An Yumin and the Dungeon's Special Zone (2)

Jo Arin tensed.

Damn it. So they really found a loophole in the Ark System...

That was exactly why she was out on patrol with the student guidance division.

Anywhere the Ark System's security had been breached, a villain could slip through at any moment.

And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sure enough, a villain had invaded through the Old Campus.

Even if the area had already turned into a dungeon, a villain who had clearly downed Chaotic would feel no fear inside one.

An electricity-type skill user, huh.

Electricity was a composite attribute of water and wind. That meant this was a villain who had already completed their 2nd Awakening.

At the very least, B-rank.

Combining those two attributes into a composite skill was no easy feat.

"Both of you, get behind me!"

Fortunately, no one seemed to have been hit by the surprise attack.

She blocked it with a shield?

An Yumin had intercepted the electric assault with an ice shield. Ice, too, was a composite of water and wind—same attribute ranking as electricity. So both An Yumin and Lee Junwoo had come through unharmed.

Jo Arin shouted to the two of them.

"Run for now!"

If the three of them coordinated, they might be able to take the villain down. But the dungeon was already plunging rapidly into night. And night in a dungeon belonged to the monsters.

A villain could weave around the monsters with that Chaos Attribute, but for the three of them—who were not villains—moving after dark was extremely dangerous.

We can't afford to drag this out.

Even a standoff would be better indoors.

The two of them moved the moment they heard her. An Yumin's feet were naturally far faster, but a sudden voice made Jo Arin start in surprise.

"Not that way! It's night now, so we need to get inside a building. Structures that are still relatively intact are less likely to have monsters."

Lee Junwoo had made the right call again. An unexpected villain ambush—and a strong one using composite skills at that—yet he remained astonishingly calm. Calmer than her, even.

"Junwoo's right! I'll buy time, so you two go first— Tch!!"

Crackling electricity surged again. A tiny bolt of lightning formed in an instant and came crashing down toward Jo Arin's head.

"Don't act so composed. I can tell you're scared. Haha!"

A woman's voice rang out. Ash-gray hair and a voluptuous, glamorous figure—an eye-catching villain. But no particular name came to mind from that impression, so she probably wasn't a named threat.

Me, scared?

The taunt made Jo Arin's temper flare for a second.

"I didn't prepare this just for you... No. I prepared this spell just for you, so be grateful and take it."

Blue flames flickered along her wand.

I have to protect those two. So from the start—my strongest skill.

A far higher-grade, high-heat flame than ordinary red fire magic. The signature skill of the authority that had made her Theia's strongest: Explosive Blaze.

Fire Bird.

A massive bird wreathed in flame shot toward the villain at blistering speed.

"Wh-what the—?"

BOOOOM—

The bird detonated almost immediately. It looked like a clean, solid hit.

"Still not enough, is it."

But she wasn't dead. Whether she had already taken Chaotic or not, a direct hit from Jo Arin's skill had failed to reduce her to ash.

"Kh... What kind of crazy bitch are you..."

Despite appearances, she seemed to be a dark priest type rather than a dark mage—skilled with protective spells. Even so, Jo Arin's magic had been far stronger than expected, and fear had clearly set in. She was already preparing to flee.

I have no intention of letting her go. A mere villain dares to provoke me? I need to show her the difference in power...

Just as she was about to attack again and finish it, Lee Junwoo's voice carried from a distance.

"Senior! Don't overdo it! Catching that villain doesn't mean we can just walk out of this dungeon! You should conserve your strength!"

His words cooled Jo Arin's head. For a moment her bad habit had almost surfaced—reacting far too earnestly to a provocation. And right now she was more worked up than usual.

Truthfully, she didn't want to admit it, but standing in front of Lee Junwoo had made her want to look impressive a little too badly.

He's reading the situation more coldly than I am.

Her flame skills packed tremendous power, but the mana cost was just as high. Using Fire Bird again here would be pure posturing and waste. That villain clearly wasn't the end of whatever was going to happen tonight.

"Jo Arin! You damn bitch... Just you wait!"

Leaving behind a completely unthreatening line, the villain fled. Ordinarily Jo Arin's personality would have demanded she catch her and settle it for good—but Lee Junwoo had called her name.

Like a meek little lamb, Jo Arin gripped her broom tightly and flew back toward the two of them.

The three of them entered a large building. Its relatively intact shape made its identity roughly clear. This was probably the main hall of the Old Campus.

They spent a little time clearing out the monsters that had taken up residence there.

Jo Arin performed even better than I expected.

Theia's strongest. The absolute peak even among the Golden Generation. I had figured she could handle a B-rank villain like Ash Monk without much trouble, but she had gone well beyond that level.

She completely toyed with her.

Unlike Bone China, who could mass-produce barriers at the cost of low main-body durability, Ash Monk was a dark priest who had thoroughly trained her physical ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠body as well. In the original story, Jo Arin and An Yumin had needed to work together just to drive her off.

So the performance I had just witnessed was stronger than the original. In particular, her signature skill—Fire Bird—had been a huge help to me as well. It wasn't a common event even in the original, yet I had unlocked the "Insight" achievement.

Of course, it wasn't simply matching attributes and class that let me clear the achievement.

It was only possible because Jo Arin's authority is special.

Jo Arin's second authority, Explosive Blaze. Even among awakeners, that was a rare four-star authority. The Level 4 skill created from that four-star authority was none other than Fire Bird.

I had witnessed Jo Arin using that special skill in earnest, in real combat.

Worth more insight than a hundred lectures.

Most of all, the passive skill under "Fire Burning from the Mana Heart"—Firepower Training—had a trigger mechanism similar to the way Jo Arin cast her spells. That had been decisive.

The way this authority operated was by accelerating mana to amplify the attack power of flame spells. Jo Arin used flame magic the exact same way, so I had learned a great deal from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her in more ways than one.

Well, there are probably reasons beyond that, too.

The full potential I held as Unknown still hadn't been completely explained. If I was picking something up from a genius's combat style, it might mean my own potential had grown far larger than before.

In any case, it was nothing but good news for me.

Monsters had already nested deep inside the main hall as well. Together with the others, I cleaned them out.

I put what I learned to use right away.

Instead of relying on the Holy Knight sword, I deliberately used flame magic—and acquired a new skill in the process.

By original-story standards, an extremely useful rare skill. I no longer needed to stay chained to the Holy Knight class.

Nice. If I can obtain a higher flame-attribute authority like this...

I could grow along the flame mage path the same way Jo Arin had. Of course, pure firepower would still favor that side by a wide margin.

Having finished clearing the surrounding monsters, An Yumin approached me.

"Is Senior okay?"

I nodded to her. Jo Arin was currently riding on my back.

"I-I'm fine! You can put me down!!"

Jo Arin protested, sounding embarrassed, but I didn't set her down.

"Not moving at all recovers mana faster. Stay like that."

"...Okay. I will."

She obediently followed my words. There had been more monsters in the main hall than expected, and the Chaos Attribute ones among them had been dangerous. Jo Arin had pushed herself hard to deal with them quickly.

She's been casting nonstop ever since we stepped into the Old Campus.

Even a genius like her wasn't a finished hunter yet. Of course she would tire. Our current party composition didn't even have a healer like Ha Yeeun.

Still, we managed to secure a decent rest space inside the main hall. The three of us settled into a conference room where the demonic energy was as thin as possible.

Once we've made it this far, this quest is basically over.

Nothing more dangerous remained. An A-rank villain hiding behind Ash Monk would appear soon enough, but by then the Old Campus's Ark System would activate.

I just need to buy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time until the Ark System kicks in.

And that system would send the three of us into the special zone.

The Hotel of Mirrors.

I thought about what would unfold in that special zone called the Hotel of Mirrors. The quest forced each entering awakener to confront their own inner self. In the original, An Yumin faced her own weakness and overcame it, growing another step stronger.

An Yumin's inner self, huh.

That was why I had deliberately been kinder to her on this mission. With a mental strength of 90, I would be fine even inside the Hotel of Mirrors. Even if something unexpected happened, I was confident.

A little more time passed. Through the conference room window, a full moon was visible.

Any moment now, the villain would strike.

I prepared my new skill—Flame—in my right hand ahead of time.