While running from the rooftop to the first floor, once again a heavy sound echoed.
There was no time to hesitate.
Since we didn't know how much longer the door would hold, everyone quickly rushed out of the building.
Outside the building, the dust from the monster crashing into the gymnasium was thick.
When Mei waved her hand, the wind blew, and the dust began to clear.
The monster, which had rammed into the gymnasium door, was slowly walking away, as if repeating a task.
Even from a high vantage point, I thought it was quite large, but standing at the same height and looking at it, the overwhelming presence was immense.
Even animals of a size similar to humans can exert incomparably greater strength.
How much more so for a creature that, despite standing on four legs, was taller than a human standing on two?
Even if a superhuman is stronger than an ordinary person, a monster is just as strong compared to an ordinary animal.
"Direct confrontation is impossible, so let's try to draw its attention as much as we can. If it gets distracted, we'll lead it away from the gymnasium as far as possible. If anyone seems in danger, the others will try to hold it off, and Jesse will use telekinesis from a distance to assist."
As Mei said, direct confrontation was absolutely impossible.
Thus, our goal was to draw its attention and prevent it from targeting the gymnasium.
Of course, drawing its attention itself was a crazy idea.
But we had to do it, so we, who had come down from the rooftop, ran out to start a life-risking bullfight with that monstrous creature, using red cloths as our bodies.
The children shouted to draw the monster's attention.
"Look at me!"
"Over here! You stupid bull head!"
The monster, which had been walking away from the gymnasium door, turned to look at us.
Swallowing hard, we were ready to run if it started charging at us, but the monster seemed uninterested and continued walking.
"Does it ignore us? Can someone hold the shield for a moment?"
Thinking that the noise wasn't enough, Daniel began pounding Andre's shield with his spear, making a loud noise.
But the monster seemed to ignore us completely and didn't even look back.
"Ah, it doesn't even care. What do we do now?"
Jesse, who had been trying to draw the monster's attention using his abilities, gasped for breath and said in a bewildered voice.
"What can we do? We have to make it pay attention to us, even if we have to force it."
Daniel stopped pounding Andre's shield and answered Jesse.
After a moment, he gripped his spear tightly.
"I haven't practiced throwing much, but..."
He took a few steps forward to build momentum.
"But hitting such a big target should be easy, right!"
With a spirited shout, he released the spear, which had been pulled back to its limit.
Bang-
Daniel's spear tore through the air.
With a terrifying sound, the spear flew toward the monster's head, but when it hit the monster's body, it bounced off with a disappointingly small sound.
"Huh...?"
Daniel's voice was full of surprise, given how confident he had been in his attack.
We all shared that feeling.
The monster didn't flinch at Daniel's attack.
It didn't even look our way.
The monster, which had walked to the center of the field, turned its body.
But it wasn't facing us; it was heading toward the gymnasium door.
If this continued, there was no reason for us to have come down.
We had to stop it somehow.
"Don't let it run!"
As Mei's urgent voice rang out, everyone was already running toward the monster.
Even when we reached right next to the monster, it seemed uninterested in us.
Jesse used telekinesis to retrieve Daniel's spear from the ground and returned it to him.
The rest of us, except Jesse, surrounded the monster.
"Aim for the legs!"
Each of us attacked one of the monster's legs with all our might.
Daniel thrust his spear,
Andre struck with his shield,
Mei slashed with her sword,
And my flaming fist hit the monster's leg directly.
Despite all these attacks, the monster continued to walk forward as if unaffected.
Even if it was a mid-level monster, it shouldn't have been completely unharmed by such powerful attacks.
Except for one type of monster.
"Ugh, the attacks aren't working! This thing is a Sloth monster!"
"Why is such a rare type here!"
The children let out sounds of exasperation.
Mid-level monsters and above have special abilities, unlike low-level monsters.
The abilities of monsters are derived from the witch's powers that influenced their creation.
Most mid-level monsters have the 'Gluttony' ability, which increases their regenerative power the more they eat. There are also monsters with the 'Greed' ability, which creates an illusion to trap people in a certain area, like the one Eve showed on her first day of school.
Though they can't compare to real witches, they all have terrifying abilities.
And the 'Sloth' ability, which is very rare, has a simple effect.
It reduces the impact of external attacks.
This meant that even moderate impacts or magic wouldn't affect it.
Because of this ability, it was known that students couldn't defeat such a monster.
Our attacks left not a single scratch on the monster's body.
Mei's sword, Daniel's spear, and my flaming fist—all were ineffective.
So we tried to slow it down instead of causing damage.
The three of us who were clinging to it and Andre, who had the ability to enhance his physical strength, grabbed the monster, and Jesse tried to bind its feet with telekinesis.
For a moment, the monster's steps seemed to slow, but after a few steps, it regained its original speed.
No matter how hard we tried, the monster continued to walk straight toward the gymnasium door.
Its pace quickened.
Everyone who had been clinging to it was thrown off.
Once it gained momentum, it couldn't be stopped.
Just like a train wouldn't slow down if someone jumped in front of it.
With a loud crash, the monster hit the door again, sending a shockwave.
Dust rose and then settled.
The door, now visibly cracked, with pieces of wood falling off, was in bad shape.
At this rate, the door would hold for one more impact, maybe two at most.
If it hit the door like that, the impact would be stronger than any attack we could deliver.
However, the monster seemed unharmed despite the repeated impacts.
This meant that we couldn't stop it.
The realization was heavy.
Still, we didn't give up. We shouted and clung to the monster, which was turning away from the door and heading back to the center of the field.
Attacking its eyes from atop its head was also ineffective.
When the monster shook its head, Daniel, who had been on top, was thrown far away, and Jesse barely caught him with telekinesis.
It was a desperate and futile struggle.
Then, perhaps the dust and the obstruction of our abilities worked.
The monster, which had been walking away from the door, slightly changed direction.
In front of it was Jesse, who was far away.
I could see the panic on Jesse's face.
"Run!!!"
Feeling an ominous premonition, I shouted and ran toward her.
When I looked ahead, Mei was already running toward Jesse.
The sound of the monster starting to run from behind reached my ears, and Jesse, her face pale with fear, turned and ran.
Given her relatively weaker physical abilities compared to the others, she couldn't escape the monster's charge by just running.
The terrifying ground-shaking sound was getting closer.
Jesse, who had been right in front of Mei, was now right in front of me.
[■■■■■■■-!!!]
The monster roared, and Mei, grabbing Jesse, leaped to the side.
At that moment, I felt the vibration behind me lessen.
The monster, having predicted our actions, had slightly slowed down and was preparing to change direction toward where the children had fallen.
It was chilling.
Then, the vibration behind me became intense again.
I saw Mei's figure, who had stopped moving, in front of me.
"Ah... Ahh!"
Shouting, I threw myself forward.
Rolling on the ground, I hugged Jesse and Mei, who were also rolling, and the monster's charge passed by us.
The impact was fierce, but it was bearable.
Fortunately, the risky plan had succeeded.
An opponent that was impervious to external attacks.
My ability was to produce flames from my body.
So, logically, producing flames from a detached part of my body should be possible.
As expected, my left arm detached but still felt connected.
I didn't ignite flames to lower its guard.
The monster seemed pleased, its eyes narrowing into half-moons.
Seeing the monster smile, I smiled back and said,
"You can't just eat your fill. Bastard."
The fire inside the monster's stomach began to burn.
The flames were fueled by my anger at the world.
I hated the world that had cast me aside without reason.
But I also knew there were good people in that world.
That's why I hated a world where such people had to die.
I couldn't accept that.
The anger was greater and hotter than anything I had felt before.
Normally, it would be dangerous to lose control, but it didn't matter now.
The flames from my left arm, fueled by this anger, burned hotter, consuming the arm like kindling.
The flames seemed to burn everything in their path until they were extinguished.
The monster, sensing something was wrong, opened its mouth.
Instead of a roar, the sound of flames burning came from its mouth.
Flames rose from its open mouth, and soon its entire body was engulfed in fire.
The flames burning the monster's body were as red as my hair.
The flames burned and burned.
The monster, which seemed indestructible, fell to the ground, enveloped in flames.
As I stared blankly at the scene, I heard the children shouting.
"The blood... it won't stop!"
"Scarlet, snap out of it! Lie down with the wound above you!"
Looking at where my left arm had been, blood was flowing freely.
I must have been in shock from the blood loss.
Knowing I couldn't die, I ignited a moderate flame in my right hand and pressed it against the bleeding area.
It hurt more than when the arm was severed, but the bleeding stopped.
The children, who had a very masculine way of dealing with the emergency, looked stunned, but I had no choice if I wanted to survive.
I had planned this from the start.
Jesse was sobbing, and the other children supported me with worried faces.
The children were alive, and the people inside the gymnasium were safe.
I was also alive.
This was the best outcome I could think of, so I couldn't help but smile.
The burning monster turned to ashes, and only a small, black charcoal fragment remained where it had stood.
Is it over?
Just as I was about to collapse from the loss of strength in my legs,
[■■■■■■■-!!!]
A familiar roar echoed.
From the school gate, another monster, similar to the one we had just defeated, was walking toward us.
...Really, stop this nonsense.
Even as I cursed, a lingering doubt was resolved.
Even if there was only one monster, the people inside the gymnasium probably wouldn't have been completely wiped out.
But if there were two, it made sense.
I wondered why it appeared now, but it was better than facing two from the start, so I forced my collapsing body to stand.
This time, should I use my right arm? Or my right leg to maintain balance?
While I was considering,
A flash of light appeared.
"I heard something was happening at the school, so I came as fast as I could. Did I arrive a bit late...?"
A man's voice rang out.
The man, who had appeared in front of us, had the same hair color and skin tone as someone I knew.
Relief filled the children's eyes.
He was one of the top five strongest heroes, and the fastest among them.
His golden hair and brown skin were the symbols of the fastest hero.
"I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner. You've worked hard, so rest now."
He was known as the [One Who Follows the Sound].
Leon Lionel.
With his arrival, the tension eased, and my memory faded.
Author's Note
Many people were waiting, so I gathered my resolve and wrote diligently...
The protagonist I envisioned is someone who considers themselves ordinary but is fundamentally good.
While watching people volunteer in remote areas on TV, I thought it was unrealistic, but if someone was drowning, I imagined the kind of person who would be the first to jump in.
A person who clenches their fists and stands up, not to survive firmly but to live firmly.
I hope Jesse's determination to save everyone is conveyed well to you.
Please check out the fan art by Pins on the fan art board!