Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: How the Spiral Advances☆ (2)
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For a moment, we held each other's hands.
“…”
Vel, who had been watching us for a moment, finally raised her crimson dagger. And with a flash of red ether, she sent a signal.
*Fwaaaash—!!*
A red line streaked across the dark sky.
It was the signal for the operation hastily devised based on the information Sigrun, the investigation captain of Gjallarhorn, had gathered during her reconnaissance.
*Rustle*
At the signal, dozens of Scarlet Academy students who had been waiting nearby revealed themselves. They let out their characteristic battle cries and began to form the predetermined blockade line.
*Kwoooong—!!*
*Fwoooosh—!!*
The suddenly appeared Scarlet Academy students simultaneously unleashed massive flames upon the ground. Dozens of red flames erupted in an instant. They slowly engulfed the land in a radius of several hundred meters.
A wall of fire illuminating the dark wasteland.
Flames created with the madness of the Scarlet Academy students.
A frenzied skill from those who had changed their very ether attribute through a vow of destruction. They instantly burned through the casters' ether, blocking the path of countless Chaos Fiends.
*Kyaaaak—!!*
In front of the dungeon gate spewing black ether. Hundreds of larval Chaos Fiends, advancing to melt into the darkness following that ominous energy, were blocked by the wall of fire.
"-We've lit the fire—!!"
"-Let's gooooo—!!"
Inside the wall of red flames, the Scarlet Academy students, weapons in hand, charged among the hundreds of larval Chaos Fiends and began a one-sided hunt.
*Chwa-rereuk—!!*
*Puk—*
Girls wielding weapons, hacking the Chaos Fiends to pieces within the flames.
As pieces of Chaos Fiends scattered, their shadows beyond the flames were unsettling.
But the vast number of Chaos Fiends showed no sign of diminishing easily.
*Shaaaaat—!!*
*Kyaaaak—!!*
Unlike the somewhat static Stage 2 ether manipulation shown by students from other schools, Scarlet Academy's method of changing the surrounding environment from the outset was strange and violent.
But thanks to that violence, the hundreds of larval Chaos Fiends could not advance into the Corroded Dungeon gate. They could only howl and rampage within the wall of fire.
The shadows of the Scarlet Academy students could be seen faintly beyond the wall of fire, their voices spreading as savage cries.
"-Hiyah! It's bug-hunting time—!!"
"-Damn it, to think we can't clear a Corroded Dungeon with the Scarlet Academy way—!!"
"-Hyaaaa!! I'll take out this frustration by slaughtering Chaos Fiends—!!"
"-You, kid! Clear that dungeon right! Got it?! No sniveling!!"
"-Hiyah! If you don't do it properly, I'm telling the boss everything—!!"
"-Pinky! You should transfer to our school later—!!"
The Scarlet Academy students who had instantly burned their ether to create a battlefield of flames.
But in the Corroded Dungeon gate, an event dungeon where ether consumption increased drastically, they couldn't use that skill. So, they volunteered to block the Chaos Fiends swarming toward the black ether in front of the gate.
Vel scoffed at the Scarlet Academy students' words and replied.
“As if this cute secretary would tremble at a mere dungeon!”
Then, with a confident smile, she turned to us and shouted.
“The whole touchy-feely~ time is over, right? Once you follow this cute secretary, you'll realize what an embarrassing fuss that was~ I'm gonna tease you about it for the rest of your life—!”
*Whirl— Thwip!*
Vel playfully spun her crimson dagger in the air once before speaking.
“…So make sure you win and come back safely—!”
We replied to her words.
“Yes!”
“Comrade Vel! I believe in you!”
“Yeah…!”
“Mhm♪ How reassuring~”
And so, feeling the warmth of the wall of fire on our backs, we ran forward.
*Tat-tat-tat—*
The glow of the fire faintly illuminating the dark sky.
We followed the path of black ether visible beyond it.
‘A giant black ether triangle floating in the sky…’
The place where the dungeon core, spewing that black ether, pulsed.
We advanced into the dungeon gate, where a white serpent and a tree were intertwined.
As the gate slowly drew closer, black ether enveloped our bodies.
I could tell that the energy of the black ether slowly seeping out of this event dungeon was completely different from a normal dungeon gate.
At the same time, I recalled what Sigrun had said before we formulated the plan.
‘In the game and in reality, Vel and Sigrun's personalities often overshadowed their abilities, but... they were incredibly competent…’
A short while ago.
Sigrun, having been persuaded by me, took a map from her coat and explained the strange phenomenon she had witnessed to Eir and Vel.
"-The Chaos Fiends emerging from the various dungeon gates in the northeast are gathering at these three locations... all of which are dungeon gates in the northern region."
The locations of the northern Corroded Dungeon gates were marked on the map Sigrun produced.
The three dungeon gates were located at the vertices of a perfect equilateral triangle spanning the northern wasteland.
"-Unlike the Chaos Fiends trying to exit the other northeastern dungeon gates, we confirmed that at these three gates, connected by lines of black ether, the Chaos Fiends were actually entering."
Eir looked at the marked locations on the map and groaned.
"-The ether consumption there was strangely severe, so most of our girls who rely on explosive flames couldn't even use their powers properly. We had to turn back..."
"-That's a matter that's been confirmed in the Corroded Dungeon gates that have appeared in other northeastern areas as well!"
"-Huh? Isn't that the same as the other places, then? What's the difference between these three gates linked in a triangle and the other Corroded Gates?"
Sigrun answered Vel's question.
"-When I led the investigation team on a quick search inside the dungeon, we found it had lost its function of controlling party size limits. More importantly, crystals spewing black ether were positioned throughout the interior of the dungeon gate!"
"-Black ether?"
"-That's right! The Chaos Fiends pouring in from all over were moving toward the paths where that black ether was flowing out!"
"-Hah... So we just need to destroy the crystals in those three dungeons."
Vel's face lit up at Eir's words, and she exclaimed.
"-Then let's all rush in together and smash them one by one! That's safer, isn't it?"
"-That probably won't work."
"-Whyyy~!!"
"-According to the consultation of a thaumaturgy department student in the investigation team, the ether receptacles arranged in a triangle and linked together have been imbued with the property of mutual recovery... making them no different from a giant magic circle!"
"-What's that supposed to mean~!!"
"-Tch, I don't know anything about thaumaturgy, so put it simply."
"-If all three locations aren't destroyed at once within a short time, they will regenerate!"
Vel frowned and asked.
"-How much of a time difference is allowed?"
"-This is only an estimate, but about 10 minutes!"
Eir slapped her head and groaned.
"-Damn it, the gates are each about a 10-minute run apart."
"-Even if we hold out until reinforcements arrive... the northern region will be devastated by then..."
Sigrun continued with a grave expression.
"-Furthermore, each crystal was guarded by what appeared to be an adult-class or higher Chaos Fiend. However, I am the only Stage 3 ether user in the investigation team, so we gave up on clearing all the dungeons and were about to call for reinforcements, but...!"
Sigrun looked at Vel and Eir.
The two of them immediately understood the situation.
If the three of them were together, they could resolve it before the damage grew.
"-With this lineup, we might be able to finish this quickly before the situation escalates—♪ Good thing we didn't fight and got along—☆"
"-Tch, just as you say."
And so, we divided into a team to conquer the three dungeon gates where the black ether crystals were confirmed and a defense team to block the influx of Chaos Fiends.
The Scarlet Academy students, unable to enter the dungeon due to their ether manipulation methods, took on the role of the defense team to stop the influx of Chaos Fiends. And the party leaders of the attack team would be the three individuals with combat power equivalent to Stage 3 or higher.
Eir, The Crimson Trajectory, who possessed combat power greater than a Stage 3 user even without using her flame explosions. And Sigrun and Vel, Stage 3 users and external students who had each brought their own party members.
Among the dungeon gate attack teams, which were divided around the three high-ranking ether users, we ended up in Vel's party.
“Seriously~!! How did things end up like this—!!”
Vel looked at us with a complicated expression.
We came to the north to stop Sigrun, who had clashed with the Scarlet Academy students over the downtown arson. The situation had escalated, and now it had grown into a matter of stopping the Corrosion incident and the threat to the northern part of the Academy City.
Vel shouted with complex emotions as she ran.
“Really...! For real, for real, for reaaal~!! Once this is all over and we're back at the garrison, I'll definitely repay this favor—!! So please don't report me to the boss~~!!”
“How many times are you going to say the same thing…?”
Alvitt looked at me and our classmates, and we responded to her gaze with infinite affirmation. Then, she spoke in a confident voice.
“We're all students of the same Academy City! We'll help you!”
“Uwaaah!! Don't talk with that kind of youthful passion~!! It makes me feel embarrassed for trying to act all tough when we first met—!!”
"...Didn't you fail at that, too?"
“Shh, be quiet.”
Vel shouted as she finally entered the gate that was right before us.
“Alright! The dungeon assault starts now!”
*Gwoooooo—!*
I couldn't even feel the dungeon's penalty that would normally reject a party of more than three members. The only thing I could feel was the energy of the black ether. The underclassmen, faced with that ominous energy, each let out a groan.
“Kuh…! This much is…!”
“Right! We will overcome this with sheer grit!”
“…”
I silently faced the energy, recalling game knowledge from my faded memories.
‘…The Curse of Corrosion.’
A special dungeon environment created by the Priest of Corrosion.
It was a debuff that drastically increased the consumption rate of skills inside.
The key to clearing this event dungeon was to push through endless monster waves with students who had low ether costs. However, thanks to the help of the Scarlet Academy students—something that wasn't implemented in the game—the situation inside the dungeon, with further waves blocked, was relatively manageable.
“Larval Chaos Fiend pack spotted!!”
“Kara! Let's go together!”
“Understood—!”
To conserve Vel's ether, Alvitt and Kara fought hard whenever they spotted the scattered groups of larval Chaos Fiends in the dark passages.
Red ether gathered on the sword Alvitt drew, and she used a skill that consumed almost no cost.
“[Flash Sword]!!”
Red ether condensed along the sword paths she scattered wildly. And the launched sword auras exploded with a roar that echoed through the passage.
*Kwaaang—!!*
*Shaaaat—!!*
The larval Chaos Fiends reacted to the sudden attack.
They roared and dragged their sluggish bodies to surround Alvitt.
Alvitt was slowly being surrounded.
She tried to attack her way out, but.
because the skills she had used until now had a cost close to zero,
she was taken aback by the skill fatigue she felt for the first time in this dungeon.
“Ugh?! It uses this much ether—?! This is way worse than Lotha's buff skills—?!”
“[Revolutionary Comrade]!! Create a foothold so Comrade Alvitt can escape!”
*Flutter——*
A faint ether signal was transmitted from the flag Kara waved, and the summoned robots moved according to their predetermined positions. An action closer to positional alignment than a full-fledged summoning attack skill.
*Clank!*
*Clank!*
*Clank!*
Soon, they moved their slender limbs attached to their short, rectangular bodies, creating a foothold for Alvitt to step on.
*Taat!*
Alvitt stepped on those stairs, launched into the air, and once again fired off a barrage of attacks.
“[Flash Sword]—!!”
*Kwaaaang—!!*
A volley of sword auras was fired once more.
They finally blew up all the gathered larval Chaos Fiends.
They had only passed through a single encounter, yet her skill proficiency had noticeably increased.
“S-Senior... about Alvitt... she's getting stronger incredibly fast...?”
“…Mhm♪ That's a relief.”
Lotha, whose skills were as good as sealed due to the dungeon's debuff, was following Alvitt and Kara with me, carrying support items.
“Kuhuhu!! This cute secretary will be taking the stage soon, too! Just get a feel for the dungeon~!!”
Vel, her persona-playing side apparently flaring up again, was spouting strange things while watching Alvitt's performance.
And so, we pressed on toward the depths of the dungeon.