With the sword-wielding couple confirmed for the run, the dungeon we’d be clearing had also been set as Black Serpent Fang.
That said, before the showdown with White Serpent, we needed to raise Go Hyeonwoo’s specs at least a little more.
So we decided to finish his Challenge Austerity first, then work out the rest of the plan in more detail.
In the meantime, I brought up the dungeon to Hong Yeonhwa too.
We were eating across from each other as usual when I suddenly said,
“This time, I’m thinking of clearing a B-rank.”
“Yeah......?”
Hong Yeonhwa’s ears perked right up.
They looked like they wanted me to say, “Come with us.”
Seeing that, my playful side kicked in again, and I deliberately spoke in a regretful tone.
“I was going to ask you too, but the party already filled up.”
“Ah.......”
“So I think we’ll have to go by ourselves this time.”
“I see. Have a...... good trip. Don’t get hurt.......”
But unlike their words, they looked as gloomy as a person could get.
It was the exact face of a dog hearing, “I’m going on a trip, so watch the house while I’m gone!”
At that point, I changed my expression completely and grinned.
“I’m kidding. Of course you’re coming with us.”
“But you just said...... the party was full......?”
“There’s still plenty of room.”
To begin with, [Black Serpent Fang] was a raid dungeon, and the recommended number was at least two parties.
But we were only a little over one full party, and about half of us weren’t even planning to participate in the raid itself, since we’d be targeting the hidden piece.
So in terms of headcount, we were actually a bit short.
Though the individual quality more than made up for it.
“......!”
Relief and joy rose on Hong Yeonhwa’s face at the same time.
Even so, they still looked a little sulky, probably because I’d kept pulling them up and dropping them again.
I went on speaking as if nothing had happened.
“There’s a duck stew place there, by the way. Nice and spicy, really good.”
“......!”
“They also sell spicy jerky. Sweet heat, volcanic eruption level.”
“......!”
Hong Yeonhwa’s ears kept twitching.
They loved spicy food so much that just hearing about spicy local specialties was apparently enough to get their mouth watering already.
I gave one final confirmation.
“So, you’re in?”
“Yeah!”
“Excellent. Let’s get ready together.”
*****
For the next few days, we spent our time on advance preparation.
Memorizing the walkthrough, strategy meetings, assembling items, managing our condition, and so on.
For reference, the bidding issue that had been the biggest obstacle last year was resolved surprisingly easily this time, because it was the first raid week of the term, so the third-years had flocked to relatively easy dungeons.
We’d probably be able to hit an empty house and come back out at our leisure.
Not long after, Go Hyeonwoo informed us that he had completed his Challenge Austerity.
That meant every preparation was in place.
Late that night, we gathered near the dungeon building.
The party members participating in the raid were me, Seo Ye-in, Dang Gyu-ri, Go Hyeonwoo, Han Somi, and Hong Yeonhwa.
For Dang Gyu-ri, the situation had become a little awkward, because with this many people, sneaking them down in secret wasn’t easy.
Especially since the target wasn’t some simple underground floor, but the deep layers.
Of course, we had already discussed that problem in advance.
The solution was to split into two groups, then move one group at a time.
The downside was that Dang Gyu-ri would have to go back and forth twice.
They just shrugged like it was nothing.
“What choice do I have? I’ll just put in the extra work.”
Then they took the lead and stepped down into the underground floors, and we followed behind them, descending the circular staircase.
*****
Song Cheonhye’s eyes gleamed sharply.
Just as she had decided a short while ago, she had shifted most of her patrol duty toward the underground floors.
Even after several days, Kim Ho’s group had remained quiet.
But that wouldn’t mean they had given up on sneaking down. It would just mean they needed time to prepare.
It’s about time they made their move.
For some reason, she even had a feeling it would be tonight.
Song Cheonhye was currently positioned at the lowest section of Floor D.
She had taken up a spot where she could observe the movement of all the elevators at a glance.
They’ll definitely come down riding one.
Humans instinctively pursue comfort.
And before a dungeon clear, it was only efficient to conserve even a little more stamina.
So Kim Ho’s group would ride the elevator down to the lowest point of Floor D they had authority to access, and then start moving on foot from there.
Which meant—
If I just mark the elevators, I can catch them.
As soon as they appeared, she intended to quietly tail them, then arrest them the moment they tried to enter a dungeon.
Song Cheonhye admired her own genius, flawless plan.
And once more, she steeled her resolve.
This time, I’m definitely catching them!
*****
—Or at least, that’s what she’s probably thinking.
For a while now, Song Cheonhye’s eyes had been giving off a very bad feeling.
As if she knew I was planning something.
Hong Yeonhwa had mentioned getting a similar impression too.
And of course she’d be watching the underground floors.
There weren’t many other ways I could violate school rules, after all.
I had no idea what Song Cheonhye had learned from Thunder Lord over winter break, but her goal was almost certainly to land one on me.
If it was an ability useful underground, it was probably something like detection, tracking, or stealth.
And she was probably expecting us to use the elevators for fast movement.
Which meant she’d have calculated that by waiting at the bottom of Floor D, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} she could spot us.
But your prediction got predicted.
The judgment we came to was simple: don’t use the elevator.
More precisely, walk down only through Floor D.
Couldn’t she also wait on Floors E or F?
Even if she couldn’t chase us herself, couldn’t she at least alert Discipline Committee members on the lower floors?
That would be one way to think about it, but—
She’s actually pretty prideful.
If she caught us, she’d want to do it with her own hands.
And show off the results of everything she’d achieved over winter break while she was at it.
The unfortunate part for her was that her skills were still far from good enough.
The result of that psychological battle revealed itself soon enough.
By the time we reached the tail end of Floor D under Dang Gyu-ri’s guidance, Han Somi pointed off to one side and whispered quickly.
There! There’s Cheonhye!
Just as expected, she’s waiting.
Sure enough, Song Cheonhye was standing there.
She had her arms folded, alternating her gaze between the elevators, and maybe because she was too absorbed in it, her awareness of the area around her actually seemed sloppier than usual.
She really is a weakling.
We passed right by Song Cheonhye at our leisure and went straight into Floor C.
As we kept moving, Han Somi kept glancing upward and whispering apologies.
Cheonhye, I’m sorry!
She used to be in the Discipline Committee, but now she was a delinquent student.
And now she was even deceiving her friend, so the guilt was probably hitting her twice as hard.
So I spoke to her in a tone that said I completely understood.
It’s fine. You get used to it after a while.
That’s not okay though?
Too late. You’re an excellent accomplice now.
An accomplice!
An exclamation mark practically popped up over Han Somi’s head.
I leaned in with an even more suggestive tone.
If Song Cheonhye saw you right now, she’d be really disappointed, wouldn’t she?
No!
You left the Discipline Committee and took Kim Ho’s side? What a traitor.
No!
There’s only one way now.
What is it?
The perfect crime.
If we got through this without being caught, everyone would be happy.
Song Cheonhye might be a little less happy, but surely that was still better than getting stabbed in the back by a friend.
By the time I had thoroughly brainwashed Han Somi like that and we kept moving, we had reached the very bottom of Floor C.
“......”
Dang Gyu-ri swept their gaze around.
After identifying the positions of the patrolling Discipline Committee members and faculty, they found a blind spot and guided us into it.
Then they raised their mana and began chanting a spell.
— HSSSSSSS......
Before long, shadows blossomed, and in the blind spot, something like a small black tent was pitched.
Dang Gyu-ri shoved me, Han Somi, and Go Hyeonwoo inside and said,
I’m going up and coming back.
Since we were split into two groups, Seo Ye-in and Hong Yeonhwa were currently waiting on Floor E.
So someone had to go bring them.
Watching Dang Gyu-ri vanish in an instant, Go Hyeonwoo let out a quiet murmur of admiration.
It may be obvious to say it now, but Senior Dang truly seems to have become unrecognizably stronger.
They’re a completely different person from last year.
Back then, the public consensus had been that while their stealth-related stats were excellent, everything else lagged behind the other division-head level students.
But since then, they had cleared countless Austerity quests and carefully vacuumed up hidden pieces alongside me.
As a result, now there weren’t many people on all of Dungeon Island who could match them.
Especially their stealth ability, which had already been excellent to begin with and had only improved further, to the point that not just the third-year Discipline Committee, but even the faculty would likely have trouble tracking them.
While I exchanged a few quiet words with Go Hyeonwoo and Han Somi, Dang Gyu-ri returned with the other two party members.
Looks like even weakling Song Cheonhye hadn’t noticed them this time either.
Of course, compared to what lay ahead, that was nothing.
Dang Gyu-ri spoke in a much more serious tone.
From here on out, really focus.
Our current location was the lowest point of Floor C.
From the deep layers of Floor B onward, security became several times tighter.
If they kept going back and forth multiple times like before, the risk of getting caught would rise sharply, so Dang Gyu-ri had judged it would be better to move everyone at once.
And now was that moment.
“......”
“......”
Everyone moved with their presence suppressed, while Dang Gyu-ri drew up a huge amount of mana and prepared a fairly large-scale spell.
The more they did, the darker the shadow beneath our feet became, and the instant we stepped into the entrance of the deep layer, the signal came down.
Gather up!
At the same time the party members closed in around Dang Gyu-ri, a huge shadow pouch suddenly popped out.
[Shadow Pouch]
And swallowed us whole.
Everything around us turned black, and I could feel a faint swaying, as if we were moving.
Their skill really has improved a lot.
Last year, when we had infiltrated the deep layers, even Chae Dabin had accompanied us.
To neutralize the communications crystal orbs and all kinds of detection devices.
But now it seemed Dang Gyu-ri could avoid detection alone.
While even moving two or three times as many people as back then.
At this rate, B-rank dungeons probably wouldn’t be much of a problem for them going forward either.
Then the shadow pouch gave one large shake.
It was a signal from Dang Gyu-ri, meaning we were close to the dungeon entrance.
We quickly exchanged glances.
We’re going in immediately.
Understood.
Confirmed.
Not long after we finished our final preparations, I felt the sensation of being spat out, and a portal came into view.
The place we were seeing for the first time in a full year—
[No.104] [Black Serpent Fang]
As we hurried one after another into it, everything in front of us went dark again, then brightened sharply.
Before long, the place where our feet landed was right in the middle of an old, abandoned private house.
The starting point, and a safe zone.
Dang Gyu-ri entered last, then slowly turned their head and checked to make sure no one was missing.
“Everyone made it in, right?”
“Looks like it was a success.”
“It went well, just like the plan. Even for me, this is the first time I’ve done something this extreme.”
They had clearly pushed past their limits in several ways, and looked deeply satisfied.
We all looked at one another and smiled.
And just as we were about to move for the dungeon clear—
— WHOOM—!
Light projected in every direction near Seo Ye-in, then took on the shape of a person.
What formed was, of course, hologram Seo Ye-in.
Since this Challenge Quest only became valid inside “a B-rank or higher dungeon,” it had only activated now that we had entered.
Spreading both arms wide, she declared,
— This body has arrived.
