episode_0030

We held each other’s hands for a moment.

“… ”

Bell watched the scene for a while and then raised his dark red dagger. And it sends a signal with red etheric light.

Paaa!!

A red line crossing the dark sky.

It was a signal of a hastily planned operation based on information that Sigrun, the head of the investigation team, witnessed while exploring.

Rustle

As soon as the signal rings, dozens of students waiting nearby appear. Then, with their characteristic screams, they began to create a pre-determined blocking line.

Cuuu!!

Hua Aak!

The students of suddenly appear and release large flames on the floor. Dozens of red flames burned at once. They slowly devour land within a radius of hundreds of meters.

A wall of flames that brightens the dark wilderness.

A flame created with the madness of students from .

The insane skills of those who changed even their own etheric properties through an oath of destruction. They instantly burn the caster’s ether and block the path of countless chaos creatures.

Kyaaa!!

In front of the dungeon gate emitting black ether. Hundreds of fluid chaos worms advancing to follow that ominous energy and melt into the darkness are blocked by a wall of flame.

-I made a fire!!

-Let’s go in~!!

students, armed with weapons, enter the midst of hundreds of corporeal chaos insects within a wall of red flames and begin a one-sided hunt.

Churrr!!

Fuuk-

Girls holding weapons and chopping up chaos insects in the flames.

With the pieces of chaos insects flying around, the shadows beyond the flames are eerie.

However, the number of chaos insects showed no signs of being reduced easily.

Shaaa!!

Kyaaa!!

Unlike the somewhat static ether operation shown by students at other schools up to level 2. The use of ether to change the surrounding environment of the students was heterogeneous and violent.

However, thanks to their violence, hundreds of corporeal chaos insects were unable to advance through the erosion dungeon gate. All they did was howl and riot inside the wall made of flames.

The shadows of the Scarlet Academy students appear faintly beyond the wall of flames, and their voices spread out as screams.

-Hiya!! It’s bug hunting time!!

-Damn it, you can’t push the erosion dungeon using the method!

-Heaaa!! This anger will be replaced by massacre of chaos insects!!

-You kid, push through the dungeon well!! Huh?! Don’t drag your feet!!

-Hiya!! If you don’t do it right, the boss will tell you everything!!

-Pink hair! You can transfer to our school later!!

The students of instantly burned the ether and created a battlefield of flames.

However, since they could not use that skill in the Erosion Dungeon Gate, an event dungeon where ether consumption rapidly increases, they took on the role of blocking the chaos insects that followed the black ether in front of the dungeon.

Bell snorted and responded to the words of the students.

“There’s no way this cutie clerk would be shivering in a dungeon!”

Then she looked back at us with a confident smile and shouted.

“Now, boom, time is up, right? If you follow this cute clerk around, you’ll realize how embarrassing a fuss it was~ I’ll make fun of you for that for the rest of your life-!”

Whirling – ok!

Bell playfully twirled the dark red dagger in the air and then spoke.

“… So, we will win and come out safely―!”

We answered that question.

“Yes!”

“Comrade Bell! I believe it!”

“Yes… !”

“Yes♪ It’s reassuring~”

So we ran, feeling the warmth of the wall of flames on our backs.

Tat tat tat-

A flash of light that dimly illuminates the dark sky.

Follow the path of black ether visible beyond.

‘A huge black etheric triangle floating in the sky… ‘

A place where the dungeon core that emits black ether is shaking.

Advance inside the dungeon gate where a white snake and a tree are intertwined.

As the gate gets closer to view, black ether surrounds the body.

I could see that the energy of the event dungeon, with its black ether slowly flowing out, was completely different from other regular dungeon gates.

At the same time, I recall Sigrun’s words I heard before establishing the strategy.

‘Both in the game and in real life, Bell and Sigrun are obscured by their personalities and do not stand out well… He was very capable… ‘

A while ago now.

Sigrun, who had been persuaded by me, took out a map from his pocket and explained the abnormal phenomenon he had witnessed to Eir and Bell.

-The chaos that emerges from each dungeon gate in the northeast gathers in these three places… These are all dungeon gates in the northern region.

The location of the Northern Erosion Dungeon Gate shown on the map taken out by Sigrun.

The three dungeon gates were located precisely at the vertices of an equilateral triangle across the northern wilderness.

-Unlike the chaos insects trying to exit from other northeastern dungeon gates, we confirmed that chaos insects actually entered the three dungeon gates connected by black ether lines.

Eir sighed as he looked at the location marked on the map.

-Strangely, the consumption of ether became extreme, and most of our kids, who exploded into flames at once, returned to a place where they couldn’t even use their strength…

-This is an issue that has also been confirmed within the erosion dungeon gate that occurred in other northeastern regions!

-huh? Isn’t it the same as anywhere else? What is the difference between other erosion gates and the three gates connected in a triangle?

Sigrun answered Bell’s question.

-As a result of a quick search inside the dungeon by the main investigation team, it was discovered that the gate function to control the number of people had been lost. Above all, crystals emitting black ether were located throughout the dungeon gate!

-Black ether?

– That’s right! The chaos insects flowing out from all over were moving towards the path where the black ether was flowing out!

-under… Then, is it okay to destroy the crystals in those three dungeons?

Bell exclaimed, pleased with Eir’s words.

-Then, let’s all gather around and break them one by one! That’s safe!

-That probably won’t work.

-Why~!!

-According to the advice of a magic arts student belonging to the investigation team, the ether receptors arranged in a triangle are endowed with the property of mutual recovery… They say it’s no different from a huge magic circle!

-What do you mean~!!

-Tsk, I don’t know anything about magic, so please be brief.

-If you don’t destroy all three places at once, it will regenerate!

Belle frowned and said.

-How much error is allowed?

-It’s just an estimate, but it’s about 10 minutes!

Eir hit his head and let out a sob.

-Damn, each gate is exactly 10 minutes away.

-Even if we hold out until reinforcements arrive… Before then, the northern region will be devastated…

Sigrun continued speaking with a sad expression.

-Even in front of each crystal, there was a Chaos Insect that appeared to be adult-sized or higher guarding it. However, I was the only one in the investigation team with level 3 ether abilities, so I gave up on conquering all dungeons and tried to call for reinforcements… !

Sigrun looked at Bel and Eir.

Then the two fully understand the situation.

If the three of us come together, we can resolve the issue before the damage increases.

-If this member sticks, we might be able to end the situation quickly before it gets too long―♪ It’s a good thing we didn’t fight and got along well―☆

-Tsk, that’s true.

So we were divided into a team that attacked the three dungeon gates where black ether crystals were confirmed, and a defense team that blocked the inflow of chaos insects.

students who cannot enter the dungeon due to the ether operation method take on the defense team to prevent the influx of chaos creatures. And the attack team leader is three people with level 3 or higher combat power.

[Yanghong’s Trail] Eir has the combat power of a level 3 ability or higher on her own even without using a firework explosion. And Sigrun and Bell, external students with level 3 abilities, brought their own party members.

Among the Dungeon Gate attack team comprised of three high-ranking ethereal talents, we ended up being part of Bell’s party.

“Really~!! How did it end up like this? ”

Belle looked at us with complicated eyes.

The North came to stop Sigrun, who had caused conflict with the students of by arson in the city center. The situation grew bigger and bigger, and before we knew it, the task of preventing the erosion and the threat to the northern part of Academy City had escalated.

Belle ran, shouting with mixed feelings.

“Really… ! Really, really, really, really~!! I will definitely repay you for this favor when I return to the garrison after finishing my work!! Please don’t report it to the boss~!!”

“How many times do you say the same thing… ?”

Albit looked at me and my classmates, and we responded with infinite positivity in our eyes. And she spoke in a confident voice.

“We are students of the same Academy City! Let me help you!”

“Aaaah!! Don’t talk in that youthful tone~!! Because I was embarrassed for trying to show off at first meeting-!!”

“…Didn’t that fail too?”

“Shh, be quiet.”

Belle exclaimed as she entered the gate that was finally right in front of her.

“Now! Breaking through the dungeon starts now!”

Gooo!

Normally, you wouldn’t even feel the dungeon’s penalty for rejecting three or more party members. All I can feel is the energy of black ether. The juniors who were struck by that ominous energy each shed a sob.

“K… ! About this much… !”

“That’s right! I will overcome this with grit!”

“… ”

I quietly felt the energy and recalled the game knowledge that had faded from my memory.

‘… ‘Curse of erosion.’

A special dungeon environment created by [Priest of Erosion].

It was a debuff that drastically increased skill consumption.

The key to conquering this event dungeon was to advance through endless waves of monsters with students with low ether costs. However, thanks to the help of the students, which were not implemented in the game, the situation inside the dungeon, where further waves were blocked, was relatively relaxed.

“Swarm of Fluid Chaos found!!”

“Kara! Let’s go together!”

“Okay—!”

Albit and Kara struggle to save Bell’s ether whenever hordes of fluid chaos insects are seen sparsely visible through the dark passages.

Red ether forms on the sword Albit takes out, and he uses a skill that consumes almost no cost.

“[Flash Sword]!!”

Red ether condenses along the sword she scattered. And the fired sword energy explodes with a roar that echoes through the passage.

Kwaaaang-!!

Shaaa!!

Fluid chaos insects reacting to a sudden attack.

With a roar, they lead their sluggish bodies and surround Albit.

Albit is slowly surrounded.

She attacked and tried to escape.

Because the skill cost used so far was close to 0.

I was embarrassed by the skill fatigue I felt for the first time in this dungeon.

“Ugh?! This much ether flows out?! It’s much worse than Rota’s buff skill―?!”

“[Revolutionary Comrade]!! Build a platform so Comrade Albert can escape!”

fluttering――

A faint etheric signal is transmitted to the flag that Kara waves, and the summoned robots move according to the predetermined position. An action closer to positional alignment rather than a full-fledged summoning attack skill.

Slam!

Slam!

Slam!

Eventually, by playing around with the thin limbs attached to the short square body, it created a platform for Arbit to step on.

Taaat!

Albit steps on the stairs, rises into the air, and fires another attack.

“[Flash Sword]―!!”

Kwaaang-!!

A group of sword energy is fired once again.

They finally explode all the gathered fluid chaos insects.

Although I only had one encounter, my skill proficiency increased noticeably.

“Seon, senior… I mean Albit… It gets stronger very quickly… ?”

“… Yes♪ I’m glad.”

Rota, whose skills were practically sealed due to the dungeon’s debuff, was chasing after Albit and Kara with auxiliary items.

“Keuuu!! The cutie secretary will be active soon! Get a feel for dungeons~!!”

Bell also seemed to be a concept-obsessed person, and was saying strange things while watching Arbit’s activities.

So we headed deep into the dungeon.