Ch.2727. The Overpowered Chairman

The moment we entered the Rift, my first task was to stop Alkine from rushing out immediately.

“Let’s split up. I’ll go left and you…”

“Wait a moment, President. We’re staying together.”

Seriously, she’s so impatient. If she goes off alone, what am I supposed to do?

“Wouldn’t it be better to split up for faster exploration?”

“That’s usually correct. But not this time.”

“Why not?”

“It’s hard to explain, just wait and see.”

I glanced around our surroundings.

We were inside some massive cave. Light filtered through cracks in the ceiling, so it wasn’t completely dark.

And… the path ahead split into two directions.

So that’s why she suggested splitting up. With two paths, dividing to search would normally be faster.

But that wasn’t necessary.

Didn’t I mention before? Speed runs exist in this game.

People find patterns to quickly clear even distorted Rifts, so regular Rifts are much easier.

Of course, different maps appear randomly depending on the Rift’s location… but if you memorize them all, it’s no problem.

“Just trust me and follow.”

She came along for contribution points, but what’s the point if I just carry her through?

Don’t underestimate a veteran player’s pride in impressing newbies.

Time for my obsessive memorization of Student Council Rift maps to shine.

…Actually, I was planning to hide my map knowledge and sneakily farm contribution points. But this is an emergency.

I started running at maximum speed, using dash cancels to move even faster.

Alkine followed, her expression full of questions, but I had no easy way to explain so I remained silent.

This map was among the easiest I’d memorized.

It’s a maze-like Rift with continuous forks, but like any maze, if you memorize the path, you can clear it faster than anywhere else.

Even better, the core’s location is fixed, so I could move with absolute confidence.

From the start: left, right, right, left, right, left.

Then there’s a massive door with a guardian. If it’s a Minotaur-type, the path is right, left, right, right, left, left, right, left, right, left. If it’s a Golem-type, it’s right, right, left, left, right, left, right, right, left, right.

That’s the shortest route to the Rift’s core.

You could go different ways and eventually reach the core if you avoid dead ends, but it would take much longer.

The chances of just luckily finding the core are basically zero.

…If I hadn’t memorized this, we’d definitely be facing a rampaging Rift. The map selection is truly malicious.

As we progressed, monsters began appearing, but Alkine dispatched them instantly as they approached, so we never had to stop.

She simply swung her mana sword lightly, and the monsters blocking our path were swept away like fallen leaves.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve advanced so smoothly.”

Alkine looked extremely refreshed as she said this.

Well, that makes sense. Despite being capable of clearing Rifts alone, she only uses her power to support the Student Council for their experience.

This must be the first time in a while she’s been directly involved in a clearance.

Come to think of it, she really breaks the balance.

I bet the entire Student Council together couldn’t beat Alkine alone. Truly terrifying.

With these thoughts, we continued running until we reached a massive door.

And what appeared was… a Minotaur.

I didn’t even need to check what type it was.

“Grwoar—”

Before it could even finish roaring, Alkine had sliced through it.

Its body, easily 5 meters tall, was cleanly split in two vertically and collapsed to the floor.

…She’s unbelievably powerful. This is basically cheating.

While I was admiring her strength, Alkine pointed to the massive door and asked:

“What do we do with that?”

“Since we defeated the guardian, it should open automatically.”

No sooner had I spoken than the closed door began to open.

Beyond it stretched what looked like the interior of a temple. Alkine frowned slightly and asked:

“Is there still far to go?”

“We’ve got quite a way left.”

“Hmm, I see. You seem rather relaxed about it.”

This isn’t relaxation, it’s acceptance.

The Rift has shown signs of going berserk, but we can’t know exactly when it will happen.

It could be right now, or it might remain stable for days.

With really bad luck, it could explode just before we complete the clearance.

Knowing this, I’m focusing on what we can do now rather than worrying about time… but Alkine wouldn’t know that.

“Let’s just keep moving. That’s not what’s important right now, is it?”

I decided to just move past the topic.

After continuing for quite some time, we finally reached the last fork in the path.

If we went left here, we’d arrive directly at the core.

But…

“Kirruk! Kiruk!”

A monster was blocking the path.

It was huge—clearly no ordinary monster.

“Ludion, that’s…”

“Yes, a Giant Wyvern.”

If a regular wyvern is about the size of a car, this one was as big as a three-story building.

The path was completely blocked because of it.

“Want to try cutting it down?”

I suggested, but it wasn’t a great choice.

SLASH—!

Unlike the monsters we’d encountered so far, this one was extremely tough.

Not enough to stop Alkine’s attacks completely, but at least enough not to die instantly like the others.

And worse…

“It’s regenerating.”

“This is getting ridiculous.”

It had regenerative abilities, instantly returning to its original state.

We’d only managed to provoke it.

“KIRRURRUK!! KIRUK!!!”

At this point, we had no choice but to fight properly and defeat it.

“President. Ready?”

“Of course. What should I do?”

Despite the situation, Alkine didn’t look particularly tense.

Rather, her eyes were sparkling—she seemed to be enjoying this.

The Northern blood shows through no matter how composed she acts.

But she’s naturally passing command to me… you’re the President, not me.

Still, this was better than following Alkine’s instructions and then having to attack myself.

“I’ll go draw its aggro. Please target its weak points. Oh, since the space is too narrow for it to fly, there’s no need to target its wings.”

“Efficient.”

“We don’t have time to waste on inefficient movements.”

The wyvern began charging, cutting our conversation short.

Alkine and I ran in opposite directions—me toward the wyvern, her away from it.

The wyvern saw me approach and swung its sharp claws, but I easily dodged.

Next came its tail, a parryable pattern, so I parried it.

CLANG!

With the crisp sound of sword parrying, the wyvern’s body was pushed back slightly.

Due to its size, it didn’t fall over, but there was a momentary opening.

Alkine didn’t miss that opportunity.

THWACK!

She instantly closed in, stabbed her mana sword into the wyvern’s jaw, then began running across its body.

“KIEEEEEK!!!”

Though everything she cut regenerated instantly, the creature let out extremely painful screams.

Even with regenerative abilities, it still felt pain, so damage was steadily accumulating.

Alkine continued running without caring about its thrashing, cutting through its right flank and then the center of its tail before stopping her attack and leaping away to create distance.

The Giant Wyvern has three weak points—jaw, right flank, and center of tail—and she attacked all three in one go as soon as the opportunity arose.

She fights incredibly well. This is the kind of movement you’d never see in-game, only in cutscenes, which made it even more impressive.

After repeating this pattern about five times, the creature stopped moving.

“That ended more easily than I expected.”

Alkine said, licking her lips regretfully as she looked at the wyvern’s corpse. How did she manage to restrain herself all this time if she enjoys fighting this much?

We could probably find more monsters of similar strength if we searched around… but we couldn’t waste time on that in our current situation.

We’ll have to satisfy her combat desires another time. Right now, dealing with the Rift takes priority.

We need to hurry and destroy the core.

///

The Rift formation site along the forest behind the Student Council building.

Though the Rift before him looked ready to burst at any moment, that hardly seemed important now.

Forget the Rift—he felt like he might burst first.

“What the hell? What did that bastard do to make the President…”

He hadn’t liked him from the start.

She had always consulted his opinion before bringing someone new, but she had brought this guy in unilaterally, without any prior notice.

At the time, he pretended not to mind because he didn’t want to go against her wishes, but he felt like his insides were twisting.

That’s why he suggested including the guy in the Rift clearance.

To show reality to someone whose confidence was sky-high after defeating even Grain, and to reduce the President’s interest in him.

He never dreamed she would actually agree…

“That was stupid of me.”

He should never have made such a suggestion.

No matter how skilled the guy was, he was just a freshman who had just entered the Academy.

He should be less than dirt under her fingernails. He wouldn’t receive any special attention.

She didn’t show much interest even in himself, who held an important position in the Student Council, so why would she care about a mere freshman?

That’s what he had thought.

Until that man was given the position of Secretary.

…Fuck. Why?

Thinking about it, the kind-hearted President would never allow someone to be put in danger.

He should have been suspicious from the moment she agreed.

What did he do to make her show such interest in him?

He couldn’t understand, no matter how much he thought about it, why she was interested in him.

Why should he lose her attention to such a nobody?

She belongs to him. She’s his Alkine, with whom he’s spent three years at the Academy.

His relationship with her isn’t so light that he would lose to someone with nothing.

That’s what he had thought… so why was she choosing that guy instead of him?

Today was the same. In this situation, she said the absurd thing about taking that guy in with her instead of him.

If strength was needed, he was stronger, and if exploration was the goal, she could have taken Grain.

He couldn’t understand why she took that guy at all. Truly, not at all.

Where did it go wrong?

Was it failing to prevent him from joining the Student Council?

Was it urging him to participate in the Rift clearance to break his pride?

Not knowing made him feel even worse.

But all he could do now was wait.

They had already entered the Rift, and even if he jumped in now, he couldn’t reach her.

He could only wait for everything to end and for her to return here, to him.

That’s how he had been enduring. But all he got was betrayal.

“Whew, that was close. Are you okay, President?”

“…Since everyone’s watching, put me down first before we talk.”

The Rift that seemed about to burst disappeared, and she whom he had been waiting for appeared.

But… she was in that guy’s arms.

And she seemed far too comfortable there.

The moment he saw that.

“…That fucking bastard.”

Something snapped inside his head.