Chapter 218
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 218
Chapter Title: Lesson 43. Too Much Popularity - 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Infinite power did exist.
It was Light's holy sword.
"Vanish, you lowly creatures!"
Ban Yu-won let out a gasp of admiration as he watched Light indiscriminately slaughtering the sand humans in Room 141, spouting the kind of 'coolest line ever' that even he had once dreamed up back in his middle school days.
"That guy's got some real spirit."
"From my perspective, it's convenient since I don't have to deal with these pesky things one by one..."
Dokgo Yeon stared in disbelief at Light, who was swinging his holy sword to pulverize enemies the moment they rose from the sand.
"This is just mindless brute force, not even a proper technique. I thought I'd drilled the forms of martial arts into him enough during that short first semester."
"Which means I'm right after all."
"Yes."
Dokgo Yeon smacked her lips with a wry smile and transmitted her thoughts telepathically to Ban Yu-won.
―It seems even calling him Light himself might be a stretch now. No matter how much he's changed, you can't just throw away the solid foundation he's built up over time.
It was the first time he'd seen her wear such a defeated expression in front of him.
Ban Yu-won wondered if Dokgo Yeon might be the one person even more attached to Light than he was.
After all, wasn't it Dokgo Yeon who had taught Light, who had come from a fantasy world and was just as ignorant of martial arts as Ban Yu-won, from the basics?
Sure, she nagged and tormented him at every opportunity, but Ban Yu-won knew that was just her clumsy way of showing affection.
"...Ban Yu-won, I don't like that look in your eyes. Did you just curse me out in your head?"
"No way. I only praise you, inside and out."
"Another blatant lie like that... So?"
Dokgo Yeon looked too tired to even argue as she steered the conversation back.
This time, it was telepathic as well.
―Is it really possible? Light might already be... Maybe there's no way to bring her back anymore?
The Liberion members, excluding Light, already knew about the holy sword and its progenitor.
Dokgo Yeon was worried that Light's sense of self had been completely swallowed by that progenitor—or by the holy sword he left behind.
―No, that's not it. If he'd been fully taken over, he wouldn't have returned to the academy. Plus, think about how he awkwardly avoided every time I suggested we shower together, despite insisting he's a man. That proves Light's own will is still in there.
"..."
Dokgo Yeon's piercing gaze shot toward Ban Yu-won as he replied telepathically.
Her signature look of contempt, gazing down from above, even started to feel oddly pleasant once he got used to it.
Of course, he had no intention of ever saying that out loud—he'd just get labeled a pervert.
―You... In the martial world, they'd call you a lustful demon.
But getting labeled a pervert was happening anyway.
Ban Yu-won hurriedly made excuses about his 'friendly shower strategy'.
―No, it's not like that. Light's body is fully masculinized right now. It wasn't some perverted intent like you're thinking. I just wanted to check if he truly sees himself as a complete man!
―That's a long excuse. You've already got two women and you're still not satisfied...
―Anyway! That confirmed there's still hope to save Light.
He couldn't deny the part about having two women.
Ban Yu-won quickly dove into the main topic.
―So now, until the Union Founding Festival, we just need to stimulate him enough to revive his will.
―How?
That was something he'd have to figure out from here on.
Ban Yu-won murmured softly in response and turned his gaze back to Light, who was rampaging tirelessly.
Wearing a truly refreshing smile, Light swung the orb of destruction in his hand, wiping out every last trace of hostility left in the room. In terms of raw power alone, he might even surpass Dokgo Yeon.
If they could just suppress him with sheer force, they might stop his rampage—but they couldn't.
The current Light was like a time bomb no one dared touch.
"Did you see that?"
Perhaps sensing Ban Yu-won's gaze, Light returned with an air of smug superiority, surveying the now-cleared Room 141 as he addressed him.
"I could wipe them all out by myself. I know you're not weak, but that doesn't mean I need your help. You'll admit that, right?"
"Well, considering how you charged in relying only on that holy sword and got crushed in a trick room, maybe not."
"Tch."
Light bristled at Ban Yu-won's light provocation.
"Back then, I was just weak."
"You won't even admit your head was weak, huh."
"Shh, shh."
At that moment, Eve, who had been gliding through the desert sky scouting singularities, slipped into Ban Yu-won's arms and reported rapidly.
"You found traces of a city?"
"Shh."
The chain of rooms continuing from Room 131 seemed to finally be entering the main event after ten rooms.
Ban Yu-won, who had been worried about how long this endless fighting against monsters bursting from the sand would drag on, let out a sigh of relief.
"I thought we'd wrap it up within five rooms when the sand whale popped out."
"If it's a city, we might get a quest there."
Thanks to the ring Ban Yu-won gave her, Lucelle could block the heat, but she still hated the sandy, windy desert environment. She spoke with a relieved expression.
With no special monsters or quests so far, the nine rooms they'd cleared offered nothing remarkable from Eden in Room 140—just flowing sap and fruit.
Regular students would call tasting Eden's fruit a massive achievement, but for Liberion, life essence and sap were already standard fare.
The fact that they'd cleared nine rooms from 131 to 139 in a single day showed they were far beyond ordinary.
"Room 150 should be worth looking forward to."
"So when do we switch shifts?"
"Follow me."
The traces of the city Eve found were more precisely traces of a road.
In this desert, where any ordinary traces would be swept away by sandstorms, they discovered an artificial road hardened by magic and all sorts of footprints, wagon wheel marks on it.
Even with Eve's sharp eyes sharing Ban Yu-won's authority, she might not have spotted it without reading the concept of [Road].
The moment the group found and entered the road, the shift triggered, and the surroundings began to warp.
Lucelle beamed brightly.
"It's a good thing Master is here. Any other team would've wandered the desert for days."
In truth, most delays in student explorations came from failing to find shift triggers.
Rooms where you just progressed by killing monsters on the path were rare outside the tower's early floors.
"Hmph. No need to wander around hurting your feet searching. Just clear away the unnecessary stuff, and the path reveals itself."
Light snorted, clearly knowing Lucelle's words were aimed at him.
Lucelle smiled sweetly in response.
"Lucky you, Light—you don't need brains. That thing on your shoulders looks heavy; why not take it off?"
"Are you saying my head's just for show?"
"If it were decoration, it'd at least be pretty..."
"What did you say?"
The team atmosphere was truly fantastic.
Even Lucelle resorting to burns meant they'd seen it all... or had they?
Lucelle brushed off insults to herself lightly, but she was sensitive when Ban Yu-won was targeted.
In any case, Ban Yu-won pulled apart Light and Lucelle, who looked ready to throw down right then.
"Shift's over. Focus."
"This woman insulted me."
"You've been doing the same lately. Anyway, concentrate on the tower now. Lucelle, you too."
"Tch..."
"Yes."
After the shift ended, they were still in a desert, of course—but now the hardened sand formed massive walls and roads like the one in Room 141, presenting a straight path ahead.
Ban Yu-won used his All-Reading Eyes to check what lay beyond the road, then glanced at his Student ID.
Sure enough, with the room's changes feeling ominous, the ID showed Room 145.
Four rooms skipped at once.
"What's there?"
"Something like a colosseum."
After climbing the tower for a semester, Ban Yu-won could guess by now.
This intense scent of a trick room.
The moment he and Light talked about trick rooms, rooms skipped and one appeared—were those voyeuristic perverts... er, Constellations... watching them again?
'With all the Constellations I've made enemies of...'
Prominence and the Constellations behind them, those who'd been watching him from the start, and those who'd effectively lost their authority to him—all needed watching.
They shouldn't be dealing with internal team drama right now.
'Once it's all sorted, I'll drill them hard.'
Ban Yu-won gritted his teeth and advanced along the road.
At its end loomed a massive circular colosseum. Besides their path, several others converged, with groups emerging tense-faced, just like theirs.
If not for their varied ages, he might've suspected Union Academy students despite knowing it impossible.
―Are these all who seek to enter the holy site?
A sand mound rose in the colosseum's center, revealing a gigantic golem.
Striking was the large red gem embedded in its humanoid head.
―Those who would enter the holy site must prove their worth. Many paths lead there, but only one may pass. The road opens only to the victor who defeats all rivals.
The golem uttered the line Ban Yu-won half-expected and slammed the ground.
Their paths vanished, higher walls rising around the colosseum, trapping everyone in the ring.
Faint lights flickered in the spectator seats, swarms of glowing orbs appearing. Ban Yu-won let out an incredulous chuckle.
"I heard climbing the tower involves more Constellations, but I didn't expect them to show up so blatantly."
It even seemed like an official event the tower endorsed.
The tower and Constellations clearly shared some profound link beyond host and uninvited guests—something Ban Yu-won couldn't yet grasp.
"Constellations...?"
Light, catching Ban Yu-won's words late, widened his eyes at the spectator seats filled with lights.
Feeling their gazes, his lips twisted bitterly.
"Detestable things..."
"Don't charge them. They're not the real bodies anyway, and mutual interference is blocked right now."
"...You've got sharp eyes."
Light, on the verge of exploding, calmed at Ban Yu-won's words and turned to him with an indescribably strange expression.
―Let one representative from each path step forward. In this place ruled by the gods, the victor of the sacred duel shall pass.
As the golem declared again, two tricks appeared before the group.
―Non-representatives cannot move.
―No harm can come to the Sand Golem.
They realized they had to select one representative.
Other groups had already chosen, stepping forward one by one.
Ban Yu-won shrugged at Light, who looked at him earnestly.
"What do you think? Let Light go?"
"He spoke out of turn earlier. Let's make him prove himself."
Dokgo Yeon declared first, nominating Light.
It was a choice she could make, figuring retirement from exploration until Light returned to normal was fine.
"Yeah, Light it is."
Ban Yu-won readily agreed, curious to gauge the current Light.
No need to ask Lucelle, who always aligned with him.
"Good. I won't let you regret it."
Light smiled for the first time, pleased with the group's decision, and stepped forward.
And then.
"Hey, golem."
―Has selection ended? Then let the sacred duel begi—
He thrust his holy sword straight through the gem in the golem's forehead.
Even Ban Yu-won, wielding Origin Sword, barely reacted.
Even Dokgo Yeon, handling the energy that brought all things to death, was stunned.
It was a strike surpassing an instant, with world-shattering power.
―Boom
With the trick room's aid, the golem had no chance to react—its form crumbled, shattered core rolling across the floor.
"What the...?!"
"He killed the golem empowered by the gods!"
Unaware of the room's backstory, but clearly famous, the colosseum erupted in murmurs from participants and their groups.
The lights in the seats buzzed excitedly too.
But Light ignored it all, raising his holy sword high.
"Humans, you need no divine selection! I shall prove it at this path's end!"
Ban Yu-won couldn't make sense of Light's ravings.
But to the tower's NPCs, it rang differently—they gazed at the Light radiating holy brilliance, entranced.
And then.
The shift triggered.
This guy had truly proven his power!