It's an Academy Raid Aaaattack!!! # 3
It's an Academy Raid Aaaattack!!! # 3
"GE-RYAAAAK!"
A giant nearly two meters tall.
The bastard had a body roughly like a human's, but his skin was all carapace like a crab, and both hands ended in pincers.
Could these fuckers be the ones who break into the school during the chaos? They look kind of underwhelming for a main quest. More than anything, I just can't imagine shitheads like this pulling off an infiltration.
"It's a monsterkin Kamakumt!"
"A Kamakumt!"
The second I heard the name Kamakumt, I knew this thing was trash-tier.
"Si-hoo! By your standards, isn't this guy a joke?"
"You don't think like that in a fight! Geun-cheol! Let's gang up on him! He's a Commander-Class Individual, so stay sharp!"
"Abilities?"
"None! They fight with raw physical power!"
So his rank's gotta be low!
"Geun-cheol! Get behind him!"
"Got it!"
—Fwat!
I kicked off the ground and swung wide to his left. The building wall was on the right.
And then.
"Geryak!"
The bastard twisted his body to follow me, his crab-leg-riddled maw squirming and wriggling. What is this, District 9?
Anyway, the guy swung that pincer with a whole lot of force—
—Bwoong!
—and I went,
"You fucker!"
Slow!
Why does it feel so slow? I remembered the training where I'd stare down Woo Yu-ri's sword strikes. Compared to Yu-ri's swordsmanship, an arm swing like that may as well be slow motion. The moment I realized it, this illusion of my body getting lighter came over me—
—Fwat!
I stepped back without much trouble, dodging the attack completely.
"Whoa! Total joke!"
Hell yeah! Who knew I'd feel the training paying off like this?
[Skill increased by 1.]
And the stat boost is a bonus! Anyway, I circled behind him and completely pulled aggro. The bastard fixed those crab-like eyes on me, swiveling them every which way.
"Bring it, you piece of shit!"
"Geryak, geryak."
Just as I was thinking about how to handle him, the bastard took one step forward and dropped his stance a little.
That instant—
—Shatter!
Si-hoo, who had gotten behind him, sliced the bastard straight down the middle!
"Hell yeah!"
The monsterkin Kamakumt split left and right and collapsed. You could really call that a clean exit.
[Coins acquired: 68]
Coins are just pouring in, huh? I only pulled aggro and still earned 68 coins.
"Nice! Si-hoo! That was some slick teamwork!"
"Hoo. He was an F-rank monsterkin. Not a very tough opponent, so no need to be scared. Still have to be careful, though. One hit from those pincers and you're done."
"I figured. But is this the end?"
I looked back.
No other gates around, and the ground in every direction was covered in monsterkin corpses. Enemies completely wiped out, and we'd racked up a ton of coins.
This is straight-up power-leveling, isn't it?
"Heh-heh, isn't this too easy?"
"We ambushed them during the summoning. Geun-cheol, if they'd all been summoned at once and attacked together, we'd have had to run."
"True."
No matter how well you fight, you can't beat a gang-up.
"More importantly, what the hell are these guys?"
The quest-complete notification didn't pop up. Which means these guys aren't my targets—they're small fry. Still, I should find out who they are.
"Hmm, how should I put it."
Si-hoo folded his arms and tilted his head.
"They're not especially strong monsterkin. Honestly, you could say they're kind of in an awkward spot between monsterkin and monster."
"Yeah? So, half-monsterkin?"
I kept scanning our surroundings while I listened.
"Maybe? I heard they're dumb, so other monsterkin use them as slave labor. You could pretty much call them monsters."
"What."
Used as slaves by other monsterkin?
"Used as slaves? Then, Si-hoo, isn't it possible some nasty monsterkin sent these slave-soldiers?"
"Could be. It's pretty common for monsterkin to exploit a Gate Incident. I feel like there's some objective here... What reason would they have to stick their necks into an attack on a heavily defended school? Suspicious."
Si-hoo wiped his lip as he reasoned.
This guy's sharp, too. When I thought about the main quest's content, Si-hoo's deduction made sense. No, it's probably the right answer.
Because this whole thing is suspicious as fuck right now.
"Hm."
Still, I guess that's just how it goes?
A game always has story lines. I don't know much since I've never played this game, but Si-hoo is the protagonist. So maybe he's just the kind of guy who naturally follows that flow?
"Yeah, I think something's going on."
"Si-hoo. Even if something is going on, wouldn't it be better to leave it to the adults?"
"Well, that'd be safer, sure. Still, Geun-cheol."
"Hm?"
"Honestly... it's fun, right?"
Truly, refreshingly—
—Grin.
Si-hoo smiled.
"Wanna investigate a little more? The adults are going to handle everything anyway. I don't think there's a problem if we move around a bit."
"Heh-heh-heh! Look at you, you juvenile delinquent!"
Hell yeah!
He's right!
The adults are going to solve everything anyway, so a little roaming around on our part shouldn't be a problem. Gotta use an opportunity like this to farm experience. That's what kids are for.
"Then let's go together! Si-hoo!"
"Heh-heh-heh, I figured you'd say that, Geun-cheol. Let's fight together!"
"Hell yeah!"
—Fwat!
And so Si-hoo and I moved out.
"Trying to exploit a school-attack situation... I think this is no small deal. An attack on the school... yeah, the risk is way too high. Even if you say they're just taking advantage of a gate opening, the chances they lose every single monster or monsterkin they send in are way above ninety percent."
"Yeah. Everything that got summoned right now is getting shredded."
Si-hoo was right; the cost-performance on this is terrible.
Let's say a gate opened at the school. The monsterkin decide to exploit the situation and carry out some scheme because the gate is open. But the troops committed to that scheme are as good as dead.
So that means they have an objective worth those losses. And an objective like that is probably something huge.
"Si-hoo. There might be a scheme important enough that they're okay sacrificing all their troops in the middle of this clusterfuck."
In a normal game, that's how it works, right?
"Honestly, it's a bit of a stretch, but... yeah, it's possible."
"Right?"
"So let's go find it!"
Si-hoo and I rounded the back of the building and started searching. I mean, I'm working on a quest and all, but Si-hoo seemed to just plain enjoy being in a real fight.
—KWA-BOOOOOM!
—Kwoong!
The booming sounds hadn't stopped. The fighting still isn't over? One thing's for sure: an absolutely insane amount of enemies is pouring in.
We carried out a massacre like that, and there are still enemies left?
That's when it happened.
—...
While I was running and searching, I glanced toward some bushes and suddenly saw a squirming light leaking from that spot.
That?
"Yo, yo! Si-hoo!"
"Huh?"
"Look at that! I think there's something!"
"Something like what?"
I pointed straight at it, and Si-hoo headed that way, sword aimed.
"I don't really feel anything..."
To the point where even Si-hoo can't sense it? That's not normal. I aimed my weapon too and watched the area.
Then.
—Squirm, squirm.
"The?"
From under the brush, a small, grayish slime, sort of like a tiny slime, began to ooze and wriggle out. What the hell is this? Is it really a slime-type monster? Slimes have that joke-trash reputation, but the way Western stuff describes them, they're monsters that melt and eat people.
There's literally a movie called The Blob.
"Si-hoo... you know what this is?"
"No."
"What?"
"I don't know! It's a monster I've never seen! Geun-cheol! Let's just wreck it!"
"Yeah! Let's do it!"
The size—no, the surface area of the slime was small. Maybe a liter's worth, at most. Si-hoo immediately wrapped his sword in Sword Aura and slashed the thing to absolute hell, and I coated my blade with weapon enchantment and attacked the fuck out of it too.
—Chuk-chuk!
—Shwick-shwick!
It was just two guys stabbing the ground and going apeshit.
"It's splitting!"
—Squirm, squirm.
The slime kept splitting and getting smaller. Our sword strikes were clearly doing damage. The tiny split pieces of slime vibrated feebly.
But it didn't disappear.
"Si-hoo. I have this feeling we have to kill this shit for real."
"In that case!"
Abruptly, Si-hoo lifted his foot.
—Fwoosh!
And aura started coiling around that foot!
"Let's stomp it! I think stomping will be easier than stabbing with a sword!"
"Foot Aura...! You've gone beyond Sword Aura to Erect—Aura!"
"Wh-whaaaat?! Er-Erect-Aura?!"
"Nice! I gotta try it too! Erect—Aura!"
Let's put the know-how I learned from Instructor Kawar to use! The instant I focused and imagined sending mana into my foot—
—Smear-smear!
Mana wrapped around my foot!
In one shot, Erect—Aura success!
"Ooooh! Erect—Aura success!"
"Geun-cheol...! Enough with the words and just stomp! We have to pop all of it!"
"Fine!"
I'll savor the joy of my erect success later. First, let's wreck this slime!
"Tap Dance from Hell!"
—Pah-pah-pah-pat!
Right away, I stomped the scattered slime bits all over the ground with my Erect—Aura-wrapped foot and danced a tap dance!
Truly, the Slime Tap Dance!
"Ah, shit, but I'm busting out a tap dance and I'm not even getting a billion won for it!"
You know, normally when you stomp on something, the proper way is to get paid. Get a billion won vs. stomp on a slime. Something along those lines.
Anyway.
—Squelch!
After stomping the ever-loving hell out of the slime, the slime fragments finally stopped vibrating and withered up dry. Looked like we finally killed it.
"Nice! Geun-cheol! I think we wiped it out!"
"What the hell kind of monster was that?"
I mean, we dicked around a little, but this thing was small and weak, so we stomped it out fast. Could this be the intruder the main quest talked about?
Doesn't seem like it... wait.
Why didn't I get any coins?
"Huh?"
"Geun-cheol?"
"No."
—Splat!
A sound came from below. I had a bad feeling about this, so I yanked my foot back and jumped away—that instant.
—SPLAT!!!
All of a sudden, the withered slime fragments rushed together insanely fast and shot upward like a fountain erupting!
—Pshaaaaaaaa!
"Son of a bitch! Si-hoo! Fall back for now!"
"Yeah...!"
Is this a goddamn phase two?!
And then—
—Splat!
—Splat-splat!
The slime—
"Holy shit! The slime is transforming!!!"
The slime was splatting its body around as it transformed!
"Hyap!"
The bastard is rapidly constructing a body...! Si-hoo darted out and thrust his sword, but—
—Tang!
"N-no way!"
The sword, wrapped in Sword Aura, bounced right off!
Incredible defense!
—Squirm, squirm!
At the same time, the transformation kicked into overdrive. A face formed in an instant. But the face... huh?
"Lee Si-hoo?!"
The face is Lee Si-hoo!
A transformation slime!
"This fucker, is it a Doppelganger...?!"
"M-My face?!"
And it's making a body too!
Naked, for now!
It can't mimic clothes? I had that thought for a split second, then I saw something absolutely astonishing.
"What the?!"
This bastard's body—
"Fuck! It's Lee Si-hoo's face on a naked bombshell!!!"
"G-Geun-cheoooool?!"
"LOOK AT IT!"
This is insane, holy shit! What the hell is this!
"OH FUCK! SNAFU! SNAAAAAAFUUUUUUU!!!"
It's a slime with Lee Si-hoo's face and a woman's body!!!
Why are its boobs so freaking huge!!!
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!"
"KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGH!!!"
Si-hoo and I had no choice but to scream in stereo...!