Qasim immediately ran toward Valen.

"Valen! Are you alright?"

Valen brushed the dust off his coat before smiling.

"I’ve been better."

Qasim let out a relieved sigh.

"What exactly is happening?"

"The Scientists attacked the academy."

"Yes we thought of that as well." Qasim answered.

Valen’s smile disappeared then he gestured toward the main gate.

"Come."

Qasim followed him.

The moment he stepped onto the wall overlooking the entrance...

His breath caught.

Nearly 100 monsters surrounded the academy.

Some were the same disgusting slimes.

Others looked like walking trees with flesh hanging from their bark.

Some were nothing but skeletons wrapped in rotten meat.

Others crawled on all fours with bodies that didn’t even resemble living creatures anymore.

An army of abominations.

Qasim simply stared.

A bitter taste filled his mouth and his heartbeat quickened.

"So..."

Valen glanced sideways.

"What brings you here?"

Qasim snapped out of it and quickly explained everything that had happened inside the academy.

The assassins.

The dead students.

The monsters.

The principal.

The eggs.

Valen listened without interrupting.

"I see..."

Before he could speak further—

"Valen!"

A teacher approached them.

Brown skin, dark hair with brown eyes.

"Are the guards still holding them back?"

Valen scratched his head.

"I’d say..."

"Six out of ten."

The teacher frowned.

"...What the hell does that even mean?"

"We’re keeping them outside for now."

"But we have another problem."

Valen pointed toward Qasim.

"Gather everyone."

"They need to hear this."

---

Several minutes later...

The remaining adults gathered together.

Only eight teachers remained.

Along with the academy nurse.

All of them looked toward Qasim.

Valen crossed his arms.

"Tell them."

Qasim nodded.

He began from the very beginning.

The room slowly changed with every sentence.

When he mentioned six dead students...

The nurse covered her mouth.

And when he explained that injured students transformed into monsters...

Several teachers lowered their heads, quietly clenched their fists.

But when he finally said—

"...the principal is dead."

Silence.

Complete silence.

Nobody moved.

The words alone were enough.

And when Qasim finished by mentioning nearly forty mysterious eggs...

The atmosphere became even heavier.

Valen finally spoke.

"We need everyone together."

"We’ll leave the gate to the guards for now and go where the other students are."

No one objected.

---

Led by Qasim, Kevin and Zerni, the group headed toward the academy infirmary.

Qasim asked Kevin to purposely chose a different route.

He didn’t want the teachers or the wounded students to see the corps.

Kevin understood immediately and silently led them through another corridor.

During the way however a female teacher asked them to stop in the eggs field, a cat jumped out of her shoulder.

"H-He can keep an eye on them..." She said pointing at the cat.

"Very well..." Valen commented with a smile before they continue moving.

After several minutes...

They reached the infirmary hallway but sometimes felt off...

The hallway was covered with monster corpses.

Most of them still wore pieces of student uniforms.

Qasim’s heart skipped.

"No..."

He rushed inside.

It was a nightmare.

Bodies.

Blood.

Broken beds.

The smell of death filled the room.

Most of the students who had been injured earlier...

Were now dead.

He quickly spotted Verm sitting against a wall with the remaining survivors.

"What happened?" A teacher asked her.

She slowly looked up.

"The dead students... They became monsters."

"We managed to kill them."

"But then..."

"The two dead teachers also transformed."

Her voice cracked.

"They were too strong."

"We were surrounded."

"In the end I.. We couldn’t protect every one."

She lowered her head.

A boy who was at the gate earlier quietly sat beside her.

"No."

She looked at him.

"If it wasn’t for you... No one would’ve survived."

Verm remained silent.

But her trembling slowly eased.

The boy smiles at her.

Qasim knew that boy, he is the top one student in the entire second years... He was helping at the gate, typical hero behavior.

---

After treating the survivors...

The numbers became clear.

41 students remained alive.

Ten of them were injured.

Eight teachers.

The nurse.

Valen and Qasim.

Everyone gathered inside the infirmary.

Valen stepped forward.

"So."

"What do we actually know?"

He counted on his fingers.

"The Scientists attacked the academy."

"They assassinated six students."

"Many more died afterward."

"They sent dozens of monsters to wait outside."

"They unleashed a Third Step monster that fought the principal in a deadly battel which both died."

"And inside the academy there are nearly 50 eggs waiting to hatch."

Nobody spoke.

Finally one teacher broke the silence.

"How... How did they even get inside?"

"This academy has some of the strongest defenses in the kingdom."

"How these assassins and eggs and some of the monster were inside?"

Valen answered quietly.

"Simple... There’s a spy."

The room froze.

A younger teacher immediately pointed at him.

"The it’s must be you!"

"When you arrived here, all this shit happened!"

"What if you’re—"

"Enough."

An older teacher cut him off instantly.

"Are you an idiot?"

The younger teacher frowned.

"What?"

"He came here under an official invitation."

"From people far above our authority."

"He is likely not the spy."

The younger teacher immediately fell silent.

But the damage was already done.

Eyes slowly drifted around the room.

Teachers looked at teachers.

Students looked at students.

Whispers spread.

"...Could it be one of us?"

"No..."

"What if it was a teacher?"

"A student?"

"A guard?"

Everyone began suspecting everyone.

The room grew louder.

Tenser.

Qasim glanced toward Valen.

Strangely...

He didn’t stop it.

He simply watched.

The accusations slowly burned themselves out.

Eventually...

One exhausted teacher slammed his fist against the wall.

"Forget the damn spy!"

"Why hasn’t anyone rescued us yet?!"

"We’re in the capital damn it!"

Another answered.

"They must already know!"

"So where are the Royal Knights?!"

"How long does rescue even take?"

Nobody had an answer.

Then someone quietly whispered—

"...Do we even have that much time?"

Everyone remembered the eggs.

Silence returned.

Monsters outside.

Monsters waiting to hatch inside.

The realization settled over the room like cold rain.

People stopped arguing.

Stopped shouting.

Some stared at the floor.

Others simply closed their eyes.

Hope slowly drained from their faces.

Only after the room had completely fallen into despair...

Did Valen smile.

Almost reassuring smile.

"Well, the solution is actually simple."

Heads slowly lifted.

Eyes filled with hope once more.

Valen looked around the room.

"We just need to escape the academy."

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