I Got Into School for Nothing - Chapter 57
I Got Into School for Nothing (57)
Lesson 13. I'll See You Kneel - 2
The dungeon was a labyrinthine space, similar to one Ban Yuwon had experienced once before in the Tower.
Sand-colored walls soared on all sides, and the pathways were restricted. Beyond the walls, the foul breathing of ominous presences could be heard.
From the moment he opened his eyes here, he instantly realized that this place was incomparably more dangerous than the labyrinth he had encountered in the Tower.
So, Ban Yuwon decided to first resolve his physical predicament.
And why was it a predicament? Because Rucell was clutching him tightly.
"Rucell, calm down. I'm fine."
"But that woman... she tried to take Master...!"
Perhaps her desperate grip on Ban Yuwon was because she feared losing her sanity if she let go of his body.
It was understandable, given the rapid succession of urgent events: the dimension pirate fleet appearing and escalating tension, followed by the guide suddenly revealing his true intentions and creating a dungeon, and then Anneri pulling out a dagger and throwing it.
"When we were dragged in here, that woman tried to pull Master away."
"Ah, so that's who I felt trying to grab me — Anneri."
"So I kicked her and secured Master!"
Ban Yuwon hesitated for a moment, wondering how to respond to Rucell, who proudly puffed out her chest as she spoke.
Seeing Rucell subtly offer her head to him, it seemed to be the moment for a head pat.
He dutifully granted her wish and expressed his gratitude.
"Thank you for protecting me, Rucell."
"It's only natural to protect Master."
Yet, her proud face seemed somewhat at odds with her words.
But she was cute, so it didn't matter.
"But Anneri is probably an ally."
"What?! But the male guide was definitely with Exodus...!"
Rucell retorted with an incredulous expression.
Ban Yuwon offered a wry smile and nodded.
"The man is indeed an enemy. Not just Exodus, but an enemy connected to the Ortima family."
Because he was the one who had lured Dokgo Yeon towards Ban Yuwon.
Hadn't the Ortima family been targeting both Ban Yuwon and Dokgo Yeon simultaneously?
Therefore, they made the guide naturally lead Dokgo Yeon to join Ban Yuwon, then created the dungeon to drag both of them in at once.
And they did it during Exodus's aerial assault, preventing Yumina from protecting them... Perhaps they even used a clever trick, bribing Professor Cantone to restrict their movements!
Although he said "perhaps," recalling that the male guide had moved freely, unaffected by Cantone's magic, his suspicion was almost 100% confirmed.
"Then the Ortima family really did join hands with Exodus."
"It seems so. I didn't expect them to drag dimension pirates into something like this."
The Ortima family must have contacted Exodus after learning that Ban Yuwon's 'Rebellion' had made a fool of them with the previous video upload.
While Exodus was known for such actions, the Ortima family's willingness to proceed without a care for the harm caused to other academy students was simply astounding.
But even if they managed to escape this situation, could they accuse the Ortima family? Of course, there would be no evidence left behind.
Ban Yuwon could only scoff at the bullying tactics of a massive power that had seized control of the higher dimensions.
"Th-then, what about the woman?"
"When that bastard tried to open the dungeon, the woman... Anneri detected it faster than us and tried to stop it."
If they were working together, there would be no reason for her to do such a thing.
Of course, she wasn't an ordinary soldier either.
Even if he assumed she had other specific intentions, it was clear that she was not allied with the Ortima family or Exodus.
"Though it's clear she's not from this dimension either, so we should still be cautious."
"Yes!"
"...Rucell, you're going to keep using honorifics, aren't you?"
"Yes!"
Ban Yuwon quickly gave up.
He had to accept that his relationship with Rucell was no longer a concept he could redefine himself.
Anyway, if she didn't let go soon, Ban Yuwon's rationality would reach its limit.
"Are you calmer now? Then..."
"Ah, yes. I'm sorry!"
Rucell seemed to realize she had been clinging to Ban Yuwon a little too much.
She awkwardly pulled away from him and said,
"I feel the presence of monsters beyond the wall. They've probably felt our presence too, but they're not moving, so..."
"So, the monsters aren't moving on their own."
"Yes. I think that's the general rule. Of course, since this dungeon was created by a Constellation sponsoring Exodus, there might be unreasonable conditions mixed in specifically for us..."
It was at that very moment Rucell spoke those words.
The wall right next to them vibrated and rotated.
Naturally, in the new passage revealed beyond it, there was a massive quadrupedal beast, at least three meters tall, standing its ground and growling.
"Indeed, what an unreasonable condition."
—KWOOOOOONG!
The monster, with bronze-colored skin and the face of a tiger, let out a roar as it slid along the floor and charged forward.
Was it planning to ram them into the wall and flatten them?
Ban Yuwon instinctively dodged to the side, but Rucell did not.
"—Ha!"
—KUHAAAK!
Rucell lowered her body, charged back, sprang off the floor, and landed a perfect dropkick squarely on the monster's foreleg!
To his astonishment, the monster couldn't withstand the impact of a dropkick so perfectly executed it would make even professional wrestlers weep. With a shriek, it was momentarily sent flying into the air.
'No, even just comparing their size, there's at least a twentyfold mass difference, but she actually lifted it with a dropkick? Is this for real?'
A dropkick was a technique that purely relied on body weight to attack an enemy! Did that mean Rucell's delicate weight was actually greater than that monster's... No, that couldn't be right.
Ban Yuwon cut off his useless thoughts, pushed off the ground, and charged at the beast.
The monster was airborne, unable to control its own body.
If the target was unable to control its direction of motion, or its force, countering it with the mystery of anti-force was not difficult.
"Eat this!"
Leaping up, Ban Yuwon plunged the tip of the weapon he was holding — the sharp, spear-like end of a staff — into the monster's glabella, activating his Super Strength.
—Gah! To treat me so barbarically...!
Ignoring Cellon's pointless words, he put strength into both arms.
The string of Super Strength concepts, reaching a depth of 35, glowed as it absorbed his Hyungi, heating his entire body!
"Gandalf Attack!"
—KAKH!
CRACK!
With Ban Yuwon's miraculously amplified power, combined with the opponent's own force, the staff effortlessly pierced the monster's tough skin and skull, shattering its brain.
It was a flawless strike without any room for criticism.
'I thought so, but this is actually pretty good for close combat. Should I add the concepts of 'spear' or 'sharpness' to it?'
—Stop it, I'm a staff! ...No, I'm not *just* a staff!
'What do you even want?'
[You have obtained Life (生) 0.6, Demonic Beast (魔獸) 0.8, Body (肉體) 0.4, Wildness (野性) 0.5, and Hardening (硬化) 0.5. Hardening (硬化) is a concept humans cannot possess.]
"Hoo."
Not wanting the hassle of being crushed by the monster's corpse, Ban Yuwon immediately absorbed the concepts within its body, incinerating the corpse, and landed on the ground.
The amount of concepts absorbed wasn't very satisfying, but he decided to consider it proof of how much he had grown.
'Wildness... that was to be expected from a beast like this. Hardening, Lilyth also had that. Is it the factor that strengthens their skin? It was quite tough.'
He had pierced and killed it with one blow, so it might seem easy, but that was only possible because his Super Strength, combined with the mystery of anti-force, had been perfectly applied.
If Ban Yuwon had to face it one-on-one, he would have had to wield his Executioner's Longsword and even unleash Blood Poison instead of just cosplaying as Gandalf.
"That was so cool, Master...!"
As he collected the concepts and turned around, Rucell was clapping, her eyes sparkling.
Ban Yuwon, flustered by her blatant flattery, said,
"You did all the work, I just finished it off. More importantly, 'Wildness' came from this guy."
"Wildness!"
Though he had no such intention, Rucell, having received 0.5 Wildness from Ban Yuwon and successfully absorbed it, seemed to deepen her loyalty and affection for him even further.
Ban Yuwon looked at the concept of Servitude, which had somehow grown to 5 within her body, and quietly despaired.
"Master, there's loot."
"You're right."
He didn't think it was an elite monster, but it left loot even after its concepts were entirely absorbed?
Puzzled, he picked it up. It was a piece of a map.
The map showed a portion of the labyrinth they were currently in, with a route to escape the maze drawn on it.
Naturally, Ban Yuwon didn't trust it.
He tore the map in half with a snort.
"Our goal isn't to clear this dungeon in the first place."
"But we have to clear the dungeon to get out."
"This is a dungeon created by a Constellation sponsoring Exodus. Not only will they not let us clear it easily, but even if we do, we won't be able to leave properly."
Therefore, Ban Yuwon set his top priority.
It was to reunite with Dokgo Yeon and As Light, who had also been dragged into this place.
Fortunately, that wasn't too difficult.
'Our Yumina is the best.'
The flower ornaments Yumina had given to each Rebellion member.
They not only protected them with the mana contained within but also had a function that allowed those possessing them to track each other's locations.
As long as they had these, the goal of reuniting with Dokgo Yeon and As Light seemed quickly achievable.
'The problem is...'
He recalled seeing two figures flying towards them when they were sucked into the dungeon.
One was certainly Lusein Ortima, who had planned this with Exodus, but the identity of the other person bothered him.
Even if Cantone had assisted him, he wouldn't have abandoned the other Special Class students and jumped in front of them...
'What's certain is that there's a high probability they're enemies... It's not even certain if Rucell and I can combine our strength to stop Ortima, and if another enemy joins in, things will get really complicated.'
Even with his resolve, he couldn't help but feel anxious.
Honestly, how could he have predicted Exodus's aerial assault followed by the dungeon's activation?
There was no guarantee that the monsters making up the dungeon would continue to be easy foes either...
It wouldn't be easy. Ban Yuwon clicked his tongue.
'Of course, I have Professor Yumina's barrier, and I also have bombs and healing potions prepared for emergencies... Hmm?'
Lost in thought, Ban Yuwon suddenly realized Rucell was staring intently at his face.
Her face was quite flushed.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, no. Nothing at all."
Hearing his voice, Rucell replied as if snapped back to reality, taking a small step back from him.
Only then did Ban Yuwon realize that the distance between him and Rucell had been excessively close.
He hadn't approached her; she had approached him.
Close enough to see his own reflection in her pink eyes.
In fact, they were still quite close.
It was as if some intangible force held her, preventing her from moving further away.
'She really is incredibly beautiful... No, don't. Begone, evil thoughts!'
Ban Yuwon, suddenly aware of the situation he and Rucell were in, began to feel nervous.
But with their lives potentially on the line in the dungeon, he had no time for such idle thoughts. He forced himself to calm down and cleared his throat.
"Ahem... Rucell, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm sorry, Master. ...I think I got a little excited because of the battle."
That was probably a side effect of her Heart Furnace activating.
Since Rucell started calling Ban Yuwon "Master," whenever her Heart Furnace activated, a delicate balance was struck: half combat-oriented and negative emotions, and half feelings like loyalty and affection for Ban Yuwon himself.
However, with the battle over, the negative emotions subsided, leaving only the positive emotions amplified, resulting in this...
"Let's hurry, Rucell!"
A tingling sensation, both chilling and thrilling, seemed to spread from his chest throughout his body.
Ban Yuwon, feeling a tension distinctly different from that of battle, forced out a loud voice.
"We need to move as quickly as possible and link up with the others. We don't know when those Exodus bastards might show up."
"...Yes, let's do that."
Rucell looked regretful for a moment, then smiled brightly and nodded.
...Ban Yuwon, in many ways, just wanted the maze to end quickly.
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