Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Song Seokhwan (2)

The dungeon for the second exam was the Slime Burrow.

As the name implied, it was a dungeon filled with slimes.

Slimes as a species—regardless of variety—had a notorious reputation.

Strength aside, they were a pain in the ass to clear.

Not difficult. Tedious.

They had virtually no offensive capability, but they nullified all physical attacks and possessed magic resistance on top of that, making them nearly impossible to kill easily.

In a course that scored based on clear time, this might actually be the hardest exam of all.

"We're here."

Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.

Once a bustling area, now completely deserted.

The lake park that had always been packed with people was reduced to nothing but an empty lot.

Because this was the epicenter where dungeons spawned.

"Wow......"

The students offered their own varied reactions.

Some were tense because of the exam, others excited for the coming battle.

Those kids were looking toward the lake where the dungeons were concentrated.

But there were exceptions.

"......"

An Seri was gazing at something far from the lake.

Her eyes reflected the ruins—a shattered bridge, collapsed buildings, a wasteland.

A commendable mindset.

Most Heroes understood the fear of real combat well enough.

Academy-era kids, drunk on their own specialness, often deluded themselves into thinking they were protagonists in a game.

Those same people learned the weight of life once they became Heroes.

Nobody taught that lesson. It was something anyone who entered a dungeon as a Hero came to understand naturally.

But that alone wasn't enough.

A Hero's life wasn't just their own. Its value couldn't end there.

They needed to understand that if the front lines Heroes defended fell, society would crumble with them.

This city of Ansan, reduced to ruins.

If Heroes failed to protect it, every other city could end up like this too.

An Seri was committing this place to memory so she'd never forget.

Moved by her resolve, I placed a hand on top of her head.

"Professor?"

"Seri, you're going to make a great Hero. People become stronger when they have something they want to protect."

"That's so corny. What even is that?"

An Seri laughed brightly.

She said it was corny, but she looked pleased.

I gathered the scattered students and explained the exam.

"Everyone, listen up. The rules are the same as last time. Find your dungeon and clear it. Scores based on clear time. Timer starts when you enter the dungeon and stops when you exit. Go."

***

At the dungeon's entrance, C-team—the top scorers from the last exam—unexpectedly struggled.

The first stage alone ate up too much time.

"Goddamn it!"

Nam Hyeju slammed her sword down with fury, but it had no effect on the slime.

Slimes were immune to physical attacks.

"Sister, please calm yourself and ease your mind."

"Oh for fuck's sake! And whose fault is this?"

Nam Hyeju erupted at Abraham.

Normally, An Seri and Gam Miseong would have mediated, but right now they shared Nam Hyeju's frustration.

The majority of creatures inhabiting the Slime Burrow were slimes with physical immunity.

C-team's party consisted of two warriors, one archer, one mage, and one priest.

Even just by headcount, they were heavily geared toward physical damage.

Factor in An Seri's outsized contribution, and physical nullification was a massive penalty.

An Seri had devised two strategies.

'There are two ways. I'll let you all choose.'

The first: have Seo Dayun and Abraham cast attribute-enchantment magic on their weapons.

That would imbue the weapons with magic, meaning the attacks would no longer count as physical.

The second: put the two magic-capable members forward as the main DPS and clear the dungeon that way.

A far more orthodox strategy than the first.

C-team's main fighting power lay on the physical side, not the magical.

It would definitely be a heavy burden.

But Seo Dayun and Abraham had chosen the second option.

'Trust us! We can do it!'

'Indeed. Faith shall always be repaid.'

'Alright then.'

An Seri was slightly worried about Seo Dayun.

She'd gained noticeably more confidence recently, but Seo Dayun's mental fortitude was still fragile.

She might talk a big game now, but once the day came, the pressure could keep her from performing at her best.

Still, An Seri trusted her friend.

And that trust was beautifully rewarded.

"Wind Cutter!"

SLASH—!

At Seo Dayun's incantation, blades of wind carved through the slime's form.

Seo Dayun had grown faster than any other student at the Academy.

Freely commanding beginner magic, she'd become a full-fledged combat mage.

The problem lay elsewhere.

"Lord, Your servant entreats You. Grant me the power to smite the enemy."

Abraham prayed, and bright light emanated from his body.

He sparkled brilliantly.

Only sparkled.

Nam Hyeju bellowed.

"You braindead bastard! You were blasting beams left and right during practice, so what's the problem now?"

Abraham scratched his head sheepishly.

"I'm terribly sorry, Sister. I think my nerves are getting to me."

He didn't look the least bit nervous.

His tone was serene, and his face wore the same goofy grin as always.

Frankly, imagining Abraham flustered by anything was impossible.

Even if the world were ending, he'd probably stay in his own lane.

"For fuck's sake! Then at least enchant my sword!"

"Please give me about twenty minutes."

"Fuck! Are you messing with me? Twenty minutes and the exam's over!"

"Surely not. I am always earnest."

In the end, Abraham was utterly useless.

Seo Dayun had no choice but to pave the way alone.

She did better than expected, but even so, one person couldn't perfectly fill two roles.

An Seri sighed in frustration.

Seo Dayun apologized.

"Sorry... if only I were a little stronger......"

"No. It's my fault. I should have anticipated the plan going sideways and prepared for contingencies."

Abraham, wearing the expression of a saint, said,

"Indeed. If you sisters can admit your faults and reconcile, the Lord will forgive your sins. The Lord is merciful."

"Shut up."

"Yes."

Abraham clamped his mouth shut the instant An Seri's expression turned frigid.

"Tch, at this rate there's no way."

An Seri deliberated.

If she kept wringing every drop out of Seo Dayun at this pace, they'd overshoot their target time by at least five minutes.

But if the physical DPS burned through their Aura now, the boss stage would be an absolute nightmare.

"No choice. We'll brute-force it."

The second stage of the Slime Burrow.

It was no exaggeration to say the dungeon earned its name because of this stage.

The floor was riddled with countless holes.

—PYUUUT!

A slime's cry rang out.

Simultaneously, a slime shot up from one of the holes.

BOING!

"Slime!"

The lavender-colored slime floated upward before quickly diving back into a different hole.

To pass this stage, they had to catch every last one.

—PYUUUUUUUUUUT!

BOINGBOINGBOINGBOING—

"Holy fuck."

Slimes erupted from the holes in rapid-fire succession, bouncing and bouncing, and Nam Hyeju stuck out her tongue in dismay.

The sight went beyond bizarre and into outright horror territory.

Nam Hyeju turned to Seo Dayun.

"You have to hit each one with magic? Can you even do that?"

"I-I'll try my best......"

Gam Miseong cut into the conversation.

"Don't put too much pressure on Dayun."

"What? How is this putting pressure on her? And yeah, so what if it is?"

Abraham chimed in.

"Now, now, brothers and sisters, please don't fight. Fighting leads to hell."

"You can fuck off to hell yourself!"

An Seri smiled gently and spoke.

"It's okay to put pressure on teammates. It means you trust them. Isn't that right?"

"Exactly! See, the team leader gets it!"

"Mhm. You know I trust all of you, right?"

"...'All of you'?"

An Seri gripped Nam Hyeju's and Gam Miseong's shoulders.

"The fastest, most straightforward method is to pour AoE magic into the holes. But the space inside is pretty vast, so among our class, probably only Song Seokhwan could pull that off."

"True."

"So if we want to sweep them all at once, we just need to herd them into one spot, right? Pop quiz: how do you herd slimes?"

"Uh, good question?"

An uneasy feeling crept in, and both Nam Hyeju and Gam Miseong took a step backward.

An Seri gripped their shoulders tighter.

"The answer is brute force. Go down and herd them up here."

"What the fuck are you saying?!"

"N-no way!"

The two of them shook their heads furiously.

Nobody in their right mind would want to immerse themselves in mysterious purple goo.

On top of that, slimes had no direct offensive capability, but they were strongly acidic—contact stung.

"Don't worry. You won't die. It'll just sting a teeny tiny bit."

"Bullshit! I'm not doing it! I can't!"

"Help! Don't do this to me—just throw Nam Hyeju in!"

"What?! You bastard! Just throw Geum Taeyang in! And while you're at it, toss the Bible-thumper in too! Not me!"

They resisted, but they couldn't overpower An Seri.

An Seri's smile was angelic, but her actions were pure devil.

An Seri hurled them with gusto.

"Bring every single one back!"

"AAAAAGH!"

The two plummeted into the hole, screaming.

Their cries echoed from within.

The kind of agonized screaming that made listeners hurt in sympathy.

Seo Dayun asked, worried.

"What if they come back injured?"

"Sister, do not fret. Your Lord does not abandon His servants."

"Those two don't follow any religion."

"Then they shall perish."

An Seri smacked Abraham on the head and said,

"Don't say ominous things. The slimes in here are practically harmless—they couldn't kill a civilian."

Three minutes later, Nam Hyeju and Gam Miseong crawled back out.

They were covered head to toe in slime.

"Khhh, ugh......"

They'd screamed so much their voices had gone hoarse and they could barely speak.

Oblivious to their suffering, An Seri said,

"Great work. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

That girl definitely knew and was doing it on purpose. What a vicious bitch.

Nam Hyeju clenched her fists.

"Dayun!"

"On it."

Seo Dayun incinerated every last slime with Fire Ball.

"Ooh!"

Nam Hyeju and Gam Miseong were impressed.

Fire was the most volatile of the Big Four elements and notoriously difficult to control.

The fact that Seo Dayun had burned only the slimes—and nothing else—spoke to remarkable mana control.

Freed from the slimes, Nam Hyeju and Gam Miseong turned their anger on An Seri.

"How could you throw us in there like that?!"

"Fuck! I thought I was going to die!"

A cheerful apology came in reply.

"Sorry! But if I hadn't done that, we'd never have gotten above an A, right?"

"Ugh......"

Both of them cared enough about their grades that they couldn't push the argument further.

While they'd been in the burrow, they'd cursed An Seri with every fiber of their being—but now that it was over, they felt strangely okay with it.

An Seri seized the moment and dangled a carrot.

"I did you dirty, so I'll grant you each one favor. Hyeju, a sparring match would do it for you, right?"

Nam Hyeju answered in a rare show of primness.

"...Not one. Two."

"And you, Miseong?"

"Since she's asking for sparring, I want sparring too. I want to see how strong you really are."

"Sure."

Abraham spoke up.

"Sister, I would like to study the Bible together."

"Sure— wait, you're asking for something too?"

"The Lord has said that good things should be shared."

As Abraham maintained his brazen attitude, Nam Hyeju flew into a rage.

"Whose fault is it we went through all that?! Do you even have a conscience? Do you?!"

"Please don't use harsh words. That leads to hell."

"Bullshit! If I were God, I'd send you to hell first!"

An Seri sighed.

"Fine, fine. I'll do that too, so let's just move to the next stage."

As she turned toward the boss room, she felt a tug on her collar.

It was Seo Dayun.

"You'll grant my favor too, right?"

"Hm? Yeah. What's the favor?"

Seo Dayun pressed a finger to her lips.

"I'll tell you when I cash it in."

"What are you planning to ask for?"

"It's a se~cret. For future enjoyment."

"Sure, why not."

"Hehe."

An Seri figured Seo Dayun wouldn't ask for anything outrageous, so she casually agreed.

Seo Dayun beamed.

"Let's go take down the boss."

Thirteen minutes in.

C-team headed for the Slime Burrow's boss stage.