Dungeon Training (3)
Dungeon Training (3)
A shadow cast upon the black rock suddenly surged into the sky, slowly beginning to take on a human form.
Wearing a white gown with ash-pink hair. She—no, he—watched the spot where the students had passed by with keen interest.
"Interesting. Is that what it means to be loved by the world?"
-Absurd. That's only 17? I could believe it if they said they were a Hero of the Middle Assault.
The voice echoed on the rocky mountain. A voice using a unique sound wave utilizing Qi.
Seureureuk.
From Ash's shadow, something like a head-sized lump surged up. A red light twinkled in the center of the lump. It looked like a head painted black, with only the eyes left uncovered.
-You said they were twins, right? Is the other one not inferior to that one?
"Far from inferior, if we're talking purely about martial prowess, they're several levels above that one. I doubt either you or I could guarantee a win if we fought them alone."
-......At that age?
17 years old. The age of a high school student. He fell silent for a moment.
Although they are skilled in infiltration, conspiracy, schemes, and traps, as a result, their martial prowess falls several levels below beings of the same rank. However, they were also a part of the Middle Assault.
No matter how many talented high school students they gathered from around the world and how many excellent professors they invited from all over, 'currently' they are just high school students. Yet, that growth rate?
He was silent. He didn't say things like "The growth rate makes no sense" or "I can't believe it." That was because there are so many various secret histories in the world.
It's absurd, but... it wasn't an unprecedented event.
-We must kill them. That is too dangerous. I don't know about now, but if they have more than 10 years, they will become an awl that reaches the throat of our God...!
"However, the Young Cult Leader-nim ordered not to kill them."
-Why?
He briefly thought of the Young Cult Leader they served.
The Cult.
A place where children who dance in the darkness to resurrect the Demon King gather. The Cult Leader there was a being selected by the ego of the sealed Demon King. However, the current Cult Leader is unstable. Hence, the reserve Cult Leader. The Young Cult Leader.
One who acts as they please and calls themselves the Blood Demon. Their mood swings are worse than reeds, and even among places where Demon-humans gather, they are an especially arrogant existence.
However.
Even so, they didn't say anything particular. Because she possessed that much talent. Immense talent, enough to kill one of the Heroes of the Middle Assault at 17. And a being who inherited noble, noble blood.
Ash shook off his thoughts. This was not for him to think about anymore.
-The Young Cult Leader-nim will like it. Since they said they were bored lately.
"It's not as good as you think. If things go wrong, the Young Cult Leader-nim might enroll in the Academy."
-That's true. The Young Cult Leader-nim is too impulsive.
At Ash's words, Dust sighed.
"Well, can't be helped. People who cause trouble never think about the people cleaning up after them."
-True. Then shall we start the groundwork? Before the Academy dogs arrive.
I glanced to the side. Everyone's expressions were stiff.
Their expressions held relief, fear, awe, and the fear of the incomprehensible.
I turned my head toward Yoon Seung-ha. He had his usual languid expression.
As if nothing had happened, he was just walking. That expression was actually more awkward.
I briefly recalled the time I played as Yoon Seung-ha.
Having received the love of all kinds of spirits since birth, he could never be understood by anyone from the start. Beings older than him found him difficult. Others kept him in check. Jealousy, envy, envy. I saw those kinds of emotions.
As he grew up, beings he could call friends gradually disappeared. His peers didn't see him as the same kind of being.
Whenever he released his power, they showed fear, others revered or admired him, and others saw him as a bizarre being they couldn't understand. Or they just tried to use him for their own advancement.
I don't know his heart exactly.
Because while the story described Yoon Chae-rin's heart, it didn't describe Yoon Seung-ha's.
However, I have a rough guess. He wants someone who will look at him as he is, on equal footing.
When he got involved with the heroines, he acted like that.
He rejoiced at seeing Eun Sua's Seven-colored Sword, which shook space just with its premonition, and enjoyed seeing Kim Ha-rin unleash a bombardment of light with her Mad Wings to wipe out monsters. As Lee Ji-ah grew, he felt ecstasy. When he saw the scene where the Sword Mistress's swords fell like meteors at her call, he was overjoyed, and when he saw the Cult Leader, he was saddened by the fate that forced him to be hostile to the Cult Leader.
He was happy that there were beings with similar power, even if not equal to his own. There were those who could look at him as an equal.
'That's why I was even angrier.'
Despite that, he didn't end up with them.
I didn't like how he acted as if he was hiding something.
Still, in this world, there is Yoon Chae-rin. At least there is someone who can understand him.
"......."
Had I been staring at Yoon Seung-ha too intently?
He looked at me. It seemed like he was asking "Why?" with his mouth. I shook my head appropriately.
"You."
Very quietly. But it was a voice that sounded clearly to me.
"Do you not think I'm strange?"
Are you not afraid of me? Do you not think I'm strange? He said things like this every time he released his power. As if he wanted to be sure that he wasn't strange.
Actually, hearing it in that beautiful voice felt strange. I shook my head. I don't have the talent to speak as quietly as Yoon Seung-ha.
"Ah, sorry. You were the same type as me, weren't you."
Saying that, Yoon Seung-ha smiled slightly and nodded.
"Me?"
"Yeah. That power looks a bit dangerous, but if you polish it a bit more, you'll be able to do as much as me."
It was a tone full of conviction.
I also agreed with that part. The potential of the Mask of a Thousand Faces was not inferior to the unique traits of Yoon Seung-ha or Yoon Chae-rin.
'In theory, though.'
If it went according to that theory, honestly, it was too broken, so I didn't have high expectations.
Several problems occurred during this dungeon experience. Besides the fact that a monster called 'Elite' appeared on the rocky mountain where we were, Elite-grade monsters appeared in other places as well.
They say the response was delayed because communication with the professors or the teaching assistants helping them was cut off intermittently.
-Wow, was he that strong? When he duels, he usually only uses magic, so magic was his minor?
-Yeah. It was seriously no joke. He controls like fourteen spirits.
-Not four, but fourteen?
-Yeah. The attributes were all different too. Come to think of it, how was Yoon Chae-rin?
-I'm never going to mess with her.
-What are you talking about all of a sudden?
-We met an Elite monster, and she frowned, wrapped her fist in black energy, and punched it once, and the 10m-sized monster flew into the sky.
-......What?
Students were huddled together, chatting noisily. The professors left to find the students who hadn't returned yet. The teaching assistants were counting the students.
I was blankly watching the scene while squatting, but there was a figure coming toward me. It was Lee Ji-ah. Lee Ji-ah had a depressed expression, but when she saw me, she smiled brightly and approached me.
"Siwoo-ya!"
She approached, her brown hair swaying. She squatted to my left and asked me.
"How was the test?"
"Me? I just got carried. Yoon Seung-ha was amazing."
"I heard too. I heard Spirit Arts were his specialty, but he only used magic, so I actually thought magic was his specialty."
Lee Ji-ah said in a slightly intimidated voice.
"Every time he used magic, it was so precise that I really thought that was his specialty, but to think Spirit Arts were his specialty."
Lee Ji-ah said with a slight sigh. Lee Ji-ah's trait is Heaven-Defying. Her magic is basically based on instability. Output that comes from instability. That's why she finds it hard to use precise magic.
However, the output from that instability far exceeds ordinary magic. There are many mages who envy that output. Right now, Yoon Seung-ha is like that, and so is Eun Sua. Though Eun Sua envies the aspect that reminds one of a runaway state rather than the destructive power.
"Still, Ji-ah's magic is strong. Seung-ha was even envious of it."
"R-really?"
Lee Ji-ah looked up at me with wide eyes. I nodded. Since he actually envied it in the game, it's not a lie.
"What are you two talking about?"
Im Na-yeon said with a grin. She squatted on my right, opposite Lee Ji-ah.
When Im Na-yeon approached, Lee Ji-ah made a complicated expression but soon smiled slightly and said.
"Yeah, we were talking about Yoon Seung-ha."
"Yoon Seung-ha? That his main job was actually a Spiritist?"
"Yeah. I saw him earlier, and it was amazing."
At my words, Im Na-yeon perked up her ears and asked.
"Really? How amazing was it?"
"He summoned fourteen spirits and fought."
"Fourteen...?"
Im Na-yeon looked dumbfounded. Then, she suddenly felt the surrounding gazes focusing. I glanced around. There was jealousy and envy in the men's gazes. The women's gazes also contained envy and jealousy.
'Hmm.'
I glanced left and right.
On the left, Lee Ji-ah smiled with her eyes when she made eye contact with me. When I looked at Im Na-yeon on the right, she grinned.
I felt an intense gaze. It was so intense and familiar that I could tell who it was even just by feeling the gaze.
Han Jong-woo.
He was glaring at me intensely. Next to him, Kang Hannam was the same. Han Jong-woo's faction was glancing around. Even though Han Jong-woo's faction is strong, it's not to the extent that they can make an enemy of Im Na-yeon and be safe.
"Yo."
With one button of her blouse undone, tie loosened, a miniskirt a bit shorter than the school rules, black stockings, and her jacket slightly pulled down, Eun Sua approached me, waving her hand with a subtle smile on her lips. She says she wants a slightly twisted outfit aiming for delinquency, but that is.......
'Hmm.'
Still, my eyes are pleased, so let's stay quiet.
-What's up with Eun Sua?
-She's flirting with Siwoo.
Students here and there looked at us and whispered. Han Jong-woo, who was about to take a step toward us, also hesitated.
"Huh?"
When Eun Sua approached, Im Na-yeon looked puzzled. Lee Ji-ah made a dumbfounded expression and muttered something.
"Hi. What's up?"
"I came because I finished the work you asked for."
"Really? You didn't have to do it so urgently."
Eun Sua said triumphantly. She put her hand in her outer pocket and handed me a small black bead and a contact number.
"It's a trade for the item I asked for, so of course. Here is the contact information of the person you wanted, and the item. Well, don't worry. I won't ask about the identity of the bead that was in such a place when I didn't even know it existed until you told me, or about digging up information on a person with no connection."
Eun Sua handed them to me and grinned as if she knew everything.
It was annoying that she was talking about things she didn't need to say, as if she wanted me to ask.
However, I couldn't say that to the person who did me a favor. It's a job done in exchange for Nam Da-yoon's autograph, but there's no need to lower Eun Sua's favorability.
"Oh? Uh. Thanks."
"Yeah, it's nothing. This much is fine."
Eun Sua said, tapping my shoulder at my words.
I received the bead and contact information from Eun Sua.
"If you have anything else to ask next time, tell me anytime. I don't intend to settle the debt I owe you with just this."
Eun Sua said. A debt? Not a price? When that question arose, Eun Sua also seemed to realize she had made a slip of the tongue, and her ears turned slightly red.
"Ahem, anyway. See you next time. Oh, and if anyone bothers you, tell me. Or if there's a dungeon you 'accidentally' found out about, or villain bastards you 'must' defeat, tell me. I'll help you specially."
Saying that, Eun Sua coughed slightly and emphasized 'accidentally' and 'must'. Her eyes sparkled. It was a very expectant look.
"Maybe finding a 'person' needed in the future. That's good too. Ah, by the way, do you need an alias or something? Should I make one for you? You handle all kinds of weapons well and have excellent technique, so Weapon......."
"No. I don't need it."
I said with a straight face for the first time.