NOVEL WEB Chapter 159
They resisted the demon with astonishing willpower, but it didn’t last more than a few seconds. No matter how strong the main characters were, they couldn’t overcome physiological limits.
I thought maybe Lapiz would last a little longer, but being 7/8 human must have made her no different from the rest.
For a dramatic betrayal, it ended up being quite bland and quietly resolved.
“Everyone is asleep. Let’s go. We need to check if everything else is wrapped up properly.”
They were probably all asleep, but there could always be exceptions. I called Justitia and suggested we patrol the classroom building while retrieving the slimes hidden all over Class A.
I did end up dissolving part of my clothes as I collected as usual, but I felt no particular sentiment about it.
There’s no one to see me now, so what does it matter?
“…Alright, let’s go.”
Justitia’s voice sounded a bit strained—was it the emotion or just the gas mask making it hard to breathe and talk?
I didn’t want to know either, so I asked her to wait a moment while I checked to see if the kids had opened their eyes. If their eyes were messed up, the image of the Liberators would be too.
Most of them had their eyes closed properly, but Minho and Jinhyeon were still wide awake.
“…Sleep peacefully. Without any worry or concern.”
I wondered what Minho was thinking before he lost consciousness. I could forcibly find out by rummaging through his head, but I had no intention of doing that.
I just hoped he wouldn’t blame himself. And Jinhyeon. The reason I latched onto this guy in the first place was to tear his heart apart at this very moment.
Did I carry that out properly?
Probably not. But I didn’t feel angry, nor did I feel like I wanted to tear him apart right now.
I didn’t even feel happy. It was a moment I’d long desired, yet it didn’t bring me much joy.
It was definitely a moment I should have been glad about.
Justitia must have heard me, but she didn’t bother to point it out.
She just urged me to hurry up.
“Yeah. Let’s go, it’d be bad if we’re late.”
Covering the areas where my clothes had melted with enough slime, I and Justitia took a look around the classroom building.
Regardless of whether they were teachers or students, upperclassmen or lowerclassmen, most of the students had already fallen into a deep sleep, with a few exceptions.
One of those exceptions were the Shape-Shift Ability Users.
Not all Shape-Shift types withstood the sleeping gas. There’s no other group as diverse as Shape-Shift users, and many were simply lying on the ground fast asleep.
However, those who possessed otherworldly bodies unlike regular humans were resisting the demon, or some were roaming around as if the sleeping gas had no effect at all.
Some were fully made of metal, others looked like a bizarre mixture between insects and humans—no idea what they were supposed to be.
Upon seeing us, they either charged at us, panicked over what was going on, or even attempted to wake the snoozing kids.
Each of them behaved according to their peculiar appearances, but in the end, they were all taken down.
With Justitia fixing her gaze on them, I turned the slimes into a hammer and easily knocked out all the threats.
By the time we completed our patrol through the third-year area and the staff room, it was around 9:25.
There were about five minutes left until our troops stormed the classroom building, yet we said nothing to each other. This allowed us to hear the loud noises from outside clearly.
The reason the classroom building was subdued so quickly and quietly was that we couldn’t harm the students.
Touching minors had always been looked down upon regardless of the reason, whether then or now, here or there.
This meant, on the flip side, there wasn’t any reason not to kill if they weren’t students.
Listening closely, there were sounds of explosions, piercing screams that could’ve belonged to anyone, and sirens wailing loudly.
The heroes must have already been deployed. Heroes who were remaining inside the facility as staff were likely resisting as well.
It was a mess. I had no idea how much our forces could hold out against this. Some of the executives and a few abilities users would put up a decent fight, but…
I guess I should go help them.
“Justitia, since it seems like everything is settled here, I’m going to lend a hand outside.”
“Immanuel told you to stay put.”
“I saw everything that happened.”
Justitia looked at me for a moment, sighed heavily, and told me to do as I please.
“Alright, you can go. It looks like everything’s asleep anyway… And it seems like the situation outside is a bit tough too. Plus… you probably don’t want to be here.”
I didn’t leave a word behind and swiftly exited the classroom building.
Even though I crossed paths with soldiers who had entered with their waypoints, I didn’t answer their question of where I was going.
Right now, I had neither the mood nor the leeway to debate that.
The only advice I left them with was to make sure to wear their gas masks properly.
Outside was just as chaotic as expected.
Gunshots and explosions buried someone’s last breath while the blood splattered and either evaporated or froze before it hit the ground.
“Cat?! What the heck are you doing here, ugh! Damn it, let’s talk!”
As soon as I reached Hanchō’s area where the fiercest battle was happening, I spotted him in combat with a hero.
The hero was just as startled as Hanchō upon spotting me, wide-eyed, asking what a student was doing here, but soon realized something was off and went on high alert.
However, that’s as far as it went.
He fired spikes coated in paralysis poison from his right arm, hitting the hero, and before long, the hero was frozen stiff and collapsed.
“You looked like you were in trouble, so I came to help.”
Hanchō broke the neck of the fallen hero, muttering that he didn’t need my help.
“You looked like you were in a lot of danger just a moment ago.”
When I pointed it out, Hanchō glanced around for a proper excuse, then angrily snapped at me for leaving my post.
“Well, I handled everything perfectly.”
“Damn, I can’t even get a word in! Just don’t screw this up, I can’t afford to protect you!”
“Heh.”
Who’s supposed to be guarding whom? He just saved me moments ago.
The security troops were facing our side’s forces, so I teamed up with Hanchō to take on the incoming heroes in this vicinity.
Not all the soldiers had gas masks, so we couldn’t release poison gas indiscriminately, but attacks through slimes were still viable, so it wasn’t a problem.
I shot poison using slimes, jabbed them with tentacles coated in toxins, and slammed them to the ground using my tentacles.
Controlling the slimes was too intricate to manage in such a chaotic situation, but simple manipulation combined with toxic coating was more than enough.
“Did we summon all the guys around here?!”
“Guess so.”
Hanchō seemed fed up with the never-ending stream of heroes, stopping mid-fight to complain, but I sensed he was furious at my comment.
“Have some sympathy, damn it!”
“No thanks.”
“Ugh, not a single decent guy!”
Can’t you consider me decent? At least more so than Jack.
Hanchō’s former pair, Jack, was in a state where it was hard to tell if he was a corpse or a person.
I wondered if that’s what happened when you crash straight into a train; Jack, in that state, was still laughing.
Even I was horrified when I saw him like that.
Yet, the moment he closed his eyes and opened them again, Jack was completely back to normal.
And the hero he was fighting had turned into the exact same state.
That was Jack’s power. Before the injury.
As his name implied, he could offload his injuries onto others. After doing this, he’d return to normal—incredibly tailored for killing.
That’s why this dimwit got paired with Hanchō, and why that guy specifically included him among the Liberators.
This was a power that could cause serious issues if transferred to anyone else.
If things went according to plan, when Hanchō created a blade of wind, Jack would jump into it, getting shredded and repeatedly passing on his injuries.
However, there was one problem: the guy might not be too bright, but he was stubborn.
Hanchō probably struggled because this idiot didn’t listen to a word.
“Hanchō, trap him in the blade of wind.”
“What? I mean, I want to, but he’s not listening…”
“That’s not important. Just do it. If he doesn’t want to die, he’ll pass on the injury to the heroes.”
“Are you out of your mind?!”
Hanchō was taken aback, but it didn’t seem like he disliked the idea, as he promptly created a blade of wind right under where Jack was standing.
Starting to get shaved down from its surface like a ground meat grinder, Jack soon began passing on his injuries to the swarming heroes as I’d intended.
Yeah, now we’re talking.
The moment there were no more heroes left to offload their injuries onto, Jack was finally released from the blade of wind prison.
Whether he’d wrung out all his magic or simply lost his mind from the pain, he fainted immediately after getting out, but that was probably for the best.
If he were awake, he’d have been whining about why I made him do that.
“Ha, finally done. Ugh, I think my breakfast is coming back up…”
“Contact the Boss. Everything’s been settled, right?”
“I got it, I got it…”
Hanchō grumbled about needing to catch his breath, but quickly summoned the guy.
And before a minute had passed, dark smoke erupted from the air, revealing him.
“Well done, Hanchō. I knew you could do it! But, White? Weren’t you supposed to be guarding the classroom building?”
He praised Hanchō before turning to me and asking what I was doing here.
“I completely subdued the classroom building and came out for support. It looked a bit precarious.”
“I hate to admit it, but… that insane cat was right. If it weren’t for you, we’d still be fighting…”
Hanchō, having stepped up to cover for me, likely avoided a major reprimand, but it was clear this wasn’t the focus at the moment.
“I know, I know. Secured the principal’s office and the intelligence office. You may go now, I’ll be here keeping watch.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you. White? Let’s go together.”
He extended his hand to me.
I took that hand…
And grasped it.