Ch.416416 – Why Are You Coming Out of There

by fnovelpia

<416 – Why Are You Coming Out From There>

“When you ask why I came alone, well, I went in alone, so naturally I came out alone?”

The professor’s eyes bulged out in shock, which I found rather confusing.

“You brat, do you have any idea how many people went in there to rescue just you?!”

“Ehhh?”

“If anyone doesn’t make it back from in there, I’m deducting it all from your points.”

“That’s unfair! The Kraken went berserk and I just happened to fly into the area reserved for leave students!”

“As if you could conveniently enter an area that requires a professor’s power to tear through the barrier, you damned fool!”

Tch.

My prepared excuse didn’t work.

Professor El Draco is proving to be a much tougher opponent than in the game.

“I feel sorry thinking about the Oknodie search party searching for Oknodie while suffering in there. Lieutenant!”

“You called, sir.”

“Take these stupid instructors and this impudent brat back inside. Rescue the search party members and bring them back alive. And keep a close eye on him so he doesn’t slip away. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

The lieutenant of the Great Pirate El Draco.

A skilled individual capable of commanding his own ship, the lieutenant urged Oknodie forward with a thoroughly displeased expression.

“What trick did you pull to evade all those search parties and return alone? The entrance to the magical disaster area should have been crawling with search teams.”

“Dunno~”

“I was stupid to ask a freshman.”

The lieutenant headed toward the safe zone and made a request to the leave students blocking the entrance.

“Who’s there? If you want to enter our safe zone, show some sincerity first.”

“I am Lieutenant to Professor El Draco. I’ll pay one thousand points for each freshman you rescue. Provided they return without a scratch, of course.”

“Huh? Professor’s lieutenant? A thousand points per person? Who do you think would fall for that?”

As the greedy leave student started spouting nonsense, the lieutenant placed his hand on the barrier surface of the safe zone.

With mana becoming widely known, fleet battles between pirates had changed significantly from the old days.

Shields to block cannon fire emerged, and spell interference techniques to neutralize them were developed.

As a lieutenant to the Great Pirate and a ship captain, interfering with a mere safe zone shelter for cowards seemed like nothing compared to his capabilities.

[Yellow Zone Remaining Time]

[7 hours]

[5 hours]

[3 hours]

As the time rapidly decreased by two hours at a time, the leave student senior shouted in panic.

“W-what are you doing! Do you know how hard it was for us to establish this safe zone!”

“When you’re full and lazy, you need to be made hungry again.”

[Yellow Zone duration has completely elapsed.]

[Yellow Zone is disappearing.]

Suddenly thrown out of their lodgings, the leave students raised their pointed weapons like angry hedgehogs whose winter sleep had been forcibly interrupted.

The lieutenant scratched his head with an expression of extreme annoyance and extended his hand.

In an instant, all the leave students’ weapons flew into the lieutenant’s hand!

Realizing too late that they were facing someone of a completely different caliber, the leave students trembled and prostrated themselves.

“We’ll remember the thousand points per person! We’ll definitely find the freshmen!”

“Then transfer a thousand points to my magic watch right now.”

“What?”

“If you bring back just two people, you’ll earn a thousand points. Even with one, you break even. Or what? Were you planning to make me use my power, not show any sincerity, and then not bring anyone back?”

“No, sir!!”

The leave student seniors pitifully transferred the points with trembling hands.

“Wow. So you can earn points this way too!”

“With enough power, anything is possible. You don’t seem like someone who wouldn’t know that.”

Having secured workers to do the legwork, the lieutenant ordered the two incompetent instructors to lead the workers and maintain communication.

“Those nearby will be recovered by those guys. You’re coming with me to retrieve the idiots who went too far in.”

“Yessir.”

“But before that, let me ask… what trick did you really use? I’d like to see how you managed to avoid the eyes of all the search parties.”

“Just with words?”

“Would 3,000 points be enough?”

“For showing my technique too, make it 10,000 points!”

“3,000 is an advance payment. I’ll send the rest if it proves to be worth it.”

Hehe. Free money!

“Well, if you’re that curious, I guess I have to show you. But you’ll need to keep up, okay?”

“How fast could a freshman possibly be?”

The lieutenant’s arrogant gaze turned to bewilderment from the moment I used the <Push> trap to float into the air and leap over two consecutive disaster zones.

“From here, using flight magic slows you down, so you need to shape your mana domain like wings to get lift, then glide to the next jumping point!”

“Next? You mean you do this repeatedly?”

Rise with <Push>, glide, get hit by <Water Cannon>, rise again, glide, in the lightning zone ride the <Cumulus Cloud> that shoots lightning by applying lightning resistance and self-propulsion, then in the mushroom zone, drain all the poison from the <Bouncy Mushroom> by directing lightning at the poisonous mushrooms, jump off it, and arrive at the exit of the consecutive disaster zone!

“That’s how it’s done. Pretty simple, right?”

I land outside the disaster zone with a ta-da gesture, showing off my skills, but no one’s there.

“…”

“Ah, I see him.”

With a thunderous boom, the lieutenant arrived, running in a straight line, finally reaching me after about 10 minutes.

“Be honest. You’re not really a freshman, are you?”

“I am though?”

“What kind of freshman crosses consecutive disaster zones without touching the ground once, using the disasters to their advantage? One or two might be understandable, but connecting jumping points is impossible without prior information.”

“Totally possible for a veteran player though?”

“Tch. So the Foundation knows everything, is that it? Good for you, having such powerful backing.”

Looking around beyond the disaster zone, the lieutenant spotted signs of battle and gestured.

“Follow me. Seems your classmates somehow managed to break through the consecutive disaster zones.”

“This level is a 3-minute clear for anyone!”

“How many people do you think could pass through with such absurd techniques! It’s fast even if it takes 3 days, not 3 minutes, you talented freak!”

Says the lieutenant who broke through in 10 minutes.

Why are you only scolding me?

“Over there.”

Where enormous explosions were continuously erupting, familiar faces were bickering with a leave student senior.

“Haha. You have no respect for your comrades or seniors. Refusing to hand over the artifact until the end!”

The opposing senior was Urgas, one of the Artifact Challengers and a murderer trying to pioneer the path to becoming an Artifact Challenger by collecting lost items.

Whenever Urgas’s lost items emitted light, Zigoku’s various elemental bullets were blocked in mid-air, and Son Ocheon, Sing, and Morb, who were charging in at every opportunity, were pushed back helplessly.

As expected of the overpowered character Urgas, known as both a Leave Student Killer and Player Killer.

“Wow. He’s already pulled that out.”

But they’re not the only strong ones.

Originally, the <Machine Gun> that replaces the revolver should only be available after unlocking Zigoku’s affinity event, but it’s already out.

I guess you’d need to have it from the start to pull it out as soon as the event is unlocked.

Unlike the single-shot revolver, the machine gun is overwhelmingly superior in terms of rapid fire and firepower, and as it spewed flames, the senior’s lost items quickly lost their light.

‘Not all artifacts are created equal. Zigoku’s machine gun is on another level.’

There’s a reason why recruiting Zigoku, the pirate marksman, as the ranged attacker position in the hero party has become the standard among veteran players, unless you have Skola, the disciple of the divine archer.

Zigoku is also easy to raise affinity with due to his strong camaraderie, making his events simple to access.

I was planning to unlock it before second year, but since he’s already using the machine gun well without unlocking it, I guess I can leave Zigoku’s event alone!

“Are you just going to watch?”

“Hmm~ they’re all so admirable. I should say they’ve grown robustly compared to the first semester?”

“Talking like he’s a professor or something… how is this guy really a freshman?”

The senior is grumbling and keeping an eye out, and since I’ve achieved my goal, it would be a waste to spend more time in the leave student exclusive zone.

As the senior said, I should probably stop watching now, so I took out a lost item I picked up on the way.

“Yap!”

“What’s that? A box?”

“It’s a holy grenade box that automatically regenerates one sacred grenade per month!”

“Are you crazy? That’s what the production department students hiding in the leave student zone are desperately searching for, saying it’s a lost item of a great senior, almost as valuable as an artifact!”

“I found it on the way!”

Getting annoyed with the senior’s persistent questioning, I took out a grenade and pulled the pin.

“If I were you, I’d cover my ears and duck right now!”

No sooner had the senior cast a spell to protect himself than the sacred grenade flew toward Urgas, who was protected by a hundred lost items.

Ping ping ping!

While the barrage of elemental bullets couldn’t penetrate the thick defense of the <Comprehensive Barrier Field>, Urgas remained casual, as if one grenade meant nothing.

Meanwhile, Son Ocheon, Zigoku, and Morb, who realized I was the one who threw the grenade, stopped their attacks and immediately dove behind cover.

Urgas stood arrogantly in place without moving, as if challenging what I could do against his barrier.

“What!?”

The lieutenant, who was peeking with his head raised while lying down, was shocked.

“A hole in the comprehensive barrier field? How could a mere freshman do something so impossible? Interference spells should only be effective if you fully understand the operating principles of the opponent’s defensive spell!”

The lieutenant is really overreacting.

He can interfere with ship bombardment defense magic and safe zone lodging barriers, yet he’s surprised about penetrating an overpowered character’s comprehensive barrier field?

“You bastard, how did you penetrate my lost items’ comprehensive barrier…!”

While Urgas was spouting nonsense in disbelief, the grenade exploded with a blinding white light and a thunderous boom.

After inserting the grenade, I restored the hole I had made, causing the grenade’s explosion to collide with the barrier field and repeatedly impact inside it.

Senior Urgas, who took the full brunt of the explosion inside the barrier field, collapsed in tatters.

As the field finally gave way and the explosion’s aftermath spread around, the ground was torn up in a scene of devastation despite the diminished explosive power.

“Damn it… Did the bereaved families reveal the specs of the lost items and request revenge? Sending an assassin disguised as a freshman is cowardly…”

As Urgas said, there is indeed a linked quest to investigate the specs of lost items through the acquaintances of leave students who never returned, and research ways to penetrate the comprehensive barrier field.

The types and specs of lost items change with each playthrough, but when using many artifacts at once, their usage patterns become predictable.

Thanks to Zigoku, who used the machine gun and forced the mass activation of lost items, I was able to identify which of the three patterns it was, essentially completing the strategy!

‘Thanks to Zigoku, I got an easy win!’

Still, the grenade strategy is generally disliked in routes that focus on heavy item looting, as most of the hundred lost items become junk in one shot.

‘It’s a shame, but can’t be helped. They’ve already grown plenty without those things.’

It’s a necessary sacrifice to prevent the potential death of playable characters and major NPCs.

“What are you all doing here on the weekend? Fragile life forms like freshmen will suffer terribly if caught by Artifact Challengers in the leave student exclusive zone!”

“Freshmen are fragile…?”

“Suffer terribly from Artifact Challengers…?”

Zigoku and Son Ocheon hissed, looking at the collapsed Urgas.

“Except me, of course. I’m not fragile but a powerful veteran player!”

“…Explain yourself first. Oknodie, why are you popping out from the path we came through?”

Son Ocheon and Zigoku, both in tatters, along with second-year students scattered around, sent me accusatory glares filled with strong protest.

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