Although Desper was the strongest one in the classroom, he was the most nervous. The teachers and the children were scared, but they had always heard legends about how strong cultivators were. Above all that, they had just witnessed him kill five monsters in less than five seconds, let alone only three.
They didn't know how horrible the situation truly was.
'What should I do?!' Desper panicked. 'Should I fight, or should I… escape?'
Unfortunately, the monsters didn't give him time to think and attacked.
Although they were slow, he had learned from his mistake and didn't try to block. Instead, he took a couple of steps back and swept his swords at two of them. The monsters easily blocked his strikes with their long claws. Desper had already expected that. He snapped his swords back and struck again.
He decided to take advantage of their slow movements and unleashed a relentless barrage of strikes, not giving them any chance to counterattack. He wasn't hoping to kill them, but only to draw their attention away from the children and teachers. He knew that even one of them was enough to massacre everyone.
'What should I do now?'
He could somehow keep the stalkers on the defensive, but he had to attack nonstop, which would eventually exhaust him. The bigger problem was that the noise of their fight would attract more stalkers.
He frowned as an idea crossed his mind. 'That might work.'
In the next moment, all of his attacks were focused on two of them. The third seized the chance and pounced, slashing with its long talons.
Desper leapt backward and dodged. The sheer force carried the monster forward, placing it in front of the other two and blocking their path.
Desper immediately swung his swords horizontally at its neck. The monster reacted by raising its claws to parry, but at the last moment, he shifted the motion into a thrust.
"Groooaaaaaaa—!"
The monster shrieked in pain.
The swords clashed with the claws but slipped between them, one piercing its chest, the other its neck.
Desper quickly pulled his swords out and ducked back, avoiding the claws of the remaining two.
He breathed heavily, his heart pounding. But inside, he felt a flicker of relief. Just short time ago, he had nearly died against a single one of them. Now, he had killed one out of three. That was the power of experience.
He moved to finish the second one the same way, but—
What he had feared happened.
Booooooom…!
The wall to his right suddenly collapsed.
His pupils shrank to pinpoints as he saw five stalkers, each with eight ears.
'N… No way!!'
Five more M-7 stalkers. It was impossible for him to fight all of them at once, especially in such a place.
His mind exploded with thoughts.
The two in front of him seized the moment of distraction and struck. Desper tried to retreat, but it was too late.
"Arghhhhhh—!"
Three long talons tore through his clothes, slicing his chest down to his stomach. Searing pain burned across his torso, and the force of the blow threw him backward.
Desper regained his balance and made a choice. A very hard one.
'I'm sorry.'
His teeth bit into his lip so hard that he tore part of it.
He slammed his swords at the stalker on his left and dashed toward the hole in the wall.
He escaped!
Five monsters chased after him, but the last two…
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!"
"Aaahhh!"
"Motherrrrrrr! Help meeeee!"
"Don't coooome!"
The screams behind him pierced his soul and shattered his heart.
'I'm not weak anymore!' he screamed in his mind. 'Why am I running?! Why am I running?!'
The screams reminded him of his village, reminded him of Amal.
'I should have the power to protect people! Why am I running?!'
Then the memory of the crying father clutching his clothes, begging for his daughter, surfaced. "Pleeeeeease! She's the only one left in my life. I don't want to lose her too!"
Desper's face twisted, and his mind exploded.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!"
Screaming in rage, Desper turned and swept his swords wildly.
"Huh?!"
He froze as blood sprayed across his face.
His swords weren't blocked as usual. Instead, one slit a stalker's chest, while the other sliced through its neck, killing it instantly.
He saw the other four stalkers writhing. Their eight ears twitched violently, pressing against their heads.
"The loud noise…" he realized.
The monsters had weak vision but extremely sharp hearing. The screams from inside the classroom were overwhelming them.
He didn't waste a second and attacked one of them. The stalker raised its claws, deflecting one sword, but the other sliced through its neck.
'I can do it!'
From that exchange, he realized they had grown weaker. Without hesitation, he charged at the remaining three.
They snapped by the death of two of them and parried several strikes, but it felt like he was fighting completely different creatures. Desper manage to kill another one by driving his sword into its skull.
Suddenly, when he was about to kill another one, the world around him spun. The three deep wounds on his chest were pouring blood, and his consciousness began to fade. He quickly swallowed the Healing Pill under his teeth. Warm sensation spread through his body, and bleeding stopped.
For most people, using a Healing Pill during battle was a bad idea as it consumed the Essence in the Origin to heal the body. However, Desper's Origin stored a vast amount of Essence, so it wasn't a major issue for him.
"Aaaaaaaaaahhh—!"
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE—!"
"Daaaaaad…!"
The cries hadn't stopped, but they were fewer than before.
'Only two left. Now I can go save them.'
Even so, he rushed at the remaining stalkers instead, striking with his swords.
He had gone mad.
'What are you doing?! Go save them!' he questioned himself, then answered, 'I must kill these two first.'
It was a cruel choice, but these two stalkers would surely attack him from behind if he went to save the children.
The monsters crossed their claws and blocked him. He dashed to the right, isolating one of them, then thrust both swords forward.
He had learned that thrusting was more effective than swinging against their long claws.
After killing the first, the second was much easier.
"Haaa… hoo… haaa… hoo…"
His breathing grew heavy. He felt like he could collapse at any moment. Although he still had plenty of Essence, his body was exhausted.
He had been fighting for a long time, even before reaching the school.
"Ahhhhhhh—!"
The screams snapped him back.
He forced his body through the hole in the wall. The metallic scent of blood filled his nose. The screams pierced his ears. One glance was enough to tell: only half of the children were still alive.
Desper could kill a B-Rank monster with a simple swing of his swords. The same went for M-Rank monsters against ordinary people, let alone children.
He stepped on something soft and slippery but didn't dare look down. Though the monsters had sharp hearing, the screams irritated them and masked his steps.
He reached one and stabbed it in the neck and didn't even bother pulling his sword out before rushing to the last one.
This time, he didn't strike with his sword. Instead, he leapt at the monster, tackling it to the ground, then began smashing its head with his fists.
Each punch carried his emotions: desperation, hatred, grief, and rage.
Booooooom…!
A thunderous sound echoed across the sky.
"The Clear Signal!!" someone shouted.
The Distress Signal meant a monster attack.
The Clear Signal meant all monsters had been eliminated.
Even so, Desper kept punching.