Just as I looked down at the sniffling academy student, the door behind me swung open suddenly. I dropped into a combat stance at once, but the student's reaction surprised me.
"I-I'm saved!" she cried, her face lighting up as she lunged toward the door as if diving.She then waved me over with a beaming smile. "Y-you! Hurry, come over here!"
I felt a flicker of doubt but saw no sign of a trap, so I followed her inside. The door closed behind me with a soft click.
The student let out a deep, heartfelt sigh. "It's alright now. We're safe for the moment."
"Safe?" I glanced down at her. There was clearly a lot I needed her to explain.
***
Arin Ohandel was seventeen, a third-year student at the academy, and part of the magic department. I had never heard of the Ohandel family before. In other words, they weren't particularly well known.
"I'm sure it's here somewhere..." Arin muttered, beginning to search the room as soon as we stepped inside.
While she moved from corner to corner, I took a moment to glance around. The space looked like a laboratory but was small, roughly half the size of my dorm room. There was a window too. The same crimson moon still hovered in the sky.
Earlier, I'd been too distracted by it to notice anything else. This time, I lowered my gaze and took a good look at the ground below. The landscape glowed red, as if soaked in blood. It made me doubt whether this was even the same place I'd walked through just moments ago.
It wasn't just the darkness that had changed things. The garden below was withered, the trees brittle and leafless. Street lamps leaned at odd angles, long broken. The road was cracked and overgrown. And demons.
'Demons?' I narrowed my eyes. A grotesque creature stood in the distance, clear enough to make out from here. Looking closely, I saw that it had the appearance of a doll, but it was too big. It had to be at least three meters tall.
Arin approached before I knew it and whispered, "It is an adult doll."
"An adult doll?"
"Yes. What you killed earlier was a child doll. They only show up inside buildings. All the ones that roam around outside are adult dolls."
"I see..."
"This is why we don't even dare to leave the building." Arin sighed deeply, shook her head, and spoke in a bright tone as if to alleviate the atmosphere. "Look at this."
I thought something was going on, but she had two bottles of water and an elongated bar in her hand. The latter was something I had seen somewhere before. "An energy bar?"
"Oh, you know them? Yeah. There are rations hidden in the rooms. There are two of them in this room." Arin held one out to me and urged, "Here, take it!"
"Uh?"
"I mean, you saved me, so you can have both—" Her stomach growled loudly, cutting her off. Her face flushed crimson.
I refused. "I ate well outside. You can eat both."
"R-really?"
"Totally."
"Thank you!" As soon as the words left her mouth, she was already chewing on the solid energy bar with a crunching sound.
Energy bars were made by compressing mixed grains into a solid form. I had tried one back at the training camp when Junian gave it to me. They were easy to store and packed enough calories to keep you going, but the taste left much to be desired. I wouldn't eat one unless it was an emergency.
Meanwhile, Arin looked genuinely happy to fill her empty stomach.
Can't blame her. Given how thin she was, she must have been starving for a week.
She drank a whole bottle of water and sighed with relief. "I'm alive."
Now that he appeared stable, I looked out at the scenery and asked her, "Senior, how long have you been here?"
"It's hard to say. The sun never rises here... but it must have been a few months," she replied.
That didn't sound right. Even if she were a survival expert, it was difficult for an ordinary student to track time accurately under such extreme conditions.
Arin glanced at me cautiously and asked, "By the way, who are you? Defeating that hideous doll in one strike..."
"I am Luan, a hero disciple."
"Hero disciple?!" Arin's eyes widened. "Ah! You said you're a transfer student. That's right. I remember hearing that hero disciples arrive about a month in. So you're from a Great Family, right? No, should I probably use honorifics?"
She sounded like she came from a lesser noble family. I couldn't help smiling at how quickly she mentioned using honorifics and looking at me with newfound respect.
"Just speak normally. I'm only a transfer student here."
"O-oh. Okay then. Still... this is the first time I've seen a hero disciple. You're incredible. So calm... Are all hero disciples like this?"
Arin seemed like the chatty type. If she ever met Pam, the two of them would probably talk each other's ears off. Still, the title of hero disciple clearly meant something to people. Just like with Glenn, kids our age tended to idolize young heroes.
Her trusting expression felt a little intense, but that kind of attitude wasn't entirely unwelcome. It meant she'd probably follow instructions in a crisis, which wasn't a bad thing.
The top priority should be civilian safety. That meant more than just defending against threats; mental stability mattered too.
I met Arin's eyes and said, "You don't need to worry anymore. I will protect you."
"Wha—? Uh, o-okay!" Arin blushed furiously and nodded rapidly.
Was that too much? I wondered.
I had never been good with words. Still, we didn't have time to craft perfect speeches, so I asked, "Do you know where the entrance to this building is?"
"I do, but..." Arin's voice grew heavy. "It's impossible to get out."
"Because of the adult dolls outside?"
"That's part of it, but I should explain how this building works. This research facility is abnormally large. The hallways stretch dozens of times longer than those in a normal building."
I nodded. It wasn't just the length; the width was enough for a carriage to pass through.
Arin continued, "This is the first floor. To get outside, you have to go up."
"Why?"
"There is no door on the first floor. The only way out is by jumping from the rooftop." Her certainty made it sound less like speculation and more like fact.
"Have you actually tried that?"
"It wasn't me. It was a senior from the Red Building. There were seven of us total. The higher you go, the more vicious the dolls become. The doll on the first floor is already too much for me. What kind of monster will be waiting on the roof? It's best to leave behind anyone who might slow you down," Arin said, her voice tinged with sadness.
"Those seniors were strong. They defeated the dolls inside this building as easily as you did. But..." Arin stared out the window with hollow eyes. "They were all killed by an adult doll."
"I see."
"It wasn't even a fight. The dolls out there... they are the real monsters."
Was it really that bad? I had caught glimpses of them, but their level was impossible to judge by sight. If they were living beings, I could have estimated their skill by their Qi, but they were dolls.
I paused to organize my thoughts and set priorities. Killing Perist, who lurked somewhere in this world, was urgent, but the full moon was still some time away. Right now, gathering information mattered most.
"Let's get out of here."
"Where are you going?"
"We need to find more people."
Many more could still be alive. The living ones possibly knew things Arin didn't. Maybe someone had even seen Perist.
Arin hesitated, fear flickering across her face at the thought of stepping into the hallway.
"You can stay here if you want," I said.
"N-no! I'll come with you! I won't be a burden. Yes!" Arin hurriedly shouted. She hated being left alone here more than anything.
I nodded and stepped into the blood-red hallway. Before moving on, I glanced back toward the window and said, "By the way."
"Yes?"
"Can't you get out by breaking the window?"
Arin smiled bitterly. "Of course we tried. We hit it with an iron chair as hard as we could, but it wouldn't budge."
"Interesting." It didn't get a single scratch? Her words ignited my fighting spirit. I turned to the plain-looking glass and prepared to use the First Fire Technique.
But before I could act, Arin gasped and pointed ahead. A doll stood in the distance. It was a small stuffed figure, no taller than my ankle, but it held a kitchen knife stained with blood.
The moment it burst into laughter, Arin recoiled and hugged her shoulders. She looked like she was staring straight into a nightmare.
I extended my right hand and launched a hastily-formed Fire Wheel toward the doll.It wasn't a refined palm strike, just a raw ball of flame. That was on purpose. I had no intention of wasting energy or mental strength on something so insignificant.
The Fire Wheel engulfed the doll's entire body. Being stuffed, it burned fiercely.
Arin let out a stunned sound, but my gaze had already shifted away from the doll. "Senior, can you run?'
"Ah, yes."
"Then let's move. Do you know where the stairs are?"
"I do, but..." Arin hesitated. "Could you save my friends before we go upstairs?"
I tilted my head. "You want me to save someone?"
The request sounded strange. Asking for help implied they were still alive, but this place was so dangerous that death could come within seconds. These dolls did not hesitate to kill, especially when their targets were students with little training.
"Yes... they are captured."
"By whom?"
"Fellow students." Arin gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with resentment. "They're from the Indigo Building. They took over the cafeteria on the first floor."
"The Indigo Building?"
"Yes. Have you heard of it? At the academy, it's where they send all the problem kids. It's basically a prison camp," she explained.
This was the first I'd heard of it. I knew the Indigo Building was the lowest-ranking dormitory, but I hadn't realized it functioned as a camp for troubled students.
This means they are far from good-natured. In extreme conditions—where food and space were limited and death loomed on every side—the true nature of human beings revealed itself. What would happen to students with a dark streak when placed in such an environment?
I did not want to dwell on the thought, so I asked, "Where is the cafeteria?"
"Wait." Arin stepped toward the window. The building had a squared-off shape, like a straight central body with two wings branching from its sides. Through the glass, we could see the opposite wing's building.
Arin studied the view, trying to work out our current location. "Keep going this way. When we reach a hallway, turn left and walk straight. You'll see a door that's unusually large. That's the cafeteria."
"Okay. Let's go."
We picked up our pace and soon ran into a few more dolls. Only one appeared at a time, so they did not slow us down much. The open hallways worked to my advantage; there was nowhere for them to hide. Their small size made them perfect for ambushes, and it would have been far more troublesome if they had slipped into a narrow room to trap us.
"Even my senior in the swordsmanship department couldn't kill that doll..." Arin watched as the doll collapsed into pieces, her expression complicated. At least the fear she had shown earlier seemed to be easing.
We turned a corner and continued straight. As we entered what was referred to as the building's body, the hallway widened noticeably. We passed a staircase that led to the upper floors but didn't stop. Then I saw it—a door larger than any we'd seen so far.
"It is here," Arin said.
***
Rousseau Mozalan thought, It's been over a month since I got stuck in this ridiculous hell. Maybe two. Ugh, I don't even know anymore.
At first, he had been frustrated and afraid. Death had crossed his mind more than once. But in the end, there was no need for desperation. As long as they didn't step into the hallway, they would be safe. The cafeteria served meals daily, adjusting the portions to match the number of people inside. That was the only reason the useless students were still confined to this room.
"Senior Rousseau, please..." A student approached, his complexion pale and worn, eyes dull, cheekbones sharp. "I haven't eaten for four days. Please... just give me a little food..."
Rousseau smirked. "Your lie is amusing. Four days without food? I gave you water just yesterday."
"I-it was only one sip..."
"Exactly." Rousseau's smile deepened. "Don't you know? You can survive a whole month if you have something to drink. Take this chance to slim down. Or walk out there and find your own food. What was her name? Arin? Just like her."
The student fell silent. Rousseau understood better than anyone that this was a slow suicide. He spoke knowing the truth. No one here would ever leave this cafeteria alive.
Suddenly, a loud thud sounded as the door opened. The students inside showed no panic. Dolls couldn't open doors or enter. Only the hallways belonged to those demons. Whoever opened the door had to be human.
Two figures stepped inside. The one in front was a fierce-looking boy with striking platinum-blond hair.
"Senior, is this the place?" the boy asked.
"Y-yes..." A faint murmur, like the buzz of a mosquito, came from behind him.
Rousseau turned his gaze toward the voice. It was a familiar face. "Arin Ohandel. You're alive. What happened? Missed home after wandering outside? Welcome back. Of course, you'll have to fast for a week out of shame."
Before Arin could speak, the boy in front of her cut in. "So this is how you keep control. It's petty. Nothing quite like using hunger to keep people in line."
A student sitting near the entrance spoke up. "Who are you?"
The speaker was notably ugly, with well-trained muscles showing beneath his student uniform. "You look like a junior, but you have no manners. Think there are still professors or school rules here? If you want to survive, learn some manners."
The boy's expression changed subtly at those words. The student had said something he could not ignore.
"Manners?" he repeated.