Ch.9191. Reversal (7)

“This side is about to collapse!! Bring something more to hold it up!”

“Anyone with free hands, go to the water tap and fetch some water!”

The inferiority complex of the lower-class students had long disappeared after the first day of the magic armor compatibility test.

There’s no denying that things were resolved positively after many twists and turns. Some unexpected students had shown impressive results through their struggles.

Therefore, the sit-in protest at the Dube Building due to the nobles’ atrocities clearly shouldn’t have happened.

Yet the Dube Building was emitting the same two types of smoke as before, right in front of the regressor’s eyes.

‘What the hell is going on?!’

Fire and splash-out were intertwined, creating a disaster-like situation inside, but his body was already searching for a way to enter despite knowing this.

‘Here it is…! It hasn’t spread yet!’

Since he couldn’t jump in with his bare body to withstand the flames and that thick magical storm, he had once scouted with Tembris members for a way to infiltrate and rescue the remaining people.

The entry method was through the ventilation duct.

With a grunt, he removed one of the frames and threw it to the floor, revealing a clear view of the inside.

He wanted to call others over, but considering what might be happening on the third floor, that wouldn’t be a good idea.

Entering wasn’t a problem at all. Of course, the issue was that they couldn’t use this method to get back out.

But what did it matter? He planned for everyone to escape together, so there was no need to exit this way. If they failed? Not only would they repeat the same outcome, but they’d face total annihilation. So if they couldn’t succeed from the start, there was no point.

Having been here once before in the same way, he had a rough sense of the location. This was the first floor.

From here, running straight down the left corridor would lead to the wide central corridor, and continuing further would take him past the facility rooms to the laboratory where they synthesized artificial magic stones.

That’s where he needed to go first. He had to deal with the magical beasts that had caused the most trouble during the Dube Building rescue operation.

However, reaching the target point wasn’t going to be easy.

‘Damn!’

-Grrrk?

If he hadn’t quickly moved away from the corridor and hidden himself, he would have been spotted.

‘Twin-headed Fenril… If one has already come down here…’

Time was certainly not on humanity’s side.

There was definitely a time limit, and the remaining time was gradually being shortened by the magical beasts.

Due to the splash-out’s characteristic of spreading upward from the first floor, it had affected the second floor, filled with research labs, first.

On the second floor, where magical beasts were researched and analyzed, captured beasts were placed in neutralization facilities. What would happen if a storm of magical energy hit those places?

The beasts that had been weakened and captured would regain their strength from the thick, murky magical energy, enter a berserk state, and become even stronger.

They would easily break free from their restraints. Those beasts would then roam the building.

Like that Twin-headed Fenril that had come down to the first floor.

Damn, this is why he had planned to head straight to the laboratory…

He thought the best course of action would be to manifest his magic armor and confront those beasts as soon as he entered the Dube Building and headed directly to the lab.

‘No choice. I’ll have to find an opening to deal with it.’

Berserk magical beasts? That was only part of the problem.

If he couldn’t eliminate those coming down from the third floor, not the second, this place would be no different from a Cave producing magical beasts.

Before one of the main buildings of the Academy, the foremost institution in dealing with magical beasts, turned into a Cave, he had to take action.

And now was the only time he could do so.

“I don’t know if this will work… Huff.”

He focused his mind through deep breathing. Some might wonder why he was meditating in a collapsing building, but he couldn’t face a magical beast bare-handed.

Remembering that the duration hadn’t ended when he took the test, Junon was trying to bring out his magic armor again.

And the magic armor answered his call.

“Great…!”

His condition was also better than before. He wasn’t feeling any strain. Even though the beast was berserk, if he went all out, he could handle one of them.

As the creature turned its head toward the laboratory, Junon rushed at it and drove his fist, infused with magical power, straight into it.

-Kkheng!

“Not that way, this way.”

As Junon’s strike, with his magic armor, hit the perfectly targeted vital point, the Fenril collapsed and couldn’t get up.

The Fenril, whose heart had burst inside, died instantly.

“Is everyone alright?”

“”Junon…!””

Inside the laboratory were those who had been desperate for magic armor manifestation, who had attacked Cayden. All the third-year vanguard and support position students were there, except for John and Noel who had been hospitalized with severe injuries.

From the looks of it, they weren’t staging any kind of protest. That wouldn’t have been likely anyway.

However, despite having narrowly escaped death, their expressions weren’t particularly good.

“…But even if we leave the lab, what difference does it make…”

“All the exits are blocked. There are magical beasts like before, and we have no weapons…”

“We’re trapped… we can’t get out…”

Despite the laboratory door opening, they continued their whining and slumped back down.

At this, Junon’s teeth ground together in anger.

Thud! Thwack! Thud!

“Ugh…!”

“Junon… you…! Kuh!”

“Khak…! What are you doing all of a sudden?!”

“I hit you because I couldn’t stand to see such a pathetic sight. You idiots.”

It wasn’t just the problem of the three people whimpering. Something seemed off.

Only Senia was breathing heavily, while the rest seemed fine. It was clear that these guys had given up early on.

“You all seem to be just waiting for someone to come and save you?”

“…Can we escape with just our own strength? How are we supposed to break through those two completely blocked entrances?”

“And you saw it too, Junon. The second floor is full of research labs! How are we going to deal with the magical beasts?!”

“If we had weapons, maybe! If we could use that mediocre magic, we might have done something! But we have no weapons, we can’t use magic freely because of the splash-out, what do you expect us to do?!”

Clutching their punched stomachs, that’s what they said.

In a burning building with both the main and back entrances blocked, and with the laboratory windows completely covered with debris, the situation was certainly not optimistic.

Literally, they were isolated in a building that might collapse at any moment. And with berserk magical beasts roaming the building, the number of enemies had increased.

But giving up there wouldn’t change anything.

“So, you’re going to just sit there and wait for death if no one comes to rescue you? What nonsense. Were you locked up here talking about manifesting magic armor with that kind of mindset?”

“Don’t talk like that! We… we wanted to do something too, but we couldn’t do anything…”

“Did you really put everything on the line with the determination to escape this place?”

“…Huh?”

“If you’re going to die anyway, you should be willing to give it your all even if it means losing an arm or getting ugly burn scars on your back!!”

The voice that had been responding couldn’t continue beyond that.

There was only one person here who had truly been willing to put everything on the line. Only Senia, who until just now had been panting and was barely catching her breath while leaning on her sword. Just one person.

There was no reason to save these guys if they wouldn’t change.

“Damn it. Why am I even talking to you?”

Just sit there and wait for death, then.

In a desperate situation, you need to use everything you can, and there’s no need for such dependent people.

If they’re going to give up so easily over something like this, helping them won’t change anything in the future.

As Junon regretted entering the Dube Building and was about to head to the adjacent laboratory, someone grabbed his shoulder.

“Take me… too…”

The girl moved again, using her sword as a cane, her voice still strained from the exertion.

Senia. She alone was still refusing to give up.

Supporting Senia, Junon entered the adjacent laboratory, which was in relatively good condition.

“…Can you manifest your magic armor? Just nod if it’s difficult to speak.”

One nod. But she still hadn’t caught her breath.

“Wait a bit.”

For now, Senia’s strength needed to be conserved. He gathered synthesis samples from around the laboratory to create artificial magic stones, but it wasn’t enough.

In the adjacent laboratory, the samples were buried under collapsed debris, and while this one was somewhat intact, it wasn’t a laboratory designed for synthesizing magic stones.

Just as he was about to go out to search the opposite laboratory or storage room.

Multiple footsteps blocked his path.

“Here. I found samples when I dug through. My hands got a bit burned, though…”

“You…!”

“There are no samples in this lab, right? We need to make magic stones and use magic armor to escape from here, don’t we?”

The others who had followed weren’t much different.

They had tried to protect their hands by taking off their uniforms, but they couldn’t avoid burns or magical energy poisoning symptoms.

It seems the water… the pipes had burst and weren’t flowing. And there were no neutralizing agents either.

But this situation didn’t feel so bad.

“If you had done this from the start, I wouldn’t have scolded you.”

“”That’s true.””

This is enough. With this many people, especially these guys who can now manifest magic armor in a mirage state, escape isn’t impossible.

“Outside the Dube Building, others will be supporting the pillars. But they can’t hold indefinitely. To escape, we need to get to the fourth floor within that time.”

The proposal he presented was a distant and treacherous choice they had to take from here.

Would the same reaction come this time? Of course not.

“So… we have to deal with the magical beasts on the second floor ourselves?”

“Good. Let’s just make the magic armor first and go.”

“Extra magic stones? Should we make some?”

“No. The splash-out is happening. That won’t work.”

“Right. And going back down after making them once wouldn’t work either since the building is gradually collapsing…”

Judging by those determined looks, it seemed no one was planning to give up.

Shortly after, the preparations were complete. Time was tight, but no one was considering failure.

Students ascended along the central corridor.

With their magic armor drawn, they once again encountered a group of Twin-headed Fenrils.

Unlike before, the number had increased significantly, making it much more challenging to deal with them.

“Kenik Formation 1. Until we reach the second floor, support mages will rely entirely on protective magic. Close-combat blockers, each take a head!”

“”Let’s go!!!””

To escape, the students put everything on the line and ascend to the upper floors of the building.

From the Dube Building, which might soon become a Cave.

***

“Your Excellency…!”

“That’s fine. What’s the situation?”

“Well…”

There was nothing positive to report. Many students were still inside the building, and people were barely managing to support the collapsing structure with their strength.

Using magic was problematic due to the splash-out spreading from the first floor to the roof.

They were trying to prevent the flames from rising by taking turns using their strength, but this couldn’t be sustained for long either.

If they weren’t careful, even the manpower currently holding the building’s pillars could be in danger.

The best option would be to gather everyone in the shelter, a safe zone, and then clean up after the building collapsed. But this wasn’t a simple task either.

‘There’s a shelter underground, but…’

He wasn’t confident. Could the students find their way there and all hold out?

Was there even someone inside who could understand the signals they sent?

The Grand Duke was in a situation where his insides were burning with anxiety.

But in the midst of this, something sparkled from the second floor and began to fall in succession.

“Hmm?”

“W-what is this…!”

“Why are stones falling from inside?!”

“Another one is falling. That’s the third one already!”

Why would they suddenly throw building fragments outside? Goden, who was watching nearby, picked them up one by one.

“Four, five… six in total. That seems to be the last one.”

As the Grand Duke had suspected, these weren’t just ordinary stones.

The five fragments had characters scratched onto them with a sharp blade.

“This… they’ve sent signals about the internal situation.”

“What does it say?”

“…It seems they can’t reach the safe zone and are heading upward.”

“Upward… is it what I think it is?”

“Yes. They intend to jump. The sixth one has a handkerchief tied to it with a rough map and a marked location where they plan to jump from.”

It’s a signal that the path to the shelter is blocked and inaccessible.

It’s the worst situation, but they plan to go to a designated, relatively safe location above the second and third floors.

The students were finding their own way to escape. If that’s the case, the Grand Duke had only one thing to do.

“Deploy more manpower. Make sure the pillars don’t collapse and hold firm!”

“”Yes, sir!””

Following the Grand Duke’s orders, they participated in the students’ escape with even more busy movements.

But Goden still couldn’t take his eyes off the symbols drawn on these stones. For good reason, these symbols… weren’t something students would know.

Who has the luxury to write letters in such an urgent situation? Just a few symbols and that’s it. If there’s a place where such symbols would be used for signaling, it’s only one place.

The battlefield.

‘Battlefield signals… who could have…? And how…?’

Suddenly, what flashed through Goden’s mind was the action of a certain boy he had seen during the end-of-semester evaluation.