School Building Sweep

The hallway I slipped into through the gap in the barricade had already transformed into a dungeon from another world.

The fluorescent lights flickered on and off, and pools of blood dotted the floor.

The commotion from inside the classroom transformed into an unbelievable silence, separated by just a single thick wall.

"… Well then."

I dangled the rebar in one hand and surveyed the far end of the corridor.

Distance: approximately fifteen meters.

Near the staircase landing, a group of green creatures had gathered.

Five of them.

Each one held an iron pipe or kitchen knife, watching my movements.

Gyah?

The one in front noticed me.

Seeing their prey waltz out from behind the barricade, they let out vulgar laughs.

Five against one.

In their simple brains, this wasn't a hunt: it was mealtime.

"Come on… It's time for class."

I flicked the tip of my weapon back and forth, taunting them.

GIIIII!!

The goblins roared and charged at me all at once.

The slap of their feet against the floor approached in an unpleasant rhythm.

Fast. Olympic sprinter speed.

A normal person would be knocked down and beaten to a pulp before they could even react.

But.

(Slow.)

In my subjective time, the world had sunk into mud.

Body Strengthening, output 30%.

Optic nerves, reflexes, muscle output. Shifting everything to combat mode.

The lead goblin leaped into the air and raised a rusted kitchen knife.

I didn't dodge.

I stepped forward.

DOOOON!

I swung the rebar upward from below like a golf swing.

Caught it right on the chin.

With a wet crushing sound, the goblin's body folded mid-air and was sent flying into the ceiling.

"One."

Before the corpse could fall back down from the ceiling, I was already moving.

The second and third came at me simultaneously from left and right.

Coordination. A flanking maneuver typical of wild animals.

No escape—or so they thought.

I kicked off the floor hard and leaped onto the left wall.

"—!?"

The goblins' eyes went wide.

I ran three steps along the wall, defying gravity, and vaulted over their heads.

Three-dimensional movement.

An incomprehensible trajectory for beasts that could only move in two dimensions.

I twisted my body in mid-air and brought the centrifugal force-loaded rebar crashing down onto a skull from behind.

BACHIN!

The second one's head burst like a tomato.

The moment I landed, I swept low.

The iron rod scythed through the third goblin's ankle.

GYAH!?

As the third goblin lost its balance and left the ground, I drove a rising thrust into its torso.

A heavy blow that shattered ribs and ruptured internal organs.

The third one flew backward, spewing bloody foam.

"Three."

The remaining two slammed on the brakes.

The mocking grins vanished from their faces, replaced by expressions of fear.

They'd realized the prey before them was no ordinary human.

"You're not getting away."

I didn't let up on my pursuit.

Accelerated by Body Strengthening, I caught up to them as they turned to flee.

This wasn't a hunt anymore.

It was just "work."

I pulverized the back of one's head and snapped the spine of the other.

A few seconds later.

Nothing in the hallway was moving except me.

"… Phew."

I shook the congealed blood off the rebar and steadied my breathing.

Heart rate: unchanged.

That wasn't even a warm-up.

 

*

 

"… Wh-what the hell was that…"

Inside the classroom, Matsunaga's voice trembled as he peeked through a gap in the desk barricade.

He wasn't the only one. Sakaki and the other boys had lost their words too.

What they'd witnessed wasn't a battle.

It was a one-sided massacre.

Every time Kurose ran along walls, danced through the air, and swung that iron mass at blinding speed, the monsters burst apart like garbage.

Wire action from a movie? CGI?

No, nothing that tame.

What they were witnessing was "killing technique" honed to its absolute limit.

"Is that guy… really Kurose?"

"He's not human… no way anyone can move like that."

Fear, and awe.

The man who had been their plain, inconspicuous classmate had transformed into something beyond their comprehension.

His back should have been reassuring, yet at the same time, it radiated an unapproachable coldness.

"… Hey, it's done."

Kurose's flat voice echoed from the hallway.

He walked casually through the corridor, now left with nothing but black soot and bloodstains, and returned toward the barricade.

His face, splattered with blood, was as expressionless as if he'd just come back from the convenience store.

"I've cleaned up the scouts on this floor. But don't relax just yet."

Kurose fixed his gaze on Sakaki from beyond the barricade.

"The smell of blood has gotten stronger. Something bigger is coming."

"Bigger… than those things!?"

"Yeah. The main event is about to arrive."

Where Kurose pointed.

From the direction of the school entrance, a heavy vibration approached, resonating in their stomachs: THUD, THUD.

The presence of overwhelming mass, incomparable to the goblins.

As the students' faces paled once more, Kurose alone narrowed his eyes like a hunting dog awaiting its prey.