The Countdown to Calamity
I woke up early and finished getting ready for school. Even though I had prepared for this, the anxiety wouldn't fade. Perhaps that was why my hands were trembling, just a little. I opened the window, letting the sight of the city beginning to stir fill my eyes, and pulled out the Mana Herb I’d bought from Leonor last Friday. I bit down on it and lit it. Don't worry. I’ll be able to see this scenery again tomorrow morning. As I slowly inhaled the smoke, the heart that had been fluttering with unease calmed down. By the time I finished, the shaking in my hands had subsided. I burned the remaining butt, took a deep breath, and set off for school.
When I entered the classroom, the class representative was already there, as usual. "Did you have a good weekend?" She greeted me with a voice a little more intimate than usual. I nodded. I had assumed we would start cleaning right away, but perhaps because we had done club activities together on Friday, she seemed to have something more she wanted to say. Her face flushed as she opened her mouth.
"Um, about the next club activity..." Having started, she hesitated, uncharacteristic of her usually sharp personality. She seemed to be debating whether to say it, but then, as if she’d made up her mind, she spoke to me in a slightly louder voice. "Would you... eat the food I make?"
Why was the person making the food asking in such a pleading tone? I was a bit dumbfounded. To the class rep, who had her eyes squeezed shut as if terrified of the answer, I asked casually, "What are you going to make?"
"Huh? Ch... chocolate?" She stammered, flustered by my question. It was the reaction of someone who hadn't planned that at all. To think her first thought was chocolate—just how much does she like it? More importantly, was she actually going to cook for me during Friday's club activity? In the original story, this was an absolute impossibility. If it were possible, it was the very situation I had been wishing for. With expectation and hope, I replied, "I'll be looking forward to it."
"...Yeah!" She beamed with joy.
After cleaning, the other kids started filing into the classroom one by one to take their seats. As the number of empty desks decreased, the hour hand on the clock hanging at the front of the room crept toward 8. The ticking of the second hand sounded as loud as thunder. I thought I had calmed down, but my hands began to tremble again. There was less than a minute left until 8:00 AM, when the classroom would be full and the morning assembly would begin.
I stared at the clock, feeling like I was watching a countdown to an explosion. The second hand moved. 7:59:58, 59, and then, the moment the second hand hit the 12 and it became exactly 8:00, a massive, piercing alarm siren wailed across the city.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—!
"Wh-what? An alarm?"
"Whoa, that scared me! What is that sound?"
"Did something happen outside?"
The classroom erupted into chaos at the sudden alarm. The kids stood up and crowded around the windows to check the situation outside. It was only natural for them to be confused. The original novel stated that it had been decades since an alarm had sounded inside the barrier. I clasped my hands together and took a deep breath to steady my shaking fingers.
After a moment, the siren stopped, and a broadcast began to play:
Citizens, a Level 2 Monster Response Alert has been issued for the entire city. All citizens are requested to evacuate to the nearest shelter quickly and in an orderly fashion. Repeating: A real-time alert is now in effect for the entire city—
Beyond the broadcast, I heard hurried footsteps outside the classroom door. Eve burst in, the door slamming against the wall, her expression grave. She addressed the murmuring students with a hardened face.
"This is an emergency. A massive horde of monsters has been sighted beyond the western boundary zone. Since the west is home to large-scale farmland, it is a place we absolutely cannot afford to lose. An emergency mobilization order has been issued even for Academy students for regional defense. Normally, first-years are excluded from mobilization, but this is an exceptional situation. I will be selecting students who can contribute to our combat power, and I will tell you who is to remain at the school."
The boundary zone—the place where the land humans had reclaimed, installing devices to suppress and purify Mana, met the land that remained untamed. A large-scale regional defense battle was about to unfold in the western boundary. To protect the reclaimed land from a massive horde of monsters that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, heroes from within the barrier and other regions would be mobilized to fight. In the original novel, even though they were mobilized, the first-years were split into Yoon Siwoo’s team and Sylvia’s team and placed in relatively safe areas. However, the area assigned to the protagonist Yoon Siwoo’s team—a place predicted to have almost no monster activity—was swarmed by more monsters than expected, forcing the students with him into a fierce battle. Fortunately, thanks to Yoon Siwoo’s efforts, his team returned without any casualties, and Sylvia’s team returned without having to fight anything serious. If I could just stick to Sylvia’s side, I could survive today. That was why I had trained so desperately. I hadn't hesitated to do crazy things like facing a real sword with my bare body, and while killing goblins and monsters was difficult, I had managed it. Because I feared death above all else, I was able to accomplish things less terrifying than that.
"First, the 17 students who received a 0 from me on the first day will all remain at the school to help evacuate the citizens. You know why, don't you?"
The students who had received a 0 on the first day looked both frustrated and relieved at Eve’s words. Aside from the class rep, the members of the 3rd group I had trained with were all included in that list. If they didn't know what was about to happen, that reaction would be normal.
"Daniel, Andre, and Mei—you are sufficient as combat power, but please stay at the school. Even if a monster manages to get inside, the three of you should be able to handle it without any casualties."
In order, that was the spear-user, the shield-user, and the class rep. I had tried not to call them by their names. I knew they would stay at the school. I had done it because I was afraid that if I called them by their names, I might grow attached. Because everyone who stayed at this school today... died.
"Evande."
Eve called my name after the three of them. She looked at me with a meaningful gaze and asked, "What will you do?"
Contrary to my expectations, she gave me a choice. It meant that even though my performance against the monsters in the previous training had been lacking, I was sufficient. Even though the only martial art I knew was 2nd-dan Taekwondo and all I could do was emit flames from my hands and feet. Even considering that, I, Scarlet Evande, was on the stronger side compared to other students. A lifeline that would guarantee my survival if I grabbed it had suddenly been thrust in front of me. I could have just left, praying that the gymnasium doors would protect everyone. It was likely the best choice for me. I hesitated for a moment, but...
"Don't do anything you'll regret later."
The words of my history teacher came to mind, and I carefully pushed that lifeline away. "...I'll stay."
Eve nodded at my answer. "Understood. The gymnasium doors are rigged to signal me when they're closed, so if anything happens, lock the doors and hold out inside. I'll send someone to help you."
I nodded. I didn't even want to think about it, but if I followed Sylvia and something went wrong and everyone died, I would surely regret for the rest of my life that I hadn't chosen to stay. I thought of the sturdy doors that looked like they could block anything that came their way. If I couldn't believe in the results I had created because I wanted to save everyone, who would? Instead of the most certain lifeline, I grabbed the new one I had discovered through my own actions.
After Eve left with the students, I helped the surrounding citizens evacuate to the gymnasium. The magic known as the "barrier" perfectly blocked Mana from entering, but it was said that it didn't perfectly block monsters. Because it blocked Mana, monsters born from Mana were significantly weakened if they forced their way through the barrier, but they were still strong enough to harm citizens. Normally, heroes stationed near the barrier would deal with such monsters, but most of them had been mobilized elsewhere. That was why shelters were set up everywhere, allowing a minimal number of heroes to protect as many citizens as possible. With the students remaining in the gymnasium and the few non-combatant teachers, we could easily handle any weak monsters that managed to cross the barrier and were further weakened. Honestly, it was an overkill of combat power for a single shelter. Normally, that is.
What on earth happened in the original story that caused everyone to die? Was it a monster that strong? Or were there so many monsters that the students couldn't handle them alone? The only thing I knew was that it was the work of monsters, one way or another. The description said the gymnasium was filled with blood. If it had been a terrorist attack, there would have been corpses. But the lack of corpses meant it was the work of monsters. It was one of their habits to devour everything they saw, whether it was a person or a corpse. They were monsters with a terrifying setting: they had no limit to their stomachs, and the more they ate, the stronger they became.
Time passed. The citizens living nearby seemed to have finished evacuating. The other kids looked relieved, as if they could finally let their guard down. But I trembled with anxiety. I didn't know when or where a monster might attack. I wanted to just lock the doors right then and there, but I couldn't do that on my own. I wondered if there was a good idea, and thought that if I looked from the roof, I might be able to see the monsters coming. Whether there were many of them or they were strong, they would surely stand out from afar. If the monsters were fast, we might be too late to lock the doors if we only realized it while inside the gym, so I thought if I could see them in advance, I could run down, alert everyone, and lock the doors. Since I couldn't watch every direction alone, I persuaded the class rep, the spear-user, and the shield-user. The kids laughed, saying I was too worried, but they followed me to the roof anyway. The female student from the 3rd group who had telekinesis and hated bugs also followed us, saying she was bored.
On the roof, I took the direction of the school gate, and the class rep and the others took the other directions. Honestly, we didn't need five people to watch all four sides, but it didn't matter. We began to watch the quiet city, empty of people, from the roof. An hour passed since we’d come up to watch the surroundings. Was nothing going to happen after all? Just as I was thinking that, I saw someone walking toward the academy from far away. Was there still someone who hadn't evacuated? As I focused on the figure that looked like a small dot, I realized it was the girl with dark purple hair who had once spoken to me. The female student who had been wandering around the others chatting because she was bored must have seen her too, because she said in surprise, "There was someone who hadn't evacuated yet? I'll tell them to hurry!"
The girl brought her hands to her mouth and started shouting. I wondered what she was doing, but the girl who had walked up near the school gate stopped and looked up at us. It seemed she had used telekinesis to transmit her voice from afar. For some reason, I felt like my eyes had met the girl's. The girl stopped, pulled a large, black, glittering orb from her pocket, and then, smiling with her lips stretched wide like melted cheese, she spoke.
A monstrous shriek echoed through the air.