As the student continued his rambling, muttering to himself incoherently, everyone inside the school bus saw the sharp claws that had pierced into the vehicle slowly retracting.
Then came a soft, rustling sound from outside.
It was as if a giant lizard was crawling across the roof of the bus.
Hearing the noise, everyone inside instinctively swallowed hard.
A creeping sense of dread began to take root.
At that moment, Orsaga began to piece together the creature's intentions based on the sound of its movements.
It was trying to instill more fear in the people inside the bus—to identify its prey more clearly.
Suddenly, a series of sharp siren wails pierced through the night.
In the distance, several beams of light lit up.
Looking in that direction, Orsaga saw a convoy of police cars.
A total of six!
Due to the recent string of gruesome massacres in neighboring counties, Police Department wasn't taking any chances. In response to the report of teachers and students being trapped in a life-threatening situation, they had dispatched half of their entire force, all fully armed.
As the officers stepped out of their vehicles and saw the unidentified creature clinging to the school bus under the glare of their headlights, the lead officer—blessed with 20/20 vision—got a clear look at the creature's scaly face.
His serious expression twitched slightly.
He drew in a sharp breath and cursed under his breath:
"...What the fuck is that thing…"
The other officers, after getting a clear look at the creature, felt an overwhelming sense of danger. Instinctively, they raised their weapons and chambered their rounds.
Sensing the growing hostility and fear radiating from the officers, the Creeper opened his mouth wide, revealing rows of jagged teeth, and let out a savage howl.
A pair of translucent bat-like wings burst from its back, spreading wide.
The creature now looked like something straight out of hell.
The watching officers couldn't help but gulp again.
One of them immediately recalled a piece of disturbing news from a few days ago in neighbouring County.
According to the report—
Four days ago, a winged monster had attacked the neighbouring County Police Department during the night.
It killed over a dozen officers and most of the prisoners, and in front of numerous eyewitnesses, kidnapped a young boy.
"Damn it… The officers from Briarwood weren't lying…"
The officer muttered to himself, then quickly warned his fellow officers:
"The Briarwood guys told me handguns are useless! Use heavy weapons—go straight for the big guns!"
Hearing this, the others—many of whom had already heard the rumors—immediately followed the suggestion. They formed a firing line and began cautiously advancing toward the Creeper.
It wasn't that they didn't want to open fire immediately—it was just that the range was too tight, and they were worried about hitting the civilians still trapped inside the bus.
Seeing the police operate so professionally, the people inside the bus were instantly filled with hope.
They felt like rescue was finally at hand.
As their fear began to fade, the Creeper grew visibly agitated.
With a powerful flap of his wings and a sudden surge from all four limbs, he launched himself like a cannonball!
The sheer force of the movement caused the entire bus—used as a launch platform—to jolt violently, nearly flipping over.
Feeling the tremor, Orsaga glanced up at the impact marks left on the bus roof from the Creeper's leap, then mentally calculated the weight of the bus combined with the passengers.
A simple physics formula popped into his mind.
In an instant, he estimated the Creeper's raw strength from that single leap.
Then, without blinking, he tracked the creature's trajectory, measuring how long it took for the Creeper to reach the officers after launching off the bus.
With that, he now had a rough estimate of the creature's speed.
Strength: Over four tons.
Speed: In a burst—over 30 meters per second.
Processing this new data, Orsaga's eyes flashed with a brief glimmer of calculation.
Then, expression calm, he stood by the window to observe the next development.
If this was the Creeper's full power, then as long as it didn't try to retreat or outmaneuver him, Orsaga could take it down in one or two seconds in a straight fight.
Even if the creature was several times stronger and faster than he was, it wouldn't matter.
Unless the opponent possessed a combat sense equal to his own, it would still be nothing more than a powerful but mindless brute.
In close-quarters combat, as long as Orsaga had room to move, he could kill it.
Still, he didn't let his guard down.
After all, this creature had supposedly survived for thousands of years—it couldn't possibly be this weak.
Just then, the Creeper closed the distance to one of the officers in a flash.
The man was stunned, torn between panic and fury.
Without a second thought, acting on pure instinct, he pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The shotgun blast erupted in a burst of muzzle flash, sending dozens of steel pellets flying faster than the speed of sound.
They peppered the Creeper's torso, forcing it to stumble back a step.
But the next instant, the creature roared again and lunged forward.
Braving the hail of gunfire, it pounced on the nearest officer.
A scream rang out—then was abruptly silenced.
The deputy chief of police, serving as field commander, shouted angrily at the sight:
"He's gone! Keep firing!"
He then unhesitatingly pulled out a grenade and hurled it toward the Creeper, which was still feasting on the fallen officer.
BOOM!
A flash of searing orange flame erupted in the night!
The explosion embedded shrapnel deep into the Creeper's body.
Half of its head—and a good portion of its chest—were blown off.
Seeing the attack land solidly, the deputy chief allowed himself a moment of relief and shouted,
"Keep it up!"
In his mind, as long as their weapons were effective, the situation was still under control.
No matter how brutal the creature was, it couldn't be worse than a gang of heavily armed robbers.
Thirty minutes later.
Staring at the still-moving, unidentifiable pile of meat that had been reduced to mush, the deputy chief looked completely fed up.
"The hell is this freakin' thing…"
They had already burned through most of their ammunition.
Off to the side, Orsaga silently observed the scene, lost in thought.
The Creeper was even more useless than he'd expected...
He had originally intended to use the police as a way to gauge the creature's capabilities.
But in the end, the Creeper had been utterly outclassed, surviving only thanks to its ridiculous regenerative abilities.
"…If I'd known it was this weak, I'd have chopped it in half with one hand…"
Muttering to himself, he placed a hand on the window frame and casually leapt down from the bus.
Then, he strolled toward the twitching, regenerating mass of flesh.
As he passed one of the officers, he asked, "Got a lighter?"
The deputy chief, who was still firing to suppress the creature's healing, was startled by the sudden question.
But upon confirming that Orsaga was indeed human, he scowled and snapped:
"Civilians should keep their—"
Before he could finish, Orsaga interrupted, "I'm an exorcist. A professional one. Give me a lighter so I can finish this thing off. Deal?"
"..."
After a few seconds of silence, the deputy chief—though suspecting the guy was probably high on something—decided it was still worth a try, given how little ammo they had left.
He handed Orsaga his lighter and signaled the other officers to stop firing for the moment.
All eyes were on Orsaga as he approached the still-healing, grotesque chunk of flesh.
Casually, he pulled out a handwritten Bible and tore it into individual pages, scattering them over the Creeper.
Then, he tossed the lighter in.
Whoosh!
A golden flame, three to four meters high, roared to life atop the meat pile.
The creature shrieked in agony as the flames consumed it.
Orsaga clicked his tongue in disdain.
'This wasn't fun at all.'
He had been preparing for a hard-fought boss battle.
Who would've thought the supposed boss would get humiliated by a group of armed humans?
All he had to do was deliver the finishing blow.
What was even the point anymore?