Chapter 90
Chapter 90
After that, Jin-woo and I wandered around the first floor of the dungeon, but for some reason, we didn’t encounter any creatures other than bugs.
“Ugh……Boss, was this place originally this big? I don’t think it was that big when we came here by ourselves.”
Jin-woo muttered as he wiped the sweat from his brow.
He’s right, this place is too big to be the dungeon as we knew it.
“The dungeons must have changed when they merged. We should probably look around more.”
“Now? Boss, do you know the way here?”
“As long as I know the terrain, it shouldn’t be too hard.”
I realized that I wasn’t going to get any more answers by just walking around, so I decided to use Skill: Aura Sonar once again.
[Activate Skill: Aura Sonar]
Bugs. Worms. Pillars. Worms. Bugs.
“……I don’t think there’s anything on the first floor.”
“You must have some kind of skill because you knew they were coming right away… Boss Radar…… Awesome…….”
I thought he’d grown a bit, but when the battle was over, I ignored Jin-woo’s bullshit again and tried to use Aura Sonar again.
“……?”
My senses picked up something, something that shouldn’t be there.
“What’s that?”
* * *
“……What the hell is going on?”
Young-jae opened his eyes to a maze of engineered bricks.
Nausea and dizziness hit him as soon as he opened his eyes.
But unless he could figure out what was going on, it was imperative that he quickly regain his senses and take stock of his surroundings.
“……Distinto (clearly).”
Fighting off the rising nausea and headache by casting a mental enhancement spell on himself, Young-jae took stock of his surroundings first.
The torches on the wall gave him the best visibility.
Noticing that someone had collapsed beside him, he carefully examined the face of the fallen figure.
“……Se-ah?”
It was Kim Se-ah, a member of Familia and a classmate of his.
She was lying there expressionless, as if she had fallen asleep.
“At least the worst is over…….”
However, when Young-jae saw her, he sighed in relief and decided to wake her up.
Since they had fallen into an unfamiliar space, it was very important to explore their surroundings, a problem that could be easily solved with a spatial mage.
” Se-ah. Kim Se-ah?”
He shook her slowly, but she showed no sign of waking up.
No visible injuries.
Realizing that she was probably still asleep as she had been when she lost consciousness, Young-jae finally sighed and channeled his magic into his forefinger.
“Lamentoso.”
At the same time, a transparent droplet of water began to trickle from the tip of his index finger.
Soon, the droplets began to drip onto Se-ah’s face, and as the force of the water began to increase, Se-ah’s expression changed.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch, the ceiling is leaking again……What? Where?”
Se-ah scrambles to her feet, startled by the constant drenching.
“Are you awake?”
“Mr. Young-jae? How the hell did this happen…….?”
Wiping the water droplets from her face with her sleeve, Se-ah looks around and realizes that she’s not in Class A. She rubs her eyes.
“I’m not dreaming, but what…… is this?”
“Are you feeling okay? Are you feeling sick to your stomach?”
The first thing Young-jae asked was if she felt okay.
He thought she might be experiencing similar symptoms, as he himself had woken up feeling extremely nauseous and with a headache.
“What? Uh…… I’m fine, except for a little bit of a headache, but…… where am I?”
I wonder if it’s because she’s a spatial magic user.
She only complained of a slight headache.
Young-jae shook his head and said.
“I don’t know either, I just woke up. It doesn’t seem like an ordinary place. Do you think you can detect the surroundings?”
“I’ll try.”
Se-ah, who was wearing her own unique weapon in her right hand to detect her surroundings, snapped her fingers as Young-jae said.
Then, as if sound waves were spreading out, the faint violet magic energy around her began to disperse, and the surrounding terrain began to appear on the ground.
“Well, it looks like this…… but there’s something strange about it.”
The terrain that emerged in front of them was reminiscent of a maze.
Unable to predict what Se-ah was trying to say based on that alone, Young-jae listened to her.
“I’ve calculated the coordinates of this place, and it looks like I’ve been here before……?”
“What?”
Young-jae was surprised by the unexpected words.
“You’ve been here before. You have?”
“Yes. You’ve probably been here a few times, too. The coordinates here are the same as the coordinates of the dungeon in the basement of the Familia clubroom.”
Hearing Se-ah’s words, Young-jae’s pupils began to twitch.
He was caught in a dungeon in the middle of the academy?
A dungeon in the middle of the academy?
“……Are you sure?”
“It’s a bit different to say for sure……I’d say the directions are twisted……or inverted……but I’m pretty sure it’s connected to the dungeon under our clubroom.”
Even more confused by Se-ah’s words, Young-jae began to pull up memories from his past to try and make sense of the situation.
He had heard of this phenomenon somewhere.
A phenomenon that must have been similar to this……came to mind!
“The Overlapping Dungeon.”
“What?”
“When a new dungeon appears in close proximity to a dungeon! Didn’t we learn that in Dungeonology class?”
Young-jae exclaims with a very refreshing expression, while Se-ah has a look of confusion on her face.
“In order for a overlapping dungeon to form, a new dungeon must be created in close proximity to another dungeon, which means that a new dungeon was created in the basement dungeon of the Familia, so why would it be in the basement of……ah!”
The conclusion was simpler than he thought.
Someone had intentionally spawned a dungeon underground.
Why at this time?
And the culprit was quickly identified.
The song that was playing over the speakers before the dungeon phenomenon. A time when the academy was bustling with new students. And the name: Critical Area Terrorism.
“……Villain Coalition.”
He could think of no one else who could have done this.
And he knew what she had to do right now.
“We need to join the others.”
“What?”
“This is most likely a terrorist attack by the Villains Alliance.”
“Terrorism, you mean, right now?”
Se-ah’s eyes widened in surprise, as if she hadn’t thought of terrorism.
“That doesn’t explain what’s going on, and we need to get a head count before the other villains find us, it’ll be much safer that way, so come on, can you check to see if anyone else is nearby?”
“Uhhh…… Okay, hold on, I’ll check right away!”
Se-ah furiously taps her fingers, as if she’s playing a keyboard in thin air.
“Two o’clock, there are three people!”
“Three?”
Since he wasn’t sure if they were villains or students of the Academy, he couldn’t just go looking for them blindly, so he pulled out a fountain pen from his front pocket and cast a spell on himself and Se-ah.
“Fioco.”
A gentle breeze swept past their bodies.
“Uh…..this?”
“A spell to lower our presence. If we sneak up on them, they won’t notice.”
“Stealth……!”
“I don’t know if it’s the villains or the other kids.”
With that in mind, the two of them slowly walked through the area as suggested by the detection magic.
It was a dark space, reminiscent of the interior of a castle and the only light in the area came from the torches hanging on the walls, forcing them to move forward more cautiously.
───! ──! ──! ───!
The irregular clanking of metal began to be heard.
Raising their vigilance to the next level, the two cautiously approached the source of the sound.
Soon after, Se-ah, who had been checking the location, stopped in anger.
“Hey, Young-jae, wait a minute……!
“Why all of a sudden?
“The three of them have been reduced to two……!”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I mean…… usually there are two cases like this, either they’re unconscious…… or they’re dead…….”
“What?!!”
Young-je, who had unknowingly shouted, quickly covered his mouth.
“Then what’s the sound I’m hearing?!
“I don’t know, if they’re still fighting even though one of them has fallen, doesn’t that mean the academy students are fighting?
“Then this is not the time! Run!”
An academy student is still alive and fighting the villains?
From now on, it was important not to go slowly so as not to be seen, but to help them quickly before the others were killed.
“Allegro!”
After activating his speed buff, Young-jae rushes toward the sound.
Se-ah is furious that he’s leaving her behind and is running hard.
“Come on, I’ll go with you! You can buff me too!”
Se-ah’s voice fades into the distance, and as he turns the corner, he sees two men engaged in combat.
They’re both holding swords and eagerly fighting.
Except, there’s something strange about…….
“Die, die, die, die, bitch!”
“You can’t kill her like that. You’d have been better off cutting her wrists off there.”
“Shut up, I said shut up!”
“I’d try …… but you’re too damn good.”
“Aaaahhhhh!!!”
The man, covered in blood from the gaping wounds all over his body, and the girl, with not a drop of blood on her, casually blocking the man’s sword.
“I wish I could have pulled him up here…….”
“Shut up, please shut up!”
“I guess you’re not much of a match after all.”
“What the fuck……? Kuck!”
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t enjoy it, but…… yeah. Bye.”
In front of the man whose lungs were eventually punctured and who died without making a sound the girl, who was silently looking at the scene with an expressionless face, suddenly looked up as if she had sensed something.
Because of this, the two saw each other.
“……Academy uniform? You’re not a villain, are you?”
“……You are.”
Young-jae was both puzzled and delighted by the unexpected appearance.
The reason was that she was one of the Academy’s best swordsmen.
She was one of the people who would always be mentioned when discussing the strongest first years.
“Representative?”
Representative.
She smiled brightly at the young man in the same uniform as her.
“Hi.”