The beasts succumbed to madness far faster than anticipated, driven over the edge by the blood and flesh scattering in all directions. Perhaps the crimson flashes strewn about before the assault even began had triggered something primal within them. Watching them pour into the building without a care for anything, even I felt a twinge of fear.

They even seemed terrified themselves. I suppose that was only natural. It was a sight none of them had ever witnessed before. But in this situation, the ones who had fallen into the deepest panic were, without a doubt, the girls inside the building.

“Don’t come any closer! I said don’t come!!!”

“Ugh… ugh… ugh, ahhh!”

“Please! Please don’t come!”

The first victim was a brown-haired girl near the entrance. For whatever reason, she had been standing close to the doors, yet not close enough to be killed by the explosion. Pinned under the cascade of corpses and unable to move her legs freely, she was the perfect candidate to become the first casualty.

In an instant, four men seized her by the arms and legs.

“Let go! I said let go!”

“Y-You… bitch… hold still, will you?”

“Please… pleeeease!”

“Ugh!”

Struggling with all her might, the girl kicked off her captured shoe and struck the man holding her legs square in the face. In any other circumstance, it would have been a highly effective counterattack, but there were three more men there to hold her down.

Thus, her desperate blow only brought a suffocating silence.

“…”

“Ah…”

A voice laced with terror slipped from the girl’s lips. At the same time, thick blood trickled from the man’s nose. He reached up to touch it, tasted the salty tang of blood, and spat out a curse.

“Hah… fuck…”

“I-I’m sorry, I…”

“Haha…”

Perhaps he hadn’t known what to do either when he first grabbed her, only shouting out of sheer confusion. But the blood dripping from his nose told him exactly what his next move should be. It was a red flag signaling the onset of violence, a preview of the virgin blood that would soon be spilled.

The next moment, he gripped the girl’s soft thighs and forced them apart as wide as they would go. Intuiting what was about to happen, the girl let out one final scream.

“No… please!!!”

“…”

But no one heeded her desperate cry. Far too much was already unfolding at the scene, even without her. Everyone’s lives were being brutally crushed, leaving no room to care for a single girl.

And I was no exception. By the time he grabbed her thighs, I had already charged deeper into the building. Consequently, I didn’t hear the shrill scream that followed. I didn’t hear the sound of a heavy mass of flesh forcing itself between mucous membranes. Nor did I hear the sound of a massive lesson being shoved into that arrogant, wailing mouth.

Naturally, I didn’t hear the sound of the resigned girl’s screams gradually transforming into sweet moans hours later, either. My mind had been entirely preoccupied with other matters at the time. That was how the nameless girl’s life was forgotten.

tap tap tap tap

“Haa… haa…”

The interior of the building, stripped of its light, was pitch-black. Whether the lights had been intentionally extinguished or there was simply no energy left to turn them on, I couldn’t tell, but even as I ran with my sword drawn, not a single glint of reflection shone back at me.

The only guideposts in that jet-black darkness were the screams of people. But even those were mangled so chaotically that it was impossible to distinguish the victims from the perpetrators.

Actually, such distinctions seemed meaningless now. The dream of a one-sided hunt had been doomed from the moment things first went awry.

“Aaaagh! Aaaaaaagh!”

“Fuck… fucking bastards!”

“Ugh! Fire! I’m on fire!”

Contrary to my expectation that they would instantly panic, the students inside the building responded with composure. Or perhaps I should call it a desperate struggle for survival rather than composure. They chanted magic faster than usual and launched counterattacks with astonishing accuracy. Thanks to that, it wasn’t uncommon to see the attackers being taken down instead.

But that was only temporary. The difference in numbers was impossible to ignore. Coupled with the inherent limitation of magic requiring chanting time, the situation on the ground increasingly favored the attackers as time went on. Thus, the dynamic between prey and predator was rapidly redefined as if it had never changed.

And I was the sole gray entity, belonging to neither side. Of course, that fact brought me no joy. My vision remained obscured, and I possessed no means to compensate for it.

Therefore, for the time being, I had no choice but to save whichever girl happened to be in front of me.

“No!”

“You fucking bitch!”

Once more, a shrill scream rang out nearby as a frail body collapsed to the floor. And as if waiting for it, a large man pounced on top of her. I couldn’t see either of their faces to identify them, but I had no time to think.

Without hesitation, I delivered a clean kick to the ankle of the charging man. Unable to overcome the momentum, he tumbled forward, slamming his head against the floor.

“…”

“Ugh…!”

I mounted him immediately and struck his lower jaw hard with my elbow, shattering the scream that had been about to escape his mouth. The powerful blow caused him to crumble absurdly fast for his size, and the girl let out a fragile breath, whimpering softly.

“Ah… ah… hnn… ugh…”

“Shh. Quiet.”

I clamped my hand over the girl’s mouth and scanned the surroundings. Fortunately, the darkness concealed my act of betrayal just as well as it concealed the atrocities of others.

Or should I even call it a betrayal? The moment Heiter died, the deal had effectively fallen through. I cursed the hopelessly tangled situation once more and peered closely at the girl’s face.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t someone I knew. I pressed my body as close to the corner as possible and whispered.

“Lena?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“Right. Hide.”

After offering that brief advice, I immediately stood up. While I was saving a single person, countless others were being devoured by beasts all around me, rendering my efforts meaningless.

No matter how I looked at it, it wasn’t an efficient method. I couldn’t save everyone on my own, and though it was just a feeling, I sensed Lena was hiding deeper inside. But there were far too many obstacles to break through to reach her in one go.

“Damn it…”

“Kyaaagh! Please!”

“These damn… damn bitches!”

“Mom! Mommy!”

Countless voices overlapped with the curses I spat out in frustration. Finding anyone I knew among them seemed nearly impossible.

So what should I do? Walk around with a torch? But if I did, others were likely to swarm me like moths to a flame. Then should I at least call out her name? But would any idiot actually answer to their name in this situation? No ingenious method held any meaning right now.

The only thing I could do seemed to be slowing down the pace of this insane raid. I took off my shoes, shoved them into my backpack, and shouted with all my might, loud enough to drown out the surrounding noise.

“Run! Those crazy bitches are preparing large-scale magic!”

“What… what…?”

“Just run! I said run!”

At my desperate shout, the attackers hesitated, pulling back despite their doubts. In a situation where information was extremely limited, a commanding voice naturally carried strong coercive power. For a brief moment, accompanied by a clatter, the sound of countless footsteps retreated.

And I ran frantically against the tide, slipping through the gap. The sound of my bare feet hitting the ground was completely drowned out by the other footsteps. Thanks to that, my presence vanished from everyone’s senses for just a fleeting moment.

“…! …!”

By suppressing even my breathing as I ran, I quickly penetrated deep into the building. There, the girls evading capture still far outnumbered the attackers. I steadied my voice as much as possible and called out somberly.

“Seniors! Wait a moment!”

“Huh…?”

In this kind of situation, using honorifics was the perfect way to break down the other party’s guard. Perhaps because running barefoot made me look exactly like a victim, the girls paused for a moment.

“Seniors… just a moment…”

“What do you mean, ‘a moment’? Who are you, being so stupid? Run! You’ll get caught!”

“But I need to find Senior Lena. Where is Senior Lena right now?”

“What? Lena?”

The girl who answered instantly darkened in expression. She shook her head in contempt and spoke.

“Are you bewitched by that bitch’s face too? That selfish bitch locked herself in a room and is hiding all by herself! We begged her to let us in, but she didn’t even answer and just kept hiding. So you’d better run away with us!”

“Where is her room? It’s urgent!”

“You idiot…! It’s the large lecture room around the corner. But don’t even think about trying anything if you go there. Just hurry… wait. Who are you, anyway?”

“Over there! I heard a voice from over there!”

At that moment, ominous footsteps approached from the other side. It seemed the effect of my lie didn’t last very long. I immediately gripped my sword and whispered low.

“Run.”

“What?”

“Ugh!”

Before they could even react, I exaggeratedly stumbled backward and slammed my back against the wall. Then, I urgently shouted at the attackers who had chased the fleeing girls.

“They got me… it’s that way!”

“Th-That way! After them!”

“Aaaaaaagh!”

They parroted my words and disappeared into the darkness. I waited until the sound of their footsteps faded, then sprinted in the opposite direction.

“Haa… huu…”

Running continuously, I began to run out of breath. Yet I couldn’t stop, so I swiftly headed in the direction they had indicated. As I rounded the corner and caught sight of the corridor beyond, the scene finally came into view.

bang!

“Fuck!”

A man was violently pounding on the door of the large lecture room. Every time he struck it with a thud, the heads of the other men bleeding and collapsed on the floor shook. Seeing the shattered padlock lying beneath them, it seemed the door had already been opened once.

“Fuck! Fuck!”

The man’s kicks were brutal, as if fueled by personal vendetta. He was so furious he looked ready to snap the other person’s neck the moment he got his hands on them. Having beaten on the door with all his might, he finally spat out another curse.

“Lena, you fucking bitch!”

“…”

At that moment, I drew my sword. The rattling door, coincidentally, swung open with a thud.

“…What?”

As I approached closer, I saw a familiar face. It was the very bastard who had smashed a professor’s head at the school gates this morning. His bloodstained hand still gripped that iron crowbar.

“Lope, is that you?”

“…”

“What are you doing right now? Aren’t you going to come and help?”

His voice boomed down from above my head. He was a full head taller than me and had broad shoulders, exuding quite an intimidating presence. Though I hadn’t seen him in action, he looked like he possessed considerable strength.

Come to think of it, was this guy someone important, too? Heiter hadn’t treated him lightly, and seeing the men collapsed around him, it seemed he even had subordinates accompanying him. If I carelessly provoked him and he called for his companions, things would definitely get complicated.

“I didn’t like this fucker anyway. Good. I’ll finish him off for…”

That was why, without a second thought, I drove my sword straight into his lower jaw. Blood erupted in an instant, dyeing my vision crimson.

“Uwaaaaaaaagh!”

“…”

The moment he collapsed, clutching his jaw, I drove my knee into his chest. Then, I interlocked my fingers, bent his hands backward, and slashed deeply down the length of his pale, exposed wrist.

“Ugh…! Uwaaaaaah!”

Blood gushed in thick spurts from the precisely severed artery. Even as he bled from his jaw, he instinctively clutched his wrist in desperation. That left his face wide open, and I drove my fist straight down. With every thud of my punches, his screams grew fainter.

…!

“Kuheok!”

…!

“Geok… eok…”

…!

“Eok…”

I only stopped punching when I felt the bridge of his nose shatter beneath my hand. Then, I shoved a wad of torn cloth into his mouth and whispered softly.

“You don’t know how to stop the bleeding, do you? Give me your hand. You need to press down right here.”

“Euh… eueo…”

“You still don’t get it, do you? I’ll just take care of my business inside and come out to stop the bleeding for you. In return, scream at the top of your lungs if you see your guys. Got it?”

“Ueo…”

“Your other guys probably don’t know how to stop bleeding either. So just do as I say. I’m counting on you.”

“Eok…”

If he had been an ordinary guy, he might have died from shock right then, but fortunately, he was tough. I felt confident I could trust him to act as my personal sentry for the time being.

“Huu…”

I took a deep breath and stepped inside the lecture room. Then, I dragged a desk over to block the door. The ambient noise vanished in an instant, leaving only the sound of my breathing lingering in the air.

“Haa… haa…”

…

“Haa… ha…”

…

“…”

…

When I closed my mouth, a cold silence enveloped the surroundings. I scanned the lecture room, suppressing my breathing as much as possible. Soon, the sound of someone’s stifled breathing began to softly echo from somewhere.

“…Hnn… hik.”

“…”

“…Ah… haa…”

No matter how much she pinched her nose and clamped her mouth shut, there was no hiding the sound of air slipping through her fingers. And above all, that distinct scent of her skin. The fragrance I had entered her room to smell time and time again seeped into my lungs like a nostalgic perfume.

I walked steadily toward the source of that scent. It was a steel locker standing against the wall of the lecture room. As I approached quietly, I heard the sound of someone shifting inside.

“Huu…”

The long-awaited reunion drew a deep sigh from me. I swallowed that breath and slowly pulled open the locker door.

And finally, I came face to face with the red-haired girl from my memories.

kki-ik…

…

“…Lena.”

“…”

When I called her name, the girl, curled up like a cocoon, barely lifted her head. The tear stains that clung to her pretty face like soot left a remarkably deep impression.

“Lope.”

Lena’s voice, which I hadn’t heard in so long, was soaked with tears. But, just as always, she spat out a single sentence in a quickly chilled tone.

“…Why did you come now. You idiot.”