Ch.122121. Empty Seat (6)

# 121. Empty Seat (6)

Reina was genuinely concerned about me, who had nearly died just moments ago.

However, the others reacted calmly, either from emotional detachment or pragmatism.

“Hey…! Are you okay? A bullet just flew by!”

“Don’t make a fuss. He dodged it, so he’s obviously fine.”

“But who could it be? Anyone you can think of?”

If we’re talking about the owner of that bullet, there was really only one person it could be.

If Eve had been here, she would have answered for me already, but since we had separated a while ago, I had no choice but to answer myself.

“It must be Senior Riel.”

“Huh? That senior uses guns too? I thought she used a bow?”

“Her main weapon was originally a gun. She switched later.”

Riel, who had always been an excellent marksman, still possessed such skills.

The distance between us was at least 5km, but Riel had aimed at me with perfect accuracy.

‘Of course, I was standing still.’

Still, it was impressive marksmanship by any standard.

“Looks like they’re in the completely opposite direction from us, at 12 o’clock. And judging by that distance, they’re probably in the middle of something? Otherwise, they would have been closer.”

“So? It’s not like we’re going to go join them.”

“This is… frustrating.”

The fact that they were occupied meant our chances of reaching that blue dot first had increased.

“Get up quickly, we need to go.”

“Where to?”

“That blue dot. We’ll probably be the first to arrive since we’ve been running a bit.”

And most of the others would be blocked by the Belly Wolves, unable to advance further.

‘These guys would have been in danger without me.’

Still, they could have each taken down about two wolves, so they would have made it through eventually.

Exhausted from fighting the Belly Wolves, they barely managed to get up and said:

“If there’s nothing special there, I swear…”

“If it wasn’t important, they wouldn’t have marked it like that. There must be something there. Probably…”

“If there’s nothing, I’m seriously going to hit you, just so you know.”

“Let’s just go and see.”

“Yeah, I’m curious.”

Among them, Reina, who seemed to have the most energy left, showed a positive reaction, but the others didn’t.

“Fine… if there’s nothing, I’ll take a few hits.”

“Really?!”

“Why are you so happy about that?”

Only after I said that did Raycle finally get up.

He seemed quite eager to land a blow on me.

“If there’s really nothing there, I’m going to hit you hard, just so you know.”

“That’s that, but for now I’ll take the lead, so just follow me.”

We advanced little by little through blind spots where we couldn’t be seen from where Riel had been earlier.

We couldn’t move quickly because my teammates weren’t in the best condition, but we still made decent progress.

Step by step, we got closer to the blue dot, and as we did, the surrounding scenery gradually changed.

When we finally reached the blue dot on the map, a strange structure came into view.

“See? There is something. Something we didn’t expect.”

There had been many buildings in the areas we’d passed through, but nothing like this.

‘A forest of buildings’ would be an apt description for the sight before us. The buildings were packed so densely that there was hardly any empty space, and they were connected as if they were a single structure.

Moreover, the building was emitting small amounts of magical energy, like a dungeon.

The sight filled us with bewilderment, which soon turned to fear.

Among the team members frightened by this sudden strange sight, Reina, who seemed the most scared, spoke up.

“Hey… this is kind of scary.”

“Scary?”

“Yeah… we already encountered those creatures earlier. What if there are monsters even stronger than those wolves? We’d be eliminated immediately.”

“That’s true, but it might not be the case… How about we decide by majority vote?”

It was problematic to use just one person’s opinion as the answer to this important question.

If that opinion turned out to be correct, there would be no issue, but if not, that “someone” would bear the responsibility alone.

Of course, I could just take responsibility myself, but I chose not to.

The reason was simply that I was “curious to see what choices these guys would make in this situation.”

“I say we go in right now.”

“I say we rest enough first, then go in.”

So the opinions were split between the two options that Reina and I had presented.

In truth, both options involved entering the building eventually.

However, the former carried considerable risk, but if no one had entered the building yet, we would be the first to discover its nature.

The latter, on the other hand, reduced the risk but allowed other teams to potentially beat us to it while we rested.

“What do you think?”

There was no real need to ask.

Raycle and Leo were already slowly approaching the building with their equipment ready, and Reina asked them:

“Are you really going?”

“Of course we’re going in right now.”

“Why are you being such a coward?”

“I’m not being a coward… it’s just safer…”

“Since when did you guys care about safety? Especially him.”

As Leo said, we—and I in particular—had rarely prioritized safety.

Or rather, it would be fair to say we never did.

We always prioritized results over safety, and that’s why we were able to grow at this pace.

In fact, my regression to this time period might also be because I strived and wished for the achievement of “seeing her again” rather than my own life and happiness.

I approached them, who prioritized results over safety just like me, and said:

“Now you’re just like us.”

“Don’t lump me in with you. I’m doing this because I’ve recovered somewhat.”

“Same here.”

We stopped at the entrance of the structure and were all mentally preparing ourselves.

The magical energy that escaped through the cracks of the building brushed past our bodies and then returned to the structure.

The magical energy seemed bound to the building, not leaking elsewhere, and even if it did escape momentarily like just now, it would return.

“It’s set up like some kind of dungeon…”

But it couldn’t be a dungeon.

I had never seen a dungeon of this form, and creating dungeons artificially was impossible.

I took the lead and approached the entrance of the building, carefully opening the door.

-Creeeeak!-

When I opened the door, a scene that matched well with that city—the one devoid of any human traces—unfolded before our eyes.

But the difference from that city was that this place was somewhere we knew well.

“The Academy?”

I stepped into a place that looked remarkably similar to the corridors of our home, the Academy.

The marble tiles covering the floor, the wooden interior design, and the familiar lecture halls I had visited just this morning.

But this place, like that city earlier, appeared to have been untouched by human hands for quite some time.

“Is that a bug?”

The corridors and lecture halls were now home to wild flora and fauna, and these creatures were highly wary of the sudden intruders.

So far, no dangerously powerful monsters had appeared, and we, like those creatures, cautiously proceeded deeper into the building.

The further we went inside, the higher the level and number of monsters became, and we had no choice but to take short breaks now and then.

During one such break, Reina, showing how exhausted she was, plopped down on the dusty floor without even bothering to clean it.

“Hey… is this right?”

“I’m so tired… I told you we should rest first…”

“The fact that you can still say that means you’re all doing okay.”

The fact that they could still make such trivial remarks suggested they weren’t that exhausted.

When you’re truly on the brink of collapse, you can’t say anything at all.

“Let’s rest for about 5 minutes then.”

“Are you crazy?! 5 minutes?!”

“You really are fine…”

Seeing Reina’s dejected face and Raycle’s apparent anger, I felt a bit guilty.

“10 minutes. No more than that. And 10 minutes should be enough. There are multiple entrances, so other teams might have arrived too, and they might not be taking breaks.”

“You sure care about other teams… Are there any teams besides ours and the princess’s that could defeat those wolves?”

“Think about it. There are 200 other people.”

Given the numbers, they must have managed to defeat the wolves, even if some had been eliminated.

Of course, the space here was narrow, so they couldn’t utilize all their personnel, but we still needed to hurry.

“From now on, I’ll activate my skill too, so gather your strength and get up.”

“Eh? Already?”

When I nodded, the team members gritted their teeth and got up from the dirty floor.

‘They really don’t mind sitting in such places…’

***

By the time some teams reached the center of the strange structure, others were just opening the entrance doors.

The woman at the lead stepped into the familiar place and said:

“This is a different scene than I expected.”