Original Chapter: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n0383ht/4/ 

The female student I had just met died.

Crushed by a monster, it was an instant death.

In a sense, I think that is happiness.

If this place is a paradise for me, it must be hell for the majority of others.

Among them only a selected few can have a death without suffering.

The monster carried the torn body to its mouth and disappeared while chewing with wet, squelching sounds.

"W-What was that? A monster outside... no, are the things we see outside monsters!?"

Rea was confused.

I was also confused.

But it made sense; no wonder the area around the entrance was quiet.

If monsters appeared, everyone would attempt to escape from the school building.

A vicious trap utilizing that emotion was right there.

"What do we do, Erika!"

"Let's leave here for now. It might be better to look for a safe place inside rather than outside."

"Mogh, mogh, mogh, mogh."

"But a place like that—no, it's no use giving up before trying, right?"

"I don't think there's a perfectly safe place either. But it's better than being here."

"Mogh, mogh, mogh, mogh."

"...Yeah, I think so too."

I know.

Rea and I have both noticed it for a while now.

"Um, hey."

"What?"

"This sound we've been hearing..."

"Mogh, mogh, mogh, mogh."

That peculiar "mogh" voice was coming from behind us.

From the place where the male student from earlier should have been standing.

Rea didn't want to look.

But if we don't look, the next victims will be us.

So we have no choice but to turn around.

"Mogh, mogh, mogh, mogh."

A monster so large its head touched the ceiling was standing there.

It has arms and legs; it's a human type monster.

But its skin is inflamated, flesh drooping, and its body shape is like flabby slime.

It has no eyes, only a large mouth on its face.

That mouth was holding the male student's head, trying to swallow it while dripping massive amounts of blood.

His body had gone completely limp, becoming a corpse leaking bodily fluids.

"Mogh, mogh, mogh, mogh."

In short, that voice was the sound of chewing—

"N-Nooooooo!"

Something inside Rea reached its limit, and she held her head and screamed in front of the monster.

Then, suddenly, the surroundings became dark.

I instinctively reached out to Rea.

She grabbed my hand and huddled close, frightened by the sudden change.

"Is something else going to happen...?"

Just for now, I agreed with Rea.

Isn't it a bit rushed to have so many events at the same time?

Then, with a clank, all doors of shoe locker opened at once.

And while flapping open and closed, they emitted a siren like sound  from inside.

It was a noise as if hundreds of speakers were blasting at once, causing both of us to cover our ears involuntarily.

"My ears hurt..."

"I hate this, what is this!"

The ceiling lights turned on again, illuminating the area.

But the color wasn't white like before; it was red.

Before we knew it, the outside was also dyed in twilight, and the inside of the school was instantly dyed in a warning colors.

During all this, the monster continued to eat the male student, "mogh, mogh," and had already consumed half of his body.

Once it swallows everything, it's inevitable that we will be the next targets.

We have to escape anyway before that happens.

In that case, rather than dealing with things after they happen, it might be better to move first.

"Rea, let's go."

"Where to!?"

"Anywhere. Somewhere better than here!"

I don't know if such a place exists.

But this spot is probably the most dangerous place in the school.

My intuition was telling me so.

Based on experience, my intuition is wrong 99% of the time, but the current me is different.

Rea also knew that crouching here wouldn't save us.

Taking my hand, we passed by the monster and left the entrance.

Fortunately, the monster seems not to harm others while eating.

With skin that thick, fighting it looks like a struggle, so ignoring it for now is correct.

Returning to the hallway, we heard a sound like an earth tremor from the distance.

"Is something approaching?"

"H-Hey Erika, was our school's hallway supposed to be this long?"

"No... I think it was short enough to see the end."

But now is different.

Endlessly long—the hallway continued in a straight line forever.

"Is this really the school I know?"

"We won't know the answer unless we survive. Run, Rea!"

"Huh? Ah, eh, is that—"

Visible across the hallway was a horde of monsters.

Monsters I fought before zombie, zombie wolves, goblins, the flabby monster that ate the male student, and even monsters we haven't seen yet were all together—an all-star parade of demons.

It's just begun, but it feels like the climax; it's exciting.

But right now isn't the time to be grinning with joy.

Those are opponents we should run from.

If we get swallowed up, we will definitely die!

Holding hands, Rea and I ran.

"T-That many monsters!? Why so suddenly—is it because I screamed!?"

"Don't think about it now, we just have to find a place to hide!"

Since I'm faster, I ended up pulling Rea.

But I have to match her pace to some extent, so we couldn't reach top speed, and the distance between us and the monster horde only shrank.

I'm pretty sure there used to be stairs to the second floor around here, but—

"The stairs are gone..."

The place where stairs should have been was blocked by a white wall.

"Why!? Is that even possible!?"

"Don't stop, run, Rea!"

We can't escape to the second floor.

There are no corners either.

Just a straight line continuing endlessly.

There are classroom doors on left and right of the hallway, but where on earth do these doors, which shouldn't exist, lead to?

Out of curiosity, I peeked into a door that was half open as we passed.

Countless eyes snapped open and glared at me with murderous intent.

Yep, definitely nothing good.

"Haa, haa, haa, wait, Erika!"

After running for several minutes, Rea's legs finally reached their limit.

I had vaguely noticed since our speed was dropping.

"Sorry... I'm at my limit. Go ahead!"

I crouched down in front of her.

"Get on, I'll carry you."

"That's..."

"Just get on!"

A voice so loud it surprised even me came out.

I'm unusually assertive.

Honestly, I even feel good about this situation where I can save people with my own power.

So there's no need to hesitate, Rea.

"Thank you, Erika."

It's not anything beautiful like that.

I'm just doing this to satisfy my desire for self affirmation.

"If they're about to catch up... don't worry about abandoning me."

Rea said as she clung to my back.

Ah, this girl is a very good person, I thought.

Probably the most decent and well intentioned person I've ever met in my life.

But at the same time, there's a cold part of me thinking that even a human like her would eventually be "dyed" by people like Shudou kun if she were in that classroom.

Everyone is like that.

There are no humans made only of good intentions; scum is the true essence of humanity.

"Thank you so much."

Even now—it's only because I happen to be the one saving Rea that we can build a good relationship like this. If the usual me had met her, it wouldn't have turned out this way.

Even if Rea was a person leaning towards good... she probably would have ignored me.

Because that is the most correct choice.

Because I have no value worth saving.

So I don't expect anything.

Don't expect too much.

Don't take it seriously and get all warm and fuzzy!

"Tch... I haven't completely shaken them off."

Looking back, the horde of monsters was definitely closing the distance.

I clicked my tongue involuntarily.

Ahead, the endless hallway continues.

At this rate, we will inevitably be caught and eaten.

Ah, I hate this.

I started to think, I don't want to die.

It's not like I'm scared of dying, I'm totally fine, because I'm worthless... is the me who pretended to be cool gone?

But I've gained the power to accomplish something like this without getting caught killing Shudou kun.

Don't I want to live a little more? Is it okay to think that?

My daily life was a hell surrounded by monsters from the start.

So, this school full of monsters isn't as painful as they say.

In fact, because I have power, I even feel hope.

Ah... if I survive, there are so many things I want to do.

I want to become a hero.

I want to help people and be praised.

There are so many people I want to kill, people I want to make suffer!

"Rea, I have a request."

"If it's something I can do!"

"I'm going to take one hand off and pull out my smartphone, so I want you to operate it."

"Smartphone? Why?"

"Just do it!"

"O-Okay..."

When I shoved one hand into my pocket, Rea hugged me tightly so she wouldn't fall.

I handed the smartphone I took out to her.

"There are weird numbers written on it!?"

Now, does that status-like display really have meaning?

"Press the plus button next to Agility once."

"I-Is this okay?"

[Kuragane Erika]

[Level: 4]

[HP: 10/10]

[MP: 10/10]

[Strength: 5]

[Magic: 5]

[Stamina: 5]

[Agility: 6]

[Remaining Status P: 7]

"Agility increased to 6, but..."

Immediately, my body becomes lighter.

By simple calculation, I should be 1.2 times faster than before.

"E-Eeh, Erika, you're faster than before!? Because I operated the smartphone?"

"Exactly! How is the distance from the monsters?"

"It's opening up little by little. Yeah, we're losing them!"

It worked.

As I thought, the displayed numbers are directly connected to my physical abilities.

For now, I'll get through this with just 1 point, and I'll allocate other points later when things calm down.

"Erika, at the very end of the hallway... can you see something like a door?"

Though, it's still far in the distance.

"If we get there, we might be saved."

"Will we be saved, I wonder."

"We have no choice but to believe so."

The path is a one-way straight line no matter how far we go.

We had no other choice.

However, that's assuming we can proceed without incident.

"Over there, is the floor distorted?"

Ah, look, Rea found it immediately.

As expected, "something" is going to happen.

"No, something is sticking out!"

What appeared was a barricade made of school desks, chairs, brooms, shelves, and such.

"Is this supposed to be an obstacle course? I'm going to jump, so hold on tight."

"Okay, I'll try my best."

In front of the obstacle that appeared, I lowered my hips slightly and jumped.

The heights ranged from tens of centimeters to over a meter, so our progress speed inevitably dropped.

"But with this, the monsters' speed will also drop—"

Rea looked back with expectation.

But apparently, what she saw there wasn't monsters struggling with the barricade—

"They're advancing while blowing them away..."

It seems they were completely ignoring the barricade as they advanced.

Well, that's also within expectations.

"Rea, another point into Agility."

"Roger! I made Agility 7!"

My body accelerates further.

We can maintain the distance from the horde behind us with this.

But my malice sensor was telling me that this wasn't the end.

Then, Garara! The doors and windows on the left and right opened all at once.

"Ugh, a horde of zombies!? Disgusting!"

What crawled out from there were rotten corpses.

Along with the barricade, they stood in my path.