NOVEL NEXT Chapter 73
Chapter 73: School (2)
Yoo Ji-han entered the school and looked around.
In the dust cloud, monsters huddled in the hallway were staring at him.
Among them, some fearless ones rushed at Yoo Ji-han.
Swish!
His sword accurately sliced through the body of a monster without losing its way in the dust.
A moment later, in the first-floor hallway, after some of the dust had cleared.
[1-1]
In front of the 1st Year Class 1 classroom, a woman lay curled on the floor.
Yoo Ji-han, who was about to rush over, stopped his steps upon seeing her condition.
“…….”
Her left arm and leg were gone, and her eyes were vacant.
The monsters he had just dealt with had red blood smeared on their mouths.
‘She’s already dead.’
The teacher, he presumed, was nothing but a lifeless corpse.
Yoo Ji-han hesitated for a moment about whether to remove the body, but then turned away.
He didn’t have the luxury to take care of the dead right now.
“Let’s go up.”
Just go straight through the main entrance, and you’ll reach the central stairs.
Yoo Ji-han’s party ascended those stairs.
There was a dining hall in the basement of the building, but it was still early in the morning.
Students wouldn’t be heading to the dining hall just yet, so they chose to go up.
Swish—!
Several long Goene monsters crawled down the stairs and the handrail.
Had the entire building already become a monster territory?
‘That’s a Tangerine Goene…’
Yoo Ji-han identified the type of Goene descending the stairs.
With its entire exoskeleton being tangerine-colored, it was a Rank 3 Monster known as Tangerine Goene.
They had hunted it before in Kim Hyun-tae’s party.
Yet, that was also not the kind of monster you’d expect to find in a school.
‘Being bitten would be a pain.’
The monster’s head had tentacles or something that looked like hooks on its first segment.
That part, which was a transformation of some of its legs, served to catch prey and inject venom.
When a human is bitten by a centipede’s venom, it usually results in slight swelling.
However, the venom from a monster-turned-goene wouldn’t spare even a hero’s body.
If hit by the poison needle of a Tangerine Goene, the arm would be paralyzed for at least 20 minutes.
[Fireball]
Kim Si-hu’s magic flew toward the Tangerine Goene.
The chosen magic was fire magic, which was highly effective against Goene.
Whoosh!
However, the Tangerine Goene’s body, as solid as armor, was only slightly singed.
The firepower was insufficient to penetrate the exoskeleton, which was also occasionally used as crafting material.
But using a magic spell with too much destructive power risked collapsing the stairs or the building.
“Wait a minute.”
Thud—!
Yoo Ji-han jumped up the stairs.
The Goene raised its long body and aimed for his leg.
But Yoo Ji-han pressed himself as close to the wall as possible, not giving the monster any distance.
‘The weak points of the Tangerine Goene are between the 5th and 6th segments.’
Attacking the solid body of the Tangerine Goene blindly was tricky.
However, Yoo Ji-han knew its weak points.
Estimating the monster’s length, he evaded its attack and plunged his sword into its weak spot.
Thump!
The sharp blade smoothly pierced through the monster’s body without any obstruction.
The skewered Goene writhed and twisted as many legs flailed about.
Leaving the now-motionless monster behind, Yoo Ji-han set his sights on the Goene clinging to the stair railing.
Slash!
The monster didn’t seem ready to go down easily and leaped into the air from the railing.
Its long body spread out straight and flew towards Yoo Ji-han.
‘Not on your life.’
Yoo Ji-han twisted his body sharply to the right.
The Goene missed grabbing him and flew past him.
‘1, 2, 3….’
As the Goene just barely skimmed his shoulder, Yoo Ji-han counted the number of segments.
Just as the 5th segment was about to pass by him, he swung his sword from below upwards.
Slice!
The blade slid exactly between the segments, cleanly cutting the Goene in half.
The monster’s bodily fluids sprayed everywhere as its body fell writhing to the ground.
“Whoa….”
A monster with a body so tough it could shrug off magic.
And to see Yoo Ji-han handling such a monster effortlessly made Kim Si-hu exclaim softly in admiration.
‘There should be survivors.’
The two of them, having secured minimal safety, continued climbing the stairs.
Though the school had already turned into a monster den, they only hoped there were survivors upstairs.
*
In the 2nd Year Class 5 classroom of Seoum Middle School, attacked by monsters.
In front of the blackboard sat a teacher’s desk, beneath which a female student crouched in hiding.
‘Dae-hyun is dead…!’
A few minutes earlier, she had confirmed that a male student named Dae-hyun lay dead in the 2nd Year Class 4 classroom.
She would likely never forget the sight of a giant centipede crunching on a human head.
As soon as she discovered the scene, she panicked and hurriedly closed all the doors of her classroom, hiding beneath the teacher’s desk.
Though she could have chosen to escape the school…
Not long after hiding under the desk, she began to hear the screams of nameless people from various directions.
Choosing to hide had proven to be the correct decision.
‘It’s so suffocating.’
Though she was alive, she was simultaneously trapped in the classroom.
How long could the locked door hold back the monsters’ approach?
As today was her first time seeing a living monster, she had no way of knowing.
All she could do was pray that the monsters wouldn’t come close until heroes arrived at the school.
Boom, boom…!
Suddenly, there was a noise from below that sounded like something breaking.
Startled by the unexplained noise, the female student covered her nose and mouth with both hands.
She prayed in silence for this desperate time to pass quickly, stifling even her breathing.
Knock, knock.
She heard the sound of someone knocking on the classroom door from outside.
Could it be the heroes have arrived?
The female student, who was just about to peek outside from the teacher’s desk, froze all of a sudden.
There was no guarantee that whatever was outside wasn’t a monster.
Crack!
“……!”
She heard the slow noise of the door appearing to break.
Someone was forcefully breaking down the locked door instead of the glass window.
‘It’s a monster!’
If it were a person outside, they would have called out first.
Thinking that, the female student shrank in further.
Crunch—!
Finally, there was a sound of something somewhere completely breaking.
Not from the front classroom door, but from the back door.
“…….”
The female student held her breath for a moment.
She could hold her breath for over a minute without the slightest inhale.
What was usually a useless skill might just prove useful at this moment.
Scratch—
Scratch—
She heard something crawling on the ground.
Her heart raced as she was sure it was a monster entering the classroom.
She worried her rapidly beating heart might give her away, but there was no way to suppress her body’s instinctive reaction to the tension.
‘Ugh….’
Time passed, and she held her breath for 2 minutes and 10 seconds.
The sound of something crawling around the classroom had stopped.
“Haah.”
The female student, unable to hold on any longer, took a deep breath.
It was only now that she desperately realized how essential oxygen was to the human body.
Scratch!
“……!!”
At that moment, she heard the sound of something crawling on the ground again.
The female student quickly held her breath.
But….
“Cough.”
She let out a small cough as she had inhaled too quickly.
Her heart sank at her own action.
Swish—
Detecting the vibration, the Goene approached the teacher’s desk and finally revealed itself to the female student.
An enormous, hideous figure that she had never imagined in her life.
She couldn’t stop the scream bursting from her mouth.
“AAAAHHH—!”
Now, there was nowhere left for her to hide.
Just as the Goene was about to pounce on her after spotting its prey.
Boom!
A loud explosive sound erupted from the front door of the classroom, and something flew right in front of the female student.
The Goene staggered back, having been struck by it.
“Hyung! I found one!”
Kim Si-hu had used magic to break down the locked door and discovered the hidden female student beneath the teacher’s desk.
The Goene, disturbed, twisted its whole body in anger.
[Wind Arrow]
Kim Si-hu conjured multiple Wind Arrows and shot them at the Goene.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Arrows struck between the numerous joints of the Goene.
The hunter, with its prey right before its eyes, bled profusely and died.
“Are you okay? Can you stand?”
“Wahh…!”
“Let’s hurry and get out.”
Kim Si-hu quickly took the tearful female student and fled the classroom.
Yoo Ji-han, who had entered the 2nd Year Class 4, grimaced upon finding the corpse of the boy with a missing head.
‘That’s already over 9 people dead.’
The bodies they had encountered in the school’s first and second floors amounted to 9—teachers and students.
So many lives had been lost.
“P-please, save me!”
“……!”
Feeling a presence, someone from the adjacent class was calling for help.
Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu hurriedly rushed to the 2nd Year Class 1 where the sounds had come from.
“Eek!”
In the 2nd Year Class 1 classroom, an adult male was perched atop the blackboard.
Below, a Giant Monster looked up at the teacher and was chirping.
“BEEP!”
Slash!
In a flash, Yoo Ji-han dashed to the blackboard and severed the Giant Monster’s head with his sword.
The male teacher cautiously descended from the blackboard only after confirming all the Giant Monsters were dead.
Once he calmed down, Yoo Ji-han said to him, “I heard there are more students.”
“Yes, there are!”
“Where are they?”
“Well, I’m sure it was a student from 2nd Year Class 11!”
2nd Year Class 11…
It was on the same floor as 2nd Year Class 1 but located completely on the opposite side.
“Si-hu, take these people up to the 3rd floor.”
“Got it.”
“Let’s meet up above.”
Right next to where they were standing, next to the 2nd Year Class 1, there were stairs.
And there were also stairs next to the opposite side in the 2nd Year Class 12.
Thanks to the stairs being located at both ends of the building, they could join up anywhere they went.
“Be careful!”
[Haste]
Yoo Ji-han dashed alone down the hallway teeming with monsters.
*
Min Yu-ri was doing her morning exercises with Chilla.
Recently, she discovered from the test results that the large Chilla’s body was almost entirely muscle with hardly any fat.
To maintain that muscular mass, he needed plenty of protein intake and consistent exercise.
‘I wonder if there are any Giant Cats nearby?’
For her, catching a Giant Cat was a vital part of her daily routine.
After finishing her workout, she planned to head to the Monster Area where the Giant Cats usually appeared.
Beep!
Beep—!
At that moment, emergency alerts rang several times on her mobile phone.
She paused her workout and picked up her phone.
“Hmm?”
A message informing her of an emergency MA that had occurred a short distance away popped up.
It was the first time in her life that she saw multiple emergency MAs occurring in such a narrow range.
‘This place….’
Moreover, one of them included the middle school her younger sister, Min So-yeon, attended.
Monsters had shown up in her sister’s school, a place filled with precious memories.
She couldn’t just ignore this news; it gnawed at her conscience.