The Academy's Inevitable Gate Crash
The entrance ceremony always features an event that never fails to appear in academy stories. In fantasy, it's a monster; in modern fantasy, a monster again. Sometimes a villain or an evil organization shows up instead. Usually it's suppressed in an instant with no victims, turning it into a guilt-free dopamine hit. It was a convenient tool to inject excitement into the plot and showcase the protagonist and his companions' strength. Since the game I transmigrated into was also an academy genre title, it was no different. The novel that Kim Si-woo had read before possessing this body probably included the gate erosion event right at the beginning of the story, during the entrance ceremony. Come to think of it, the odds of a gate opening inside an academy auditorium—right in the middle of the entrance ceremony—were astronomically low. I wanted to look into whether there was more to it, but there wasn't much I could do during the entrance ceremony since it was part of the tutorial. I'd have to ask Kim Si-woo later if his novel had any additional information about it.
The applause pouring onto the stage finally died down, and as I returned to my seat, I found Peony lovingly stroking a robot vacuum cleaner. Somehow she'd managed to plug a portable phone charger into it, and the thing was actually powered on. Wait, did that model even have a small charging port?
“Ah! You're back? Kim Si-woo and Lee Haneul! You two were both so cool!”
As the elf girl spoke and tried to hand over the robot vacuum, the machine suddenly started struggling. But that thing definitely didn't have any AI... Anyway, I sat down on the suspicious vacuum cleaner, and the atmosphere shifted abruptly. A sudden chill raced from the top of my head down through my entire body. It was time.
“Kim Si-woo! Haneul! What on earth is...”
Most people collapsed on the spot the first time they were exposed to a gate, but the fact that she was still standing proved she really was the heroine.
“This is sudden, but please prepare for combat.”
At my words, the emcee began issuing evacuation orders. However, out of nearly five hundred people, only a handful actually moved. Some students snapped out of it and readied themselves for battle while scanning their surroundings, but most were either shivering with their arms wrapped around themselves from the unprecedented chill or curled up in panic. Right on cue, what appeared to be event staff and faculty members rushed into the auditorium and quickly escorted the latter group outside. As expected of an academy with top-tier knowledge and preparation regarding gates, every staff member had practiced crowd evacuation procedures so many times it was practically ingrained in their bodies. This wasn't something I'd influenced, so it seemed that humanity's preparedness and curiosity were impressive no matter the world.
I rose into the air while still seated on the robot vacuum, opened my bag, and checked its contents. My usual favorite weapons weren't there, but this should be enough to get the job done. I opened my pencil case and levitated a mechanical pencil, a ballpoint pen, and a name pen into the air. I made sure not to forget to uncap the name pen.
Before the evacuation could fully finish, the air tore open. The boundary collapsed, and things from beyond began pouring out.
Rumble...
With a tremendous roar, cracks spiderwebbed across the auditorium floor. Trees burst through them at unnatural speed, stretching out skeletal, twisted branches high into the air. The trees shot upward as if they had no concept of limits, only spreading sideways once they hit the ceiling and beginning to consume it entirely. Before anyone realized, the pale tree trunks had obsessively blocked off all the exits. The auditorium had transformed into a pale forest in the blink of an eye, and an eerie silence fell over everything.
Fortunately, it seemed only those prepared for battle remained in the isolated space. The air shattered suddenly, and without even giving us time to wait, grotesque entities began forcing their heads through. But I wasn't nice enough to wait until the transition finished.
First strike wins!
Whoosh!
With a wave of my hand, the writing instruments accelerated to near the speed of sound and pierced straight through the heads of the wooden beasts. The sound of crunch as I skewered the heads of three wooden monsters became the signal. The other people around us each began their own battles.
I retrieved the ballpoint pen, ran up the wooden pillar beside me, and used the left eye socket of a leaping wooden wolf as an entrance and the opposite side as an exit. The wooden mass that had lost its life in an instant flew toward me from inertia, but I used telekinesis to slam it into the floor.
“Oh! So your ability works on monsters once they're dead!”
“Yes. Monsters protect their bodies with mana, after all. You can think of it as following rules similar to those for ability users.”
Even in the midst of chaos, Peony's elf-like sharp eyes had caught me dealing with the monster. She was now using suitable branches from around us and the charger cord to craft something.
“Ta-da! Bow complete!”
For something improvised in an urgent situation, it was well-made—though it still looked crude. Peony's weapon was naturally a bow. She was an elf, after all!
The most important thing—arrows—were missing, but that wasn't a concern. Peony had an ability. When the elf drew the bowstring, a faint light began to glow along the bow. A teal arrow formed on the string, then whoosh!—it tore through the air and punched a hole through the rear torso of a deer-shaped wooden monster at the end of its trajectory.
The wooden deer monster didn't seem to like the knot-hole that had formed in its body. It lowered its antlers toward Peony and prepared to charge. But the arrow embedded in it suddenly exploded, and sharp winds tore both the surface and interior of the wood to shreds.
“Ah! Over there! I'll help!”
Tap! Tap!
The elf, who had skillfully climbed the trees sprouting around us, drew her bow in midair. This time a red arrow streaked across the empty space. Unfortunately, its target was a student being pushed back by a wall of monsters.
Thwack!
It was a direct hit. But the male student with the arrow now lodged in his back was completely fine. No—in fact, as the embedded arrow began to glow and gradually sink into his body, he started pushing the monsters back.
“Uwoooah! Power's surging!”
He let out an ear-splitting shout and began smashing the wooden monsters apart with what looked like a mop handle.
“Peony! Haneul! You two are both fighting really well?”
Kim Si-woo said this while facing a wooden bear with his bare hands. He dodged here and there, throwing punches at its massive body, but it didn't seem to be taking much damage.
“Damn it, if only I had a decent weapon...!”
I'd been picking out the more dangerous-looking monsters and skewering their heads when it became clear that Kim Si-woo was struggling.
“Si-woo, what kind of weapon do you need?”
“Something long and heavy! The bigger and sharper, the better!”
The answer came instantly. Alright, a greatsword then?
I had just the thing in mind. The steel reinforcement beam that had been supporting the opening ceiling above the stage was ripped free with a single gesture from me and flew over. Focusing once more, I compressed the metal into a straight shape and heated it until it glowed bright red. Then, shaping it to be reasonably sharp with a section for gripping...
Boom!
Kim Si-woo, sent flying by the wooden bear's spinning kick, came hurtling toward me.
“Ugh, what kind of bear...!”
He was still talking, so it looked like he'd at least managed to guard. I yanked the cushions off nearby chairs and caught the incoming Kim Si-woo with them.
“Nice catch! Thanks, Haneul.”
“Save the thanks. The weapon's finished.”
“Weapon?”
Thud!
A massive sword slammed down beside Kim Si-woo as he climbed off the cushions. No, calling it a sword felt wrong—it was far too big. And above all, it was so ugly that any dwarf artisan would faint on the spot. If you gave a child a gray crayon and told them to draw a huge sword, it probably would've looked something like this. It couldn't be helped; crafting wasn't exactly my specialty. Still, Kim Si-woo grabbed the weapon with all his strength, but the lump of iron didn't even budge.
“Ah! Kim Si-woo! I'll help!”
Peony, who had jumped down from the tree, generated a red arrow in her palm and promptly stabbed it into Kim Si-woo's back.
“Uraaaah!”
With a battle cry, the enormous chunk of metal was lifted. Right on time, the wooden bear that had spotted Kim Si-woo began charging toward us.
Now then, what kind of ability did Kim Si-woo have that made him ask for such an absurd weapon? Show me already!
Eight!
Peony fired several arrows at the approaching bear, but the thick bark was too difficult to penetrate with a makeshift bow. Kim Si-woo hooked the handle over his shoulder and began swinging with great effort. A vertical slash? With only that much power, it seemed like it would be...
The anomaly happened right after. The moment the barely-swinging sword passed the vertical angle, its speed increased noticeably. The ridiculously accelerating blade went slash! and bisected the charging wooden bear in a single cut.
The bear split into two pieces, the sword shattered into even smaller fragments, and Kim Si-woo all hit the floor at the same time.
“Pwah! Seriously... ridiculously... heavy...”
When the exhausted Kim Si-woo received a few more pop pop arrows from the rushing Peony, he finally stood back up.
Whoa. What just happened? That didn't seem like any ability I knew.
Before I could think further, the entire auditorium shook with a powerful vibration. The wooden pillars that had spread in every direction inside the building sank back into the ground. Once the tremors subsided, only bewildered combatants and monster corpses remained in the half-destroyed auditorium.
“Kim Si-woo! Haneul! It looks like it's over!”
No, not yet.
Rumble...
The vibration that rose again was far more intense than before.
Boom!
“Eek!”
The floor split open and a wooden trunk shot upward, launching Peony into the air. It was the exact scene that always appeared in the game. Kim Si-woo seemed to know about it too, as he was already preparing to jump. Whether he helped the airborne Peony here or not would determine if her favorability increased or if she ended up injured. Of course, there was no way I was going to leave Peony to fend for herself. It looked like Kim Si-woo was planning to save her himself, too.
Boom!
Kim Si-woo kicked off the ground and leaped toward the falling Peony. But I had a massive advantage here.
Pop!
Using teleportation, I instantly appeared right in front of Peony. I caught the elf girl—who had her eyes squeezed shut as she descended onto the robot vacuum—in a princess carry.
Grin.
I flashed a sly smile at Kim Si-woo, who arrived a beat too late from behind. This was my victory.
“No! It's not over yet!”
Clang!
He used the broken sword he'd been holding as a stepping stone to leap once more, flying straight toward us.
“Hey, don't just charge in like that... Whoa!”
Because of the reckless charge, the three of us became tangled together in midair.
KUOOOOOAAAAAHH!!
A massive tree that had belatedly burst from the ground shattered the auditorium ceiling and soared skyward. A pair of ancient, hollow eyes focused on the three of us, who had somehow managed to land. On me, holding Peony in a princess carry, and on Kim Si-woo, who was piggybacking me.
“Huh?”
“Hey! Put Peony down and get off me too!”
“Waaah! This is so much fun!”