chapter_0182

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
182

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
182

‘Alsatine!’

“Information Seller!”

“Understood!”

As soon as I fearfully shouted
Alsatine’s name, he pulled back his bowstring.

The arrow he shot had an
Eternal Winter Magic Stone as its arrowhead.

This magic stone usually just
spreads its cold aura, but in front of the extreme flames, it
produces a completely different effect.

As soon as the barrier that
prevents the cold aura from escaping breaks, the magic stone shatters
with a bang!

With the explosion of the
magic stone, ice forms on the surface of the Fire Giant. In the game,
one explosion would make the Fire Giant disappear, but how will it
fare now?

While I waited with divine
energy enveloping my shield, the ice that had halted the giant began
to melt.

Is it going to end up like
this?!

I raised my shield further and
observed the giant.

The magic stone certainly
inflicted significant damage on the giant.

You can tell from how the
blazing flames have visibly diminished.

At this level, I can handle it
even with my current power.

I concentrated the divine
energy enshrouding my shield into the centre.

Then the light began to focus
in the centre and soon expanded, forming a new shield in front of my
existing one.

This is the reward for
training fiercely with Grandpa for a week after entering the
Menestail Dungeon.

It’s a defence technique that
didn’t even exist in the game.

Boom!

As the giant’s fist collided
with my shield, I dug my heels in deeper.

My arms were trembling
violently. Blood trickled from my tightly clenched lips.

Every muscle in my body
screamed.

My feet gradually slid back,
creating debris on the floor.

Tiny cracks started to form in
the divine energy that shielded me from the front.

However, at the end, the first
thing that disappeared was the Fire Giant.

The fiercely burning Fire
Giant dissipated as quickly as it had appeared.

I had succeeded in blocking
the giant’s attack.

As the divine energy in front
of the shield dissipated, I lost strength and collapsed.

Ugh… This is insanely tough.
I’m really glad I learned that new technique from Grandpa.

If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t
have even dreamed of blocking that.

“You’re not just all
talk, are you? Insolent kid.”

While catching my breath, I
forced myself to lift my head at the voice coming from afar.

Karia stood on the altar,
looking down at me as if in judgement.

Isn’t this too much?

After the Fire Giant’s pattern
ends, it’s supposed to go into a groggy state, right?

Has that weakness disappeared
due to its enhancement?

Damn it, seriously. If this
kind of content existed, they should have put it in the game. I don’t
understand why it has to be such chaos in reality.

Using [Armadi’s Mercy] to
recover my health, I forced myself to stand up.

Lying down like an idiot would
soon lead to a separation of my head from my body.

Soon after, Karia’s figure
disappeared again.

We were not allowed any time
to rest.

Karia continuously attempted
close combat.

Thanks to the constant taunts,
she was solely focused on me, which was actually a good thing.

If it wasn’t for that, both
Alsatine and I would have crumbled under the successive ambushes
without even figuring out who Karia was targeting.

Listening closely to the
warning sound of [Iron Wall], I did my best to track Karia.

I put all my effort into
catching sight of her movements in advance.

As soon as I heard Grandpa’s
shout, I pulled out the prepared bottle from my Inventory.

Holy Water of Purification.
Its effect is to prevent the approach of anything with a negative
influence.

This was also effective
against the Poison Bottle that Karia just used.

“Interesting. How did you
know that?”

Barely relieved, I heard a
voice from behind, but I didn’t turn my head.

[Iron Wall] wasn’t
signalling any threat. I heard the sound of Karl defending against
Karia’s dagger behind me.

These were moments where I
couldn’t afford to lose focus, not even for a second.

From a distance, a barrage of
fire-formed daggers shot towards us.

Alsatine tore the Scroll of
Storms, dispersing them.

But Karia’s relentless
assaults pierced through the storm.

As I blocked with my shield,
Karl and Alsatine attempted to counterattack, but Karia vanished in
the blink of an eye.

Attack.

Attack.

Another attack came in
succession.

This wasn’t just a battle.

It was Karia’s hunting game.

She toyed with us as her prey,
gradually tightening the leash she had on us.

For me, this was something to
be grateful for.

If she had really made up her
mind to kill us, we would’ve been destroyed long ago.

Then, when I checked the time,
I realised only a minute had passed.

A bitter laugh escaped me in
this wretched situation.

I began to detest Armadi’s
incompetence.

As I endured another agonising
minute, Karia’s movements slowly became familiar.

While I still couldn’t keep
up with her speed when she decided to move seriously, I started to
recognize small signs in her behaviour.

These were things my current
eyesight could catch. She grips the dagger in her right hand and
faces the enemy.

She’s trying a close-range
attack.

I cloak myself in divine
energy and wait for her.

With the dagger in her left
hand, she hides her right hand behind her.

Dagger throw.

I asked Alsatine to get the
scroll ready in advance.

Her right hand, clenched
tightly without a dagger.

A pattern where she triggers
flames at close range.

I order Karl to push her,
preventing her from using magic.

After all, Karia had grown far
stronger than I remembered, but she was still just the boss of this
place.

A puppet controlled by the
Evil God.

An existence without her own
judgement, a doll that couldn’t possess one.

Thus, her movements were
inevitably limited.

Just like in the game.

Who knew the studies on
capturing her bare-handedly back then would be useful now.

Smiling at the realisation
that my ten thousand hours of effort had paid off, I tightened my
grip on the shield.

Gradually, I started
responding to Karia’s movements faster.

The speed at which I issued
commands also increased.

Consequently, the speed at
which Karl and Alsatine reacted improved as well.

Amidst this precarious
confrontation, a small sense of ease and trust began to settle in.

The fact that one mistake
would bring about a major crisis remained unchanged.

The reality that we were at a
disadvantage was the same.

We still couldn’t inflict a
single wound on Karia.

But it didn’t matter at all.

Our goal was not victory, but
delay.

[The preparation time is
over.]

[The Dungeon Escape Ticket
will now be used.]

As the message appeared before
my eyes, a formation began to draw itself around us.

I couldn’t help but let out a
hollow laugh at the formation marked with the divine energy of the
Sloppy God, different from ordinary magic circles.

Do you want to make it obvious
that you’re helping in this way?!

“Armadi?”

See! She’s getting so mad
because of the taunting!

Even though we’ll soon be out,
it still feels like my skin is prickling when that person glares so
intensely!

Hey! Stop dragging it out and
let us leave quickly!

I really don’t want to stay
with her any longer!

[Escaping from the
dungeon…#%#%#%#@@!!@#]

…Huh? What’s this?

Are you kidding me?

Why is the text suddenly
breaking like there’s an error?

Armadi?

Now is not the time to be
playing around just because you’re upset! The life of your Apostle
is on the line right now!

Hurry up!

[Agra is watching you.]

Ah.

So it was you?

Ha. No wonder you were so
quiet during the dungeon raid.

You were waiting for the
decisive moment, huh?

Bastard. Even as an Evil God,
you really know how to pick the worst timing.

…Am I screwed?

If I can’t escape from the
dungeon, I’ll have to face Karia.

But we can’t defeat Karia
right now.

We’re managing to hold on
for now, but it’s only a matter of time before everything
collapses.

Am I going to die like this?

So futilely?

As I stared blankly at the
message window, unable to accept it, the text started to distort
again.

[Agra #%#%#%#]

[Attempting to reuse the
Dungeon Escape Ticket#@#!]#%#)#@]

[Agra#@#$$!]

[Attempting to reuse the
Dungeon Escape Ticket#@#]

As I watched the messages
appear and disappear intermittently, I realised something.

Armadi and the Petty Evil God
were fighting for control.

Seriously, all these sloppy
divine beings and petty evil gods are nothing but freaks and
perverts.

So this is why beautiful
people have trouble, huh? Because everyone else is obsessed with
them.

I stopped the giggling that
came from my impious thoughts.

I tightened my grip on the
shield.

Hope wasn’t lost yet.

And that was enough for me.

I wasn’t thrilled that our
last hope rested with the sloppy Armadi, but what could we do?

I had to believe in him.

I steadied my shield.

Gathered the divine energy
within me.

Took a deep breath.

And called out.

“Sloppies♡ Hold on♡”

As soon as I spoke, Karl burst
into hearty laughter.

“Understood. Let’s do our
best.”

Alsatine sighed.

“If that’s the only way to
survive, then I guess we have to.”

While we steadied ourselves,
Karia was staring blankly at the ceiling.

What’s she doing?

This isn’t a pattern I
recognize; it’s something new.

I hoped she was broken due to
the power struggle between Armadi and the Evil God.

That would make things much
easier for us.

But, of course, that hope was
a vain one.

Karia lowered her head and
glared at us.

The emotion in her eyes from
moments ago was gone, replaced by a blank expression.

The moment I locked eyes with
those mechanical-like orbs, a chill ran down my spine.

Her emotions flickered on and
off.

The fear etched in my brain
remained, no matter how hard I tried to erase it.

My skin erupted in goosebumps.

My teeth chattered.

My muscles froze.

Just as I struggled to move my
paralyzed head, Karia’s form vanished.

Clang!

Only after hearing the sound
of something striking glass did I see Karia’s dagger right in front
of me.

The Brooch of Protection.

The item I received as a
reward from our last field trip had saved my life.

“What the?”

[Iron Wall] didn’t react.

No, I didn’t even have time to
move my shield.

Without the Brooch of
Protection, I would’ve had to watch my body after my head was
severed.

Realising that fact, fear
began to overwhelm me, like a dam breaking…

“Protect us!”

A woman’s voice rang in my
ears, followed by a loud crash as if something were striking glass
again.

I turned my head slightly away
from Karia, who clicked her tongue in annoyance, and saw the face of
the perverted Fox, now in human form.

“You have no sense of
aesthetics, you idiot! How dare you try to mar her beautiful face!”

“Shut up.”

As they exchanged words, Karia
swung her dagger at a speed that made her almost invisible, while the
perverted Fox’s fingers kept moving incessantly, continuously
performing some sort of action.

Neither I, Alsatine, nor Karl
could do anything but stare in awe at this magnificent duel.

In the midst of this, a new
message window appeared in front of me.

A perfectly normal, familiar
message window.

[Using Dungeon Escape Ticket.]

The divine energy of Armadi
enveloped us.

Please support the series on
NovelUpdates

Read Here
for premium chapters