End In 5!

[You have defeated 1 "Corrupted Harpy[E-Rank]".]

[You have defeated 1 "Corrupted Harpy[E-Rank]".]

He stood in the aisle separating the left and right seat rows, breathing heavily. 

Shallowly wounded, his shirt had been torn towards his left hip and right arm. 

The shallow cut on his cheek had almost completely healed.

'Tsk…' 

All of the passengers had instinctively understood. 

As long as eye contact wasn't made with the fearsome, monstrous creatures, they wouldn't be attacked. Additionally, most of them froze, trying their best not to move a muscle so as not to catch the creatures' attention. 

This had worked wonderfully for them, as a moving target was more than willing to present itself. The fact that the target had killed their brethren only incited their attention and rage further. 

As such, all three Corrupted Harpies had attacked him. Thankfully, all three had been heavily injured by their collision and fall through the ceiling, which made defeating them possible with a bit patience, good reflexes, and a calm mind.

"Fuck…" He whispered with a sigh. 

The nameless young man walked towards the hole in the ceiling, and noticed a transluscent barrier separating the airplane from the clouds. His gaze moved towards the windows, and he could see that barrier again. It was a hollow sphere that encapsulated the whole airplane.

'Protecting us from the wind or something? Some kind of magic that keeps the plane from breaking completely from the wind pressure after being hit.'

After turning around, he stared at his empty seat and internally debated gaining it back, even though there was no reason to do so. 

'If we get attacked again, it would make more sense for me to stay on my feet…'

His gaze scanned the passengers. Most of them were completely still and silent, their fear too strong to even allow them to panic and scream.

'That's no good.' He sighed and walked towards the closest passenger. 

The latter didn't raise his gaze towards the nameless young man even when he was standing over him.

"Hey."

No response. 

"Hey-" Just as he reached for that passenger, loud screeching echoed.

The sources of screeches multiplied, grew louder, and crashed against the airplane's windows and walls. 

The screams and panic returned. 

This time, worse than ever. 

Simultaneously, nine holes were created in the airplane's structure. Each hole was made by the crashing of three Corrupted Harpies. Earlier, the Corrupted Harpies had landed on the empty aisle between the rows of seats. It wasn't the case now. The 27 Corrupted Harpies crashed into the airplane's walls and windows, breached them, and crashed into the occupied seats of passengers, injuring those passengers but also others through the metallic debris launched by the crash and breaching of the airplane's structure.

'Tsk.' 

The nameless young man turned towards his original seat, towards the shaking mother holding her trembling daughter dearly. 

He gulped. They were safe enough. He started moving towards the closest group of Corrupted Harpies. With the screams and panic, there was no use trying to give directions or orders. 

In the first place, the nameless young man had long accepted it. For some reason, no one ever listens to him. Even when it would be in their best interest to do so.

Just as he passed below the hole left in the ceiling by the first three Corrupted Harpies, his body froze.

Three others were peeking through that hole, their talons hanging on the edges of the broken ceiling, their beady eyes fixed on the scene below, ready to descend at any moment.

'If the first three were the Tutorial to the Tutorial, then these three won't be the last. Groups of three will come in from every hole made. In other words, more than fifty of them will be onboard!'

The screams suddenly grew ten times louder and shriller.

While keeping the hole above in his field of vision, he moved his gaze towards the front section of the airplane.

Four Corrupted Harpies had broken down the wall separating the passenger area from the cockpit.

With their talons piercing the bodies, the Corrupted Harpies walked towards the passenger area, raising the bloody corpses of the captain, the first officer, as well as the bodies of two flight attendants.

A shiver went down the nameless' spine as more beady eyes appeared in his peripheral field of vision.

There weren't three Corrupted Harpies staring through the hole above, but six. 

'Nine holes with three of them… Six here… Six that will follow shortly from each of the other holes…'

He frowned. 'Three and six, nine times nine, 81 from the other holes. Plus these six. Four came out of the cockpit, so they probably don't follow the same rule. 188 Participants… So one Corrupted Harpy for every two Participants.'

The odds can't seem that bad, considering that he had defeated, alone, three Corrupted Harpies. 

'It's absolutely hopeless.' He sighed. 

Indeed. Of the 188 Participants, four had already, and many were either too young or too old to fight. 

And most importantly,

'Most importantly, all of them are useless. I can't kill all of them alone. In fact, I don't think we can kill them at all? The others were injured, but the six that come in through the holes are in perfect condition-'

The nameless young man frowned for a moment. 

'Could it be… That we're not supposed to defeat them? How would that make sense? The Quest is to land safely. How are we to do that with the captain dead? Think! There's strategy involved. More like… It seems scripted! This is a game, and we're expected to clear the Quest. If we're supposed to just die, then why bother with the System, Items, or Quest… There must be a way.' He thought to himself as he turned towards one of the holes left by the Corrupted Harpies.

He scratched his chin.

'Once the three die, the six will come in. Or maybe-'

Intense turbulence made him stumble and fall to the ground. 

[Warning!]

"We're… We're diving! We're going to crash!"

"Where's the captain?! What do we do?!"

[The Tutorial Quest ends in Five Minutes!]