"Twenty-five seconds," Allisson pronounced in a low, measured voice, his mind converting the echo of scraping claws into precise metrics of distance and closing speed. "Paulo, run! Move toward the Faculty Lounge, now!"
There was no room for hesitation. The flash from Jade's skill had functioned like a distress flare in the dark, and the sector's remaining pack was converging along two attack vectors. From the staircase, the heavy thudding of bone paws signaled at least three mid-sized targets. From the direction of the labs, distorted barks suggested faster, more agile threats.
Paulo placed his hands on Abner's and Pierre's backs, shoving them forward. Pierre dragged Jade by the arm with what little strength he had left, while the language teacher—her eyes glazed over and her teeth chattering—stumbled over the heavy fabric of her long skirt.
"Don't look back, Jade! Move!" Paulo yelled, gripping his iron bar tight to secure the rear.
Ten yards from their objective, the hallway air underwent a sudden pressure shift.
Sweeping around the corner leading to the teachers' concourse, a Level 3 Mana Butterfly materialized out of the dark. The creature boasted a three-foot wingspan, its wings coated in a velvet-black powder that swallowed the dim ambient light. Its hyperdeveloped forelegs, sheathed in serrated chitin, projected forward like two anatomical scythes.
The insect let out a high-pitched hiss and dove straight for the vanguard.
Allisson didn't even slow his stride. His 17.5 Perception mapped the corridor's geometry in the same fraction of a second the creature beat its wings.
Positional error, Allisson analyzed. In an open area, its evasion rate and aerial agility would be lethal. But this hallway is exactly six feet wide.
In the confined space, the butterfly's three-foot wingspan proved to be its critical weakness. The tips of its broad wings struck the exposed ceiling pipes and the drywall frame, throwing its flight path off balance.
"Eighteen seconds," Allisson called out the mental countdown.
Capitalizing on the monster's loss of lift, Allisson took a long lunging step forward and bent his left knee. The Mineral-Alloy Twin-Blade Spear drove forward in a flawless line. The metallic point sliced through the air and pierced the membrane of the butterfly's left wing, tearing the chitinous tissue from base to tip.
Losing aerodynamic stability, the creature tumbled sideways, crashing hard against the tile floor in violent spasms.
Without breaking motion, Allisson spun the shaft with his wrist, inverting his strike angle, and drove the opposite blade directly into the junction between the insect's head and thorax. The point punched through the hard carapace and pinned itself an inch deep into the floor tile.
The insect ceased all movement instantly. The entire engagement had taken less than four seconds.
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[ENEMY ELIMINATED: Mana Butterfly - Lv. 3]
XP Gained: +35 XP
[CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE REACHED LEVEL 5!]
Current XP: 30 / 200 XP
Level Bonus: +0.5 to All Attributes / +1 Mana / +1 Free Point
New Skill Available!
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The glowing blue System window flashed in Allisson's peripheral vision, displaying his level advancement and new stat allocation pool.
Allisson didn't waste a second. He dismissed the interface notification with a forced blink, remaining single-mindedly focused on his internal clock and the rushing footsteps from behind.
"Thirteen seconds! Run!"
The group cleared the dead insect and reached the end of the hall. Standing before them was the solid wood door to the Faculty Lounge—their intended sanctuary, stocked with clean water and defensible corners.
Allisson stepped forward, grabbed the metal handle with his left hand, and pushed down firmly.
The handle didn't budge.
He tried again, throwing his shoulder weight against the frame. The structure didn't yield. The double-cylinder lock and internal security deadbolt were fully engaged.
"It's locked," Allisson's voice cut through the air, cold and blunt against the group's expectations.
"What?!" Paulo froze beside the teacher, his eyes wide with shock. "What do you mean locked?!"
"WE'RE GOING TO DIE! WE'RE GOING TO DIE HERE!" Jade completely collapsed, dropping to her knees against the wooden door and clawing at the paneling in blind terror.
Allisson wasted no time on panic. His mind worked at maximum RPM, calculating the density of the solid door and the time required for a physical breach. Forcing it through raw kinetic impact before the pack arrived was mathematically impossible.
Rounding the corner less than twenty-five feet away, the first figures of the pack broke through the darkness. Three wild hounds mutated by Mana—their skin exposed like raw muscle and bone fangs protruding from their jaws—charged down the hall at full stride.
"Pierre!" Allisson's voice cut like an absolute command. "Teleport inside the room! Now! Unlock the door from the inside and open it!"
Pierre's eyes widened as he stared at the thick wood. The terror of miscalculating his arrival depth and fusing his own mass into the solid door made his legs tremble, but the snarls of the approaching beasts left no alternative.
"Paulo, hold the line with me!" Allisson planted his feet, lowering his Twin-Blade Spear into a low guard just as the mutated hounds launched themselves at the group.