I got into school for nothing – Chapter 39
I got into school for nothing (39)
Lesson 9. Learning Martial Arts - 4
The Academy’s purpose was for its students to climb the Tower. There were mandatory lectures for freshmen, solely to prepare them for ascending the Tower, and a dedicated textbook had been prepared for that very purpose.
Everything from trap sections and mazes to the various monster types was covered in this textbook.
“Hmm?”
“This place is...”
However, the space they entered in Room 9 was of a kind that had never once appeared in any textbook. Unlike the previous rooms, which had taken the form of hallways, this place felt like a colossal temple, with numerous irregularly rising stone pillars that seemed to pierce the ceiling, giving off an incredibly imposing aura.
“No monsters, and the ceiling is high... it’s similar to a rest area.” Since re-gripping his holy sword, As Light, whose body had regained vitality as if Kenshiro had pierced his Anpakukou pressure point, looked up at the ceiling and muttered.
“Could it be that we’ve already passed into Room 10?”
“I think the room number no longer holds any meaning in our exploration...”
“The enemy, it’s here.” Rucell said in a strong tone, pulling Ban Yuwon behind her.
But as Ban Yuwon turned his gaze, pulled along by her, he cried out convulsively in that instant.
“Dokgo Yeon, dodge!”
―KABOOM!
A massive, one-meter-diameter projectile, fired from a gap between the pillars, bore down on Dokgo Yeon! Simultaneously, Ban Yuwon, rolling on the ground, caught sight of the cannon barrel disintegrating into pieces and narrowed his eyes.
Although the cannon barrel was large, it was unbelievable that it could have fired a projectile of that size. It was highly probable that it was a magic machine—a magical tool—of the type where the projectile enlarged immediately after being fired.
“...Ban Yuwon.” Had Ban Yuwon’s warning not been too late, or had it been unnecessary to begin with? From beyond the projectile, which was held firmly in place, Dokgo Yeon’s voice drifted over, not a single breath disturbed.
“Didn’t you say no one else could use machines inside the Tower except you?”
“That’s why it broke after just one use.”
He retorted gruffly, but inwardly, he felt relieved. If he had been hit by such a ridiculously huge projectile, he would have been pulverized without a trace, but fortunately, she seemed perfectly fine. If that was also thanks to Hyunsingong, he vowed to diligently practice Hyunsingong whether awake or asleep, and raised a hand.
“As Light, over there.”
“So he was there!”
Ban Yuwon, who had pinpointed the ‘Irregular’s’ location at the moment of firing, pointed to its position with a gesture, taking the place of Dokgo Yeon, whose movements were delayed by catching the mass of iron.
“...Tch!”
“It vanished?”
“As Light, straight ahead, three o’clock!”
The bastard, hidden among the many pillars rising from the ground toward the sky, realized the failure of its ambush and quickly tried to conceal itself, but believing it could hide again after Ban Yuwon had already spotted it was an utterly brazen delusion.
“Turn! Five o’clock!”
“Understood!”
Even if that bastard possessed any ‘stealth’ type ability!
“Haaaaaaah!”
“Kugh?!”
As Light, gripping his holy sword firmly, charged with a speed that truly deserved the description ‘light speed.’ Agile and spirited movements, unlike when he was without his sword!
As for what Ban Yuwon was doing, he wasn’t simply standing by quietly because he knew he was no match for the Irregular—no.
“Dokgo Yeon, give that to me!”
“This? Understood!”
Dokgo Yeon threw the mass of iron to Ban Yuwon without hesitation. Ban Yuwon reached out a hand towards it, snorting in amusement.
‘Its acting skills, pretending to be surprised that she blocked it, are top-notch, but I can see right through it.’
The projectile the Irregular fired at Dokgo Yeon wasn’t just meant to be blocked. The true danger was the explosive magic within it. What that bastard had fired was not a mere projectile but a bomb.
[Forcibly extracting 30 units of Magic Bomb!]
The heavy projectile slicing through the air, the intense surge of magic threatening to ignite within it. Without hesitation, he instantly extracted the deep-seated concept from within.
“What?!”
Amidst this, the Irregular, seeing the bomb flying from Dokgo Yeon to Ban Yuwon, made a flabbergasted expression, which was quite amusing. Perhaps it thought it would explode in mid-air, as it desperately initiated evasive maneuvers.
Being rapidly pushed back dozens of meters in an instant, it was clear that it was wielding a special concept, or ‘skill,’ similar to the ‘Wave’ that Ban Yuwon handled.
As Light caught up to the bastard, he roared with a furious expression.
“Where do you think you’re running to?!”
“You bastards who are about to die... Huh?”
The projectile from which Ban Yuwon had extracted all the concepts—no, the bomb, which had been imbued with magic, vanished into thin air without exploding.
Confirming that the deeply aggressive string of characters was wrapping around his hand, Ban Yuwon smirked and mocked the bastard.
“Your bomb isn’t exploding properly; looks like you brought a defective product.”
“Impossible...!”
The bomb simply vanishing must have been an utterly astonishing event for it, as the Irregular roared in fury, as if it had forgotten it was on enemy territory. Forgetting there was a swordsman wielding a holy sword right in front of its nose.
“Ha!”
“Kuh...!”
The moment light flashed, blood spurted into the air. The Irregular clutched its shoulder and retreated with a stifled groan.
At that moment, the space around the bastard rippled as if something was about to emerge, but by then, Dokgo Yeon’s hands were already free.
“What...?!”
As she flicked her fingers, the cracks exploded and vanished all at once. Dokgo Yeon, who had effortlessly neutralized the enemy’s trump card, cleared her throat, nodded, and spoke.
“So you can even wield the power of space? It’s interesting; if you dissect each principle, it holds truly great potential, yet the power itself is as tiny as a bean. Could that perhaps be the true nature of the Authorities that these Constellations bestow?”
“But isn’t that a person? Why is a person popping out instead of a monster?”
“What in the world are you bastards?!”
The bastard shrieked, fueled by malice. It was hard to tell who should be asking that question right now.
But before Ban Yuwon could say anything, the bastard glared and yelled.
“That bomb was designed to explode even within the Tower! And for mere freshmen to—!”
“Bomb? Ah.”
Dokgo Yeon, realizing that Ban Yuwon had recognized and thwarted it beforehand, looked back at him and subtly smiled. Of course, she would have had a way to protect herself even if the bomb had exploded, but her other companions would not have. In that case, it would have been entirely her mistake, so it could be said that Ban Yuwon had helped her.
Separate from that, her gaze at the Irregular grew colder as she belatedly realized the fact that the opponent had nearly inflicted humiliation upon her.
“I suppose I should at least cut off a leg.”
“No, we have to kill it!”
It was Rucell’s voice. Ban Yuwon noticed that Rucell had already detached herself from him and was running toward the Irregular.
She had likely been clinging tightly to him all this time to protect him from the Irregular’s threat.
If so, why was she deliberately moving now?
“Right now!” Rucell kicked off the ground with a shout. Her pink hair, scattered beautifully in the air, began to turn black all at once.
Ban Yuwon could confirm that the concept of ‘Madness’ was instantly overflowing within her body.
“Rucell?! What’s gotten into you?!”
“Get out of the way!”
“Wait, Rucell...!”
As Light, merely flustered by Rucell’s clearly abnormal appearance. If he had trusted Rucell’s judgment, he would have immediately turned and cleaved the Irregular’s head with his sword, but unfortunately, As Light lacked such quick wit!
“Grrrrrrr!”
Just as Rucell rushed past As Light, intending to claw the bastard’s head with her nails, a transparent shield appeared in the air, lightly deflecting her.
“Kuh... KUUAAAHHH?!”
Simultaneously, the Irregular began clutching its head, rolling on the ground and screaming. More importantly, a strange magic began to swell within its body.
—Thud.
A violent tremor erupted. Ban Yuwon realized it originated from one of the stone pillars that had risen in the corner.
—You have failed, foolish one.
Ban Yuwon sensed a will, imbued with an overwhelming intent, flowing from the stone pillar. He had already felt such a presence once before. A Constellation.
“No! I can do more! I can do more!”
—Sacrifice yourself to earn your comrades their ‘share.’
“I said I can do it! I can kill them! I can survive and contribute!”
The Irregular, seemingly hearing that will directly, covered its ears, knelt on the ground, and shrieked its protest. But the Constellation did not believe in human arguments.
—For Exodus, sacrifice yourself.
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
There was no time to hesitate. Ban Yuwon muttered curses and threw out the 30 concepts held in his hand, as they were.
“Everyone, fall back!”
The golden string of characters extending from his hand wrapped tightly around the Irregular’s entire body like chains. The trigger to activate it was his magic, infused into the concept. The moment the Hyungi, generated by the Hyunsingong he had received from Dokgo Yeon, blazed into black flames, the string of characters coiling around the bastard glowed and swelled magnificently!
—What...?!
The Constellation’s astonished voice could be heard. Ban Yuwon saw clearly. The moment the Magic Bomb’s concept ignited due to the Hyungi, the magic that had been abnormally swelling within the bastard’s body was also sucked into it!
Perhaps it was because the magic swelling within the bastard’s body possessed an explosive property similar to that of a Magic Bomb.
‘I learned something good.’
To think he could absorb a similar type of concept emitted by an opponent using a concept he himself had unleashed. Of course, the opportunities to use it might be limited, but if he gathered various concepts, wouldn’t there be other lucky coincidences like this?
Thinking such thoughts, Ban Yuwon promptly prostrated himself on the spot.
An explosion erupted.
“Kya!”
“Kugh...!”
“Oh my!”
Even Dokgo Yeon and As Light, who hadn’t paid much heed to Rucell’s warning, seemed to have immediately heeded Ban Yuwon’s warning, all retreating as far as possible to avoid the explosion.
Of course, since it was an attack using the concept itself rather than a concept contained in matter, the explosion’s range was quite small, yet it was more than enough firepower—overflowing, even—to eliminate the Irregular.
“A hole.”
“Ban Yuwon, you...”
The party, upon confirming the deeply gouged mark left as if artillery fire had concentrated only on the spot where the Irregular had been, muttered in astonishment.
“I just used the enemy’s attack.” At the sight of Ban Yuwon rising to his feet and speaking with a sigh, neither Rucell nor Dokgo Yeon could find words.
The ability he had just displayed felt different from what he had shown against the Giant Glitch in Room 5, but they couldn’t quite articulate exactly what it was.
“Ban, are you alright? You just... a person.” Meanwhile, As Light seemed to be worried about him in a different sense.
Gripping his glowing holy sword tightly, his expression, as if suppressing something, made one wonder if he perhaps had a trauma related to killing.
“We killed someone who was trying to kill us. It doesn’t bother me.”
So Ban Yuwon replied as nonchalantly as possible. That was partly to calm As Light, but also a form of self-hypnosis.
“Besides, this is the Tower. He might not even be dead.”
—He is dead.
The Constellation’s voice interjected once more then.
—He is definitely dead. Because he was killed in battle with a climber inside the Tower.
Well, he had roughly expected him to be dead, to be honest. He had a gut feeling that getting involved with these ‘Constellation’ bastards never ended cleanly, no matter what.
Ban Yuwon didn’t bother replying to the Constellation’s voice and instead gestured to his party members. Dokgo Yeon, As Light, and even Rucell, who was barely clinging to her sanity, all gathered by his side.
—You sacrificed a precious member, yet gained nothing. You should have been suspicious when the Tower allowed it.
“Does it taste good to keep cutting things off like that? Speak properly, friend.”
Ban Yuwon, having confirmed that everyone was in perfect condition, finally replied to the Constellation’s voice. But that voice merely scoffed at Ban Yuwon’s words.
—I have only one thing to say to you.
Crumble, crumble.
Although it ended up being a dud, was it the price for exhibiting the miracle of making a person explode? The gigantic pillars that had risen in groups began to sink one by one.
Simultaneously, the Constellation’s presence also began to fade away.
—We are Exodus. Your adversaries.
Eventually, all the pillars sank, and Room 9 regained its tranquility. Ban Yuwon confirmed that the Constellation’s presence had completely vanished, then let out a sigh.
“What kind of Constellation has no middle ground?”
“Forget middle ground, everything that’s appeared so far has been an enemy.”
“Exodus... damn it, what the hell is going on?” Dokgo Yeon chuckled ruefully, agreeing with Ban Yuwon’s words, when As Light suddenly cursed.
To Ban Yuwon, who turned with a puzzled gaze, As Light explained in a grinding tone.
“Exodus is the most famous group of dimension pirates across all dimensions. And a Constellation that sponsors such bastards is now targeting our lives!”
In that moment, As Light, oddly well-versed in dimensional knowledge, delivered a crucial piece of information. Only then did Dokgo Yeon, as if enlightened, slap her palm with her fist and speak.
“Dimension pirates, huh. Then that person from earlier is likely the intruder who was said to have infiltrated last week.”
“Or perhaps an intruder who came in even earlier than that.”
“The fact that he already obtained the qualifications of a climber, yet still attacked us, means that his goal wasn’t simply to become a climber.”
If they went outside and grabbed Professor Yumina, they might be able to hear a more detailed story. Honestly, he didn’t want to get involved with this any further, but perhaps, at the moment he was even thinking this, quietly slipping away was already out of the question?
Ban Yuwon let out a sigh of resignation and decided to obediently be swept into the vortex of fate that sought to swallow him whole.
“He said the Tower allowed it? Why is it so harsh only on us... huh?”
It was then.
As Light, who had been grumbling continuously beside him, suddenly fell silent. Dokgo Yeon and Rucell had also become strangely quiet.
Ban Yuwon asked, flustered.
“What is it? Why are you all suddenly like this?”
“Well...” Dokgo Yeon said with an expression that made it unclear whether she should be happy or angry.
“My Level went up.”
“Mine too...”
“Actually, mine went up too...”
Level.
Their Level went up?!
“This is the first time my Level has gone up since I enrolled. Perhaps it’s a reward from the Tower because we endured the Constellation’s attack?”
“If that’s the case... it’s a bit frustrating, but it seems quite doable.”
“My abilities, they increased a lot...”
The faces of those who had been grumbling about being caught in tiring situations because of the Constellation now showed unconcealable joy. It was akin to a new employee, who had been complaining every day about being exhausted from overtime, seeing their salary account with overtime pay and bonuses diligently added, receiving ‘financial therapy!’
‘Come to think of it, these guys had a status window. Up until now, their levels simply hadn’t risen because they were already too high!’
Seeing the three of them perform an Udyr-level shift in attitude, Ban Yuwon felt his head throb.
...Wait a minute.
‘Then what about me?’
Just because I don’t have a status window, does that mean the reward gets skipped too?
Just as Ban Yuwon, unable to contain his absurdity and rage, lifted his head then, he saw a golden skein of thread fluttering down from the sky.
No.
It was an absurd amount of language concepts!
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