episode_0063

[+5P]

‘This guy only gets 5 points? Points are inflexible. It’s a deficit.’

The robot, stabbed with a dagger and beaten with fists and feet, completely lost its original form.

“···Rohan. Drink the potion quickly. If you don’t have any extra, I’ll give you what I have.”

“There are some extra. Keep your potions handy.”

Of the three, Zion was the one who ended the battle the fastest.

While Rohan dealt with one entity, he instantly destroyed two robots with his three-pronged baton.

Zion will also notice that monsters that have transformed into parasitic forms are particularly vulnerable to electricity.

After finishing the battle, Zion kicked off the wall and flew in to help Rohan, who was finishing him off.

Clara cleared out the robots just as Rohan was finishing up the battle.

Fighting robots is completely different from killing living creatures with blood and guts, so it seems like it can be a bit tricky.

So the 30th floor is finished for now.

In this battle, Zion and Clara were unscathed, but the wounds inflicted on Rohan were quite spectacular.

Thanks to you.

As Clara approached after the battle, a Bali Song flowed down from her hand.

──Teeing! The clear sound of something hitting the floor.

“Oh, brother···!?”

When Rohan turned his head, he could clearly see it thanks to the sunlight streaming in through the window.

Clara’s expression was indescribable. Tears were welling up in her eyes, as if they were about to fall down at any moment.

A sobbing sound amidst the silence. Rohan was at his most bewildered since falling into Academy City.

Footsteps naturally turned towards the girl.

“It’s really okay. Don’t cry. Okay?”

“Every day··· Every day, you just say it’s okay···.”

Clara, with her lips sticking out like a duck, lowered her head.

Rohan gently took Clara’s hand with his clean, blood-free hand.

“The skin was torn, but not deeply cut. Sorry for worrying you.”

“···.”

Clara herself was embarrassed by her uncontrollable emotions. Just like Rohan, who was standing in front of her.

Zion, who was watching the two, was also quite surprised.

About a minute passed like that.

Clara, who had been sobbing, whispered softly as if she had come to her senses.

“Brother··· I’m, I’m sorry···.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll train hard when I get back.”

Rohan had no intention of asking the girl what she was sorry about.

The true meaning of the apology is easy enough for even Zion, who is watching from the side, to figure out.

It is inevitable that there will be scars in battle. Clara is well aware of this fact.

I know very well that it is not good to burden Clara by showing her emotions and getting hurt. That is why I came to my senses and apologized, but instead of feeling burdened, Rohan was happy that Clara showed her emotions.

It can also be a good motivation to push yourself to train.

··

··

After Rohan finished drinking the potion and stopped the bleeding.

The group went up to the 31st floor. When they arrived, they were shocked to find it empty.

I found out the reason when I went to the 32nd floor where the noise between floors was loud.

As I headed upstairs, I saw a robot coming down from the 33rd floor. It was the same security robot I had seen on the 30th floor.

I wonder if they decided that they can’t win the parasitic plant war with their current numbers alone.

A vortex of thorns poured down from one of the robots standing in the middle and began to wrap itself around and pull in the robots around it.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

The robots are buckled by the physical force of the vines. They are forcibly pulled and stuck together, entangling themselves with the vines.

Robots from the 31st to 33rd floors come together to create an absurd combination.

Its power is derived from principles that are completely unsuitable for precision machinery. That is why we call it a monster.

“···.”

The thorny vines are entangled with each other, growing several times thicker, and miniguns are sticking out in a complex manner here and there.

The display crackles and flashes as shards of glass rain down.

─ Intruder detected.

─ Start cleaning.

The machine spoke with a clearer voice than before.

The sense of pressure was different from that of the robot from before.

however.

When the Rohan party was together and fighting a single entity, their hands and feet meshed neatly together rather than when they were scattered.

Didn’t they just fight side by side for about three days? Even though it wasn’t perfect, the link-up was adequate.

Rohan had Zion pull out his pistol, because there really wasn’t much left.

Tadadadang!

One magazine was consumed in an instant. The conclusion came with a deafening gunshot.

Zion quickly ended the situation with a bullet imbued with his unique magical power.

Rohan expected high points from the combined monster, but it was only 7 points.

I felt like it was a loss.

There were no monsters on the 34th floor.

It was clean without a single thornbush, but it created a sense of alienation that could not be ignored.

As Rohan remembers, this is a place to rest before heading to the boss.

Zion and Clara were on guard for a while, not knowing that, but after checking everything around them and concluding that they were safe, they listened to Rohan’s voice.

“Did you see what’s written on the 1st floor? This building’s top floor is the 35th floor. The next floor.”

“Oh! I didn’t know···.”

“Did you get that information while you were absent-minded? Then there might be a stronger guy next time.”

In fact, there was no such information written on the first floor.

Rohan just makes up stories and relays information.

“Be prepared. If you feel like your magic power is running low, just drink a potion.”

At Rohan’s words, Zion and Clara gulped down the blue potion.

The girls frowned at the bitter taste. Rohan seemed to know this and put a macaron in their mouths one by one.

“Ah~ please do it.”

When Rohan held out a macaron, not only Clara but also Sion opened their mouths to receive it.

I felt like we had become closer as we went through hardships together.

Unlike the lower floors, there are iron doors on both sides at the end of the stairs. It has a unique shape even though it is not a rooftop.

Turn the doorknob, making as little noise as possible.

“Brother. There’s something strange inside!”

“I’ve said this before, but it’s still weird.”

The girls who checked inside looked like they had seen a bug.

Rohan checked the gap to see the monster in his memory in real life.

‘oh.’

An unknown number of thorny vines were intertwined to form a huge pillar.

The tips of the vines stretch out from there and sway as if dancing.

There, televisions of various sizes hang like fruits, drawing emoticons as if expressing emotions.

It felt like watching video art, a type of modern art.

[^_^] [^_^] [^_^] [^_^]

Just like the monsters we’ve seen so far, the dungeon boss is just as bizarre as Sion said.

Rohan rolled his eyes and whispered to the girls.

“That’s a monolith. See it?”

At Rohan’s words, the two girls looked back with interest.

I focused on the thorn vine that Rohan had mentioned. And I found it.

Between the narrow gaps of the thickest thorny vines, like trees, a space the size of a fingernail moved slowly, secretly exposing a pitch-black tombstone with carved letters.

As Rohan said, there was something that was presumed to be a monolith. Unlike its first appearance, it had lost its brilliant light and was now emitting a faint, soft light.

“Oh, it’s true!”

“Sure.”

An intuition felt the moment you discover it.

The knowledge that if you destroy that thing, you can get out of this place seeps into your head.

““!””

The three people exchanged glances, nodded, and shared their opinions.

I was convinced that the information in my consciousness was likely to be true.

“Can you hit that with a gun?”

Zion and Clara have a special talent that allows them to imbue projectiles with magical power.

If things go as planned, we might be able to go back without the hassle of fighting.

“It’s not a big deal to squeeze through a gap like that.”

“Me, me too···!”

The target is not a monster, but a monolith. The way back under another name.

The two girls nodded confidently to Rohan’s question.

Zion took a heavy pistol out of his bosom and checked the magazine, and Clara also took out a pistol loaded with subsonic bullets.

The two were convinced that now was the moment to fire without sparing any bullets.

“Rohan. Still, it won’t show the destructive power that you expected.”

“Why?”

“If it’s not a specially made gun and bullet, it will explode the moment you inject too much magic power into it. Even at max, it’s probably like the one you used against the robot earlier.”

Clara nodded slightly as if what she said was true. Sion also looked disappointed that he didn’t have a sniper rifle.

‘There’s something like that too.’

Rohan asked for it, saying that it was enough, while remembering information he didn’t know.

The girls thrust their pistols through the crack in the door.

Zion sat down and took up his position, while Clara stood and aimed her gun.

“Clara. Shoot when you’re ready. I’ll hit it.”

“Okay···!”

Pick! At the same time as the thin sound ──Taang! A powerful gunshot rang out.

The bullet flew into the monolith, precisely aiming for the gap where the vines were writhing.

The vines stiffened and shrank back for a moment as if they sensed an attack.

The bullet pierced through the vines and then stopped in its tracks.

───Chi-chi-ik! Steam rose in the air as evidence of strong impact and friction.

[⸌_⸍] [⸌_⸍] [⸌_⸍] [⸌_⸍]

The emoticons floating on the television changed all at once.

It was really clear what the situation was.

Although it didn’t reach the monolith, it seemed certain that it would inflict damage.

“Oh, brother! That··· Your expression has changed so scary···!”

“Rohan. It seems that the nature of that entity has changed.”

Rohan placed his hands on the shoulders of the two girls who were reporting in an urgent voice.

He calms her down with a voice that doesn’t convey any sense of tension.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll just do what we’ve been doing.”

Now it’s time to go back.