It's an Academy Raid Aaaattack!!! # 2
It's an Academy Raid Aaaattack!!! # 2
It was like watching a battle straight out of myth.
—KWA-BOOM!
—KRUUUUUUUUUM!
The gate was fucking huge.
The dimensional rift carved horizontally looked over twenty meters long. Out of that rift came monsters and monsterkin, spilling down like an airborne legion.
"Kill 'em! Die! You shitty monster bastards!"
"You dare attack our fragrant place of learning!"
"Seniors! The housing prices are gonna drop even more now!"
"Wipe 'em all out! Fucking bastards!"
"I can't stand the housing price thing!!!"
Our active-duty heroes were just that damn strong.
—BOOM!
—CRUNCH!
Every time they swung a spear, a sword, or a scythe, monsters burst apart. The ones dropping in from the sky got shredded into meat before they could even touch the ground.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!"
The standout performer was, without a doubt, the Chairwoman. She kept swinging her blade, wrecking monster after monster.
—CHWAAAAACK!
Monster corpses bloomed everywhere. A full-on slaughter. It was so bad that cleaning up the bodies looked ten times harder than the killing.
These aren't medieval warriors... no. They're hero berserkers, great generals. In what world are you calling that a hero?
But that wasn't all.
—BRRRRRRRRRRT!
—BRRRRRRRRRRT!
—BRRRRRRRRRRT!
The anti-air turrets on the rooftops opened fire. They were aimed above the Chairwoman, who was fighting in the sky.
—PBWABABABANG!
Flying monsters materialized there and got torn to shreds, raining down. What caliber were those Vulcan cannons again? 20mm rounds can chew through anything up to E-rank monsters.
As I watched the scene quietly—
—Ding.
A familiar notification chimed.
「Main Quest Issued」
「Main Quest: Academy Raid」
A window appeared before my eyes.
Oh, nice. Now the quest decides to show up? Feels like it's one step late. Or is it that the heroes are just way too fast?
「A massive gate has appeared at the academy. Survive.」
Survive, my ass. Looks to me like the monsters are the ones who need to survive.
「Reward: 3,000 Coin.」
Holy shit!
But the reward is totally stacked!
That's an entire Stat Point right there!
"Hell yeah!"
All I have to do is survive!
This place is harder to die in than to live in.
Even if I tried my damn hardest to die, I'd probably still pull through. And look over there.
A ripped dude in hot pants with a bunny headband stood watch, holding a magic wand. Green light was leaking from his eyes, and in his other hand, he had a first-aid kit. My rough estimate pegged him as a healer.
The kind of guy who'd use any means necessary to keep a wounded person alive. How the hell would I die with a healer like that around?
"Geun-cheol? What'd you just say?"
"I said hell yeah. Look. I'm just standing here and the monsters are all dying anyway. Damn. So these are our active-duty hero seniors?"
"Heh heh, they really are, huh. They're all incredible. As expected of active heroes."
Guys like Si-hoo, Leona, and Ryu Cheon-hwi were strong, but they probably weren't as strong as these professional active-duty heroes.
Truly overwhelming.
So there I was, standing behind Instructor Lee So-ra, watching the battle with Si-hoo.
—Crackle.
Something.
—Cracklecrackle.
A weird headache hit me, like something was bearing down.
"...Uh."
What the hell? I felt a strange sense of déjà vu... my vision blurred. Like a dream. Didn't something like this happen before?
—TSSSHT!
At the same moment, a landscape flashed before my eyes, and a single intense thought shot through my head.
"Oh."
This.
This... the raid isn't the end of it.
I had a strong hunch that there was more to come.
"What is it?"
I couldn't even understand what I'd just thought. What was that premonition? Did I suddenly develop precognition or something? And I thought I saw a faint landscape, but it was too blurry to parse.
Right then.
「Academy Raid — Additional Quest」
「There are those seeking to exploit this situation. Eliminate the presence attempting to infiltrate the academy.」
「Reward: 2,000 Coin」
A new notification window popped up.
"..."
Right... so there is more going on.
I'm getting the picture. This is one of the game's main quests. There's a story here that I don't know about, and whenever something happens, there's always a reason. The notification says there's something trying to slip into the academy.
This gate situation is part of some scheme. If so, what was that sensation I just felt? Did I really awaken some sixth sense?
Or was it a signal that I need to progress the main quest?
A hint?
"Hahahahahaha!!! All of you graduates, coming back to fight alongside us!!! This Chairwoman could not be more overjoyed!!!"
The Chairwoman's booming voice rang out.
"Kim Geun-cheol. And Lee Si-hoo. Observe their combat patterns. Does it not look a bit unrestrained and reckless to you?"
Instructor Lee So-ra's words snapped me back to reality. I'll think about that weird phenomenon later, when things calm down.
"Yes, ma'am. It does. Even I can see it's messy. It lacks tactics."
"You've observed correctly. Those heroes are practically playing right now. With the Chairwoman and this many active heroes gathered, and this being their alma mater, with classmates and seniors and juniors all around... rather than staying on edge, they're putting on a bit of a flashy show and enjoying themselves. Truth is, you shouldn't fight like that."
I got the gist.
"So you're saying morale's loosened up because the Chairwoman's here and victory's a sure thing. Guess even heroes don't always keep their edge razor-sharp, huh?"
"Heroes are people too."
Fair enough.
"Now, now. That's the end of your sightseeing. Cadets, head back inside."
"Wait, Instructor? Can't we just stay and watch a bit more? It doesn't look that dangerous out here?"
"If something falls on you, I'd have to do laundry. Enough talk, head in. Lee Si-hoo. Keep a good eye on Kim Geun-cheol. Head that way."
Instructor Lee So-ra pointed beyond us.
"Go quietly. Don't go sneaking off anywhere."
"What about you, Instructor? Aren't you coming with us?"
"I'm joining that fight."
"Ah."
"Go."
"Geun-cheol. Let's go, quickly."
Si-hoo grabbed me by the wrist right away.
"Yeah, yeah. We're going in."
Except this wasn't the time to go in. The additional quest said something was trying to infiltrate the academy. If I don't handle it, will someone else take care of it for me?
"No way."
Gut instinct told me otherwise.
Right here, in this insane chaos—while the heroes rampaged and the monsters were getting mulched—some bastards were aiming for exactly this moment. The quest popping up for me meant there was a damn good reason.
I have to handle this.
Well, if it looks too dangerous, I'll bail. But first, I need to poke around.
"Hey, Si-hoo."
That was the moment I called out to Si-hoo, who was pulling me along.
"Geun-cheol."
"Huh? What?"
"You go in first."
What? Go in first?
"Go first? What are you gonna do?"
"I need to look around a bit."
Si-hoo stopped, turned to face me, and grinned. Wait, was this guy telling me he was gonna play hooky?
"Heh heh heh, you little shit, you're planning to skip out, aren't you?"
"That's right."
"Dude. No matter what, isn't this a bit dangerous?"
Let me prod a little.
"Of course it's dangerous. But Geun-cheol, look. Right now, the active heroes and the Chairwoman are all fighting together, right? When am I ever gonna get a chance to see that up close? Should I really let this opportunity slip by?"
Si-hoo's eyes were burning with enthusiasm.
"Even if I get chewed out later, watching this is worth it. So I'm gonna scope it out a bit. Geun-cheol, you head in. It'll be too dangerous for you."
"Wow. Si-hoo, you've got some serious guts, man! You're gonna watch the pros fight?"
Once Si-hoo said he was going.
That settled it.
"Hey! Then I'm coming too!"
I have to go clear this main quest. And I'm gonna need Si-hoo to pull it off.
"Geun-cheol. It's gonna be dangerous. You're still a scrub, you know."
"Scrub my ass. Hey. I'm with you, what the hell am I in danger from? Let's go, hurry up!"
"Well, why not! Geun-cheol! No blaming me later when you get in trouble!"
Si-hoo said it with a delighted face. Felt like he was enjoying this little bit of mischief. Well, he was strong enough to get away with it.
—FWOOSH!
And just like that, we changed course. A gut feeling. If I follow Si-hoo like this, I'll reach my destination.
"Oh! If something goes wrong, I'm blaming you one hundred percent!"
"Guess Geun-cheol doesn't care about the consequences! Anyway! That way!"
We headed straight for the back of the building. Watching out in the open would get us caught for sure. We needed to find a good vantage point!
"Oh! It's pretty quiet back here!"
The rear of the building was relatively quiet. No monsters, no heroes. The fighting was happening in the central part of the campus.
"Alright, Geun-cheol. Now let's find a spot around here and... uh."
The moment Si-hoo spoke.
—VWOOOOOM!
Suddenly, a gate began forming right in front of us! The air was splitting open horizontally, a hole tearing wide! That fucking insane gate!
"Si-hoo! Gate!"
"Yeah! I see it!"
I already had my blade drawn. Si-hoo had his sword gripped tight, focused and ready! Was this... were we supposed to take this thing out ourselves?
"I'm trusting you, Si-hoo!"
"Focus! It's coming!"
"Right!"
Then fuck it, I'll fight!
I know how to fight too!
—TSSSHT!
—VWEEEEEEENG!
And right in front of the gate, something humanoid started materializing!
"Is that a monsterkin?!"
It was still just a silhouette! But the shape was clear! A humanoid monsterkin clad in carapace! The defining feature was both hands formed into pincer claws!
—FWAAAT!
At the same instant, Si-hoo kicked off the ground and lunged viciously. Without a shred of hesitation, he swung his blade at the monsterkin that was still spawning in.
—SEVER!
Result: while still mid-summon, the monsterkin's upper body lopped right off and dropped... Lee Si-hoo, you bastard!
"Dude, you're attacking them during the summon?!"
"Geun-cheol! Hurry! You too! This is still tactics! You can call it their fever time!"
"Fever time my ass! Alright, I'm going in!"
Watching those summoning monsterkin get helplessly owned made my confidence explode! Right! Just kill 'em before they finish spawning!
—THUD.
The one with its upper half on the ground. That one's summon must've finally completed just then, because it was dead with its full form realized.
Attacking mid-transformation is optimal, after all!
"Weapon Enchant!"
—FWOOSH!
I immediately wrapped my sword in magic power and charged. The number of monsterkin spawning was significant. But if I just go ham and slice 'em?
"DIE!!!"
With that thought, I thrust my blade.
—SEVER!
And just like that, I cut down one of the summoning monsterkin. The blade passed through its silhouette effortlessly, splitting it clean in two, exactly like Si-hoo had just done...!
"Got it!"
First kill!
[Coin acquired: 50]
And the notification chimed!
Once I heard that, there was no holding back!
"WRAAAAAAAH!"
I just started slashing wildly in every direction, carving up every single monsterkin that was still spawning!
[Coin acquired: 50]
[Coin acquired: 43]
[Coin acquired: 51]
[Coin acquired: 39]
"Si-hoo! These bastards are total pushovers!"
"Don't get careless! Cut down every last one!"
"Right!"
Si-hoo was doing the same, madly slicing through the monsterkin silhouettes!
"Bwahaha! You shitty luckless bastards! Of all the raids to pull, you run into us!"
"Yeah! Guess we're pretty lucky!"
—SHWAAAAAAACK!
Just as we'd carved up all the monsterkin like that—
"GYAAAAAAAACK!"
Abruptly, from beyond, a monsterkin towering over two meters tall appeared!
"That bastard! That bastard must be the boss! He's the only one who got his own ass summoned successfully!"
Sacrificed his underlings to summon the big boss!