Chapter 39
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Lesson 9. Learning Martial Arts - 4
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The academy's purpose was to help students climb the Tower.
To that end, there were lectures for freshmen preparing solely to ascend the Tower, and textbooks prepared for those lectures.
Trap sections, mazes, monster types—everything was covered in those textbooks.
"Hm?"
"This is..."
But the space that greeted them upon entering Room 9 was something that had never appeared in the textbooks before.
Unlike the previous rooms shaped like corridors, this one felt like a massive temple. Irregular pillars jutted up from the floor toward the ceiling, giving off an intensely oppressive vibe.
"No monsters, high ceiling... It's similar to a rest area."
Light, who had reclaimed his sword of light and now brimmed with vitality like Kenshiro striking Naraku, looked up at the ceiling and muttered.
"Did we somehow pass Room 10?"
"No, it's different. Rest areas don't have those pillars. And the number is definitely still at 9."
"I think room numbers have lost all meaning in our exploration by now..."
"Enemy, here."
Lucelle spoke firmly and pulled Ban Yu-won behind her.
But as Ban Yu-won turned his gaze while being led by her, he shouted instinctively.
"Dokgo Yeon, dodge!"
―Kwaaaang!
A massive one-meter-diameter shell fired from between the pillars engulfed Dokgo Yeon!
Ban Yu-won rolled across the floor at the same moment, capturing the cannon barrel shattering into pieces, and narrowed his eyes.
The barrel was large, but it was hard to believe it had fired a shell of that size.
High chance it was a magic tool—a mana machine where the projectile expanded right after firing.
"...Ban Yu-won."
Was his warning timely, or had it never been needed in the first place?
From beyond the halted shell, Dokgo Yeon's voice came steady, without a hint of disrupted breathing.
"Didn't you say no one but you can use machines inside the Tower?"
"Yeah, and look, it broke after one shot."
Ban Yu-won grumbled back, inwardly relieved.
If he'd taken a hit from that monstrous shell, he'd have been pulverized without a trace. But she seemed fine, luckily.
If it was thanks to her Manifestation Arts, he'd diligently practice it day and night from now on, he vowed firmly, raising one hand.
"Light, over there."
"It was there!"
Ban Yu-won, having pinpointed the 'Irregular's' position at the firing moment, gestured toward it since Dokgo Yeon was delayed catching the metal lump.
"...Tch!"
"It vanished?"
"Light, straight to 3 o'clock!"
The thing hiding among the pillars rising from floor to sky realized its ambush failed and tried to slip away, but it was arrogant to think it could hide again after being spotted by Ban Yu-won.
"Veer. 5 o'clock!"
"Got it!"
Even if it had some 'stealth' ability!
"Haaaaap!"
"Kuh?!"
Light, gripping his light sword reverse-style, charged at a speed worthy of 'lightspeed.'
A swift, exhilarating movement unlike without his sword!
And what was Ban Yu-won doing? He knew he couldn't face the Irregular, so he stayed put—nah.
"Dokgo Yeon, give that to me!"
"This? Sure."
Dokgo Yeon tossed the metal lump to him without hesitation.
Ban Yu-won reached out for it with a snort.
'Her acting amazed at blocking it was top-notch, but I see through it all.'
The Irregular's shot at Dokgo Yeon wasn't just about blocking the projectile.
The real threat was the explosive mana embedded within.
It wasn't a mere bullet, but a bomb.
[Stealing Magic Bomb 30]
The heavy shell cleaved through the air, intense mana waves stirring within, ready to ignite.
Ignoring order, he extracted a deep concept from it in one go.
"What?!"
Amidst it, the Irregular's panicked face upon seeing the bomb fly from Dokgo Yeon to Ban Yu-won was hilarious.
Maybe it thought it'd explode mid-air. It urgently dodged.
It slid back dozens of meters in an instant—clearly using a special concept like Ban Yu-won's 'Wave,' a skill.
Light caught up, yelling furiously.
"Where do you think you're running!"
"You're all gonna die soon... Huh?"
The shell—no, the bomb infused with mana—dissipated in the air without exploding, stripped of its concept by Ban Yu-won.
Confirming the viciously aggressive strings of depth coil around his hand, he smirked mockingly.
"Your bomb's a dud. Where'd you get faulty goods?"
"No way...!"
The bomb's outright vanishing must've shocked it; forgetting it was the enemy, it yelled in rage.
Forgetting the light-sword swordsman right in front of it.
"Ha!"
"Guh...!"
Light flashed, and blood sprayed into the air.
The Irregular clutched its shoulder with a stifled groan and retreated.
At that moment, space rippled around it, something about to emerge—but Dokgo Yeon's hands were already free.
"What...?!"
She snapped her fingers, and the rifts exploded and vanished.
Casually neutralizing the enemy's trump card, Dokgo Yeon nodded approvingly.
"Manipulating space too? Intriguing. The principles are full of potential, yet the power itself is pea-sized... Maybe that's the true nature of the authorities constellations bestow?"
"But isn't that a person? Why's a human popping out instead of a monster?"
"What the hell are you guys?!"
It bellowed in fury.
Who was saying what now?
Before Ban Yu-won could retort, it glared wide-eyed and shouted.
"That bomb was designed to explode even in the Tower! And you freshmen...!"
"Bomb? Ah."
Dokgo Yeon realized Ban Yu-won had preemptively stopped it and glanced back with a sly smile.
She could've protected herself even if it blew, but her teammates couldn't.
It would've been her blunder, so Ban Yu-won had helped her.
But separately, realizing it'd nearly humiliated her, her gaze toward the Irregular chilled further.
"Guess I'll have to lop off a leg or two."
"No, kill it!"
Lucelle's voice.
Ban Yu-won noticed Lucelle had left his side and was charging the Irregular.
She'd stuck close to protect him from its threats until now.
So why move now?
"Right now!"
With a shout, Lucelle kicked off the ground.
Her pink hair fluttered beautifully in the air, then uniformly turned black.
Ban Yu-won sensed the 'Madness' concept overflowing from her body in an instant.
"Lucelle?! What're you—"
"Out of the way!"
"Wait, Lucelle...!"
Light panicked at her clearly abnormal state.
If he'd trusted her judgment, he'd have turned and cleaved the Irregular's head—but sadly, Light lacked that insight!
"Grrrrowl!"
As Lucelle passed Light to claw the thing's head.
A transparent barrier appeared in the air and lightly repelled her.
"Guh... Graaaah?!"
At the same time, the Irregular clutched its head, rolling on the floor screaming.
More importantly, bizarre mana began swelling inside it.
―Thud
A violent tremor shook the area.
Ban Yu-won realized it came from a pillar in the corner.
―You have failed, fool.
Ban Yu-won sensed overwhelming intent flowing from the pillar.
He'd felt this presence before.
A constellation.
"No! I can do more! I can still do it!"
―Sacrifice yourself to earn your comrades' 'share.'
"I can do it! I can kill them! I can survive and contribute!"
The Irregular seemed to hear it directly, clutching its ears, kneeling, and screaming.
But the constellation didn't buy the human's plea.
―For Exodus, sacrifice yourself.
"Nooooooo!"
No time to hesitate.
Ban Yu-won cursed and hurled the 30 concept in his hand at it.
"Everyone, back off!"
Golden strings shot from his hand, binding the Irregular like chains.
The trigger was his mana injected into the concept.
The moment xuan qi from Dokgo Yeon's Manifestation Arts ignited as black flame, the strings glowed and massively swelled!
―What...?!
Ban Yu-won saw clearly.
As the Magic Bomb concept ignited via xuan qi, the unnaturally swelling mana in its body got sucked in too!
Perhaps because the mana bloating inside shared the bomb's explosive nature.
'Nice catch.'
Absorbing a similar concept from the enemy using his own.
Of course, limited uses, but collecting various concepts would yield more such synergies.
Ban Yu-won thought that, then flattened himself.
The explosion hit.
"Kyaa!"
"Kuh...!"
"How!"
Dokgo Yeon and Light, who ignored Lucelle's warning, obeyed Ban Yu-won's instantly, all retreating far to evade.
Since it was pure concept, not material-bound, the blast radius was small anyway...
But ample to obliterate the Irregular.
"A hole."
"Ban Yu-won, you..."
The party stared awedly at the deep crater where only the Irregular had been, as if bombarded solely there.
"Just used the enemy's attack."
Standing up with a sigh, Lucelle and Dokgo Yeon couldn't respond to Ban Yu-won.
The ability he'd shown felt different from the Giant Glitch in Room 5, but indefinable.
"Ban, you okay? You just killed a person..."
Meanwhile, Light seemed worried for another reason.
Gripping his radiant holy sword, his expression suppressing something suggested murder-related trauma.
"We killed someone trying to kill us. No big deal."
Ban Yu-won downplayed it maximally.
To calm Light, but also a form of self-hypnosis.
"Plus, this is the Tower. Might not be dead."
―Dead.
―He is definitely dead. Slain in combat with climbers inside the Tower.
Well, he'd roughly expected death.
Getting tangled with these constellations never ended well.
Ban Yu-won ignored it, gesturing to his party.
Dokgo Yeon, Light, and Lucelle—barely clinging to reason—gathered.
―You sacrificed a precious member yet gained nothing. You should have suspected when the Tower permitted it.
"Does chopping words make it taste better? Spit it out straight, buddy."
Confirming everyone at full readiness, Ban Yu-won finally responded.
But the voice just scoffed.
―I have but one message for you.
Rumble.
Penalty for the miracle of exploding a person, even if dudded?
The massive pillars sank one by one.
The constellation's presence faded simultaneously.
―We are Exodus. Your adversaries.
Eventually, all pillars sank, and Room 9 regained peace.
Confirming the constellation's presence gone, Ban Yu-won sighed.
"What kind of constellation skips the middle?"
"Not just middle—all so far have been enemies."
"Exodus... Damn it, what the hell."
Dokgo Yeon quipped back at Ban Yu-won with a chuckle, but Light suddenly cursed.
Ban Yu-won looked puzzled; Light explained bitterly.
"Exodus is the most infamous dimensional pirate fleet across dimensions. A constellation backing them is after our lives!"
Light flexing his dimensional lore.
Dokgo Yeon smacked her palm with her fist, convinced.
"Dimensional pirates. Then that guy was probably the intruder from last week."
"Maybe even earlier ones."
"Gaining climber status yet attacking us means... their goal wasn't just becoming climbers."
Outside, grilling Professor Yumina might yield details.
Honestly, didn't want more involvement... but at this thought, quietly slipping away was probably impossible?
Ban Yu-won sighed in resignation, deciding to get sucked into fate's whirlpool obediently.
"The Tower permitted it? Why so harsh only on us... Huh?"
Then.
Grumbling Light suddenly shut up.
Dokgo Yeon and Lucelle went oddly quiet too.
Ban Yu-won asked flustered.
"What? Why's everyone suddenly—"
"Well..."
Dokgo Yeon wore an expression unsure whether to be glad or angry.
"I leveled up."
"Me too..."
"Actually, me too..."
Level.
They leveled up?!
"First time since enrollment. Maybe reward for surviving the constellation assault?"
"If so... annoyingly impressive."
"Abilities shot up hugely..."
Faces once annoyed at constellation entanglements now beamed irrepressibly.
Like overworked rookies griping daily OT, then financial therapy from paycheck with OT pay plus bonus!
'Right, they have status windows. Just too high-level before to level.'
Watching the trio's Udyr-level pivot, Ban Yu-won's head throbbed.
...Wait.
'Then me?'
No status window—skipping rewards too?
As Ban Yu-won looked up, incredulous and furious.
Golden threads fluttered down from the sky into his view.
No.
An absurd volume of language concepts!