I got into school for nothing - Chapter 218
I got into school for nothing (218)
Lesson 43. Too Popular - 3
Infinite power existed.
And that power was none other than Light's Holy Sword.
“Vanish, you lower lifeforms!”
Watching Light, who was hunting the sand beings of Room 141 indiscriminately while spouting 'the coolest line I could ever imagine'—a phrase Ban Yuwon himself had probably thought of at least once during his middle school days—Ban Yuwon let out an exclamation of awe.
“That guy’s got a lot of spirit.”
“From my perspective, it’s certainly convenient not having to deal with every single one of those trifling things, but...”
Dokgo Yeon watched Light’s movements, dumbfounded, as he swung his Holy Sword to crush enemies the moment they sprang from the sand.
“So that means I was right, after all.”
“Yes.”
Dokgo Yeon clicked her tongue, smiled bitterly, and then communicated her thoughts to Ban Yuwon via telepathy.
“It seems difficult to even call him Light himself anymore. No matter how much a person changes, they shouldn’t just throw away the solid foundation they’ve built up until now.”
It was the first time she had worn such a frustrated expression in front of Ban Yuwon.
Ban Yuwon wondered if Dokgo Yeon was someone who had opened her heart to Light even more than he had.
Wasn’t it Dokgo Yeon who, despite Light supposedly coming from a fantasy world, had taught him martial arts from the basics, a subject he was as ignorant of as Ban Yuwon himself?
She nagged and tormented Light whenever she had a chance, but Ban Yuwon knew full well that it was Dokgo Yeon’s own clumsy way of showing affection.
“...Ban Yuwon, I don’t like that look in your eyes. Did you just curse me in your head?”
“Of course not. Whether openly or secretly, I only ever praise you.”
“Another blatant lie... So?”
Dokgo Yeon, with a look that said she was tired of arguing, brought the conversation back on track.
It was telepathy again.
“Is there really still a possibility? Perhaps Light is already... Is there truly no way to bring her back now?”
The story related to the Holy Sword and the ancestor was already known to the Rebellion members, excluding Light.
Dokgo Yeon was worried that Light’s ego might have been completely buried by the ancestor and the Holy Sword the ancestor had left behind.
“That’s not it. If he had been completely consumed, he wouldn’t have returned to the Academy. Furthermore, considering how he openly claims to be a man, yet always unnaturally and blatantly avoided me whenever I suggested we shower together, Light’s own will definitely remains.”
“...”
Dokgo Yeon’s piercing gaze shot towards Ban Yuwon, who was replying via telepathy.
Her unique condescending, contemptuous gaze, as if shooting him down from above, once one got used to it, it almost felt pleasant.
Of course, if he were to say this out loud, he’d be treated like a pervert, so he had no intention of ever doing so.
“You... if this were Murim, you’d be labeled a lecherous fiend.”
However, he was still being treated like a pervert, even now.
Ban Yuwon hastily began to make excuses about his 'Friendly Shower Operation.'
“No, Light’s body is currently completely masculinized. It’s not what you’re misunderstanding. I merely wanted to confirm whether Light truly perceived himself as entirely male or not!”
“Your excuse is lengthy. You already have two women, and yet you’re still not tired of it...”
“Anyway! With that, I confirmed that there’s still hope to save Light.”
He couldn’t possibly refute the claim about having two women.
Ban Yuwon hastily got to the main point.
“So, until Union Academy’s Founding Festival arrives, we just need to stimulate Light’s will to revive as much as possible.”
“By what means?”
“We’ll have to find that out now.”
Ban Yuwon replied softly, then turned his gaze to Light, who was still rampaging tirelessly.
With a truly refreshing smile on his lips, and wielding the embodiment of destruction in his hand, eradicating all lingering hostility in the room, he had reached a level where, purely in terms of raw power, he might even surpass Dokgo Yeon.
If only they could suppress him with force, they might have been able to stop his rampage.
The current Light was like a ticking time bomb, too dangerous to approach carelessly.
“Did you see that?”
Perhaps sensing Ban Yuwon’s gaze, Light returned, brimming with arrogance, looking around the now cleared Room 141 as he spoke to him.
“I can sweep them all away by myself. I know you guys aren’t weak, but that doesn’t mean I need your help. You’ll admit it, won’t you?”
“Well, remembering how you charged in relying solely on your Holy Sword only to be crushed to death in a Trick Room, I’d say not really.”
“Keuk.”
Light bristled at Ban Yuwon’s casual provocation.
“My power was just weak back then.”
“You’d rather die than admit your head was weak, huh.”
“Ssssst, shiss.”
At that moment, Eve, who had been swimming through the desert sky, exploring for anomalies, flew into Ban Yuwon’s arms and quickly reported.
“You found traces of a city?”
“Shiss.”
The Chain Rooms, which had started from Room 131, seemed they were finally getting to the main point now that ten rooms had passed.
Ban Yuwon, who had been worried about how long this desert—which had progressed with incessant battles against monsters popping out of the sand—would continue, let out a sigh of relief.
“I thought a conclusion would be reached within 5 rooms, especially after the sand whale appeared.”
“If it’s a city, we can probably get a quest there.”
Thanks to the ring Ban Yuwon gave her, she was protected from the heat, but Rucell, who still disliked the desert environment with its sandstorms, also spoke with a relieved expression.
Perhaps because there had been no particularly special monsters or quests so far, even though nine rooms had passed, in Room 140’s Eden, only blood wine flowed and fruits ripened, with no other special rewards.
While ordinary students might consider merely tasting Eden’s fruits an enormous achievement, for Rebellion, life fruits and blood wine were already part of their basic kit.
Just looking at how they cleared nine rooms, from Room 131 to 139, in a single day, it was clear they had far surpassed the average.
“Room 150 should be worth looking forward to.”
“So when will the shift happen?”
“Follow me.”
The traces of the city Eve had discovered were, to be precise, traces of an old road.
In this desert, where most traces were likely to be swept away and vanish in the sandstorms, an artificial path, forged by magically compacted sand, and various footprints and carriage wheel tracks imprinted upon it, could be found.
No matter how keen Eve’s eyes were, if she hadn’t shared Ban Yuwon’s Authority to read the concept of [Road], she wouldn’t have found it easily.
The moment the group found the path and entered, a shift occurred, and the surrounding environment began to distort.
Rucell smiled brightly and said.
“It’s a good thing our Master is here. Any other team would have wasted several days wandering the desert.”
Indeed, most delays in students’ explorations occurred because they failed to find the clues to trigger a shift.
Rooms where one simply had to advance and defeat monsters were extremely rare, save for the early stages of the Tower.
“Hmph. There was no need to wander around, tiring one’s feet; if all unnecessary things were swept away, the path would be revealed.”
Perhaps knowing Rucell’s words were aimed at him, Light scoffed and said.
Rucell replied with a sweet smile.
“Light, you must be lucky not to need a good head. It looks heavy to carry on your shoulders; why not just leave it somewhere?”
“Are you trying to say my head is just for decoration?”
“If it were just decoration, at least it would be pretty...”
“What did you say?!”
The team’s atmosphere was truly fantastic.
The fact that even Rucell had started to diss him meant things had truly reached their limit... Or had they?
Rucell tended to take criticism about herself rather lightly, but she was sensitive to attacks on Ban Yuwon.
Anyway, Ban Yuwon intervened, stopping Light and Rucell, who looked ready to start a fight right then and there.
“The shift’s over, so snap out of it.”
“This woman insulted me.”
“You’ve been doing similar things lately too. Anyway, focus on the Tower for now. Rucell, you too.”
“Keuk...”
“Understood.”
What appeared after the shift was, of course, still a desert, but magically compacted sand, similar to the road seen in Room 141, formed massive walls and roads, presenting a straight path to the group.
After confirming what awaited beyond the path with his all-seeing eye, Ban Yuwon glanced at his student ID.
As expected, the room’s changes had been unusual; the number displayed on his student ID was Room 145.
Four rooms had been skipped at once.
“What’s there?”
“I see something like a coliseum.”
Having climbed the Tower for a semester, Ban Yuwon had a pretty good guess by now.
This powerful scent of a Trick Room.
The fact that rooms were skipped and a Trick Room appeared right after Ban Yuwon and Light discussed Trick Rooms made him wonder if some voyeuristic perverts again—that is, the Constellations—were secretly watching them.
‘As if there weren’t already enough Constellations he had grudges with...’
The Prominence family and the Constellations behind them, the Constellations who had been observing him from the start, and the Constellations whose Authorities were practically stolen by him—all needed to be watched carefully.
Normally, this wasn’t the time to be dealing with the team’s internal conflicts.
‘Once all of this is resolved, I’m going to make them really work for it.’
Ban Yuwon ground his teeth and advanced along the road.
At the end of that road stood a colossal circular coliseum. There were several other paths besides the one Ban Yuwon’s party had taken, and from those, others appeared, their faces similarly tense.
If their age range hadn’t been so diverse, even knowing it was impossible, he might have suspected they were Union Academy students.
“Is this all who wish to enter the holy ground?”
In the center of the coliseum, the sand began to swell, and from within, a colossal golem emerged.
Implanted in the head of the humanoid monster, a single, large, red-glowing gem was impressively embedded.
“Those who wish to enter the holy ground must prove their qualifications. There are many paths to the holy ground, but only one may pass. The path shall only be opened to the one who defeats all rivals.”
The golem, spouting lines that Ban Yuwon had roughly predicted, slammed its fist down fiercely.
At that, all the paths they had traversed so far vanished, and a higher wall rose around the coliseum, trapping them all within the ring.
Soon, a faint light began to illuminate the spectator stands, and seeing clusters of light moving about, Ban Yuwon let out an exclamation of astonishment. rANOBe}s
“I heard that the higher one climbs the Tower, the more involved they get with Constellations, but I never imagined they’d openly come to spectate like this.”
It even seemed to be an official event sanctioned by the Tower itself.
As expected, the relationship between the Tower and the Constellations was clearly not merely that of host and unwelcome guests, but a connection of some kind that Ban Yuwon had yet to understand.
“Constellations...?”
Meanwhile, Light seemed to realize belatedly from Ban Yuwon’s words, and his eyes widened as he saw the clusters of light filling the stands.
The Constellations filling the coliseum... Feeling their gazes, Light’s mouth twisted fiercely.
“Hateful beings...”
“Don’t try to attack them. They’re not their true forms anyway, and mutual interference is impossible right now.”
“...You have good eyes.”
Light, who had seemed on the verge of exploding, calmed down at Ban Yuwon’s words and turned to look at him.
His expression was a strange one, difficult to describe.
“Let one representative from each path step forward. Here, presided over by the gods, engage in a sacred duel. The victor shall be permitted to pass me.”
The moment the golem declared again, two Trick conditions appeared before the group’s eyes.
“Those who are not representatives cannot move.”
“No harm can be inflicted upon the Sand Golem.”
Simultaneously, the group realized they had to choose one representative.
In other factions, representatives had already been chosen and were stepping forward one by one.
Facing Light, who was looking at him with a rather earnest expression, Ban Yuwon shrugged.
“What do you want to do? Should Light go?”
“He spoke presumptuously earlier. Let’s see him prove himself.”
Dokgo Yeon declared so first, and chose Light as the representative.
Anyway, until Light could be restored to his original state, she was prepared for him to be sidelined from the exploration, so this was a choice she could make.
“Alright, then Light will go.”
And Ban Yuwon also had a desire to understand the current Light, so he readily chose him.
There was no need to even ask Rucell, who always shared Ban Yuwon’s intentions.
“Good, I won’t let you regret this.”
As if pleased with the group’s actions for the first time, Light smiled and stepped forward.
And then.
“Hey, Golem.”
“Has the selection concluded? If so, now for the sacred duel...”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he extended his Holy Sword and pierced the gem embedded in the golem’s forehead.
An attack that even Ban Yuwon, wielding his Giwon Sword, barely reacted to.
An attack that even Dokgo Yeon, who wielded the aura that brought all things to death, was astonished by.
It was a strike possessing speed that transcended an instant and power that shattered the world.
“Kwoong!”
Without a chance to react, even with the Trick Room’s assistance, the golem’s form, its core pierced, crumbled, leaving only its shattered core rolling across the floor.
“What in the...?!”
“He killed the golem that shared the gods’ power!”
Whatever the circumstances of this room were, the coliseum’s golem seemed to be quite famous from the start, as the duel’s participants and their parties all began to stir in astonishment.
Of course, the clusters of light in the coliseum’s spectator stands also began to buzz.
But Light ignored all of it, raising his Holy Sword high and declared.
“Humans, you do not need the gods’ selection! At the end of this path, I shall prove it!”
Ban Yuwon couldn’t understand what kind of nonsense Light was spouting.
But to the Tower’s NPCs, it seemed to sound different, as they watched Light, who was emitting a sacred light, as if enchanted.
And then.
A shift occurred.
This guy had truly proven his power!
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