No. 104 Black Snake Chamber (6)

I flung myself sideways without a moment's delay.

- Kragagagak!

Three streaks of pitch-black qi raked through the spot where I'd just been standing.

I fell back again, and the Black Snake Lord clawed at the empty air before me. In the same motion he leveled his index finger at me, and a poison strike came hurtling over as though the finger itself were stretching across the distance.

Ever since he'd realized that seizing me with his own hands was impossible, this had become his pattern—hunting me down while layering ranged attacks on top.

Those ranged attacks carried a vicious toxicity, an inherent trait of the martial arts the Black Snake Lord had mastered. But with his poison techniques raining down in all the wrong places, the toxic qi piled up on itself until the entire area had been scorched into wasteland. Black pools gathered in the deep gouges carved across the ground, and acrid smoke curled up from them. Not a single blade of grass would grow around here for a good while yet.

After stoking all this mayhem without so much as grazing my collar, the Black Snake Lord looked a touch rattled.

"Your footwork is exceptional, I grant you. Yet this I cannot fathom. The Flame Tyrant, as I understood him, favored fierce and tyrannical martial arts—how is it his disciple flits about so flightily?"

"Like I keep saying, I'm not his disciple."

I wasn't, which was precisely why I spent my time hopping around like a grasshopper.

Just as I made to become a grasshopper once more, Shin Byung-cheol's voice came through the transceiver in my ear.

"Nice. See you there."

The Black Snake Lord's eyebrows climbed.

He had caught on that my last words had been aimed at someone other than him. Which meant I hadn't invaded alone—which meant, in turn—

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"...Don't tell me."

"You really are slow on the uptake."

Only now did it dawn on him that this had been a two-pronged operation.

In fairness, my own needling deserved much of the blame. I had kept darting around at his side being obnoxious, prodding at his temper—and when the blood rushes to a man's head, deep thought goes out the window.

"Well then, I'll be on my way."

"You don't truly expect me to let you leave?"

"You can't catch me anyway. Best of luck, then."

I tossed off my farewell, wheeled around, and bolted. The Black Snake Lord came thundering after me with murder in his stride.

"Halt!"

Of course, I was only feigning flight. My speed held the advantage, but he was no slouch himself, and if I wanted real ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠distance I would have to shake him off properly at least once.

I ran a short stretch—then in one instant whipped around and hurled myself straight back at him.

"Shallow trickery!"

The Black Snake Lord raked madly at the air, and dusky qi wove itself into a vast net that came sweeping down over me. I kicked off the ground and cut away on the diagonal, kicked off again—and arrived square in front of him.

To eyes that couldn't fully track that speed, it must have looked as though I had simply stepped through space itself. And in the sliver of a moment before he could respond, a fist brimming with flame shot out.

- KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA—!

A storm of flame several times mightier than anything I had unleashed so far plowed forward, incinerating everything dead ahead. The Black Snake Lord's figure was swallowed by the blaze and vanished from sight.

"Ow."

A sting throbbed in my fist; I looked down to find a faint burn mark. Raised to my nose for a sniff, it even gave off a faintly scorched odor. It was already a skill with a brutal price tag, and I had amplified it on top of that—even S-rank Elemental Resistance hadn't nullified it completely.

Not that he'd have died even from that, I'd wager.

That was what made the Black Snake Lord truly frightening. He had snatched up the young men of the region and put them through the grand arts of demonic cultivation, leaving his lifeline stretched into something absurdly tough.

Which brought the silver lining:

Then I just won't fight him.

I had no actual obligation to fell the Black Snake Lord. With an A-rank Inferno Fist having blasted him senseless if only for a breath, this was the moment to run. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cranked Thief's Step to its absolute limit and broke into an all-out sprint.

When the fight had begun, the men in black had formed a dense ring around us, but their lord had spent the whole battle splashing poison in every direction, and by now the encirclement had grown distinctly threadbare.

- Wham!

I shouldered one low-ranking warrior out of my path with Wind Force, seized another, and flung him headlong into a nearby pool of poison, then kept running.

"Stooooop riiiight there!!!"

The Black Snake Lord's roar boomed at my back. Look at him—recovered already. But if you were me, would you stop?

Not sparing a single glance backward, I held my top speed.

Yeah, I'm done fighting. I'm leaving, and I'm never coming back. Chase me for a hundred days if you like.

Even after we left the dungeon, they would surely comb the whole district inside and out—and failing to find us after all that might just drive him to a breakdown. Whatever fury was left over, he could spend later on the Swordsmanship Club, when those blade-toting senior brothers and sisters came calling.

I left the market district and slipped into a derelict building—and there were Go Hyeon-woo and Shin Byung-cheol, waiting.

"Brother Kim."

"Oh, that was quick."

He had sprinted over the moment my message arrived, so the gap between us was next to nothing. In the meantime, though, Go Hyeon-woo's color had gone somewhat pale. With his abilities, a squad of elite warriors shouldn't have troubled him—something else, then, had happened.

"You ran into White ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Snake?"

"That I did."

"Rotten luck, that. You've been through the wringer."

He had punched clean through those odds and run headlong into a hidden boss. Thankfully, he seemed to have navigated it precisely as the walkthrough prescribed. Just in case—I was glad I had gone over the countermeasures with him beforehand. Shin Byung-cheol had even broken out the Hi-Potion he'd been hoarding to settle his internal injuries, but the damage ran deep enough that a day or two of rest was probably in order.

"We'll need the infirmary. Let's get out of here first."

Shin Byung-cheol promptly produced the scroll he had stowed away.

The instant he tore the scroll in half, the inscribed mana burst free and the spell took form. The empty air convulsed wildly, then split open with a crack, as though transparent hands were forcibly wrenching space apart. One after another, we threw ourselves into the emergency escape portal.

The moment we emerged and the deep layer's scenery began to register, a pitch-black shadow gulped us down. We flinched for a heartbeat, then read the situation and held still. Dang Gyu-young had been standing by outside, and the instant she laid eyes on us she had swept us into her Shadow Pouch.

Left to sway inside the pouch for a short while, I eventually felt myself spat out—ptoo!—and my vision snapped back to normal. The first things I saw were the faces of Dang Gyu-young and Chae Da-bin; a quick look around placed us near the boundary between Floor C and the deep layer.

Dang Gyu-young peered into my face.

"So? How was the Black Snake Chamber?"

"No major problems. We looted everything worth looting and came out clean."

"Ha! What did I say—our junior here is the genuine article. A first year strips a B-rank bare and walks out—who'd believe a word of it? They'd just tell you to quit spouting nonsense."

Next, the two women's gazes swung to Shin Byung-cheol.

"Where's our souvenir?"

"And our snacks?"

"...Uhhh."

Shin Byung-cheol blinked twice, and his face promptly settled into a classic oh-no expression. Apparently it hadn't crossed his mind once.

In his defense: it was his first time in a deep-layer dungeon, so he'd have been wound tight as a drum, and there had been no spare moments to browse the stalls. A trifling request like a gift was bound to slip through the cracks.

That was his story, anyway.

Whether Dang Gyu-young and Chae Da-bin would extend any such understanding was a separate question. It had been said half in jest, granted—but it wasn't some grand request either. Come back with not even a single candy, and you couldn't help feeling written off. All the more so if he hadn't so much as remembered.

The looks in the two women's eyes were cooling by the second. Sensing mortal danger, Shin Byung-cheol shot me a desperate, pleading look.

"Help! Save me!"

Just before Dang Gyu-young's hand closed around his buzzed head, I reacted with exaggerated recall.

"Oh, right—this is what he asked me to hold. Here."

Unlike those two, I'd had freedom of movement, and I'd already mapped out which stalls stood where, so carving out a spare minute to pick up a few local specialties had been no hardship at all.

Jerky sold only in the market district near the Black Snake Chamber. Thanks to its signature seasoning, word of it had traveled quietly among the connoisseurs—a genuine local legend. Exaggerating only slightly, there were third-years who joined Black Snake Chamber raids purely for the jerky.

The moment the jerky bundles landed in their hands, both women's faces smoothed right over.

"You actually bought them? And here I thought Byung-cheol had let it go in one ear and out the other. I was this close to feeling hurt."

"We'll enjoy these."

"Aw, c'mon, ladies. You think I couldn't manage this much? Heh heh heh."

Shin Byung-cheol grinned servilely and rubbed his palms together. Such was the cost of a first year's survival in a club.

Dang Gyu-young and Chae Da-bin took the lead, chatting as they walked.

"Should we snack on one while we head up? Which flavor do you want first?"

"Sweet and spicy first. I hear the Volcano Explosion is no joke."

While the two seniors were absorbed in their jerky, Shin Byung-cheol drifted back a step and offered me his thanks, his face melting with gratitude.

"Ahh, Boss, your instincts are just—simply—magnificent. From this day forward, I'll follow you and you alone."

And with that, the jerky squares us for the Hi-Potion.

"Whoa, that's a bit..."

You don't like it? Then say so honestly.

"...Deal."

The miracle exchange rate: one Hi-Potion for a few bundles of jerky. I had cut things off at the source so that later, once his memories rearranged themselves, he couldn't come whining about how he'd wasted an expensive Hi-Potion.

All things considered, it wasn't a bad deal for Shin Byung-cheol either. Keep the potion, and Dang Gyu-young would have been plucking his scalp bald—so trading the potion away to keep his hair was profit all around, no?

The climb up proved just about as smooth as the climb down. Dang Gyu-young sent her shadow butterflies out as scouts to lead the way, with Chae Da-bin and Shin Byung-cheol lending a hand in between. If only that smooth sailing had lasted...

Between Go Hyeon-woo's run-in with White Snake and everything else, today simply refused to smile on us. By the time we had worked our way up to around Floor E, Dang Gyu-young—who had been strolling along without a care—jolted and knitted her brows.

"Ugh. We're made."

Something out of the ordinary had apparently tripped the senses of the scouting butterflies she had sent out.

Chae Da-bin asked, "Who is it? A teacher?"

"Looks like Gwak Seung-jae."

Judging that flight was already too late, she took no evasive action. Instead, she quickly synchronized the story with us first-years.

"Okay, kids—we just popped down for a quick look around the underground floors. Never laid a finger on any dungeon. Got it?"

"Yes, senior."

- Gururururu...

We stood rooted in place for a few seconds, and then a single wooden door abruptly surged up out of the ground. When it opened, out walked—just as predicted—Gwak Seung-jae. He bowed with a crisp dip of his waist.

"Senior. Good day to you."

"Hello, Seung-jae."

"We recovered this on Floor D, and I have come briefly to confirm a matter with you."

Gwak Seung-jae raised a wooden cage. Inside, a pair of shadow butterflies fluttered against their confinement.

Shadow magic found few practitioners whose temperaments suited it, and mastering it was punishingly difficult—very few ever learned it properly. Anyone polished enough to wield Shadow Butterfly Flight as a scouting instrument would number among a bare handful in all of Dragon Slayer Academy. Which meant those butterflies had been cast, in all likelihood, by Dang Gyu-young herself.

Besides, sending out scouts amounted to advertising that you were up to something untoward. If you had merely come down to clear a dungeon, what would it matter whom you ran into? Following this exact chain of reasoning, Gwak Seung-jae had traced the butterflies straight to her the instant he netted them.

And his deduction had proven precisely correct. His gaze traveled across me, then Go Hyeon-woo, then Shin Byung-cheol.

"..."

First years caught roaming the underground floors left no wriggle room for excuses of any kind. Gwak Seung-jae extended the invitation to all of us.

"Kindly accompany me to the Student Disciplinary Committee Room."

"Well, all right, then."

The reason Dang Gyu-young offered no resistance—though she could have subdued Gwak Seung-jae with ease—was simple: this was the Dungeon Hall. Trigger even the smallest commotion, and every faculty member stationed throughout the facility, every Disciplinary Committee patrol on its rounds, would come flooding in. Someone was almost certainly holding position by the exits at this very moment. Stirring up a storm would only bleed them dry and gain nothing; the calculus favored coming along quietly.

Gwak Seung-jae, evidently well aware that we couldn't act rashly either, turned his back on us without a shred of wariness. He shut the wooden door, cast his magic for a few moments, then opened it again.

The vista beyond the doorway had changed to the interior of the Student Disciplinary Committee Room.

"Please, come in."