After some moments, Min-Jae reached the location he was sensing the weird magical energy from.
"It's a school..." he muttered, his eyes scanning the building. "But the magical energy is definitely much darker now than I sensed before. Is it a dungeon break?"
He quickly analyzed the places where he could sense the magical energies and determined the most important location where he needed to be first.
"There..."
---
Meanwhile, inside the school on the 2nd floor, students were gathered outside during their break in the corridor, just like usual.
To them, it was a completely normal day. Some were gossiping while others discussed things with their classmates, voices overlapping in typical teenage chaos.
But suddenly, a loud *crash* interrupted their conversation. Everyone turned to look at where the noise came from—and froze.
In front of them stood a monstrous tall figure. It was green with red stripes throughout its body, and it carried an axe in one hand. An orc.
Before the students standing at the very front could react, the orc jumped high into the air, its axe raised overhead, preparing for a devastating downward strike.
The two students—a girl and a boy—stood frozen. They closed their eyes, bracing for impact.
But it never came.
They opened their eyes with effort, despite their fear, and saw a man standing between them and the attacking orc.
"Sorry. Took some time to get here."
It was Min-Jae. He stood casually between the two students and the orc, his back to them. The students recognized him immediately.
"Hunter Min-Jae..." A ripple of muttering voices went through the corridor.
"Not the time for that," he said calmly. The orc tried to move its axe down, but it couldn't. Min-Jae had used telekinesis to completely stop its movement mid-air. He turned slightly toward it, his expression cold. Using his telekinetic force, he crushed the orc's body completely from the inside. When he released his power, the creature dropped lifeless to the floor.
He turned around with a slight warm smile. "Don't need to worry," he said in a reassuring tone. "But can you guys help me with something? Please evacuate and get outside. When you do, tell the other classes along the way. Can you do that?"
The boy didn't respond immediately. He could only manage a weak, "Uhmm..."
But the girl beside him spoke up right away. "Yes. We'll do that."
"Thanks," Min-Jae said with a nod.
The two left with the others standing in the corridor, and as instructed, they went to every class and told them to evacuate.
Meanwhile, Min-Jae analyzed the situation. The gate was at the far end of the 2nd floor, but his senses told him the 2nd floor was already mostly empty—at least on the side where the gate was. The other side was far from the gate, which he'd already told those two to clear out.
From what he knew about orcs, if any were still coming out, they'd likely climb up through the stairs to the third floor. So he should prioritize the third floor.
Three teleports and he was there.
The scene was complete chaos. A total of five orcs had climbed up. But to Min-Jae's relief, there weren't any casualties yet.
The orcs rampaged through the hallway. One had cornered a cluster of students against a classroom door, its axe raised for a wide sweep. Another pair chased stragglers toward the far end, kids scrambling back with screams that twisted Min-Jae's gut.
As he walked forward, the orcs immediately sensed his overwhelming magical energy presence. They forgot their instinct to kill the students and turned around toward the source of that aura.
Much to the relief of the students, the orcs repositioned themselves around Min-Jae—two standing behind him, three in front.
The orcs spoke some gibberish—at least that's what it sounded like to Min-Jae. He didn't understand their language.
"I don't understand anything you're saying. And it's not like it would matter anyway," he said flatly.
All five of them attacked at once. He simply stood there as Infinity blocked every strike. Immediately after, he used telekinesis to capture all five at once. They received the same fate as the orc on the 2nd floor—crushed completely from the inside. When Min-Jae stopped, they all fell to the ground, lifeless.
'They're all panicked...' Min-Jae looked at the students he could see from his position. He kept a very friendly and calm expression to make them as relaxed as possible, even though he knew it was nearly impossible after such a scene.
He walked forward. "Everyone alright?"
The students who had been sitting on the ground trying to get away slowly stood up. One of the boys, who had a chair gripped tightly in his hand—probably intending to use it to stop the orcs and protect his classmates—responded.
"Yes. Thank you, Hunter Min-Jae." His voice trembled with gratitude and lingering terror, yet he'd had the guts to stand at the front.
Min-Jae walked over and placed his hand gently on the boy's head—a warmth he himself hadn't felt in a long time. "Good work."
As he looked around among all the students, he noticed two familiar faces. One was Sung Jin-Woo's sister, Sung Jin-Ah. The other was his friend, the E-Rank hunter who'd gone into the Red Gate with Jin-Woo.
After confirming there weren't any casualties and sensing that there were no more orcs on this floor or the upper floors, he spoke up.
"Everyone." Immediate attention turned to him. "Do as I say. Get into the classrooms at the far end, close the doors, and stay inside until I tell you to come out. Okay?"
Everyone nodded and quickly followed his instructions, heading to the far end and closing themselves inside classrooms.
As he walked toward the stairs, he noticed a few students coming down from the 4th floor with concerned expressions.
They spotted Min-Jae as well.
"Hunter Min-Jae, what's happening? I saw students standing outside on the ground, and you're here. What happened?" one of the students asked, her voice tight with worry.
But Min-Jae was clearly sensing more orcs coming. "Go upstairs. Don't worry. Go back and stay there. Everything will be fine."
Though they didn't fully understand what was going on, they didn't question it twice. They immediately turned and headed back to the 4th floor.
Meanwhile, Min-Jae teleported back to the 2nd floor, crushing three orcs on the way down through the stairs.
When he materialized on the 2nd floor, he saw orcs lining up on both sides of the hallway. A much larger figure walked out through the space between them.
'That's the boss?'
It looked almost similar to the other fifteen orcs standing around it, but there were a few stark differences. Its hair was long and matted. It was much taller, more muscular, with a large X-shaped scar on its chest. It wielded a gray sword with a brownish-yellow hilt and wore a tattered black loincloth.
It walked through the hallway and stopped a few feet away from Min-Jae.
"Who the hell dares to get in the way of my soldiers?" the orc boss growled—though in its own language, so it was just guttural noise to Min-Jae.
Min-Jae gave the orc an intense look, then deliberately released a great amount of magical energy—the kind he normally kept suppressed to avoid overwhelming those around him.
A gust of wind swept through the entire hallway. It took no time for the orcs—and even the boss standing before him—to realize how completely outmatched they were.
The boss took a step back, its grip tightening on its sword. "This... this is impossible..." it muttered in its language, voice trembling slightly.
Min-Jae raised his hand.
The orcs charged anyway—desperation overriding survival instinct. The boss bellowed something that sounded like a war cry and swung its sword in a wide arc.
Min-Jae didn't move.
With a flick of his wrist, he seized every single orc with telekinesis. They froze mid-charge, suspended in the air like puppets on invisible strings.
"Wait—what—" the boss managed to grunt out before its body locked up completely.
Min-Jae's eyes narrowed. He clenched his fist.
The orcs—all sixteen of them, including the boss—were crushed from the inside simultaneously. Bones shattered, organs ruptured, but there was no blood, no mess. Just controlled, precise destruction. Their bodies crumpled inward slightly before dropping to the floor in eerie unison.
The hallway fell silent except for the soft sound of bodies hitting the ground.
Min-Jae lowered his hand and let out a breath. He'd been careful not to damage the surrounding area—the walls, floors, and ceilings remained intact.
He walked forward toward the far end of the hallway where the orcs had been coming from. As he reached the end, he arrived just in time to see the gate shimmer and close with a faint *whoosh*.
But then his eyes landed on something that made his stomach tighten.
Three students.
They were lying motionless on the floor near where the gate had been—bodies twisted at unnatural angles, blood pooling beneath them. They'd been taken down by the orcs immediately after emerging from the gate, killed before they even had a chance to scream.
Min-Jae stood there for a moment, staring at the scene.
He knelt down beside the closest student—a boy, no older than sixteen. His eyes were still open, frozen in an expression of shock and terror.
Min-Jae reached out and gently closed them.
He stood back up, his hands curling into fists at his sides.