I Possessed a Broken Academy Instructor

Chapter 34

“What a pity. I mean it.”

The voice of Kim Cheol, tinged with a hint of lament, did not seem fabricated, yet paradoxically, that made it all the more deceptive.

-Cough!

-Ugh…

The special operations officers of the defense forces, who had followed her in the coup, lay sprawled on the floor, gasping for breath.

And Satra was not in a much better state.

‘Is that lieutenant manipulating gravity?’

The oppressive weight momentarily numbed her senses, and the blunt metal shards scattered by the lieutenant flew toward her like daggers, following their own trajectory.

In the midst of conversation, precisely when the news of the creatures invading the colony reached them, they were struck by a sudden ambush.

She was the only one who could respond, albeit inadequately.

“Hmph, so the Quad Gear isn’t just bravado after all. How unfortunate.”

Kim Cheol gazed at her, a semblance of admiration flickering in his eyes, yet with the back of his head throbbing, it could hardly be taken as praise.

Satra was ready to push the gears into overdrive, gritting her teeth as she shot back at him.

“Did you plan this from the start?”

“Of course not. We are not like the synthetic b*stards who take promises and duties lightly. It’s just that, seeing you lot hear the word ‘creature’ and still appear sane, I had my doubts. So… consider this a kind of drastic remedy. The contract remains unchanged.”

Literally, she had not killed the special officers of the defense forces, herself included.

But Satra was no fool.

There was no way she could be unaware of their intentions.

“…You lot are no different.”

With the outer wall of the colony breached, its lifespan was now measured in mere hours.

Thus, they intended to take only what they needed, abandoning the residents instead of relocating them to the promised safe planet of Atlas Colony.

Creak—.

Satra chewed down hard, as if to break her own teeth.

Though she had not been blind to the possibility of such a situation, the swiftness of betrayal and the sudden assault of the creatures left her with no room to maneuver.

“It won’t be easy.”

Whether the situation had unraveled due to their meddling or merely a facade of noble intent mattered little now.

The die had already been cast.

There remained but one choice. To somehow increase the number on that die, no matter what.

Even if it meant playing a game already decided in defeat.

“Ha. Yes, a soldier must have that kind of spirit.”

Perhaps he appreciated her resolve.

Kim Cheol nodded in satisfaction, as if he intended to extend his hand directly to her.

But then.

“Brigadier.”

“Hmm?”

His aide, standing quietly beside him, whispered something, and soon Kim Cheol slowly nodded, clicking his tongue.

“Tsk, is it really that urgent?”

“Yes.”

“Well, there’s no helping it then.”

A fleeting look of regret crossed his eyes as he glanced at Satra.

“Sadly, time does not permit. But since they are my own, I’ll make sure they won’t be lonely.”

Of course, Satra had no intention of simply watching as Kim Cheol, the traitor who had betrayed both her and the inhabitants of the planet Remal, made his escape.

“Kim Cheol!”

KWA-BOOM!

She launched herself from the ground, charging straight for Kim Cheol.

Yet, her fist never even grazed his vicinity, thwarted by the scattered red hands of the special officers that filled the air.

“UaaaH!”

Her roar erupted, and soon the hangar was filled with a thunderous echo.

“Hmph, what a pity.”

“It cannot be helped.”

Kim Cheol, while calmly dismissing the cries of Satra, laced with curses and fury from behind, could not hide his own disappointment.

But as the lieutenant had said, it was unavoidable.

“According to insider reports, loyalty to the planet was high. If only we had more time…”

“We have arranged for his capture.”

“Right, there’s no need for us to redden our faces over this shared plight.”

“Wise words indeed.”

If Satra had heard this, she would have shouted for them to stop their nonsense, yet both genuinely believed it.

The lieutenant nodded at Kim Cheol’s words, summarizing the intel sent by their internal spies from the device he had prepared.

“The engineering battalion has already been deployed and is in the process of seizing the ship.”

“And the cadets?”

“By now, Captain Ri’s company should be on their way.”

“Hm, that should suffice for the advance team.”

Though the number of special officers was small, every member of the company was equipped with the latest reinforced exoskeletons smuggled from the Free Planet Alliance.

Given the chaos wrought by creatures and the coup, even a mere 200 of them would be enough to subdue cadets who had yet to take a life.

Of course, it was a significant matter, and he intended to take action himself.

“Moreover, the technicians who secured the list in advance have been mobilized by Captain Anya.”

“Very well, you handle it.”

His words, muttered as if in annoyance, carried an underlying trust, and the lieutenant nodded in understanding.

‘At most, two hours. We must finish within that time.’

The size of the colony rivaled that of a major city, and with the chaos swirling, bringing over a thousand cadets would not be an easy task.

But if Major Kim Cheol took action, it would be different.

He was none other than a special operations officer bearing the ‘Penta Gear.’

“Cluck, indeed, a person must leap into the fray. Ahem.”

At last, as he passed through the corridor leading to the hangar and reached the shattered partition, Kim Cheol murmured this, curling his aged lips into a grim smile.

– Creak, creak, creak!

Raising his head at the nauseating and chilling sounds that brushed against his ears, he beheld the monsters scattering their red and violet glows.

The crunching, their sharp teeth and thick exoskeletons, bore witness to the many humans they had devoured, bits of flesh that had once been human now dangling, mingled with blood.

– Kyaaah!

In their roars, he sensed a dreadful hunger and malice.

There were easily hundreds of them.

Had they sensed the commotion from within?

Or had they merely come to seek out prey after gorging themselves on the humans outside? It was impossible to tell.

Yet one thing was certain.

What they were after was the blood and flesh of the two.

“Shall I handle it?”

The lieutenant asked, lifting a series of iron pieces from the belt strapped behind his red uniform, but Kim Cheol shook his head.

The wrinkles on his aged face deepened, yet paradoxically, his thick body writhed as if ready to tear the uniform apart at any moment.

“No, I will do it. Cluck. I’ve been curious, you see.”

He rolled up the sleeves of his worn uniform.

With a thud, he plunged his fist into the earth and pulled it up.

“I wonder what the taste of their blood is like.”

The ground split wide open, following the trajectory of his fist, and the creatures let out a cacophony of sounds, whether in excitement or in a frantic terror, it was hard to tell.

– Kyaaah!

And as he quietly observed this scene, the lieutenant mulled over one fact.

‘The red uniform may very well be stained with violet.’

Kim Cheol, the brigadier general. It was a truth that he had never once dyed his uniform red.

*

– Kyaaah!

Perhaps it was because from the midpoint onward, it was the path that Lieutenant Lee Hana had guided him through before, he was able to reach the building where the cadets were without getting lost.

What had taken nearly twenty minutes on foot before, now took less than two, as he pushed the Triple Gear to its limits.

– Wh-who are you…? Th-the red uniform?

– We came at the request of Captain Satra. All cadets, cooperate with us!

The soldiers guarding the entrance lay scattered, their bodies drenched in the blood of their own demise.

Yet, it seemed not too late, for within the building, the bewildered voices of the cadets mingled with the oppressive tones of those with red hands.

‘Two at the entrance. They’re gathered in the lobby.’

Surely, they were not all.

I must finish this as swiftly as possible.

Is there a reason to kill them?

Of course there is.

‘Because they tried to kill me.’

What struck his mind was a mix of confusion, fatigue, and rage.

Whether these feelings were entirely his own or a reflection of the true Jin Crow awakened by the pentacle, he could not tell.

One thing was certain: he was half out of his mind.

Srrng-.

He drew his sword.

As he stepped into the building, already half-open, two soldiers standing guard in the lobby caught his eye.

“……!”

One of them spotted him first, hastily aiming a railgun mounted on his reinforced exoskeleton at him.

Screech, thud-.

Unfortunately for the soldier, Jin Crow was faster.

With a strike devoid of any finesse, he severed the man’s neck in one swift motion, and before the blood could even splatter, he turned to the one standing beside him.

“P-please, spare me—”

Rare for a member of the Red Hand, this one seemed to value his life, but alas, his desperate plea would never be fulfilled.

Swoosh!

“Ghk, ugh….”

Blood erupted like a fountain along the line carved into his throat, and soon, the man collapsed, losing strength, growing cold.

“Uh?”

One of the cadets, forcibly gathered in the lobby, let out a startled cry, unaware of his own voice.

“C-Commander?”

“It’s the instructor! All units, prepare for combat!”

Simultaneously, the soldiers of the Red Hand who had spotted him hastily aimed their weapons and pulled the triggers.

But it did not take long for him to realize that it was already too late.

“W-what!”

No matter how fortified his exoskeleton was, or how advanced the railgun-linked targeting system, it meant nothing against overwhelming speed.

‘Right pillar. Two of them.’

Using the shattered chairs in the lobby as cover, he leaped twice to reach them, grabbing one by the face and slamming it into the ground until it burst. Then, he severed the arm of the one beside him who was desperately trying to pull the trigger.

‘Behind. Three of them.’

Was it the red droplets splattered on his face?

A thick scent of blood brushed against his nostrils.

Yet, he swung his sword without a care.

Ironically, in this moment, the overexertion of his body mattered not at all.

“Gah!”

“Ugh!”

Just as he had cut down all the red uniforms standing in the lobby, a scream laced with pain echoed in his ears, snapping him back to reality.

“Cough, cough!”

To be precise, it was the jarring recoil that momentarily dulled his senses before they returned.

Jin Crow bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, then swept his sweat-soaked hair back, pondering.

‘If I die now, will it be as a warrior, or from overexertion?’

Somehow, he felt it would be the latter.

Drip, drop—.

Blood fell from the tip of his pitch-black sword, and soon his gaze landed on the trembling cadets before him.

“Eek!”

“It’s us! Cadets from the Lemal Planet Defense Academy!”

“P-please, spare us!”

They clearly recognized him as Jin Crow, an instructor from the elite special operations academy, yet fear drove them to hastily assert their allegiance.

It was only natural.

After all, given the state of those he had just killed, who could blame them?

‘Insane.’

The real issue lay in his own condition.

Even when they had met in the dining hall earlier, he hadn’t looked well, but now it was far worse.

“What’s wrong with me?”

Dark circles nearly engulfing the eyelids.

How much had been chewed, the lower lip and chin now a tattered mess, blood trickling down.

Even the cold sweat mingling with the blood.

Anyone unfamiliar would sense that this was far from normal.

Because of this, among the trembling cadets, the one fourth-year student who had managed to gather his wits opened his mouth to speak.

“Tch, we’re screwed.”

“What?”

Jin Crow grimaced, then shouted toward the cadets gathered in the lobby.

“Get down!”

Without understanding the reason, the cadets, overwhelmed by his charisma, instinctively buried their heads to the floor.

And in that moment.

KWA-BOOM!

The building of the dormitory that loomed above them, in an instant, was stripped away, leaving only the skeletal frame of the first floor.

“Ugh, aaaH!”

“What, what is this!”

The cadets recoiled in terror, pressing their heads further into the ground, while Jin Crow slowly turned his head, his gaze capturing the silhouette of a figure emerging through the dust.

“Ah, it’s you.”

Even his voice carried the weight of experience.

Forcing his fading consciousness to sharpen, he stared at the figure gradually revealing itself through the haze.

“Liberto, the one who killed that child.”

At last, the figure emerged—a hulking old man drenched in a mix of crimson uniform, purple, and green blood.