Chapter 34
The C-grade wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand and dashed towards the door.
“Not yet…!”
Don’t go out!
Sehyun ran after him, but it was too late. The C-grade flung the door open.
At that moment, something flickered in the distance, illuminated by the flashlight.
Bang!
Sehyun quickly slammed the door shut. Panting, she replayed what she had seen in her mind.
One, two, three, four, five, six…
Sehyun’s face turned pale.
“Aaaaaargh!”
A sharp scream pierced through the door.
Bang! Click.
A chilling silence descended after the door was locked.
She couldn’t hear anything, but she knew what was happening.
Sehyun’s eyes wavered as she leaned against the door.
“Sehyun, are you okay?”
Hyeryeon asked. She was worried about Sehyun, who looked dazed.
“…I saw them.”
“What?”
“I saw them.”
“…”
“Monsters.”
Sehyun said, her face grim.
The horde of monsters that had been visible in the distance, illuminated by the C-grade’s flashlight as he opened the door.
The disgusting aura of hostility and bloodlust directed at humans.
She had held onto a sliver of hope, even though she knew the situation was dangerous.
She had thought there would only be a few monsters…
But there were countless of them.
…We can’t get out of here.
Going out is a death sentence.
Sehyun clenched her jaw, her grip on the door turning her knuckles white.
“S-Sehyun.”
Jieun’s voice was close by, as if she had been near the door.
Sehyun walked towards Jieun and grabbed her hand.
“Follow me.”
She led Jieun to the center of the building. Everyone was looking at Sehyun with confused faces.
“What was that sound just now?”
“A-Are there m-monsters outside?”
Everyone, F-grades and C-grades alike, turned pale.
They had considered the possibility of being inside a Hole because their phones weren’t working, but they had also been denying it.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Everyone froze at Sehyun’s answer.
“Y-You knew? You should have told us! Or at least made sure we were in fighting condition! Turning us against each other for a flashlight… Damn it! Kim Sehyun, you!”
Some of the C-grades shouted angrily.
“Let you go outside?”
“…”
“Knowing how many monsters are out there?”
Sehyun chuckled briefly.
“You’d fight at first if you saw the monsters. But what if you were overwhelmed? You’d come running back here.”
“…”
“With a horde of monsters chasing after you.”
“…”
“And then you’d break down the door or open it. And we’d all be doomed.”
“…”
“Now that you understand the situation, listen to me carefully.”
“…”
“You heard the sound, so you know what’s going on…”
“…”
“In short, we can’t get out of here.”
“…!”
“So we have to hold out here until the rescue team arrives. To do that, we’ll divide into groups and guard the four windows.”
“…”
“One group will stay in the center and support the weaker spots. First, wake up the unconscious people. Jieun, heal anyone who’s running out of energy.”
The F-grades moved without a word at Sehyun’s instructions.
“Are we on a picnic? Wake up, you lazy bums!”
Waking them up was Hyeryeon’s job. And Jieun’s role was to heal those who were forcibly awakened.
Dongwoo quickly explained the situation to those who had regained consciousness.
One of them complained, unable to comprehend the situation.
“Seriously, how long are we going to stay like this? We should just combine our forces and get out…”
Sehyun turned around and looked at him.
“Then go. If you have the guts to go out knowing what happened to the Guard who just left, then go ahead.”
“…”
The Guard who had spoken shut his mouth at Sehyun’s words. Sehyun looked at the others who were staring at her.
“I saw at least dozens of them just now. There must be even more in that darkness. And you think we can take them all on at once? In an open area with no cover? Is there anyone here who can use a wide-range defense skill to block a monster if it charges at us with a club? Or do you have any other brilliant ideas?”
Silence fell over the room.
“But what if the monsters try to break down the building?”
“The monsters I saw weren’t big enough to destroy this building. And this sparring center is made of the same material as the monster shelters, Hole byproducts, but even stronger. It has to be, considering all the skills that are used here every hour.”
Unless they wanted to cause casualties.
“How can we trust you? You didn’t build this place.”
“Go read the notice board on the wall if you don’t believe me.”
Silence fell over the room again at Sehyun’s cold words, her gaze directed at the source of the question.
“So what are we going to do!”
Sehyun suppressed her frustration and spoke to the person who was asking again despite her explanation.
“As I said, we’ll wait for rescue. Even if we do go out, we should try to reduce the number of monsters first. It’s too dangerous to go out now.”
“…”
“We…”
“…”
“Don’t know where the exit is.”
No one was stupid enough not to understand what the darkness outside, the swarming monsters, the dead phones, and the absence of instructors meant.
This was a Hole’s territory.
It might sound absurd, but maybe they were inside the Hole. It was a known fact that the area near a Hole occurrence could be sucked inside.
“And we’re already surrounded.”
Sehyun’s voice dropped to a chillingly low tone. The monsters were lined up, as if waiting for an order, staring at them. That meant they had already surrounded the building.
So there was no time to go out and look for the exit. And definitely no time to run.
“Damn it! We wouldn’t be in this situation if we had just left earlier!”
Someone shouted.
“…No. We were already surrounded the moment it got dark.”
One of the C-grades, the one with the scar on his face, said. Everyone stared at him in disbelief. His body was trembling like a leaf.
“What bullshit are you talking about?”
Someone asked angrily.
“I can sense things with my sense of smell. I can roughly gauge the size of the enemy forces by their smell. But as soon as it got dark, a disgusting smell overwhelmed me. That means we’re in the middle of enemy territory.”
“Damn it, and you didn’t say anything until now?”
The trembling C-grade slowly turned his head and looked at the man who had spoken.
“…I didn’t know. I didn’t know it was all the smell of monsters. I’ve never smelled anything like it before.”
A terrifying silence fell over the room at his words. The man looked at Sehyun.
“You anticipated this, didn’t you? That’s why you used the flashlight as bait to prevent us from leaving.”
“…”
Everyone’s gazes turned to Sehyun. They all looked as if they hadn’t known about her intentions.
Sehyun sighed deeply and nodded slightly.
“Yes. Monsters are sensitive to smell. I knew there would be people who would try to leave if I said we were probably inside a Hole.”
People driven to the extreme by anxiety usually react in one of two ways.
Paralysis from extreme anxiety, or impulsive actions.
There were many people here who were prone to impulsive actions.
“I thought we could buy ourselves some time by staying here.”
Hyeryeon’s jaw dropped.
“…”
“Of course, I didn’t have any concrete proof. I just guessed because this place felt similar to the Hole I saw before.”
“Damn it, damn it!”
Some showed signs of anxiety, and others couldn’t hide their nervousness.
“Let’s calm down.”
“Do I look like I can calm down?”
“Do you want to tremble here and get your head bitten off by a monster?”
“…”
The man, intimidated by Sehyun’s chilling gaze, glared at her and then looked away.
He didn’t want to admit it, but Sehyun was the most rational and decisive person here.
She was the one who had quickly run to the door and locked it when everyone else was panicking after the C-grade had left without permission.
More than anything, there was something about her that was hard to defy.
Sehyun looked at them and spoke.
“Two people per window. Let’s not just stand around. One attacker, one defender per team. One slow, one elastic.”
Sehyun paired them up based on the skills she had memorized.
One ranged attacker, one close-range attacker. If that didn’t work, she paired them up based on whether their skills complemented each other’s defense or offense. People stared at Sehyun in surprise.
She memorized everyone’s skills after seeing them just once?
More than that, she paired them up so their skills wouldn’t clash?
While everyone was surprised, forgetting about the situation for a moment, Sehyun looked at Jieun and Mi Young.
“Jieun, heal anyone who gets tired in the middle of the sparring ring. Mi Young, trap any monsters that break through with your ‘Cocoon’.”
“O-Okay!”
“Got it!”
“But we don’t have any proper weapons…”
The only weapons in the sparring room were made of wood. They were fine for sparring, but they weren’t suitable for fighting monsters.
Just then, Sehyun turned on her flashlight and pulled out four hammers from behind her, throwing them on the floor.
Thud.
“I grabbed these while getting the flashlights. Use these for now. Escape hammers. One per team.”
“…”
“Of course, hammers won’t be enough. The wooden swords can be useful if you modify them, so grab them if you need them.”
“…”
“…”
Everyone stared at her blankly.
They all looked at Sehyun with different thoughts in their minds.
Wow, what’s this?
How did she even know about this?
What kind of person is she…?
But Sehyun, seemingly oblivious to their gazes, spoke.
“Aren’t you going to take them?”
Time is of the essence.
At Sehyun’s words, everyone hurriedly grabbed the hammers. Then, as if she had remembered something, Sehyun turned around and stared at Do Sung, who was still lying limply on the floor.
“Ah! You there.”
Do Sung, who had just regained consciousness, flinched and looked at Sehyun.
“I saw you changing the shape of your weapon. Does the durability of the modified weapon remain the same?”
“…”
“Aren’t you going to answer?”
Sehyun tilted her head.
“…It does.”
Do Sung replied reluctantly, and Sehyun nodded, looking at the others.
“He can make the weapons you need. Ask him.”
“Why should I!”
Do Sung shouted defiantly.
“Don’t you want to get out of here alive?”
“…”
“Then just keep clinging to your pathetic pride and get your head ripped off by a monster.”
Gulp.
Do Sung swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing nervously at Sehyun’s chilling words.
“Give it here!”
Do Sung finally held out his hand. The weapons were duly modified by Do Sung and handed out, one per team.
“Everyone, stay alert.”
Just as Sehyun spoke,
Crack!
A window cracked from a powerful impact. Then, with two more blows, the window, which was supposed to be bulletproof, shattered and fell to the floor.
A monster jumped through the window, large enough to fit through the opening, and looked around, tilting its head.