The six students carefully moved through the academy corridors.

No one spoke.

The only sounds were their footsteps... and the distant echoes of battle somewhere outside.

Verm glanced around.

"We’ll start with the principal’s office."

Everyone agreed.

If anyone could organize the situation, it would be him.

...

A few minutes later...

The office door stood wide open.

No one inside.

The room looked untouched.

"No signs of fighting," Chadi observed.

Verm nodded.

"Good."

"If the principal isn’t here, then he’s probably fighting somewhere."

"Next is the teachers’ lounge."

Unlike the students’ bedrooms, this room was where teachers usually rested between classes or discussed academy matters.

The moment Verm pushed the door open...

Everyone froze.

"..."

Blood covered the walls.

Two teachers lay on the floor.

Or rather what remained of them.

Their bodies had been brutally torn apart.

"...Damn."

"There weren’t many teachers left in the academy to begin with."

"Most of them went with the first-year students on their trip."

Timon clicked his tongue.

"And from those who stayed we’re already down two."

Silence filled the room.

Verm quietly closed the door.

"We keep moving."

"The library."

...

The academy library was enormous.

Books reached from floor to ceiling.

Yet...

Not a single person was inside.

Not even the elderly librarian.

Kevin sighed.

"No luck here either..."

Timon crossed his arms.

"Why don’t we just head to the central courtyard?"

Verm immediately shook her head.

"We don’t know where the enemy is."

"If the principal and the remaining teachers aren’t inside the academy..."

"Then staying indoors is probably safer."

Nobody argued.

Just then, Qasim spoke.

"What about the person who came with me."

"He’s Hilal-Awal."

The group’s eyes widened.

"...Seriously?"

Qasim nodded.

"We need to find him."

"We need as many strong people as possible."

Kevin tilted his head and whisper to him.

"If he’s stronger than the teachers..."

"Why were you with someone like that?"

Qasim laughed awkwardly.

"He’s my boss... Something like that."

Kevin accepted the explanation without asking further.

"Fair enough."

The group headed toward the academy’s guest residence.

The place where visitors stayed.

As they searched the hallways...

Everyone suddenly stopped.

...

Something moved ahead.

Very slowly.

Two figures stood in the darkness.

"...Students?" Verm whispered.

As the figures stepped into the light and they were the two halve spirits halve girls student

Timon frowned.

"You two!"

"The hell are you doing over—"

"Wait."

Verm raised her arm, stopping him.

"...Something feels wrong."

The figures continued walking.

Slowly.

Closer.

Until everyone finally saw them clearly.

A cold chill crawled down their backs.

"What the..."

The two half-spirit students...

Their upper bodies had been grotesquely fused together with other stuff.

Two heads.

One enormous twisted body.

Extra limbs protruded randomly from its flesh.

Dark veins pulsed beneath skin stretched far beyond what should have been possible.

Their mouths hung open unnaturally.

One cried and the other laughed at the same time.

"What the fuck is that?!"

Zerni instinctively stepped backward.

Verm drew her sword.

"Too late to run."

"Everyone, get ready!!"

The monster shrieked then charged.

Timon barely dodged to the side.

Chadi wasn’t fast enough.

Its massive arm slammed into him, throwing him onto the floor.

Before anyone could react...

A tentacle shot from the creature’s body, wrapped around Chadi’s waist and lifted him into the air.

The two heads opened their mouths impossibly wide.

Ready to swallow him whole.

Slash!

Verm’s sword flashed.

The tentacle hit the ground.

Zerni rushed forward and caught Chadi before he crashed into the floor.

Meanwhile...

Qasim finished constructing a spell.

A blazing fireball roared across the hallway before exploding directly against the monster.

BOOM!

Flames swallowed its body.

When the smoke cleared...

The monster remained standing.

Almost unharmed.

"It’s resistant to magic!"

Verm shouted.

Qasim immediately abandoned the idea of another spell.

He began whispering.

"Dead Pit..."

The monster instantly turned toward him before charging.

Qasim immediately used Wind Step to avoid it’s claws.

But his concentration broke and the whisper failed.

"Damn it!"

Timon seized the opportunity.

He rushed in and unleashed a barrage of punches.

Each strike cracked bone.

The monster staggered backward.

It was clearly injured.

Then...

Its wounds began healing before everyone’s eyes.

"...It regenerates!"

The creature screamed once again before lunging toward Timon.

Qasim remained calm.

While the monster focused entirely on Timon...

He whispered once more.

A brilliant blue beam erupted from his hand.

It pierced straight through the creature’s chest.

The monster let out an ear-piercing scream.

"Don’t stop!"

"It’ll heal, so finish it now!"

Verm had already moved.

Her sword carved through its legs.

Timon followed with another devastating punch that shattered its skull.

The monster collapsed.

Its body twitched once.

Then stopped moving.

Heavy silence filled the hallway.

Verm let out a long breath.

"...Good work, everyone."

"Everyone?"

Timon scoffed.

"It was me, you, and the annoying brat."

"The others didn’t do shit."

Qasim rolled his eyes.

"Being racist and rude really is your specialty."

"Oh?"

"You asking to die little brat."

"Enough."

Verm glared at them.

"We don’t have time."

While they argued, Kevin crouched beside the corpse.

"...Guys."

"I think this thing was made through alchemy."

Chadi immediately walked over.

He examined the creature for several seconds.

"...You’re right."

"Whoever created this is definitely an alchemist."

The realization made everyone quiet.

Zerni swallowed.

"...Then..."

"What if the people attacking us, are from that organization?"

Nobody needed him to say the name.

The Scientists.

Qasim looked at the monster’s twisted body.

"They’re turning the dead students into... these things."

Verm slowly nodded.

"We keep moving."

...

Several minutes later...

They reached Valen’s room.

Empty.

Not even signs of a struggle.

Qasim sighed.

*Where the hell are you...*

"Tch... We wasted our time."

Timon clicked his tongue.

Verm shook her head.

"No."

"It means strong people are still alive."

"Our priority is surviving until we find them."

"Surviving?"

Timon cracked his knuckles.

"Screw that."

"I want to smash those bastards’ heads."

"..."

Qasim looked at him.

"I actually agree."

"Hiding won’t solve anything."

Timon smirked.

"Heh."

"So you aren’t completely stupid."

"Guess you’ve got some guts after all."

Qasim was starting to get genuinely annoyed by him.

The group finally headed toward the academy’s central courtyard.

The moment they arrived...

Everyone stopped.

The place looked like a battlefield.

Buildings had collapsed.

The stone ground was covered in enormous craters.

Trees had been ripped from the earth.

Blood stained nearly every corner.

Someone or something had fought here.

They cautiously walked deeper into the destruction.

Then...

Kevin suddenly stopped.

"...Guys."

Everyone followed his gaze.

A monster far larger than the previous one lay dead in the middle of the courtyard.

Its body alone was the size of a house.

And beside it...

Lying in a pool of blood...

Was the principal.

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