Chapter 6. An Abomination’s True Strength

I stood there quietly, leaning against the desk, resting to regain energy that was exhausted in the fight, while the twins quickly bought together a bag filled with utilities such as a torch, a first aid kit, multiple packets of water and several bars of chocolate. I expected there to be more, but we had to make do with what we got.

I grabbed a bar of chocolate and started to eat it as we slowly made our way out of the office, with Mr. Willis at the front leading the formation holding the fire extinguisher. Ms. Willis and I followed behind him, walking side by side, me carrying the bag and Ms. Willis clenching her fists tightly, positioned to jab at anything that might come into her range. All three of us were walking slowly and cautiously, extremely nervous and frightened. Even I was quite terrified despite having dealt with one abomination, being unable to spare any energy to activate my active skill or even run fast enough to escape.

In a low voice, I asked them, "Where did you guys see the other abominations?"

"They were moving towards the gymnasium chasing a few students. We saw them through the infirmary door while we were hiding there." Ms. Willis said.

"Yeah, man. It was a really scary sight. I bet that the gym is already swarmed with those things by now. We can't go there." Mr. Willis gulped down loud before continuing, "I think the classrooms are the safest now. Let's go collect our bags first. We should be able to find a few baseball bats there for our defence."

That was true. We desperately needed something we could use to fight against those things. Easy to use and deal more damage. "Okay, let's do that."

We continued walking towards our classroom. Our classroom was located on the far end of the building when seen from the principal's office. The principal's office was right beside the staff room, which was on the left as we walked out, and the infirmary was located on the right. As we passed by the infirmary, I could see signs of blood that was most probably left by the students who were running away from the horde of abominations. My eyes followed the marks to the cross-over to our school's gymnasium that was built right beside our building which housed the regular classes for the students.

The corridor started with the entrance to the infirmary and stretched until you reach the cross-over. The door to restrict entry into the cross-over and gym were severely damaged and bloodied. A result of the students' attempt to escape from the abominations. Looking at their state, the doors were likely forced open by several abominations at once. It seems all the abominations are driven by the desire, a very strong desire at that, to attack the system-bearers and increase their strength.

Directly opposite to the infirmary entrance, and right beside the corridor, were the stairs that would lead us to the higher floors of this building. We slowly moved past the stairs, keeping an eye out for hiding survivors, wandering abominations and warriors engaged in a battle but the floor was, however, devoid of any signs of movement, apart from us, until we reached our classroom. I was in a completely silent environment. The students were most probably hiding from the monsters, covering their mouths to not let as much as a squeak, while most of the monsters seemed to be over by the gymnasium. All the action seemed to have taken place while I was dealing with my own monster, plunging the environment back into silence by the time I was out.

As we closed in on our classroom, I heard a soft growl on my right, coming from one of the classrooms. I stopped the twins and hushed them to focus more on the location of the sound. As I listened to it intently, I could discern its location to be in the classroom right ahead of us.

I took the lead asking them to line up behind me and we walked slowly, sticking to the wall on our right, staying as low as we could. I spotted the monster through the front door of the class room, our classrooms had two doors, one at the front and another at the back end of the room. It was a lone abomination. It was the best shot we had at getting Mr. Willis to unlock a skill. An S-rank if possible.

I turned towards him and asked, "What's your strength stat?"

"25." He whispered back.

"Good." I said and turned back to scan the room and I noticed that the monster was slowly making its way from the back of the room to the front. We didn't have much time.

"Here's the plan. I will go towards the backdoor and attract the monster's attention. Then, you will grab a bat in the class and give a good smack on the head from behind it. Don't move until I attract its attention." I started to move forward but not before mentioning one last thing to him. "I have the energy to evade it three times, but after the first dodge is the best time to kill it."

I made my way quickly to the back door, but before I attracting its attention, I moved a bit further to check if there were any more monsters in the classroom beside it, which was fortunately the last one on the floor, and the classroom the twins and I belonged to.

Confirming our advantageous situation, I opened another bar of chocolate and had a bite of it, before storing it back in my pocket. Devouring it down as quickly as I could, I looked at the monster, which was almost near the front door and kicked the door open to make as much noise as I could.

The monster quickly turned towards me and I moved into the classroom, directly opposite to the blackboard, since I couldn't let it go out and spot Ms. Willis.

As it started to run towards me through the desks, Mr. Willis sneaked into the class and grabbed the first baseball bat that he could.

The abomination was almost near me, but I could still see its movements very clearly. It seemed …. Slow!

The 6 points into my agility seemed to have drastically improved my movement speed and my brain was having no trouble following this sudden boost in my abilities.

The abomination of a human was very different to the abomination of Toto, the dog. Although the massive increase in size was a commonality, the former seemed less aggressive and less offence oriented than the latter with its sharp claws and fangs.

Standing at nearly 8 feet, the abomination was huge and muscular, if what it had were still called muscles. It had legs that weren't informed to the change in size and was barely strong enough to support movement.

As I was examining the transformation of my fellow classmate, the abomination got ready to decimate me. It slowly wound up its right arms and threw a fast and deadly punch, straight to my face, which I barely dodged. Taken aback by the sudden change of pace, I gulped looking at the destruction it caused to the wall behind me. It looked like it could crumble at the slightest touch after its face-off with the monster.

"I take back thinking you were not offence oriented!" I whispered under my breath before shouting, "NOW!"

Mr. Willis ran towards us and jumped into the air while swinging down the bat as hard as he could, making solid contact with the head of the target. Its weak legs and muscular body made it hard for it to make quick and elusive movements.

Mr. Willis punched out into the air celebrating his successful hit as the monster crashed into the wall.

I walked towards him to congratulate when I heard Ms. Willis's voice. "Watch out!"

As if her voice triggered it, all my senses were screaming at me. Screaming that danger was approaching. The back of head caused a familiar pain.

Without waiting to turn around, I launched myself towards Mr. Willis tackling him down, stopping after sliding forward a little.

Mr. Willis started to voice out his complaints about being tackled all of a sudden, but it was completely drowned by the terrifying boom.

I looked at Ms. Willis, who seemed shocked beyond words and her legs trembled as she was staring at something behind me with fear in her eyes.

My heart was beating faster than ever. I could instinctively feel the cause of the terrifying boom earlier. It seemed that the first punch was just practice.

With sweat trickling down my face, I slowly turned to face the monster that almost annihilated us with its fists. It was still sitting against the wall but its body leaned forward, with its head facing down and its arm was stretched forward, occupying the spot which belonged to a chair and desk a few moments ago.

This wasn't a monster that Mr. Willis could kill alone.

That was when I realised how strong the abominations were when they were serious. I also realised how lucky I was to have faced a beast that was rampaging berserkly and to be able to kill it in one sequence. It wasn't meant to be killed alone. Not even for an S-rank performance grade.

Multiple thoughts surfaced in my brain. Would I have been able to make it out alive if this was the first monster I met? I shook my head to wear off the fear I was facing. It wasn't the time for such useless thoughts. This isn't the first monster I was facing and I now had a skill.

An S-rank skill!