Chapter 15: Artificial Dungeon (3)

*FLICKER*

*WHOOSH*

The Magma Megalith kept launching fireballs at us, and we ran around in groups around the arena.

"INCOMING"

We barely avoided the fire breath of the Megalith, but Chae Nayun, who was in front, got burned pretty badly. We were now cornered by the Megalith.

*CRASH*

The Megalith slammed one of its paws down, destroying the flow under us, and everyone beside Chae Nayun got sent flying in the air. I landed about 10 feet down and Aether took the majority of the fall damage, so I was fine. However, I could now see the monster about to deal a fatal blow to Chae Nayun, who was sprawled out on the ground, from the previous attack.

'fuck did we enter the boss room too early'

The boss monster lifted its paw and got ready to crush Chae Nayun when suddenly a bullet flew threw the air.

*WHOOSH*

On the opposite side of the arena, you could see a boy holding a gold and white gun that was clearly not a training gun. The bullet didn't exactly pierce the body of the monster, however, it paralyzed it. With the monster stuck for a second, Chae Nayun quickly got up and ran to safety. The monster, now unparalyzed, realized that the boy with a gun was the biggest threat, so it immediately ran towards Kim Hajin with its right paw ready to crush him as soon as he got in reach. Before the monster could attack, Chae Nayun saw that the rest of us were fine, so she ordered.

"BATTLE FORMATION"

Bam, I, and the other girl looked at each other in confusion.

'YOU DIDN'T GIVE US A FORMATION'

It seemed Sven's group had a formation, so they immediately sent their main weapon damages up front while support and sharpshooters stayed in the back. Following that, the girl in our group and I ran forward to attack the monster. It was somewhat successful as we stopped the monster from killing Hajin, however, after a minute of attacking it, we realized.

"WHAT THE HELL? OUR DAMAGES AREN'T EVEN FAZING IT"

With the help of Chae Nayun's arrows, we were barely holding, and Hajin seemed to have used all his power in the bullet to save Nayun, so he was lying down at the edge of the Arena.

*FWOOSH*

Sven suddenly appeared next to me with his sword in hand and jumped on the monster, dealing a blow. This blow actually seemed to hurt the monster, as it was paralyzed for a second. Chae Nayun, realizing that we had a chance now, smiled and said.

"Keep it distracted"

'what does she actually have a plan?'

While the main damagers and I were keeping it distracted, Bam along with Hajin were running around picking up the people in Sven's group who fell victim to the monster's fire attacks. Sven was carrying us as he was able to fluidly dodge the attacks of the monsters and actually deal damage to its body with his newly obtained djinn powers. 

*RUMBLE*

The cave shook as the monster prepared to go all out. Lava began spilling out of the coliseum floor and the monster started attacking everything, no longer caring if the cave collapsed. At this rate, we would all be goners, so I looked around and that's when I saw her. Chae Nayun was standing in the corner of the coliseum with an arrow slung in her bow, and there was an imposing yellow aura surrounding her weapon.

*FWOOSH*

The arrow took off from Chae Nayun's bow and moved so fast that nobody besides me could see it. The arrow hit the monster and instantly exploded.

*BOOM*

The monster's head was blown off.

"W-we did it"

The monster, now decapitated, collapsed onto the floor and the cave rumbled for the last time with that impact. Bam, who had a girl from Sven's group on his back, said.

"W-we really defeated a Magma Megalith"

"Will we get points for that"

'we just died and you're thinking about the damn points'

Everyone surrounded Chae Nayun and began asking how she was able to deal so much damage with one arrow. She just said it was her finishing move or something. I ignored the group and climbed up onto the one pillar and laid down because I was genuinely tired after running for my life for around 20 minutes. Of course, I was never really in danger, but you can't be scared of a monster 10 times your size charging at your full speed, and we also had to dodge the lava spilled all over the floor.

"holy shit"

What I was curious about is how nobody in our group questioned Sven, who went from sleeping like a baby to being able to single-handedly distract and attack a Magma Megalith. Everyone besides Hajin and I gathered in the center of the arena and began congratulation each other. I mean defeating a Magma Megalith or any boss monster as a year one was probably a pretty big deal. From the top of the pillar, I could see Kim Hajin sitting down on a rock away from the center, and Chae Nayun walking towards him.

'I mean he did kinda save her life'

I saw him awkwardly conversate with her and Chae Nayun's expression was priceless when Hajin revealed that he had used a non-training weapon during the fight. Then I saw another decisive moment in their relationship, Chae Nayun asked if he wanted to apologize, and he refused. Normally, Hajin would be the asshole in this situation as he refused to apologize for insulting Nayun's brother, but Hajin also knows that he must kill Nayun's brother. He realizes if he apologizes, the two will become better friends, which will make Hajin's betrayal hurt Nayun even more, so he just wants to stay awkward acquaintances. From Nayun's perspective, she was essentially giving a second chance to the man who insulted her brother, and he refused her. She had every right to be mad. 

'man their relationship really is fucked'

In the distance, I could Sven glaring at Kim Hajin, as with the demon, his jealousy must be at an all-time high. While we were in the fight with a Megalith, a demon of desire visited Sven and allowed him to become stronger, which he took. The demon increased Sven's desire for Chae Nayun tenfold, so he is now a ticking time bomb. Interrupting my thoughts, I could hear Bam scream for me below.

"Hey, Ren, who do the hell do you think are? You're not fucking batman. Get down here and celebrate with us you prick"

His voice echoed throughout the entire arena, and Hajin, who was previously deep in thought, also glanced at me. Soon everyone in the arena was looking up at me.

'you just had to ruin it, Bam'

I was getting ready to jump down, so I wouldn't stand out when I felt my smartwatch vibrate.

[Hajin: Dude what the hell are you doing up there? You're not cool 😭😭😭]

[Ren: I had a perfect view of you hitting on Chae Nayun. Did you get her number?]

[Hajin: Shut up]

I returned Aether to being invisible before jumping down as people would probably question my sweater if it remained perfectly fine even after fighting a Magma Megalith. I used some dirt to stain my shirt and ripped it a bit to fit in with everyone else. I used some rocks that were thrown by the Megalith to carefully jump down, and then I headed towards Bam. Before I reached them, a loudspeaker activated in the dungeon.

'a bit fucking late'

"This is an alert to all students. The dungeon assault exercise has been suspended. Please exit the dungeon immediately. I repeat the dungeon assault exercise has been suspended"

After the announcement ended, Bam headed towards me put the girl he was holding on my back, and walked away before I could react.

"I've been holding her for ages, your turn"

She was actually pretty light, I put her on my back and headed out of the dungeon. Before I could exit though, Kim Hajin quickened his pace and walked side by side next to me.

"I see, you're quite the player"

"oh shut up dude. You just appeared out of nowhere like a protagonist and saved Chae Nayun's life. I know you planned that."

"Bro I walked in and you guys were in trouble, so I helped????"

I exited the dungeon and headed towards one of the instructors to give them the girl, but the girl suddenly woke up.

" *YAWNNN* hey, where are we"

"We beat the Megalith and the training got canceled, so we headed out"

"wait, we actually beat it???"

"yeah, thank your team leader, Sven, and Chae Nayun. Also do you need me to give you to an instructor or are you fine"

"I can't feel my legs, so can you just bring me to the infirmary in the cube"

'this girl really wants to piggyback ride me all the way to the cube'

"Alright, I have nothing better to do"

I headed to one of the instructors to tell her that I was taking my teammate to the infirmary, but she was already in a conversation.

"didn't you hear?? The cameras suddenly cut out after the exercise started and real monsters spawned instead of dummies. We had to wait for the association to head into the dungeon to help people"

Angrily, I muttered

"so they knew something was off from the beginning, but they decided to say the training was canceled 45 minutes later. The best school my ass"

The girl on my back, who had heard my bickering, also muttered.

"yeah, I better be compensated well."

After the teacher was done, I informed her that I was heading to the cube to drop the girl off and left the training grounds. I left through the forest, but after five minutes I could feel that someone was following us. I sped up my pace a bit, but it seemed that the stalker also began to walk faster as I could still feel someone's gaze. Before I could warn the girl on my back, she said.

"Hey, I think someone is following us"

"Yeah, it has to be a cube student. You think one of your friends is following us?"

"No, I doubt it. One of yours?"

"Hahaha, I don't have any."

"..."

I ignored the awkward silence, and after we reached the cube, it seemed like the stalker had given up. I dropped the girl off at the infirmary, and she thanked me. Tired, I headed up to the dorm, took a shower, and finally went to sleep.

-*- (time skip to next day)

Since getting Aether, I hadn't Kekei trained at all even though I was only a few hours off mastering it. This was mostly because I wanted to find an isolated place to test it right after mastering it. Since classes today were canceled due to the incident yesterday, I took a mana portal back to Olivia's hometown and the place where Aether was located. After arriving, I headed into the forest and immediately began training. After about 3 hours, I wanted to give up, but I kept thinking in my mind.

'this is the last time I will be doing it. Might as well finish it now and save me the pain later'

The sunset and nighttime arrived. Usually, it would be pitch black right now, however, the moon seemed to be shining over the forest. I wasn't gonna delude myself into believing that the moon chose me or something, so I just decided to think that it was probably something normal in this world. After all I basically knew nothing about the history or nature within this world. After ten hours, I checked my stats.

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Authorities:

--- Kekei Style: Quick Flash [ 99,988 / 100,000]

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