The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound

Chapter 310: Abyss tree (4)

[Will you survive?]

Due to the fairy’s unique oral structure, its speech always ends in a high tone, making it sound like a question. But nobody had the composure to pay attention to such trivial details.

[Hell Hound]

Danger Level: B+

Size: 3m

Discovery Location: Red and Black Mountain Range, Part 2 Ridge

– Also known as the ‘Hell-walking Dogs’.

Encountering them brings inevitable catastrophe; once bitten, survival is impossible.

The sulfur flames emitted from their eyes and mouth are brought from the depths of the Oil Hell and won’t extinguish until they consume everything, including life.

Hunters of Hell. Sinister monsters dripping sulfur flames from their eyes and mouth.

Exactly 108 Hell Hounds charged towards the 108 students.

[Even if you all are a hundred times weaker, it’s still okay, right? Since there are a hundred of you, and there are also a hundred of them? Hold on, everyone, try to endure? kekKEKE]

The fairy fluttered with excitement.

And belatedly, a noble female student realized the situation and screamed.

“Aaaah! What is that!”

The game had begun.

– Ring!

The number ‘108’ appeared before everyone’s eyes.

Every student who saw the rapidly decreasing number had an intuition.

‘108 students must survive among 108 Hell Hounds for 108 minutes.’

This was the mission on the second basement floor.

“Eek! How are we going to win this!”

“You fool! There’s no need to fight! We just need to endure!”

“Just run and hide! This may be in ruins, but it’s still our academy!”

“This has been our home for the past few years! We know places to hide!”

If I could exert my full strength, I would form a party and fight, but facing the Hell Hound pack in this weakened form is reckless.

“Let’s go to the girls’ dormitory! We can block the pack from there on the rooftop!”

“No! We have to go into the water tank!”

“There’s an underground bunker in the grocery store! Its door is thick!”

“Let’s go to the gym! There are plenty of things that can be used as weapons!”

The students ran to places they were familiar with.

But there was something they overlooked.

The terrain here, despite being an academy, was subtly different.

Everything was in ruins.

“What!? Oh, the rooftop has collapsed! Eek! The Hell Hounds are coming! Jump down!”

“T-The water tank is filled with stagnant water!? We can enter, but we can’t hold our breath for 108 minutes!”

“Argh! The underground bunker’s doors are all rusted and corroded!”

“There are no machines in the fitness room! Damn it!”

The major terrains remained familiar, but the small details were different. Students scrambled and hid in a frenzy to avoid the swarming Hellhounds.

…And among them was Granola, a first-year student of the Hot Department.

“Ugh! Aaaah-”

Granola ran frantically, his face covered in tears, mucus, and saliva.

The sound of Hellhound’s teeth clashing could be heard from behind.

It meant they were dangerously close.

“I-I was wrong! With a body weakened a hundredfold, escape is impossible!”

If he didn’t find a hiding spot immediately, he would face a gruesome death beyond imagination.

Then…

“Hey! Granola is that you?!”

“Hey! It’s dangerous! Come this way! Now!”

There was a shout from someone calling Granola.

A slender and pretty female student and a sturdy, dignified-looking male student were there.

They were Granola’s direct seniors from the Noble Faction, the second-year students.

Granola’s face lit up as he saw them.

They were the ones who had always cherished and nurtured him, his closest connections if you were to count.

“Seniors!”

“Hurry up, you idiot! It’s really dangerous!”

Granola promptly nodded in response to the male student’s warning.

Just as a Hellhound’s sharp claws brushed past him.

Granola thought he had grasped the thread of hope amidst despair.

‘Yes. Even in the direst situations, if everyone comes together, we can overcome it!’

However, the next moment, such a feeble hope was shattered.

…Crack!

As Granola ran, the female student extended her long leg and tripped him.

“Huh?”

Granola tumbled to the ground, oblivious.

Then, ahead, he saw the seniors, the female and male students, laughing as if amused.

“Sorry. My feet are a bit slow.”

“I thought if you get caught, It’ll create some distraction~”

While Granola lay on the ground, the two ran off swiftly, diverting the attention of the Hellhounds onto Granola.

“…Unbelievable.”

Granola despaired.

The current situation, the fact that the bonds from outside the Tower were nothing, and the time and connections he had spent at the Academy—what meaning did they hold?

‘…Did I live wrong?’

Granola looked at the commoner students running alongside him, supporting the injured or fighting together.

They were the ones who, when he was just a student, didn’t even bother to greet.

But now, they were bound together by strong camaraderie and solidarity.

With deep regret, Granola closed his eyes.

Realizing the immense cost of befriending the wrong people.

Soon enough, the hunting dogs approached.

Even without looking, he knew.

Eerie—

A hunting dog with terrifying fangs and claws reached for Granola’s throat.

Granola emitted a strong sense of resignation, he was about to give up on life.

The hunting dog exuded a fierce and brutal aura as it aimed for Granola’s neck.

And then, suddenly.

“Hey, stop moping around and get up and run.”

Vikir. He grabbed Granola’s back with his hand, lifting him into the air.

* * *

Time had passed quite a bit.

The surviving students were hiding in the ruins, each finding refuge in different places. Likewise, the male and female student from the Noble Faction who had tripped Granola’s foot and fled were also hiding. They had closed the door of the grocery store and concealed themselves in the underground storage room.

“They won’t find us here.”

“Of course not. We’re hiding so discreetly.”

The male student’s words were met with a wry smile and response from the female student. They talked about what had just happened.

“Granola, huh? I kinda feel sorry for him, aren’t you?”

“What’s there to be sorry about? It’s better than us dying.”

“But still, when I called him, he looked completely panicked.”

“He’s just a first-year, you know. He’s a bit naive. We brought him along because he’s from the Reviadon Clan, but – who cares about his status outside the tower when we’re down here?”

The male and female students nodded at each other with a smirk.

At that moment…

[Rumble, rumble…]

The presence of a Hellhound from above was felt. One that had separated from the pack had broken into the grocery store.

“Eek! Since there aren’t any visible baits, they must be searching!”

“Don’t worry. Nobody knows about this underground room.”

The male and female student crouched down, covering each other’s mouths.

The Hellhound slowly prowled around the shop, scanning its surroundings. But finding nothing visible, it soon turned to leave the store.

Just then…

[…Thud!]

The Hellhound’s gaze changed. It rushed to a corner of the store and began scratching the floor frantically.

Boom, boom, boom, boom – growl!

The hot, sulfur-heated claws tore through the sturdy wooden floor like paper, revealing the shocked faces of the male and female student.

“Ugh! How did it know?!”

“Ahh! What’s this! I thought we were hiding perfectly!”

At that moment, they realized.

The Hellhound’s nose was twitching madly.

“Wow! This is Beatrice Noel’s limited edition perfume! Even celebrities don’t own something so rare!”

“Oh, this is a tobacco shop. Look at all these premium cigarettes piled up here. Ah, this is the brand I couldn’t afford to smoke earlier.”

“Well, maybe it’s just to relax a bit before entering the main game?”

And they realized they had sprayed limited edition perfume and smoked premium cigarettes here in this underground cellar before hiding.

Using their keen sense of smell, the Hellhounds had accurately located students who had used perfume, cigarettes, cosmetics, and relentlessly pursued them. Even those who used a drop of hand cream couldn’t escape the pursuit of these hellish hounds.

Meanwhile,

“…So, that’s how it ended,”

“What, what? What did you just say?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Vikir, who had been observing the events at the grocery store from afar, shifted his gaze.

Behind him was Granola, looking terrified, and in front of him, countless Hellhounds were swarming in.

As they fled in all directions, Hellhounds chasing the runners ended up following Vikir as well.

Granola looked at the dead-end alley blocking their way with despair.

“Argh! I told you we should have gone to the dormitory area! The area where my room was had plenty of hiding spots! By ignoring that and coming this way, we ended up attracting all the Hellhounds scattered everywhere!”

The Hellhounds surrounding Vikir and Granola now accounted for the majority of the summoned creatures in terms of number. With the majority of the Hellhounds gathered here, the survival rate of the remaining students was relatively high. However, for those trapped in this harsh situation, there was nothing but despair.

“I’ve lost my mind! For following this guy! Just because I received help earlier, I let my guard down…”

As Granola regretted his choice inwardly,

“Don’t worry. There are always ways.”

Vikir spoke briefly.

Upon hearing this, Granola countered with an attitude of disbelief, “What ways? How can we escape from all these Hellhounds and find a place to hide?”

“Hide? Why would I hide?”

“Huh?”

Granola wore a bewildered expression at Vikir’s question. However, Vikir responded nonchalantly, paying no mind to Granola’s confusion.

“I’ll just kill them all.”

Every single Hellhound… no, all the experience bundles here.