The Mock Battle and Lee Se-na (Part 3)
'Good. This is exactly how it needs to go.' The seed of doubt had taken root in Lee Se-na. Once her favorable feelings toward me grew even a little, the moment would come when the difference between her and Seo Moon-hyun would become painfully clear. When that day arrived, Lee Se-na would stay by my side for the rest of her life.
"The inside of the building looks fine?"
"It's bigger than I expected. And nothing's broken."
"There's even a sofa left in here. We could sit and rest for a bit."
"First, let's gather everyone."
After confirming the building could safely house people, we immediately sprang into action.
"Kuuuung~"
Right in front of us appeared monsters with sharp claws, pale white skin, and shark-like heads walking on two legs. There were roughly thirty of them.
"Scavenger - Model Shark, huh."
"Easy pickings."
Scavenger-Sharks were fairly well-known monsters. The name "Scavenger" referred to weak bipedal monsters that usually fed on the corpses of larger creatures inside dungeons, making them the weakest of the weak. Even so, just like hyenas—famous scavengers that actually preferred hunting—Scavenger-Sharks actively hunted humans when given the chance.
"Kuuuuaaa!"
The entire pack of Scavenger-Sharks was slaughtered in an instant by the students without me needing to lift a finger. It was only natural. Even without counting me, the top first-year students—Seo Moon-hyun, Arian, Yee Eun-chae, and Yoo Eun-chae—had all passed through fierce competition to enter the National Hero Academy. Handling bottom-tier monsters like Scavengers was well within their capabilities.
'We're getting close now.'
We began moving the survivors to the secured building. The first destination, Seonwi Apartment Building 13, was now right in front of us.
"Kuuuung!"
Occasionally, not only bipedal monsters but also quadrupedal ones with exceptional speed would appear. Ordinary people would have been instantly hunted down, but with all twenty of us being Mana Awakeners and on guard, even the weaker members could handle them. Even Lee Se-na, our healer, possessed physical abilities and senses far beyond those of normal humans.
"Where do you think you're going!"
"Kieeeek?!"
We dispatched the lowest-tier monsters with ease and finally arrived in front of Seonwi Apartment Building 13. The elevator had already stopped working.
'We'll have to walk up.'
We would need to climb the stairs. Fortunately, there were no monsters nearby, so the ascent would be quick.
"I don't sense any monster presences nearby. Still, stay alert just in case."
"I know."
"Alright, let's go!"
Despite the complete lack of tension in her voice, I didn't bother pointing it out. We reached the fifth floor without any issues.
"This is it."
We stopped in front of the room where we could feel the presence of people.
"We know you're in there. We've come to rescue you, so please come out."
- How can we trust you?
A negative response came from inside, as expected. It was only natural that they wouldn't trust a group of people in their early twenties who had suddenly appeared. We could easily have been bandits pretending to be rescuers.
There was an effective way to persuade them in situations like this.
"Then we'll just force the door open and come in. We came here to rescue you quietly through conversation rather than breaking in… but if we decide to open the door ourselves, we'll show you that we can harm you whenever we want."
The students' expressions turned awkward at my near-threat. It was an understandable reaction. But I wasn't finished.
"However, even though we have this kind of power, the reason we're not harming you and are trying to persuade you instead is because our goal is to rescue you. There are many other people we still need to save, so I hope you'll believe us."
Without waiting for a reply, I drew my sword and channeled magic power into it. While I was capable of erasing an entire city if I wished, the power I intended to use now was merely enough to cut through the iron door in front of me.
'It's built sturdy with iron, but that's all it is.'
There were countless Mana Awakeners who could easily destroy an iron door. With a single swing of my sword, the section containing the handle and lock was cleanly sliced away, and the door swung open lightly.
"H-huh?"
Inside were survivors staring at us with terrified eyes—a middle-aged man, a middle-aged woman, and what appeared to be their high-school-aged daughter and middle-school-aged son.
"Rest assured. As I said, we are not here to harm you. We've come to rescue you."
"How can we believe that?"
The middle-aged man spoke with clear wariness, but I simply swung my sword and left a large sword mark inside the house. They might complain about property damage, but this was virtual reality anyway.
"Oh, that's pretty flashy."
"Brother, wouldn't showing them my explosion be more convincing than this?"
Abdul Hassan suggested demonstrating his explosive power to prove we could kill them but chose not to, but I rejected the idea.
'That would just attract hordes of monsters.'
Even if monsters did swarm us, we could handle them, but using his ability now would be a waste. Besides, the real reason he offered was because he wanted to show off his power in a flashy way. There were people who found explosions artistic, and Abdul seemed to be one of them.
"Wait a moment. Abdul, you'll get your chance to use your ability soon."
"Oh! Brother, I'll believe you and look forward to it!"
I spoke to the middle-aged man, whose expression had stiffened at the mention of explosions.
"As I've already told you, if we wanted to harm you, we wouldn't bother with this kind of deception. We could simply cut you down like that. All twenty of us are Mana Awakeners."
At my words, not only the middle-aged man but also his wife, daughter, and son began trembling violently. At the same time, they seemed to accept that we weren't there to hurt them.
"Th-then you really are here to rescue us?"
"Yes, that's right. Our plan is to gather all the survivors in a safe location. After that, we'll split our numbers, leave some people to protect you, and continue moving as a rescue team with the rest."
Ten minutes had already passed. If I spent too long explaining while rescuing four people, we wouldn't be able to save all 137.
'The real difficulty of this rescue is time.'
Of course, there would be no penalty for failing to rescue everyone. This was merely the first practical class conducted in virtual reality. However, the abilities we displayed in this class would determine our future.
"A-alright, I understand."
"Yes. Then we'll escort you to a safe location."
After saying that, I turned to Park Byeong-gyu.
"Hey, Park Byeong-gyu."
"Y-yes!"
"Can you lift four people?"
"I-it's possible. But complex movements are still difficult. I can only carry them and move…"
"Ah, got it. Then lift those four people. And let's jump straight down from the fifth floor."
"What?!"
"F-from the fifth floor?!"
The rescued survivors were flustered by my words, but I smiled reassuringly at them.
"Don't worry. We'll all jump down together. You just need to close your eyes tightly, and when you open them, you'll be in a safe place, rescued without a worry."
Since I couldn't afford to waste time on their protests when they still couldn't feel at ease, I spoke to Lee Se-na.
"Se-na. You know we don't have much time. So bear with me for a moment."
"Huh? Kyaa?!"
Lee Se-na hadn't immediately understood, but when I lifted her in a princess carry, she let out a small surprised yelp. As I held her, I felt the soft texture of her skin and caught the sweet scent of her body.
"Osada Saya, you'll ride on my back. Just hold on tight."
Next was Osada Saya, who couldn't safely jump from the fifth floor herself.
"A-alright."
She seemed surprised that I was carrying Lee Se-na, but she climbed onto my back without complaint.
"I'll go first. You guys follow quickly."
After casually destroying the veranda railing, I jumped down from the fifth floor of the apartment building and landed lightly. I made sure to divert the impact so it wouldn't reach Lee Se-na in my arms or Osada Saya on my back. They safely reached the ground outside the apartment in no time.
Thud! Thud!
As the other students followed, jumping down leisurely one after another, Lee Se-na hurriedly fixed her skirt with her hands and avoided my gaze.
[I'm embarrassed… He should have said something first.]
While outwardly pretending to assist with my magic power the survivors who were being lifted by telekinesis, I focused on her thoughts and appearance.
"U-uaaah?!"
"Someone save us!"
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Help us!"
The four survivors suddenly floating in midair at the fifth-floor height screamed, but they were all lowered to the ground without a single scratch.
'They wet themselves.'
The mother and daughter seemed to have slightly wet themselves from the shock of being suspended in midair five stories up, but I decided to pretend not to notice.