Date: March 12, 2020 - 3:15pm

Location: Merrick

In between shuffling some papers on her desk, Ms. Henderson, the geography class teacher, would glare at the class during their detention. A couple of the students would meet her glare and reciprocate, but for the most part, the rest were either napping with their heads on the desk or their hands, or they were reading a novel or textbook. However, in their heads, the students were unanimous about one thing: they hated Ms. Henderson.

When time seemed to just continue to drag on until Ms. Henderson finally let them out, one student suddenly groaned. Ms. Henderson was about to ask who that was when the entire classroom shook. Actually, the whole school shook. All the students looked around and as they were contemplating whether or not this was an earthquake, they heard loud banging sounds from the floor above. The banging sounds were then accompanied by stomping, but the shaking of the classroom did cease. Instead of an earthquake, it sounded as if a whole classroom were marching above them. Ms. Henderson clicked her tongue.

"Looks like there's a class up there that might just be worse than yours," she said. Nobody in the class bothered to respond. The noise continued, and eventually, Ms. Henderson angrily got up from her seat. "Am I going to be the one who has to do something about that?!" Again, no response. Although, this time, with how long the noise had been going on for, the class was curious now. There were only a few classrooms on the floor above them, as most of the other rooms were for storage. Because of that, most of them knew what classes were up there. Two of them were science rooms, and it seemed crazy to think a whole class would cause such a disturbance in them. The others were AP classes. Something weird was definitely going on.

Ms. Henderson left the classroom through the door at the front of the class and not even ten seconds later, the class heard her scream. The students closest to the door quickly got up to see what was happening. The first one there opened the door, and some of the class was able to see Ms. Henderson frantically running past. That student decided to leave the class to see what was going on and after stumbling a bit, immediately got back up and ran after Ms. Henderson. The other two students who went to the door but stayed in the classroom decided to see what was going on as well. One fell over in a panic and ran after the other two. The other, slower on getting himself together, screamed in terror as he got back into the classroom and shut the door. More students got up and quickly gathered around him to ask what was going on.

"Jimmy, what's going on?"

"The- there's- ah- !" he could barely get out any words at all, his panic-stricken face seemingly getting even more intense. The anxious students asked again but no clearer response came out of Jimmy's mouth. However, the class could hear something loudly moving through the hallway outside. One of the students went to the door to open it, and right when Jimmy seemed to scream out for him to not, another student stopped him instead. That student then locked the door and walked back over to Jimmy. He softly rested one arm on Jimmy's shoulder and took one deep breath. Then he let it out. Then he took in another deep breath. Finally, Jimmy followed suit. After a few repetitions, Jimmy was finally able to speak.

"Th- there's bears out there!" Most of the class gasped in surprise. "W- well, they look like bears." The puzzled class wanted to push for clarification but the calming student spoke first.

"I see. Well, that's good to know, Jimmy. As a precaution, I have already locked both the doors."

"O- okay...but what if they try to break in?" Jimmy's voice was soft, but panic was obviously creeping in again.

"Y- yeah, what should we do, Clement?" one of the other students asked.

"Well, we should probably try to barricade the doors right now," Clement responded instantly. Everyone else was stunned by how calmly Clement was acting. Clement went over to one of the desks and started to drag it over to the front classroom door. "We should line up the desks in, hmmmm, maybe make it two rows thick? Yes, that should do it. We can also use some chairs up against the desks just to prevent anything from easily sneaking through underneath. Also, let's see if we can use anything in the class as a makeshift weapon, at least for some range." The whole class continued to stare as Clement went to bring another desk over. Finally, everyone else began to follow suit.

Before the first row of desks were lined up, screaming could be heard from the floor below and there was also a single loud thump at the back classroom door. Most of the students froze up for a moment.

"This is looking pretty good so far," Clement said, ignoring the disturbing sounds. "Say, Jimmy, you said they were not quite bears. Could you elaborate?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I mean, they look a lot like bears, but...kind of different too?"

"Perhaps an unusual breed or species?" Clement asked.

"Uh...yeah, I guess?" Another loud thump against the back door.

"Please, continue," Clement said as he added the first desk to the second row.

"Um, yeah, they looked like black bears."

"Were they as big as black bears?"

"Um, I'm not really sure."

"Have you ever seen any other bears in real life before?"

"Yeah, I remember seeing a polar bear in a zoo."

"Was the bear outside much smaller in size?"

"Um, yeah, it was definitely smaller." Another thump.

"Well, black bears usually aren't as aggressive as other bears and they are also smaller than average. However, judging by your words, the difference you noticed had more to do with than just their size." The other students tolerated the sounds outside and save for a few sobbing and huddled up in a corner and a couple others trying to figure out what they could use as weapons, they continued to create the barricade.

"Yeah, they looked scarier than a regular black bear. Their eyes were red, and their claws too. There was a bit of red on their fur as well." Jimmy shuddered.

"But still not that big, though, right?"

"Uh, yeah, not that big for a bear, I guess." Another thump, the loudest one yet. And this time, followed by a low growl. At this time, one of the students by the windows suddenly started to frantically wave.

"Hey! Hey!" A couple other students went over and saw she was calling out to someone outside. "Call for help!" And then, right after she said that, she remembered something. "Our phones! They're in the teacher's desk!" Almost everyone seemed to change after hearing that. They ran over to the desk to get their phones back but the desk was locked. Then, the class was busy trying to get their phones out with the exception of four students. One of them was the girl by the window who was now trying to shout out about bears in the school. The other three were Clement, Jimmy and one other student who continued to complete the barricade.

"Jimmy, would you say that there is no way for the bear to squeeze under these desks, or should we put in some chairs underneath to help make sure?" Clement asked.

"Uh...yeah, I don't think so, but let's put in the chairs anyway."

"Sounds good, Jimmy. Hey, Carlos, do you think you can start bringing the chairs over?" Clement asked of the only other student not trying to break into the teacher's desk.

"Sure." Carlos complied and continued on with the work without any desire to go over to that desk. With the screaming from earlier and the other two having run out some time ago, somebody likely already called for help. The only thing that was worth doing with the phones now was to just talk to friends or family, but that wouldn't keep them safe.

While still trying to break into the desk, there was another loud thump against the back door and this time, one could see the door was starting to cave in. A couple students started screaming and crying for help. Some others continued trying to break into the desk but the others now rejoined the efforts in building the barricade and finding suitable weapons. Another charge from the creature outside and one could see damage appearing around the door's hinges. Because this door opened outwards, it wouldn't be very effective just stacking up weight against the door, but at the same time, it should also be harder to knock down from the outside. If whatever is outside does manage to break down this door, you would have to worry about whether anyone would be strong enough to fend it off, even with a proper weapon.

They completed the barricade. It was two rows thick and also had some upside down desks placed on top as well to narrow the spots where the creature would try to climb over. Chairs were also thrown underneath as an added precaution. The door was now mostly caved in and would likely only last one or two more charges. Among the 'weapons' that were gathered, there was a globe, a projector, an assortment of compass needles, textbooks, atlases, a yardstick, and the roll of maps that they pulled off from the front of the class.

"Alright, I'll be up in the front," Clement said, grabbing a yard stick. "I think we can hold pretty well with just two or three up here. The rest can throw things from behind us when necessary." With another charge the door was now almost completely knocked down, and the class could finally get a clear look of the creature outside. Just as Jimmy had described, it did look a lot like a black bear, but with ominous red eyes and claws. There were also red tinges of fur around its neck and red streaks that ran down its sides and back. Most of the class instantly recoiled in fear. The largest student in the class stepped up to the front after grabbing the projector.

"Do you think the school will get mad at me if I use this?"

"I'll tell them it was all my fault, Rob" Clement responded. Rob nervously laughed. The second largest student then volunteered as well, picking up a chair as his weapon. "Good pick, Ray." Thinking about it again, a chair probably would be the most optimally balanced, but it obviously would have less range than the yardstick and hit much less harder than the projector (although only someone like Rob would probably be able to actually swing it around).

With a final charge, the monster finally knocked down the door, but a close look would show that it was already looking a bit tired from all that exertion. The monster approached the barricade, and fortunately for the class, no other monsters followed in behind it. The rest must have made their way throughout the rest of the school.

The monster looked below the desks and brought a paw to one of the chairs underneath. It was smaller than the average bear but still didn't look quite small enough to properly squeeze under the desks. But, it would be a problem if it tried to break the barricade by knocking the desks from underneath. Clement stabbed at the bear with the yardstick when it looked to be pondering for too long. Seemingly no damage was dealt but it did irritate the creature. It brought its fore paws up onto the desks and Ray thrust his chair at it. The bear swatted the chair back and Ray lost his balance. The bear inched over some more and Clement thrust the yardstick into its face.

It was a solid connection that seemed to make the bear recoil for an instant. But it was only an instant. Clement proceeded to continue his barrage of thrusts at the bear's head, but the bear suddenly retreated out of range and stood up on its hindquarters. It lunged itself forward. Both Ray and Clement attempted to intercept the attack, but the force of the lunge knocked both of them back. The bear crashed on top of the barricade and one of the upside down desks fell off. Rob threw down the projector as hard as he could onto the bear before it could pick itself up and this blow did seem to deal some damage. The monster howled a bit and one could see what looked to be black blood trickling off its body. This really wasn't a bear. Ray went to pick up the broken projector but the monster suddenly thrashed around on the desk and a paw knocked him back.

Then, the students in the back started to throw their textbooks and atlases at the monster. Although a lot of them did connect, none seems to do any damage. Clement and Ray got back up. Clement signalled for them to stop throwing and then he went in again, this time swinging down the yard stick as hard as he could against the monster's head. There was a cracking sound. The yardstick broke. Ray desperately bashed the chair against it but after receiving the blow, it pushed itself off the desks and was now on the other side of the barricade. Ray's bravery faded instantly and he shrunk back. Clement tightly gripped the broken yardstick.

Then, Carlos suddenly ran over and threw a giant map onto the monster, obscuring its vision. As it started to thrash about to get it off, Carlos then started sliding over some of the upside down desks at it. The rest of the students also started throwing things at it again. When it looked like the monster was about to tear through the giant map, Carlos threw another on top of it. Ray regained his courage and started to throw chairs at the beast. Although difficult to see as Carlos continued to throw maps onto it, the monster was clearly thrashing less violently before, the accumulated damage draining its stamina.

However, continue to thrash it did, and eventually Carlos ran out of maps. The objects the rest of the students could throw at it had also dwindled down greatly in size and number. The monster tore through the last map and angrily growled, black blood dripping down its face from the repeated blows. Rob was back up, and alongside Clement, they were now holding the last two chairs on this side of the barricade. Well, the last two that weren't within immediate striking distance of the monster. Clement glanced over to Rob, and he nervously nodded. The monster took a single step forward. The majority of the class pressed themselves against the walls. The monster prepared to lunge once more, but before it did, Clement charged at it with his chair, and Rob followed. Clement smashed it into the monster's face while Rob hit it in the side. The monster completed the lunge anyways, although with much less force than the first one.

Nonetheless, Clement was flung backwards and smacked into the wall behind him. Then, the monster turned to Rob, who had dropped the chair during its lunge. It had one eye closed now, but still looked far from dead. It took a few quick steps towards Rob who desperately took out one of the desks forming the barricade to place it between the two of them. Panicking and thinking one would not be enough, he started to grab another one as the monster closed the distance. It knocked the desk back into the barricade, but before it went for Rob, Carlos suddenly came in from the side of the monster's blinded eye and stabbed into it with a compass needle.

The needle went in deep, and to everyone's surprise, right before the monster attempted to bat Carlos away, he leapt onto its back and pounded in the compass needle all the way in. The monster suddenly spasmed, and then immediately afterwards crashed onto the ground, where it lay motionless. Black blood oozed out of its eye and stained Carlos' hands. Then, just as the reality of the situation was about to set in for everyone, the monster's entire body suddenly turned into a mass of black vapour that just as suddenly disappeared into thin air, along with all the black blood. Carlos, now lying on the ground, seemed to be staring in a daze.

"That was great, Carlos. Truly amazing!" Clement, of course, was the first to speak up. Carlos snapped out of his daze and picked himself back up. As a delayed response, the rest of class erupted into cheers and gathered around Carlos. Clement then went over to Rob to see if he was okay, and the rest of the class took turns congratulating the main players of the defense. As the class continued to celebrate, Clement carefully began climbing over the barricade. Carlos pulled himself away and pulled back a desk from the barricade to join him on the other side. The class quieted down.

Clement poked his head outside the back doorway and scanned the hallways. There was no screaming or loud thumping from the floor above but one could still feel vibrations below them. Clement came back in and took a look at everyone. Carlos came over to him.

"I do not see any others in the hallway outside, but just to be safe, let's re-form the barricade." The class silently agreed and as Clement and Carlos were about to come back through the gap there was an incredibly loud sound coming from above. The whole room shook, and this time, you could see the ceiling crack. Suddenly, part of the ceiling opened up and something very large crashed into the classroom, smashing several desks into pieces where it fell. Just like the monster before, it had bear-like features with black fur and red patterning in similar places, but it also had two major differences. One, on its front paws, it looked to be wearing some sort of armour with red blades coming out from the end. Or perhaps its front paws were simply made of metal? Second, it was bigger, much bigger. Whereas the earlier monster was around the size of a black bear, this one looked to be at least twice the size of a polar bear.

Carlos started thinking about what to do and Clement was thinking about what to say. Before either could do anything, The giant monster swung his paw at them. It swatted Clement away like he was a fly and although the blades barely made contact with Carlos, long cuts across the right side of face opened up. His head turned from the indirect force and his body twisted into the barricade. Carlos' bloody face slammed into a desk and there was the intense pain of both his head pounding and his right cheek and ear burning. However, this was a miraculous result compared to what happened to Carlos. To put it simply, he was dead.

Only a few of the students screamed in terror. The rest were scared beyond even that. The monster looked at his bloody paw and then at the class. Unlike the monster before it, it did not show an ounce of anger. If anything, it almost seemed bored. It looked at Clement's remains in a way an exterminator might look in the middle of work.

Carlos stood back up and soaked the blood on his face into his sleeve. Then, he saw something show up in his vision, and it wasn't blood.

New Skill acquired: Power Strike D

New Skill acquired: Mentalism B

Skill upgraded: Insight D to Insight C

Skill upgraded: Mental Resistance C to Mental Resistance B

For Carlos, this wasn't the first time seeing those words. They first appeared alongside a sudden burning pain right before the classroom shook. He didn't entirely get it, but this was likely one of those scenarios where someone gains rpg-esque skills and abilities to deal with the sudden appearance of monsters. This was also reinforced earlier after he even gained stat points from killing the previous monster. Carlos stayed calm with his Mental Resistance skill and carefully analyzed what the next course of action would be to defeat this new monster.

His perception of time slowed down and his Insight skill silently screamed at him. There was a 0% chance of defeating this monster. Carlos calmly accepted that and then thought only of how to save as many people as he could. No chance of directly saving anyone else without dying in the process. Carlos did not accept this as calmly, but tolerated it. Fine, how can I save myself so that I can try to help them later.

Because the monster was in front of the open doorway, he would have to escape through the other door. He would have to unlock it and then run out. But, he would be in full view and vulnerable to attacks the whole time. The Insight skill reminded him that there would be a 0% chance of dodging a direct attack. Then, what am I supposed to do?

It is possible to use a student as a human shield to increase the chance of survival. Absolutely not. With the use of the Mentalism skill, it is possible to fool the monster into thinking the class will attack it, drawing its attention towards them and increasing the chance of survival. No. Through use of Mentalism skill, it is possible to fool the monster into believing you are the lowest level threat, which would allow escape after the monster prioritizes the other students. That's basically the same thing, what else? Impossible criteria. It is impossible to survive in the current situation unless another student is sacrificed.

Carlos remained frozen for a moment as the rest of the class remained terrified. It had been some time now since the monster's initial attack, but this was not because it had no intentions of continuing. Everyone in the class just seemed so weak to it that it was wondering where to begin. Like the camel who could not decide between two equally sized meals, it was waiting for any significant difference to occur before beginning its rampage.

As Carlos' indecision continued, one of the other students finally made a move. Rob picked up the broken yardstick and threw it. It would have done absolutely no damage, but the monster swatted it away anyways. It looked at Rob and then seemed to grin. The Insight skill screamed at Carlos to make his move to escape once the monster went for Rob. Carlos begrudgingly agreed. However, before the monster made its move, two red streaks of light suddenly came in through the open doorway and pierced the monster in the side of its chest and neck. No black blood spilled out, as if the wounds were cauterized instantly. From the other side of the monster, the light briefly came to a stop, and one could see they were a pair of glowing red orbs. Then, the two orbs flew at the monster again, digging themselves deep into its body as the red trails appeared behind them. Then, the entire top half of the monster exploded in a flash of red light. Tiny pieces of flesh, fur and flood were launched outwards. Only the hindlegs and bottom torso remained, which soon turned into black vapour just like the monster before.

The entire class was stunned in silence, including Carlos, who's Insight skill seemed to have been deactivated, either from overuse or overloaded from the impossibility of trying to appraise the current situation. A student quickly came into the classroom from the open doorway.

"Ah, you're okay!"

I see, so the real hero has finally arrived.