Transmigrated as an Extra: Awakening of The Ex‐Class'-Chapter 69 : Haunted building part 7

The loud crash still echoed in my ears as I struggled to stand, each movement a stabbing agony. My fractured ribs crunched under the strain, and hot blood traced viscous paths from my forehead to my chin. The world danced before my eyes, a blur of faded colors, and I felt the darkness pulling my consciousness toward its abyss.

Then the ground shook.

A sinister premonition swept through me before the branches emerged, writhing like hungry snakes, their tips sharp like ebony daggers, glistening and venomous. They dripped a thick, blackened liquid that corroded the earth where they fell, the branches arching over me, preparing to descend.

They were not simple thorns, but violent spears that destroyed everything in their path, hungry for flesh and suffering.

"I can’t take it anymore..." I murmured.

The branches loomed over me, moving deliberately, like snakes savoring the fear of their prey. Each sharp point flashed, and the subtle scent of sulfur lingered like drops of death. I tried to move, but the pain cut through me like a red-hot knife. My lungs burned, my arms—I could no longer feel them, my body had become useless.

"Is this how it all ends?" My voice sounded low and melancholy as those words of resignation came out, the irony not lost even in the midst of suffering. After so much training, so many promises, I would die in this cursed place, devoured by the fuses of a cursed demon.

"Master... forgive me." The wail escaped me as I remembered all the promises I had made.

Images of my first-semester juniors—their young faces, full of hope—passed through my mind. They trusted me. They followed me, though. I failed.

A lump formed in my throat. Father... Mother... it seems I’ll see them soon.

The rustling of the branches grew closer, the smell of poisonous sap filling my lungs. I no longer had the strength to even tremble.

With a final breath, I let out the words I’d been keeping inside for years:

"I’m sorry..."

And then, I closed my eyes, waiting for the imminent end.

[Brat, is this how you plan to end up?]

A voice echoed in my mind, cold as ice, ancient as the stars.

"Who...?"

When I opened my eyelids, startled by the voice I’d heard, something surprising was happening.

Abruptly, the world stopped.

The monster’s branches hung suspended in the air, motionless. Time itself seemed frozen.

[I ask again: Are you going to die like a dog?]

"Who the... hell...?" My lips barely moved.

[Your young people need you. Are you going to let them die?]

A flash of anger coursed through me.

"I can’t do anything! I’m devastated!" "I don’t want to do it, but I’ll die soon. If I had another chance, I’d definitely..."

[Kid, I can save them, but you’ll have to give me your body.]

"My... body?"

[Yes. You will cease to exist. I will take your place.]

A deathly silence.

Then, another moan escaped my mouth. If I’m going to die, at least I hope they’re safe.

"Okay, do it. No matter what happens to me, if you can save them, take my body."

[Good.]

Almost immediately, something entered my body, an almost omnipotent force. Everything around me became clearer. The pain, the blood, the fatigue—everything faded, consumed by a blaze of pure golden energy that coursed through my veins. My pupils dilated, capturing every glimmer of branches pointed in my direction.

And then—

Time began to flow again.

One hundred, maybe more, living ebony spears, dripping with poison, crossed the space toward me in a deadly swarm. But now... now I saw every movement.

I didn’t chant. I didn’t summon.

The mana simply flowed, as if it had been waiting for this very moment. A shield of golden light erupted around my body, pulsing the mana fiercely. The first branch impacted—CLANG!—and I deflected it with a twist of the shield. But ten more took its place, their tips twisting like demonic claws.

Distribute. Filter. Accelerate. A series of pinpoint actions passed through my mind in a matter of seconds.

The mana branched out in precise streams: one part toward my brain, sharpening my perceptions to the extreme. Time gave way, slowing enough for me to see the poison dripping in slow motion. Another portion of the mana poured into my arms and legs, infusing my muscles with superhuman strength.

And then... I moved.

BOOM!

The ground cracked under the force of my sideways leap. The demonic branches lashed out and tore through the air where they had been milliseconds before, digging into the earth with a hiss of frustration, creating smoking craters.

My movement was as fast as lightning, almost teleporting me, adrenaline and mana burning in my veins. I took a deep breath, my fingers closing around the hilt of my sword, that old battle companion covered in rust and scars, surrounded by ancient runes. Upon contact, the metal responded.

SHIIING!

The rust fell off the blade in a cloud of fine dust, revealing a silver blade that gleamed with holy light, as if forged from lunar shards. Its radiance was so intense that even the shadows clouding my vision receded.

Eldrath the demon—a monster of twisted roots and poisonous sap—trembled.

He waited no longer. With a roar from the depths of his bowels, he shook the foundations of the earth. He launched another wave of sharp branches, this time faster, violent, and desperate, as if sensing urgency.

But I was calm, no longer prey.

I was the hunter.

I dodged like a breeze, each step a perfect choreography, each movement fluid as water. The branches whistled around me, stabbing into the void, unable to touch me.

And then, I reached the perfect range.

The silver blade of my sword came to life. The glow grew brighter, shining with a golden glow that illuminated the darkness like a miniature sun. The air vibrated around the blade of my mouth, as if the gods themselves were whispering in my ear.

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My voice was no more than a whisper as I swung my sword horizontally, but the world seemed to hear it.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The sound of reality cracking filled the air. The demonic tree stopped. Then, as if an invisible force had disintegrated it from within, it began to crumble. Its branches turned to ash, its trunk split into a thousand pieces, and in a matter of seconds, nothing remained but a pile of black dust floating in the wind.