Chapter 40

Chapter 40

"This elevator is going to the basement, right? Wow.......You've got to be kidding me."

"Hold still for a second......we're about to enter a dungeon, right?"

"Eh, the dungeon isn't as bad as I thought~ It's just a hunting ground for monsters. It's nothing, right?

Jin-woo was very excited about going into the dungeon and Se-ah was nervous.

I stared at the [1] and [2] buttons, looking at the two very different people.

"Surely, this is the order."

I converted the basement floor to down and the first floor to up and entered the commands.

[↑↑↑↓↓↓↓↓↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑]

At the same time, the elevator rattles and starts to move.

"Ooh, it's moving! The elevator is moving down!"

Se-ah grips the handle tightly as the elevator continues to descend from what she thought was the last basement of the Academy.

With Jin-woo giggling at the sight, I opened the cube to check its contents.

Originally, the contents of the cube had to be taken out one by one to check the contents, but now, thanks to the [Smart Lens], I can check them immediately like an inventory.

"This should be fine."

After what seemed like an eternity of descending, the elevator came to a stop, and a bizarre notification echoed through the elevator.

[You are on the @#!% basement floor]

Slowly, the doors began to open, revealing a dark space.

"Wow, this place looks really creepy."

At the sight of it, Jin-woo shuddered as he looked around.

It was a huge space reminiscent of a cave, unlike the staleness that made it look like it was meant for human use.

The crimson flames of the candlesticks, whether powered by magic or not, and the dimness of their surroundings, did little to distract me.

[Convert to night mode?]

[Y/N]

They don't call them smart lenses for nothing, and as soon as I pressed Y, the surroundings brightened up as if it were broad daylight.

"Se-ah, can you use light magic?"

"What? Ah, yes, because that's basic magic."

"Jin-woo, are you──"

"Ah, it doesn't matter because I have night vision, and I also have a skill of that type, so I can see clearly."

Hearing that, I remembered what Jin-woo said at the end of the duel the other day.

'I'm an assassin, asshole.'

Apparently, he was trained separately by the Bevalt family.

I didn't think he needed a lantern if he could see so well.

"Good, then I'll give you some information about this dungeon right away."

With that, I began a brief explanation of the dungeon in the basement of the Academy.

"This is an artificial dungeon created by the 'Dungeon Ecology Research Club' that used to occupy Room Z."

"What? Isn't the Dungeon Ecology Research Club the mythical club where all the members suddenly disappeared one day, and their legacy exists somewhere in the Academy?"

The Dungeon Ecology Research Club myth was quite famous within the Academy and was also one of the top clubs in the Academy.

The story went something like this: the president of the club suddenly disappeared one day, and none of the instructors questioned his disappearance.

"Ah, the myth. It's just that the entire club was scouted by a state-secret organization and dropped out of the Academy."

"Huh?"

The reality of the myth was actually quite unremarkable.

The Dungeon Ecology Research Club, a club that suddenly evaporated one day. Where did they go, and what legacy did they leave behind......but the truth is that they were recruited by a national organization, and the legacy they left behind is the dungeon we're in now.

All of this was made possible by a man who awakened as a superhuman and gained the ability to become a Dungeon Maker.......

Well, he's probably living off his state pension and doing research right now.

"Anyway, this dungeon we're in now is their legacy. The dungeon has ten levels. And this is where we're standing, the first level, the Chongyao."

"Chu, Chongyao? Something about that name is unsettling......."

────......!

At the same time, a sound came from the distance.

It was an unpleasant sound, like sharp thorns scraping against stone, and the children's gazes moved beyond the cave.

"Just in time, the first-tier gatekeepers."

"What? First-tier gatekeepers── Hee, hie, hie, hie!"

In the distance a horde of jet-black creatures were slowly approaching. They were giant insects, each one the size of a small child.

"What kind of bugs are that big!"

Jin-woo chuckles as he quickly draws his dagger, seeing Se-ah's eyes well up with tears because she's never seen a bug-type monster before.

"Hey, what are you doing squatting around, we have boss here, boss can you wipe that thing out with your machine gun?"

"I can."

"......?"

"But I need you and Se-ah to take care of those things."

"Me, us?"

"Bo, boss?"

Did he forget?

"Didn't I tell you, it's your and Se-ah's training."

I said.

"Try to stay alive. I'll just command from behind."

Because it's not these ragtag bastards I'm after.

"First, Se-ah, use your magic to divert the direction of the dungeon's magic toward us. Any creatures that sense magic with their antennae won't be able to come this way."

"What? Yes!"

Hearing my order, Se-ah quickly puts on her gloves and reaches for the bugs.

With her spatial magic, it shouldn't be a problem for her to disrupt the magic inside the dungeon.

As if to prove it, the bugs that had been coming toward us suddenly began to make strange movements and twist together.

"Jin-woo, charge."

"What? Do you really want me to charge over there?"

"Charge."

"I'm not a vanguard......"

"Charge."

At the same time, Jin-woo grabbed his dagger and started to charge towards the bugs.

"Se-ah, you stay where you are and focus on defending against anything that hits Jin-woo. They've already targeted Jin-woo, so they won't be able to target you unless there's some sort of aggro going on."

"Yeah!"

"Ew, it's even creepier because you're so close, don't come at me, asshole!"

At first, Jin-woo's combat centered around dodging and shooting back and forth, but when he realized that Se-ah was supporting him, he began to hunt them down more aggressively.

"Wow, this is pretty good. I thought you said you hated bugs, but you're doing better than I thought."

"I'm barely holding back the gagging. Ouch, there's an aggro up ahead!"

After a while, the bugs realize that they can't do this and slowly start to back away.

Realizing that fewer and fewer bugs were attacking him, Jin-woo stuck his dagger into the jaw of the last bug that tried to attack him and looked at me.

"Boss, should we give chase?"

"No, that's enough. The ones you just dealt with were scouts, and the main force will be heading this way soon."

"Really? They're pretty damn weak."

After pulling the dagger out of the bug's jaws, Jin-woo walks over, wiping the green fluid off the dagger.

"Ew......it smells. By the way, boss, isn't it usually easier to just wipe them out with magic?"

"It would be convenient, but due to the nature of the place, a large-scale attack would have caused the ceiling to collapse."

Hearing my words, Jin-woo raised his head and looked at the ceiling. He nodded at the low ceiling, which must have been at least three meters high.

"Mmm.......Definitely."

For the record, the reason I know this information is because I once got killed in a game for thinking that way.

Damn 'dungeon maker' guy.

I can't believe they designed a room where the ceiling collapses when you use AoE magic.......

For the record, I once went to the guy himself to exact my revenge.

"Let's keep moving, then. It's bigger in there than it is here, so we should be able to use magic. Se-ah, can you read the mana flow around us as we go?"

"Yeah, that's easy enough."

With that, we started walking towards the inside of the first floor of the dungeon.

Of course, it was my first time experiencing a dungeon in real life, so I was nervous and took careful steps.

"Boss, didn't you say this place has 10 floors? How far are we going to go today?"

Jin-woo asks, grabbing his shirt and rocking it back and forth to cool off from the strenuous movements we just made.

"We're just exploring today. Don't worry, we'll run away if I see any danger."

"Really? I don't think the first floor is a big deal as long as we run into the same guys as before."

If Jin-woo was right, the dungeon would be very easy but...

"We don't know what the boss looks like yet, so it's best to be cautious for now. The boss is......a class apart from the other monsters."

It was the same in the game.

Since the dungeon was designed to work by absorbing the magic power used in the Academy, the ever-changing nature of the CS meant that there would always be different bosses with different strengths.

In other words, the dungeon would grow according to the amount of magic used by the Academy.

I wondered if the national organization recruited them because they could make a dungeon this big.

"Wait."

Se-ah, who had been sensing the magic around her, closed her eyes and touched the wall.

"I've detected a vibration in the coordinates up ahead. I'm guessing...... huh?"

Se-ah suddenly opens her eyes and looks dazed.

"I think we're......screwed, there are hundreds of them."

"This is crazy── Boss, what should we do, should we run?"

"......No, everyone stand by. Get behind me."

"Boss?"

Pushing past the panicked kids to the front of the line, I pulled out the [Al Capone's Tommy] I'd kept in my cube and pointed it at the front.

"There's something I've been wanting to experiment with."

An alarm flashed in my mind as I encountered dozens of scouting bugs.

[Bloodline Ability: Corleone is activating]

That burst of magic clearly recognized each of them as individual enemies.

In other words, if they were all enemies, my power would also explode.

"For now, I'll take the initiative."

Besides, it was obvious that it was the main force coming, so I decided to take care of it this time.

As long as the Academy exists, the dungeon will be repaired and monsters will be created. However, nothing is ever easy in this world.

"Heh, heh, heh! What's that?!!"

"Hey, boss, shouldn't we run?"

In the distance, I could see a giant centipede crawling toward me, blending in with the many bugs.

In the real world, I would have freaked out and run away as soon as I saw the centipede, but right now, thanks to [Trait: Hitman], I'm able to stay calm.

"Everyone, calm down."

The centipede's size must have been unimaginably large, given its poisonous teeth alone and I doubted [Al Capone's Tommy] would be able to penetrate the ultramarine-blue carapace that wrapped around him...under normal circumstances.

As the countless bugs came into view, an explosive aura enveloped my body and I began to emit red energy.

[Bloodline Ability: Corleone is activating]

It was a torrent of power that I had never felt before so I channeled that energy into [Al Capone's Tommy] and pulled the trigger.

"Adios, worms."