Ch.117Weekend is Far and Treacherous – 3

“Got it! I took down another one! If we keep this up!”

The flow is good. None of the students have been seriously injured yet.

In contrast, most of the undead monsters that filled the area before have been defeated.

There was a commotion when a giant ghoul appeared shortly after.

But even that was dealt with without much difficulty.

It just got a bit bigger and moved a little faster, that’s all.

Its head was still the weak point, so we just needed to target that area.

The Sole Arbiter personally stepped in, letting us know there was nothing to fear, which was crucial.

So I, along with my fellow students, did our best to take down the monsters.

As the Sole Arbiter said, they were just a bit bigger and faster.

Since their overall weaknesses remained the same, we just needed to respond appropriately.

With some breathing room, I took a moment to look around.

Everyone was fighting hard. Among them, the most noticeable student was, of course, Hyunwoo Lee.

He truly was an exceptional student. He handled all the monsters without any significant support.

I could understand once again why the Sole Arbiter, despite complaining about it being troublesome, kept looking after him.

And why she was determined to have Hyunwoo on her team.

“Whew! Ha! Sole Arbiter! It seems we’ve finished here, should we check out other areas?!”

Hyunwoo’s suggestion was reasonable.

The gates didn’t just appear here but throughout the Superpower Academy.

Though the professors had gone to handle them, more support is always better.

So I also slightly agreed with his opinion and asked the Sole Arbiter.

But the Sole Arbiter shook her head and said to me:

“Stay here. This can’t be the end.”

“This can’t be the end” – at those words, I unconsciously tilted my head slightly.

All that remained around us were headless bodies occasionally twitching.

What could possibly be bothering her? Could it be…

“Hana Kang!”

Just as I heard the Sole Arbiter’s loud voice—

BOOM!—

Suddenly everything went dark, and my body tumbled violently.

“Ughh…”

It hurts so much. My back, my shoulders—they all throb as if someone had stepped on me.

I must have mentally screamed “What’s happening?!” at least ten times.

“Sole Arbiter!”

“Unni!”

I could faintly hear Soohyun and Dasom’s screams.

Thanks to their urgent voices, I realized something serious had happened.

And since Soohyun was calling for the Sole Arbiter, probably she…

“Student Hana Kang!”

…Why is the Sole Arbiter’s face so close?

“Hana! Wake up!”

“Yes, yes! Sole Arbiter!”

“Are you conscious? How are you? Can you move?”

Only then could I finally understand what situation I was in.

The Sole Arbiter was holding my shoulders and gently shaking me.

And I was sprawled in her arms.

I don’t know how many times we rolled on the ground together.

Both the Sole Arbiter and I looked quite disheveled.

But why did we have to roll on the ground?

Why was the Sole Arbiter holding me?

RUMBLE!—

‘W-what is that?’

I’ve never seen it before. Such a monster—I truly had never seen anything like it.

They were clearly the remains of undead monsters whose heads had been blown off.

Just remnants that occasionally moved but would eventually crumble.

But they had come together to form a massive mountain that was moving.

Yes, moving! That’s what I meant by never seeing it before!

How could these headless remnants intertwine and move like that?!

“Student Hana Kang. Get all the students back right now and provide backup from behind.”

“W-what is that, Sole Arbiter?! I’ve never heard or seen anything like it!”

“Same here. This is my first time seeing something like this too.”

The Sole Arbiter’s expression was way too relaxed as she said that!

I wanted to say that but barely managed to hold back.

There were far more important things to worry about right now.

“Go now!”

Just as the Sole Arbiter pushed me away forcefully,

The massive entity made of all sorts of remnants crashed down where the Sole Arbiter had been.

BOOM!—

“Ah…!”

In that moment, all kinds of unpleasant thoughts filled my mind.

She must have dodged it, right? She couldn’t be crushed under that massive pile of remnants, could she?

Yes, this is Seojin Baek we’re talking about, the Sole Arbiter who fought The Elder. So…

“What are you waiting for? Run!”

“Y-yes!”

That’s too much! I was just worried about you, Sole Arbiter!!

*

‘Shit. This is really… fucked up.’

I try not to curse if I can help it, but this situation makes it impossible not to.

First of all, the current situation makes no sense whatsoever. This shouldn’t be happening.

Eventually, a new gate appears that renders even suppressors useless.

And the monsters that come out are at least one level higher than normal.

It’s the beginning of a cataclysm that throws the whole world into chaos.

But that should happen months from now at the earliest.

Right now, we’re just seeing slight precursors to the cataclysm.

There’s no way to explain why this is happening so suddenly.

‘Fine. Let’s say everything else is somehow possible. But still…’

But still, damn it! This event wasn’t supposed to exist at all!

Hana Kang, who should have smoothly joined Hyunwoo’s party, almost died just now!

And by this pile of corpses that I’ve never even heard of…

WHOOSH!—

…Damn it.

CRASH!—

“Ugh!”

I gritted my teeth. I put strength into my half-bent knee and stood up.

I looked at the mass of flesh above that had tried to crush me without a trace.

Each and every piece is the body of a ghoul whose head has been severed.

They’ve gathered to form a single massive “boss monster.”

If I had known this would happen, I would have told them to quickly burn everything with fire magic.

I never imagined they would combine like this, fulfilling some male fantasy of fusion!

This is no ordinary creature. It’s not just a simple massive lump of flesh.

If it were, I wouldn’t feel this tension in my body.

Perhaps it’s like that lizard I saw before, somewhere between Gold and Platinum?

– The Third Eye is activated.

◎ The Silver Gatekeeper

: Characteristic activation conditions have been met.

: Characteristic is currently active.

: Recalibrating opponent’s rank.

: Rank adjustment – Platinum ~ Diamond identified

…Argh, shit! Just as I thought “Gold to Platinum,” this happens?

On the surface, it just looks like countless soft flesh pieces stuck together.

But The Third Eye says it could be as high as Diamond rank. This is truly maddening.

“Why is this thing so big?!”

Glancing over, I see even Hyunwoo looking a bit flustered, which is unlike him.

Of course, despite his confusion, he’s still swinging his sword vigorously.

With each swing, chunks of flesh fall off, showing how much his skills have improved.

‘The problem is that it’s not taking any significant damage.’

“Sole Arbiter. Are you okay? You are okay, right?”

Somehow Soohyun has appeared right next to me, staring at me with trembling eyes.

Just a moment ago, I saw her dancing with her blade without a care in the world.

I know it’s not an act, but it’s still hard to get used to.

I tell Soohyun I’m fine and retreat with her, which allows me to get a better look at the boss monster’s size.

‘Hmm. At this size, it might indeed be Diamond rank just based on its bulk.’

It’s large enough to easily engulf an entire building and then some.

It’s like seeing a massive wave made of corpses.

That enormous creature is writhing and continuously approaching.

“Begin magic incantation!”

“Flame Shot!”

“Fire Bolt!”

The students launch fire magic in unison at Hana’s command.

Fire, which is practically poison to undead monsters.

And not just one spell, but dozens cast by multiple students.

I thought there might be some change if those hit directly.

“…Damn it.”

But even that doesn’t go as expected.

I had imagined the massive creature becoming a giant bonfire from all the magic filling the sky.

What I actually saw was enormous chunks of flesh that burned only briefly.

“Hiyah! Yaaah!”

Meanwhile, that guy Hyunwoo doesn’t seem to tire as he keeps slashing away.

Even though it doesn’t seem to be doing any effective damage, he stubbornly continues to face the boss.

Either he has energy to spare, or he believes he can somehow cause damage.

“Student Hyunwoo! Stop that meaningless slashing! Do you see a head anywhere?!”

“If I could see one, would I be doing this?! Haaah!”

SLASH!—

Fair enough. If a head were visible, Hyunwoo wouldn’t be acting like this.

The boss’s current form is literally like a “wave.”

It simply uses its massive body to crash down.

The problem is that it’s so huge that getting caught in it means certain death.

‘Let’s try to reduce its size first?’

Coincidentally, Soohyun seems to have had the same thought.

As part of the boss’s body approached from the front, we both gripped our swords almost simultaneously.

“I’ll take the right.”

“Then I’ll handle the left.”

Nodding, Soohyun and I each dashed in our designated directions.

The wave, which had been deciding which target to aim for, turned toward Soohyun.

That gave me relatively more freedom, meaning I needed to deal even more damage.

The wave of corpses kept extending its length to catch Soohyun.

Searching for the weakest point, I finally found a section that had become quite thin.

‘There won’t be a second chance. I need to cut through as much as possible in one go!’

Soohyun deliberately slowed down to create an opportunity for my critical strike.

She risked her own safety to create conditions for me to deal a decisive blow.

For that reason alone, I had to execute this perfectly, without any mistakes.

“Hup!”

I swung my sword down with all my might. There was no feeling of hitting anything solid.

Like cutting through mushy pork, chunks of flesh were sliced off.

The wave that had been targeting Soohyun immediately collapsed and crashed to the ground.

Broken and crushed flesh scattered everywhere, creating a nauseating smell.

At this point, it seemed like I had landed a solid hit, so now for the next step…

RUMBLE!—

“Damn it.”

It was a misjudgment. It wasn’t even an effective hit, let alone a critical one.

I thought I had targeted a weakened area and cut off a large chunk.

But those remnants formed another massive lump and reattached themselves to the creature.

The head, which was the weakness of the original undead monsters, doesn’t even exist.

We launched countless fire magic spells because they’re weak to flames, but that wasn’t effective either.

I thought gradually removing parts of its body might work, but that didn’t help either.

This monster goes far beyond just being tough.

It’s more accurate to say that damage simply doesn’t register at all.

It’s not like we have holy magic like in games. This is maddening.