‘What is this?’
As time slowed down from the extreme tension it felt, the Orc Chieftain’s instincts of a warrior, trained to their very limit, sent out countless warning bells.
It said that a truly ‘terrifying’ being was headed this way.
Badump!!
The sound of the Orc’s heartbeat rang around painfully in its eardrums, like a series of thunderclaps.
If it didn’t get out of here right now, it’d be killed.
The sharp instincts of a warrior honed like a fine blade would sometimes display powers close to that of the gift of foresight.
Just like right now!
‘…….!!’
Groctar quickly discarded the human female and with the movements akin to a wild animal, fled to the door of the classroom.
BOOM!!
A mighty, ear-splitting explosion occurred next, the shards of glass flying out like shrapnel.
Meanwhile, Orcs manning the doorways began hastily retreating away after the back of their Chieftain suddenly appeared in front of their eyes.
‘……’
Groctar wordlessly glared forward, it’s breathing now becoming extremely cautious.
It was picking up on an unusual and eerie vibe. It could see a human male it hadn’t seen before standing on the spot where the human female was just now.
Groctar shifted its gaze ever so slightly to the side. Its opposite corner was where the windows were. Nothing remained of the entirety of that wall as if it had been struck by a powerful siege weapon.
‘Did the human enter by breaking through the windows?’
Even with its excellent dynamic visual acuity, the Orc Chieftain still failed to follow that man’s movements.
‘…….’
Groctar could only swallow its saliva at the sudden entrance of a powerful opponent. A strand of cold sweat trickled down its temple.
Kiiiaaahhk-!!
Groctar’s head snapped upwards after it heard that screech. Past the ceiling, beyond the roof – yet another powerful enemy was circling above the Orc’s head like a hawk waiting for prey to emerge.
‘This might become a difficult fight.’
Groctar’s eyes were now dyed in the color of nervousness, something that didn’t exist only a few moments ago.
The new enemy completely ignored the presence of the Orc Chieftain and its underlings, and simply proceeded to confirm the human female’s condition. Groctar spoke to its enemy.
“I am Groctar, from the proud tribe of Red Blade!”
That was the warrior’s introduction only granted to an opponent capable of reaping away the Orc’s life.
Having completed its introduction, Groctar asked the human male.
“And who are you?”
Jongryeo raised his head and quietly spoke.
“Shut your mouth and quietly wait for your turn there.”
A human just used the language of the Orcs?
The Orc’s surprise lasted only for a moment. Perhaps it was because of the power carried in that man’s voice, that none of the Orcs, which included Groctar itself, could even dare to budge an inch from the spot.
“Cough, cough.”
Jongryeo gently patted Jin-Ah’s back as she continued to cough and wheeze while he carefully checked to see if she had sustained any injuries.
Thankfully, he couldn’t see any….With the sole exception of the handprint clearly visible on her neck, that was.
Jongryeo asked, his expression hard and unforgiving.
“Are you alright?”
“Hyeongnim!!”
Jin-Ah finally stopped coughing and jumped into his embrace, tears streaming from her eyes.
Jongryeo gently stroked her hair as if he was soothing a scared child.
‘…Hyeongnim?’
‘Jin-Ah’s Hyeongnim… that means….?’
‘Ah!’
The students finally realized who the man in front of their eyes was.
He was Park Jongryeo, an S-rank Hunter!
‘We’re saved!!’
The students confirmed Jongryeo’s face and began sobbing again. These tears weren’t of despair and fear like the ones from before, but were formed from the mixture of joy and relief they felt.
“Sob, sob…”
“It’s fine now. I’m here, so everything will be okay.”
Jongryeo gently soothed his sobbing sister-in-law, while extending his sensory perception to the rest of the school.
And, within this large school building, the only presence of humans he could pick up on was…. 17.
‘…….’
Jongryeo’s hardened complexion was now dyed in the darkness of rage. He cautiously separated Jin-Ah from him as she tried hard not to leave his side. He then called out his Soldiers matching the exact number of the surviving students.
“Everyone, follow my soldiers out of the building.”
The students nodded their heads, and the soldiers proceeded to pick them up in an embrace.
As for Jin-Ah, he entrusted her, especially to Xiao.
“Please wait for me downstairs, okay? I’m going to join you very soon after dealing with this.”
Normally, Jin-Ah would try to stop her oppa, telling him that they should go together regardless of whether he was an S-rank Hunter or not. No, she’d still say that even if he was something greater.
But now…. She couldn’t do that.
Because, Jongryeo’s current expression was far, far too scary for her to say those words. So, Jin-Ah could only nod her head.
Jongryeo gave out his signal, and the soldiers carrying the students jumped outside of the destroyed wall one by one.
Orcs in the corridor flinched slightly at the sight of the almost-caught prey making their escape.
When that happened, Jongryeo glared at them with his ice-cold eyes.
“I told you not to move.”
Like some kind of a lie, all Orcs stopped moving altogether. None of them could go against his glare.
One of the Orcs, its complexion utterly pale, sneaked its gaze around and cautiously whispered to Groctar.
“C-chief….”
“Shush.”
Groctar was in agreement with that Orc, though. It was true that right now wasn’t the time to care about those weak prey escaping. No, they should be minding the ‘hunter’ right in front of their eyes.
A fight between hunters would commence very soon, where who eats who would be determined.
‘Even then…. We can’t let them get away that easily.’
Groctar sent out a sneaky little signal, and two of its guards moved without making any sounds. After confirming that all of the students had left the classroom safely, Jongryeo turned around to face the Orcs.
He didn’t let them leave because he was worried about them getting injured.
‘These measly Orcs….’
He was confident of killing them all in the blink of an eye. He simply didn’t want to show Jin-Ah or the other kids what was about to happen in here, that was all.
And now, there were no more eyes watching.
Meaning, there was nothing to restrict his actions now.
‘……’
Jongryeo’s gaze briefly drifted towards the stairs outside the classroom. He sensed two Orcs going downstairs while hiding their presence to the best of their abilities.
It seemed that they were going after the kids, but… it didn’t matter.
He had sent Xiao there, and Dvalin was circling in the air, too.
‘So, the remaining task is to deal with these lot, then.’
Jongryeo exhaled softly. The exiting air contained a heavy, dense amount of magic energy.
Groctar asked him again.
“Who are you? How can you speak our tongue?”
Jongryeo ignored the Orc’s words and slowly made his way over to them. Realizing that the human male had no intentions of answering back, Groctar bared its fangs and shouted out.
“Attack!”
The brave Orc warriors pounced on Jongryeo all at once after hearing the Chieftain’s order.
“Kurururuk!”
“Kurarak!”
When they did… the time froze.
Within this freeze-frame of a moment, Jongryeo leisurely walked in between the Orcs that were moving agonizingly slowly and proceeded to destroy them one by one.
He didn’t even need to take his weapons out. He only needed to use his finger.
Every time Jongryeo’s finger brushed by an Orc, the heads, shoulders, wrists, waists, and midriffs of the monsters exploded into dust. And after utterly destroying over twenty Orcs in one blink of an eye…. Jongryeo stood before Groctar.
The Orc Chieftain could only barely keep up with Jongryeo’s afterimage with its eyes.
Its trembling lips parted with much difficulty.
“W-what….?”
It didn’t even have a chance to swing its scimitar. Jongryeo’s left hand grabbed Guroktaru’s mouth and jaw, and the Orc could only whimper pathetically.
“Keok!”
Jongryeo walked forward just like that and slammed the Orc’s head against the corridor’s wall.
SLAM!!
The empty corridor reverberated with the thunderous boom. Jongryeo’s gaze shifted towards either end of the corridor. It was filled with the remains of the students.
It was truly a hard-to-look gruesome sight to behold. However, Jongryeo didn’t avert his gaze and imprinted the sight of every single one of these kids in his mind, just so he could demand reparations from the guilty one responsible.
Jongryeo shifted his eyes to Groctar.
“Why?”
His voice was incomparably icy.
“Why does your kind want to kill humans to this extreme level?”
Groctar had long lost its desire to resist and could only tremble in fear as it replied.
“In, in our heads, telling us…. to kill humans….”
Jongryeo became momentarily confused.
‘Kill humans?’
He had heard of the exact same thing before. But, back then, he interpreted the word ‘humans’ as another term for ‘Hunters’.
But it seemed that the word ‘human’ really did mean all humans, now that he got to hear this monster’s reply.
“Then? What about me?”
Jongryeo asked the Orc again.
“Do you not hear the voice telling you to kill me?”
He brought his face closer. It was inevitable that Groctar would look into Jongryeo’s eyes.
The Orc began shaking its head and shivered hard as if it had discovered something in there.
“F, f-forgive…. Forgive, me….”
Something impossible happened.
The brave and mighty great warrior of the Orc race began shedding tears like a little child. Jongryeo felt the inside of his head suddenly cool off as he watched the terrified monster cowering before him.
‘So, that’s how it is….’
He was not being seen as a human even in this guy’s head, was that it?
‘Well, it doesn’t really matter.’
Jongryeo wasn’t all that interested in how monsters viewed him. No, he simply killed them because they were out to harm humans.
Groctar shivered and continued to sob as the fear it couldn’t overcome completely enveloped it.
“Please…. forgive…..”
Jongryeo replied.
“I’ll forgive you.”
And then, he summoned the ‘Verdict‘.
“However, do not think that the process will be a painless one for you.”
Slash!
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