Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 39

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Lesson 9. Learning martial arts – 4

The purpose of the Academy was to get students to climb the Tower. There was a lecture that freshmen had to take only to prepare to climb, and a textbook was prepared for them. Their knowledge of the trap section and the types of maze monsters all came from this manual.

“Hmm?”

“Here….”

However, when they entered Room 9, the space they were greeted with was of a kind that hadn’t appeared in the textbook. Unlike before, when the room became a hallway, this felt like a huge temple, with several irregular stone pillars protruding from the floor.

“There are no monsters, and the ceiling is high…it’s like a rest area.”

After holding their sword again, Light regained energy and murmured as he looked up at the ceiling.

“Isn’t it possible that we’re in Room 10?”

“No, it’s different. There was no mention of these pillars in the rest area, and the number definitely shows 9.”

“I think the room number no longer matters in our expedition….”

“Enemy, here.”

Ruchel pulled Ban Yu-won behind her. However, Ban Yu-won, letting himself be dragged, shouted.

“Dok Go-yeon, watch out!”

―Bang!

A huge cannonball fired from a gap in the pillars toward Dok Go-yeon! At the same time, Ban Yu-won narrowed his eyes to see a gun barrel rolling to the ground and disintegrating. The barrel was large, but he couldn’t believe it could fire a shell of that size. It was highly probable that it was a Magic Machine, a Magic Tool, that expanded the bullet immediately after firing.

“…Ban Yu-won.”

Was Ban Yu-won’s warning not too late, or was there no need for such a thing in the first place? Dok Go-yeon, her voice unlabored by effort, walked over with the shell in her hand.

“Didn’t you say that no one could use machines in the Tower except for you?”

“That’s why it broke after one use.”

Ban Yu-won responded bluntly but was inwardly relieved. Had she been hit by such an ignorantly large bullet, there wouldn’t be much left of her. If that was also thanks to the Black Body Move, Ban Yu-won clenched a fist, firmly swearing that from now on, whether sleeping or awake, he would diligently practice.

“Light over there.”

“So, it was there!”

Ban Yu-won pointed to its location as Dok Go-yeon busied herself with dismantling the shell.

“…Tsk!”

“Has it disappeared?”

“Light, go straight to the direction of 3 o’clock!”

Darting between the several pillars rising from the floor, their enemy realized their failure and tried to hide, but Ban Yu-won had already seen them.

“Turn. 5 o’clock!”

“Okay!”

Even if they had a stealth-type ability, it was futile!

“Hiyaaa!”

“Ugh?!”

Light, holding the holy sword, charged at a speed appropriate to the term ‘lightspeed.’ But Ban Yu-won wasn’t still just because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to compete with this Irregular.

“Dok Go-yeon, give that to me!”

“This? Okay!”

Dok Go-yeon threw the lump of iron to Ban Yu-won without delay. Ban Yu-won stretched out his hand toward it and snorted.

‘Your acting skills are excellent, acting surprised she stopped it, but I can see everything.’

Blocking the bullet that Irregular fired wasn’t all. The real trick was dealing with the explosive Magic that resided in it, which Ban Yu-won had been able to do at the moment he noticed it.

[You stole 30 Magic Bombs!]

He pulled out the concept without hesitation.

“What?!”

In the meantime, it was very funny to see the their face as they watched the bomb fly from Dok Go-yeon to Ban Yu-won. Perhaps they thought it would explode in mid-air, so they hurriedly carried out an evasive maneuver, but Light caught up with them.

“Don’t run away!”

“You’ll be dead soon…huh?”

The bomb endowed with Magic Power was destroyed in mid-air without detonating. Ban Yu-won laughed as he saw the golden string wrap around his hand.

“The bomb is not detonating properly. I guess you brought a defective product.”

“No way…!”

The Irregular angrily shouted, forgetting that there was a swordsman with a glowing sword in front of them in their surprise.

“Ha!”

“Ugh…!”

The moment the sword flashed, their blood spurted into the air. The Irregular grabbed their shoulder with a muffled moan and stepped back. At that moment, the air around them shook, and something popped out.

“What…?!”

As they snapped their fingers, the cracks in the air exploded and disappeared. Dok Go-yeon, who casually neutralized the enemy’s secret technique, nodded to herself.

“So, they deal with the power of space? That’s interesting; if you look at the principles one by one, it holds a great possibility, but how can its power be the size of a pea…maybe that is the reality of the power the Constellations are sowing?”

“But isn’t that a human? Why are people coming out and not monsters?”

“Who the hell are you guys?!”

The bastard shouted, but their party wanted to ask the same question. Yet before Ban Yu-won could say anything, they shouted with wide-open eyes.

“It was a bomb designed to explode even in the Tower!”

“Bomb? Oh.”

Dok Go-yeon, realizing that Ban Yu-won had noticed it in advance and stopped it, looked back at him and smiled softly. Of course, she had the means to protect herself if the bomb had gone off, but the others didn’t. Then since it would be her fault, Ban Yu-won helped her.

But apart from that, she realized that this opponent had almost humiliated her, and her gaze grew colder.

“I’m going to cut off their legs.”

“No, you have to kill them!”

Ruchel shouted. Ban Yu-won wasn’t sure when it happened, but she had separated from him and was sprinting at the Irregular. She had been sticking close to protect him, so why had she moved away now?

“Right now!”

Ruchel shouted as she ran. Her pink hair, fluttering beautifully behind her, began to turn black. The concept of Madness overflowed from her.

“Ruchel?! What are you doing?!”

“Move!”

“Wait, Ruchel…!”

Light was just bewildered by the sudden appearance of Ruchel. Had he believed Ruchel’s judgment, he would have turned around and slashed off the Irregular’s head, but unfortunately, Light hadn’t noticed!

“Crrrr!”

When Ruchel went past Light and tried to cut it off with her claws, a transparent shield appeared in the air and threw her back.

“Ugh…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?!”

She started screaming as a strange Magic Power swelled from the Irregular.

-Boom

A violent vibration shook the ground. Ban Yu-won noticed that it came from a stone pillar in the corner.

“You have failed, you fool.”

Ban Yu-won sensed overwhelming energy flowing out of the stone pillar. He had already felt such a presence once before, from a Constellation.

“No! I can do more! I can do more!”

―Sacrifice yourself to earn a “share” for your comrades.

“I said I can do it! I can kill them! I can survive and contribute!”

The Irregular covered their ears and knelt down, screaming. However, the Constellation paid no mind to their cries.

-Sacrifice yourself for Exodus.

“Nooooo!”

There was no time to hesitate. Ban Yu-won threw the concept in his hand.

“Everyone, get away!”

The golden string stretched out of his hand and wrapped around the Irregular like a chain. The trigger that activated it was his Magic Power. At the moment when the Black Energy turned into a black flame and burned across it, the string glowed and swelled magnificently!

-What…?!

The Constellation was astonished.

The moment the concept of Magic Bomb ignited due to the Black Energy, the Magic Power that was abnormally inflating the Irregular’s body was also sucked into it! Maybe it was because the Magic Power inside them had the properties of an explosion.

‘That’s good information.’

He could absorb a similar concept from an opponent with his concepts. Of course, it had limited uses, but wouldn’t it happen again if he collected various concepts? Ban Yu-won thought that and hit the ground.

An explosion rocked the room.

“Kyah!”

“Ugh…!”

“How!”

Dok Go-yeon and Light, who hadn’t listened to Ruchel’s warning, followed Ban Yu-won’s warning, and retreated as far as possible to avoid the explosion. Of course, the scope of the explosion was quite small as it was an attack using basic concepts, not concepts contained in a material…

Nevertheless, it did more than destroy the Irregular.

“A hole?”

“Ban Yu-won, you….”

The bombardment had left a hole where it went off, and the party muttered in shock.

“I just used the enemy’s attack.”

Ban Yu-won stood up and sighed, but neither Ruchel nor Dok Go-yeon could speak. The ability he had just demonstrated felt different from what he had shown against the Giant Glitch in Room 5, but they couldn’t put how into words.

“Ban, are you okay? You just….”

Meanwhile, Light seemed concerned about him in a different way. As she gripped the gleaming holy sword, her expression, suppressing something, made him guess that he might have some sort of trauma related to murder.

“I killed the person who was trying to kill us. It’s okay.”

So, Ban Yu-won responded as lightly as possible. It was to calm Light, but it was also to convince himself.

“Besides, we’re in the Tower. They might not have died.”

-He did.

The Constellation interrupted again.

-He is definitely dead. Because he was killed in a battle with a Climber inside the Tower.

Well, Ban Yu-won was actually expecting that he was dead. He believed it wouldn’t end well if they got involved with these Constellations.

But instead of responding to the Constellation, he glanced at his fellow party members. Dok Go-yeon, Light, and Ruchel hurried to his side.

-You sacrificed your precious members, but you didn’t get anything. You should have been suspicious when the Tower allowed it.

“Do you like to beat around the bush like that? Be straightforward, my friend.”

Ban Yu-won, who confirmed that everyone was in perfect condition, finally responded to the Constellation. But they were only snoring at Ban Yu-won’s words.

-There is only one thing I can tell you.

Crash.

The huge columns began to sink one after another. At the same time, the Constellation’s presence began to fade away.

―We are Exodus. Your adversaries.

Eventually, all the pillars sank, and Room 9 regained its tranquility. Ban Yu-won sighed after confirming that the Constellation had completely disappeared.

“What kind of Constellation has no middle ground?”

“Everything that has appeared so far has only been our enemies.”

“Exodus…damn, how did this happen?”

Dok Go-yeon laughed, but Light suddenly cursed. Light then explained to Ban Yu-won, who looked back with a puzzled gaze.

“Exodus is the most famous group of dimensional pirates in all the dimensions. The Constellation that supports them is targeting our lives!”

The moment when Light, who had strangely great knowledge of the dimensions, said that, Dok Go-yeon slammed her fist down as if she had finally understood.

“A dimensional pirate. Then as expected, it is highly probable that he was the intruder who broke in last week.”

“Maybe it’s an intruder who came in before that.”

“The fact that he has already been qualified as a Climber and attacked us…it means that simply becoming a Climber wasn’t their goal.”

If they went outside and asked Professor Yoo Mina, they might be able to hear more details. To be honest, Ban Yu-won didn’t want to get involved with this any longer, but…perhaps it was already too late now that he was considering it.

Ban Yu-won sighed with resignation and quietly decided to allow himself to be sucked into the whirlpool of fate that was about to devour him.

“Did they say that the Tower gave them permission? Why is it so harsh on us…huh?”

Light, murmuring next to him, suddenly shut their mouth. Even Dok Go-yeon and Ruchel became strangely quiet.

Ban Yu-won asked, confused.

“What’s wrong with you guys all of a sudden?”

“That is….”

Dok Go-yeon wore an expression that he couldn’t quite decipher.

“I leveled up.”

“Me too….”

“Actually, me too….”

Level…they leveled up?!

“It is the first time since I entered the school that my level has risen. Maybe it was a reward from the Tower for withstanding the Constellation’s attack?”

“If so…it’s a little upsetting, but I think it was worth it.”

“My stats have improved a lot too….”

There was a joy that couldn’t be hidden now on their previously exhausted faces. It was like a new employee who complained that it was hard to work overtime every day, until they looked at their paycheck with all that extra pay!

‘Thinking about it, they have a status window. Until now, their levels didn’t go up because they were too high!’

Seeing the three change their stance, Ban Yu-won felt a sense of relief.

…Wait a minute.

‘Then what about me?’

If there was no status window, did that mean his reward was skipped? When Ban Yu-won could not contain his anger and raised his head, he saw a spool of golden thread fluttering down from the sky.

It was an absurd amount of language concepts!