WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Academy's Turn-Based Swordsman ◈
Chapter 114: For Real, Withdrawal!
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Fwoosh.
Purple flames burned in the darkness.
When Luna held out her hand, the flames floated around, lighting the surroundings.
Before us were minecart rails, rusted red and looking ready to crumble away at any moment.
The minecarts themselves were nowhere to be seen. They seemed to have rotted away over the long years.
After following the rails for a while, we found a cave that appeared to be the dungeon entrance.
The concentration of demonic energy coming from the entrance was incomparable to that of the Undead Dungeon.
“I’ll go in first.”
Adeline stepped into the dungeon, with Luna and me following behind her.
The entrance did not close after we entered.
That was normal, actually. More Dungeons of the Evil God had no entry or exit restrictions than ones that did.
Since they were high-difficulty dungeons, aside from the Doll Dungeon and the final dungeon, they generally did not restrict entry or exit itself.
Climmud had just pulled some trickery during the Undead Dungeon.
The instant we entered, an even harsher sulfur smell than before stung my nose.
“Ugh... the smell.”
“...Ngh.”
The two of them wet the handkerchiefs I had brought and covered their noses and mouths.
I did the same.
‘A poison mist gimmick. What a fucking awful one to get.’
I had prepared for anything since I did not know what might appear, but we had drawn the worst possible outcome.
Up through the third dungeon, we only needed to watch out for the gimmicks of bosses or certain monsters.
But from the fourth dungeon onward, various random gimmicks began appearing in the dungeon itself.
Traps like this were a prime example.
There were all kinds of them.
Sticky traps that slowed movement speed, freezing traps that froze your body in the middle of an attack, scorching wind zones that steadily drained your health, and simple traps that fired arrows or spears.
Among them, this poison mist was especially fucking awful.
Though sulfur mist would be more accurate here.
[Status Effect: Sulfur Poisoning (1 Stack)]
[All stats are slightly reduced, and you take continuous damage.]
Few gimmicks made gameplay drag like one that weakened the stats a player had worked so hard to build.
On top of that, stacks accumulated at regular intervals, and the penalties grew exponentially with every stack.
At least I had collected quite a few Antidote Herbs little by little during herbology class.
‘It’s not like I have an unlimited supply of Antidote Herbs.’
Even so, Antidote Herbs had their limits. Once we finished scouting, we would need to stock up on antidotes or antidote potions.
More importantly, we needed to find and quickly destroy the source of the trap.
“Damn, this is seriously unpleasant.”
Golden energy covered Adeline's body, and the sulfur mist around her began to disperse.
Wow. Lucky her. I wished I could do something like that.
Still, that would only be temporary.
“Luna, are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine... Cough.”
Luna had gone pale and was staggering. Mage-types were especially vulnerable to status effects like this.
I immediately took out the Antidote Herbs I had prepared.
“Eat this first. I don’t know how long the effect will last.”
“You really came prepared.”
The two of them chewed and swallowed the Antidote Herbs at once.
To remove this gimmick, we had to find and destroy all the Demon Eggs, the source of the gimmick.
But the biggest issue was that we did not have a map of this place. The artisans had buried it as soon as the dungeon appeared.
Of course, I vaguely remembered the route, but not well enough to trust it blindly.
That was why we needed to scout today.
Random gimmicks, hidden dungeon paths.
Without thorough preparation, charging in like usual would make clearing it difficult from the start.
Once we confirmed Luna's complexion had stabilized, we began walking along the rails again.
How long had we walked?
Red eyes began glowing in the darkness.
Screech!
‘Imps?’
Imps were small demons with bat wings.
There were eight in total.
The second characteristic of dungeons from the fourth onward was that airborne monsters began appearing in earnest.
Airborne monsters were far more agile than ordinary monsters, making them troublesome to deal with.
Sure enough, they flew freely through the sulfur mist and circled us chaotically.
“They’re distracting little bastards.”
“Seriously. They’re very fast.”
I drew my sword and aimed it at one of them, while Luna summoned her staff.
Adeline casually began facing off against six Imps.
Still, with the tremendous power of the [Work Straight Sword], they should not be difficult to deal with.
But then.
The moment I swung my sword, a jewel rose above my head.
My turn.
Wait, Instant Kill did not activate?
Come to think of it, Instant Kill only activated when specific conditions were met for each monster.
Judging by their speed, it was probably their Fluidity stat.
I would need to make up for the Fluidity I lost with the Clown’s Sword somehow.
But no matter how much they buzzed around like mosquitoes, once combat had begun, my attacks could not miss.
Slash! Slash!
[Weak!]
Screech!
‘Wow. This is insane.’
Was this the high of dealing huge damage? It was only Carving Sword, yet the feeling of impact was incredible.
The overwhelming raw damage unleashed by the [Work Straight Sword] had completely torn off one of the Imp’s wings.
Before I could continue into an extra turn, magic exploded beside me.
“Shadow Flame.”
Fwoosh!
The purple flame Luna fired clung to the Imp before her.
Screech?!
The burning Imp screamed.
[Status Effect: Purple Flame]
[The target’s Fluidity stat decreases, and it takes continuous fire damage.]
The instant Purple Flame took hold, the Imp’s movements visibly slowed.
The enraged Imp immediately charged at Luna, but she lightly blocked its attack with her staff.
Her movements were clean and practiced, like those of a warrior who had been through every kind of battle.
I had worried for nothing. She could handle herself.
‘I should do my part too.’
Boom!
The Imp struck by Ashen Light burst apart in every direction.
After confirming that it had turned to dust and vanished, I immediately aimed my sword at the Imp Luna had been fighting.
My turn.
I blew away the Imp afflicted by Purple Flame with Ashen Light as well.
“...Thank you!”
“Stay focused. It’s not over yet.”
I should have used Carving Sword first, but I had gotten drunk on the damage and forgotten. I needed to restrain myself.
In the meantime, Adeline had already torn apart all six Imps she had taken on.
“Too easy.”
She shook off her sword and watched us fight with an interested expression.
If she had finished that quickly, she could have helped us.
Then it became the Imp’s turn.
I stepped in front of Luna and raised my guard. I had intended to knock away its attack with a Just Guard, but...
Before the Imp could even attack, it screamed and fell to the ground.
Purple Flame’s damage over time had triggered.
Counting Luna’s first attack, Purple Flame had dealt damage twice.
‘So one tick is roughly half as much as my Carving Sword?’
Confirmed.
“Eep?!”
The moment the battle ended, Adeline tightly hugged Luna.
“W-what are you doing...?”
“No, no. I wanted to praise you for doing well! You’ve got guts for a mage, you know? Blocking that with your staff earlier. Most people would have backed away, wouldn’t they?”
“I-I’m used to it...”
Perhaps embarrassed by the praise, Luna lowered her head while gripping her staff.
‘Used to it?’
Why would a mage have any reason to swing around a staff? Had she gained real combat experience while stalking someone?
She was scary in more ways than one.
Still, she was a party member I needed to trust with my back for now. Adeline was looking after her diligently, so I could relax for the time being.
“Let’s keep going for now.”
I pushed aside my stray thoughts and followed the rails again.
The sulfur smell grew harsher, and the inside of the cave became more humid.
“Wait.”
Adeline, who was leading the way, stopped us.
“Halibal. Look at that.”
On the cave wall she pointed to was a disgusting mass of writhing red flesh.
Whenever it pulsed, ashen-yellow gas sprayed in every direction through a narrow opening in its flesh.
“Is that... a monster egg?”
“Ugh, that feels ominous. We’re definitely destroying it, right?”
“Wait.”
I stopped Adeline as she was about to draw her sword.
Right. That was a Demon Egg, the source of the sulfur mist.
There were three Demon Eggs in total scattered throughout the dungeon, producing traps in this manner.
So should we destroy this one right away? No.
If we destroyed it now, the dungeon would create a new egg somewhere in the mine after we left.
Then, when we came back next time, we would have to search for the eggs all over again.
It would be far more efficient to simply mark the locations of all three, prepare perfectly for the clear, and destroy them all at once.
“I think we should leave that alone for now.”
“Why? It’s obviously the source of the sulfur mist.”
“If we destroy it now, its location will change by the next time we come. Unless we’re going to finish clearing the dungeon today, it would be better to just identify its location. There should be three in total.”
“Hmm. What a hassle. Fine. Then let’s find the other two.”
I expected her to destroy it anyway, but Adeline surprisingly followed my advice without objection.
That was not all.
She skillfully took out a sheet of paper and began drawing a map of the place.
Looking at it now, she had recorded every route we had taken to get here.
Maybe because she was good with a sword, her map was also easy to read and well drawn.
‘Come to think of it, she was originally from the Reconnaissance Corps.’
Now she was an instructor for the Reconnaissance Corps.
After marking the first egg’s location, we followed the rails deeper into the darkness.
About two hours later.
We successfully found the second and third eggs as well.
As we stood before the third egg...
“By the way, I don’t see the boss room?”
“The boss room will probably open after we destroy all the eggs.”
“This dungeon really has everything. So we’re done for today, right?”
Adeline stared at me.
She was checking my condition.
Normally, I would have said it did not matter, but...
“I think so.”
[Status Effect: Sulfur Poisoning (7 Stacks)]
This was a bit much.
Already seven stacks. Antidote Herbs had a far shorter duration than potions, so the intervals between doses were not long either.
Adeline seemed to be holding up fairly well, but Luna was the problem.
She weakened visibly with only two or three stacks, so at some point, I had begun giving her my share of the Antidote Herbs.
That was why I was in pretty poor condition now.
I could plainly feel the stat reduction.
And we were starting to run out of Antidote Herbs, so retreating was unavoidable.
At my answer, Adeline instead smiled with satisfaction.
“Right. Don’t push yourself for no reason. We accomplished our scouting objective, so we can pick a day and clear it next time. Then we’re pulling out for today!”
That was when it happened.
Rumble!
The ground began to shake.
“What?!”
Then the Demon Egg swelled, tore apart in every direction, and spat something out.
Shrieeeek!
With a scream, a monster crawled out through the torn flesh.
One arm was an obsidian blade, while the other was a mass of blazing lava.
Long horns and markings plastered across its face.
It was a Rakshasa, an elite monster of the Demon Dungeon.
Thud!
It landed on the rails in front of us, blocking our escape route.
‘Of all times.’
Naturally, Demon Eggs could hatch, as they were literally eggs. The monster that appeared was one of the demons near the entrance, selected at random.
Still, in the original game, they would not hatch unless you touched them, so I had deliberately left them alone.
Since this was reality, natural hatching must be another variable.
And the monster that hatched just had to be an elite monster?
‘What fucking bullshit.’
It had been a while since I had been blindsided this badly.
With my stats scraping the bottom from sulfur poisoning, I was in no condition to fight an elite monster like this.
“Sir Halibal, get behind me!”
Luna stepped in front of me, but she was not in good shape either.
Cough.
She must have already exceeded three stacks of poisoning.
Just as it was time to take another Antidote Herb, we ran into this troublesome bastard.
Then.
“Tch.”
Adeline clicked her tongue and stepped in front of us.
“We only came to scout, but the welcome is pretty rough.”
Corona’s blade shone like the sun even in the darkness.
“Both of you, fall back. This thing must stink especially bad because it just hatched. Keep a firm grip on yourselves, too.”
Shrieeeek!
As the Rakshasa charged at Adeline, her hand had already slipped into her clothes.
[Abyss Core - Rising Sun]
“Watch closely, Halibal.”
She spoke without looking back at me.
“Whether you’re poisoned or your arms and legs are cut off, a swordsman must swing their sword. All the more so if they’re a strong swordsman.”
Clang!
Before she had even finished speaking, the obsidian blade collided with Corona.
“Hmm. You put on quite a show for an elite monster.”
Adeline was suffering from sulfur poisoning as well.
Yet as if stat reductions did not concern her in the slightest, she met the monster’s attack head-on.
Grrrr...!
The Rakshasa’s attack had been blocked, and just as it was about to swing its lava arm from the other side...
Adeline vanished first.
“Not very fast.”
The golden energy whirling around her body condensed into Corona’s blade and exploded.
“New Belhart Style. Third Form.”
A flash tore through the darkness.
“Golden Slash.”
A dazzling golden trail filled the narrow cave.
When the light faded, Adeline was already standing behind the Rakshasa.
The Rakshasa, frozen in its attacking stance, split in half and died.
Watching it, Adeline sheathed her sword.
“Alright, scouting complete!”
The corner of her mouth lifted.
“For real, we’re pulling out!”
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