Chapter 32: One Hour, Twenty Minutes

Right now, with their safety guaranteed, everyone picked up the pace.

Their goal wasn’t just to clear the dungeon anymore—it was to clear it in record time. That meant moving as fast as they could without a single misstep.

The first five tiles went by easily.

They didn’t even need to rest between them.

The elites fell just as fast, since this time Raive fought alongside them. He fired off a sword slash the instant an enemy started rising from the ground, always keeping it inside the skill’s three-meter range.

"Whoa! Since when did you have such a cool skill?!"

Khamish latched onto his side, peppering him with questions about the Sword Flash.

Raive already had an excuse ready.

"This? I picked it up after fighting the Tree Knight—the boss of this dungeon—and had a bit of a breakthrough. Basically, I stole the skill just by watching it."

It sounded convincing enough. And really, it wasn’t even a lie.

Once he’d learned the skill, he understood how to release it, and realized that even without owning it outright, anyone with enough training and mana control could mimic the technique.

"Want to learn it? I’ll teach you." He even offered.

If Khamish managed to pick it up, it would prove the technique was something anyone in the group could use. That alone would strengthen them as a whole—and later, it would give Raive cover, a reason nobody would question too hard once the skill book itself dropped.

Three birds, one stone. Maybe more.

"Really?! Then please teach me, Master!"

Khamish bowed like a disciple begging a master for pointers—clearly just goofing around, which pulled a small smile out of Raive.

"During the break after the elites, then. I’ll teach you what I can. Don’t expect to master it before we reach the boss, though."

Khamish’s own skill was active-type, which meant he already had some feel for how mana moved through his body. That alone should make the learning curve much gentler for him.

True to his word, once they’d cleared an elite and stopped for a ten-minute break to let the girls recover, Raive walked Khamish through as much as he could.

Curious, the others drifted over too, trying to copy the motions themselves.

"Oh!"

By the third rest, someone finally got it.

"This is amazing...! But it eats up so much mana, I can’t use it back to back..."

The one who’d cracked it wasn’t Khamish. It was Therese.

Maybe it came down to her natural affinity for both mana and swords, but she picked it up faster than anyone. She grasped the core of it almost immediately, already firing off legitimate Sword Flashes.

She probably hadn’t actually learned the skill outright yet, though—she never said as much.

Which was good, in a way. If she had, it might’ve been dangerous; her vessel could overflow.

"Alright, Therese," Raive warned. "That’s enough practice for now. Wait until we’ve got more stat-up candies, or you risk your vessel breaking—and dying with it."

"Ah..."

Nobody besides Raive fully understood what a "vessel" was, but from his earlier explanation—something like a soul’s capacity, a ceiling on how far a skill could grow—they all understood exactly how dangerous it was to push past that limit.

Therese obeyed and stopped, though if push came to shove, she wouldn’t hesitate to use it anyway.

Especially since the boss waited just past the next monster.

"Shit... I was so close...!"

Khamish never quite got there before the boss fight arrived. Still, with Therese proving the skill wasn’t unique to Raive, his plan hadn’t been wasted.

"Alright, everyone got the plan down?" Raive asked to confirm.

Checking everyone, they already held a gallon of gasoline each. Raive even had a metal baton wrapped with cloth dipped in gasoline, acting like a torch.

He’d learned from experience.

After seeing everyone nervously nod their heads, he smiled.

"Then, let’s go!"

At his signal, all of them ran forward.

They were right at the boundary of the next tile, so in just a few steps, the scenery changed fast. They no longer stood in the middle of a beautiful grassland, but rather, on top of a plateau.

"Don’t stop! The cherry tree is up ahead!"

Of course, nobody halted their steps even with the abrupt change in scenery. Raive had already warned them about it, after all. They were a bit in awe, but that was all.

The distance to the tree was roughly a hundred meters.

Even if the "door" in the middle of it opened now, they’d have finished pouring gasoline onto the tree before the enemy could emerge.

And just like that, they nailed the first phase perfectly.

"Alright, everyone! Step back and watch out for Sword Flashes!" He warned. "Dodge and attack at your own call!"

"Yes!"

Without missing a beat, everyone took a step back.

Therese and Hershey were the only ones who ran continuously until the furthest back, ensuring their safety. Their reflexes were too slow, after all.

With more distance, the chances they’d get targeted would be lower, and even if they did, dodging should be easier.

Khamish stood with a riot shield between the two and the tree, acting as a checkpoint if an attack did come.

They’d already tested it, after all.

A Sword Flash could be blocked once by a riot shield, but the shield would be scrapped immediately after.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Soon enough, the sound of the Tree Knight’s footsteps echoed.

It was about to come out.

Raive held the torch tight, waiting for the perfect moment. And when he saw the knight’s hand grasp the edge of the black opening—

"Burn to a crisp and die!"

He threw the torch over without hesitation. ℴ

With more gasoline, the tree burned brighter and faster. Even Raive, who stood three meters away, felt a powerful heat wave that nearly made him feel faint.

"GAAAAAAAAH!"

Instantly, the Tree Knight let out a pained howl.

Its entire body was burning.

Even though its armor was as hard as steel, wood is wood, after all.

"Everyone, attack!"

And without wasting the opening it showed, Shymine and Hazel launched their most powerful attacks within reason.

Shymine used the same drill-like ice from before, but this time limited it to a single entity. With just that much, it wouldn’t push her into having a deadly fever, at least.

Hazel, on the other hand, focused her control over the earth beneath the knight.

She created what looked like a bear trap that, upon closing, successfully cut off the knight’s right leg.

With one less leg, it fell to the ground, unable to understand what had just happened.

At that moment, Shymine launched her attack, hitting the monster’s chest without deviation. The attack was so powerful its body was split in half, its torso literally vanishing.

"This is the end!"

And as if to deal the finishing blow, Raive swung his machete, launching a Sword Flash toward the Tree Knight.

His aim was true, cutting off the enemy’s neck in one go.

CRACK!

At the same time, the sound of a core breaking echoed.

The sound that announced their victory.

Raive glanced at his phone, checking the time.

Upon entry, roughly one hour and twenty minutes had passed.

Seeing this, his lips curled up into a smile.