CHAPTER 43: LABYRINTH BREAK

"Your teacher said you must equip your combat suits and meet her in the throne room."

DONG-DONG-DONG!

As she spoke, the sound of bells ringing echoed throughout the castle. It was so loud that I suspected the entire city must have heard it. It must have been this world’s equivalent of an alarm system.

I arrived in the throne room, dressed in my combat suit, not long after. My classmates had already gathered, also in their combat suits, and Ms. Cole was just about to brief us on what had happened.

Apparently, the monsters had escaped the labyrinth outside the kingdom and were being held off by the knights and mages.

"Your mission is to ensure the safety of the common folk while eliminating the monsters," Ms. Cole said, the urgency of the situation evident in her voice. "In this, I’ll only act as an observer; it is up to you how you wish to conduct this mission."

As she said this, everyone’s gaze instinctively shifted to the class leader—Amelia. Just as always, she maintained a calm demeanor and instructed us on what to do.

"I’ve already gone over the layout of the city with the king last night, in case something like this happens. There are basically four areas of the city that need to be secured: the North Ward, South Ward, West Ward, and East Ward," Amelia said, still maintaining her tone. "The labyrinth is right outside the East Ward."

The plan she had devised was to place most of the top-ranked heroes in the East Ward, while the weaker heroes would be assigned to the West Ward. The North and South Wards would have a mix of high and low-ranked heroes.

I was positioned in the South Ward and appointed as the leader of a group of six, including myself. I didn’t know anyone behind the masks, or how to lead anyone for that matter. Since I was the leader, it meant that I was the highest ranked in the group.

"After we clear the city of monsters, we must regroup to close the Labyrinth outside the city once and for all." Amelia instructed.

When I arrived in the South Ward, the scene was one of chaos—massive crowds of people were running and screaming. At first, I thought they were being ridiculous and overreacting.

That was until I heard it first—the ominous flaps of wings and an ear-piercing scream that sounded like an eagle or some sort of bird.

The creature that dropped down in front of me had the face and torso of a woman but the aura of a monster.

When it saw us, it tilted its head to the side like a hawk sizing up its prey, its eyes gleaming with interest. Its body was as black as coal, and so were the feathers etched onto its arms.

The creature was certainly creepy, but I didn’t feel threatened. It was just like any other monster I had fought before.

SPAT!!

A corpse fell from the sky, mangled and bloody. It landed with a wet thud. My eyes widened in shock as I realized what it was. In an instant, it was as if a switch had been flipped.

"Oh my god!!"

"No way..."

"Is that—? No. No, no, no."

The heroes in my group began to panic as they came to the horrifying realization of what had fallen from the sky. A female hero wearing an orange slowly stepped back, the panic coherent in her voice as muttered in a low voice.

"That’s a dead person!"

Without warning she clutched her stomach and began puking.

The body belonged to one of the common folks; whether it was a man or a woman, I couldn’t tell, as what remained of them was plastered across the cobblestone street.

In that moment, nothing mattered—not my classmates, not the people screaming, not their lives—nothing.

The only thing that matter is that I live.

It only took an instant for the stakes to become very clear to me. It was life or death.

SKREEEEEE!

A loud, ear-piercing scream came from the sky. The creature that had dropped the mangled corpse was barreling toward us. The other students began scrambling for cover as it descended, but I stood my ground.

In that moment, I felt weightless—I was terrified and my skin crawled just watching the monstrosity approach me.

Self-preservation was a funny thing. It was all I could think about. I tried my best to steady my breath as I saw the beast approach me, but it was no use; my breath was shallow.

SWOOSH!

It happened in an instant. I slashed it in half, dodging its twisted talons aimed directly at my chest. I didn’t skip a beat; I tossed the corpse at the other harpy watching from a distance. As expected, it took off flying, but I was there to meet her when she did.

Getting in close, I couldn’t help but notice that it really did look like a woman—an ugly woman, but still a woman. I slashed her head off before she could react.

[YOU HAVE GAINED 30 SKILL POINTS]

Thirty skill points? That meant I received 15 points each. It was because it was a C-ranked threat. But I didn’t have time to think about it because more harpies entered the scene. A swarm of them was flying overhead, not too far from where I was standing.

I briefly saw people being carried into the air, then dropped. One of them was a woman, screaming so loudly that it dwarfed the harpy’s screech. I also saw that she was cradling something in her arms. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the distance, but when they did, I quickly realized what it was.

"She was holding a baby."

From the height they were falling, both of them would definitely be killed by the fall.

[ENHANCEMENT]

+-----+

Agility 6-21

Speed 20-35

+-----+

I needed to enhance my speed and agility if I was going to stand a chance of catching her. I shot forward, my speed nearly double what it had been before. I locked all my senses onto her and drowned out the sound of the other common folk screaming for their lives.

My boot-slammed against the walls as I leaped from building to building, trying to reach her. I climbed to the highest building I could find while steadily closing the gap between us.

Her screams were blood-curdling, but no one bothered to look at her; they were too engrossed in their combat to notice.

Her cries grew more desperate as more harpies circled around her as she fell. I kicked off the edge of the building, attempting to catch her and secure her baby in one fell swoop, but then...

SPLAT!!