The Defeat of Modern Weapons

WOOOOO—!!

A piercing siren echoed from behind the school building.

Patrol car sirens.

Officers from a nearby police box must have sensed something wrong and rushed over.

"P-police! We're saved!"

"Hey! Over here! Help us!"

The classroom atmosphere, which had descended into panic, relaxed for just an instant.

State power. An armed peacekeeping force.

In peaceful Japan, they were absolute symbols of "safety." When officers arrived, violent situations would be suppressed. Such common-sense thinking must have crossed the students' minds.

But only I watched outside with cold eyes.

Saved? Don't be ridiculous.

The food supply just increased.

Two uniformed officers scrambled over the school gate and ran into the schoolyard.

They already had their pistols drawn.

They froze at the sight of the carnage—the P.E. teacher's devoured corpse and the green goblins swarming around it.

"Wh… what is this…"

"Get back! All of you, get away from there!"

The younger officer, hands trembling, aimed his gun and issued a warning.

But of course the goblins didn't understand Japanese commands to "stop."

They looked up at the intruder, snorting in annoyance.

GYAH!

One goblin turned toward the officer with apparent interest.

Then kicked off the ground like a spring-loaded doll.

"I-I'll shoot! Stop!"

"Fire! Don't hesitate!"

The senior officer's bark.

Three dry cracks rang out in rapid succession.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The distance was barely ten meters. A trained officer couldn't miss at that range.

Indeed, the bullets were absorbed into the goblin's chest and stomach.

—Should have been.

CLANG.

A hard sound.

Like throwing a stone at a metal plate or hardened rubber. A light sound.

"—Huh?"

The officer's eyes went blank.

The goblin staggered slightly from the impact but hadn't shed a single drop of blood.

Its chest skin dented slightly, but the lead bullet didn't even embed itself—it simply fell to the ground with a plop.

(… As expected.)

I exhaled quietly.

Just as predicted.

The skin of monsters that had evolved by absorbing maso was biological armor.

Beyond its physical hardness, a weak "mana barrier" constantly deployed on its surface diminished the power of any physical attack not imbued with mana, mere lead bullets included.

Of course, rifles or anti-materiel sniper rifles could probably penetrate.

But the .38 caliber revolvers Japanese police carried were little better than peashooters.

Unless you hit vital points like the eyes or inside the mouth, they couldn't even slow these things down.

"N-no way… I hit it!? Why won't it go down!?"

"Monster…!"

The officers backed away.

No wild beast would miss that opening.

The goblin accelerated again with a leering grin. This time not straight on, but zigzagging, bouncing erratically.

"Stay back! Go away!"

BANG! BANG!

The panicked officer sprayed his remaining rounds, but all either missed or bounced off.

Click, click.

The sound of the hammer falling on empty chambers marked the end of their fate.

WHAM!

The goblin's tackle shattered the younger officer's knee.

He screamed and fell, and two, three more goblins piled on top of him.

"Stop, sto—GYAAAAAAH!!"

His uniform was torn, his throat ripped out through the gap in his bulletproof vest.

The other officer was bludgeoned in the head with a club and, once he stopped moving, was devoured by the pack.

It all took mere tens of seconds.

The moment when humanity's "science" and "law" were defeated by otherworldly "violence."

The last color of hope drained from the faces of students watching from the classroom windows.

"You're… kidding…"

"The guns don't work…?"

"Ah, ahh… it's over…"

Someone's knees buckled.

Despair was contagious.

Even police couldn't win. Even guns couldn't kill them.

And those monsters were right below them now.

DING-DONG—

At that moment, a slack chime preceded the school PA.

The vice principal's voice. Shaking and full of static, hard to make out.

"E-emergency announcement. Intruders in the schoolyard… evacuate immediately, immediately… n-no, lock classroom doors and shelter in pla—EEK!?"

CRASH!!

From behind the broadcast, glass shattering.

Then the microphone screeched with feedback, and the vice principal's short scream mixed with wet chewing sounds echoed throughout the building.

Click.

The broadcast cut off.

"… …"

A death sentence.

They'd breached the building.

First floor windows were no better than tissue paper to them.

KYAAAAAAH!

New screams began from the floors below.

The patter of bare feet running up stairs. Cackling laughter and unpleasant cries.

First floor, second floor, and now third.

Death was rising like water levels.

My classmates had forgotten even how to scream, reduced to trembling.

No exit. No means to fight.

Just a flock of sheep waiting their turn.

(… Good grief.)

I lowered the rebar from my shoulder and confirmed the grip in my hands.

Police bullets couldn't penetrate.

But my "iron" was different.

A mass weapon infused with mana would crush their skulls, beyond reason.

I pulled my hoodie's hood low over my face and slowly walked toward the classroom door.

As I passed the trembling Sakaki, I said briefly:

"Make a barricade. I'll go clean up."

My eyes had already caught the presence approaching from the hallway beyond.

If modern weapons had failed, it was the magic swordsman's turn next.