Descent into the Insect Den
“This elevator’s heading underground, huh? Whoa... this is no joke.”
“Can you just stay quiet for a sec...? We’re about to enter the dungeon!”
“Psh, dungeons aren’t that big a deal~ It’s basically just a hunting ground full of monsters. Nothing to it, right?”
Jinwoo was buzzing with excitement at the thought of diving into the dungeon, while Sea-a was visibly tense. Ignoring the two polar opposites behind me, I stared at the [1] and [2] buttons.
“Pretty sure it was this sequence.”
Underground 1st floor goes down, 1st floor goes up—input the command: [↑↑↑↓↓↓↑↓↑↓↑↑↑↓].
With a jolt, the elevator lurched into motion.
“Whoa, it’s moving! The elevator’s going down!”
Sea-a gripped the handrail tight as the elevator plunged deeper from what I’d thought was the academy’s lowest level, Underground 1. Jinwoo snickered at her from behind, but I ignored him and opened my cube to check its contents.
Normally, you’d have to pull items out one by one to inspect them, but thanks to the Smart Lens, I could view everything like an inventory window.
“This should be plenty.”
The elevator that seemed like it would descend forever finally ground to a halt, and a bizarre chime echoed inside.
Underground @#!% Floor.
The doors slid open slowly, revealing a pitch-black void.
“Whoa, this place looks straight-up creepy.”
Jinwoo shivered as he scanned the surroundings. Unlike the somewhat habitable club room, this was a massive cavern straight out of a cave. Flickering crimson flames danced atop magical candelabras, casting only faint glows around us—but they didn’t hinder me.
Switch to night mode? [Y / N]
No wonder they call it the Smart Lens—the moment I selected Y, the area lit up like broad daylight.
“Sea-a, can you use light magic?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah! That’s basic magic, so no problem.”
“Jinwoo, you—”
“Nah, I’ve got great night vision. Plus, I have skills in that line, so everything’s crystal clear.”
His words jogged my memory of what he’d said at the end of our last spar: ‘I’m an assassin, dumbass.’
Looks like the Bivalt family gave him special training. Since he could see fine, no need to hand him a lantern.
“Good. Then I’ll brief you on this dungeon right away.”
I launched into a quick rundown of the academy’s underground dungeon.
“This is an artificial dungeon created by the old ‘Dungeon Ecology Research Club’ that used to occupy Room Z.”
“Wait, the Dungeon Ecology Research Club? The one from that urban legend where the whole club vanished one day, leaving some ‘legacy’ hidden somewhere in the academy?”
The ‘Dungeon Ecology Research Club’ legend was pretty famous around the academy. It was a top-tier club whose president suddenly disappeared one day—and none of the instructors even batted an eye. A classic tale.
“Oh, that legend? Nah, the whole club just got scouted by a national secret organization and quit the academy.”
“Huh?”
The truth behind the legend was pretty mundane. The club that up and vanished one day—the Dungeon Ecology Research Club. Where did they go? What was the ‘legacy’ they left behind...? Turns out, they got recruited by a government agency, and their ‘legacy’ is this very dungeon.
It was all thanks to a guy who awakened as a superhuman with the ‘Dungeon Maker’ ability... but he’s probably kicking back on a fat national pension, doing research these days.
“Anyway, this dungeon is their legacy. It has 10 floors, and we’re currently on the 1st floor: Chongok, the Insect House.”
“Ch-Chongok? That name sounds kinda ominous...”
────……!
A grating screech echoed from afar, like thorns scraping stone. The kids’ eyes darted toward the cavern depths.
“Perfect timing. Here come the 1st floor gatekeepers.”
“Gatekeepers? Wait—eek?!”
Far off in the distance, a black swarm crept toward us. Each one was the size of a child—massive bugs.
Sea-a recoiled in horror.
“Wh-what kind of bugs are that huge?!”
Tears welled up in her eyes; must be her first time seeing bug-type monsters. Jinwoo whipped out his daggers with a grin.
“Hey, why so scared? Boss is here. Boss, you can mow ‘em down with the machine gun, right?”
“I could.”
“...Huh?”
“But you and Sea-a are handling them.”
“U-us?”
“B-Boss?”
Had they forgotten already?
“Didn’t I say this was your training?”
In other words...
“Try surviving. I’ll command from the back.”
These small fry weren’t my target anyway.
“Sea-a, disrupt the dungeon’s mana flow toward us with your magic first. If they sense mana with their antennae, they won’t come this way.”
“R-right!”
She slipped on her gloves and thrust her hands toward the bugs. As a space mage, scrambling the internal mana flows should be child’s play for her.
Sure enough, the approaching bugs started twitching erratically, bumping into each other.
“Jinwoo, charge.”
“Huh? You really mean charge in there?”
“Charge.”
“Damn it... I’m not even frontline...”
“Charge.”
“Fine, I’m going! Charge!”
Jinwoo bolted forward, daggers at the ready.
“Sea-a, stay put and prioritize defending hits on Jinwoo. They’ve locked onto him as the target, so they won’t go after you unless you pull major aggro.”
“Got it!”
“Gah! Up close is even grosser! Stay back, you freak!”
Jinwoo started evasive, darting around, but once he realized Sea-a had his back, he shifted to aggressive hunting.
“Heh, this is kinda fun. First time teaming up, but it’s not bad. You said you hate bugs, but you’re holding up pretty well?”
“I’m barely keeping down the nausea! Ahh! That one’s aggro is swinging this way!!”
After a solid fight, the bugs seemed to realize they were outmatched and slunk back.
Jinwoo noticed the attacks thinning and stabbed his dagger into the last bug’s jaw, glancing at me.
“Boss, pursue?”
“Nah, that’s enough. Those were scouts—the main force is coming soon.”
“Figures. They were pathetically weak.”
He yanked the dagger free, flicked off the green ichor, and sauntered over.
“Ugh... stinks. But Boss, wouldn’t it be easier to just nuke ‘em with magic?”
“Sure, but in this space, an AoE would bring the ceiling down.”
He looked up, nodding at the 3-meter-low roof.
“Yeah... makes sense.”
(For the record, I know this because I once died in the game trying exactly that. Damn ‘Dungeon Maker’ bastard designed it that way on purpose... I even tracked the guy down for revenge once.)
“Let’s push forward. The inner areas are wider, so you can use magic there. Sea-a, can you read the mana flows while we move?”
“Piece of cake.”
We headed deeper into the 1st floor. Even for me, this was real life, not a game, so I stayed alert and cautious.
“Boss, you said 10 floors total? How far we going today?”
Jinwoo fanned himself with his shirt, sweat cooling from the action.
“Just scouting today. If it gets dicey, we bail—no worries.”
“Cool. If it’s just more of those weaklings, the 1st floor’s a breeze.”
He had a point—if it stayed at that level, the dungeon would be easy mode.
But...
“We don’t know what the boss looks like yet, so better stay sharp. Bosses are on another level from the trash mobs.”
Even in the game, that held true. This dungeon ran on absorbed academy mana, so with CS’s ever-shifting conditions, bosses varied in strength every time. Basically, it scaled with the academy’s mana usage.
No wonder the government scooped up its creators.
“Hold up.”
Sea-a, who’d been sensing ambient mana, pressed a hand to the wall and closed her eyes.
“Vibrations ahead on the left coordinates. Roughly... huh?”
She snapped her eyes open, face blank.
“We’re screwed... At least a few hundred.”
“Shit—Boss, what now? Run?”
“...No, hold position. Get behind me.”
“Boss?”
I pushed past the panicking kids to the front, pulling Al Capone’s Tommy from my cube and aiming ahead.
“There’s something I wanted to test.”
Just before, when those scout bugs swarmed, a notification had popped up.
Bloodline Ability: Calione is active.
The mana had surged explosively, recognizing each bug as a separate enemy.
Meaning, if this horde rushing us counted as individual foes, my power would skyrocket too.
“I’ll take this one.”
Definitely the main force this time—I’d handle it. The academy would just reset the dungeon anyway.
But as the saying goes, nothing’s ever easy.
“Eek?! Wh-what the hell is that?!”
“B-Boss? Shouldn’t we bolt?”
Mingled in the swarm crawling our way was a colossal centipede.
Real-world me would’ve freaked and fled at the sight, but the Trait: Hitman kept me cool.
“Everyone, stay calm.”
Its fangs alone were monstrous, and the navy-blue carapace looked like it might shrug off Al Capone’s Tommy.
Normally, anyway.
As the bugs filled my vision, explosive energy enveloped me, radiating red aura.
Bloodline Ability: Calione is active.
A torrent of power I’d never felt before. I channeled it into Al Capone’s Tommy and pulled the trigger.
“Adios, you bug bastards.”