The Graduation Ceremony Was Cruel (2)
We discovered the door beyond the auditorium stage — a door that practically radiated an invitation to step through — right after the two of them had worn themselves out bickering.
"Was there... originally a door like that?"
Kim Seyeon voiced the question on everyone's mind, but nobody had a proper answer. We'd been too busy killing that so-called "teaching assistant," and none of us had spared a proper look at the building's interior.
Still, one thing nagged at me. That door, faintly glowing now as it announced its presence, had definitely been a pitch-dark stretch of wall before we killed the boss monster. Well — some of that was just light spilling out as it opened, but still...
"It's leading us by the nose rather blatantly... but we can hardly refuse to go."
"R-right. A-and since it's a dungeon... they w-wouldn't mess around with the progression path, at least. Th-that administrator bastard too... I-I mean, that guy too...!"
The way Han Sora scrambled to clean up the curse she'd almost spat out was, honestly, a little adorable.
In the end, the party's conclusion was simple. Follow the path they were herding us down — more or less the same call we'd made earlier.
And so we set out once more, walking the route the dungeon intended. I took the lead, of course. The party's formation, though, had shifted a bit.
"Hehehe... Orabeoni, even if you spot a monster far off, don't you worry too much, okay? I'll be right behind you... bam, blasting it down with magic. With the help of this fantastic item Oppa gave me, that is?"
Yun Mina stuck herself flush against my back, wearing a thoroughly smug smile. She looked overflowing with confidence. Kid, it's not like your level went up...
...Well, with stats jumping like that, even I'd get cocky. An item that boosts your stats by fifteen percent on top of the gains you already get every level?
Now this was a proper dungeon drop. Way better than grinding field mobs outside until you were grateful for a single bag. No wonder people ran dungeon circuits and raids. Gear farming was just inevitable. Damn right.
"Don't get arrogant, Mina. Never forget to stay alert."
"Tch, don't say the obvious, Orabeoniii? If you keep nagging like that, even I might get sulky, you know?"
Uh, uhhh? She's pressing in closer again? Hey — contact? Her chest and her whole body are plastered against my back? I'm so goddamn grateful!?
"Hey, hey! You — earlier... we had an agreement!"
Caught red-handed by Han Sora, who'd been bringing up the rear. Earlier, during that physical "conversation" they'd dressed up as a quarrel, the two of them had gone back and forth until they finally compromised, shook on it, and called it settled.
Of course, the fact that they'd been crushing each other's hands like they meant to pulverize every bone didn't need mentioning.
At the time, Sora had attached the condition that Mina could approach — just not too blatantly. Though "at the time" wasn't right. That had been all of five minutes ago.
Promises were made to be broken, sure, but this one shattered awfully early. Not that I was complaining!
"Tch... fine, fine. You petty, petty Senior Soraaa?"
"P-peeeetty...!?"
Sora was one spark away from reigniting — but not now.
Because we'd stepped outside the building. And following the path... over there, a building with a strikingly artistic design was practically advertising itself, as if to say come right in.
"Sora, restrain yourself. You haven't forgotten what just happened, have you?"
I reined her in with a low warning, and Han Sora clamped her mouth shut, face full of grievance.
"U-uuugh...!"
She did vent a very quiet burst of frustration, though.
Park Seeun and Kim Seyeon were watching the whole thing with surprisingly warm eyes.
What the hell? Why were those two looking at Han Sora like she was some "introverted, shy little kid" who'd finally grown up!?
Anyway, once the "sorting out" was done, we set off again.
We walked the path cut through the lawn once more. We'd come out into a broader outdoor stretch, but the road was still a straight line.
Before long, we ran into another bizarre combination of monsters.
"Ah~aaaaaah~ah~~~"
"No, no! Drop it lower there — ah~aaaaah~aah~~~"
"Hey, you're completely off the beat! I'll match you on the violin. Like this—"
Skeletons. Singing. More precisely, they were just belting out "aah" sounds — and one of them was even sawing away at a violin, screee-screee.
What, was this a music college concept now? For undead, these bastards sure loved variety in their gimmicks. Lunatics!
...They really had gone all-in on the variety. Absolute maniacs!
Anyway — that "Healing Violin" one had to be the healer, right?
"Mina. I'm counting on you."
"Hmph, and after you told me not to let my guard down... so you do trust me after all? Enough to give me a lovely gift like this? Lately I've been more important in Orabeoni's heart than a certain somebo—"
"Mina."
"Fine, fine."
Can't you feel Sora glaring daggers into your back? Keep that up and you'll die, idiot!
"Alright... here I go? Lightning... Burst!"
KRRAAAK-BOOM!
In an instant, a bolt of fierce lightning tore out of the clear sky and slammed straight into the skull of the undead holding the violin.
"KYEEEEEEK! Zzzzt-zzzt-zzzzzt!?"
Letting out a bizarre scream, the thing was seared black in a flash. Then it crumpled... crumpled?
"Huh? I only used lightning once?"
What, it's dead? No, hang on... what's with the question mark next to "Deceased"?
"Whaaaat~~~~is thiiis~~~??"
"A-a newcoooomeeer~~~"
Oh for crying out loud — just because they've got "Vocal" slapped on them, they're going to screech everything like opera singers too?
"Viooooleeence~~~~will nooot~~~~be toleeerated~~~~"
"We cannot~~~~forgiive~~~youuuu~~~"
Those bastards were attacking while singing their weird little song!
Huh? They weren't actually attacking? Then what was—
WHOOOOOOM!
"Khuh!?"
What was that? Just now... I felt my body shoved back by some invisible pressure!?
And my ears hurt! They really goddamn hurt!
"O-Orabeo—! —! —!"
Yun Mina behind me clapped her hands over her ears and shouted something, but I couldn't hear it.
What? What are you saying! Speak up.
Ah — don't tell me!?
You have been hit by a 'Sonic' attack. Sound is temporarily muffled!
Damn it — the alert popping up out of nowhere threw me for a second, but... it was a status-ailment attack!
I should've figured it out the moment those things started belting songs at us without charging in.
And their voices were ridiculously loud! No good. I had to wipe them out before they cranked it any higher!
I drew my iron sword and simply lunged. Then I swung at one of the two undead.
Slash!
"—!—!"
Its noisy voice cut off cold. Ugh, my ears were still ringing so badly I could barely hear!
Huh? What the hell — this one wasn't fully dead! It was even starting to rise again, bones rattling back into place?
Why didn't it die? The feel through the blade said I'd one-shot it clean...
Tap-tap!
Someone tapped my shoulder just as I was about to swing again. Every nerve in my body snapped taut for a second — then I realized in a flash who was behind me and only turned my head a fraction.
Yun Mina, as ever, was sharp. Instead of opening her mouth, she pointed with a finger, guiding my gaze.
"What the...!?"
The violin was floating in midair on its own. And it was playing.
♬~♬~
Ah — sound was finally starting to come back properly. A very familiar tune drifted over. It was like the chime you hear on the subway when you arrive at a transfer station.
No — this was no time to leisurely appreciate the music. Why was that thing performing by itself? Some kind of death throes from the deceased? The undead healer I'd killed earlier had "Strings" tagged on it... I should assume a nasty new pattern had kicked in. Shit!
"Shoot it!"
I pointed at the soloing violin and shouted to Mina. She nodded and aimed a fingertip at it. From the tip of that finger, a lump of flame popped free.
Fwoom!
In an instant, the violin was reduced to a heap of ash that dropped to the floor.
"Hahp!"
At the same time, I swung my iron sword again.
Once at the undead rising right in front of me — then a quick dash and one more strike at the other—
"Uwaaargh... thaaaat's~~~not~~~faaair~~~"
Thud!
—before I could even finish, an undead monster riddled with multiple arrows toppled to the ground.
Ah. Park Seeun standing in front of that monster finally registered in my vision.
"This works pretty well. I pin the monster's feet with Ground Slam, and Sora unnie rains arrows on it. We can lock down one of them for sure. Augh... my ears hurt."
So the two of them had pulled off a kind of combo play. Watching the party's combat sense grow sharper by the day put a lump in my throat. Extreme situations kept exploding one after another, so it felt less like growth and more like being force-leveled — which made it a little pitiful, honestly.
"Is everyone... alright? Your ears?"
"Ah, yes, Jeong Hoon. We're fine for now, but... prolonged exposure to sonic attacks like that could leave us completely deaf. We should finish them as fast as possible so they can't keep using their voices. Like just now — each of us taking one and—"
"Killing them. Is that what you mean?"
I finished the thought for her, and Kim Seyeon nodded with a gentle smile.
Against the next identical pack of monsters, we executed the newly drawn-up plan to the letter.
One "Vocal" type got hammered by the Park Seeun–Han Sora combo. I took the other. The "Strings" type — the healer that kept doing its job via the leftover violin even after death — got focused down by Yun Mina and her equipped item. And if anyone took damage along the way, Kim Seyeon's holy magic patched them up.
The result of running it that way...
"Th-these ones are pretty easy, at least. Even if my ears are still ringing a bit."
Just as Sora said, we could casually tear through three monsters. The fact that these things showed zero inclination toward physical melee attacks probably helped. Or maybe it was simply that Yun Mina could finally pull her own weight.
"Hmm..."
The moment the monsters were dealt with, Kim Seyeon looked like she was turning something over. I was about to ask what she was thinking when she spoke first.
"Jeong Hoon, I've been thinking. What if the next boss is..."
Kim Seyeon carefully pointed somewhere and whispered to me.
...Now that was an intriguing hypothesis.
"That would be ideal. Unfortunately, we don't have anything of the sort."
"Don't worry about that. We can make do with what we already have. Everyone, gather up for a moment?"
Kim Seyeon called the other three over like a kindergarten teacher and had them form a little circle.
Han Sora, Park Seeun, and Yun Mina each reacted differently to Kim Seyeon's explanation.
"E-eeeh? T-to block that...?"
"Hmm, it sounds fine, but... we don't have those, do we?"
"Does the next boss even really have a pattern like that?"
Kim Seyeon just smiled serenely through their lukewarm responses. The moment she pointed a finger at the building we were heading toward, understanding dawned on every face.
♪ College of Music ♪
The name was fixed to the wall like a signboard. It was advertising, completely shamelessly, that the next boss was tied to "music."
"It's better than going in with nothing prepared and ending up with our ears ringing like last time, isn't it?"
Nobody had a counterargument to Kim Seyeon's point.
♬~♬~
Music reached us. More precisely — the sound of a piano accompaniment.
We pushed open the glass front doors and stepped into the oddly designed building. The moment we entered, the piano notes boring into our ears felt exactly like background music from a horror film.
♬~♬~
—dane~
At the same time, a voice. Someone singing.
It seemed to be coming from behind that uneven wall and the door beyond it.
"Wow, it really does feel like an actual music college."
"They're undead — what on earth did they need a music college for..."
Push that any further and we'd end up debating how a skeleton could produce a voice at all, so we decided to rein in the imagination there.
Creeeak...!
We carefully eased open the uneven door and gauged the interior with our eyes alone. The experience with that teaching-assistant bastard had taught us caution.
And then we saw it.
"Aaaah~ before the proud~~~skeleton grave~~~"
"With love~~~and passiooon~~~"
"We shall unfurl~~~the culture of deeeath~~~"
Inside a kind of performance hall steeped in darkness, bathed in stage lights atop a choir riser, a skeleton vocal ensemble was belting out a completely unhinged song.
And on top of that—
Tap-tap-tap-tap!
"Enough, enouuuugh!"
A skeleton that looked like a vocalist — complete with a hairstyle evocative of a medieval European musician — was pounding its conductor's baton and throwing a fit.