Chapter 156
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Lesson 31. The Last Spoonful is Always the Most Annoying - 6
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"As expected, the Chain Room completely changes its environment at the end."
Dokgo Yeon murmured as she scanned their surroundings with keen interest.
Everything around them was packed with steel.
The mechanical empire, made solely of metal and wires, felt more like the group had shrunken down and entered the machine itself.
All machines are reinforced by electrical power.
This new trick was exactly what they'd anticipated.
It meant that from now on, Lucelle's lightning wouldn't harm the enemies—instead, it would strengthen them.
Furthermore, even if electricity coursed through the entire field, only Ban Yu-won's group would take damage.
It was a relief they'd read the signs back in Room 93 and prepared in advance.
"Ban, can we really block this with these?"
Light eyed his metal boots, now neatly covered in rubber overshoes—rubber boots—with suspicion.
He tugged at them with his hands, releasing with a snap, clearly taken by the unique texture of rubber.
"Rubber's the poster child for insulators. Sure, blocking Pikachu's million-volt thunderbolt with rubber gloves is pure bullshit."
"What's a Pikachu?"
"It's a thing. Smaller and cuter than you, Lucelle."
No matter how insulating rubber was, every material had its limits.
At high enough voltage, it would burn up from heat before insulation even came into play.
"That's why I jammed both concepts right into them."
Insulation and heat resistance.
These were two of the most common concepts found in modern items—no lies there. Modern people were obsessed with safety.
As long as they wore these rubber boots infused with those concepts generously, blocking the current flowing across the floor should be a breeze.
"Blocks electricity...? So aren't these just artifacts?"
"You could see it that way."
If this perfect invention had one flaw, it was that everyone wearing them looked downright adorable.
The four of them standing together in rubber boots looked like a group of elementary kids on a rainy-day field trip.
"Pfft..."
Especially Dokgo Yeon, who always wore a frosty expression—her waddling around in those boots was art in itself. Ban Yu-won couldn't hold back his laughter.
"...Ban Yu-won, you just laughed."
Then he heard her icy voice and realized who he'd just laughed at.
"No, whatever you're thinking, it's not that! You just looked so cute...!"
"Talking nonsense..."
The chilling shing of Dokgo Yeon drawing her sword rang out.
But before Ban Yu-won could retire, the enemies mercifully appeared.
"You're lucky, Ban Yu-won."
"This is so unfair..."
Dokgo Yeon strode forward, shoving aside the tank-transformed Eve and Tike, and the mechanical minions. Even from behind, her terrifying killing intent was unmistakable.
But with those rubber boots on, it somehow felt... cute.
"Ah, no. If I laugh again, she'll really kill me...!"
"Ahem. Yu-won, do I look cute too?"
Lucelle, who'd been subtly checking Dokgo Yeon lately, slyly stepped in front of him to ask.
With her stellar figure and mature allure, Lucelle in rubber boots had a slightly fetishistic vibe.
"Cute, sure... but like, rated 12? No, maybe 15."
"Why?!"
"Lucelle, we're in battle—stop clinging to Ban."
"Light, this is an important moment, so don't interrupt...!"
The fight started off ordinarily enough.
The elite monster ratio was much higher than in Room 93, which was annoying, but they could harvest juicy concepts from those guys too.
Then, the change hit suddenly.
"Ugh...?!"
Ban Yu-won sensed the omen first, naturally.
He felt the 'flow.'
A massive current of electricity surged in, its origin impossible to pinpoint.
—What kind of Room 94 is this? This is a field trap you'd see around Room 400...
'Hearing that after so long almost makes me nostalgic.'
—Want help?
Cellon's changed too much; it's getting hard to handle.
'We'll try on our own first... but if my comrades are in danger, jump in?'
—Got it. You really cherish them, don't you.
Without the rubber boots, they'd be electrocuted by now.
The proof was in the mechanical bugs' heightened aura.
Electricity now flowed through the field, boosting their power already.
But the mechanical minions were the same.
And they had other weapons.
"Lucelle, go!"
"Got it!"
Lucelle, rampaging at the front lines, leaped back and soared high into the air.
As if waiting, Gwangjo flew in, and she landed nimbly atop it.
"Here I go!"
She unleashed all the lightning she'd been building up without releasing during the fight!
[Resonance]
Lightning power distributed evenly to all minions on the battlefield.
—[Massive Damage] HP
Battlefield reversed in an instant.
—Kiiiiiiiiii!
Gwangjo cried out loudly.
The intense lightning focused on it spread evenly to all minions on the battlefield via the 'Resonance' concept!
—Kwaaaaaaaa!
The even standoff flipped in a heartbeat, Ban Yu-won's minions overwhelming the mechanical bugs.
Light and Dokgo Yeon, locked in frenzy, finally caught a breather and fell back.
"The difficulty's so high, this is my first level-up from pure combat EXP, not even rewards."
"Me too... We're not even at Room 100, and it's this tough. Can we really keep climbing the tower?"
"At least you and I can, Ban Yu-won."
Dokgo Yeon flicked oil and bug fluids off her shortsword and glanced back.
There stood Ban Yu-won in the battlefield's center, rubber boots on, eyes closed in focus.
No time to question him in this pinch.
She could feel the explosive currents across the ground hesitating at his presence.
'Indeed... He's turning this into a growth opportunity.'
Dokgo Yeon recalled the technique Ban Yu-won aimed for.
He sought to perceive the world's everything as unique symbols only he could read, then perfectly read and control their flows.
Contacting a massive external flow not born from him, and influencing it, would aid not just Origin Sword but the evolution of his Manifestation Technique.
'But Manifestation Technique needs another kind of enlightenment to evolve.'
So he probably wouldn't achieve it here in the tower—at least not Origin Sword.
She didn't tell him, knowing spilling martial secrets prematurely might hinder his growth.
'But he'll manage. No one's mastered Manifestation Technique this fast.'
As she warmed to her insight, she remembered his earlier nonsense about her.
She was thrilled as his master, but teasing her? Unforgivable.
Unless it wasn't teasing... No, impossible.
Even more unforgivable.
"...Dokgo Yeon, you okay? Your eyes looked weird just now."
"Ahem."
Dokgo Yeon cleared her throat and turned away.
No time to dwell on Ban Yu-won.
Plenty of enemies left to kill, and he'd grow on his own now.
"Hup!"
—Shwaaaa
She fired aura at a mechanical bug sucking up currents and sparking across the ground.
Then casually told Light,
"Anyway, if you don't want to fall behind, step up. I'm tired of watching you struggle with that sword."
"No issues this expedition. Feels like you've crossed a line. Watch—I'll special train over break and master it perfectly by second semester...!"
"...Hmm, so inviting Ban Yu-won to your dimension this break is for that training?"
Light was speechless.
His spear, swinging mid-convo, lost direction and circled the air.
His face seemed flushed, maybe imagination.
"Uh, well? Me and Ban are close friends, so, uh..."
"Spare me. I'm curious what you'll look like second semester."
Dokgo Yeon smirked, slashing incoming spiderwebs and cleaving mechanical struts.
"Showing up in a dress, maybe."
"A dress?! That's weird—no, dresses aren't weird! Even if I wore one, Ban wouldn't..."
"Hm? No idea what Ban Yu-won has to do with this."
"Huh?!"
Dokgo Yeon casually wiped out another swarm, tilting her head innocently.
Her unchanging expression made feigned ignorance foolproof.
"Hey! You brought up Ban first! Can't show a weird side to a friend, so I..."
"A friend. You still call him that with that face."
Dokgo Yeon scoffed.
"Thank Ban Yu-won for tolerating your lies and playing along. Otherwise, you might not even be friends."
Even thick-skinned Light wilted under her sharp words.
Especially since he already felt guilty toward Ban Yu-won about it.
Her barbs weren't usually this harsh, and dragging it out mid-battle was unlike her...
That look earlier too—sensing something off, Light considered a possibility.
"...You're a bit mad, aren't you?"
"No, why would I."
"Mad I invited Ban? ...Jealous, maybe?"
The moment the word left Light's mouth.
"Jealous?"
Shwaaaa...
Exploding magic everywhere, sparks from electric torrents, mechanical bugs screeching from the empire's depths...
All noise fell silent.
"Spare me the ridiculous delusions."
Dokgo Yeon's cross-shaped eyes fixed on Light.
Reading death in them, Light froze like a mouse before a cat.
"Uh, yeah..."
"Hmph."
Dokgo Yeon turned away with a snort, and everything returned to normal.
The brutal Room 94 environment cowed by one girl's aura!
Heart pounding from the novel experience, Light thought,
'She really is jealous?!'
Ban Yu-won, scary kid...!
Ban Yu-won was certain.
'Can't access it.'
Every flow had a source—that was his creed.
Yet he couldn't find the origin of the current filling the area.
He first thought it was his own lack of skill, but tracing the concept's source until it converged, he realized it cut off midway.
The answer was obvious.
The current's source lay at some inaccessible point right now.
'Probably... reachable in Room 95.'
His heart raced.
As expected, this Chain Room was a jackpot.
No, still too weak for this.
Ban Yu-won instinctively knew he couldn't complete the Manifestation Technique here.
But Origin Sword...
A technique that advanced by reading and controlling all inner and outer flows.
[Feeling concepts within the body integrate.]
In this situation, with massive external concepts flowing and him trying to read and interfere with every one...
He could complete it somehow!
"Elite... a huge one's coming!"
Lucelle shouted from atop Gwangjo, supplying lightning while surveying the field.
No need for words—everyone spotted something rising from the giant hole spewing mechanical bugs.
The ground shook violently, hard to keep balance.
"Yu-won, it's a dome! A dome!"
Ban Yu-won half-opened his closed eyes, eyeing the massive hemispherical machine emerging from the earth.
Tightly sealed, but he was sure something horrific would emerge when it opened.
'A dome in Room 94, not even 95?'
The electricity filling the ground rushed toward the dome.
Maybe all that rampant current was just to herald this thing's arrival.
But he couldn't let it happen easily.
'Read all external concepts, control internal ones—that's theoretically perfect response.'
True.
But that wouldn't surpass his limits.
Powerhouses like Lucien Ortima, Dokgo Yeon, or Aire.
No—even to crush Ryu Cheol-myeong baring his fangs now, it wasn't enough.
Origin Sword's goal was beyond that.
A technique transcending limits, forcing the strong to kneel.
'Read all external concepts, interfere and control them.'
He'd done it before.
Simplest: conceptualized incoming shells at his group and absorbed them.
Added antidote concept to pervasive poison to neutralize it.
That was Origin Sword's demand.
Perfectly read all inner and outer concepts.
Control all internal concepts while...
Interfering with external ones to carve his path through!
'Can't complete Origin Sword without controlling such an intense flow.'
Ban Yu-won closed his eyes again.
Switching to Manifestation Energy was effortless now, no movement needed.
Countless directions—vector concepts.
The flow concept empowering them.
'Go!'
All his magic conceptualized, blanketing the area.
His artificial flow mixed with the electricity surging toward the dome.
Pzzt-zzt-crackle.
Fierce resistance—clashing concepts.
Ban Yu-won focused harder.
Resistance just consumed concepts.
Expand senses, read flows more precisely, more perfectly.
And in one moment, he nudged the flow slightly.
Backflow began.