Battle Preparations
“Wrong. The backup channel’s not working either.”
Evinel-hyung clicked his tongue and shoved the communicator back into his pocket. The fact that communications were down meant we couldn’t call the main force for help no matter what situation arose, but the rest of the party didn’t seem particularly bothered.
“Eh, we’ve done everything we were supposed to. They’ll figure it out and get here.”
“We cleared the path for them. How could they not make it?”
“It’s Sien we’re talking about. If we just wait, she’ll come.”
The dungeon raid had only one boss monster left. The main force was steadily making its way from behind us. Those two solid facts made the isolation caused by the communication blackout feel like no big deal. So don’t worry. The seniors patted Evinel-hyung on the back, telling him to stay calm and not get tense.
But…
‘Something feels off. My gut is screaming danger way too strongly.’
A communicator made using a mana stone that emitted regular waves had suddenly stopped working. Even when there were specters suppressing the wave flow, it had still functioned perfectly. Now, in an environment where not only the specters but most of the monsters had been subjugated…
Above all, we had already been waiting for the main force for over ten minutes. If anything, the clearing time should have shortened, not lengthened. It made no sense that they were still wandering around a mere D-rank dungeon—especially one whose maze had already been cleared.
———Something was going seriously wrong.
‘If this were the old days, I would’ve just ignored the dungeon and used space-time manipulation to escape straight back to the real world.’
Ah, how I missed those days. I scratched my head in frustration and let out a sigh. No matter how much I complained, nothing would change.
“Sien, can you watch my back for a bit?”
“Yes. For Rain, I can always watch your back.”
“…Huh? R-right.”
That must mean she likes me that much! I gave an awkward smile and closed my eyes.
I expanded the detectable radius from 70 meters to 5 kilometers. The detection target was every existence that moved from a physics standpoint. Third-circle space-time magic [Recognition Expansion_Detection].
I activated my mana circle like dropping a large stone into a calm lake, vibrating my mana and spreading it wide. A giant circular maze with a 15-kilometer radius. The walls composing the maze and the mechanical masses inside it were obstacles to detection, but I had tuned the vibration so it would only bounce back when it touched something within the mana circle.
Of course, scanning the entire maze would have been ideal, but five kilometers was currently the limit of what I could detect… Assuming nothing had gone wrong and they were coming properly, the main force would absolutely have to be within my detection range.
Conversely, if they weren’t being detected, it meant something had happened to them.
‘Please be caught.’
I had zero desire to live my life in some romantic, dramatic way. So please, just be caught already.
Two kilometers. Three kilometers. Four kilometers. I squeezed my closed eyes even tighter, hoping to catch even a single person.
“Hallelujah.”
Northwest, 4.3 kilometers away. I detected the movement of twenty-eight people there. Thankfully, they all seemed to be coming without any issues.
“Rain?”
“The main force is on their way. At this rate, they should arrive in about twenty-five minutes.”
“That’s welcome news. To be honest, I was a little worried myself.”
Keith suddenly stood beside me and spoke naturally. Although he had performed his assigned duties cleanly throughout the dungeon raid, this was apparently his first dungeon as well. He must have been tense about the communication blackout and the endless, uncertain wait. Despite saying he was worried, his expression didn’t show it at all.
‘Now that I think about it, he really is a strange person.’
I found myself staring blankly at Keith.
Keith Eipen. A genius who had managed to join the second-year subjugation team alongside two major figures—Sien Alencia and Aine Blair. He possessed outstanding sociability that let him get along with anyone regardless of age or gender, along with a gentle way of speaking. On top of that, he had the kind of beauty that captured everyone’s gaze. A flawless person with no rough edges; it made you wonder if there was anything he couldn’t do.
Since this was a parallel world, it wouldn’t be strange if I had no information about Keith Eipen from my previous life…
‘But someone this outstanding—I really didn’t notice him for an entire month?’
I had analyzed every student in the first and second grades in order to find the hero. Of course Keith Eipen had been among them, but at the time he hadn’t left much of an impression. Yet the Keith standing before me now was someone I genuinely wanted to get close to, even if he wasn’t a hero. He had real charm.
At an academy filled with future leaders, stories about personal virtue and character tended to be exaggerated due to political exchanges. But I had never once heard any rumors about Keith. Even if he came from a minor family, someone with this level of skill and character should have generated at least a small rumor.
“Is there something on my face?”
I had intentionally hunched my shoulders. Just as I was about to ask the puzzled Keith why he was tilting his head at the inexplicable situation—
———Vrrrr.
The vibration that had bounced back returned toward me and detected the party members behind us. Since the detection target was moving entities, it simply registered the seated members and didn’t bounce away again.
“…What the hell?”
Just one person. Only one person nearby was currently moving. The rapidly returning vibration told me that.
And in doing so, it revealed an eighth person who should not have been there.
“———Sien!!”
I shouted her name—she had been staying in combat readiness the whole time—and whipped my head toward the direction of the detection. Toward the door where the boss monster was.
At my urgent voice, Sien drew her sword and sprinted in the direction I was staring.
“You’re quicker on the uptake than I expected.”
There stood a figure meticulously wrapped in an ash-gray robe and mask, laughing in a distorted voice.
The door opened.
Darkness swallowed everything. A pale world so dim that you could barely see your own hand even when holding it right in front of your face.
“Damn it.”
———Flash.
The first thing I did upon regaining consciousness was use an artifact to illuminate the surroundings.
“Rain!!”
“Sien. Keith.”
The moment the light appeared, the two of them gathered around me. If there was any silver lining, it was that I could sense all the other vanguard members nearby as well. But the real problem was that every single senior who should have been our reliable fighting force had collapsed and showed no sign of waking up.
And they were all suffering from mana rebound—the most dangerous symptom possible for anyone with a mana circle.
“First, we need to treat them.”
“…Ah.”
“……”
Only then did the two snap out of it and hurriedly pull potions from their subspace pouches. Fortunately, not much time had passed since the mana rebound occurred. The potions were high-quality mid-grade ones provided by the academy, so absorption was happening quickly. If we left them alone for two hours, they would all wake up without any lasting issues, but…
“…What on earth is going on?”
That was exactly what I wanted to say. For the first time, Keith frowned and muttered. Sien was also taking in the situation with her usual stiff expression.
“I don’t know. But one thing is certain—that masked bastard is toying with us properly.”
I shrugged and gave a bitter smile. Honestly, I was more irritated than amused; I wanted to find that guy right now and rip him to shreds.
“Don’t worry. As you experienced, specters are monsters that won’t attack first unless provoked.”
For now, easing their anxiety came first.
“The boss monster is three kilometers away from here. In other words, since it’s a monster that doesn’t leave its designated area, there’s no chance it’ll come this far.”
“…That’s genuinely the best news I’ve heard in a while.”
Keith swept a hand over his chest and let out a sigh of relief. His expression still carried traces of unease, but true to his strong mentality, he managed a much more composed smile.
“Sien. What are you thinking about?”
That meant the only remaining problem was Sien.
“…Who the hell is that person?”
Her cold face. I swallowed at the cynical expression I had seen from her quite often lately and continued.
“Delaying the main force, rendering communications useless. It’s safe to assume all of it was that person’s doing.”
“That’s actually the most reasonable conclusion. The very fact that they hid their identity is proof enough.”
“Rain, do you have any idea who it might be…?”
“…Unfortunately, not at all. The magic I used, [Detection], can only identify the number of people. Both the main force and our side showed normal counts.”
“Then it must mean the person wasn’t part of the regular roster. In that case……”
“Exactly. It would make sense to suspect the third-years in charge of this dungeon or the faculty, but it’s still too early to jump to conclusions.”
“Because we can’t rule out the possibility that someone inside the subjugation team was involved.”
It was like reaching out and having everything swallowed by darkness so that nothing could be grasped properly. Yes, exactly like right now, in this place.
“It’s truly astonishing. They opened the door themselves, so why can’t I find them in this space?”
“…That person might be a mage who can handle the Ether school as well.”
In my previous life, I hadn’t been the only one who could use space-time magic. Whether skilled or not, there had been roughly a thousand such people, and among them were certainly outstanding talents who led the Ether school.
‘…Was it you bastards?’
The problem was that all those so-called talents belonged to the Seton family. I held back my anger and exhaled.
For better or worse, the moment the door to the boss room was opened, the only people available to subjugate it became the vanguard team. In other words, everything that happened here had to be resolved by us alone.
Having only seven people do what twenty had been doing obviously carried risk, but I was here. My fatigue would build up considerably, but given the combat power I had witnessed from the vanguard over the past seven hours, the subjugation itself shouldn’t be too difficult.
“For now, let’s take turns resting. There’s no point wasting stamina by staying tense here; it will only make the subjugation harder later.”
“…Then I’ll go first—”
“No. I’ll take the first watch. It seems better for the subjugation if I use the time to observe this place more thoroughly while standing guard.”
I spoke decisively. Keith opened his mouth slightly, about to say it was fine, but—
“In that state you’ll only become overly sensitive and build up stress. So please calm down first.”
In the end, Keith could only nod at my words. I would have liked to let Sien rest too, but…
“Yeah. You’d be more comfortable this way, right?”
“…Yes.”
Sien stood at perfect attention beside me. Her expression was still unreadable, but it was easier for me to stay close and keep talking to her so she wouldn’t fall into her own thoughts.
“Then I’ll ask you again. Keep watch for a bit.”
First, I needed to find the son of a bitch who had prepared this little surprise event. Now that I had a grasp of the layout of this place, I could track that bastard down with even greater precision.
No matter the dungeon’s rank, crossing from the boss room into the real world required at least ninth-circle magic—something only counted among the ten fingers of legendary mages in human history. A ninth-circle mage wouldn’t have bothered with such annoying tricks, so that bastard was definitely below ninth circle.
In other words, they still couldn’t leave the boss room’s area. They were probably deploying all kinds of counter-magic to block my pursuit, but…
‘You think your head is better than mine, you son of a bitch?’
No matter how much higher their level was than mine, I was confident I could find them again and again. Once I caught them, I would beat the crap out of them and make them tell me every single reason behind this bullshit.
With that thought, I finely adjusted the parameters and cast the spell once more.
“———Battle stations.”
The boss was heading this way.