Chapter 60: Anomaly (2)
Chapter 60: Anomaly (2)
Bang! Boom! Pop!
A kaleidoscope of fireworks embroidered the sky of the practice dungeon.
The explosions blooming in the air drew every eye with their distinct roars and flames. It was as if someone were desperately trying to signal their location.
The untimely fireworks display was undeniably beautiful, but neither I, Vincent, nor Helena could find it in ourselves to smile.
And for good reason... this wasn't a game. Every single one of those bursts was a cry for help.
My mind went blank at the sheer number of distress signals filling my vision.
What is this? What the hell is happening?
I... I didn't know an event like this existed.
If the entrance exam was the controls tutorial, then the dungeon practice was the dungeon tutorial. It was only natural, as it was the first dungeon a player would enter during a normal playthrough.
But what on earth was this sight?
While I wasn't looking, and for reasons I didn't understand, something had gone horribly wrong. And it was something quite serious.
Helena was the first to break the heavy silence.
"Brothers. What shall we do?"
Helena clutched the rosary resting on her shapely chest with both hands. In a reverent posture, as if offering a prayer, she continued.
"As we have experienced firsthand, things like Evil Rabbits cannot put Academy students in such peril. There must be something else."
"Something else, you say?"
"...I suspect cultists."
Helena’s words snapped me back to reality.
Right. It wasn't just one or two spots; causing simultaneous problems across an entire dungeon was always the work of those cultist bastards. They were the ones who always liberated dungeon monsters, brought them under their command to bolster their forces, or strengthened the influence of the Evil God they worshipped to accelerate the collapse of seals.
But...
"How? How could cultists have entered this place?"
Vincent’s confusion was justified.
The practice dungeon was under the Academy's strict management. They usually hired plenty of guards to thoroughly monitor both the exterior and interior, didn't they? Since it was a dungeon they were managing, they were almost excessively concerned with safety.
Yet, cultists had slipped in unnoticed and were wreaking havoc? This was by no means an ordinary occurrence.
Besides, the professors should be watching us from the outside. Would they just stand by and watch cultists?
Professor Jason might be a bit of a commoner at heart with no great sense of duty despite his skills... but he still had the basic decency to know that cultists were subhuman scum and that students must be protected.
Professor Christina? It was only natural for a priest to absolutely loathe anything related to the Evil God.
And finally, Professor Iona.
She was always smiling, but Iona was someone who had actually participated in the Great War three hundred years ago. After refusing the Evil God's temptation, she lost all her clan members and had since devoted herself to revenge, never forming a new clan. That was why she was called a Lord-'class' Vampire, not a Vampire Lord. Because she had no clan.
All three of them were people who wouldn't be out of character if they charged in right now and started ripping the heads off those cultists...
Something had definitely gone wrong.
For example, maybe there was someone outside who matched the three professors in strength and they were currently locked in combat. Or perhaps the entrance to the dungeon had been sealed.
...Controlling the entrance and exit of a dungeon would mean someone capable of manipulating time and space at will, so that probably wasn't it. It wasn't that such people didn't exist among the cultists, but that person was currently in a state where they couldn't move.
I kept racking my brain, but no more conjectures came to mind. I simply lacked the information to make a proper judgment.
However, one thing was certain.
This had to be stopped. Somehow. Absolutely.
The entrance exam raid was a kind of show of force—a terrorist act intended to weaken the future of the Academy by killing prospective freshmen and spreading fear of the Evil God. They hadn't come with the intention of seriously taking on the Academy from the start.
But doesn't the current situation feel like they're determined to truly dance with their blades this time?
I didn't know which sect they belonged to, but at this rate, countless Class A students, regardless of their department, would lose their lives. This meant the loss of talent that would have stood against the future resurrection of the Evil God.
As my thoughts reached that point, frustration, annoyance, and anxiety surged within me.
Aaaagh!
I should have brought Carla along, even if I had to be stubborn about it!
My breathing grew ragged without me realizing it. I forced myself to calm down with a deep breath and slowly spoke.
"I agree with Priestess Helena. I think this is an attack by cultists, or something equivalent."
"But the professors are outside, and this place is under the Academy's management. I would rather think of this as a test, like a trap set by the professors to see how we handle unexpected situations."
"......"
It wasn't a test. For starters, there was no such content in H&A. Though perhaps something I did since enrolling had caused a butterfly effect I wasn't aware of...
"Even if it is, it doesn't matter. I'm going toward those signals, and whether it's a surprise test or those cultist bastards, I'm going to deal with it. What about you two?"
At those words, Helena nodded as if she had been waiting.
"I will go with Brother Yandel."
Her tone was soft, but it carried a firm resolve.
"Thank you, Lady Helena."
"It is nothing. As you said, if it is part of a test, we simply solve it. If it is cultists, we simply strike them down."
She had a gentle smile on her face, but the way she emphasized the part about the cultists was a bit terrifying.
Anyway, unlike Helena, who answered immediately, Vincent spoke only after a moment of deliberation.
"If it is a test, that would be for the best. But if it truly is cultists... will I be of any help to you?"
"If you fight like you just did, you'll be more than enough."
"I see. Then, however meager it may be, I shall lend you my sword."
Vincent thumped his left chest as if making a vow. Despite his quirks, he really was a decent guy.
Well then, since it was decided we'd all check out the distress signals, speed would be key. Field-type dungeons tended to be quite vast, regardless of the level of the monsters inside.
"Then, before we head out, gather around for a second."
"Why is that, Brother?"
"Do you have a plan?"
At their curious expressions, I let a smirk tug at the corner of my mouth and nodded.
"I didn't expect this to happen... but I've prepared a few things for emergencies."
I glanced at the contents of my inventory. The stored potions and scrolls were sufficient.
*
Buffs lose their effectiveness the more they are stacked. In fact, buffs of the same type don't add up; only the strongest one is applied. However, while the efficiency might drop, the fact that buffs are useful remains unchanged.
That was why countless players of H&A sought to find the most efficient doping combinations, and I was no exception. I had created several combinations myself and memorized the ones others had found.
Terrain, class, individual character, party composition, the enemy being faced, concept play, user preference, and more. The memories of researching optimized doping combinations for various situations remained vividly in my mind.
I pulled those memories out for the first time in a while and gave Vincent and Helena a customized doping session. It was a method of doping that probably only I in this world could perform.
The result:
"This is insane! You are truly mad! To be carrying around this many potions and scrolls! I feel so light, it's as if this isn't even my own body!"
"Yes. And you've even designed it so precisely that it doesn't conflict with my blessings? I can truly feel how much effort you must have put in to reach this level, Brother."
We were tearing through the forest at more than twice our original speed. Any Evil Rabbits that popped up in between were either frightened away by our momentum or met their end by being kicked aside before they could even flee.
And there was one more thing I had prepared.
"By the way, is it really alright for you to lend us this many magical tools? If they happen to break..."
"I won't ask you to pay for them, so use them as much as you want. I still have plenty left."
"Hoh... did you perhaps run a magical tool shop before enrolling in the Academy?"
I had lent them so many magical tools that Vincent couldn't help but wonder. Most of them were inscribed with low-grade magic, so I rarely used them now...
But before I bought Carla, I had survived by making up for my lack of martial prowess with magical tools. Since it would be a waste to leave the remnants of that extravagant spending rotting in my inventory, I decided to unleash them all this time.
Originally, I had been holding back because relying too heavily on items would lead to a significant point deduction... but there was no need for that anymore.
However, given the precedent of Womb-filled Carla, I probably wouldn't be able to maintain this state for very long.
So, with the mindset of a blitzkrieg, we ran like madmen and arrived at the location of the nearest signal.
What awaited us there was a reality slightly worse than I had imagined.
"Hssssssss!"
"Ugh... n-no...!"
Two students lay collapsed, their bodies tinged with a purple hue, while one barely held onto consciousness, trembling violently.
And then there was the creature presumed to be the culprit—a mutant that looked like a half-human, half-snake hybrid.
It was only after seeing the tooth mark tattoos engraved on the two-meter-long creature's elongated body that I realized.
The attackers were followers of Confused Unity.
And I had previously stopped an entrance exam raid by killing one of their bishops. Thanks to that, the Confused Unity bastards had designated me, the one who ruined their plan, as a public enemy.
...Don't tell me they sharpened their blades this much just to catch me?