Chapter 25 (1/2): ○○○○ Monster (7)

“Kuhaha! Members of Claw’s organization!! Reveal yourselves!!”

Before anyone knew it, Mucia, now the boss of a criminal organization, grinned fiercely as he summoned his underlings.

There had been no time to plant Academy operatives, nor did such operatives even exist until now— logical rebuttals like these were meaningless.

Once the “role” of a crime boss had been imposed on him, it was only natural that his subordinates would have been prepared in advance, as if reality itself had rewritten itself accordingly.

The question was, why had this role been forced upon him so suddenly?

At this point in the timeline before the regression, he was originally nothing more than a cute delinquent who caused school violence at best.

What had triggered this new role for him?

But there was no time to ponder it slowly.

Because, before anyone realized it, the subordinates he had summoned were already swarming the Academy.

“Kyaaahhh!!”

“P-please, spare me!!”

“What the hell is going on?! I just went to the bathroom for a second…!! What happened in that time?!”

The Academy— students and teachers alike— descended into chaos, far more rapidly than in the previous regression. 

Soon, the place became a scene of utter pandemonium.

“The plan’s fallen apart. Elaine, we should retreat for now and come up with a new plan.”

“Understood.”

Without even knowing what had gone wrong, I had no choice but to accept the failure.

With a stiff expression, I signaled Elaine to fall back, and she nodded with a grim look.

But there was someone who refused to follow my order.

“I can’t do that.”

“Miss Rone?”

“I can’t just abandon the students and teachers here. We have to save them.”

Unlike Elaine, Rone was an ordinary person who knew nothing about the ghost stories.

Naturally, she refused my retreat order and insisted on rescuing the others.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. I know it’s painful, but now isn’t the time to fight— we have to retreat, Miss Rone.”

“Why not?”

“…I’m sorry, but I can’t explain that. All I can say is that I’m not running away just to save myself. In fact, retreating now is the fastest way to resolve this situation. Please trust me.”

“…I’m sorry, but even so, I can’t just leave people behind like this.”

I tried to persuade her, but without being able to explain the ghost stories, my reasoning fell short. 

Unsurprisingly, Rone refused to listen.

If I had at least built some trust with her beforehand, like in the previous regression, I might have swayed her. 

But in this attempt, our relationship was barely at the level of acquaintances.

“Fine. Good luck, then. Elaine, let’s retreat—just the two of us.”

“…Alright.”

At my words, Elaine nodded with a somber expression, while Rone turned away without another word.

In the end, we split up. 

Leaving Rone behind to fight against Mucia— now overlaid by the ghost story—I sprinted toward the sealed room.

At the very least, I needed to reformulate the plan. 

And if things went south, I could always regress again.

Even on the way to the closed room, the criminals of Claw continued to emerge.

Literally, they emerged.

An organization member revealing themselves from inside a trash can as the lid opened.

Another breaking through the academy’s ceiling, dropping down as if they had been hiding there all along.

From students’ lockers.

From an empty classroom that had been vacant just moments ago.

From inside a backpack.

Places where, by common sense, no human could hide— and indeed, no one had been there before.

Any space that could somehow fit a single person, no matter where, was overwritten by reality, replacing it as if they had always been hiding there before bursting out.

“Kahahaha!! It’s a human hunt!!”

“Blood!! Slaughter!! Madness!!”

The revealed members indiscriminately attacked nearby students and faculty with the frenzy of lawless marauders in a post-nuclear war wasteland.

It was a sight straight out of a horror story.

At the same time, these were phenomena that hadn’t been seen before the regression.

If the anomalies had been this blatant from the start, even if the status window showed no abnormalities, I would have realized much sooner that it was the work of a horror story.

It was unmistakably spiraling out of control.

The spread of the horror story was progressing much faster than in the previous regression.

Both Mucia’s transformation and the resulting assault on the academy were unfolding more rapidly and with greater madness than in the previous timeline.

Why?

“Kihihihi! I’ll paint you red!”

“Get lost!”

I naturally kicked away an organization member trying to climb in through the window and kept running toward the closed room.

Damn it. We’re on the fourth floor.

“Enemy leader! Defeated!”

Then, as if adding insult to injury, Rone’s cheerful victory cry echoed from below.

This wasn’t good.

Time to revise the plan.

Defeating the leader of this horror story didn’t mean suppressing it.

Quite the opposite.

I still didn’t know the true nature of this horror story, but I understood its structure.

In shounen manga, defeating a villain doesn’t bring peace. 

It only invites a stronger, newer villain.

This horror story was the same.

“…What should we do, Teacher?”

“It seems the plan has failed. Completely. Abandon the idea of observing the situation and adjusting the plan. We need to reset.”

“But it hasn’t even been a few hours since I regressed….”

“I know. But we can’t afford to waste time here.”

I spoke with a disgusted expression.

It wasn’t like I wanted to regress so meaninglessly either.

But the academy had already become a lawless hellscape from the Claw stage onward, overrun by Mad Max-level outlaws.

I didn’t even want to imagine what the next stage would look like.

Damn it.

At that moment, a blinding flash of light burst through the hallway window, bright enough to sear my vision.

“Kyaaak!”

“It’s too bright!!”

Both students and criminals alike froze in confusion at the sudden flare.

But even in that chaos, I had a strong instinct that I couldn’t afford to stop.

This light was undoubtedly a sign of the next stage after Claw.

In the previous regression, the terrorist organization Hand had been the next stage after Claw, but of course, they’re just skipping over that now.

“Don’t stop! Keep running!”

“Y-yes!”

With my vision completely gone, I grabbed Elaine’s hand and sprinted down the hallway, relying purely on instinct.

By the time my sight slowly returned, we had reached a sealed room.

Just before entering, I unconsciously glanced toward the source of the light.

“…What the hell is that?”

“Ha… haha.”

I could only laugh in disbelief.

Outside the window, countless flying objects surrounded the academy.

They were invaders from an extraterrestrial civilization.

First, it was delinquent circles, then criminal organizations, then international terrorists.

And now, alien invaders?

“Haha. This isn’t some middle schooler’s delusion….”

Something suddenly clicked in my mind.

What was it? 

It felt like I was on the verge of realizing something—

Then, the flying saucer turned its aim toward us.

Snapping back to my senses, I frantically reached out and activated regression.

Fzzzt!

.

.

.

Beebibibik

Beebibibik

Click.

Ha. Unbelievable.

Now, of all things, a UFO shows up?

What kind of urban legend is this?

That UFO must definitely be the next stage after taking down the terrorist group Hand.

In that sense, I’ve succeeded in uncovering a new piece of information.

But I wasn’t the least bit happy about it.

Even though I’d gained new information, instead of getting any closer to understanding the nature of the urban legend, I only felt more confused than ever.

Maybe Elaine would know something about it.

After all, she knows more about the urban legends of this world than I do, who’s completely clueless.

She hasn’t shown any signs of recognizing anything so far, but with something as uniquely novel as a UFO, surely she’d at least recall something, right?

Thinking that, I quickly finished preparing and headed to the academy.

But—

“No. I don’t have any idea either. What in the world are those giant silver discs floating in the sky?”

Contrary to my expectations, Elaine also seemed completely clueless.

“If anything, do you have any guesses, Allen?”

“How would I?”

I’d hit a wall.

That’s how it felt.

Elaine and I both stared at the floor with blank expressions and sighed.

“Are we really going to have to repeat this all over again?”

“This is troubling… The number of regressions isn’t infinite, after all…”

“Tell me about it. At least with the infinite loop urban legend and Uncle Brandon, each attempt gave us a little more clarity on the urban legend’s outline. But this one… We’re still stuck at square one, with no idea how to even approach it, let alone solve it.”

…