No.50 Teleportation Labyrinth (2)
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
The remains of the Oubleks came pouring down like rain. Everyone knew that touching the stuff could only end badly, and the mages threw up barriers at precisely the right moment.
Ssssss—
Every time the black liquid kissed a barrier, a sizzling hiss rose up along with a plume of acrid smoke. As expected, the stuff carried a vicious mix of acid and poison.
Before long the black rain stopped, and Seo Cheong-yong waved a hand through the air; the filth filling the chamber swiftly vanished.
"We'll take a moment to regroup."
The battle had been so utterly one-sided that no one had taken so much as a scratch, and there was nothing to repair anyway. Even so, to flush out any unforeseen variables, everyone ran a check on their own condition. In the midst of it, Seo Cheong-yong spoke to Lee Sudok.
"They'll have caught on by now."
"No doubt. Their scouts were taken out."
The Oubleks they'd just faced had been gatekeepers of a sort—sentries. They lay in wait in the first room, and the moment anyone set foot in the dungeon, they charged and blew themselves up. Then they relayed that fact, intact, straight to the Witch of Decay.
"From the next room on, she'll start pulling tricks, one way or another."
"Does it change anything?"
"Fair point."
To Lee Sudok's indifferent answer, Seo Cheong-yong nodded in agreement. They had come in knowing full well that the Witch of Decay had fortified this place—and that she would scheme against them. All that was left was to keep pushing forward.
Seo Cheong-yong gave the order.
"We're moving to the next room. Prepare yourselves."
The mages spread their mana wide in every direction, and magic circles began to surface one by one on the floor. Some were barely big enough for a single person to stand on; others were wide enough to swallow the entire room.
Go big or go home.
The rule of magic circles was simple: the larger and more complex, the more powerful. Teleportation circles were no exception—the bigger the circle, the more people it could carry in a single cast. And to move a subjugation force several dozen strong, you obviously picked the largest one available. These basics were drilled into everyone, so we poured our mana into the biggest circle in the chamber.
Soon the ground beneath our feet flooded with brilliant light—
FWOOSH—!
—and my vision flared white before plunging into darkness. We had arrived in the next room.
This one wasn't pitch black, at least; torches hung along the walls, casting light across the space. As before, it was a chamber enclosed on all four sides by aged stone. The only difference was that it was utterly, completely empty.
"...?"
"...What, nothing's here?"
Just as everyone was letting the tension slip, I pointed up and shouted.
"Above!!"
"!!"
Every gaze snapped upward—and found the black masses clinging to the ceiling. In the same instant, the Oubleks rained down into the gaps between the subjugation force's ranks, twisted into the shapes of knights, and swung their swords.
CLANG!
One member turning aside a creature's blade marked the opening of the battle. Two Dark Oubleks dropped down on either side of me as well—one slashing in on a diagonal, the other thrusting straight for my body. I tilted my torso and backpedaled half a step, slipping past both.
They stayed glued to me, trying to press the attack, but—
Swish—
—one was carved into pieces by Dang Gyu-young's twin shadow blades, and the other was swatted out of existence by a sweep of Lee Sudok's cleaver. The other subjugation members, flustered only for a moment, recovered their composure and threw themselves into the fight, overwhelming the enemy with ease.
But soon, just as in the first room, the Oubleks' forms sagged and ran like melted wax—
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
—and they detonated in unison, spraying black liquid in every direction. They had gone off deep inside our formation, and several members, with no room to dodge, took the spray head-on.
Ssssss—
"Damn it...!"
"Ghhk."
Armor melted away in an eyeblink, and the poisoned skin beneath blackened on the spot. Those hit shed their gear at once and downed potions; once the mages stacked detoxification and healing spells on top, the commotion died down almost as fast as it had flared.
Seo Cheong-yong issued the same order in a calm voice.
"Quick regroup, then we move on."
Before long the subjugation force located the largest circle in the chamber and fed it mana. My vision brightened.
FWOOSH!
Torches lit this room as well. Every gaze shot upward at once, but mercifully nothing hung from the ceiling. Instead—
CLANK-CLANK-CLANK!
—knights in jet-black armor were already charging us. The melee classes stepped forward, formed a battle line, and crashed into them head-on.
WHAM—!
But knights weren't all this room had to offer. Four robed figures in the shape of mages—devoured by Oubleks all the same, black from head to toe. The moment we appeared, they began chanting, and a small magic circle on the floor lit up bright.
Reading their intent, Seo Cheong-yong shouted urgently.
"The mages! Take out the mages!"
"!!"
The cleaver in Lee Sudok's hand blurred, and the upper halves of two Oublek mages were sheared clean away. Seo Cheong-yong and the ranged classes moved to concentrate fire next—but at that very moment, the Oublek knights who had closed the distance all detonated together.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
"Ghhk...!"
Everyone had to divert their full strength into blocking the falling black liquid, and in that sliver of a gap, the last two Oubleks finished their circle. Brilliant light swallowed the subjugation members whole.
FWOOSH!
A moment later, the light died—and what remained was barely half our original number. Seo Cheong-yong was nowhere to be seen. The teleportation spell had fired, carrying half the force off to another room.
After mopping up the surviving Oubleks, Lee Sudok swept his gaze around the chamber and clicked his tongue.
"We've been had."
I had a feeling it would come to this.
It had been all but written in the cards from the moment the Witch of Decay took root in this dungeon. The subjugation force's strength was simply overwhelming; in a head-on fight, she had no chance at all.
So she's splitting us up.
Just like a moment ago—triggering a small teleportation circle to shunt only part of the force into another room. The force splits naturally in two, and repeat that a few times and everyone ends up scattered to the four winds.
Then she can pick us off one by one.
And even if the piecemeal kills failed, she could still bleed us considerably—because now we'd have to fight battles like the last one with only a handful of people. What's more, the enemy always held first strike here, so we'd keep eating hits we could see coming. Our options were limited, too.
All we can do is fight well.
Defeat the enemies while taking minimal damage, find the most efficient route, and reach the boss room—that was the full extent of what we could do. Lee Sudok must have reached the same conclusion, because he gave the order.
"Regroup and move out."
Then he turned to a staff member standing nearby.
"Can we link back up with the others?"
"...Not possible."
The circle the Oubleks had triggered had already burned itself out. Other members had poured mana into it, but it gave no response whatsoever.
Lee Sudok asked again.
"Do the communicators work?"
"No, sir. Completely dead."
The staff member shook his head, looking bitter. Every room in the teleportation labyrinth was a perfectly sealed space, connected to nothing except through its teleport circles. Lee Sudok had asked only on the off chance; he'd surely known it was hopeless long before he opened his mouth.
Before long the regroup was finished, and the mages activated another circle.
FWOOSH—!
My vision flared bright, then dimmed a shade. Then a monstrous presence welled up beside me—Lee Sudok, winding his momentum to its absolute peak. The next instant his cleaver flashed, and a colossal blade wind swept through the Oubleks.
KWAHAAAAAA—!
The moment after that, they were simply gone—deleted, without so much as a single drop of black liquid left behind.
Yeah, he's strong all right.
The majesty of an A-rank hero. There had been a reason, after all, that the academy entrusted this subjugation to Lee Sudok and Seo Cheong-yong.
"...!"
"...!"
Everyone stared at him, half stunned and half awed. Lee Sudok, for his part, merely tossed out one flat remark.
"Moving out."
KWAHAAAA—!
Every time Lee Sudok drew his cleaver, the Dark Oubleks were too busy being erased to manage anything at all. But even an A-rank hero couldn't throw out attacks of that caliber forever. He needed time to recover his strength.
They couldn't linger in one place to rest, either—some circles fired automatically once enough time passed, and there was no telling how many people would end up dumped into which room. Better to keep moving without pause; while Lee Sudok recovered, the rest of the subjugation force handled the Oubleks.
FWOOSH!
Every time the creatures triggered a teleportation circle, our numbers wore down bit by bit. Sometimes half the group dropped away in one go; sometimes it was only two or three. And so, pressing ever deeper into the labyrinth, we were down to just seven: me, Lee Sudok, Dang Gyu-young, Jegal So-so, and the staff members.
"Moving out."
Lee Sudok's order fell again, and the circle blazed to life.
FWOOSH!
We all expected more of the same pattern of battle—but this room was conspicuously vaster than any before it.
The mid-boss room.
Sure enough, more than twice as many Oublek knights and mages as before had us surrounded, and out from among them strode a giant of a knight—a shield in one hand, and in the other, a mace the size of a full-grown man.
"..."
Lee Sudok and the creature held each other's gaze for a few seconds. Then his aura spiked violently, and he carved a diagonal arc through the air toward it.
KRAKOOM—!
Every Oublek standing nearby was swept away wholesale, but the giant knight—true to mid-boss form—dug in behind his shield and held. Then it came charging at tremendous speed and brought the mace down.
WHAM—!
The instant it and Lee Sudok collided, the Oublek knights ringing us began closing in from every direction.
Looks like I'm using it.
This was no moment to agonize over forbidden skills or anything else. I clenched my fist hard—and drove it, wreathed in dark-crimson flame, straight out in front of me.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA—!
The charging firestorm blew a gaping hole clean through their front line. But plenty of them still remained; a few knights rushed to plug the gap and came on fast—
Swish—
—and were abruptly diced to pieces. Jegal So-so had cut in, sword flashing. Dang Gyu-young and the staff members likewise turned back the oncoming waves from their own positions.
Meanwhile, a short distance away, a whole crowd of Oublek mages was pouring mana into a teleportation circle. There were more of them than in any previous room, and the circle was filling fast.
It'll probably get blocked.
Still, I had to try. With that thought, I hurled another Inferno Fist.
But just as I'd expected, the Oublek knights came swarming together, dead set on holding the line at any cost, and threw up a thick wall of bodies.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA—!
The firestorm guttered out before it could reach the mages, and the circle completed. Brilliant light burst forth and swallowed me whole.
FWOOSH—!
Jackpot.
Despite the Oubleks firing off teleportation circles countless times, I'd stayed glued to Lee Sudok the whole way—but it seemed I'd finally been plucked out.
At least I'm not alone.
I exchanged a look with Dang Gyu-young and Jegal So-so.