Chapter 63: Time to Return

This guy is only worth 5 Points? The Point system is inflexible. It’s a deficit, a deficit.

The robot, sliced by daggers and battered by fists and feet, completely lost its original form.

“…Rohan. Drink a potion quickly. If you don’t have any spare, I’ll give you mine.”

“I have spares. Keep your potions safe.”

Shion was the first to finish the battle among the three.

While Rohan dealt with one entity, she smashed two robots in an instant with her telescopic baton.

Shion must have also noticed that the monsters in their Parasitic State were particularly vulnerable to electricity.

After finishing her battle, Shion kicked off the wall and flew towards Rohan, who was finishing off his opponent, lending him a hand.

Clara cleaned up the remaining robots around the time Rohan finished his fight.

Fighting robots was completely different from killing living creatures with blood and guts, so she seemed to find it troublesome in many ways.

And so, the 30th floor was cleared.

In this battle as well, Shion and Clara were unharmed, but the wounds on Rohan were quite spectacular.

Because of that…

A balisong slipped from Clara’s hand as she approached after the battle.

── Ting! The clear sound of it hitting the floor.

“Oh, O-oppa…!”

When Rohan turned his head, he could see it clearly thanks to the sunlight streaming through the window.

Clara’s expression was a mess. Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

Amid the silence, the sound of sniffling. Rohan was the most flustered he had been since arriving at Academy City.

His feet moved towards the girl involuntarily.

“I’m really okay, so don’t cry. Okay?”

“You always… you always say you’re okay…”

Clara pouted her lips and hung her head.

Rohan gently took Clara’s hand with his clean, blood-free hand.

“It’s just a scratch. It’s not deep. I’m sorry for making you worry.”

“…”

Clara herself was bewildered by her uncontrollable emotions, as much as Rohan standing in front of her.

Shion, watching the two, was also quite surprised.

After about a minute passed like that…

Clara, who had been sniffling, seemed to come to her senses and whispered softly.

“Oppa… I-I’m sorry…”

“I’m the one who’s sorry. I’ll train harder when we go back.”

Rohan had no intention of asking the girl what she was sorry for.

The implied meaning of her apology was easy enough for even Shion, watching from the side, to understand.

Injuries are inevitable in battle. Clara, of course, knew that.

She knew well that showing her emotions like this and burdening him with her concern for his injuries wasn’t good. That’s why she came to her senses and apologized, but far from feeling burdened, Rohan was pleased by the emotions Clara showed.

It was also good motivation to step up his training.

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After Rohan drank a potion and stopped the bleeding…

The group went up to the 31st floor. Surprisingly, it was empty when they arrived.

They found out the reason when they went to the 32nd floor, which was noisily echoing with sounds.

Heading upstairs, they saw robots coming down from the 33rd floor. They were all the security robots they had seen on the 30th floor.

Had the parasitic plants decided that they couldn’t win with their current numbers?

Thorny vines suddenly poured out from one of the robots standing in the middle and started wrapping around the surrounding robots, pulling them together.

Clatter! Crack! Crack!

The robots crumpled under the physical force exerted by the thorny vines. They were forcibly pulled and attached, intertwining with each other.

The robots on the 31st to 33rd floors gathered together, achieving a ridiculous fusion.

Through a principle that doesn’t suit precise machines at all, they amplified their power. That’s why we call them monsters.

“…”

The thorny vines tangled together, increasing their thickness several times over, with miniguns protruding haphazardly here and there.

The shattered displays, spilling shards of glass, flickered and flashed with light.

─ Intruder detected.

─ Cleaning commencing.

The machine spoke in a clear voice, unlike before.

The sense of intimidation was also on a different level from the previous robots.

However…

Rohan’s group worked better together when facing a single entity than when scattered.

Hadn’t they spent about three days fighting non-stop, their coordination, while not perfect, was more than sufficient.

Rohan had Shion take out her pistol. It really wouldn’t be much longer now.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

A single magazine was emptied at once. The deafening gunshots brought a decisive conclusion.

Shion quickly ended the situation with bullets imbued with her unique Mana.

Rohan had hoped for a high Point reward from the fused monster, but it was only 7 Points.

He felt it was a loss.

There were no monsters on the 34th floor.

It was clean without a single thorny vine, but that created an undeniable sense of unease.

As Rohan remembered, this was a resting area before heading to the boss.

Shion and Clara, unaware of this, remained vigilant for a long time, but after checking the surroundings and acknowledging its safety, they listened to Rohan’s voice.

“You saw what was written on the 1st floor, right? The top of this building is the 35th floor. It’s the very next floor.”

“Ah! I didn’t know…”

“You even managed to get that information in the midst of all the chaos? Then there might be an even stronger one next.”

Actually, that information wasn’t written on the 1st floor.

Rohan was just making it up.

“Let’s be fully prepared. If you feel your Mana is even a little low, just drink a potion.”

At Rohan’s words, Shion and Clara gulped down blue potions.

The girls frowned at the bitter taste, and as if he’d expected it, Rohan gave them each a macaron.

“Ah~ Say ‘aah’.”

When Rohan held out the macaron, not only Clara but Shion also opened her mouth to receive it.

He felt a sense of closeness that came from struggling together.

Unlike the lower floors, there was an iron door on each side at the end of the stairs. A unique structure even though it wasn’t the rooftop.

Minimizing the sound, he turned the doorknob.

“Oppa, there’s something strange inside!”

“Like I’ve been saying every time here. It’s certainly bizarre.”

The girls made faces as if they had seen a bug after looking inside.

Rohan peered through the gap to see the monster from his memory in reality.

Oh.

Countless thorny vines were intertwined, creating a giant pillar.

From there, the ends of the vines swayed as if dancing.

And at the end, televisions of various sizes hung like fruit, drawing emoticons as if expressing emotions.

It was like watching some kind of video art, a form of modern art.

Like the monsters they had seen so far, the dungeon boss also had a form that, as Shion said, didn’t disappoint in its bizarreness.

Rohan rolled his eyes and whispered to the girls.

“That’s a Monolith, isn’t it? Do you see it?”

At Rohan’s words, the two girls leaned in again with interest.

They focused on the thorny vines Rohan mentioned. And they found it.

Between the narrowest gaps of the thickest, tree-like intertwined thorny vines. A fingernail-sized space wriggled, faintly revealing a jet-black stone tablet with letters carved into it.

As Rohan said, there was something that appeared to be a Monolith. Unlike its first appearance, it had lost its brilliant light and was emitting a faint, subtle glow.

“Ah, it’s real!”

“Definitely.”

The intuition felt the moment they found it.

The knowledge that if they destroyed this, they could leave this place seeped into their minds.

““!””

The three exchanged glances and nodded, sharing their thoughts.

They were convinced that the information in their Consciousness was likely true.

“Can you hit that with a gun?”

Shion and Clara had a special talent for imbuing projectiles with Mana.

If things went their way, they might be able to return without a troublesome fight.

“Piercing a gap that size is nothing.”

“M-me too…!”

The target was not the monster, but the Monolith. In other words, the way back.

The two girls confidently nodded at Rohan’s question.

Shion took out a heavy pistol from her pocket and checked the magazine, and Clara also took out a pistol loaded with subsonic bullets.

They were finally certain that this was the moment to unleash their ammunition without holding back.

“Rohan, it still won’t show the destructive power you might expect.”

“Why?”

“Unless it’s a specially made gun and bullet, it’ll explode the moment you infuse it with too much Mana. Even at maximum, it’ll only be about as powerful as what we used against the robot.”

Clara nodded slightly, as if confirming that Shion’s words were true. Shion also looked disappointed that she didn’t have her sniper rifle.

There’s that too, huh.

Rohan memorized the information he hadn’t known, and at the same time, said that it would be enough and asked them to do it.

The girls pushed their pistols through the gap in the door.

Shion sat down and took aim, while Clara stood and aimed.

“Clara. Shoot when you’re ready. I’ll make sure it hits.”

“Okay…!”

Click! A faint sound rang out, followed by the loud report of a gunshot ── Bang!

The bullet accurately aimed for the gap where the vines were wriggling and flew towards the Monolith, but…

As if sensing the attack, the vines stiffened and shrunk in an instant.

The bullet pierced through the vines with a pa-pa-bak before stopping its advance.

─── Sizzle! Steam rose, evidence of the strong impact and friction.

The emoticons on the televisions changed simultaneously.

It was quite clear what state it was in.

Although it didn’t hit the Monolith, it seemed the damage was definite.

“O-oppa! That… its expression changed… it looks scary…!”

“Rohan. It seems the nature of that entity has changed.”

Rohan placed his hands on the shoulders of the two girls who were reporting in urgent voices.

He calmed them down with a voice devoid of tension.

“Don’t worry. We just have to do what we’ve been doing.”

It was time to go back.