Chapter 340

〈 Chapter 341 〉 Chapter 333 – Breaking the Academy (3)

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I still wore a sinister smile.

The chief, now out of his sage time, was starting to get angry.

“Hey, this joke has gone too far! This has nothing to do with me!”

“Oh, is that so?”

Even though the chief adamantly declared he had nothing to do with the monsters,

“Then does that mean we no longer need these guys?”

“Heh heh!”

As I petted the wolf-shaped monster that appeared next to me,

the chief let out a scream that was close to a shriek.

“Get your hands off my boyfriend!!!!!!!”

However, the wolf-shaped monster ignored the chief’s words and accepted my touch.

In response, the chief wept tears and let out a wail, desperately wishing the reality before him was a lie.

“Chiiiko! You don’t recognize me!”

“Grrowl!”

Contrary to the chief’s wishes, the wolf-shaped monster bared its teeth while looking at the chief, clearly showing a desire to tear him apart.

The moment I opened my mouth to provoke the chief further,

“Hey! Your mistress is now mine!”

Smack!

Suddenly, the monster next to me lightly slapped my cheek.

Wondering what was up, I turned to the monster.

The monster bared its teeth and spoke to me.

“Ah, sorry. You had a husband.”

“Growl.”

In that moment, I couldn’t help but apologize.

Still, the monster didn’t say anything more to me, just warned me to be careful with my words next time.

Definitely a monster more human than a person.

Meanwhile, the chief found himself caught in his own trap, suffering greatly.

All because of the weight of his own words.

“Ch-chief? A monster as a boyfriend?”

“What nonsense does that sound like?”

“We were told to hunt monsters, who would take a monster as a partner!!”

“Isn’t that adultery… Of course, it is a tempting situation…”

Those were the strong feelings of aversion and questions being directed at the chief from those who had followed him blindly.

After all, even if it was a rotten place, it was the Hunter Academy, so such reactions were to be expected.

However, since this was a dumb academy, some were spouting slightly different things.

If anything, words typical of the chief were being uttered.

“Oh, I want to rub against a monster.”

“……I think that might be ‘possible.'”

“Hey, did you just say ‘possible’? What a weakling.”

“In our world, the word ‘possible’ doesn’t exist. Before you even think of that, the opponent’s already had their way.”

“Youngsters, get out. This is now the path of ‘men.'”

Aside from these folks, the majority were still pouring their scorn on the chief.

No matter what, this had clearly crossed a line.

But the chief, undeterred, began to shout even louder.

“Shut up! Do you even know what love is?”

“What the f*ck is this love!!!”

“This is pure love! Pure love that transcends class and status!”

Even when a female professor shouted, it seemed he refused to budge on his opinion.

[Just change the title to ‘Dogs and Cows’ then!!!!]

‘In short, it’s a pure love mess.’

It might have been for the best if he just kept denying it.

But due to the shocking scene earlier, rational judgment was hard to maintain.

If he had made a normal judgment in the first place, he wouldn’t have been munching on monsters.

Though the chaos seemed endless, it finally began to come to a close.

“Everyone, snap out of it! We can’t stay like this!”

“Don’t be ashamed of the term Hunter Academy!”

“Still, since everyone’s here, we might as well take them on!”

The professors started encouraging everyone but the chief.

“Even if it’s bigger than we knew, it’s still fewer in number compared to us!”

“Act as learned! Everyone has at least one weakness!”

“First, take down the monsters, and then we’ll go after Kim Shinwoo!”

“Think of it as pre-experience for when you enter society!”

The professors quickly regained their composure and started leading the group, assessing the situation.

Even if they were trashy professors, they still proved to be worthy elements of the Hunter Academy.

“I’ll show you how it’s done! Watch closely and follow my lead!”

Professor Pilyong shouted loudly, rushing towards a lizard-like monster.

And upon seeing him, the rest of the group began moving to engage the monsters, a complete turnaround from just moments ago when they seemed deflated.

“That’s the professors for you!”

“We’re hunters, so let’s not be scared!”

“We, the faculty, will be cheering you on!”

“Alright! You stand in front, and I’ll cover you from behind!”

“I’ll kill that guy and eat him, so get out of my way!!!”

As the monster prepared to unleash its breath attack at the front-running Professor Pilyong,

he calmly formed an ice barrier and smirked in amusement.

“Such things won’t work on me; I tried it when I was young!”

It was certainly a response that seemed backed by confidence and experience.

However, the moment the breath was unleashed, something changed.

Zip.

CRACK!!!

With a very faint sound, the ice barrier set up by Professor Pilyong shattered.

“Uh? Why is it breaking—”

KA-BOOM!!!

The monster’s breath that erupted next obliterated the professor’s smile.

“AAAAAAAH! This can’t be happening!!! There’s no way it could break!!!”

Fwoosh!

Burning and screaming in disbelief, Professor Pilyong was certainly reacting as expected.

For the one that broke that barrier wasn’t the monster’s breath,

but the shot fired by Hyeji from a distance.

As Professor Pilyong writhed in agony, he desperately crawled toward me looking for mercy.

It seemed like this moment was causing him unbearable torment.

“Kim Shinwoo!!! You did this, right? If you put it out now, I’ll let you off!!!”

“I’m sorry, but you’re on fire right now.”

“SHUT UUUUUUP!!!!”

[Just like the Mad-Tail incident, this is pretty intense too.］

The sudden twist of fate befalling Professor Pilyong would surely astonish anyone who even somewhat understood hunters and monsters.

Unfortunately, no one was concerned about that twist.

In fact, to be more precise, they couldn’t afford to care.

“What the hell is this strength! It’s just like the monster we met in the simulator; why is this one so strong!!!”

“What’s with the sudden appearance of a white monster? It had no presence, why is it here!”

“Stop tripping me while I’m trying to run!!! Did you trip me, you dumbass!”

“No, there was a weird white vine here a moment ago!”

“Why does my barrier keep breaking! It’s faster than the speed of my maidenhood breaking!”

Of course, it made sense that they were experiencing inexplicable phenomena.

The summoned beasts of Ayeon were attacking students intermittently between monsters,

Elcia’s thorn vines were blocking the movements of fleeing or rushing-out students,

and Hyeji was incapacitating students by assisting the monsters at critical moments.

Naturally, the heroines had yet to reveal themselves.

[Where is Caressy?］

‘Ah, she’s probably working. Lost at Rock-Paper-Scissors.’

This was also to purposefully disassociate the heroines from the current events.

But there was a bigger aim at play.

To create a rift among their relationships.

“You crazy bastard! Can you block properly in front? Why do you keep breaking formation!”

“You just focus on dealing damage! Why are you flinching without doing anything! Are you bored?”

“I saw you! You were just watching from behind you bastard!”

“If it weren’t for you, we could have caught that thing long ago!”

“You broke my barrier, didn’t you? It could’ve only been broken by a gun!”

“Shut up! I don’t give a damn about some female!”

And, just as I hoped, they started blaming each other.

‘It’s no wonder it’s the Hunter Academy.’

[……I’m slowly starting not to understand what the term hunter means.］

It made perfect sense, though.

Monsters are a type of disaster.

So, hunters were originally supposed to team up to take them down.

But right now, they were being overpowered by monsters backed by the heroines.

In such an uncooperative situation,

who would the people end up blaming?

Me?

In a way, that would be a gray area.

I wasn’t directly harming them.

For them, the monster before them was bound to be a far more significant factor than me.

So, would they blame the monsters?

That would be somewhat accurate.

It was a situation arising due to not being able to defeat the monster.

But let’s take a moment to reconsider.

In a 5v5 match, if the opponent outplays our side and cuts through us,

would we genuinely acknowledge the other side?

More likely, it would be easier to hurl reproaches at our side.

And the affair doesn’t stop here.

The accusations hurled only sow the seeds of ill feelings rather than correcting behavior.

Not only can they not help each other, but they even hinder one another.

“Professors! Long live!”

“You bastards! How dare you cut my position and abandon it!”

“This is the last lesson! It’s the sacrifice of a cow for the generations!”

“Who’s the bastard that put a hole in my wing!!! I told you to draw away!”

“You’ll run away while saying that, won’t you? I already know~.”

[……What the hell are they doing.］

‘Isn’t this like when a game fails, and the trolls say hurry up unless you want a surrender?’

[Ah.]

The dissonance among those not quite human was exactly what I had been hoping for.

This creaky relationship was essential for my upcoming plans.

Still unable to escape the encirclement of monsters, people were gradually being pushed to the center.

Even amid that, they continued to fight and stab each other in the back.

On the other hand, the monsters were slightly different.

They worked together to ambush any student or professor they found slightly stronger.

They also protected others from counterattacks coming from an unexpected angle.

Clang!

“Kooh! Kyaah Kyaah!”

“Grgh…Grrr.”

Look, right now one professor’s attack is being blocked by another monster.

On one side, one monster says, ‘Hmph! Don’t get the wrong idea!’ while the other says, ‘Ah…thank you,’ expressing gratitude.

A truly hopeful yet bright scene.

[…bright my ass…everything is dark. The future of this world, and the future of this story.］

‘When was it ever bright? We’ve always been in the shadows.’

It truly felt like a Light Novel.

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