I Became the Academy's Turn-Based Swordsman - Chapter 80

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Chapter 80: Undead Dungeon (1)

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For several days, I cleared dungeons in sync with the two of them and spent the rest of my time on various things.

Mine's problem wasn't the Purple Cloud Herb. She'd always been the type to get easily engrossed in new things and become addicted to them.

She became completely absorbed in the first play she saw, and whenever she had time, she pestered me to go see another.

I mostly visited cafés and popular restaurants with Alicia.

She usually took on Ally's appearance so she wouldn't draw attention.

Listening to her complain about the Imperial Family and the board all day had become part of my routine.

Sometimes, I walked along the paths and lost myself in thought.

At times like that, I sorted out my plans for the future or simply emptied my mind and felt the wind.

I also shut myself in the library to prepare for exams in each subject or write reports, and occasionally took a break by chatting with other students.

I didn't forget to visit Aren and Cecilia in the hospital, either. Whenever I went with Alicia, Cecilia would glare at me.

"What's wrong?"

"Never mind."

Before I knew it, the special practicum was nearing its end, and we were taking one last rest at the mansion where we'd fought Eliver Han, in preparation for our assault on the Undead Dungeon.

Construction of the Base Camp had finished.

The mansion that had once served as a cult branch had become a bridgehead for the Empire's assault on the Undead Dungeon. Soldiers bustled about the grounds, carrying supplies.

Some were even paving a new road leading to the abandoned village.

In the original game, the branch couldn't be wiped out until after the Undead Dungeon had been cleared, so the Base Camp was at the top of the mountain.

Just climbing up there would have been exhausting, so we were fortunate to have secured such an ideal location.

Just then, Alicia walked toward us through the soldiers.

"Are you ready?"

Aren followed behind her.

In her male form rather than her female one.

As she'd said, Aren would be participating in this assault.

She just wouldn't be fighting alongside us.

I turned toward Mine, who was briefing the soldiers.

"Once we enter the dungeon, the inside will become a massive fortress. It's so dark that even with torches, you won't be able to see an inch ahead."

The Undead Dungeon had appeared at the site of a mountain fortress once built to stop the invasion of monsters.

Its original name was the Ruins of the Old Ronwood Fortress. That was why the dungeon's interior took the form of a fortress.

The dungeon was divided into three areas.

The outer fortress, the inner fortress, and a temple in the deepest part of the stronghold.

The mid-boss, Negaloun, guarded the way between them.

Negaloun had once been the general who defended the fortress. Negaloun died in a monster attack and became nothing but bones. Then demonic energy seeped into those bones and turned Negaloun into the monster it is today.

As expected of a fortress-based dungeon, it took a long time just to reach the mid-boss room in the Undead Dungeon.

Clearing it in a single day was impossible.

So this was our plan.

Today, defeat Negaloun and take the outer fortress.

The next day, the inner fortress.

Then on the final day, defeat the final boss.

This assault would take a total of three days.

"If we push straight through the undead monsters, we'll reach a three-way fork."

Just as Mine said, the dungeon's interior was buried in darkness.

How many players had been ambushed in the dark and died pointless deaths?

If you entered the boss battle without any preparation, you'd have to fight while seeing nothing but the boss's eyes. It was practically a built-in hardcore penalty.

Still, there was a way to drive back the darkness.

"If you take the paths on both sides and light the special torches on top of the walls, the darkness covering the fortress will recede and we'll have visibility."

"Ohhh...!"

"Soldiers, please hold the right wall."

That had been the task Mine and the soldiers took on in the past.

Their task was to see what changed when the torches were lit.

After the darkness cleared and they returned to the three paths, the moment Mine touched a door, Negaloun burst out from inside.

Mine's voice remained calm.

The plan she was explaining to the soldiers was originally the source of her trauma.

It must have taken enormous courage and resolve for her to speak about it so casually in front of others.

"If we don't keep the torches lit, clearing the dungeon could become difficult."

The torches didn't last forever.

They could be extinguished by monsters, demonic energy, Negaloun, or even the wind.

In the original game, a party member had to be urgently dispatched to relight them every time that happened.

That would be Aren's role in this assault.

Whenever a torch went out, she would relight it and keep our field of vision clear.

Still, it would be difficult for her to respond alone if both torches went out at the same time.

Of course, we didn't need to worry about that either.

Some twenty soldiers, including Kaizel, stood behind her.

Alicia had no intention of entering the dungeon with the minimum number of people.

She would use every card available to her.

That was her way.

From the beginning, she had planned to assign Aren to one wall, while Kaizel and the soldiers handled the other.

Mine explaining the gimmick to the soldiers was part of that plan as well.

Alicia asked Mine, "How many people entered with you last time?"

"...Twenty-three."

"So up to twenty-three people can enter. Then we'll do this."

Alicia made the decision immediately.

Alicia assigned nineteen soldiers to accompany our group of four.

More people might get in the way during the boss fight, but soldiers would be far more efficient at handling ordinary monsters and carrying out the gimmick.

"Only seventeen of you will join the assault."

"That leaves two openings."

"Ah, those spots already have owners."

"Ah!"

The moment Alicia finished speaking, Mine let out a startled cry.

Pasha and Mar were approaching us through the soldiers, dressed in activewear and carrying their own weapons.

"This is too dangerous! You two still..."

"We're looking for traces of my father. I can't leave that entirely to you."

Pasha turned away as if she had no intention of discussing it further.

Mar saw Pasha's flushed cheeks, then shrugged and looked toward Alicia.

"Thank you for your consideration, Your Highness."

"It's nothing. I'm glad you came. We happened to have exactly two empty spots."

"..."

"Those two will be assigned to Aren Bright's team! With their abilities, they'll be more than helpful."

I approached Alicia and asked, "Did you contact them, Senior?"

"Of course not. They heard we were beginning the assault today and contacted us first."

"But you're the one who accepted them."

"Isn't it better to resolve everything we can while we have the chance?"

With that, Alicia left to give the soldiers more orders.

I looked at Pasha.

In the original game, she was an extra on the same level as Halibal.

At most, an NPC whose name appeared over her head when you passed by.

No, she had even less presence than Halibal, who at least appeared as a gimmick boss.

Yet she had influenced Mine, and Mine's courage had moved her in return.

Now, Pasha's resolve was giving Mine strength again.

'Variables aren't always a disadvantage... right?'

The traces of newly forged lives could be found here too.

After our final preparations, we began climbing the mountain.

When we reached the summit, an enormous stone gate came into view.

The entrance to the Undead Dungeon.

"Everyone, pay attention for a moment."

All eyes turned to Alicia at once.

"Until recently, this land we stand upon was a nest where the Evil God's spawn roamed freely. And our comrades fell at their hands."

The soldiers' faces hardened at her words.

"We recovered the bodies. But within that place, the source that created their restless spirits still breathes. The source of evil that devours the Empire remains alive!"

Alicia pointed her fan at the dungeon.

"Today, we have come to drive the Empire's sword into the heart of that darkness, so innocent blood will never be shed again!"

She looked over Mine, Aren, Kaizel, and the soldiers one by one.

"We have gathered here for different reasons. But from this moment on, we have one goal! To put every wraith beyond that door to rest and bring peace to the dead!"

Finally, she looked at me.

"My sword, Halibal Velder! You stand at the forefront of all these wills! Wherever the tip of your sword points, our victory shall be!"

"I will surely bring victory to Your Highness!"

Answering her speech with a knight's oath for the first time in a while, I watched Alicia raise her fan with a satisfied smile.

"Open the gate!"

With the soldiers' cheers behind us, Aren, Mine, and I started toward the gate.

For some reason, Alicia herself crossed through the formation and stepped in front of it.

She was originally supposed to enter last.

Did she have another plan?

I whispered to her, "Senior. Doesn't it look a little strange for you to say all that so impressively, then stand at the front?"

"Kuhut. This is my first time entering an Evil God Dungeon too. I wanted to open the door myself. Is that not allowed?"

"Ah, yes."

'What a ridiculous reason.'

Still, I understood.

This moment must have held special meaning for her.

I turned to Mine.

"Will you be okay?"

Honestly, that was what I asked her most these days.

Are you okay? Will you be okay? Can you do it?

Even if she could control Raphael now and enter dungeons of her own will, it didn't change the fact that she was still unstable.

And now we were entering the Undead Dungeon.

The moment had to hold a different kind of significance for Mine than it did for Alicia.

There was one difference from before, though.

"Not at all. What about you, Halibal?"

She no longer tried to hide that fear or instability.

So I didn't hide how I felt either.

"Me neither."

"We're the same."

"But what about taking care of the flower bed if we're away for three days?"

"Three days should be fine. Any longer than that would be difficult."

"Then we'll have to finish within three days."

Mine didn't say anything else.

She simply nodded.

Lastly, Aren.

"Did you want to clear it alone?"

"I know I can't do it alone."

Without looking back at me, she answered quietly.

"My role today is to protect the torches."

'That's a lie.'

People didn't change easily.

It was even harder to abandon the goal they'd lived for all their lives overnight.

She had to be full of dissatisfaction. We were giving her menial work while we went to defeat the boss ourselves.

Deep down, she probably still burned with the desire to open that door, enter alone, and finish everything.

She was likely forcing herself to suppress it.

"You might not need me, but..."

"I need you."

At my firm reply, Aren looked at me.

"I need you. Without you, we'd be no different from blind people. No matter how strong a sword is..."

"...It's useless in the darkness."

Her eyes trembled faintly.

Aren could finish my words because Master Jin and her parents had repeated that saying to her throughout her life.

'No matter how strong a sword is, it's useless in the darkness. So become a ray of sunlight that illuminates it.'

She didn't ask how I knew that.

It was a common expression, after all.

She only said this.

"If you need me... then that's enough for now."

Aren turned back toward the stone gate.

"So... I'll light the way until you defeat the boss."

Her words no longer carried the impatience or jealousy of someone bound by prophecy.

Her words contained only the pure will of a swordswoman, the resolve I'd always felt from Aren in the original game.

The will to do her best in the place where she stood.

"I'll trust you."

When I placed my hand on the stone gate, the other three placed theirs over mine one after another.

Creeeak.

The moment the Abyss opened its mouth, Aren leaped inside without hesitation.

I immediately followed after her.

The moment we landed, Aren and I each took the opening stance of the Ultimate Divine Sword.

Wooooong!

The first thing we had to do upon entering the dungeon was to clear the entrance so we could take the walls without trouble.

Ultimate Divine Sword and Ultimate Divine Sword: Variant.

Aren and I formed a symmetrical pair, as though reflected in a mirror.

The swords that had been aimed at each other not long ago now gathered together and pointed into the darkness.

Golden cracks spread across Aren's skin.

Holy light spilled from the gaps in those cracks, as if the sun itself slept within her.

Golden fragments formed before long and began circling above her head like satellites.

[Abyss Core - Sun Shine]'s effect, Halo.

An overwhelming physical enhancement ability that awakened the power of the Celestial Extremity God sleeping within Aren Bright's body and pushed her physical abilities to their limits.

"Deathblow."

"Deathblow: Reversal."

Swoooooosh!!

Gold and ash-gray.

Two arcs of sword energy crossed each other and raced into the darkness.

Craaaash!

The monsters lurking at the dungeon entrance vanished without a trace in the torrent of light.

No darkness remained where the slashes had swept through.

The golden fragments circling above Aren's head flickered. At that moment, Alicia, who had already landed on the ground, opened her fan.

"An excellent opening!"

Mine followed behind her.

"Pasha, Mar! And Kaizel! Now! Lead your respective formations and advance toward the torches!"