Chapter 207: Academy Heroine's Right Diagonal Back Seat
Chapter 207
[■■■■■■■■■■!!!]
The repeated howling of the demonic beast, reminiscent of a wolf’s, echoed.
The long, resounding howls mixed with the blaring siren, filling the classroom.
Despite the loud noise reverberating, it was as if the classroom had turned into a classical concert hall, where not a single breath was heard from the people inside.
Overwhelmed by the ominous and terrifying symphony that made every hair on their bodies stand on end, everyone remained in a dead silence.
The silence was broken by the sudden sound of vibrations.
The source of the vibration was Ms. Eve’s pocket.
Under everyone’s gaze, Ms. Eve pulled out her phone, and after checking it, she frowned and let out a sigh.
“...Unknown reason for the appearance. Estimated number of high-level demonic beasts currently near the city... Seven.”
Seven high-level demonic beasts.
The students turned pale at Ms. Eve’s words.
Just as there is a massive gap between low and intermediate-level demonic beasts, the difference between intermediate and high-level demonic beasts is on a whole other level.
They are so fearsome that it’s said every time one appears, the position of a squad leader is replaced.
It’s a situation that’s difficult to see in a positive light, given that high-level demonic beasts are challenging to face even for heroes at the level of a squad leader, and there are seven of them.
Despair, fear, confusion.
Various emotions slowly spread among the students, and many couldn’t handle those feelings, collapsing into their seats.
At that moment, cutting through the tension, a voice rang out.
“Do not sit down.”
Tellos’s voice echoed softly.
It wasn’t loud, but it was steady and unwavering.
As if enchanted by that voice, the students who had collapsed turned their gazes toward Tellos.
At the end of their gaze stood a man, unwavering and composed.
It was a sight that seemed almost surreal.
How could he remain so calm?
It wasn’t as if he had foreseen this happening.
His calm composure amidst the negative thoughts that were overwhelming everyone else was so unbelievable that it felt almost unreal.
Everyone stared at him blankly, and Tellos, meeting each of those gazes one by one, spoke.
“Is this the time for you to be sitting down? Is this the time to be in despair? Is that what you were taught here?”
The students flinched at Tellos’s reprimanding words.
No, we weren’t taught that way.
So, what is it that we should be doing now?
As if to remind us of what we had momentarily forgotten, Tellos spoke again.
“When adversity comes, it is a hero’s role to overcome it. Instead of sitting down in despair, stand up and think of a way to overcome this situation. Remember what you must do, what you can do. Can you do that?”
There was strength in his unshaken voice.
The light returned to the eyes of the students who had fallen into despair.
Ms. Eve, who had been watching the students slowly stand up and nod in agreement, seemed to have realized what needed to be done and asked Dwaight with a resolute look in her eyes.
“Dwaight, if those high-level demonic beasts were to attack the city, how many could the barrier withstand?”
“...It can definitely hold against one. But if there are two... I can’t be sure.”
“I see. Then we’ll let one through. If it’s weakened by passing through the barrier, even a high-level demonic beast should be manageable. Let’s assume the other four are handled by each squad leader. Even if I can’t defeat one, I can at least buy some time.”
Ms. Eve murmured, desperately trying to come up with a plan, when Tellos, looking out the window, spoke.
“Then I’ll take care of the one over there. That seems to be the best course of action.”
“...Is this really the right approach? I know we need to balance things out, but even for a squad leader, it’s a high-level demonic beast…”
Ms. Eve’s voice, still anxious and uncertain, trailed off.
Tellos, nodding reassuringly, replied as if to ease her worries.
“The current squad leaders are called the ‘Golden Generation.’ Unless it’s an exceptional creature, they can all handle a high-level demonic beast. Captain Yoon Si-woo seemed much stronger than I was last time I saw him, so as long as you and I do our parts, we’ll be fine.”
Smiling lightly to reassure Ms. Eve, Tellos began stretching and then looked at us as he spoke.
“I understand your fear. But remember this: humanity has always faced such adversities, and each time, everyone has come together to protect our happiness.”
His voice remained unwavering, as if he was certain that this time would be no different from before.
His unshakable demeanor made us think of a steadfast, towering tree.
Just looking at him inspired confidence, the belief that he would never fall, and naturally gave rise to hope that we could overcome this as well.
And the hero who had instilled us with this belief spoke to us one last time.
“This time, it’s your turn. Protect it and survive. I believe you can do it.”
We nodded vigorously in response to his words.
---
“...Damn, that bastard is ridiculously huge.”
“...Yeah, no kidding.”
“...No matter how you look at it, we’re not equipped to handle that thing.”
Responding to the unexpected emergency mobilization order, the soldiers from Astrape who had come as reinforcements to the frontlines were sweating bullets at the sight of the demonic beast approaching with thunderous footsteps.
In the face of a massive demonic beast whose height seemed to reach that of a five or six-story building, humans were pathetically small and feeble.
Overwhelming mass is, in itself, violence.
Just one casual swipe of its enormous paw, far larger than a car, would be enough to turn at least one or two people into a bloody pulp.
However, despite sweating profusely, the soldiers facing the demonic beast had no intention of retreating.
The first reason being that what they needed to protect was right behind them.
And the second reason was…
“...So, please, Captain, or rather, former Captain.”
Because they had something they could trust.
At the murmur of one of the soldiers, a man appeared from somewhere and stood right in front of the giant demonic beast.
It looked like a hopelessly reckless and ignorant act, akin to a mantis trying to block the wheels of a cart.
It seemed obvious that if the demonic beast took just one step forward, the man would be crushed and reduced to a bloody pulp.
However, the soldiers who watched the scene remembered a line from a story they had read in a fairy tale when they were young.
The founder of Dolos was said to have lifted and moved mountains all by himself.
The demonic beast, which had been advancing, suddenly stopped in its tracks.
“Hup-!!!”
And then, with a loud shout, the enormous demonic beast was lifted into the air.
The absurd sight of a demonic beast larger than most buildings being hoisted up by a single man might have caused bewilderment, but the soldiers watching weren’t surprised.
Because up until recently, they had fought on the battlefield alongside that very man.
If demonic beasts rarely produced monsters called high-level demonic beasts,
Then they had a man who had fought such monsters countless times and held his ground for over half a century.
The man’s name was Tellos Dolos.
People called him “The Tireless One.”
With a thunderous crash, the colossal body of the demonic beast, having lost its balance, slammed into the ground.
“Everyone, commence the attack!!”
The soldiers, who had been waiting for this moment, trusting in the man, unleashed a concentrated barrage at the defenseless, fallen demonic beast.
As members of Astrape, an elite unit recognized only for the finest heroes, their assault was powerful enough to turn an ordinary demonic beast into dust without leaving a trace.
That is, if it were an ordinary demonic beast.
“Damn, it’s regenerating! This thing is from the Gluttony series!”
“Damn it, what kind of regeneration is this...! Be careful! If you get caught by its thrashing, you’re done for!”
Their attack was indeed powerful.
But the explosive regenerative abilities of this high-level Gluttony-type demonic beast turned their attack into something it could withstand.
[■■■■■■■!!!]
The wounded beast roared, wildly swinging the tentacles that sprouted from its body.
Calling them tentacles was an understatement—they were thicker than most fire hoses and moved at such speed that even a single hit could be fatal.
The soldiers had no choice but to pause their offensive, allowing the beast to use its tentacles and legs to get back on its feet.
One of the soldiers, watching the wounds they had inflicted healing rapidly, turned to Tellos, who was helping others regroup by holding back the tentacles, and asked.
“...Captain, what should we do? All the damage we dealt was for nothing.”
“It wasn’t for nothing. You know how to deal with a Gluttony-type demonic beast, don’t you?”
Of course, the soldier knew well.
In the area they operated, Gluttony-type demonic beasts roamed to the point of being a nuisance.
There were three main ways to deal with a Gluttony-type demonic beast.
Find and destroy the core somewhere in its body.
Inflict damage greater than its regenerative ability and finish it off.
Or, the last method—
“Wear it out until it dies... Are you sure we should go with that? This strategy puts too much strain on you, Captain. If it’s a high-level one, you might have to fight all day.”
The strategy they were using depended on Tellos subduing the demonic beast.
So, for them to beat it down until it exhausted its regenerative power, Tellos would have to engage in direct combat with it, putting an immense physical burden on him.
But Tellos, hearing the soldier’s concerned words, chuckled and said.
“Have you forgotten my nickname already? Just don’t tire yourselves out and fall before I do.”
“...Right. You’re the ‘Tireless One,’ Captain. Don’t worry about us. We won’t be dragging you down.”
“That’s good. And remember, I’m no longer your captain, so drop the ‘Captain’ title.”
“...Even if you say that, you’ll always be our captain.”
Tellos grinned and patted the smiling soldier on the shoulder before charging at the beast again.
He resumed wrestling with the demonic beast as before, grabbing its leg and throwing it down, thinking to himself.
The creature he was dealing with wasn’t that strong of a demonic beast.
Though they are generally classified as low, medium, and high-level, there is a considerable difference even among those classifications.
For example, the ‘Bird of the End’ from the northern forest, the Rage-type demonic beast, is known to be on a different level even among high-level beasts.
Just as heroes differ in strength, so do demonic beasts vary in innate abilities, accumulated experience, and the length of their existence, creating gaps in strength.
Therefore, a newly born high-level demonic beast was relatively weak.
It wouldn’t even be able to fully utilize the miasma that made up its own body, nor would it have any combat experience.
Just like the one currently being thrown around by him.
This level should be manageable for the other squad leaders as well.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, none of the demonic beasts should cross the barrier, except for the one they agreed to let through.
So—
Tellos was still deep in thought as he twisted and tore off one of the beast’s legs.
The soldiers unleashed another barrage on the fallen beast, and it swung its tentacles wildly in retaliation.
The soldiers deftly dodged the erratic tentacles.
Having seen the attack pattern a few times, none of them were naive enough to get caught by it.
However, at that moment, a piece of debris from a collapsed building, struck by a tentacle, landed right where a soldier was about to step.
No matter how skilled a hero is, they can’t account for every unexpected variable, and this sudden event caused the soldier to lose his balance and fall.
Just as the soldiers had learned the demonic beast’s attack pattern,
the demonic beast, too, had learned.
The tentacles, which had been flailing wildly, suddenly converged on the fallen soldier as if it had been waiting for this moment.
The soldier quickly rolled to the side, avoiding most of the tentacles, but one managed to grab his leg and lift him into the air.
An accident that happened in the blink of an eye, too fast for the others to react.
Only Tellos, who had grown accustomed to countless battlefields over his long life, reacted.
With a crack, Tellos launched himself into the air and tore off the tentacle that was holding the soldier who had just called him “Captain.”
Tellos threw the rescued soldier toward another soldier with telekinesis so he wouldn’t be hurt, and as he turned his head—
Tellos saw.
He saw countless tentacles shooting toward him as he hung defenseless in midair.
And the demonic beast’s twisted grin, as if mocking him, like it had been targeting the most dangerous presence on this battlefield from the start.
Dangling upside down, caught by the tentacles, Tellos saw the world turned upside down.
In that world, there were the soldiers and the city full of people.
Everything he had fought with all his might to protect throughout his life was there.
He had always worked for their happiness.
And it seemed that his role was finally ending here and now.
Closing his eyes, Tellos thought quietly.
If he had one last wish...
Please, let those he had protected live, even if it’s just one more.
And with that final thought,
“Captain!!!”
The towering tree that had supported so many over the long years disappeared into the maw of the demonic beast.
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