Chapter 92
The opening march echoed through the halls.
At the entrance to the boss room on the 10th floor villains were sent to stop the Academy students from attacking the boss.
‘Miner’ watched through his ice crystal as the academy students, who had now made it to the ninth floor, met up with ‘Snowgirl Parr’, the villain who had come with him to lead this attack.
“Hah, since they’ve already made it this far, are they really good, or did they……just get really lucky and wake up on the ninth floor?”
It was quite a sight for sore eyes, as he had used his ability to penetrate the dungeon’s terrain to take charge of the defense of the ninth and tenth floors faster than anyone else, freeing up his time.
Setting the pickaxe he was holding aside, he looked at the situation reflected in the ice crystal and pulled out one of the snacks he had prepared beforehand.
“Judging by the color of their name tags, I’m guessing they’re first year students……Huh, and that hair color is the heir to the Sword Saint Clan?”
The miner, who thought it would be a simple matter, smiled brightly at the unexpected arrival.
“Wow, just when I thought I was going to be bored waiting, this is making things interesting, huh?”
Miner merely chuckled and watched the figure through the ice crystal.
If he wanted to, he could go downstairs and help, but then he’d be up against the Academy’s new students.
If he lost to them, they would think he was just as weak as they were.
To a villain, an ally was just something that could be discarded at any time.
“Well, let’s see what the Academy’s new students are made of, shall we?”
The blue ice crystals floating in front of the miner reflected the situation upstairs.
* * *
“You’re here sooner than I thought, I thought he said nothing would happen for two days.”
Snow Girl Parr giggled at the appearance of the new students in front of her, and looked at Young-jae who had performed his magic.
“How cute.”
She slapped the snowman she was riding on the head, and the ice crystals that rose from it transformed into a blue awl.
“For now, how about a welcome?”
The ice picks shoot out before Par can finish his sentence.
In response, Se-ah, who was behind Young-jae, stepped forward and spread her hands wide.
At the same time, as if intentionally avoiding them, the ice picks only stuck elsewhere.
“Wow, coordinate interference? Interesting kids, huh?”
Parr chuckles at the appearance of the kids who seem to be more skilled than he thought.
“Huh?!”
With a loud bang, the snowman Farr was riding on shook.
As she looks down to see what happened, she sees Choi Yeon swinging her sword at the snowman’s lower half.
“Stupid bitch, you think you can cut through snow with a sword like that?!”
Once again, Choi Yeon swings his sword at the snowman but the sword fails to pierce the snowman’s body and bounces off.
After it bounced back, Choi took a closer look at the snowman’s surface and realized that it was surrounded by clear ice.
“There are definitely three of them.”
After muttering that, she once again struck the snowman.
The ice crystals that bounced off of it fell to the ground and began to form a pure white body, like bamboo shoots sprouting up.
“Children of the Snow, why don’t you chase those rascals away?”
In an instant, human-sized snowmen filled the surroundings.
Se-ah and Young-jae gritted their teeth and looked at the snowmen.
“Se-ah, I’m going to throw a big one, so I’ll ask you to target them!”
“Leave it to me!”
At Se-ah’s assurance, Young-jae wields his fountain pen.
“GRANDIOSO!”
The fountain pen’s tip bursts into flames and shoots into the sky.
At the same time, Se-ah stretched out her clenched hands and took over the control of the magic from Young-jae.
At that moment.
“Scatter!”
The coordinates of space and the path of magic, visible only to her eyes.
Predicting it all in an instant, Se-ah transforms a single pillar of fire into dozens of stalks and drops them over the heads of the snowmen.
The cold ice meets the hot fire, and in an instant, steam rises and fills their stomachs.
In an instant, the nine-story cavity was filled with steam but the snowmen were still standing, only a little smaller in size.
“No, it’s enough.”
Hearing the cold voice from below, Parr looked down.
Choi Yeon was wielding her sword at the shrunken snowmen, cleaning them up.
Parr flinches and shudders at the sight, but once again, she slashes at the snowman’s head.
“Stop her!”
-Grrrrrrrrr!
The creature begins to move with a huge roar that is hard to believe is coming from a snowman.
It wriggles and arms sprout out of nothingness.
Choi Yeon and Se-ah stare at it, their faces scrunched up.
“Ew. What is that?”
“……Gross.”
But as if their reactions didn’t matter, frost begins to bloom on the arm, and ice crystals form in the shape of a sword.
“Snow, sweep them all away!”
-Gooooooooooo───!
The snowman swung a sword the size of his body vertically toward Choi Yeon but Choi Yeon quickly moved to the side to dodge.
“……!”
However, her feet had already been stuck to the ground by the frozen ice.
She raised the sword in her hand, only to have an overwhelming mass slam into the top of her head, causing a huge gust of wind to sweep through the hall.
“Choi Yeon!”
Se-ah, who had been engaged in bare-knuckle combat with the snowmen, shouted, reaching out for Choi Yeon.
In a flash of purple, Choi Yeon appeared in front of Se-ah.
“You saved my life.”
As if she had suffered an internal injury, crimson blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.
“Ah.”
Wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, Choi Yeon looked at her sword and saw that it was cracked.
“It looks like I have two or three more attacks to …… go.”
Calculating that she only had a few attacks left to make, Choi began to think about her surroundings, her condition, and how to win.
Would she be able to cut down the snowman?
──No.
The chances of success were very small, and if she failed, she would have to fight with her bare hands.
Is there any other way?
Choi Yan hurriedly looked around.
There were only so many ways she could use right now.
The opponent’s abilities were very incompatible with her speed, and since the surroundings were indoors, she could feel the coldness building up and her movements becoming more and more stilted.
In other words, she’s not going to be able to take him down on her own.
She would have to create another variable.
Her eyes traveled to the other two who were dealing with the smaller snowmen.
“……I’ll take aim at the summoner on the snowman. Can you support me?”
The two nodded, still fighting.
“I’ll twist the magic directed at Choi Yeon as best I can.”
“Do you have any ideas? I’ll support you as much as I can.”
Choi Yeon nods, ready to jump at any moment.
“Please.”
“Allegro!”
With a bang, Choi Yeon stomped across the floor and ran toward the giant snowman.
And with it, Young-jae’s support magic.
In response, Choi Yeon’s speed, which had been slowed by the cold, began to gradually increase.
Parr was puzzled by the movements that were so different from a moment ago.
“Snow, be sure to cut her down this time!”
-Gooooooooooo───!
Snow raises his giant ice sword, and Parr tries to turn the ground into ice to block Choi Yeon movement, but──
“Keep running!”
At that moment, Se-ah, who had just pierced the face of the snowman in front of her with her bare hands, immediately twisted her wrist, breaking the coordinates of Parr’s magic and it ended up freezing in the wrong place.
“That damn space mage──huh?”
About to block Choi Yeon’s charge with another spell, Parr realized that her hands weren’t moving.
Her hands were stuck on the snowman’s head.
“What the……?”
She was frozen by her own magic but while she panicked at the absurdity of the situation.
“Tranquillo.”
An ethereal voice was heard from below.
Parr looked down and saw Young-jae raising the corner of his mouth as if it was nothing.
“You……how the hell can you use ice magic!”
From what she had seen just now, he used two types of magic: strengthening magic and fire magic…but to use another type of magic here?
“Damn it……Snow block her!”
Parr shouted as she quickly used her magic to melt the ice, but…….
“──It’s too late.”
Choi Yeon, who had suddenly jumped into the air, raised her sword above her head.
“It was my first time fighting such a big opponent, it was fun.”
Choi Yeon murmurs with a very calm face as the blue aura from her hand engulfs the cracked sword in an instant,
It was a beautiful blue light, but just looking at it set off alarm bells in Parr’s instincts.
──Die.
“Holy…… shit, Miner, come help!”
Parr yells as loudly as she can at Miner, who must be watching the scene through his magic.
However, there is no response and a pure white sword blade falls down on the head of Snowgirl Parr.
“Both ends.”
────!
A sound as if a sherbet was being cut was heard, and the snowman’s body exploded.
Kwaaaaaaahhh──!
The snowman’s debris spreads around, creating a fierce blizzard.
At the same time, a pure white light washes over the area.
‘Whiteout.’
‘Snowgirl Wave’ was the last magic she unleashed before she was struck by Choi Yeon attack.
“Haa…… haa……, I almost died, I just need to escape quietly like this……!”
The Whiteout had allowed her to escape the last of the attacks, and she was crouching low, slowly crawling toward the hole Miner had drilled.
‘Those bastards……! I’ll get my revenge. I will get my revenge!’
As she pondered her silent rage in the pure white snow.
“Huh?!”
She collapsed to the snow as behind her, an unknown figure appeared, slowly looking in the direction of the children.
* * *
“Hah, so they’re children after all.”
The entrance to the boss room on the 10th floor of the dungeon.
There, Miner was watching the situation upstairs through magic.
“Hmph…….It looks like it’s taking longer than I thought, but it looks like she is in danger too, so I’m going to go help her.”
Miner shuddered in excitement as he felt a shock that could be felt up to the 10th floor.
As he continues to feel the ground vibrate, he can’t help but feel a strange sense of exhilaration──
“……Huh, wait?”
He suddenly felt strange and froze in place.
A sensation he could only feel because he was sensitive to vibrations.
Realizing that the vibrations that were now continuing were not naturally occurring, but rather man-made, he began to look around.
“Is it the guys upstairs? No, they didn’t do anything to cause the vibrations.”
Just in case, he glances at the massive stone door behind him.
The 10th floor boss room, where the boss of this dungeon is supposedly trapped but the vibrations inside were far too big to be anything more than a vibration.
“Then what the hell…….”
That moment.
[──Ting-dong].
A sound too strange to have come from a dungeon.
[──The tenth floor underground.]
“Wow, this thing really comes to the 10th floor in a room?”
“It was lit, so I pressed it. I didn’t expect it to come this far either.”
“So, if I use this later, it’ll be a bust, boss?”
“No, that would take the fun out of dungeon exploring.”
Miner slowly turns his head at the sudden human voice.
The pillar in the center of the room, which he had thought was just a decoration until now, suddenly split in two, revealing two men.
“Hey, boss, who’s that guy with the hardhat?”
“……Hardhat?”
Miner’s eyes locked with the two men from the elevator.
“……that.”
Eugene’s eyes widened briefly in surprise as he recognized the man in the hard hat, but then the corners of his mouth turned up.
“──Found him.”
Chapter 92
The opening march echoed through the halls.
At the entrance to the boss room on the 10th floor villains were sent to stop the Academy students from attacking the boss.
‘Miner’ watched through his ice crystal as the academy students, who had now made it to the ninth floor, met up with ‘Snowgirl Parr’, the villain who had come with him to lead this attack.
“Hah, since they’ve already made it this far, are they really good, or did they……just get really lucky and wake up on the ninth floor?”
It was quite a sight for sore eyes, as he had used his ability to penetrate the dungeon’s terrain to take charge of the defense of the ninth and tenth floors faster than anyone else, freeing up his time.
Setting the pickaxe he was holding aside, he looked at the situation reflected in the ice crystal and pulled out one of the snacks he had prepared beforehand.
“Judging by the color of their name tags, I’m guessing they’re first year students……Huh, and that hair color is the heir to the Sword Saint Clan?”
The miner, who thought it would be a simple matter, smiled brightly at the unexpected arrival.
“Wow, just when I thought I was going to be bored waiting, this is making things interesting, huh?”
Miner merely chuckled and watched the figure through the ice crystal.
If he wanted to, he could go downstairs and help, but then he’d be up against the Academy’s new students.
If he lost to them, they would think he was just as weak as they were.
To a villain, an ally was just something that could be discarded at any time.
“Well, let’s see what the Academy’s new students are made of, shall we?”
The blue ice crystals floating in front of the miner reflected the situation upstairs.
* * *
“You’re here sooner than I thought, I thought he said nothing would happen for two days.”
Snow Girl Parr giggled at the appearance of the new students in front of her, and looked at Young-jae who had performed his magic.
“How cute.”
She slapped the snowman she was riding on the head, and the ice crystals that rose from it transformed into a blue awl.
“For now, how about a welcome?”
The ice picks shoot out before Par can finish his sentence.
In response, Se-ah, who was behind Young-jae, stepped forward and spread her hands wide.
At the same time, as if intentionally avoiding them, the ice picks only stuck elsewhere.
“Wow, coordinate interference? Interesting kids, huh?”
Parr chuckles at the appearance of the kids who seem to be more skilled than he thought.
“Huh?!”
With a loud bang, the snowman Farr was riding on shook.
As she looks down to see what happened, she sees Choi Yeon swinging her sword at the snowman’s lower half.
“Stupid bitch, you think you can cut through snow with a sword like that?!”
Once again, Choi Yeon swings his sword at the snowman but the sword fails to pierce the snowman’s body and bounces off.
After it bounced back, Choi took a closer look at the snowman’s surface and realized that it was surrounded by clear ice.
“There are definitely three of them.”
After muttering that, she once again struck the snowman.
The ice crystals that bounced off of it fell to the ground and began to form a pure white body, like bamboo shoots sprouting up.
“Children of the Snow, why don’t you chase those rascals away?”
In an instant, human-sized snowmen filled the surroundings.
Se-ah and Young-jae gritted their teeth and looked at the snowmen.
“Se-ah, I’m going to throw a big one, so I’ll ask you to target them!”
“Leave it to me!”
At Se-ah’s assurance, Young-jae wields his fountain pen.
“GRANDIOSO!”
The fountain pen’s tip bursts into flames and shoots into the sky.
At the same time, Se-ah stretched out her clenched hands and took over the control of the magic from Young-jae.
At that moment.
“Scatter!”
The coordinates of space and the path of magic, visible only to her eyes.
Predicting it all in an instant, Se-ah transforms a single pillar of fire into dozens of stalks and drops them over the heads of the snowmen.
The cold ice meets the hot fire, and in an instant, steam rises and fills their stomachs.
In an instant, the nine-story cavity was filled with steam but the snowmen were still standing, only a little smaller in size.
“No, it’s enough.”
Hearing the cold voice from below, Parr looked down.
Choi Yeon was wielding her sword at the shrunken snowmen, cleaning them up.
Parr flinches and shudders at the sight, but once again, she slashes at the snowman’s head.
“Stop her!”
-Grrrrrrrrr!
The creature begins to move with a huge roar that is hard to believe is coming from a snowman.
It wriggles and arms sprout out of nothingness.
Choi Yeon and Se-ah stare at it, their faces scrunched up.
“Ew. What is that?”
“……Gross.”
But as if their reactions didn’t matter, frost begins to bloom on the arm, and ice crystals form in the shape of a sword.
“Snow, sweep them all away!”
-Gooooooooooo───!
The snowman swung a sword the size of his body vertically toward Choi Yeon but Choi Yeon quickly moved to the side to dodge.
“……!”
However, her feet had already been stuck to the ground by the frozen ice.
She raised the sword in her hand, only to have an overwhelming mass slam into the top of her head, causing a huge gust of wind to sweep through the hall.
“Choi Yeon!”
Se-ah, who had been engaged in bare-knuckle combat with the snowmen, shouted, reaching out for Choi Yeon.
In a flash of purple, Choi Yeon appeared in front of Se-ah.
“You saved my life.”
As if she had suffered an internal injury, crimson blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.
“Ah.”
Wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, Choi Yeon looked at her sword and saw that it was cracked.
“It looks like I have two or three more attacks to …… go.”
Calculating that she only had a few attacks left to make, Choi began to think about her surroundings, her condition, and how to win.
Would she be able to cut down the snowman?
──No.
The chances of success were very small, and if she failed, she would have to fight with her bare hands.
Is there any other way?
Choi Yan hurriedly looked around.
There were only so many ways she could use right now.
The opponent’s abilities were very incompatible with her speed, and since the surroundings were indoors, she could feel the coldness building up and her movements becoming more and more stilted.
In other words, she’s not going to be able to take him down on her own.
She would have to create another variable.
Her eyes traveled to the other two who were dealing with the smaller snowmen.
“……I’ll take aim at the summoner on the snowman. Can you support me?”
The two nodded, still fighting.
“I’ll twist the magic directed at Choi Yeon as best I can.”
“Do you have any ideas? I’ll support you as much as I can.”
Choi Yeon nods, ready to jump at any moment.
“Please.”
“Allegro!”
With a bang, Choi Yeon stomped across the floor and ran toward the giant snowman.
And with it, Young-jae’s support magic.
In response, Choi Yeon’s speed, which had been slowed by the cold, began to gradually increase.
Parr was puzzled by the movements that were so different from a moment ago.
“Snow, be sure to cut her down this time!”
-Gooooooooooo───!
Snow raises his giant ice sword, and Parr tries to turn the ground into ice to block Choi Yeon movement, but──
“Keep running!”
At that moment, Se-ah, who had just pierced the face of the snowman in front of her with her bare hands, immediately twisted her wrist, breaking the coordinates of Parr’s magic and it ended up freezing in the wrong place.
“That damn space mage──huh?”
About to block Choi Yeon’s charge with another spell, Parr realized that her hands weren’t moving.
Her hands were stuck on the snowman’s head.
“What the……?”
She was frozen by her own magic but while she panicked at the absurdity of the situation.
“Tranquillo.”
An ethereal voice was heard from below.
Parr looked down and saw Young-jae raising the corner of his mouth as if it was nothing.
“You……how the hell can you use ice magic!”
From what she had seen just now, he used two types of magic: strengthening magic and fire magic…but to use another type of magic here?
“Damn it……Snow block her!”
Parr shouted as she quickly used her magic to melt the ice, but…….
“──It’s too late.”
Choi Yeon, who had suddenly jumped into the air, raised her sword above her head.
“It was my first time fighting such a big opponent, it was fun.”
Choi Yeon murmurs with a very calm face as the blue aura from her hand engulfs the cracked sword in an instant,
It was a beautiful blue light, but just looking at it set off alarm bells in Parr’s instincts.
──Die.
“Holy…… shit, Miner, come help!”
Parr yells as loudly as she can at Miner, who must be watching the scene through his magic.
However, there is no response and a pure white sword blade falls down on the head of Snowgirl Parr.
“Both ends.”
────!
A sound as if a sherbet was being cut was heard, and the snowman’s body exploded.
Kwaaaaaaahhh──!
The snowman’s debris spreads around, creating a fierce blizzard.
At the same time, a pure white light washes over the area.
‘Whiteout.’
‘Snowgirl Wave’ was the last magic she unleashed before she was struck by Choi Yeon attack.
“Haa…… haa……, I almost died, I just need to escape quietly like this……!”
The Whiteout had allowed her to escape the last of the attacks, and she was crouching low, slowly crawling toward the hole Miner had drilled.
‘Those bastards……! I’ll get my revenge. I will get my revenge!’
As she pondered her silent rage in the pure white snow.
“Huh?!”
She collapsed to the snow as behind her, an unknown figure appeared, slowly looking in the direction of the children.
* * *
“Hah, so they’re children after all.”
The entrance to the boss room on the 10th floor of the dungeon.
There, Miner was watching the situation upstairs through magic.
“Hmph…….It looks like it’s taking longer than I thought, but it looks like she is in danger too, so I’m going to go help her.”
Miner shuddered in excitement as he felt a shock that could be felt up to the 10th floor.
As he continues to feel the ground vibrate, he can’t help but feel a strange sense of exhilaration──
“……Huh, wait?”
He suddenly felt strange and froze in place.
A sensation he could only feel because he was sensitive to vibrations.
Realizing that the vibrations that were now continuing were not naturally occurring, but rather man-made, he began to look around.
“Is it the guys upstairs? No, they didn’t do anything to cause the vibrations.”
Just in case, he glances at the massive stone door behind him.
The 10th floor boss room, where the boss of this dungeon is supposedly trapped but the vibrations inside were far too big to be anything more than a vibration.
“Then what the hell…….”
That moment.
[──Ting-dong].
A sound too strange to have come from a dungeon.
[──The tenth floor underground.]
“Wow, this thing really comes to the 10th floor in a room?”
“It was lit, so I pressed it. I didn’t expect it to come this far either.”
“So, if I use this later, it’ll be a bust, boss?”
“No, that would take the fun out of dungeon exploring.”
Miner slowly turns his head at the sudden human voice.
The pillar in the center of the room, which he had thought was just a decoration until now, suddenly split in two, revealing two men.
“Hey, boss, who’s that guy with the hardhat?”
“……Hardhat?”
Miner’s eyes locked with the two men from the elevator.
“……that.”
Eugene’s eyes widened briefly in surprise as he recognized the man in the hard hat, but then the corners of his mouth turned up.
“──Found him.”
