Episode 21

Aaaaaah-!!

The speaker connected to Room 5 thundered as if it was about to rip apart.

An arm was severed.

It fell with a thud, making a sound.

Blood gushed.

The students were struck dumb.

So was Rustila.

And Ceti.

Even Zelnya, who must be somewhere around here.

Even the supervisors, whose duty it was to manage and ensure that no one was harmed during this test.

They all stood still, as though frozen in time.

Crack.

The golem inserted a severed arm it had collected into its own shoulder socket. The previously limp arm began to move as if it had regained life.

Kuaaak!

The scream echoed into the adjacent room.

The forearms of the students in Rooms 4 and 6 were severed.

Next, the wrists of the students in Rooms 3 and 7 were cut off…

The live broadcast of the gruesome scene was shockingly traumatic for the young friends on the verge of turning 17.

“Hey, you! What are you doing? Move it!”

The supervisor who snapped out of the shock first smacked their colleague on the head.

And they all skillfully drew their plasma swords.

Ten doors flung open with a bang! Blood dripped down in front of the doorsteps.

“Ah, ahhh…”

“What are you doing? Hurry up and go!”

“Don’t push…!”

Students scrambled to escape. The supervisors couldn’t control them. They entangled here, entangled there. Each one pushing the person in front to escape faster, shoving the person behind.

Meanwhile, the golems, or rather, the monsters, began to thrust their blades at the supervisors armed with swords.

“Aaagh!!”

The monster cut through a person.

“Ughhh!!”

One person trampled another.

“Motherfucker-!!”

A supervisor, who looked as if he could single-handedly take on an army, was taken down. After the boss’s death, the decision made by the remaining supervisors was straightforward.

“Fuck, let’s get out of here!”

RUN.

Fearing the possibility of being incapacitated for life if caught, the supervisors ran away as fast as they could.

“Ah.”

A sigh escaped.

I turned around.

Ceti was shivering, seemingly having fallen into a state of panic.

Rustila seemed better, but there was no sign of the ripples in her pupils subsiding.

In other words.

I am the only one here who is calm.

Even with arms and wrists strewn about on the floor, I was analyzing the situation without any significant disturbance to my mind or body.

After all, such sights are common in this world.

What’s to come will be much worse, so this is hardly anything.

“Rustila!”

“Ah, oh, yes…?”

I picked up the dropped plasma sword and handed it to her.

“You protect Ceti. And never go outside.”

Going out now isn’t just a matter of getting an arm cut off. It’s about being crushed to death.

A subtle gleam flickered in Rustila’s eyes. She must be using the power of the Constellation to read my intentions. There was no need for deep conversation with her. Rustila regained her composure and nodded.

“…Understood.”

“Yah! You idiot! What are you planning to do!”

Ceti shouted at me.

I looked forward.

There were about thirty severed arms.

The monsters apparently couldn’t attach all of them to their bodies, so they were just cutting without collecting.

If they were previously acting with the purpose of ‘collecting arms’, now they were simply moving to slaughter.

Swords, saw blades, axes, spears, flails, and even dildos were among the dangerous weapons. There was no guarantee that these would only target the arms. They could go for the legs, the head, or even the buttocks.

How terrible.

It must be stopped.

“Little sister, don’t do anything.”

“Are you crazy? You want me to just stand still in this situation?”

Ceti screamed at the top of her lungs. She went to someone who was moaning with a severed arm. He was on the brink of passing out from excessive bleeding.

“Stop the bleeding, at least stop the bleeding…”

Reinhardt is a medical family.

Even though Ceti’s dream was to build a top-tier corporation in the universe and become filthy rich, she had been taught by her parents and knew how to administer basic emergency treatment.

But what good was that?

Medicine requires tools to be practiced.

She had no choice but to force him down and instruct him on breathing techniques.

That’s not to say Ceti was completely clueless.

“Phone! Is there a phone?”

“In-In my jacket’s right pocket….”

“Ah, here it is… but it’s locked with a password? What’s the password? Supervisor? The password… Ah, damn it…!”

Ceti’s sudden outburst of swearing wasn’t just because a monster appeared at her side, swinging a sword at her. It was also because the man had fainted, foaming at the mouth.

Rustila, struggling to fend off the monster’s sword strike, yelled out.

“Run away quickly!”

“Just a moment, the password…!”

“Contact someone else with a different phone!”

“It seems like there’s no option other than this person’s phone! No, why doesn’t the emergency call even work! Damn… Montes? Who in the world still uses this company’s phones these days?!”

At that moment, I was busy collecting the severed arms and placing them in a safe location.

It wasn’t terribly dangerous… The monsters seemed to be deliberately avoiding me.

“Hey, try using 6974!”

“The password…? Six, nine… ah, it’s open! How did you know?”

“It’s an unwritten rule among guys! Now, hurry and call for an ambulance!”

“Hello? Is this the hospital? Yes! Here, monsters are attacking people…! Yes, yes, at Stellarium… Stellarium Academia, North Building, Sector 54! North Building, Sector 54…! North! Building! Fifty-four! Sector! Yes, yes, it’s in Building E, not Building 2, Building E! Building E, Building E! Damn it-!!”

That’s my sibling for you. Always so spirited.

Meanwhile, Rustila was having a hard time dealing with ten monsters.

She was quick.

But the monsters were quick too.

I think I need to help.

But how could I?

If I get within their reach, wouldn’t I just end up with my arms chopped off helplessly?

And I still hardly know how to wield a sword, right?

Honestly, I had arrived here planning to excel in the written tests and just scrape by in the practicals, but I never dreamed that such an event would occur. It was a scenario I had never come across, even in the novel.

…as I was contemplating this and surveying my surroundings.

I felt a heavy sensation at my fingertips.

“Ah.”

A sensation as cold as iron.

A familiar touch.

An object from my memories, which I used to enjoy using during electron diffraction experiments.

The ‘Calipers of Wisdom’ received as the first quest reward.

It was held in my left hand.

Crowbar.

Plasma cutter.

Vernier calipers.

What is the commonality among these three pieces of equipment?

Firstly, they are tools used in engineering.

Secondly, they are versatile and can be utilized in many applications.

And the last, the third point is…

They all have the potential to save the world.

“Bring it on, spawn of Samson.”

As soon as the calipers were in my grip, I pulled the slider and crushed the monster’s visual sensor with the external chisel. The hide, which was difficult to even scratch with a plasma sword, was destroyed in one clean strike.

A tidy reorganization.

Indeed, what else could possibly be effective? This is the only thing that works.

“…Aidel?”

“I’ll help, so just make sure not to get hurt!”

I frowned as I shook off the dark green blood that had stained my calipers.

Indeed, these creatures are alive. It’s clear that someone switched them with real golems before the test.

“…Can you defeat the monster by hitting it with that?”

“It seems so.”

Rustila declared with determination.

“I’ll protect you!”

“I’d be thankful if you did.”

Rustila lightly swung the sword she was using for the first time. The monster, unable to withstand the force, was pushed back. The scratch was… a little, no, quite significant. It wasn’t fatal, but it was an effective hit.

To have such skill without even using Ether.

Indeed, that’s Rustila for you.

She must not die. Without her, the world would be doomed.

So, just as she protects me.

I too will protect Rustila.

No matter what happens.

I swung the Calipers every time Rustila stunned the monsters, smashing their heads. With each blow, 50 prons were added to my account.

It felt like I was earning mileage points from an Outer God agency.

And then it suddenly dawned on me.

The second function of this ‘Calipers of Wisdom’.

“Ha.”

Monster subjugation.

Even if one cannot manipulate Ether, using this tool as a weapon can still inflict significant damage.

Must I walk the path of Gordon Freeman as well?

It was unjust.

No, that man at least has a PhD from MIT, but I was pulled into this world just before I could earn my doctorate.

I will obtain my PhD if only to right this injustice.

We completely dismantled the monsters with our fantastic combination. Just then, the paramedics arrived. The doctors, upon examining the chaotic scene, covered their mouths and retched.

“What on earth…”

“First, let’s save the people!”

The doctors were unyielding.

Despite their retching, they managed to match severed arms to their owners and performed emergency suturing. They planned to preserve the necrotic parts for future cellular regeneration and reattachment.

The urgent crisis was dealt with.

However, it was premature to consider the situation under control.

Who was the real instigator of this disaster?

Who would compensate the victims?

In light of these events, how should the practical exam be conducted?

If a re-examination is necessary, how should the plight of students who need time to recover after losing their arms be addressed?

It was clear that the administrative team would be working overtime.

And, just as Aidel predicted, the administrative team indeed found themselves in over their heads.

Complaints poured in, and the site became swarmed not just by the police, but also by prosecutors and soldiers who cordoned off the Stellarium. It felt like an orchestrated siege against the academy’s leadership.

In the crossfire of the military, prosecutors, and police, the Stellarium board collapsed.

The stock prices of the public welfare foundation established by the chairman plummeted.

The chairman’s mental state followed suit. His reputation was soon to follow.

Of course…

“…therefore, we will need about this much for the students’ medical expenses.”

The slush fund he’d been saving for golf was about to take a significant hit.

With a thud, the chairman’s wig fell off.

(In this era, baldness is still an incurable disease.)

“560 billion? Why does it cost so much just for suturing?”

“Well… as you know, the situation at the site was chaotic, wasn’t it? There are students claiming mental distress as well…”

The chairman clutched the back of his neck. The academy president’s eyes rolled back in exasperation.

“At least it’s fortunate that no one died.”

“…that’s true.”

The medical technology of the Federation was so advanced that it could revive patients in a vegetative state. Essentially, unless the head was completely severed, they could keep someone alive by attaching machines or injecting nanomachines.

The problem was the conspiracy.

It was discovered that someone had switched the training golems with real monsters. The golems were safely stored in the warehouse.

The chairman groaned, holding his head.

“…let’s think about this matter later.”

There was a more pressing issue than finding out who was behind this.

It was the academy entrance test procedure.

“Not many students are injured, but resuming the practical test as is will provoke significant opposition.”

“Yes, that would be inequitable…”

The injured candidates needed time to recover. However, to properly move again, they would need to rest for at least six months.

A method of evaluation that requires minimal movement of the limbs was necessary. However, requiring the applicants to retake the written test they had already completed was tantamount to mocking them.

There were hardly any alternatives available.

“…perhaps, it would be best to cancel the practical test this year and put more emphasis on the interview test.”

The chairman nodded.

“That seems better. Let’s prepare quickly.”

“I will convey the message to each department promptly. Oh, and another thing.”

“Go ahead.”

The president hesitated, then began to speak.

“There were students who demonstrated unexpected problem-solving abilities during this crisis…”