Chapter 17: The Otherworld (9)
The hallway was painted in pitch-black darkness.
Faint light from the flashlight pierced through, illuminating the white dust and scattered objects.
Thud. Thud.
Our footsteps echoed loudly across the marble, swallowing the silence.
Swoosh.
As we rounded the corner and stepped into the shadowed turn, a gaze suddenly pressed against us from the direction we had just left.
That eerie, unsettling stare.
It seemed to assume we had finally noticed it, staring straight at us without hiding.
I pressed my right arm tight against my side, fingers ready to draw my sword at the slightest twitch.
*Strike first.*
When the opponent’s guard is down, you go in first.
“Why are you doing that?”
Rebecca noticed my stiffened expression and asked from beside me.
“Ah… Haha, night school is kinda scary, you know? Hahaha!”
Rebecca nodded seriously, her head tilting at my ridiculous joke.
“Is that so. I’m a bit scared too.”
“Me too~”
Bianca laughed and chimed in.
“If we hadn’t come together, we would’ve been in real trouble.”
Since I had focused all my senses behind us, I answered their replies with a slightly stiff smile.
Should we keep going?
The gaze grew even stickier.
Especially the creepy feeling that seemed to be aimed at Bianca, not me.
Bianca smiled innocently while scanning the surroundings, and beside her, Rebecca remained stone-faced.
Neither of them had noticed this ‘gaze.’
I had to handle it alone.
Clench.
I gripped the top of the sword sheath with my left hand, thumb ready to push the blade out.
Spark.
The gaze grew even stickier. When I looked toward Bianca—
Now.
*Spirit Ground*
I instantly wrapped the Spirit Ground around my body, rotating the marble beneath our feet in the corridor.
Whick.
I turned my body exactly as it was and faced the corner.
*Got it.*
A small figure was visible, only its head poking out from the corner.
It hadn’t reacted yet because I moved too fast.
So this was the perfect moment.
*Spirit Observation*
Boom!
The wind spirit wrapped around my soles and blasted through the air.
With my left thumb flicking the nose, I naturally received the pre-contact right hand and gently drew my sword.
Only now did the figure notice my slash and begin to flail frantically.
Sorry, but it’s already too late.
Swoosh!
I swung the knife in my right hand horizontally and closed in on the figure at a distance where I could see it clearly.
What entered my view was—
Thud.
A small figure with twin tails scattering wildly collapsed to the floor from the corner.
“Eh?”
Alice.
Startled.
Our gazes locked in mid-air—mine panicked, hers wide-eyed.
What the hell is going on?
I flicked my wrist to sheath the sword, then approached the collapsed Alice, supported her, and asked.
“Alice, why are you here?”
“Tha… that’s…”
Alice fidgeted with her fingers, stammering.
“I thought you were sneaking off somewhere and followed you…”
“Hmm.”
Yeah, me who always said ‘sex sex’ to Alice, but rejecting her seductive advances to keep another promise—Alice would definitely be curious.
I might have followed if I were Alice.
Then was the gaze I saw just now from Alice?
No. *Absolutely not?*
No matter how suddenly Alice burst out and shattered my concentration, the figure in the darkness I saw earlier was not her.
That sticky, eerie gaze had been filled with killing intent.
There was definitely ‘something’ more.
With conviction, I stared at the L-shaped corner.
Flicker.
The space slightly warped, the shadow growing hazy.
“Eh… eh? Savior?”
At that moment, Bianca pointed at the empty space I had seen, her words stumbling.
As expected.
Yongan doesn’t lie.
So something definitely existed in that darkness.
The owner of that creepy ‘gaze’ from earlier.
Probably, Alice suddenly collapsing here was because someone had been secretly tailing us. When I suddenly rushed forward, that figure pushed her away in surprise.
Thinking I was now staring firmly, the shadow moved even more fluidly.
Without a word, I quietly faced it. In the instant the shadow suddenly swelled, I drew my sword and slashed toward the flickering pitch-black of the corner.
Puuuuk!
The feeling of being cut at the fingertips.
Bingo.
“Aaaak!!!”
A scream erupted, and the flickering figure revealed its true form in the darkness.
“Insane.”
Seeing the revealed form inside the shadow, I involuntarily spat out a curse.
A blue cap pressed down, a wrinkled face.
It was the water guy.
After the slash I had just delivered, blood gushed from his chest as he staggered back from me.
Pressing the wound with my left hand, but even in this darkness, the water guy’s blood seeping out was—
Denser than the darkness itself. ‘Black.’
What that meant was that the water guy in front of my eyes right now was a demon.
No need to hesitate.
*Kill it.*
*Spirit Slash.*
Fwoosh.
Red flames erupted from the sword, pushing back the darkness.
The demon, after being slashed sharply, tried to escape by kicking the ground, but I was faster.
Boom!
With a boom, the demon’s shoulder flew off and crashed into the side wall.
“Kehk!”
Vomiting blood, the demon collapsed against the wall, unable to stand.
Quickly approaching, I raised my sword to slash the demon’s neck—
Crack!
With the sound of shattering glass, the view reversed.
The pitch-black darkness vanished in an instant, replaced by an unpleasant flood of scarlet light.
Fuck, this.
The space of the scarlet light world, so familiar.
*Otherworld.*
Grit!
Suppressing the dizziness, I continued pushing the sword at the demon, but unfortunately, in that brief gap, the thing rolled and slipped to the side.
Crack!
Again, with the sound of shattering glass, the view reversed.
The scarlet light world vanished, darkness rushing in.
“Saviour! It’s a trap! You must kill it no matter what!”
Bianca’s eyes blazing, she hurried toward me.
Trap?
It had been said that killing the demon in the Otherworld would close it.
Then I could end the Otherworld scenario here?
“Krhaaa!!”
Crawling on the floor, the demon used his remaining left arm to push himself along and escape.
Drdrdrk!
From behind, Alice had sensed the situation and, with sharp sense, shot the demon’s knee, making him stumble.
Thanks to that, the thing staggered and slowed. Then—
*Drawing Sword - Flame Flower*
I needed to insert the skill and pour all my power into that brief gap.
Click.
Mechanically pulling my left foot back, I centered my weight on my right.
And click.
A blue current flickered slightly in the darkness, burning.
A red line extended, connecting the demon.
Chak.
Sucked into the sheath, the clear ring of the sword accompanied the red line blooming like a flower.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The pitch-black darkness of the corridor erupted, devoured greedily by red flames.
Not enough to just swallow the darkness, the flames bit into the demon’s body, the final destination.
Boom!
With a boom, the demon’s body half-burst.
“Okay!”
Seeing the demon’s body explode, I cheered.
Is this how the Otherworld ends?
What the hell is this?!
“Saviour!”
Bianca, who had approached unnoticed, shouted with blazing eyes, staring at the ground in front of me with an urgent voice.
“Look in front! That hand!”
Huh?
Hand?
I turned my view downward.
A hand burned pitch-black, only the wrist remaining, wriggling as it scribbled something on the floor with its own pitch-black blood.
“Fuck!”
I didn’t know what it was, but at times like this, ‘that’ had to be stopped no matter what.
Quickly drawing the sword to cut the fingers, but—
Crack!
The view filled with scarlet light.
“Don’t move!”
Bianca shouted sharply.
“This is its last desperate move! If even a little impact from here affects the Otherworld, we’ll be trapped in our Otherworld! Stay still! Just 10 seconds! Just 10 seconds hold on!”
10 seconds?
I had thought 10 seconds would be enough.
Giggig.
Before seeing the person-shaped thing wriggling at the end of the corridor filled with scarlet light.
Why did it appear here?
This can’t come out from here.
Gigg.
2 seconds.
The stump without anything in the face part turned, looking back at us.
And our eyes met.
Not mine, but someone behind.
5 seconds.
The thing stretched its arm, the twisted wooden stem of the twisted thing reaching out.
8 seconds.
The wooden stem slashed madly, approaching from behind me.
This direction.
Definitely Alice at the end of the corridor.
And this slash.
Alice can never ‘block’ it.
*Spirit Slash!*
The swift slash with the water spirit wrapped around it cut the stem.
“Saviour!”
With Bianca’s single scream, 10 seconds passed.
And everyone except me disappeared from the Otherworld.
“Hah…”
I sighed softly with an incredulous voice.
Giggig!
With a wriggling sound, the withered old tree staggered toward me and turned its direction.
Why did it come out from there?
This is a trash mob that at least 8 stages or more to catch?
A clumsy human form made of crumpled paper, the whole body twisted wooden stems, and only one stump in the head part.
This is ‘Withered Old Tree’.
At first glance, it seems composed of wood and weak to fire, but as the name says, it’s extremely ‘dry’, so rather weak to water— a difficult demon.
Because it’s difficult, in this second scenario, it’s a guy that absolutely ‘can’t come out’.
“Pl.. player.. name…!”
From the side, suddenly Angel popped out.
Sparks burst from Angel’s body, which had a very serious expression.
Accordingly, Angel’s words to me were choppy, delivering to me.
“This… this! Big trouble… yo! It’s not that I alone… scenario… how… ever…!”
Then, as Angel stretched its arm with crackling, pretending to hand me something, the ring interface appeared.
Spirit Ground
“Wh.. I.. can.. do.. up to.. here... because.. of.. cause..”
Flash!
Angel disappeared without finishing the words.
This is quite a big problem?
Up until now, after I entered the game, Angel had not interfered with me at all.
Even if I used the known story to lure Bianca out and planned to end the Otherworld in advance.
But ‘now’ Angel interfered with me for the first time.
Then, it means that the withered old tree I’m seeing now is not the only one.
‘This much’, I can escape the Otherworld without taking any damage.
Perhaps the big trouble Angel mentioned is the boss in this Otherworld.
The boss of the second scenario of the hell mode…
Swoosh.
I twirled the sword, holding it backwards.
Giggig!
With an eerie sound, the withered old tree rushed at me.
I clicked my tongue, in the scarlet light world beside me, quietly lighting a red light.
I shot Spirit Slash at the fire hydrant.
Boom!
With a boom, the water jet erupted.
*Spirit Ground*
Receiving the erupting water jet with the fingertips, using the maximum help of the wind spirit, I scattered the water to the far end of the corridor.
And when I felt several water droplets clinging to the window at the end of the corridor, I—
Crack.
Clenching my hand, I froze all the water droplets scattered in the air.
Crack crack.
All air contracted, spewing cold air.
The withered old tree approaching me suddenly stiffened its body from the sudden cold air, staggering.
This was the optimal timing to kill the thing, but ‘no time for that.’
If Angel said this much, it’s really dangerous.
I ended it as fast as possible.
*Drawing Sword - Flame Flower*
Leaving the stiffened withered old tree, I shot Drawing Sword - Flame Flower from the end of the corridor to the end.
Swoosh.
The red line connected and soon bloomed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
And simultaneously, the window contracted by the cold, expanded by the strong heat, and shattered.
From now on, my task is one.
Just like clearing in the game world.
Shatter all the windows in the school and escape this ‘Otherworld’.