"Quick,block the door!"Lei Rui screamed,dashing forward first.
Soon,everyone swarmed up,firmly barricading the two doors.
Apart from the two monsters pounding on the doors,the group spotted two more outside the corridor,joining the one that had earlier sustained a scrape,making a total of three creatures hammering at the windows,shattering the glass in their attempt to squeeze in.
"One person guards each window!"Qin Jiagui bellowed,gripping his chair tightly.Whenever the green-skinned monster dared to poke in even a fraction of its head,he would smash it back with all his might.
Su Yu also stood guard at a window with a chair,landing two strikes,only to find his hands growing numb.Glancing at Qin Jiagui and another male classmate,he noticed beads of cold sweat on their brows—clearly,they wouldn't hold for long.
The two doors,under relentless assault,shook violently,gradually developing fine cracks.The situation grew increasingly dire.
"This isn't working.We can't hold them off.There are five monsters out there.We're done for..."Su Yu muttered inwardly.Out of the dozen or so green-skinned creatures that had invaded the campus,five had made their way to their classroom.It was a stroke of either honor or misfortune.
Watching the green-skinned monster repeatedly attempt to poke its head through the window,only to retreat each time he struck it,a reckless idea suddenly surfaced in Su Yu's mind.He took a step back.
The monster's heavy club smashed against the iron bars,distorting them with each blow.On its next attempt to squeeze through one of the iron grilles,Su Yu held back,feigning exhaustion as he stepped aside.
Before long,the monster's entire head was through the window.
"Su Yu——"Qin Jiagui,catching sight of this out of the corner of his eye,shrieked in horror."Smash it!It's climbing in!"
"It's okay,"Su Yu panted,watching as the creature wriggled half its body through the grille.Qin Jiagui,terrified,felt his legs turn to jelly.If that brute made it inside,they were all as good as dead.
Taking a deep breath,Qin Jiagui turned to assist Su Yu,but Su Yu suddenly grinned."Now's the time."
With both hands gripping the chair,Su Yu mustered every last ounce of strength and slammed it down onto the monster,half-in and half-out of the window,with a deafening crash.
The impact numbed Su Yu's hands;he could almost feel his palms splitting,but he didn't pause.In this fight for survival,Su Yu went berserk,pounding the monster relentlessly.
Qin Jiagui stood agape,then realization dawned.
Earlier,they'd been smashing the monster the moment its head appeared,driven by fear and haste,exhausting their energy for nothing.Su Yu had waited until the creature was halfway through the grille before striking.The monster's body,barely smaller than the grille,was now perfectly wedged in place,trapped and vulnerable.
Like a man possessed,Su Yu continued his assault.Greenish fluid spattered everywhere as the monster let out terrifying howls,its club clattering to the floor.Despite its immense strength,its flesh-and-blood body couldn't withstand Su Yu's ferocious barrage.Soon,it lay limp and lifeless in the window grille,its struggles ceased.
"Die,monster——"With a final,bone-shattering strike,Su Yu's chair splintered,and the monster's head burst open.To his astonishment,a glistening,black crystalline object emerged from the ruptured skull,hovering momentarily before darting into Su Yu's left palm and vanishing as if by magic.
Su Yu stared,stunned.He glanced at his left hand—nothing there.Had he hallucinated?Shaking off his confusion,he noticed Qin Jiagui,having caught on to Su Yu's tactic,attempting the same.But this green-skinned brute,unlike its predecessor,clawed at the iron grille with both hands,enduring Qin Jiagui's blows,and with a heave,propelled itself into the classroom.
Only then did Su Yu realize his earlier success was sheer luck—the window grille,already warped from the monster's assault,had trapped the creature mid-entry,leaving it helplessly stuck.This new monster,however,had forced its way in.
A collective scream erupted in the classroom.Several girls,huddled in terror,trembled and wept,their bladders failing them in the face of such horror.Qin Jiagui,overwhelmed by fear,fell backward onto the floor.
This monster,seemingly fueled by rage,targeted Qin Jiagui.Ignoring its dropped club,it lunged at him with claws extended,aiming for his face and chest.A single strike could crush his skull or rip him open.
Acting on instinct,Su Yu,having just dispatched the previous monster,seized a nearby chair and hurled it through the air.To his shock,the throw was unnaturally forceful and swift,the chair whistling through the air with a"whoosh."
What happened next left Su Yu thunderstruck.His body felt...different.Exhausted from his earlier frenzy,he should have been too weak to lift a finger,yet in this moment of crisis,he'd effortlessly thrown the chair with superhuman strength.The power,he realized,had surged from his left hand—a force that didn't belong to him.
As the chair struck the monster,Su Yu noticed a strange,scale-like mark,about the size of a fingernail,emerging on the back of his left hand.But when he looked again,it was gone,his hand normal once more.His limbs felt weak,as if all energy had been sapped from him.
The monster,dazed but unbroken,scrambled to its feet,its eyes locked on Su Yu with burning hatred.It snatched up its club and charged.
Adrenaline surged through Su Yu.He raised his left hand again,this time wrenching a wooden desk toward him.The strange power returned,and with it,the desk flew from his grip,intercepting the monster's strike.The club smashed into the desk with a deafening crack,splintering it into shards that rained down.
Su Yu grunted,a searing pain erupting in his chest as he collapsed to the floor.The classroom was a scene of chaos:Lei Rui and others barricaded the door,girls huddled and wailing,two boys at another window battling their own monster,and Qin Jiagui—still on the ground—facing off against yet another green-skinned brute.
"Su Yu——"came a scream from Su Yu,her face streaked with tears.Despite her terror,she lunged forward,a wild look in her eyes.Most of the girls present were sobbing uncontrollably,their fear manifest.
Su Yu,though in agony from a gash in his abdomen—courtesy of a flying splinter from the shattered desk—realized with grim clarity that his moment had come.
"Am I going to die?"The thought flickered through his mind as he lay there,watching the monster's massive club descend.
Then,through his haze of pain,he saw Su Yu,tearful and insane,charging toward him.
"No…don't——"Su Yu's plea died in his throat as the monster,mid-swing,turned its wrath on Su Yu,who was now recklessly within reach.
With a snarl,the creature's other hand lashed out,its claws poised to rip through Su Yu's chest.