Crisis of the Heroines
"D-don't come any closer!" Lee Se-na tried to crawl away across the ground, but the sight only inflamed the villains' lust. Even so, she refused to simply lie there and take it. The thought of her body being defiled in such a way was something she had never even imagined, leaving her paralyzed by terror and unsure what to do. If they had simply been after her life, she might have faced it with far more composure.
"Hehehe~ Where do you think you're going?"
"Kyaaah!"
When one of the villains grabbed the hem of her short academy uniform skirt, Lee Se-na screamed. As a non-combat student, she naturally wore nothing underneath. Feeling the hand slip beneath the fabric, tears began streaming down her face. Her hands were bound by mana ropes, so all she could do was kick desperately, but the villains holding her legs simply found her resistance amusing.
"Oh! Hey! She's crying!"
"Heh, the crying face is damn hot! Tch!"
That was the end of it. The two villains who had been about to violate Lee Se-na, along with the other two who had been licking their lips while watching, suddenly collapsed backward. They lay motionless on the floor. Using her mana-awakener senses, Lee Se-na realized they were no longer breathing.
"Wh-what?"
"Are they dead?"
The other students, also restrained and trembling in fear, muttered in shock.
"Se-na, are you okay?"
At the sight of the black-haired male student who appeared before her—Seo Moon-jin—Lee Se-na stared at him blankly, her face still streaked with tears. For a moment, the reality of the situation failed to register. Yet she understood why the villains had suddenly collapsed. He had appeared and saved her.
"Mana ropes. So that's what they used. Hold still for a moment."
With a light swing of the sword in his hand, the mana ropes binding her vanished without a trace. After freeing the other students as well, he approached her and extended his hand. Lee Se-na felt her body shaking uncontrollably.
"Hic… hic…"
The corpses lying right in front of her were horrifying enough, but the memory of those villains' hands reaching under her skirt was far more terrifying. As she quietly sobbed, Seo Moon-jin drew closer and gently comforted her.
"Calm down. Those bastards are finished."
He spoke while softly stroking her back.
"Th-thank you."
Lee Se-na swallowed the sobs threatening to burst forth as she answered. Beyond gratitude toward the man who had saved her in her moment of absolute peril, another feeling was taking root in her heart—dependence. She was afraid to be apart from him. She wanted him to stay by her side and never leave. Perhaps it was because he had rescued her from such danger. If she had lost control of her reason, she would likely have thrown herself into his arms and wept openly.
"They're… dead?"
One of the male students pointed at the villains and asked Seo Moon-jin.
"Yeah. The situation was urgent, so I had no choice but to finish them with a surprise attack."
At his words, everyone present seemed to finally grasp the reality of the villains' deaths, their expressions tense as they stared at the bodies. This was nothing like the death of monsters; a human being had died right before their eyes. Yet because the threat of villains was an undeniable reality in this world, no one voiced any protest. They were simply shaken by witnessing death up close, their minds rejecting the unfamiliar sight.
'They're dead.'
Even though they were villains, their deaths had come far too easily. The thin red lines across their necks proved their throats had been slit in an instant. Their faces still bore the same lecherous expressions they had worn while looking at Lee Se-na, as if they hadn't even realized they were dying. There was no pity. If anything, those expressions only made her more acutely aware that Seo Moon-jin had saved her.
'How can I ever repay this debt?'
The gratitude she felt toward Seo Moon-jin was so profound that she wondered how she could possibly repay him. Though he seemed to have some unpleasant history with her childhood friend Seo Moon-hyun, that was irrelevant now. He was her savior, someone she would owe for the rest of her life. If her previous impression of him had been that he seemed like a decent person despite his conflict with Seo Moon-hyun, then from this moment on, Seo Moon-jin had become an irreplaceable presence in her heart.
* * *
'It's because of the D-rank passive skill, Remembered Favor.'
All ten students were showing gratitude for being saved, and Lee Se-na in particular—having been on the verge of violation—expressed it deeply. Unlike her usual polite speech, which maintained a certain distance, her current words carried a newfound respect.
"Sniff."
Even as she sniffled under his touch, Lee Se-na looked pure and beautiful with her tear-streaked face. More importantly, she was accepting his touch naturally. With nine other pairs of eyes watching, he couldn't embrace her, but this level of comfort could be understood as simply soothing someone who had just survived the worst possible violation. And that was exactly what he was doing.
"Se-na, activate your defensive barrier for now. The instructors will come, so ask them for help. This isn't a normal class situation anymore."
"Ah… I understand. I'll do that."
Lee Se-na didn't hesitate over grades or class performance. She immediately activated her defensive gear. The fact that villains had infiltrated during class to attempt raping her had been far too shocking.
"Then I'll move quickly. It looks like this isn't the only place being attacked."
"Ah!"
At his words, Lee Se-na finally recalled what the villains had been saying. The shock of nearly being violated had made her forget, but now it came rushing back.
"Come to think of it—Arian! Arian Liberin is in danger!"
"I know. I can feel it."
With that, Seo Moon-jin placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Then Se-na, please explain everything when the instructors arrive."
With those words, he moved swiftly. By the time he arrived at his destination, Arian Liberin's figure was already gone. She had already been taken by Rotten Bendision. All that remained were nine students and the fallen villains.
"Damn it! Of all the women left, it had to be these bitches!"
"I wanted to test just how tight Arian's hole really was!"
"Kyaaaaah!"
Just as the villains were spreading the legs of two screaming female students and trying to pull down their panties, Seo Moon-jin mercilessly severed their necks. Their heads rolled across the floor, separated from their bodies, but he paid them no mind. After freeing the nine students—who immediately began thanking him—he ignored them completely and moved on without a glance.
'Now it's time to save Arian.'
He had to go rescue Arian Liberin.
* * *
Going back slightly in time—to when Lee Se-na had just been attacked—Arian Liberin instantly realized this was no longer a class. The group surrounding her made that clear.
"Hehehe~"
"Arian Liberin!"
"Heh~ The princess of the Liberin Kingdom looks even better in person."
A group of six vulgar, menacing men with lecherous gazes had surrounded them. The other students, excluding Arian, had gone deathly pale with fear.
"Th-they look like villains."
"Wh-which organization do they belong to?"
"Huh? Us?"
"Heh! Listen and be amazed! We are members of the great Aeternum Somnium!"
"Hahaha! Scared yet?"
The villains mocked the students with crude laughter, but even their flippant attitude only terrified the students further. After all, Aeternum Somnium was a globally notorious villain organization.
"A-Aeternum Somnium!"
"Wh-why would people like that come here?"
"Waaah!"
Some of the female students had already burst into tears. Arian Liberin bit her lip, having already guessed their target. The villains had no reason to concern themselves with the other students. Among the students present, the only one valuable enough for villains to target was herself.
'To think the National Hero Academy's defenses could be breached so easily…'
No one could have predicted this. It was both the academy's arrogance and the Liberin Kingdom's excessive trust. But the damage was already done.
"What you want… is me, isn't it?"
""
The one who spoke to Arian Liberin in the polite tone of the Liberin Kingdom's language was a middle-aged man with dull gray hair and horrific burn scars across his face.
""
Arian Liberin replied in the same language. His posture reminded her of a Liberin Kingdom knight, and she sensed his identity was far from ordinary.
""