Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Collapse (4)
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“Graaaaaah!”
An orc-like wild boar monster slammed its arm down, gouging out the earth.
The heads of several people had already been crushed in the same way.
Those I had trained before we left the apartment were managing to hold their own, but the others were not.
“Keuk!”
“Y-you son of a…! Aaargh!”
They were dying helplessly.
Most of them were killed without even clashing with a monster once.
I could see students, their faces streaked with tears, trying desperately to flee.
Their bodies were not yet fully grown. Worse, they hadn't even awakened. They were just powerless beings.
*Slash.*
Slicing a Death Bite that charged at me in two, I forced myself to look away.
The many students we had rescued from the school.
The kids I had saved.
They were young sprouts that hadn't even had a chance to bloom.
It wasn't that I didn't want to save them, but I didn't have the luxury to do so.
*Crack!*
A few steps forward, another monster.
A few more, yet another monster.
Just as I began to suspect that they were strangely focused on me, I heard Kim Ji-hyeon shout.
“You all prioritize rescuing and protecting the people! Lee Seon-yul and I will handle the monsters!”
“Understood!”
As expected, Kim Ji-hyeon's group was a great help.
Kim Ji-hyeon was A-rank. Lee Seon-yul was a high-tier B-rank.
The others were at least C-rank, so those around them weren't losing their lives so easily.
But no matter how I looked at it, something was off.
Monsters were pouring in endlessly, but not so many that we couldn't escape the stadium.
The twins also looked like they were struggling.
They'd had more than a few close calls, and looking out for them was draining my stamina twice as fast.
Fortunately, Lee Seong-chan was right beside them, and together they seemed to be managing somehow.
‘If I had to point out something unexpected…’
[Character Information]
Name: Go Yeong-jun
Gender: Male (15)
Strength: 2 Stamina: 7 Agility: 2 Mana: 0
Unique Ability: (No unique ability possessed)
Traits: Cold-blooded (C), Swordsmanship (E), Tainted by Darkness (E)
Skills: Killing Intent Emission (E)
It was the male student who had come with the twins.
His traits were exceptionally good.
Nevertheless, I didn't consider him someone worthy of joining our group.
Cold-blooded, Tainted by Darkness.
Having those two traits together was a ticking time bomb. A bomb that could go off and stab an ally in the back at any moment.
There was no reason to carry a bomb in my arms.
*CRASH!*
I was pushed back by a club swung by a Wild Boar.
I immediately swung my sword and cut it down, but my stomach felt tight, as if with indigestion.
My stats weren't low enough to be pushed back by a D-rank monster.
There was definitely something wrong.
Something that would suddenly change the story's difficulty.
‘Don't tell me.’
I stopped moving and looked up at the sky.
I could see the devil's lips stretch into a grin that reached his ears.
That madman.
Did he actually intervene in the story to raise the difficulty?
[I did a little research on you. Found it quite interesting.]
The devil's lips moved, and his voice echoed only in my ears.
He researched me?
[So I raised the difficulty a bit. How is it? Seems like it’s gotten a little more fun, don't you think?]
“You must have an administrator penalty too, don't you?”
[…I don’t know how you know about penalties, but who cares! I get to see something fun… Yeah. I’ll just think of it as a viewing fee. Kehehe.]
The moment the devil finished speaking, the eyes of every D-rank monster in the vicinity turned toward me.
The Wild Boar I had just killed one of, as well as Werewolves and Crow Messengers—creatures with vastly different fighting styles—all charged at me in unison.
Damn it. Should I have raised my stamina more?
*Slash!*
I cut off the arm of a Werewolf as it swung at me.
*Crack!*
I sliced off the head of a Crow Messenger that was aiming for my blind spot.
*Thwack!*
I kicked the jaw of a Wild Boar that was charging head-on.
I had enough power. One on one, they weren't a burden.
But my stamina was another story.
“Kyaaaah!!”
Sweat kept blurring my vision.
At Jo Min-ah's piercing scream, I turned my head to see a monster's mouth, split into six ways, closing in on her.
A high-tier D-rank monster, the Red Death.
The countless teeth in its six-part mouth could turn its prey into a pile of minced meat.
Damn it. I might be too late.
I squeezed out every last bit of strength, kicked off the ground, and surged toward the monster.
Just as the distance between the monster's mouth and Jo Min-ah shrank to mere centimeters.
*THUD!*
Suddenly, with the sound of a collision, Jo Min-ah was knocked backward, out of harm's way.
“…Lee… Seong-chan-ssi?”
Seeing the cause, it was hard to form words.
Half of Lee Seong-chan's body was clamped in the monster's mouth.
“I told you before. How Jeong Ha-yeon-ssi… looked so cool. I wanted to overcome my cowardice too.”
Blood spurted from his severed body like a fountain.
While the saved Jo Min-ah stood pale-faced, unable to do anything, the dying Lee Seong-chan was speaking clearly, without his usual stutter.
The Red Death's mouth moved once more.
I have to save him.
That's what I thought.
But a part of my mind rebuked me, saying the wound was too fatal to be saved anyway.
“Se-hyeon-ssi, you already saved my life once. I also wanted to… someone like that…”
*Crunch.*
Lee Seong-chan's head, which had held a somewhat satisfied smile, disappeared.
Unable to hold it back, Jo Min-ah turned away and began to vomit.
*Clang.*
A round shield fell and rolled toward me.
It was the equipment Lee Seong-chan had started using recently.
Without realizing it, I picked up the shield.
‘That's a new shield.’
‘W-well, I was thinking about how to overcome my cowardice. I thought maybe if I held this and acted as a tanker at the front, it might help. Haha.’
‘Are you confident you can be a tanker?’
‘…I-I'll get the hang of it, won't I? Someday, I hope to be… not as good as you, Se-hyeon-ssi, but at least not a burden.’
A conversation I once had with Lee Seong-chan came to mind, and my body froze as if it were made of ice.
“Kim Se-hyeon! Snap out of it!”
Kim Ji-hyeon, who was not far off cutting down monsters, yelled at me.
Her voice jolted me back to my senses, and I cut down the Red Death in a single strike.
*SWISH!*
My grip on the sword was tighter than it had ever been.
“Min-ah! Are you okay!?”
“Y-yeah. I-I'm fine…”
Meanwhile, a pale Jo Min-ah was being supported by Min-woo.
Anyone would react that way after witnessing someone's head being crushed before their eyes.
I felt bile rise to the back of my throat, but I couldn't afford to let it out.
I, of all people, couldn't afford to wallow in sentimentality.
No, instead, a sense of calm began to wash over me.
I hadn't been ruthless enough.
I had to be more ruthless.
“Lee Seon-yul-nim! We have to make a decision soon, or it'll be dangerous!”
“A decision about what!?”
“Whether we keep fighting this hopeless battle here, or abandon this place and get out quickly!”
“The fact that they're swarming here means the outside is crawling with them too! It makes no difference!”
Should we defend against enemies swarming from a specific direction in a dead end, or should we go outside where we're exposed on all sides but have more escape routes?
Kim Ji-hyeon gritted her teeth and stomped the ground.
Wind enveloped her sword, splitting the air.
With just that, blades of wind formed along the sword's trajectory, slicing through all the nearby monsters without exception.
*SWOOOSH!*
It was a feat that didn't seem possible with a simple swing of a sword, but there was something that made it possible.
Wind Sever.
It was Kim Ji-hyeon's unique ability.
Despite that, there were still too many monsters.
“Aaaargh!”
“Keuk…!”
The number of casualties was increasing.
Unless there was an overwhelming difference in power, which wasn't worth comparing, a disparity in numbers was ultimately difficult to overcome due to stamina.
Not only were the relatively weaker combatants falling, but eventually, even the players under Kim Ji-hyeon's command began to die.
Their deaths were a particularly heavy blow.
“Kim Ji-hyeon-nim! You need to assess the situation! If we stay here, we'll all die for nothing!”
“Se-hyeon-nim is right. We need to get out of here as fast as possible!”
Shaking the sticky monster blood from her sword, Kim Ji-hyeon took a deep breath.
“Retreat! We're leaving the stadium now!”
“Everyone, pull out! Parry the monsters' attacks and follow me quickly! Our destination is Jeungsan Station!”
The decision to abandon the stadium was finally made.
Leaving the steel cage that had kept us safe from external threats, we were heading back outside.
“I'll carry Min-ah, so run!”
“O-okay! Hyung!”
The people moved swiftly.
In a situation like this, with monsters charging from all sides, we were just frogs in a well.
It was far better to go outside.
Even so, there were certainly those who disagreed.
“What!? We're leaving this place!?”
“What kind of bullshit is this! We have to defend it no matter what! There will be even more monsters outside! Who chooses the worst option to avoid a bad one!”
“Can't you read the room!?”
“Besides, that's the way we came from! It was crawling with monsters!”
Nearly half of the people.
Kim Ji-hyeon's group had already started moving to abandon the stadium, but they remained in place, fighting a desperate battle.
And among them was Choi Nam-hun.
“Most importantly, what about all this food! Are you planning to abandon all this precious food!? This is where all the food from this area was gathered! If we go outside, we'll be wandering around with nothing to eat!”
He was passionately shouting while awkwardly swinging a pipe.
He had no combat-related abilities, and since he hadn't received any coins yet, he hadn't raised his stats either.
The only reason he was still alive was because the people incited by his words were positioned around him.
“That's right! We can't give up this valuable food!”
“Protect it with your lives! Monsters can't have infinite numbers!”
“Don't run away, stand and fight!”
A defensive line centered around the food storage.
It might have seemed safe since the monsters were relatively more focused on my side, but that was an illusion.
No matter how much they blocked, the monsters kept coming.
They would keep coming until either the players died or they left the stadium.
How long could they last in such a situation?
Worse, the food storage was far from the exit passage.
Even if they belatedly realized they couldn't hold out and tried to escape…
The moment I focused on Choi Nam-hun again, an absurd laugh escaped me.
Of course. It was obvious what a guy like him would do.
“Choi Nam-hun-ssi! Where are you going alone!”
“…!?”
Choi Nam-hun was stealthily gathering some food and trying to climb over the wall above the storage.
He had gathered people together only to try and slip away to save himself, but my shout exposed him.
“Choi Nam-hun-nim!?”
“Where are you trying to go by yourself!?”
“I-if you're escaping, let's go together… Ugh!?”
Realizing that their rallying point, Choi Nam-hun, was bailing, the defenders' fighting spirit crumbled. The defensive line collapsed, and everyone there began to follow him over the wall.
“These, these crazy…!”
The very people he had tried to use had now become his shackles.
It was already too late to escape.
Even if he managed to get over the wall and escape, it was obvious the monsters would easily follow, drawn by the people chasing after him.
Those who rise by their words are destined to fall by them.
And he couldn't even manage a clean escape.
“You useless bastards…! Don't follow m—Huk!?”
There's no defense game where only the same type of enemy keeps coming.
It's only natural that more diverse and stronger enemies appear over time.
A new monster appeared before Choi Nam-hun as he was about to climb the wall.
A monster resembling a giant hawk with purple eyes.
A D-rank monster, the Ominous Bird.
It was obvious what would happen next.
“Aaaaaaaaargh!”
I would never see him again.
I turned my head to the other side.
Unlike that group, our side, led by Lee Seon-yul and Kim Ji-hyeon, had succeeded in a focused breakthrough, finally managing to open a path out of the stadium.
Through the passage, we could escape.
I needed to run faster, but I had the strange illusion that my speed was slowing.
It felt as if I had left something behind.
A feeling that I had left behind something important, something I shouldn't have lost.
But without even figuring out what it was, I ran out of the stadium, carrying Jo Min-ah.
I cleared my mind as I fought off the monsters that charged at us as if they had been waiting.
I can't stop here.
I must not stop.
I must move forward.
No matter what.
*Slash!*
More ruthless.
Even more ruthless.
Stronger.
*Crack!*
In the monster I was cutting down, I saw an overlapping image of myself, frozen at the sight of Lee Seong-chan's death.