The Graduation Ceremony Was Brutal (3)
Bang bang bang bang!
"Stop! Stoooop!"
A skeleton that looked every bit the classical vocalist — complete with a hairstyle that screamed medieval European musician — was hammering his conductor's baton and throwing a full-blown tantrum.
"Kim Myeong-seok! Kim Myeong-seok!"
The fury in his voice was unmistakable.
"Did I, or did I not, tell you to match the others' tone? This stage is not a place for you to run wild on your own! If you want to cut loose, you match the others and cut loose together! Teamwork is what matters on this stage — that is what I am saying!"
The conductor undead jabbed his baton toward a skeleton (presumably male) standing at the far upper right of the choir and unleashed a spectacular dressing-down.
Naturally, the skeleton singled out for public humiliation trembled violently and hung his head.
"P-Professor. I-I'm so—"
But the conductor undead they called Professor showed not the slightest hint of mercy. Even from this far away from the choir, it was painfully clear.
"Sorry? What good does apologizing to me do? Are you going to change? No — do you even possess the talent to change? Do you know what the world calls people like you? A. Piece. Of. Shit. They call you a piece of shit! I hammer it into your ears dozens of times and you still can't get it through your skull — what else could you be but a piece of shit? Now, repeat after me. I am a piece of shit. A. Piece. Of. Shit!"
"P-Professor... th-that's too... khhk...!"
"Quit the nonsense and say it. Now!"
"Kh-hhp... I-I am... a piece... of..."
Huh? The skeleton's crying? Shit, do I treat that as crocodile tears, or do I just decide this thing is way too deep into its role?
Right then, an irritating notification popped up in front of my eyes.
Pay attention to the Professor's instructions! Disobey, and you will pay the price!
The Professor's instructions? He meant the human — no, the skeleton — banging that baton over there, right?
"It would seem your deduction was correct, Kim Seyeon."
"Yes. All right, then..."
We moved quickly on Kim Seyeon's orders. And just as we were settling how to communicate with each other—
"Khhk...! That's so mean! Professor, you're awful!"
Bang!
While we waited without stepping through the doorway, an undead flung the door open and burst out.
Fortunately, we had been leaning against the wall beside the door, hashing out our plan. The sniffling skeleton (how the hell does a skeleton cry?) never registered us and bolted straight past.
"...?"
"...!"
I pointed my thumb toward the interior of the concert hall and looked at Kim Seyeon. She held up both palms in a wait-a-moment gesture, then raised a hand toward all of us and began casting alone.
Nod, nod...!
Only after laying holy magic on us did she give the go-ahead.
Perfect...!
Rogue Skill: Stealth S+
Step one of the plan we had set: I would activate Stealth, infiltrate the room where the boss was holding court — the boss room — and slip inside.
Softly, softly...
"Ah~ aaa~~"
"Before the proud~~~ skeleton grave~~"
Just as expected — they couldn't sense me at all.
I had opened the door into the concert hall with almost insulting boldness and infiltrated right up next to the choir, and still none of them noticed me.
It wasn't night, but we were inside a sealed building, and aside from the choir section the hall was pitch dark — that was probably why Stealth was working so well.
Well, the S+ skill rank was doing a lot of the heavy lifting too. But damn, even the actual boss mob couldn't detect this? Traditionally, dungeon boss monsters shrugged off most Rogue class skills except the ones that dealt damage.
Shame I don't have a Rogue-exclusive weapon.
The weapon I was carrying still applied the Backstab damage bonus... but it still felt lacking. A goblin-forged blade would have been better suited for dealing damage through Rogue skills. The only problem was that its durability was painfully finite.
Softly, softly...
Carefully, I climbed all the way up onto the stage where the choir was set up. I had approached from directly behind the one furiously conducting the singers.
Samuel... Kim? Wait, why does that name sound familiar? I never gave a damn about vocal music or classical...
Anyway. As planned... time to crack him across the back of the skull.
I swung the iron sword straight into his completely exposed back.
Kiiing!
"%$$#...-! -!"
Huh?
Wh-what the hell!?
What the hell? Why didn't the damage register? Give me my ambush back, you bastard! That was definitely a Backstab... no, even if it wasn't a Backstab, I felt the hit land clean!
In that instant, a notification appeared that drained what little patience I had left and shoved pure rage into its place.
You haven't entered the boss fight yet, you know? Hold on until the boss fight actually starts! Patience is always a virtue ^^
— from the Administrator who cares about you more than anyone
You absolute piece of shit, I swear to god—!!!!!
Thank you, Lawful Good! At least you keep me from spewing a stream of curses out loud even in a situation like this!
"-,-?"
"-!-!!"
The skeletons on the choir risers started murmuring among themselves. Damn it, I couldn't freeze up like this. While Stealth still had even a scrap of effectiveness left...
Warrior Skill: True Gale Strike
Step two. Smash the choir risers to pieces! Strength 19 — get to fucking work! Now!
I swung the iron sword. This time, at an inanimate object.
Kaaang! Kaaang!
Without the slightest hesitation, I slammed the iron sword into the choir risers. Twice.
The moment massive cracks spiderwebbed across them, the risers couldn't hold their own weight and came crashing down in a heap.
Crash! Thud-boom!
The skeletons perched on top naturally lost their balance and toppled or fell. Some of them even smashed face-first into the floor.
"-!-!"
"-!??"
While they groaned in confusion, shock, and pain, I slipped out of there fast.
'First, use Jeong Hoon's Rogue skills to ambush the boss monster... and then destroy the choir risers. Those things look far too suspicious. There's a chance they could be used as part of the boss's attack patterns.'
That was the plan Kim Seyeon had laid out. The core idea was simple: eliminate the unknown variables before they could bite us, rather than getting blindsided.
And I had executed it to the letter. The fact that Backstab hadn't worked on the boss was genuinely disappointing, but this much should have been more than enough—
"-You bastard!"
Uh... uh, shit!? I can hear him!?
"Ugh...!"
A groan slipped out of me on its own. A sudden, crushing agony ripped through my body. It was the same kind of pain we'd taken from those "Vocal"-tagged monsters outside.
Before entering, on Kim Seyeon's advice, we had stuffed cloth scraps dampened with water into our ears. Outside, the monsters with "Vocal" in their names had hit us with sonic attacks. And given that this building was a college of music, we'd figured there was a high chance the boss's patterns would involve sound.
And we'd been right!? Accurate enough to punch straight through our improvised earplugs, no less. Shit!
"-are you!"
Vocal Music Professor Samuel Kim is activating the skill 'You There — Sing!'!
So there was a pattern! I could see the vocal professor's skeletal jaw moving.
"-Ah~"
...What? Shit! I can't hear a damn thing with my ears plugged!
I couldn't properly hear the boss's pattern. What happens now!?
Match whatever Vocal Music Professor Samuel Kim is singing! Fail, and you'll receive a rather large and heavy penalty!
A rather large and heavy penalty? What does that me— aaagh! It really is heavy!
My feet became impossibly heavy. Not just stuck to the floor — it felt like they were about to sink straight through it. And it wasn't just my feet. My legs, thighs, torso, shoulders, head, arms... every part of my body felt like lead. If I didn't brace myself with the iron sword against the floor, I would have face-planted onto the dry concert hall boards.
Shit... so this was the pattern! Even standing is barely manageable?
"-, -!"
Hhk — that Samuel whatever is coming this way! Damn it!
Dodging was hard enough as it was. Right now! Still — I'd taken Kim Seyeon's buffs, so was I just supposed to tank it!?
Wait, wait — the others! What the hell are you all doing!? I wrecked the choir risers! Get in here already!
Thwip-thwip-thwip!
"-Aaaagh!"
The very moment I was screaming internally, several arrows slammed into the torso of Samuel-whatever, who had closed to point-blank range.
The arrowheads didn't embed — they bounced off — but he still let out a shriek with a face that said it hurt plenty.
Whoosh! Thud!
And that wasn't all. A massive ice spike came flying in and drove straight into the professor's face.
"-Urgh!"
I whipped my head toward the main entrance of the concert hall and saw my women finally pouring inside. Perfect timing, as always. Nice work, Sora, Mina!
Ah — the shackles released. In an instant, my whole body felt light again.
Then I couldn't afford to waste this window. This was my chance!
Whoosh, slash!
"-Khuk! -you lotttt!!!"
My iron sword carved cleanly into the boss monster as it staggered from Han Sora's Multi-Shot and Yun Mina's Ice Fang.
No deep wound showed. Even so, the hit clearly registered — the boss monster stumbled backward, its face twisted into a mess of rage and pain.
"-to me! -give -the -to -them!"
Ah, damn it! I know it's because of the sonic attacks, but... with my ears plugged I still can't make out a word. And I can't exactly pull them out, either!?
Vocal Music Professor Samuel Kim is casting 'Now, With Vigor!'! Get away from the choir!
The choir? Ah, that chorus from earlier... which I already smashed?
"...? -, -!"
Samuel-whatever in front of me must have realized it too, because he started hopping in place in pure frustration.
I snuck a glance at where the choir risers used to be. The undead chorus still hadn't recovered their wits. Ah — we'd thrown ourselves into the boss fight so fast they never got a chance.
Oh my! You destroyed the choir first? Unfortunately, this pattern has been cancelled!
Unfortunately, my ass! That was definitely written by that Administrator bastard. Nobody else uses that kind of smug phrasing!
Anyway, good. Smashing the choir risers really had been the right call. In that case...!
Vocal Music Professor Samuel Kim is activating the skill 'You There — Sing!'!
I ignored the notification and charged straight at the vocal professor.
Without the slightest hesitation, I closed in on a monster reduced to spamming a single skill after one of its patterns had been shut down.
Squeeze!
"-Hup!?"
Without the slightest hesitation, I clamped my hand around the undead's throat. And then...
...This pattern has also been cancelled!
Honestly, at first I wasn't sure it would work. But when destroying the choir risers produced a butterfly effect that stopped the boss's second skill from firing, I trusted my gut. In that case — if I just sealed this bastard's throat, the first skill should fall apart too, right?
And sure enough. Sound was this thing's — and every nearby monster's — primary weapon. And if you neutralized the throat that produced that sound, there was nothing left to worry about.
I reversed my grip on the iron sword, angling it so the pommel would drive into the target on the downswing.
And I brought it down on Samuel-whatever's skeletal skull.
Thud!
"-!-!!"
In a moment like this—
Thud, thud!
"-!!-!!!-!!!!"
Thud, thud, thud!
In a moment when the boss's patterns had been completely neutralized—
"-!!"
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
Somehow, the simple and brutal approach felt like the wisest one of all.
"...Uuu..."
The boss mob, its skull battered to pieces by the iron sword's pommel, was one hit from death.
I released the hand clamped around its throat and flung the boss to the floor for the finishing blow.
Tremble, tremble...
A boss monster that showed no sign of resistance whatsoever. Toward that nearly obliterated skeletal head—
Whoosh! Crunch!
Without the slightest hesitation, I brought the blade of the iron sword down and finished it.
With a simple, straightforward strategy, we had neutralized part of the boss's patterns and taken it down.
You have defeated the boss Vocal Music Professor Samuel Kim!
Nice. Second boss successfully cleared!
Ah, and why did I leave the small fry on the choir risers completely undefended?
I pulled the water-soaked cloth scraps out of my ears.
"Whew! Great work, Orabeoni! We already sent the undead choir off to heaven so they can keep singing up there~"
"H-Heaven? I... I think hell would be more accurate... you dumb ju-junior...?"
"My, Sora-sunbae... you're calling me junior without any hesitation now, huh?"
"Sh-shut up!"
Our party's two outstanding ranged dealers had taken care of everything on their own, you see.
After confirming that the monster that had fled the concert hall earlier didn't have (Dungeon) next to its name, we had hastily put the plan together — operating under the assumption that the ones on the choir risers were no different from the field monsters roaming outside.
"You two coordinate that well and then start fighting the second it's over..."
"Isn't that just what a perfectly matched combo looks like, Seeun?"
"...That?"
I was a little confused myself. Those two really were the kind of pair you never quite figured out.
...Though in bed they seem to understand each other just fi— ahem ahem ahem! Better check the boss monster's drops already.
But why wasn't a notification pointing the way to the next boss? Was this time different? Or wait — was this guy the final boss?
Please wait a moment. A message from the Administrator will follow shortly.
...Huh? What? Why is that bastard suddenly—
Hello hello, survivors hard at work clearing dungeons again today! It's your one and only friend, the Administrator. Waaah, clap clap clap!
Aaaagh! I already took the earplugs out. You son of a biiiiitch!