༺ Monster Trouble (2) ༻
Iliya Krisanax’s impression of Dowd Campbell could be summed up in one word.
Weird.
His whole person was completely elusive.
He acted differently, like an onion where the more layers you peeled, the more questions popped up. It was also because he always behaved differently from what one would expect.
‘…Is he angry?’
He had not said anything at this freshman welcome party.
He accepted the partner request without complaints, so Iliya thought they could talk about things while walking around today.
But he hadn’t said a word. At best, he’d reply with an, ‘Um’ or ‘OK.’
Normally, this would have made her feel a little uncomfortable, but she could never have known that there was an option hindering her perception.
‘…How should I deal with an angry man?’
And fortunately for Dowd, she boasted the social capabilities of an ape when it came to dealing with the opposite sex.
If it was work, she could’ve slapped some steel on her face and managed, but for friends on equal footing? Her brain lagged.
Even if he really got angry, there was nothing she could do. After all, didn’t she try to beat him up on their first meeting?
It was a little strange that we would be angry about it at this time, but she also couldn’t deny that it was a possibility.
‘But if I dig a little deeper here, I might be able to get information about Duke Tristan…’
Walking around with that thought in mind, they unknowingly arrived at the basement of Berkeley Hall at some point.
They had accidentally walked into a deserted place. There was no one else around them right now.
“Uwa…”
Iliya couldn’t help but frown as she looked at the cages lying around.
Inside were live monsters. They were obviously brought to the Academy as research materials.
‘There’s even a medium-sized monster. Oh my gosh.’
At least a squad of regular knights must be dispatched to be able to deal with a medium-sized monster. It wasn’t something you could just keep inside an academy full of students.
“The faculty are also very irresponsible. No matter how special we are, this isn’t worth it…”
She clicked her tongue and moved closer to the cage, bowing her head.
Maybe it was because of that.
She discovered a monster caged in a location that would never be seen from the outside.
“…”
Even before being fully aware of it, her brain, which had seen countless similar creatures in combat, had already completed its calculations.
This…
will explode within a few seconds.
“Sir, you have to avoid—!”
As soon as she said that, a heat wave rose in front of her eyes.
Iliya’s body froze at the same time as the brightly approaching flames engulfed her vision.
She normally would have been able to nimbly dodge.
However, the pure white flame triggered something deep inside her memory.
— Iliya, hide here, here! Never come out!
— Damned devil followers, this way! Try killing me, you fucking bitches!
Explosions. Flames. Screams. Stomps. Fishy smell. A burning family photo. The reflection of the blade flashing in the pool of stagnant blood. Dead bodies.
“…!”
But before she could shake off those images, the flames rushed, a few inches away from her.
‘Danger…!’
As that thought passed through her head.
Someone slammed into her.
What followed was a violent collision with the floor. A groan came out of Iliya’s mouth as she rolled several times.
“Ah, aya…”
Fortunately or unfortunately, thanks to the intense pain, she was knocked off that dreamy state and regained her normal thinking.
It was all thanks to Dowd Campbell, who was a mess on top of her.
“…”
He had unsightly burns all over his back, a broken limb, and stab wounds all over the body caused by shrapnel.
It was a serious injury sustained from protecting her from the explosion. He could die if he wasn’t treated immediately.
“Mi-mister. Hold—hold on. Why, why did you do that?”
Her voice trembled as she realized what had happened.
Why the hell did he do that?
Wasn’t he acting angry at her just a while ago?
Above all, didn’t he say that he liked Lady Tristan?
He had no reason to do this for her, who was basically his pseudo-enemy.
“…”
Dowd Campbell, or rather the clone, lifted his head with difficulty and looked at her.
If the clone wasn’t equipped with an option, its existence was to just get the attention of the enemy and to take the first blow.
Clones purchased from the point shop were programmed with that intention.
However, the clone with the Cool Gentleman option applied decided that wasn’t a very cool thing to say.
And so, what he said instead was…
“Because that’s what I have to do.”
“…”
While Iliya’s eyes widened, unable to formulate a response, Dowd’s clone flopped to the floor, smiling contentedly.
He must have thought to himself, just how cool and gentlemanly that exit was…
— !
— !!
However, Iliya’s expression stiffened as she heard a series of not-so-gentle screams.
The cages were destroyed by the explosion just now, so all the monsters inside them were released.
“…I don’t know what that means.”
Iliya stood up while muttering.
She checked her condition.
She had several swollen joints, which would hinder her movements. She also had no weapon. At most, she could use the rebars from the debris.
However, this was not a mock battle nor sparring, the opponents were real monsters. Not to mention that there were six of them.
Considering that even one small monster could tear apart several adult men with ease, this was a number that could send even a regular knight running in fright.
“…”
Perhaps Margrave Kendride, who imparted her combat skills, would be angry if he saw such a cowardly act.
However, unfavorable fights should be avoided. There was no shame in retreating. This was something that had always been emphasized again and again.
However.
“Ha.”
Her gaze returned to the man lying on the floor.
Did he have some obsessive-compulsive disorder that compelled him to dive right in when he saw someone in danger?
It wasn’t even funny, even as a joke.
Iliya then took a potion from her belt.
This was a high-quality potion given to her by Margrave Kendride in case of an emergency. It was so precious that even getting one a year was difficult.
Normally, it was best to use it on herself and move forward from there.
“…”
However, she unhesitatingly splashed it onto Dowd Campbell instead.
“Isn’t it the hero’s job to save people?”
So.
I can’t let you die here.
“Eueum…”
An injured body and six monsters.
“This is nothing.”
Especially so, when it came to protecting someone.
She really felt that way.
●
<System Message>
[ Main Quest Renewed! ]
[ Main Quest ]
[ Monster trouble! Keep the situation under control! ]
[ Heavy penalty will be imposed if there are too many casualties! ]
[ Reward: Exclusive Equipment Materials ]
Why not just kill me, then?
You unleashed a bunch of monsters in a crowd of newbie freshmen and you wanted me to keep the casualties as low as possible?
“Wait, where are we going!?”
“I need to do something! President, please inform the priests!”
I replied to Eleanor, who shouted when she saw me move in haste.
“We need to protect the students!”
I shouted while moving.
‘Priority first.’
While Eleanor would bring the priests to treat the injured and reduce casualties, the most important thing was still the initial response. In the first place, we needed to reduce the number of injured by reducing the number of monsters before they could get out of the basement.
With that thought in mind, I hurriedly ran into the basement and saw an appalling scene.
“…Uh.”
Iliya was currently fighting. Surrounding her were monsters and my clone that lay on the floor.
Five of the six monsters had already been defeated, with the last one only needing the final blow.
“…”
These weren’t artificial monsters in a mock battle but five real monsters. And yet, she dealt with all of them with just a piece of rebar?
Was she still human?
No, she wasn’t supposed to directly participate in such battles in the scenario, except after awakening as a full-fledged hero. Before that, she was more or less a calculating character.
If she was fighting like this even before that, that meant that there was someone she really wanted to protect.
“…”
But wasn’t there only my clone here?
Why do I have a bad feeling about this?
‘…Ahh, I don’t know!’
I first retrieved the clone before she noticed that there were two identical people.
In the meantime, Iliya had delivered the finishing blow to the last monster. She let out a sigh and wiped the sweat off her forehead.
“Whew…”
With the clone now retrieved, our eyes met as I sat idly by.
“…!”
Iliya’s expression suddenly turned bright. Even though she was exhausted and unable to even lift an arm, her smiling face was filled with pride.
“…That’s a relief.”
[ Favorability level of the target Iliya Krisanax has changed! ]
[ Favorability level has been upgraded from Curiosity to Interest! ]
[ Redeemable rewards will be added! ]
[ Chances of awakening the second gift have increased! ]
[She is an important character. Main scenario has been changed! ]
“…”
I didn’t want to see this notification.
I don’t know what the hell happened for this to appear out of the blue.
“Are these all the monsters?”
I asked that question.
In response, she answered in an incredulous tone.
“Mister, is this is the first thing you ask as soon as you wake up?”
“…?”
But I just arrived, though.
“If any monster escapes, people will die! Quickly!”
The main quest came first. I don’t know how severe the penalty imposed in the scenario was, but I definitely wanted to avoid getting to that situation.
When I urged her, Iliya helplessly patted her forehead in stupor.
“You’re really… Is this really just how you are?”
With a sigh, she plopped down on the floor. Her stamina had reached its limit after defeating six monsters in a row with an injured body.
“I missed a medium-rank monster. It’s probably going to the first floor by now. If you go as fast as you can, you can probably catc…”
She was dozing off midway through her sentence.
“Thanks!”
I left those words for her even though she probably couldn’t hear them and quickly dashed to the first floor.
With this cursed stamina, even just going up and down the stairs was difficult as hell, but I managed to push through with heavy breaths.
Elfante had an isolation barrier that was activated in case of emergency.
Currently, the nearby faculty and staff had evacuated the students inside and were barely maintaining the barrier.
This was a wise decision.
Since the combat personnel in the Academy were probably already coming this way after hearing the chaos, staying put was much better than fighting. Rather, the latter would just lead to casualties.
The problem was.
— !
— !!
— !!!
The barrier would constantly shake every time the medium-rank, bear-like monster would smash it with its paws.
And this was despite using all current means to reinforce the barrier.
In the first place, even regular Knights needed a good amount of preparation when facing medium-rank monsters. Being able to hold out like this was already good.
‘The priest…!’
It would be ideal if Eleanor managed to bring a priest with her.
Due to the nature of their field, priests could reliably reinforce barriers. Even if there was only one priest, we could drag out the situation for some time and as long as we liked.
Breathlessly scouting the area, I finally spotted Eleanor at the corner of my eyes.
Seeing that she was with someone in a robe, she must have succeeded. She was indeed capable.
“What do you mean you can’t reinforce the barrier…!?”
“I already told you. It takes an angel’s blessing to prevent that, and it’s suicide to use it with my bare body.”
“But if it continues like this, people will…!”
“Then are you saying that I should go and kill myself?”
However, judging from the bickering, it seemed that things weren’t going too well.
‘…So they aren’t able to maintain the barrier?’
An academy professor-level priest was able to conjure a similar level of blessing through prayer, even if it wasn’t blessed by an angel.
But in exchange, they had to pay the price. This was probably why that priest was arguing that it was suicidal.
This was also the reason why I purposely put the blessings I received on the Ultima and not on my body.
If you put the blessing in an item, its effect might be reduced, but there would be no worry of repercussions. At this point in time, this was still a relatively unknown trick.
‘But what’s with his attitude?’
With that thought, I glared at the priest who continued the scuffle.
In the first place, it made no sense for a priest to not bring a Holy Relic, which was basically their heart, with them in an emergency like this.
He was clearly making an excuse to not do it.
Despite Eleanor’s outburst, the priest remained still with his arms crossed. In fact, he was even sneering.
‘In any case.’
This Academy was a breeding ground for madmen. Thinking so, I approached the priest.
“Don’t bring your political interests here! This is an emergency, and people’s lives are at stake!”
“Ha, this is why the Tristan Family…”
“Then give it to me.”
I said, interrupting his bullshit and their argument.
Eleanor and the priest turned to me at the same time.
“…What?”
“You’re the type of person who highly values their life. Even without a Holy Relic, I know you have something prepared. If you won’t activate the blessing, I will.”
There was a moment of silence.
“…Hey. Student, do you know what a divine blessing is…?”
Annoyed to hear anything more, I roughly ripped off the small rosario from the priest. If I dragged this out any longer, the barrier would break. Every minute and every second couldn’t be wasted.
And before he could say anything, I had already turned around and dashed towards Berkeley Hall.
Meanwhile, Eleanor was looking at me with wide eyes.
It made me uneasy.
<System Message>
[ Imminent favorability status change on target Eleanor. ]
[ There is no turning back after what you are about to do! ]
[ Prepare yourself! ]
“…”
I broke out in a cold sweat. This message just doubled my anxiety.
‘Ahh, I don’t know! I’ll think about it later!’
I already had a lot of things to take care of. But the main quest came first. If I didn’t stop this now, I’d be in big trouble!
I prepared the Ultima then slashed the Rosario on my left arm, drawing out blood.
A bluish light enveloped the Rosario along with a burning pain. This was an emergency tool that all priests had in case of an emergency. After mixing it with blood, it can used as a small magic power battery.
“Alright.”
I let out a sigh and put the Rosario into the incense burner. The magic incense burner immediately reacted to it and began to emit blue light as well.
[ Skill Penance is available! ]
[ Skill Guardian Shield is available! ]
Right after checking the windows that popped out one after the other, I immediately threw myself between the medium-rank monster and the barrier.
“Wha-what?”
“Student! What are you doing!? Get away right now!”
Voices of panicked faculty members came from behind the barrier.
For anyone, this was just outright crazy.
[ A moment of danger has been detected. ]
[ Determined the situation as life-threatening. ]
[ Skill: Desperation raised to EX Class. ]
The other skills also started to kick in.
[ Skill: Penance Activated. ]
[ Converting all additional stat to Endurance. ]
[ Skill: Guardian Shield Activated. ]
[ Creating shield. ]
A translucent blue shield appeared before my eyes.
A shield that was the result of Penance and Desperation combo. I don’t know how strong it was, but even a medium-rank monster shouldn’t be able to break it easily.
“Student! What are you doing!? Run away now! Leave this to us…!”
“…I can’t run away. That’s why I’m here.”
“…What?”
“Send the students out of the building. I’ll stall for time.”
Yes, this was it.
My purpose was to buy time, not to kill the monster.
This should work, somehow.
“…”
The murderous yellow eyes of the bear-like monster ferociously glared at me.
I locked eyes with it and took a deep breath.
Let’s calm down.
If I make a mistake, I will die. That’s why…
“Bring it, bear!”
I can’t make mistakes.
