Chapter 22
"No way! This fast?!"
An anomaly. When gate precursor phenomena are detected, there's usually about a 30-minute grace period before the actual gate opens. Generally speaking. But the world is full of special cases, isn't it? Veteran heroes might handle it, but for academy cadets like us—third-years no less—such outliers were an excessive burden.
Even so, the third-year slapped her own cheek with a sharp smack! to pull herself together.
"No need to panic! Our job hasn't changed! We just have to hold out until the heroes arrive!"
There were plenty of areas to cover, but too few technicians. With that 30-minute buffer, the heroes would have rushed to the scene and prepared perfectly. But this unanticipated rapid gate completion hadn't given enough time for a sufficient number of heroes to assemble.
Still, the situation wasn't utterly hopeless. The gate had opened a bit early, but it wasn't demanding we wait indefinitely. In another roughly 20 minutes... no, 10 minutes, the heroes would arrive. And for us first-years, our mission was to escort the evacuees to a safe zone and hunker down—no need to wait for heroes at all. A minor anomaly like this wasn't reason enough for despair.
...Except.
"Damn it. The monsters are already spawning."
Inside the gate lay a world brimming with all sorts of qi. The rampant energy soon clumped together, forming shapes of malice—mindless beasts driven by the instinct to turn any living thing before them into one of their own kind.
"Eek!?"
Terror and panic spread through the previously calm evacuees like wildfire across a field. They might be used to gates opening, but facing monsters head-on was another story. Even separated by iron bars, the beasts' predatory pressure was enough to terrify anyone. And in this case, the only ones between the civilians and them were three academy cadets who hadn't even graduated yet. Telling them not to be afraid was asking too much.
To quell the spreading fear, the third-year bellowed her orders like a scream.
"Alpha! Beta! Battle stations!"
At her shout, we drew our weapons on pure instinct. A mysterious thrill spiked my heartbeat. It felt like the adrenaline from our previous mock battle, but stronger, hijacking my brain and making me blurt out something recklessly foolish.
"Come at me, you fucking mutts... I'll slaughter you all."
...Yeah, that was probably the deep-seated hatred etched into this body talking. I wasn't the type to spout such careless crap when there were people I had to protect. Probably?
To cut to the chase: Until we reached the safe zone, not a single monster laid a finger on the civilians.
"Incredible... Is that the power of academy cadets?"
"They're first-years, right? Even first-years can pull off that level... Maybe someday they'll really take down the Eight Kings."
"Even I, a total layman, can see that's insane skill."
Not to toot my own horn, but during the civilian evacuation, I was practically a one-woman army. A perfect Journey to the West-style Sun Wukong performance. Blocking rear assaults from monsters without a millimeter of error was a given. I even fired off spare qi with Emit Qi to support Ayumi and the third-year.
The third-year was fine, but Ayumi, still a first-year, had some green spots—and I filled those gaps perfectly. Not a hair on the civilians' heads was harmed.
Even to civilians clueless about qi battles or combat, my performance must've stood out.
And honestly, the one most shocked by it was probably me.
'My qi control is way smoother than in the mock battle.'
I hadn't grown. Better to say I'd finally recovered my original performance. The gap between this body—not originally mine—and my soul was gradually closing with time, letting me finally unleash what I should have been capable of from the start.
"You... you're really a first-year? You're way stronger than me... Wait, now that I think about it, I swear I've seen you somewhere before."
With the situation stabilized and some breathing room, the third-year finally had the mental space to recognize me. Once she pieced it together, her eyes widened as she searched for words.
Then, quickly: "That was brilliant, Alpha. Thanks to you, the evacuation went smoothly. I'll make sure to report this to the instructors."
"Just did what needed doing."
The safe zone filled with civilians first—the elderly, women, kids. The three of us stood guard at the entrance to the underground shelter until the end, just in case.
Safe zones are the polar opposite of gates: qi-deprived spots. We technicians can barely use our powers there, and monsters hate it too. Unlike regular shelters, staying too long harms the body and mind, but what choice did we have? Better than dying, right?
With our primary objective cleared and some downtime, I could finally chat with Ayumi.
"Hyowon, that was amazing. Yujin mentioned it, but I didn't expect this level. You could be a hero right now, no joke."
"...If anyone else said that, I'd call it ridiculous exaggeration. But after seeing it myself? Gotta admit it. Never met a first-year like you. Some kinda genius, huh."
Getting praised for talent that wasn't even originally mine felt awkward. But false modesty would just look fake.
"Experience."
"Experience, huh... Normally, a third-year like me should have way more. But your case is special."
The third-year readily admitted I was stronger and more crisis-savvy than her. No room for senior pride in this world—not if you wanted to survive.
"...It's weird asking a first-year this, but... mind if I make one unreasonable request?"
"What is it?"
She hesitated long, then spoke clearly. "If you're okay with it, could you team up with me for monster extermination and rescues? You're way stronger than me—you could handle it."
Normally, an absurd ask. First-years' official duty is just civilian evacuation. Hell, surviving is the mission.
Of course, unofficially, first-years get thrown into real fights all the time. World's too harsh for strict rules.
But principles exist for a reason—better to follow them when possible. And a mere cadet can't decide exceptions, heroes or not.
She was definitely overreaching. Truth be told, I was dying to help. Rules are rules, but my strength was unmatched—not just among first-years, but all cadets. If I hustled, fewer casualties. Hard to argue with that.
...But Ayumi was the issue. Even safe in the shelter, I couldn't just leave her.
"I..."
I started forming my refusal. Solid justification: stick to protocol.
Then, like it was scripted, a monster swarm launched an assault, cutting me off.
"Tch! We'll talk later—focus on these things now!"
"Got it!"
Shadowy, wavering monster shapes attacked us three at once. Child's play, really. We'd blocked worse while herding panicked civilians on the run. Dug in and ready? No contest.
But apparently, not everyone fleeing saw it that way.
"Uwaaaah!"
The last evacuee slammed the safe zone door shut behind them. Totally understandable. Hell, impressive they held it open that long with monsters swarming. One slip, and even a single beast inside could've caused havoc—casualties galore, even if the shelter held.
Good call, even.
...The problem was the bizarre phenomenon neither we nor the civilians saw coming.
The instant the door shut, linking to the underground... it sank. Like a stone into a lake.
After mopping up the monsters, we stared at the sight, unsure how to process it.
Our safe zone was gone.
Manageable. Find another, or hold out till heroes arrived and beg protection.
The real issue: "Wh-what happened to the people who went in?"
"...The zones minimize qi inside, so it should be safe internally. Probably."
The senior's voice lacked conviction. She was just a student, after all.
'Was it like this in the original?'
Memory fuzzy. The game was first-person protagonist view, limiting player info anyway.
But it made sense. I had a hunch who caused this.
Hiding my unease, I encouraged the other two and stood.
"Let's move. Check if other safe zones are like this, and protect anyone we find who didn't make it out."
"...! R-right. Sorry. I'm the senior, but I froze up. Glad you're here—makes me feel secure."
I got it. Third-year or not, she was like 22. Freezing in crisis? Normal.
But we couldn't stay that way.
"Let's save people. We're the ones meant to become heroes."