Chapter 39: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat
Chapter 39
The orb the girl was holding began to glow, and a massive figure appeared in front of the school gate, letting out a terrifying roar.
[■■■■■■■■-!!!!!!!!!]
“Uh... Uhh... What?”
The girl next to me let out an incoherent noise, unable to comprehend the situation. That’s how I felt too.
I took a deep breath and took in the sight of the monster.
A pair of horns on its head.
Black, glossy skin.
Muscles bulging beneath the skin.
At first glance, it looked like a water buffalo.
The problem was that it stood over 2 meters tall.
The monster’s roar, emerging suddenly from what had been empty air, was as heavy and large as its body.
My skin prickled.
My body froze, reacting instinctively to the cry of a predator much larger than myself.
“What is that...?”
“There was nothing like that before...”
Other kids, hearing the monster’s roar, ran over to us.
The class president and the spear-man muttered in shock, while the shield-man stayed silent, all of them with expressions of horror.
It was clearly not a low-level monster—at least mid-level or higher.
The oppressive aura it emitted was enough to make my flesh crawl.
The monster didn’t seem weakened by passing through the barrier.
I could see a dark purple aura shimmering over the monster’s body.
That ominous color reminded me of the hair of the girl who had summoned the monster, though she was now hidden by the monster’s bulk.
It was clear that the girl had somehow summoned the monster.
Monster and girl.
The word "witch" flashed in my mind, but I shook my head, denying it.
In [Academy’s Holy Sword], witches appeared as enemies only once.
After all the barriers worldwide vanished for unknown reasons, Yoon Si-woo and Sylvia, fleeing with a handful of survivors who lost the last bastion, were confronted by the resurrected “Witch of Gluttony.”
Though they hoped that defeating the resurrected witch might restore world peace, Yoon Si-woo and Sylvia were forced to their knees by the witch, who was the final boss of this world.
History textbooks stated that all witches had been exterminated long ago.
Therefore, the girl who summoned the monster couldn’t be a witch.
She mustn’t be a witch.
If she were indeed a witch with intentions to kill us, our survival chances were slim to none.
While I was lost in these dreadful thoughts, the monster moved.
The gate it had obscured came into view.
The girl had vanished, leaving only a black orb where she had stood.
I looked around, but there was no sign of anyone near the gate.
Where did she go?
My wandering gaze landed on the building toward which the monster was moving.
The gymnasium.
Some teachers and students, who had peeked outside upon hearing the roar, froze upon seeing the monster.
The door was still open.
It was no longer time to worry about the mysterious girl.
The monster seemed to realize there were plenty of prey inside the gymnasium and started walking toward it slowly.
I looked urgently at the gymnasium entrance.
Some of my classmates, aware that we were on the rooftop, pointed toward us.
Could it be that they weren’t closing the door because of us outside?
In a life-or-death situation, there was no time to worry about others.
Thinking we were already doomed, the monster moved leisurely, but there was no time for us to get down and enter the gymnasium.
Although failing to get inside might put us in danger, this wasn’t the time for such concerns.
We had to tell them to close the door without worrying about us.
But shouting from here wouldn’t reach the gymnasium.
At that moment, a thought struck me, and I shook the shoulder of the girl who was frozen next to me.
“Tell them to close the gym door! Right now!”
The girl snapped back to reality and focused her eyes.
She cupped her hands around her mouth and, with all her might, shouted toward the gymnasium.
After a moment, the large gymnasium door started to close.
The monster, which had been moving leisurely, began to quicken its pace.
Due to its large size, it gained speed quickly.
“Close faster!”
“Please...!”
The monster was accelerating, and the door was closing slowly.
The kids shouted at the door, urging it to close faster.
Though yelling wouldn’t speed up the door, it was all they could do.
Their voices were filled with desperation.
Everyone could imagine the horrors that would ensue if the door didn’t close in time.
Beside the shouting kids, I clasped my trembling hands together, praying for the door to close quickly.
The door was built to protect people.
It had to close to fulfill its purpose!
As if responding to our desperate pleas, the door shut with a heavy thud just before the monster arrived.
“It’s closed!”
“Phew, thank goodness!”
The kids, who had been on edge, cheered in relief.
I, too, felt a bit of relief and let my guard down for a moment.
But even after the door closed, the monster continued to charge.
It wasn’t slowing down; instead, it picked up even more speed.
No way, I thought, as a tremendous noise erupted.
BOOOOM!
A massive sound echoed as something hard collided with the door.
The girl sitting on the ground, unable to hold her legs any longer, collapsed.
The other three students were holding their ears, wincing in pain.
The tremor started at the gymnasium and traveled through the ground, reaching the rooftop of the main school building.
It seemed the monstrous power of the monster had caused the ground to shake and extend to the rooftop.
Although my body refused to move easily, I had to check the situation, so I looked down.
Dust had risen from the impact, making it hard to see.
Through the dust, I could see the silhouette of the monster, snorting furiously.
The dust began to settle.
The gymnasium door the monster had crashed into was, fortunately, intact.
As the tension that was so intense it made me forget to breathe for a moment dissipated, I found myself sitting on the ground with my face buried between my knees.
The work supervisor who boasted that not even a moderate monster could scratch it.
I wanted to cheer him on.
The children, who had been covering their ears in pain, seemed a bit better now, and they peeked over the rooftop railing. They sighed in relief and helped the girl who still couldn’t get up to her feet.
At least the people in the gymnasium seemed to be safe.
We might be okay if we just stayed hidden on the rooftop, avoiding the monster’s eyes.
I was cautiously thinking that when the girl, who had been helped up by the others, looked down.
And I saw her expression change from relief to confusion and anxiety.
I got up and looked down as well.
The monster was slowly turning and walking towards the school gate.
I thought it might be leaving, but the monster stopped halfway between the gymnasium and the gate, then turned back towards the gymnasium.
And it charged at the door again.
A huge sound reverberated.
The monster, which had rammed the gymnasium door earlier, turned slowly again.
The door was still intact.
“What... what is it? That monster is stupid. No matter how hard it rams, that sturdy door won’t break, right?”
“Haha, right? There’s no way it’ll break... it’ll be fine, right?”
The girl and the man raised their voices, looking at the intact door, laughing awkwardly to shake off their anxiety.
The sound echoed again.
The first time, I thought it would be fine.
The second time, I started to feel a bit uneasy.
The third time, my heart began to pound.
The faces of the kids who were laughing were now stiff.
I hoped it was just my imagination, but it looked like there were cracks on the door that hadn’t been there before.
They said an ordinary monster wouldn’t be able to scratch it.
But, but...
No matter how you look at it, that monster doesn’t seem ordinary.
A loud sound echoed again.
This time, a small but ominous sound followed.
It was the sound of hope shattering.
The children’s faces turned pale.
If the door broke, it was obvious that the countless citizens inside would die.
Everyone was trembling.
Countless thoughts must have been running through our minds.
The silence that fell among us seemed to represent the fear and despair we were feeling.
And it was the class president who broke it with one word.
“...If it keeps ramming like that, it’ll break through.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to the class president.
She voiced the thought we were all having.
Her voice trembled, but her eyes didn’t.
In those brightly shining eyes, we all seemed to understand what she wanted to say.
Let’s be bait, those of us outside.
The class president’s gaze turned to the man, Daniel.
“We have no choice. Damn it.”
Daniel gritted his teeth and grabbed the spear he was carrying.
The class president’s gaze then turned to the shield man, Andre.
Andre nodded silently and took out the shield from his back.
The class president’s eyes then looked at the girl, Jessie.
Jessie looked at the class president with trembling eyes and said,
“...That’s at least a mid-level monster. If it attacks us, we might die, no, we will die. This isn’t training, if we die this time, we really die!”
Jessie shouted at the class president in anger.
The class president listened to her shouting without saying a word.
Then Jessie, trembling, said to the class president while sobbing.
“Ugh, I don’t want to see anyone die again. Even in my dreams last night, I saw what happened during training... hic, it’s scary...”
Jessie, who had been sobbing, sniffled a few times and then, trying to stop her tears, said,
“I get it... but it’s something we have to do... I’ll go too.”
Jessie wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve.
The class president then turned and looked at me.
Her hands were trembling.
Honestly, I was scared.
I was so afraid of fighting, I wanted to just run away.
But I thought of the people who might die if the gymnasium door broke.
The grandmother I helped carry her luggage might be inside.
The researchers and the supervisor I laughed and chatted with might be inside.
I put my hand in my school uniform pocket and took out the now crumpled teddy bear band-aid.
The boy who gave me this might be inside too.
After looking at the band-aid for a moment, I put it back in my pocket.
I took a deep breath.
I’m not going to die.
I’m just going to draw attention.
I nodded at the class president.
Then the class president, May, drew her sword and said,
“Let’s go.”
She turned and led the way, and we followed her.
I could see the legs of those walking ahead trembling slightly with fear.
Even though we were trembling with fear, none of us said to run away.
Although we were students and not strong.
They were also heroes.
The small heroes left the rooftop.
It looks like i was right somewhat.
ReplyDeleteThose witches come from somewhere.
If not directly made from experiments, i would be surprised if they didn't have a hand on that atthe very least.
The class president is a true hero inside, unlike the stalker shit kid.
MC is such a coward from day 1, but well, it's not like i don't get it. At least MC put people's safety above those emotions.
I hope nobody dies.
If the stalker appears, i just hope he doesn't make a hero saves beauty moment.
It would annoy me so much, because it would feel forced like the chance encounters.
If witches were based on sins, I wonder if mc is also one and maybe of Wrath? Would make sense considering her flames
ReplyDeleteFinally ! Some character development ! Can’t wait to see the fights !
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter !
why does the mc thinks that the original protagonist wouldn't fail? does he think everything will go the same as the plot?
ReplyDeletePor las espadas?
DeleteMC is likely the Witch of Wrath considering that she just revealed there's a Witch of Gluttony which implies that there are seven witches based on the seven deadly sins. Honestly, this sounds like something from Re:zero.
ReplyDeleteThese guys have the greatest courage
ReplyDelete