Artificial Dungeon (2)
The unexpected rumble sent every student inside the dungeon jumping in alarm. They immediately began scanning their surroundings.
“What was that?”
“Did something go wrong?”
“What’s happening?!”
“Don’t tell me there are monsters?”
The students were panicking, flustered and loud. Yet, strangely, things didn’t unfold as they feared. The dungeon simply trembled without anything actually happening to them.
“What is this?”
“It shook like something big was coming, so why is nothing happening?”
“Exactly.”
“Maybe it’s nothing after all?”
While the students murmured in confusion, Dale—the professor in charge of Class A—wore a grave expression.
'What in the world is happening right now?'
The artificial dungeon, said to have been created by the sun god to temper human strength, had never done anything like this before. Dale felt an ominous premonition and decided to check.
'I’d better confirm it myself.'
He spread his presence detection across the entire dungeon. The next instant, his eyes flew wide at the countless signatures he sensed.
'What? Why are there monsters?'
He had personally cleared every monster inside the dungeon just last weekend and checked three times just to be sure. It should have been impossible for any to appear unless they were coming up from the lower floors. Yet here they were—countless creatures pouring into the dungeon in massive swarms.
'I don’t know why they’re appearing, but…'
There was no time to ponder. He had to move immediately. The monsters seemed to be heading toward the empty waiting area rather than the students, but nothing in this world was ever certain. He needed to eliminate them before the students could escape the dungeon maze.
'I’ll clean this up quickly.'
With that thought, Dale kicked off the ground at full speed, completely unaware that the two students he had been keeping an eye on were currently in the waiting room.
Luden slowly steadied her breathing as the vibration rang in her ears.
“Huu.”
She didn’t know exactly what was happening, but one thing was certain—something abnormal was unfolding. Otherwise Baran would have had no reason to ask her to buy time.
With a soft shing, she drew her sword. She channeled her mana through the circuits across her body, and at once—
Golden power surged from her entire body. The Roden family’s unique mana—devastatingly effective against monsters and demons, just like a saintess’s holy power.
That was precisely why her family had been targeted by the demon race when she was young. To them, the Roden bloodline was simply too threatening.
A sharp crackle of sparks erupted behind her. She turned her head.
'What is that…?'
Immense mana writhed along the arrow Baran had created. Just looking at it made cold sweat break across her skin. How could he possibly possess such power? And more than that—how could he control it with such ease?
Before she could dwell on her shock, hideous shrieks tore through the air.
“Krrraaaagh!”
“Kiiiieeeek!”
Her gaze snapped forward. At the head of the charge was the Queen, leading a horde of Antrians with faces twisted in rage.
'Professor Dale definitely said there were no monsters…'
Even as she thought this, Luden quietly assumed a combat stance. Most people would shrink before the violence of sheer numbers, but she had witnessed scenes like this countless times. She had to endure this much at the very least. Only then could she take revenge on the demon race that had exterminated her family.
“Hup!”
Luden inhaled sharply and swung her blade with calm precision.
Slice!
The lead Antrian’s head flew clean off. Normally the sight of a comrade’s death would make the rest hesitate, yet—
“Kiiiieeeeeek!”
Perhaps because of the Queen behind them, the monsters showed no fear at all. Instead they charged forward with even greater killing intent.
“Tsk!”
Luden clicked her tongue at the unexpected lack of hesitation and swept her sword horizontally. Each swing split monstrous hide.
Splat!
Their blood sprayed across her face. She wanted to wipe it away, but there was no time. Even though the path was a straight line, it felt endless.
Slice! She swung with minimal, efficient motions.
Splat! She brought the blade down.
“Kieek!”
Every strike drew a dying scream from the creatures. The scene resembled a painting of hell itself. Still, it was bearable. Compared to the helpless way her family had been slaughtered, this was nothing.
“Ha… ha…”
She continued swinging through shallow breaths when suddenly—
The charging Antrians froze in place.
'Have they finally grown afraid?'
That was when a bipedal Antrian stepped forward. At a glance it was clearly different from the others—a rare variant.
“Kiiiiik!”
It let out a shriek and charged. Its speed was on another level compared to the previous ones. Even so, it was still within the range an academy student could handle. Luden was confident she could win.
With an indifferent expression, she swung her sword with all her strength. The blade tore through the air in a flawless arc.
Slaaaaash!
The Antrian’s head was severed mid-charge. Dark crimson blood gushed from the stump like a fountain.
Then another bipedal variant appeared from behind.
Luden’s brow furrowed.
'There’s more?'
Not one, but two rare variants. She glanced farther back to see what was happening and her pupils dilated.
'What are all those…?'
The regular Antrians had vanished, replaced by a swarm of the same rare variants. It seemed they had realized the fodder could not break through her and had switched to their elite troops.
'But how can there be so many rare variants?'
Normally there would only be one or two at most. She had never seen dozens of them at once. Even the Queen looked different from the descriptions in books—it stood upright on two legs, and its body was smaller than a typical queen’s.
As she stared sharply at the Queen—
“Kiiiieeeeeek!”
The Queen let out a grotesque screech. All the rare variants charged at Luden at once.
She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, swallowed dryly, and brought her sword down from above.
Slice!
The first Antrian to reach her was cut in half. She couldn’t afford to feel any joy. The moment she showed an opening, she would be the one to die.
“Hup!”
She held her breath and continued her sword dance. Each time her blade moved, another life was extinguished. The Antrians shrieked in rage every time one of their own fell, but no matter how loudly they howled, the outcome never changed. Instead, her sword only grew sharper.
Then the Antrians’ movements stopped completely.
Normally they would never halt unless the Queen commanded it, yet even they seemed to sense it instinctively—if they advanced any further, they would die. So they froze.
Luden used the brief reprieve to catch her breath.
“Huu… huu…”
She had killed a considerable number. The floor was littered with their corpses. Yet the end was still nowhere in sight.
That was when heavy footsteps echoed from behind the horde.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The Antrians parted like a wave. Finally, the Queen that had stayed in the rear stepped forward. An overwhelming aura radiated from it—completely different from the fodder she had been cutting down until now.
'I can’t win against this.'
Every instinct screamed at her to run. To never fight the monster before her eyes.
But what would running accomplish? And could she even escape it in the first place?
Her body began to tremble with fear—
Crackle!
The sound of sparks came from behind her. She flicked her eyes back and saw Baran calmly gathering mana into his arrow. His face was perfectly serene, as if he had not given up at all.
Seeing that, Luden immediately turned her gaze forward again.
'That’s right. I have to overcome at least this much.'
Compared to the demon race that had massacred her family, the monster before her was no more than an insect. If she couldn’t survive a crisis of this level, any talk of revenge would be laughable.
She poured every ounce of mana in her body into the air with explosive force. Golden light blazed like the sun itself.