Chapter 405

*Shiver.*

Elaine momentarily felt a shiver run down her spine, a chilling sensation.

This was the first time she had felt this.

It wasn’t pleasant.

Because it was a negative sensation.

An absurd sense of foreboding.

It was a foreboding that her body itself seemed to reject.

What on earth was this…

Tense, Elaine stared ahead.

Because the sense of foreboding was coming from that direction.

*Thump, thump, thump, thump.*

The moment her heart pounded rapidly.

*Flap!*

The sound of flapping wings was heard.

It wasn’t a bird.

Something of unknown identity.

“T-That’s…?”

Elaine’s eyes flickered with deep doubt.

A form resembling a human.

But it wasn’t human.

Because it had wings.

And large, black wings at that.

And.

“E-Eyes…?!”

Countless, innumerable eyes were embedded where a face should be.

And humans, when they see a creature so different from themselves, instinctively feel a strong sense of revulsion.

It was exactly like that now.

Elaine felt a strong sense of revulsion, enough to send shivers down her spine.

A feeling of not wanting to be in the same place for even a single second.

Others seemed to feel the same way.

“What’s that disgusting bastard?”

“Never seen it before. Is it a monster?”

“Monster? Isn’t it undead?”

“Whatever it is, it’s an incredibly unpleasant fellow. Ugh, look at those disgusting eyes.”

“What a creepy face, seriously.”

Students expressing strong displeasure.

It was an emotion erupting from instinct.

Because the unpleasant being before their eyes was indeed an enemy of humanity, a creature with which they could never coexist.

Demon.

That was the identity of that unpleasant being.

*Grin.*

The demon smiled.

With a mouth buried among countless eyes.

That brought about even more unpleasantness.

“What, that bastard is grinning?”

“Ugh, it’s so disgusting I feel like I’m going to puke, seriously.”

“Hey, you bastard! Stop grinning and come here! Come here, you bastard! I’ll kill you right away!”

Students shouted with strong hostility.

Again, an emotion expressed by instinct.

It was then.

*Swish!*

Without any warning, the demon’s figure moved.

So incredibly fast.

*Stab!*

“Kuh… Kuheok…?!”

A pained scream from a student whose eyes widened in horror.

Something sharp was piercing his chest.

It wasn’t a weapon.

The demon’s arm.

The arm had, at some point, transformed into something as sharp as a spear and pierced the student’s chest.

-Kiki.

The demon’s unpleasant laughter made time, which seemed to have frozen, move again.

“P-Peteeeeeer!”

“Uwaaaaaah, this baaaaastard!”

The students next to him, spewing anger, attacked the demon.

Blades flew, and spears were thrust.

Attacks that had firmly repelled the invasion of the undead army until now.

However.

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

The sound of something being swung.

*Slice! Thwack!*

Followed by the sound of something being cut by something sharp.

“Kuaaak!”

“Aaaaargh!”

Students’ pain-filled screams erupted again.

It was a gruesome sight.

Because the arms that had been holding weapons were brutally severed.

By the demon’s swinging arm, which had at some point transformed into a bladed whip.

-Kikiki.

The demon laughed unpleasantly again.

And the demon’s arm moved once more.

*Whoosh! Whoosh!*

This time, a movement as if to sever their necks completely.

At that moment.

*Thwack! Thump!*

Something blocked the demon’s arm.

It was an ice wall.

Elaine’s ice wall.

She had barely saved the lives of the students who were on the verge of death.

“Get back!”

“U-Uuugh…”

“Immediately!”

Elaine’s sharp shout, unlike her usual self.

A display of how seriously she perceived the current situation.

Only then did the students, who had been dazed by shock and horror, support the injured and hastily retreat.

-Kik?

The demon also looked somewhat bewildered by the recent situation.

It didn’t seem to understand why its attack had been blocked.

However, soon.

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

It swung both its arms at an even more insane speed.

*Thwack! Thump! Thwack! Thump! Thwack!*

The sound of collisions with the ice wall pierced their ears loudly.

Elaine’s eyebrows furrowed.

Because she had a bad feeling.

And her feeling was not wrong.

*Crack!*

The sound of the ice wall cracking.

It was a precursor to shattering.

It was astonishing.

Because it had dealt a powerful blow to the ice wall that even the large boulders thrown by the giant couldn’t damage.

Elaine’s expression became urgent.

Because she had to decide what to do before the ice wall shattered.

‘Attack, of course.’

Retreat was an option, but she couldn’t retreat here.

Because if she retreated, others would be endangered again.

Elaine prepared a powerful spell.

Because she realized that ordinary magic wouldn’t work against this opponent.

Her lips moved, quickly chanting the spell.

In the meantime, eventually.

*Shatter!*

The ice wall shattered into pieces.

-Kikik.

The demon’s satisfied laughter.

Before that laughter even faded, the demon’s attack poured down.

*Whooshwhooshwhooshwhooshwhoosh!*

The bladed whip tore the air to shreds.

If things continued like this, Elaine’s body would suffer the same fate.

However.

Elaine’s spell was also already complete.

Her left hand moved.

A hand overflowing with a raging storm of fire.

Her right hand also moved.

This time, a hand imbued with an absolute coldness, as if to freeze everything.

Fire Storm and Ice Storm.

She had activated those two advanced spells simultaneously.

And they were no longer ordinary advanced spells.

Because the two opposing energies collided, causing an explosion of immense power.

Its power was already beyond high-level magic.

A powerful blow that only she, who had reached the pinnacle of two attributes, could deliver.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!*

An enormous explosion.

The demon was directly engulfed in that explosion.

“Phew.”

Elaine caught her breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

If she had been even a little late, she herself would have been in danger.

But fortunately…

“…Huh?”

Elaine’s eyes widened.

At The place devastated by the explosion.

Because something was seen rising from that place.

It was…

The demon.

“N-No way!”

Elaine’s voice trembled as it flowed out.

A powerful magic, cast with full intent.

But it stood up again after being hit by that magic?

…What kind of incredibly tough body did it possess to make that possible?

-Ki. Ki. Ki.

The demon laughed.

But that broken laughter was somehow different from its previous laughter.

Because it was a laughter dripping with strong murderous intent and anger.

It looked extremely enraged.

As if to prove it, the demon’s countless eyes, bloodshot and glaring, were fixed on Elaine.

“Monster…”

Elaine bit her lip, her expression hardened.

She clearly realized.

That the enemy before her was an extremely dangerous foe.

And.

That she absolutely had to stop it.

Elaine gathered her energy.

At that moment.

-Kikik.

-Kishishik.

-Kikukuk.

The demon’s laughter echoed.

It wasn’t the laughter of one or two.

Five, six, seven, eight… no, nine.

Including the demon in front, ten.

“Ugh?!”

Elaine’s expression wavered with shock.

Until now, it hadn’t been hell.

From now on, it was hell.

* * *

“Heh heh, now my blood is finally boiling.”

Slain licked his lips, his eyes glinting with madness.

“Boiling blood, my ass! Can’t you see the situation?”

But soon, Lucia’s shrill voice was heard.

She had every reason to shout.

The sudden appearance of the demons.

Since then, the situation had completely gone to hell.

Because they were monsters strong enough to make one’s teeth chatter.

It was the same even now.

The Fangs of Slaughter and the Hybrid’s Bud.

They, known together as the Twin Fangs and practically legends in the mercenary world, were barely holding off one demon with a combined attack.

An event that would make anyone who knew them even slightly doubt their eyes.

But that was reality.

If they were in such a state, it was needless to think that these enemies were an even more terrifying nightmare for others.

“D-Don’t come! D-Don’t… Kuaaaaaak!”

“M-M-Monster! R-Run!”

“S-Save… Aaaaargh!”

Gruesome screams echoed from all over.

Because a massacre was taking place.

The power of the demons was not something most students and staff could handle.

Yet, the reason they could somehow hold on without completely collapsing was.

Because there were also strong individuals on the academy’s side who served as a focal point.

“Everyone, get back!”

Professor Karen’s shout.

She, hailed as a genius even in the Mayfield family, one of the Ten Great Mage Families, was crushing one demon with powerful gravity magic.

Pressure strong enough to crush even large, beast-class monsters into pieces.

However, the demon was holding out, kneeling on one knee.

No, it wasn’t just holding out; it was about to get up at any moment.

One of Professor Karen’s eyes twitched.

Because she knew she couldn’t hold it down for long.

“What should we do, Professor Regina? Should we hold out like this?”

Professor Karen asked Regina, her former student and now fellow professor.

“My husband and reinforcements will arrive soon.”

Regina replied.

She too was engaged in a bloody battle with one demon.

Though, even if it was a bloody battle, it was still only the demon’s blood.

The problem was.

Despite suffering sword wounds here and there and bleeding, the demon was still thrashing about as if nothing had happened.

It was a monstrously tough body and vitality, unimaginable for a human.

That must have been why it was able to stand up again even after being directly hit by Elaine’s powerful magic earlier.

“Then we must hold out.”

Professor Karen nodded.

Professor Karen knew very well that Regina’s husband, Max, was a more reliable person than anyone.

“Let’s do this.”

Professor Karen’s eyes burned with determination.

* * *

“Uwaaaaaah?! D-Don’t come! Don’t come!”

Amy swung her baguette wildly, her face filled with terror.

Of course, no matter how hard the baguette was, it posed no threat to the demon.

Yet, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and hold her ground at the front.

Because there were only injured people here now.

A disaster had struck the rear, where the injured were being healed.

It was because of a demon that had wings and could fly over the defensive wall.

“U-Ugh, the injured are…”

Annette’s voice, who was also in charge of treating the injured, trembled.

Even if it were possible to escape, they couldn’t.

Because they couldn’t abandon the injured.

-Kishishi.

The demon let out a sneering laugh.

Goosebumps rose all over Amy and Annette’s bodies.

“S-Someone help!”

Amy screamed.

But there was no hope in sight.

Because all the combat power that could fight now was at the front.

Now that the demons had appeared, they were hastily regrouping, but it was already too late.

Because the demons had launched a surprise attack like this.

*Swish!*

The demon lunged.

“Uwaaaaaah!”

Amy thought it was a truly sad end.

Still, dying with her most beloved baguette in the end wasn’t so bad.

Right at that moment.

“Hyaaaap!”

*Thwack!*

With a shout full of spirit, a massive body collided with the demon.

It was Ethan, the Human Ogre.

The demon momentarily staggered backwards.

Not missing that opportunity, a blade flashed.

*WHOOOOOOSH!*

A powerful blow.

It was the Executioner’s Greatsword, wielded by Camian.

*Slash!*

The demon’s chest was vertically slashed by the surprise attack, and blood spurted out.

However, the sensation at his fingertips was insufficient.

“Tsk, was it too shallow?”

Camian clicked his tongue.

“Ignis!”

But the attack wasn’t over.

Ethan’s younger sister, Emily, summoned an advanced fire spirit and attacked.

*BOOOOOM!*

An explosion.

The demon’s body staggered backwards again.

The repeated attacks must have surely damaged the demon.

It definitely should have.

-Kishishishi.

The demon straightened its body again, completely unharmed.

Neither the slashed wound nor the scorched wound seemed to have any effect.

“T-That monster!”

Emily spat out, her expression one of utter disbelief.

“Whatever monster it is, we have to stop it!”

Camian shouted tragically.

The demon that suddenly appeared was an extremely dangerous enemy that had to be stopped as a top priority.

His judgment was good.

Because he had chosen to rush to the rear immediately.

However, victory could not be guaranteed.

Not only Camian, but also Ethan and Emily clearly felt that.

Even so, there was nowhere to retreat.

For the sake of everyone, they had to fight a decisive battle with the demon.

“Yeah! Definitely!”

Ethan also let out a powerful shout.

“Take the injured and flee immediately, Seniors!”

Camian shouted again.

“A-Alright! T-Thank you, Juniors!”

“You all have to be safe!”

Amy and Annette, who had barely escaped with their lives, hastily fled.

Camian tightened his grip on his sword.

“I’ll defeat it somehow.”