Rushing into the crowd of Orthus, clearing them one after another, and earning tons of experience... was what I thought would happen.
As soon as I took a few steps, QUEEN suddenly moved. That's all that I could say, since I literally only saw a flash of light cross the entire field before "Everything" fell down, dead.
"..."
She wouldn't even gain much experience from these... Why? Before I could even ask her the reason, she quickly turned around and walked away, leaving the words, "I remember I had some urgent business to handle. I'll go back first."
After she left, there was only one thing I needed to do: Go home too! She was literally my lifeline in this deadly field. Now that she's gone, I'm basically faced with extreme danger. Staying here to farm may end up giving me more experience, but the risk was just too high.
I quickly ran to follow her, but her movement speed was too fast. Just as I turned around, she was already like a dot in my view, heading closer to the gate at a rapid pace.
I ran at full speed, skipping all the corpses that I passed along the way, despite my heart aching from all the wasted materials. By the time I reached the gates myself, QUEEN had already left. I felt a little disappointed as I wasn't even able to say goodbye to her, but well, that's life for you.
"Now... I should return this to Kyouya first."
Although it didn't have much screentime since it didn't fit well against the enemy, I was still able to use it quite a lot. I checked it one last time, but other than the blood covering some parts of it, there were no damages or anything at all.
"This thing's pretty durable," I muttered, recalling how I was basically using it as a javelin after the first battle. "But I'll just stay quiet about that with him."
Some things were better left unsaid after all.
I walked back to the school leisurely, appreciating the change of scenery as I passed a path I wouldn't have taken normally. By the time I reached the gates, the school was already like a haunted building, with only a few living beings around. All students have already left to either hunt or train, after all.
The guard at the gate didn't even have to check my ID, as I have a face pass, literally, as the famous "level one weakling" in the past. I had a lot of time here, staying later than the rest, so the guards all remembered my face quickly.
I went straight to our classroom and grabbed my bag. I was debating whether to just leave it behind since there were still classes tomorrow anyway, but I decided to just bring it along.
"I'll be coming home today after all."
Although I want to head back to Toki's workshop as soon as I can, I read a message from her that my Mother required me to come home today before resuming the "OJT," or so Toki said as an excuse.
After I gathered all my things, I turned to leave the room... But the air around the school started turning weird.
"Hmm?"
I peeked out of the window and looked at the sky. Although it was a peaceful blue before, now it was overcast, with black clouds covering the entire sky as far as the eyes could see.
Lightning arced once in a while, and my eyes were briefly blinded by the bright flashes. However, as the lightning flashed, I could see shadows falling from the sky. "What was that...?"
I turned to look closer, leaning against the glass window, but it was hard to see due to the darkness. It looked like... Insects? Yeah, they're insects... Giant ones! They look like fleas or spiders, or a mix between the two, with two pairs of transparent-looking wings attached to their backs.
"Sh*t! Is it another raid by the monsters?!"
I quickly panicked, as the school couldn't really be called "fortified," even as praise. The insects flew around, and as if it were a canon event, one of them headed for the window where I was.
"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!"
Of course, I ran. Just from how it looks, it's definitely more powerful than even the boss I fought yesterday. Just to confirm, I tried to peek at its stats since it was close enough, but I was completely lost for words.
"Level 40?!"
That was possible? F*ck, I'm so dead!
I quickly returned to the classroom and closed the door behind me. I doubt it could stop a giant insect as large as a car from entering, but it's better than nothing. As I was inside the room, I quickly headed for the window, opened it, and jumped outside.
I don't know if what I did was a good or bad idea, though, since the outside was similarly teeming with those overpowered insects.
*SCREEEEE!*
And just as I was slightly distracted by the hidden dangers on the outside, the one whom I left behind in the classroom smashed the walls and approached. Did it lock onto my scent or something? Before I could even think of what to do, it was already raising its long, sharp legs in an attempt to stab at me.
"Move!"
It was too fast for me to react, but a hand came in and pulled me back... A little too strong, since I was sent rolling a few times on the ground before recovering my stance.
"Atatata... You are...?"
I stared at the figure that appeared and noticed that it was actually Sir Andrew!
Level-wise, even he was lower than the insect in front of him. He was only at second-class level 8, meaning all in all, he was at level 28 aggregated. That's three-quarters of the enemy's!
"Ugh...!" Sir Andrew groaned softly, holding his left arm, which was lightly bleeding.
That wound was definitely gained after he tried to save me! Knowing this, I can't help but feel a prickle in my conscience. Steeling my resolve, I suggested, "Sir Andrew, let me help!"
"Don't come!" He roared angrily. "You'd just be a hindrance! Escape to the nearest shelter, quick!"
"Kuh!"
I know that I'm weak, but hearing such sharp words from someone else still stings.
I quickly turned to the gates and ran, trusting that Sir Andrew could survive the encounter. After all, his second class was called Fist King, a brawler class that focused on power and defense. If not for that, then the attack he received earlier would probably send his entire arm flying.
"Please be safe, Sir Andrew!" I prayed silently.
As I left the gates, I found that the entire street was covered in battles. To cope with the gap in levels, the others formed groups to face a single insect. The adults were putting up a pretty fair fight with minimal injuries, but the others, the students like me who were late in escaping, were getting thrashed.
"Where was the shelter again?!" I almost panicked as I tried to recall its location from memory.
However, I couldn't even remember the direction it was at, let alone the exact address. Having no choice, I approached a struggling group, facing two insects.
The two insects were completely unaware of my approach, as they were too focused on the group of five before them. Fortunately, Kyouya's lance was still hanging on my back, so I had a weapon to use.
"..."
I judged the distance and looked for their probable weakness, but other than the joint in the middle of their wings, which looked extremely soft, I couldn't find anything else.
"Haaap!"
With all my strength, I threw the spear forward. It followed an almost straight line as it flew to the space between the wing's bases. The entire lance got embedded, and green blood sprayed around. As soon as this happened, the other insect turned around and found me, who was the one who killed its brethren.
As it turned its back to the five, I quickly shouted to instruct them. "The base of the wings! Attack!"
The two gunners quickly took aim and blasted without even taking proper aim. All bullets still hit, given their proximity to the insect. Rather, if they missed while that close, then they're not fit for being a gunner at all.
"It works!" One of the gunners, a black-haired skinny girl, cheered.
As soon as they found the weakness, they quickly moved to the next monster and used the three melees to distract it, letting the monster turn its back on the two gunners and finishing the battle with a full-auto barrage.
Seeing them take down an enemy way above their level, I felt a slight sense of envy. "I wish I had a gun like that too..."
As the surrounding monsters were cleared, the five of them were finally able to take a brief rest. One of them, the man who was their main tank and acted as their leader, walked toward me with a wide smile.
"Thanks for saving us earlier. If not for your help, we'd probably get overwhelmed by those insects after a minute more."
"It's fine; I didn't do it for free after all," I muttered with a smile.
As soon as he heard my words, his expression stiffened slightly before turning into a wry smile, and he scratched his head of brown hair awkwardly. "Well, I guess it's appropriate for us to give you compensation at least. What do you want? Money? Materials?"
This guy was more generous than I thought. Unfortunately, his guess was wrong. "I want the information about the shelter. Where is it? I completely forgot."
"Pfft! What a funny joke~!"
A voice echoed from behind him, laughing out loud. I just glanced at her, who was literally crying from laughing too much. Well, it wasn't a joke, though...