Ch.1616. I Expected You to Come and Help Me. What a Chairman! No, Help Me Too

The unknown junior’s reaction. Feeling the confusion and urgency contained within it, Alkine ran through the Rift interior faster than ever before.

And the further she advanced, the more she regretted not following from the beginning.

She hadn’t thought the inside of the Rift would be in such a dangerous state.

Despite always emphasizing that Rifts were dangerous and to never let one’s guard down, anger welled up inside her at the thought that she herself had created this situation.

‘What’s done is done. Stay calm.’

She couldn’t fall apart when she was the only one who could salvage this situation.

With that thought, Alkine forcibly suppressed her emotions.

Yes, they would have managed well enough on their own. Though the situation was serious, they were all capable individuals.

Right now, she just needed to focus on joining them as quickly as possible.

Her judgment was accurate. In reality, the anomalies in the Rift were things the other Student Council members could handle sufficiently.

However, she hadn’t anticipated that an even greater danger was lurking.

“Dodge! I said dodge!! Don’t get close!!”

“Aaaagh! My arm!!”

When she found them in panic, the first thing that caught her eye was a black monster in human form.

She recognized it immediately. That was a demon.

Even if she went all out, she wasn’t sure if she could win… no, she would definitely lose. Demons were on a completely different level from magical beasts.

With her level, unable to break through the wall, confrontation would be the best she could manage.

But… she couldn’t just stand by.

If she didn’t step in now, those fighting would be in even greater danger.

Half of them were somehow holding on, but the other half had already fallen into a state where they couldn’t fight.

Thanks to the creature’s whims, it seemed no one had died yet… but if she delayed any longer, who knew what might happen.

There was no need to think further.

Alkine charged in, aiming for an opening in the demon.

Simultaneously, she transformed her mana into the shape of a greatsword, gripped it with both hands, and swung.

KWANG!!!

Hit by the attack, the demon flew back and crashed into a massive boulder.

The boulder collapsed, burying the demon, but if that level of impact was enough to end it, the situation wouldn’t have escalated this far.

Alkine clicked her tongue without realizing it.

‘I swung intending to cut it in half…’

Her attack hadn’t pierced the demon’s skin at all.

Not even a scratch from the cutting power of a mana sword. Its durability was astonishing.

A desperate situation where she couldn’t inflict a single wound on the demon.

However, unable to show her despair, she spoke calmly.

“You all held out well.”

“President!”

“Ah, President…”

“We’re saved now…!”

Those who could still fight, and those who had become unable to fight but were still clinging to consciousness.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at her appearance.

But it was too early to relax. The current situation was the worst.

Alkine had to choose between two options.

Fight or flee.

But defeating something that didn’t even get scratched by a mana sword was impossible.

Yet there were too many injured to flee.

A sigh escaped Alkine’s lips at this impossible choice.

If abandoning the injured and fleeing wasn’t even a consideration for her, was that characteristic of her?

And… if that was her choice, it was as good as decided.

“Brief me, please. Grain.”

“Yes, President.”

Fight.

That was the only thing she could do now.

“Kigigik-! Kigigiiiiik-!!!”

Seemingly provoked by her attack, the demon rose from the pile of rocks, making even more grotesque sounds.

Not knowing how the demon would act, Alkine prepared to respond with all her senses on high alert, and in that gap, Grain quickly relayed information.

“It attacks by crumpling the space itself. There are precursory symptoms, but they’re not visible, and defense seems impossible. Difficult as it may be… we can only read the dissonance in the surrounding mana and dodge.”

“Understood. Any other peculiarities?”

“I’m at my limit now, about to faint. May I leave the rest to you?”

“Ha, I’ll try to live up to your expectations.”

At Alkine’s words, Grain smiled faintly and closed her eyes.

She didn’t seem to be injured, but appeared to have exhausted herself using her abilities to the fullest.

In fact, if it weren’t for her, they might have been annihilated long ago.

…To shake off negative thoughts, she issued orders to those around her.

“Those who are unharmed, take the injured and hide. I’ll handle this creature alone.”

Attempting to escape from the increasingly dangerous Rift interior with the injured could lead to an even more perilous situation.

That’s why she could only tell them to hide.

However, that instruction was no different from saying she would achieve victory and handle the Rift alone, so everyone looked at Alkine with concern.

“President…”

They only looked. No one could step forward.

As they left one by one, the demon had already reached Alkine.

Six eyes, blinking grotesquely, turned toward Alkine. Seeing it up close, it was clear that while it had a human form, it was just a monster.

Still… she was grateful that its gaze wasn’t directed at those fleeing.

“At least it’s not like a beast, that’s fortunate.”

“Kigigik-“

It seemed like they were exchanging words, but there was no understanding between them.

“Kigigigi-“

When the monster made that strange sound again, Alkine felt a dissonance.

A feeling as if the mana surrounding her had momentarily stopped.

‘So this is what the mana dissonance meant.’

Even as she thought this, her body had already moved away.

Kwadeureuk-!

The space where she had just been standing distorted.

Despite having dodged, she felt the pressure, sending chills down her spine.

Judging that she shouldn’t give it a chance to attack, Alkine immediately charged in to take the offensive.

KWANG!

With the strong impact, the demon’s body flew away.

Again, not even a scratch appeared, but she didn’t stop.

When the demon got up, she attacked again, sending it flying.

When she sensed the precursor to an attack, she dodged. Then sent it flying again.

She kept sending it flying in the opposite direction from where the others were escaping.

She repeated this for a long time.

At a glance, it might have seemed like Alkine was pushing the demon back, but the reality was the opposite.

This demon was simply taking all of Alkine’s attacks.

A demon unharmed by all attacks versus Alkine who would be critically wounded if she allowed even one attack.

As the battle continued, the outcome became increasingly clear, but she couldn’t give up here.

If she fled… this demon would start searching for the hiding Student Council members.

With that thought, Alkine continued her offensive.

After judging that everyone had hidden, she began attacking the demon with her full power techniques.

She still couldn’t inflict any wounds, but there was nothing else she could do now.

…How much time had passed?

Alkine’s attacks noticeably slowed. Her momentum had significantly weakened.

She had reached her physical limit.

But she forcibly took one more step.

Because she knew all too well what would happen if she collapsed here.

But she couldn’t take the next step.

Helplessness. Exhaustion. Pressure.

Everything was weighing down on Alkine.

The demon seemed to notice this too, and began approaching Alkine leisurely.

Alkine could do nothing even as she watched the approaching demon.

Is this how it ends?

If she died here… her parents would be so sad.

“…Help me.”

Even though there was no one who could help her, a wish that wouldn’t reach anyone flowed from her lips.

Knowing its futility made it all the more desolate.

That’s when she heard a familiar voice.

“Whoa, if I’d been a little later, it would’ve been really bad.”

Someone had somehow slipped between her and the demon.

Due to her blurred vision, she didn’t recognize them at first, but when she came to her senses and looked again, it was the junior she had recruited to the Student Council.

It seemed so surreal that he would intervene in this situation that for a moment she thought she was seeing things…

“Sorry I’m late, President. But this is because you were too fast, so please forgive me.”

His calm demeanor, so out of place in this urgent situation, was exactly like the junior she knew, making her realize this was reality.

“Ludion! That creature is dangerous! Get away immediately!”

She shouted with what little strength she had left… but he didn’t seem to have any intention of listening.

Instead, as if planning to fight, he drew the short sword from his waist and pointed it at the demon.

“Ah… no.”

In that moment, she realized the demon’s attack was targeting her junior’s left arm.

“Ludion!”

She urgently called his name, thinking she could see his arm about to be crumpled.

But it was too late for him to react to her words and dodge. His scream was about to be heard…

KKAANG!

“KIGIGIGIGIGIGIK-!!!”

“…Hmm. It’s hard to see, but not impossible.”

The situation she feared didn’t happen.

Rather… the demon that had remained unharmed by all attacks until now began screaming and expressing pain.

“You… what did you just…?”

“I’ll explain later after I catch this one first. You rest.”

He said that and slowly began approaching the demon.

She couldn’t understand the current situation at all.

How did he know about this danger from the beginning?

If he knew, why did he follow her here?

What did he do to the demon that she couldn’t even scratch with all her might, to make it suffer like that?

She couldn’t understand anything… but what was certain was that his back looked incredibly reliable right now.