Chapter 767: No.68 (4)

While Kim Ho’s group was going around smashing secret bases,

Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong were also faithfully carrying out their assigned role.

They moved from battlefield to battlefield, taking down general-class rabbit robots and recovering random boxes.

This time was no different.

With the sound of a clock’s second hand, everything turned black and white.

The rabbit robot legion surged in like a wave, while the humans remained frozen in place.

Except for two people—Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong.

A slash forcibly split apart a combined robot.

The great saber swung without pause, and every time it did, rabbit robots were sliced apart like sheets of paper.

Seo Cheongyong, for his part, was alternating between ice-type fist-and-palm arts and freezing magic.

Force aura infused with cold swept across the front.

Even so, the two of them were advancing painfully slowly.

Because rabbit robots kept pouring in without end and forming a wall.

“Gyu-gyut, protect the general!”

“Gyu-it, stop them! Don’t let them through no matter what!”

As he poured freezing magic over them yet again, Seo Cheongyong let out a bitter smile.

“It isn’t as easy as I thought.”

“It is an A-rank dungeon, after all.”

Lee Sudok answered in an unruffled tone.

At the same time, he launched a slash toward the general robot, but this time as well, the rabbit robots threw their entire bodies in the way to block it.

“Seeing this really does make the difference in influence feel considerable.”

“……You mean Student Kim Ho.”

“Yes. Isn’t it fascinating? Where does he keep learning things like that?”

The first battle had been far easier than this, because Kim Ho had frozen every last rabbit robot.

Thanks to that, they had been able to focus fire only on the general and bring it down quickly.

It was a level even Seo Cheongyong, who had quite a bit of expertise in the freezing field himself, could not approach.

“The other children are showing astonishing growth as well.”

“They do seem to be pulling at least their own weight.”

Seo Ye-in was still a student, and Dang Gyu-ri had not been out of school for long either, so he had expected them to struggle in an A-rank dungeon.

Unexpectedly, however, both of them were pouring out astonishing firepower.

After unleashing another barrage of force aura, Seo Cheongyong said,

“I’m starting to think it won’t be long before even we’re surpassed.”

“That remains to be seen.”

Cases where someone grew rapidly, only to suddenly plateau one day, were common enough.

Yet contrary to his words, Lee Sudok was certain.

As long as Kim Ho was backing them up, their growth would never stop.

It truly won’t be long.

The day his own long-cherished wish came true as well.

With that expectation in his heart, he swung his saber like a storm.

While rabbit robots were being cut down in droves,

[Time Freeze]’s duration ended, and the Guild Alliance side became able to move again.

Their top priority was, of course, the general-class rabbit robot.

All manner of projectiles and magic rained down.

Even while being battered by them in succession, a contemptuous laugh flowed from the general-class robot.

“Gyu-gyu-gyut! When will you realize it? No matter how hard you struggle, it is all futile! This body will never fall!”

Just as it said, the thing was wrapped in a pillar of light, as if under a spotlight.

All damage was being repaired rapidly.

“A level of advanced technology that you human scum could not even dare approach—”

However, the general-class robot stopped mid-sentence, because the pillar of light suddenly vanished as cleanly as if it had been washed away.

With its panic obvious, it asked its subordinates,

“……Gyu, gyu-it? What is this? Why did it stop?”

“Gyu-gyut, we don’t know either! General!”

Something had clearly gone wrong with the secret base, but communications were down, and it was located a long distance away.

Only two people on this battlefield knew the details behind it: Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong.

“Excellent timing.”

“They must be doing well.”

It seemed Kim Ho’s group had destroyed the nearby secret bases.

The support and repairs pouring into the general-class robot must have been cut off as well.

If we’re going to bring it down, now is the perfect opportunity.

Accordingly, the two of them drew up a great deal of mana and kicked off the ground.

When Seo Cheongyong stretched out both hands, a blizzard raged violently in the sky above and took the shape of two enormous hands.

Then, as if clapping, they struck the general-class rabbit robot from both sides.

Lee Sudok was also preparing a supreme technique.

All the inner force he had drawn up gathered on his great saber and compressed.

After pulling it far back behind his shoulder, he swung it in a great arc as though throwing it.

As if a giant had unleashed a single sword stroke, everything along the path was cut apart.

The rabbit robots forming the wall, the combined robot trying to block it with its body, and finally, the general-class robot.

A moment later, a shining box dropped from among the wreckage.

[Rabbit War Random Box(A)]

After recovering it, the two teachers turned away without hesitation.

They had no further business on this battlefield.

“Let us move on to the next.”

“If we move diligently, we should be able to catch one more.”

[‘Grant’ duration 00:18:08]

[Time Freeze] was undoubtedly one of the clock rabbits’ strongest weapons.

That also meant Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong had plenty of room to play an active role with [Time Resistance].

The general-class robot they had just defeated was already the third one, and time-wise, catching one more would not be difficult.

However, before they had gone far, Seo Cheongyong, who was walking in front, suddenly came to a dead stop.

Then he spoke in a grave tone.

“……Teacher Lee.”

“What is it?”

“I think we found it.”

Lee Sudok did not ask what he had found.

Because he could see it too.

It was a thick, pitch-black lump like rotten filth.

At times it moved as though flowing across the floor, and at times it used parts of its body like limbs to crawl.

“……Dark ublek.”

A slime-type undead monster.

The fact that something with no connection whatsoever to this dungeon had appeared meant someone from outside had inserted it.

And that someone was most likely—

“The Witch of Decay has returned.”

“That seems highly likely.”

Mages who commanded undead were extremely limited, and among them, cases of using ubleks were even more limited.

On top of that, if someone had enough skill to insert one into an A-rank dungeon, then it was fair to assume they were quite powerful. The hypothesis that the Witch of Decay had returned was the strongest one.

The dark ublek kept writhing as it headed toward the battlefield they had just passed.

Considering its characteristic of devouring victims and borrowing their appearance and combat strength,

Its target is the general-class.

But it seemed the thing soon realized it «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» too.

That the battle had already reached its final stage, and the general-class rabbit robot had long since fallen.

It stopped in place and wriggled this way and that as though thinking, then abruptly changed direction and moved elsewhere.

Watching that, Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong exchanged glances.

“Let’s catch it.”

“I’ll make the first move.”

Now that they had discovered it, they needed to deal with it as quickly as possible.

Once it swallowed something and took shape, it would become far more troublesome to face.

Soon, the two of them began raising their momentum little by little, stepping silently with footwork as they approached the ublek.

At first, it seemed to be going fairly smoothly, but—

For some reason, the thing surged violently, sprang high into the air, and slapped back down.

Then it began moving at terrifying speed.

Damn……!

Seo Cheongyong flinched at the unexpected turn.

But he immediately regained his composure and moved.

While chasing it, he gathered mana, closed the distance with ★Blink★, and poured freezing magic over it.

Then part of the dark ublek’s body abruptly protruded and transformed like an umbrella.

When the freezing magic struck it, it froze solid and shattered, but the ublek abandoned that part and kept fleeing.

As if a lizard had cut off its tail.

Two slashes flew in after it and split the thing’s body into three.

Seo Cheongyong poured force aura over it again, but—

Just like before, the ublek merely abandoned the parts being hit and accelerated.

Several black insect-like legs sprouted from both sides, and it scuttled away like a cockroach.

Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong had no choice but to watch as it grew distant.

“……We lost it.”

“It’s stronger than before.”

Compared to the ubleks they had faced last year in <Transference Labyrinth>, this one was on a much higher level.

That meant its commander, the Witch of Decay, must have grown stronger as well.

“Should we not pursue it?”

“We should join up first.”

The best course was to share the situation so Kim Ho’s group could prepare sufficiently.

They also needed to discuss how they would move from here on.

Lee Sudok seemed to have reached the same conclusion, because he slowly nodded.

“Let us do that.”

*****

After an urgent summons, we met Lee Sudok and Seo Cheongyong at the rendezvous point.

Then we heard that they had encountered a dark ublek.

The Witch of Decay, huh……

It was unexpected even for me.

It was unexpected even for me.

Since she had left a clone body behind at her base, I had expected her to recover her original strength and return someday, but I didn’t think she would manage it in barely more than a year.

They even said she seemed stronger than before.

At a rough estimate, I should see her as somewhere between A+ and S.

Did she receive power from someone?

Did she receive power from someone?

From the other witches, or directly from the Corpse Dragon.

There was some possibility of that.

The Witch of Starvation’s seat is vacant, after all.

Unlike Decay, she had been completely annihilated.

The four witches had been reduced by half, so they might have invested resources to fill the gap.

As I was thinking that, Seo Cheongyong opened his mouth.

“We need to decide how we’ll move from here.”

“What are the teachers’ opinions?”

At that, Seo Cheongyong took out several [Emergency Escape Scrolls] and showed them.

“The safest judgment would be to return, regroup, and enter again.”

We would also be able to notify Dragonslayer Academy of the crisis, and we might receive additional support from the faculty.

Lee Sudok, on the other hand, seemed to think a little differently.

“We do not have much time for that.”

“Because we don’t know what the ublek will do.”

If we left and came back, and it ate something in the meantime—especially if that target was a mid-boss-class general or the final boss, the great general—

Then even with additional support, we would end up fighting an even harder battle instead.

After thinking for a moment, I asked to confirm,

“We can’t expect much support anyway, can we?”

“Probably not.”

The dungeons the Wall of Wisdom had indicated numbered three in total.

<Rabbit War> was fairly large in its own right, but <Exiles’ Fortress> and <Sky Garden> were even larger.

In other words, even if we reported what we had experienced, there was a high chance they would prioritize the other two.

Going out would cause more losses than gains.

It might be safe for the moment, but in the long run, we could end up in even greater danger, and they said support would be difficult to expect as well.

Wasting precious A-rank escape scrolls on top of that would just be an added cost.

So I looked around at the group and said,

“We’d be better off continuing as we are.”

If there was a risk factor that could explode at any moment, then we just had to finish things before it exploded.

Clear the dungeon before the ublek devoured anything, then reset it.