lab, he always has more than enough time to run his experiments.
His hands shake. His back is soaked. His vision starts to blur.
He blames it on the nonstop assault of the roars, but deep down, he knows that’s not entirely true.
He’s nervous.
"Damn it!" he snaps when he fails again.
------------------------------
"Everyone okay?" Ethan asks. He helps a woman get up from under the rubble.
J.C. joins him, clearing debris. His hands are covered in small cuts, and his clothes are torn.
Taylor and Carter are no different. They’re in rough shape, but Taylor has it worst. He has temporarily lost his hearing from the roars.
His hearing was never good to begin with. He has long suffered from sinusitis, and several waves of ear-shattering roars have made it worse.
Blood seeps from his ears, and he’s on the verge of collapsing.
"Taylor!" Carter catches him as he finally loses consciousness.
Their surroundings are in total chaos.
Rubble, shattered glass, and debris from destroyed buildings are everywhere. The damage stretches across a two-hundred-meter radius around the gate.
Jade Lantern District is no more.
The police line is gone. DEU officers are helping first responders with civilians.
Arthur, Liam, and Lt. Cole are spread out, assisting where they can.
Maeve sits alone behind a pile of rubble. Her ears ring, and dizziness clouds her senses.
She hides there, trying to heal herself with magic.
She keeps her mana contained, no more than two meters around her.
Arthur stands where he is, scanning the area.
He looks devastated. He knows the casualty count will be high.
A child’s hand lies unmoving on the asphalt, covered in blood, the rest of the body buried under concrete.
Nearby, a man cries and screams, desperately searching for someone.
"It’s like a war zone," someone says in a low voice.
Arthur turns and sees a man Maeve identified as Ethan Barlett standing not far from him, his face, hair, and body covered in dirt, just like his.
Ethan turns to Arthur, slightly taken aback. He hadn’t noticed who was around him. He’s been too busy helping his teammates and the civilians.
They lock eyes.
The ground trembles.
Another roar is coming.
------------------------------
Theo flies back as fast as he can, but he still takes the time to kill every haelion he encounters. He has killed hundreds by now, not knowing there are two types. If he sees one, he kills it.
Along the way, the roar keeps erupting in a pattern.
When he finally gets close, he feels the force of it and nearly loses control mid-air.
"Argh." Theo halts, hovering.
He immediately raises a shield around his ears, trying to protect them.
Then he pushes forward again, heading toward the camp—
Something moves fast behind him.
Theo glances back.
A tongue. Split at the end like a snake’s.
It’s coming straight for him.
Theo veers away, dodging it, but it follows.
He shifts direction. Left. Right. Up. Down.
It stays on him.
Theo frowns. How is it tracking me like this? How long is it?
The forked tongue suddenly accelerates—
And wraps around his ankle.
Theo doesn’t have time to react.
It yanks him away from the camp. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
------------------------------
Maeve opens her eyes. She has successfully healed herself.
She exhales in relief. She feels refreshed, steady.
She stands, closes her eyes, and listens.
Light gives her the ability to understand her surroundings better. Theo showed her how, and now she uses it to scan for who needs her help the most.
The roar continues, following its pattern like clockwork.
Maeve channels her mana and pushes the roar away from her ears. She can still hear it, but it no longer carries the same destructive force.
She exhales again in relief.
She knows who needs her help the most.
She moves quickly toward Julian.
------------------------------
Julian is close to crying.
He already feels tears welling up in his eyes.
With each roar, he hears the chaos behind him. Cries of agony, screams of helplessness, desperate calls for loved ones. Each time he hears them, he can’t help but blame himself.
His failure has caused this.
The pain. The grief. The destruction.
He can’t see anymore. His vision blurs with tears.
When they finally fall, his hands shake so badly that he can’t even see the Aegis interface.
All he wants is to collapse and cry.
He looks down, trying to hold back his sobs.
His shoulders tremble. His lips quiver. Tears stream down his face, leaving streaks across his dirt-covered cheeks.
He doesn’t hear the approaching footsteps.
Too focused on holding himself together.
A hand rests on his shoulder.
Warm.
Steady.
Grounding.
Julian’s breath hitches.
He slowly turns.
Maeve stands there, smiling at him.
Genuine.
Sincere.
Before he can react, she pulls him into an embrace.
Julian stiffens—
Then melts into it.
Warmth.
Acceptance.
Support.
He hugs her back.
Tight.
He closes his eyes, breathing in her scent.
Soothing.
Calming.
They stay like that.
In silence.
Two more waves of roars pass, but Julian barely feels them.
They pull apart.
Look at each other.
No words.
Just understanding.
They nod.
Julian turns back to the gate.
Hands steady.
Breathing even.
The tremble is gone.
He opens the interface.
Takes a deep breath.
And tries again.
------------------------------
Inside the dungeon, at the camp site, people have given up hope.
The Pod’s control panel is constantly blaring warnings.
Aegis integrity is compromised! It is now 95%!
Aegis integrity is compromised! It is now 87%!
Aegis integrity is compromised! It is now 80%!
Alicia stares at the screen without blinking, half wishing the numbers would go up.
Instead, they keep dropping.
The haelions do not stop.
The waves of roars are precise, like machines.
Alicia doesn’t even cover her ears anymore.
She covers a boy’s.
The boy stopped crying a few roars ago.
Now he sits on the ground, his back against the Pod, his hands resting limply beside him.
He doesn’t move.
If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, Alicia would have thought he was already dead.
The others aren’t much different.
The lucky ones have lost consciousness, like Hawk.
The unlucky ones sit there, staring at nothing.
Blank.
No expression.
They’ve given up.
Alicia glances at the screen again. From where she sits, she can’t see everything, but the percentage is still visible.
...33%
...28%
She exhales.
Her gaze drifts to where Theo had gone, searching for any sign of him.
Nothing.
She refuses to believe he’s dead.
No way. Someone that powerful can’t be dead.
He must be held up by something.
He wouldn’t abandon them like this.
No way.
Suddenly, the blaring stops.
Replaced by alarms.
Loud.
Alicia looks at the screen again.
WARNING! Aegis integrity has fallen below 20%! It is now 18%!
WARNING! Aegis integrity has fallen below 20%! It is now 18%!
WARNING! Aegis integrity has fallen below 20%! It is now 18%!
Alicia takes a deep breath.
She takes the boy’s hand and tells him to cover his own ears.
Slowly, she gets to her feet, brushing the back of her pants.
She rolls her stiff neck, moves her limbs, gives a small jump to wake her numb body.
I’m not going down without a fight.
I’m not waiting to die like this.
I’m going out there.
I’m going to kill one of those haelions.
Even if I die, I’ll take at least one with me.
She approaches the woman who helped her with the shield and tells her she’s going out. She needs the shield closed behind her.
The woman only stares at her.
No sign of understanding.
The fight in her eyes is gone.
They were full of life before.
Determination.
Now...
Nothing.
Alicia grabs her and shakes her.
"Do you understand?!"
Alicia keeps shaking her until the woman finally nods.
"I understand."
Alicia nods, satisfied.
She moves to the Pod and gears up with every weapon she can find inside. She even puts on a pair of military-grade ear protectors.
If it were any other time, she would have blinked in disbelief, questioning why a personal vehicle is armed like a military tank.
Now, she doesn’t care.
She steps in front of the shield, gripping a heartstone heavy rifle.
She takes several deep breaths, steadying herself.
She waits for the one-minute interval.
When the moment comes—
The shield opens.
And she steps forward.
------------------------------
"Arthur!" Maeve rushes to him.
Arthur whips his head around. "Yes?"
He’s more than ready for good news.
Maeve nods rapidly.
"He got it."
Arthur blinks.
He doesn’t smile. He looks down at his watch, waiting.
One-minute mark.
The roar erupts again.
But this time—
It’s completely muffled.
Arthur looks at Maeve, his eyes shining.
The roar has lost its power.
Arthur nods and pats her upper arm. "We’re going in."
Maeve nods.
They start moving when Ethan calls out, "Wait!"
Arthur turns to him.
"I can help. We can help." Ethan gestures to himself and J.C.
Arthur doesn’t hesitate. "I’m in charge. You follow my orders. Only my orders. Understood?"
