Week 9 Midterm (12)

The Blood Explosion Pill not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only forcibly wrung out its user's latent potential—it carried a vicious side effect that guaranteed death.

Which was why it sat permanently at the very top of the banned items list. Even in liquid form, there was no way the Disciplinary Committee could fail to recognize it.

The Young Master of the Golden Lotus, Geum Johan, strode toward me, bearing down with the air of a man ready to swing his golden sword at any moment.

"Where did you obtain the Blood Explosion Pill? You would do well to come clean."

"Still as hasty as ever, I see. Did I not advise you to think carefully before you act?"

But Go Hyeon-woo stepped into his path.

Geum Johan stared at him for a long moment, then narrowed his eyes.

"You. You're that fellow from the train."

"So you do remember as well."

"Remember? I've been meaning to give you a taste of something painful one of these days. I take it today is that day."

Back on the train, the Disciplinary Committee's four had chased the wig thief Shin Byung-cheol straight into our compartment, and a small clash had broken out between Go Hyeon-woo and Geum Johan—one that neither of them, apparently, had forgotten.

But right now there were matters more pressing than a long-postponed duel.

The Disciplinary Committee seemed to feel the same, because from behind Geum Johan rumbled the deep, weighty bass of Jo Byeok.

"Geum Johan. Fall back."

"You would hinder me as well?"

"I said, fall back."

Geum Johan's face twitched, but he retreated a few steps. Jo Byeok rarely repeated himself like that, and this was hardly the moment to dig in one's heels out of sheer stubbornness.

Even so, he clung to his pride to the very last and tossed one final remark at Go Hyeon-woo.

"Fortune favors you yet again. But there will be no next time."

"The feeling is entirely mutual, I assure you."

Song Cheon-hye glanced between the two of them, let out a small sigh, and hauled the conversation back from its brief detour.

"I'm sorry. I had no intention of coming on so strong. But given the seriousness of the matter, I'd ask that you tell us everything in as much detail as you can."

"That was the plan anyway. Anything you want to know?"

Song Cheon-hye held up the Blood Explosion Pill syringe.

"This syringe—you found it inside the dungeon, correct?"

The moment Geum Johan had laid eyes on the thing, he'd pressured us on the assumption that we'd smuggled it in—which, on reflection, made no sense at all. Each participant could bring only two items into the midterm dungeon, so why would anyone set aside perfectly good equipment to carry in a Blood Explosion Pill of all things? Far more believable was the story that we'd found the syringe somewhere ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠inside.

I nodded without hesitation.

"It was stuck to an ogre's ankle."

"An ogre's... ankle...?"

The unexpected answer left Song Cheon-hye wearing a strange expression. And as I finished walking them through everything that had happened to us, the faces of the Disciplinary Committee four grew graver by the minute.

"Don't tell me..."

Then something seemed to strike her, and she pulled out an emergency signal flare—the kind reserved for the Disciplinary Committee, the very item Dang Gyu-young had tried to sneak away with at the Black Market. She meant to let those outside the dungeon know that an emergency was underway.

A bright streak of light shot up into the sky.

Shuuuuu— crackle!

But midway up, the beam snagged on something and simply vanished.

"...It's blocked."

If our line to the outside had been severed, it meant the artificial dungeon's other systems had been disabled as well. The safety mechanisms, the forced extraction, the replay functions—none of them would be working properly either.

"Honestly, I was only half convinced until now, but I have no choice but to believe you. What will you do from here?"

"First, we're going to thin out the ogres."

If these were ogres we'd have to fight eventually anyway, better to drop one more of them while they were still free of the Blood Explosion Pill. And the fewer ogres there were, the less harm would come to the students—that counted for plenty too.

"And in the end, we take down Alpha."

"Alpha appears in the midterm?"

"I told you it would. You fell asleep in class."

"...I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠did not fall asleep."

Song Cheon-hye denied it instantly, but her flustered manner suggested there was a very good chance she had. She had, after all, been caught nodding off in Monster Ecology more than once.

Sensing she was losing ground, she hurried the conversation along.

"A-anyway. You do intend to take down Alpha together with us, yes?"

"Of course. It'll probably show up already dosed with the Blood Explosion Pill, and the six of us alone would be hard-pressed to handle that."

"Understood. We combine forces, then. Have you pinpointed its location?"

After the question of whether the Alpha Ogre would appear at all, the next most important things were when and where. We had to bring it down before it tore its way across the island, widening the damage with every step.

Being the old hand I was, I naturally had its location pinned already—but to dodge suspicion, I answered with deliberate vagueness.

"I have a guess or two. I'll need to confirm."

"Then for now, we move separately."

Our current objective was cutting down the ogre numbers. Splitting into two groups beat lumbering around as one big crowd, and if we made contact with the other Disciplinary Committee members, we could call on them for help as well.

The one drawback was that we'd be slow to regroup if Alpha actually showed up—and Song Cheon-hye, it seemed, had factored that in too.

"Please, take this."

A moment later she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠produced a pair of magic scrolls and handed one of them to me.

She actually got her hands on one of these.

Tear one scroll, and a teleportation portal opened at the other's location. No matter how far apart we were, we could link up in an instant.

"Signal us and we'll come at once. The same goes in reverse."

"Deal. See you later."

The Disciplinary Committee four immediately carved their way back through the goblins along the path they'd come, descending toward the garden. They appeared to have written off charging the crystal entirely—dawdling now could cost actual lives.

For our part, too, charging the crystal had only ever been secondary; our real objective had been meeting the Disciplinary Committee and handing over the syringe. So it seemed best to break things off around here.

Just then, Shin Byung-cheol came running out with an armful of glittering crystals.

"All done, bosses!"

Well, if he was already finished, so be it. While Shin Byung-cheol divided the crystals up by team, I gave a leisurely wave toward the top of the tower—and caught Seo Ye-in as she leapt down.

"Let's head down too."

"Mm."

Rrrrumble...

Thunder rolled low. The sound came not from Song Cheon-hye but from the black clouds smothering the sky.

Rain's coming.

I pulled my eyes from the sky and looked over my companions.

"One last check, everyone."

Setting aside the survival items we no longer needed, and combining what we'd drawn from today's resupply, what we'd traded with the Disciplinary Committee, and what Go Hyeon-woo's team and Hong Yeon-hwa's team had picked up along the way, our inventory now looked like this:

With the [Twin GPS] and the [Portal Scroll], we could keep rough tabs on the Disciplinary Committee's position and merge forces whenever we pleased. The [Paralysis Scroll] froze an enemy's movements for a set time—the stronger the foe, the shorter the duration, but even a second or two was only as useful as the hand that used it. And the [Recovery Scroll] was exactly what it sounded like: a scroll imbued with healing magic.

I'd rather we never had to use that one.

Getting hurt and healing was worse than no one getting hurt at all—that was my hope.

Pit. Pit-pat.

The sky darkened further and began sending the rain down one drop at a time. We walked on straight through it. Our final destination was the Alpha Ogre's spawning ground, and the plan was to deal with every ogre we spotted along the way.

"......"

"......"

The grim mood had sealed every mouth in the group. All the more so with the chatterbox Shin Byung-cheol sent ahead to scout—and the next most sociable of us, Go Hyeon-woo, sunk deep in thought.

How long did we walk in that silence? Shin Byung-cheol came pelting back to us from the far side of the forest, out of breath.

"Hey, it's there. It's here."

Thud. Thud.

Judging by the heavy footfalls, I didn't need to look to know what waited. We advanced slowly in that direction, and sure enough, an ogre revealed itself.

"Gruoohhh..."

A club in one hand and, as ever, a Blood Explosion Pill syringe lodged in its ankle. The moment it spotted us, hostility blazed in its eyes, and it began to advance—one step, then another.

I kept it short.

"We do this exactly as planned."

At that, everyone gave a small nod. We'd settled the positions in advance: Go Hyeon-woo and Baek Jun-seok on the vanguard, me and Shin Byung-cheol as all-rounders, Seo Ye-in and Hong Yeon-hwa in the rear.

"Gruoohhh—!"

Thud, thud—a few lumbering steps, and then the ogre was charging at full tilt. The first to step forward was Go Hyeon-woo. A ribbon of gentle wind coiled around his golden spellblade, and he swept it out to meet the incoming club.

Whiiiing—

The club slid off to the side as if on ice. The ogre's stance crumpled from the deflection, but even so it swung that hand the size of a pot lid at Go Hyeon-woo—and in the gap, Baek Jun-seok cut in, shield swinging to meet it.

CLANG—!

The ogre's arm was knocked wide. And in that opening, wind gathered and compressed around its chest—

BOOM!

—and detonated. Spiral Explosion's defense-ignoring effect shredded the beast's thick hide and bared the flesh beneath. And into that freshly exposed weak point—

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

—punched Seo Ye-in's sniper round, the chopsticks Shin Byung-cheol hurled, and the fire arrows Hong Yeon-hwa loosed.

"Gruoohhh..."

The ogre reeled, unable to keep pace with the current-smooth chain of attacks.

"Keep the pressure on."

While the two vanguards pinned the thrashing beast in place, the rest of us rained down attacks without a moment's rest. At last it flopped flat onto the ground and went still.

"One down."

"Well fought, everyone. Let's keep this up."

One line from me, one from Go Hyeon-woo. We'd put down an ogre far more easily than expected. In the crystal assault, two of us had been tied up per ogre; now we numbered six, so of course it went smoother. Quickly stripping its defenses with Spiral Explosion had done its part too.

Thanks to that, everyone's expression brightened a touch—but it didn't last.

Thud. Thud.

Because those heavy footfalls were closing in once more. Another ogre that had been prowling nearby had caught the racket and come looking.

"Grrrrr..."

But one glance was enough to tell this one was a different beast from the last. Its skin was flushed red, its muscles swollen like overinflated balloons, and its veins bulged out dark and gnarled like earthworms. A check of its ankle showed the syringe hanging empty.

"It's taken the Blood Explosion Pill."

"...!"

"...!"

"Grrrrr..."

The ogre glared at us, baring its teeth. Taut with tension, every one of us kept our eyes locked on it as we moved into position.

And at that very moment, a notification was printing itself into the corner of my vision.