718
Chapter 718
KUGUUGUGUGU!
The martial arts battle dungeon competition, which was held as a substitute for the final exams, was decided to take place on Shuarae Island, one of the major islands of the Pannotia Archipelago.
The Pannotia Archipelago was one of the main regions where many dungeons appeared after the Celestial War, and a significant number of dungeons had emerged on Shuarae Island in particular.
Among those many dungeons, the ones that had already been fully excavated were used as field trip locations for student training, and this dungeon competition was also scheduled to take place in one of the dungeons prepared for field study.
Richmond, who was in charge of this event, had expertise in dungeon excavation, so he diligently decorated an undead dungeon using his secret bones.
The rules of the martial arts battle dungeon competition were simple.
Form a team, enter the dungeon, overcome the obstacles of monsters and traps inside, and return with as many hidden artifacts as possible.
Each artifact was assigned points, and the team that acquired the highest total score from their artifacts would win.
Inside the dungeon, not only were there undead monsters placed in advance by Richmond, but various traps were also installed, making it not much different from a real dungeon.
Of course, competing against other teams was also a major obstacle.
Students had to consider all these factors while searching for artifacts.
"Alright, let's go!"
Laila's team, one of the favorites to win, led the student council members into the dungeon.
Following them, teams that had formed their own parties entered the dungeon and tried to find artifacts according to the information given in advance.
Those whose paths overlapped in the beginning sometimes engaged in battle with each other even before encountering monsters.
If someone became unable to fight, professors who were waiting in advance would take them out of the dungeon.
The purpose of this dungeon competition was to experience combat situations as close to real combat as possible without human casualties.
Of course, Richmond, who played the role of dungeon master, had to observe the students' battles and find clues to identify Astaroth's reincarnation.
For this purpose, Richmond was monitoring the dungeon competition situation in real-time through the undead he had placed throughout the dungeon from a secret situation room prepared deep inside.
The ability to simultaneously control and share senses with hundreds of summons was something no necromancer except Richmond could do.
'It's more ordinary than I expected.'
While students might think they were engaged in intense battles, to Richmond, who had fought in the Celestial War, it looked like child's play.
Even while observing the students, Richmond was using his summons to sharpen his senses and look for anything suspicious.
But at some point, something strange was detected by Richmond's senses.
'What's this?'
Richmond focused his senses in that direction.
What was there was a small boy with a sword at his waist.
The identity of the boy with skin so white it was pale was Juno Redeye, known as the Sword Saint among the students.
Nothing was known about Juno, the heir of the vampire Redeye family, except that he was the son of the head of the family, Bacchus Redeye.
At that moment, undead gathered around Juno.
Juno, who was standing alone without teammates, looked at the undead and slowly drew the sword from his side.
Then he took a step forward and swung his sword.
It was a light sword strike, but its trajectory was invisible, reaching a mysterious realm.
TUDUDUDUK!
The undead that Richmond was controlling crumbled into bones at Juno's sword.
Seeing this, Juno put his sword back, yawned, and looked around.
"...I got lost again."
With those words, he walked away leisurely somewhere.
Richmond's eyes, watching this through his surveillance undead, widened.
It was because the swordsmanship Juno used was not ordinary.
"Dragon Slaying Technique?"
The unique swordsmanship of the Draker family that disappeared from the continent twenty years ago.
Now even the name Dragon Slaying Technique had vanished, transformed into the swordsmanship of various families, making it difficult to find its original form.
But the swordsmanship Juno used was clearly the basic sword form of the original Dragon Slaying Technique.
Richmond recalled Juno's swordsmanship, thought about something, and then nodded.
"...I can use this."
Soon, Richmond's hands began to move urgently.
It was time to activate the trap in earnest.
* * *
KWAKWABANG!
Laila swung her sword toward a skeleton that was rushing toward her.
She swung her sword imbued with fire magic, causing the skeleton to explode.
Previously, training in aura had been the standard rather than combining magic and swordsmanship, but nowadays, with the improved performance of magic swords, magic swordsmanship was spreading like a trend.
Moreover, since Laila had learned magic swordsmanship from Luther Gemben as her specialized major, her sword was unstoppable.
KWAKWABANG!
As Laila put away her sword after dealing with the charging skeleton, her companions who were guarding the rear slowly approached her.
Nuel, the vice president, said to Laila,
"Secretary Lina has found the path."
At his words, Laila nodded and followed Lina who went ahead.
Shortly after, Laila's party discovered a door inside the cave after disabling a cleverly hidden trap.
Matana whistled as he looked at the impressively constructed door.
"Whee, they even prepared something like this?"
Laila looked at Matana as if he were pathetic and said, "Idiot, since they're reusing an explored dungeon, this was probably already here."
At her words, Matana gritted his molars and replied irritably.
"GRRRRR! Laila, you have a talent for pissing people off with just one sentence."
While Laila and Matana growled at each other, Lina stepped forward and began examining the door.
Lina, who had chosen to specialize in assassination defense techniques, examined various parts of the door and soon found a mechanism.
When she touched the device she found, the door opened by itself.
KUGUUGUGUGU!
Laila drew her sword and said to her team members,
"We don't know what might jump out. Stay alert."
At her words, the other party members of the student council also approached the door cautiously while remaining vigilant.
As they entered through the fully opened door, they saw a huge altar erected in the middle of the cavity.
And on top of that altar, there was one artifact.
Matana shouted excitedly when he saw the artifact.
"There it is!"
He immediately ran toward the altar where the artifact was.
Laila shouted at Matana,
"That idiot!"
With his elastic muscles, Matana leapt into the air before anyone could stop him and landed spectacularly on top of the altar.
The moment he snatched the artifact, the entire altar was engulfed in red light.
KUGUUGUGUGU!
Surprisingly, as the red light gathered, a blood golem was summoned.
GRRRRRRRRK!
Matana was startled when he saw the blood golem, a high-level monster.
"Damn, they even prepared something like this?"
He grabbed the artifact with his hand and unleashed his flying kick technique toward the golem.
KWAAAANG!
A powerful wind rose from the device attached to his foot and struck the blood golem.
Matana's specialty was unleashing unexpected combination attacks by combining wind magic with his flying kick technique.
PUUUUONG!
The compressed air struck the blood golem's body.
Matana retreated backward with the rebound force.
But that wasn't the end.
WOOOONG!
Summoning circles formed throughout the cavity, and skeleton knights called Dragoons appeared.
CHWAREUREK! CHWAREUREK!
The fully armed Dragoons lined up in formation at the door to prevent Laila's party from leaving.
Seeing this, Laila took a stance with her magic sword and shield.
"Damn, drive through them and break open an escape route!"
Following Laila's instructions, all party members raised their weapons to face the Dragoons.
Nuel drew his twin swords, and Lina took out her three-section staff.
At that moment, Matana landed gracefully from mid-air with the artifact in his arms.
Laila shouted at Matana,
"You idiot! First let's deal with these bastards, then I'll give your head a good beating!"
Matana snorted at Laila's words, maximized his device's output, and stood at the very front.
"HAAAAAT!"
Matana jumped into the air and unleashed his flying kick technique toward the shield of the Dragoon at the front.
When the compressed air struck the Dragoon's shield, the formation was disrupted by the impact.
Laila didn't miss that opening.
"Charge forward!"
She raised her shield and ignited flames on her sword.
She struck the approaching Dragoons with her shield and swung her sword to make the enemies explode.
Although the Dragoons were fully armed, they began to lose formation under Laila's party's strong offensive.
But then the blood golem behind them approached toward where Laila's party was.
GRRRRRRRRK!
The blood golem raised both arms and sprayed red mud toward Laila's party.
CHWAAAAK!
The sticky red mud clung to their bodies.
"Ugh, what is this?! The smell is terrible!"
Besides the stench, the sticky liquid gradually hardened, making it difficult to swing their weapons.
Laila's party felt their hands and feet becoming increasingly numb.
As Laila and her companions' movements slowed, the Dragoons also realigned their formation and approached them.
Then they pressed against Laila's party with their shields, pinning them down so they couldn't move.
"UUUGH!"
At this rate, they were in danger of being disqualified.
'Damn, I can't let that happen.'
Laila raised her sword and concentrated her magical power.
FWOOOOOOOSH!
The flames from the sword rose furiously, beginning to engulf not only Laila's body but all party members as well.
Seeing this, Matana screamed in terror.
"Are you insane?! Boss! Are you trying to burn all of us too?!"
Laila ignored Matana's words and focused solely on controlling the flames.
Following her will, the flames concentrated on burning only the sticky mud without harming the party members.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
Soon the red mud dried up and fell off, finally allowing the group to move freely.
Nuel understood Laila's intention and as soon as all the mud fell away, he rushed forward and swung his dual swords.
KWAAAAAANG!
In an instant, Nuel burrowed through the dragons and opened the door with a charging attack.
Laila shouted toward the party members.
"Get out of here quickly!"
While she held back the dragons and blood golems with her flames, the freed party members swiftly escaped through the door.
Finally, after Laila slipped out last, Lina operated the mechanical device to close the door.
KUBOOM!
BOOM!
Fortunately, the dragoons and blood golems couldn't get through the door.
Laila and the party members could finally catch their breath.
Matana proudly spoke while looking at the artifact held in his arms.
"Whew! With this alone, first place is as good as ours..."
But that's when it happened.
THUD!
An entirely unexpected figure appeared before Laila's party.
"Juno Redeye."
Laila raised her sword and burned with hostility as she looked at Juno.
Juno looked at Laila's party with his characteristically expressionless face and slowly opened his mouth.
"...I'm lost. Where is the way out of here?"
At Juno's indifferent words, Laila glared at him with even more animosity.
"Oh really? So I don't matter to you at all, is that it?"
As Laila raised flames from her sword, Nuel shook his head and stepped forward.
"Boss, what's important now is getting the artifact outside."
Nuel persuaded Laila with a cool voice.
"Juno isn't very interested in artifacts. Rather, accepting him into our team and returning safely would be the better judgment. If possible, finding more artifacts would be good too."
Laila, holding her flame-flickering sword, was fuming but finally calmed down at Nuel's words.
She contained the flames, lowered her sword, and said to Juno.
"...Juno Redeye, we have a guide. If you swear not to attack, you may come with us."
Juno nodded to Laila's words with his still indifferent attitude.
Though she desperately wanted to settle the score here, Laila suppressed that desire firmly.
But that's when it happened.
CREEEEAK!
Something seemed off about Matana's reaction as he held the artifact.
DROP!
Matana's pupils turned a strange red color as he dropped the artifact.
At the same time, a strange brand began to spread across his forehead.
GRRRRRR!
Suddenly, a beast-like sound flowed from Matana's mouth.
"Matana?"
Secretary Lina noticed Matana's change and tried to approach him.
At that moment, before the other party members could stop him, Matana soared into the air.
KAAAAAAAK!
Then he rushed toward Juno without warning and unleashed his secret technique.
Juno also reflexively drew his sword against Matana's attack filled with killing intent.
SWOOOOOOSH!
A sharp sword strike flew toward Matana's neck.