Chapter 43
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Coveted Fellow (3)
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Rumble rumble rumble!
Tactical golems came flying in from all directions.
They took on a human form, but their joints were exposed like those of a ball-jointed doll.
This appearance only amplified their eerie quality.
This is too much!
Even Remina, who never lost her composure no matter the situation, freaked out at the sight of the humanoid tactical golems.
But Roin didnt care one bit.
Drawing his sword, Roin boldly shouted at the golems.
Get lostweve got places to be, you puppets!
Of course, the tactical golems werent about to obediently follow his orders.
Blades sprang from the wrists of the tactical golems.
Three of them swung their blades at Roin.
Roin parried the blade of the one charging from the left with his sword.
Clang!!!
A piercing metallic screech filled the dungeon in an instant.
Though they mimicked human shapes, their joint movements far exceeded human range of motion.
Their freely twisting bodies led to unpredictable attacks at times.
The tactical golem twisted its waist at a 120-degree angle and targeted Roin with its other hand.
A blade hurtling toward his face.
Roin leaned back and thrust out his left hand,
Crack! Crunch!
yanking out the tactical golems power source.
An artificial heart glowing blue like a mana core.
He squeezed it slightly, and with a sickening squelch! it burst apart.
Whoooosh
Deprived of its power source, the tactical golem collapsed to the floor like a marionette with cut strings.
Roin stomped on its head, crushing it completely, then issued a warning in a slightly irritated voice.
Dont touch my face.
For Roin, having someone touch his face without permission was one of the most infuriating things imaginable.
The other two tactical golems met the same fate.
He ripped out their power sources with his bare hands and shattered them on the spot.
But there were far more tactical golems left than the ones hed taken down.
Some were even hanging from the ceiling, waiting for a chance to pounce on Roins group.
Remina and Luem drew their rapier and claymore, respectively, and assumed stances facing different directions.
It was a formation to cover each others blind spots.
In the dark dungeon, Reminas eyes darted around frantically in search of Iniss sword.
Thats when it happened.
R-Remina! Roin!
Luem urgently called out to the two of them.
L-Look over there! Someones collapsed!
Amid the tactical golems, a woman lay unconscious, covered in blood.
Roins eyes narrowed.
She was one of the trainees who had entered before his group.
Times already up, though. Whys she still in the dungeon?
The teleportation bracelets were enchanted to activate on schedule even if the wearer was unconscious.
As proof, the other trainees had apparently escapedtheir dropped swords littered the floor.
Guess they didnt have time to grab their swords.
The situation must have been extremely dire.
And then,
Roin spotted the cracked bracelet on the fallen female trainees wrist.
Her item mustve broken, so she couldnt teleport out.
But more suspiciously, the tactical golems behavior was off.
This was just training, after all.
Even if set up to mimic real combat, it wasnt supposed to be so deadly as to take lives.
There was no reason or need for them to batter her to that extent.
Another glitch, huh.
Roin clicked his tongue briefly.
They only seem to glitch out whenever they run into me.
Was this really just coincidence?
Coincidences repeated enough times become inevitability.
Whatever, Ill check that later.
Right now, passing the test was what mattered to Roin.
Dungeon missions carried heavy point allocations.
The other subjects could take a backseat.
I have to ace the dungeon mission!
Only then could he escape this hellish academy life sooner.
Tadadak!
Roin moved first.
The tactical golems tried to keep up,
As if!
but Roin toyed with them using even faster movements.
Remina and Luem thought Roin was moving to rescue the fallen trainee.
But no
Swoosh!
Roin leaped right over her.
R-Roin! Youre just gonna leave her and go?!
Remina cried out in disbelief.
But his response was even more outrageous.
Is the injured girl the priority right now? My test is way more important!
......
She was speechless.
Remina knew Roin was the ultimate egoist.
But she hadnt expected his selfishness to kick in at a time like this.
No helping it.
Remina started moving too.
Luem! Well rescue that trainee firstfollow me!
Yes, Remina!
Luem decided to stick with Remina.
He lacked the confidence to keep up with Roin anyway.
While the two headed to rescue the injured trainee,
Roin was making his way toward Iniss sword.
Where are you, Iniss sword!
From his previous life at the academy, Roin already knew what Iniss sword looked like.
And what it did.
His impatience only grew.
Found it!
Iniss sword, embedded in a corner of the wall.
It had originally been sheathed, but since Jerka had taken the scabbard, the blade lay bare.
The moment he reached for Iniss sword
Twitch!
It suddenly moved.
No one had grabbed and shaken it.
It began wriggling like a living creature.
Here we go again, you damn sword!
Iniss sword darted this way and that, evading Roins hand.
Iniss sword possessed its own will.
Its movements were entirely on its own terms.
It was famed as a top-tier named sword in performance, but knights avoided it for this very reason.
Thats why it was the tests target.
Which was why Roin had tried to snag it quickly before it noticed him.
But since that failed
This is gonna be a pain!
The tactical golems were already clinging to him like leeches, and now he had to play tag with the sword too.
For Roin, the annoyance had doubled.
Everythings out to piss me off!
He sliced the neck of a tactical golem dropping from above.
Take down one, and two more charged.
Take down two, and four came running.
How many tactical golems did they deploy, anyway!
This was way over the line.
There was only one solution.
Secure Iniss sword as fast as possible!
The sword flying through the air taunted Roin by spinning in circles.
His eyebrow twitched at the sight.
Fine, lets do this then!
Roin snatched up the arm of a fallen tactical golem from the floor.
He hurled the dangling arm with all his might.
It smacked squarely into Iniss sword with a thud!
The sword wobbled for a moment.
But Roins assault didnt end there.
He chucked broken tactical golem parts like throwing weapons, disrupting the swords flight.
A flying golem head tinged off the swords hilt.
Off-balance, Iniss sword plummeted.
Roin dashed even faster and clamped his hand around the hilt.
Creeeak
A faint sound like crumpling metal echoed.
Try running again, and Ill snap you in half.
As if understanding the threat, Iniss sword shuddered violently once... its blade trembling.
Iniss sword: secured!
Now he just needed to escape the dungeon.
Hm?
The ground suddenly heaved.
A swarm of tactical golems buried underground ambushed him.
An unexpected assault.
And now the tactical golems were unveiling a new pattern.
Vmmm!
The blades embedded in their bodies glowed blue.
Aura Blade.
Damn it!
Roin swung Iniss sword as fast as he could.
Remina reached the fallen trainee and checked her condition.
Meanwhile, Luem wielded his claymore against the charging tactical golems.
Her pulse is steady.
But the blood loss was severe.
Left like this, shed die.
Gotta get her out fast.
The teleportation bracelet still had ten minutes left.
Spending that long here was too dangerous.
They couldnt fend off the berserk golems forever.
On top of that,
the tactical golems were using Aura Blade.
We werent told about this.
Using Aura Blade in training was far too risky.
Its cutting power could slice through iron doors with minimal force.
One wrong move, and trainees would die.
And it wasnt just one.
With multiple golems swinging Aura Blades, Remina was overwhelmed.
Thats when, as she pierced a golems chest with her rapier
......!
One leaped from her blind spot.
It swung its Aura Blade at Remina with blinding speed.
It happened so suddenly.
Before Remina could react,
convinced it was over, she squeezed her eyes shut.
Then Luem swung his claymore, batting away the golems Aura Blade.
Crack!
Luems claymore shattered.
Undeterred, Luem pressed on against the golem targeting Remina.
He circled behind it and wrapped both arms around its waist in a powerful bear hug.
And
Raaaaagh!!!
He suplexed it backward.
With a crunch! the golems neck snapped.
Are you alright, Remina?!
Im fine. More importantly...
Luem worried her now.
Hed discarded his sword to protect her.
Blood streamed from wounds all over his body.
But Luem paid it no mind.
This wasnt the time to fuss over injuries.
Remina handed him a spare dagger shed brought.
Use this at least.
Thank you, Remina.
The grueling war of attrition continued.
At this rate, none of them had a future.
Panting heavily, Remina shouted to Luem.
We just need to hold out three more minutes!
Three minutes.
But to them, it felt eternal.
The tactical golems had them completely surrounded.
The terror called death crept closer.
I cant die here...!
Remina gritted her teeth.
In that instant,
a miracle unfolded before them.
Boom!
A streak of blue aura swept past, sweeping away the golems.
Just one swing of the sword had neutralized a third of them.
The boy whod cleared the golems.
Roin.
Before they could even rejoice at his arrival,
Remina spotted a line of blood in her view.
It was precisely on the lower part of Roins left cheek.
A wound on his handsome face.
Roin issued a seething warning to the tactical golems.
Youre all dead.