Chapter 765: No.68 (2)

As unbelievable events unfolded one after another, the rabbit general’s shock reached its peak.

“Gyu, gyuit!?”

It had not even been properly caught in the freeze, yet it was moving with an unnatural, creaking stiffness.

The party members aimed for the opening that exposed and focused their attacks all at once.

The Research Director, the Blood Sword Commander, and the Dark-Shadow Commander charged in with the Ghost Demon’s buff behind them.

They threw punches and swung blades, hacking the rabbit general robot to pieces.

Not to be outdone, Lee Sudok was also swinging a butcher-knife-like greatsword at terrifying speed.

Seo Cheongyong, too, was pouring out blue palm force in rapid succession.

The rabbit general robot was too busy swaying this way and that like a reed in the wind.

But that only lasted a moment. It pulled its chaotic mind together and shouted.

“Do you think I! Do you think this body will fall here—!”

A thick pillar of light fell over its head and began rapidly repairing the damage it had taken so far.

Even so, the group continued attacking as if it were no big deal.

The standard method was to find and destroy the secret base, remove its means of recovery, then defeat the general-class unit.

But Seo Ye-in and mirror-image Seo Ye-in each said one line.

“Overwhelming power.”

If you had enough firepower, there was no need to cling to the strategy guide.

Sure enough, the rabbit general’s frame was gaining more new wounds than repaired ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) ones.

And that was not all.

The sound of the clock’s second hand disappeared, and the black-and-white area regained its original colors.

[Time Freeze] had been released.

A moment later, the Guild Alliance could not hide its shock at the scene before them.

“Wh-what?”

“What sorcery is this?”

They did not possess [Time Resistance] like we did, so their memories must have cut off the moment the general-class unit jumped into the middle of the formation.

Yet in the blink of an eye, the general was half wrecked, and the enemy lines were frozen solid all over.

No wonder they were confused.

But the commander on our side quickly came to his senses and pointed at the rabbit general.

“C-catch it! Now!”

Apparently, he realized this was the perfect chance.

After all, the enemy commander had charged in alone, failed to do anything, and ended up isolated.

For the rabbit general, on the other hand, there could be no greater crisis.

It shouted urgently toward the rear.

“Gyugyut! What are you doing? Why are you not coming to help me?”

But there was almost no movement from the rabbit formation.

Because they’re all frozen.

The duration of a general-class unit’s [Time Freeze] was about ten seconds.

In contrast, the duration of B-rank [Diamond Freeze] was forty seconds.

While the “freeze that cannot be dispelled” remained active, they could not come help even if they wanted to.

Soon, the Guild Alliance left the now-useless rabbit robots alone and focused their attacks on the general all at once.

Brilliantly colored magic exploded, while arrows, sword energy, and mana rounds drove into it one after another.

Then cracks spread across the thing’s entire body like a spiderweb, and it exploded while spewing acrid smoke.

The damage it had taken from us alone had already been severe, and now more firepower had been added on top.

At last, it had reached its limit.

The next moment, all that remained in its place was a heap of scrap metal and one shining box.

[Rabbit War Random Box(A)]

One basically dropped every time a general-class unit was defeated.

They were also the key to clearing the dungeon, so in terms of rewards and strategy alike, we needed to move around the various battlefields and take them down.

The problem is that there’s nothing for me to do right now.

To counter a general-class unit’s [Time Freeze] like we had just done,

I had to share [Time Freeze] around with [Grant] and [Octopus Arms],

then link [Diamond Freeze], [Mutual-Destruction Eye], and [Sky Vision].

Right now, all of them were on cooldown for several hours, so my influence had been drastically reduced.

Of course, we had already discussed what direction to take afterward.

I faced the teachers and said,

“I’ll have to trouble you for a while.”

Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong alone would move on to the next battlefield.

S-rank [Grant] lasted forty-five minutes, so [Time Resistance] would remain active during that time.

Even if another rabbit general used [Time Freeze], they would be able to ignore it and beat it down.

Then, when my cooldowns were about to come back, we would regroup.

Lee Sudok answered in a dry tone.

“You must also move diligently.”

“Understood.”

Needless to say, Dang Gyu-ri, Seo Ye-in, and I simply would not be participating directly in the battlefield.

We had separate work to do.

That was more efficient than following the teachers around, so we decided to split up for a while.

As Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong left,

“Gyuk……!”

One rabbit crawled out through the heap of scrap metal.

It was dressed in a military uniform, and medals were hanging all over it. No matter how anyone looked at it, it was practically screaming, I am a general.

That thing had been riding inside the robot.

“Gyugyut, I knew my luck had been rotten since morning……!”

Of course, there was still a long time left before the day ended.

No one knew when Seo Ye-in had approached, but her pot struck the rabbit over the head.

Then she tied it up tightly with rope so it could not run away.

“Kidnapping.”

Even though it was technically an A-rank mid-boss, it was subdued easily, because only the robot was strong; its own combat power was awful.

Before long, we left the battlefield and moved somewhere quiet.

In the meantime, the rabbit general had regained consciousness again.

It struggled and glared at us.

“Kiiik! You lowly humans! Untie me this instant!”

“Of course we’ll untie you. After we ask a few questions.”

When I answered with the corners of my mouth drawn up, the rabbit general’s expression changed ominously.

“Gyugyut, are you trying to torture me? It is useless.”

“Do we really need to go as far as torture? You just have to answer properly.”

“You shall never hear the answer you want from me.”

“Let’s hear the question first and decide. How about that?”

“……?”

To the creature showing half curiosity and half wariness, I threw out the first question.

“Do you know where Earth Eater is?”

“Gyuit, who is Earth Eater?”

“You know, the friend who carries around that big clock.”

“……Do you mean the Grand General?”

“That’s right.”

In <Rabbit Room> and <Rabbit Tower>, it had only shown its face briefly as a hidden boss, but here, it was none other than the Grand General.

It had really climbed the ranks since then.

The creature asked back in puzzlement.

“Gyuit, but why is that lord Earth Eater?”

“What an obvious thing to ask.”

“?”

“You’re Earth Eater too.”

Seo Ye-in and mirror-image Seo Ye-in each added a word.

“Earth Eater No. 2.”

Then, like every rabbit before it, the Earth Eater General had a fit and hated it.

“Kiiik! How dare you give me such a generic nickname!”

“So, Earth Eater, where is Grand General Earth Eater?”

“I told you! You shall never hear the answer you want!”

Seo Ye-in immediately swung the pot.

She must have hit so hard that the creature’s head snapped sideways for an instant.

Over it, I remarked casually.

“If you keep being uncooperative, the bumps on your head will only keep increasing.”

“Gyuiiit! Hit me if you dare! That will not make me—”

The Earth Eater General’s head snapped to the other side.

The sloth and Fast-Luckless held up the pot, their eyes sparkling.

“Answer maker.”

Then I saw fear slowly fill the Earth Eater General’s face.

Apparently, it sensed something beyond malice.

A few more hits and it’ll come around.

Dang Gyu-ri seemed to have had a similar thought.

However, apparently deciding there was no need to insist on the pot, they summoned a shadow bat and placed it in Seo Ye-in’s hand.

“Try using this.”

“……Gyu-gyu bat.”

Her gray eyes glittered.

She clumsily swung the bat through the air a few times.

Every time the sound of cutting air rang out, more fear and anxiety piled onto the Earth Eater General’s face.

Once the mood had risen nicely, I asked the same question as before.

“Where is Earth Eater?”

“Gyu, gyuit! I do not know either! The Grand General—”

“—why did you hit me? I had not even finished speaking yet!”

At the Earth Eater General’s shout, the sloth and Fast-Luckless exchanged glances.

Then they looked at the shadow bat and each said a word.

“I wanted to try it.”

I quickly joined the conversation.

“I didn’t know she’d hit you out of nowhere. That’s unfortunate.”

“Gyuik, what kind of treatment is this?”

“What’s done is done. At the very least, shouldn’t you avoid getting hit again?”

Sure enough, Seo Ye-in was slowly raising the shadow bat.

As if she were hoping he would give her one more excuse.

The Earth Eater General seemed to notice this too, because it said urgently,

“Gyugyut! I truly do not know! The Grand General’s location!”

“Really for real?”

“I swear on carrots that it is true! He almost never stays in one place!”

“I see. Then it can’t be helped.”

As if accepting that, I slowly nodded.

Since it had always liked wandering around in other dungeons too, it was entirely possible that it did the same here.

I smacked my lips and continued.

“Then let’s move on to the next question.”

“……?”

“Where’s the secret base?”

I had not expected much from the Grand General to begin with.

This was the real target.

Because we have to destroy the secret base to catch the generals.

In the first battle, we had beaten the general by pouring in a stupid amount of firepower, but there was no guarantee the same method would keep working.

Just as Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong had different personalities and fighting styles, the generals would each have their own style too.

More importantly, right now, major skills like [Grant] and [Mutual-Destruction Eye] were on cooldown.

To some extent, we needed to follow the standard strategy.

And random boxes drop there too.

It was also deeply connected to the pocket watch parts, the hidden piece.

For these reasons, we had decided to move separately from Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong for a while.

At my question, the Earth Eater General’s face stiffened.

“Gyuit…… The secret…… base……!”

“Don’t tell me you came this far and you don’t know.”

Wasn’t that the facility supplying energy to the robot it had been driving?

It served a role similar to a gas station, and depending on need, it must have doubled as a repair shop too.

There was no way it would not know the location.

“Gyugyut, that is……!”

The creature hesitated, unable to open its mouth easily.

I said to it,

“You seem hesitant. Because you’re about to sell out a secret.”

“……!”

“Then we should instill some resolve in you.”

As if understanding what I meant, Seo Ye-in lifted the resolve injector—the bat—and slowly approached.

Dang Gyu-ri also gripped the resolve injector—the pot.

“I heard this has a great feel when you hit someone with it. I wanted to try it.”

“Gyuiiit! There is no need! I have plenty of resolve!”

The Earth Eater General waved its hands frantically as it shouted.

Apparently, simply seeing them was enough to work.

With a satisfied smile, I said,

“You should have been like that from the start. Lead the way.”

We began walking after the Earth Eater General.