Chapter 89
As if waking up from anesthesia, my vision slowly begins to blur from seeing nothing.
“What the hell…… is this?”
The unpleasant sensation that enveloped my entire body was very similar to the feeling of being teleported by a spatial wizard, but it was far more dizzying and shocking.
“Oof, ooowwww! Ew!”
I heard someone’s nauseating sound coming from behind me.
I rubbed my bleary eyes and slowly turned my head to see a figure with his head on the floor, gagging.
“Oh, shit, boo wee wee wee wee!”
Short blond hair.
As far as I knew, there was only one other guy with hair like that who was capable of cursing while vomiting.
“……Jin-woo. Jin-woo Bevalt.”
“Ugh…… boss? Boss……?”
Jin-woo turned his head toward me, his eyes bloodshot from repeated vomiting.
“What the hell just happened, what was that shock and why does my stomach hurt so much?”
“……I’m still trying to figure it out.”
My vision still hasn’t fully recovered.
[Do you want to switch to night mode?]
[ Y / N ]
Once I switched the [Smart Lens] to night mode and waited for my vision to gradually recover, I began to see bits and pieces of the scenery around me.
“……here.”
“Why? Why? Where?”
The drops of water dripping from the ceiling, the stalactites, and the stalagmites that were tricked up here and there were all very familiar.
“……Dungeon.”
“What, a dungeon?”
Hearing my answer, he raised his head and slowly looked around.
“What, what, it’s a real dungeon, no boss, we were in class just now, how is…… this possible?”
Rubbing his eyes, Jin-woo mumbles in disbelief.
There was only one situation where this could happen.
“……Terrorism. The Villain Alliance committed terrorism.”
“Terrorism? Terrorism is what brought us here? How does that…… make sense?”
“In theory, yes. I’m sure you were in my Dungeonology class a while back.”
“Dungeonology?”
A method of artificially creating dungeons by applying powerful forces to superlative magic stones.
When a dungeon is created artificially and rapidly, the spatial coordinates are greatly distorted, and nearby life forms are sucked in and transported into the dungeon.
This is exactly the kind of terrorism they’re aiming for against the Academy.
However, in the original story, the attack was supposed to take place on the day of the freshman welcome party.
“……Nicely twisted.”
Was it the death of the newcomer or the fact that Rate managed to escape?
Something must have changed when I started meddling in the villains’ activities.
I didn’t think it would be a big deal, after all, the event always coincided with Freshman Welcome Day in the game.
I didn’t expect them to barge in the day before.
“Well, maybe it was a solo act……No, maybe they were aiming for something else.
“But boss……here, doesn’t something look familiar?”
Jin-woo slowly stood up, looking around as the nausea had passed.
“Familiar?”
“Yeah, look closely. The shape of the stones, the bug that’s flying by.”
I do as Jin-woo says and look around more intently.
“I’m sure……something looks familiar.”
Suddenly, I remember the construction site I saw on my way to school.
Do they need to dig up the ground for construction?
……No way.
“It must have come in through the construction site.”
“What?”
Little by little, the puzzle pieces started to come together.
“Jin-woo, you must have seen the construction site when you entered the main building, right?”
“You’re kidding…… What? Construction site? Did I see it? Didn’t they just start putting up signs about two days ago?”
As Jin-woo said, there was always an outer wall near the construction site, so it was impossible to see the inside.
The game doesn’t even bother with stage construction at this time, so I never thought they’d use it.
“They infiltrated the academy by disguising themselves as construction workers.”
“Well, there’s no way the Academy would have noticed.”
Okay, so we have two options.
One is to use the powers of that guy, who’s probably in the Villain Alliance by now, to fool the inside eye and the other is…….
‘No, let’s not think about that.’
It’s still just speculation.
For now, the situation had to be resolved.
“Anyway, they must have dug a tunnel under here, under the Academy.”
“Tunnel?”
The distance between where they were working and the main building where our classrooms are located is about five minutes.
Of course, the academy wasn’t stupid enough to fall for such a simple tactic.
The special material that surrounds it on all sides is too strong to allow for even the slightest tunneling.
So there was only one person who could do it.
Miner, a villain with the special ability to crush anything, regardless of hardness, as long as it’s ore, only he could execute this plan.
“Miner, mixed in with the Niflheim escapees, could dig a tunnel to the bottom of the main building in two days, and……create an artificial dungeon under our feet.”
In the original script, they’d infiltrate the academy by posing as invited heroes and create a dungeon in the middle of the welcome party.
Most of the academy’s students and instructors are swept into the dungeon, where the player is tasked with rescuing them and taking down the villains but what a twist on terrorism.
I can only say that I was blown away.
“Huh? Boss, boss, boss, where are you going!”
As I started to walk away, Jin-woo, who was standing behind me, hurriedly started to follow me.
“Let’s go find the other kids who got swept up in this place, because in a case like this, gathering in one place is the right answer.”
“Huh? Uh, yeah.”
“Get a grip. Jin-woo, this is a real situation.”
With that short piece of advice, we started moving again, and as expected in a dungeon, monsters soon began to appear.
“Boss, is that……!”
“Yeah, I see it.”
───! -! ───!
A worm-like monster crawling across the floor.
Oh, that can’t be it!
And unlike Jin-woo, who was disgusted by the sight, I felt the corners of my mouth twitch upward.
“I never thought this would happen…….Well, at least it’s a good thing.”
“What? It’s a good thing?”
Jin-woo tilts his head at my words.
“Yeah, look at that. Doesn’t it look familiar?”
Jin-woo exclaimed as he looked again at the approaching bug.
“Oh, no?”
“Yeah……It looks different, but I think it’s our dungeon.”
Our dungeon was in the basement of the academy, and the dungeon that the miner uncovered was also in the basement of the academy.
So it was like a mix of the two dungeons.
The rock formations in the middle are obviously influenced by both but at its core, it’s not that different.
“If they’re on the first level, we won’t have to worry about the other kids getting hurt. They’ll be able to survive with moderate cooperation, and if they have at least one instructor with them, they’ll be able to move around at their leisure.”
First of all, they won’t get killed by monsters.
The club’s artificial dungeon, built by the seniors, is just a bit more difficult, but it’s for training.
It can be traumatizing, but it’s not something that will kill them on the first floor.
Most importantly, one of their targets, the Monster Terror, had been destroyed.
I bet they didn’t realize there was already a dungeon in the basement of the Academy.
So now there’s only one thing we need to pay attention to.
“……Prepare for battle.”
“Suddenly?!”
Jin-woo raised his voice in panic, but thanks to his past lessons and training, he immediately drew his weapon.
Jab, jab, jab, jab.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the hollow from far away.
I pulled my Tommy from the cube and held it in my left hand, aiming it at the darkness in front of me.
The sound of footsteps gradually getting closer and the corner of Jin-woo’s mouth curled up in a cold sweat as he slowly crouched down, ready to pounce at any moment.
“You caught this boss, your hearing is monstrous…….”
Jin-woo must have heard the footsteps too.
“With footsteps like this, it must be about five adult men……coming, and they’re making a lot of noise, so I don’t think they’re ordinary academy students.
“Most likely.”
Villains who probably entered this dungeon together with us.
Their purpose was self-evident. To stab the academy’s students or instructors in the back as they encountered and fought monsters so we’d have to go after them first.
“I’ll fire a suppressive barrage first, while you try to take them by surprise.”
With that, I rolled up my sleeves.
Normally, I didn’t want to do this in front of the other kids, but……the situation is what it is.
“Okay……what’s that baby bracelet thing?”
“It’s a ……training tool.”
Some sort of restraining device to stiffen an Aura’s flow.
It could be used to make the aura move more tightly and precisely, but that wasn’t what I needed right now, what I needed now was my original aura.
“I just need to see what’s where.”
I bring my free hand to my side and focus my senses.
[Activate Skill: Aura Sonar]
Aura emanates from my palm with a slight tingle.
The red aura spreads out across the dungeon floor as a medium, giving me a rough idea of the surrounding terrain, monsters, and what lies in each direction.
“──Ready.”
Jin-woo gripped his dagger backwards and was ready to run at any moment but I squeezed the trigger, letting the gunshot speak for itself.
────!! ────!! ────!! ────!! ────!! ────!! ────!!!
The dark cave is suddenly filled with flashes of light.
“It’s an ambush!”
“It’s not an ordinary gun! Get down!”
None of them knew how to deploy their shields, so they crawled forward on their stomachs.
A few of them even showed signs of trying to stand up, perhaps because they were physically enhanced.
“Easy.”
Of course, those guys stopped the fire but at the same time Jin-woo rushed in and took care of them.
At the sight of Jin-woo suddenly appearing from above, the other guys rushed to fight back, but as soon as I fired a precision shot with my [Al Capone’s Tommy], their bodies instantly began to dance.
Jin-woo didn’t miss the opportunity and immediately thrust his dagger at their throats.
“Ugh──.”
A red line appeared on his neck, and he immediately grabbed the wound.
“That’s right, you have to hold it that tight to keep it from bleeding out.”
He kicks the guy’s body as if it’s plastic, and goes straight for the other guy.
“Looks like I don’t have to do this…… thing.”
He mentioned that he recently started taking classes with the Bevalt Family.
Maybe the lessons from his mentor and the family were working, or maybe it was because his opponent was a villain but Jin-woo’s hands were both brutal and unyielding.
Perhaps he was better than Young-jae or Se-ah in this regard.
“You fucking bastard!”
Seeing his teammate fall before his eyes, the other guy lunged at Jin-woo.
The blade comes right up to his nose, but he doesn’t seem to be scared at all, turning his head to dodge the blade and slamming him face first into the ground.
“Kyaaah!”
“Are you guys real villains? I thought the older brothers I was training against were stronger…….”
Presumably, the brothers he’s talking about are the regular members of the Bevalt Family.
It made sense if it was the Bevalt Family, which was primarily a militant faction, and not any other family.
Among other things…….
“So they’re a bunch of backstreet ruffians, hired to fill out the headcount.”
“Is that so?”
They weren’t at the level that a first year student could take down, but……Jin-woo’s recent training and mentor classes must have helped.
“Boss, what do you think we should do? Should we search the perimeter?”
Jin-woo asks, looking back at the last guy on the ground with his arms outstretched.
Black blood dripping down the blade of the dagger.
Jin-woo has always been a lightweight, but today I can tell he’s growing up.
“I will.”
He doesn’t like to be hurt, so I’ll have to reciprocate.
“Come on, let’s move. We have to find the others.”
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