Chapter 30
Elaine repeated to herself, “Stay calm, stay calm,” as she moved her body with measured calmness.
“Grooo…”
Slash—
She sliced off the neck of a ghoul reaching out from her right.
Slash—
Pivoting, she sliced the neck of another ghoul lunging from the opposite side.
She minimized unnecessary movement, keeping her actions quick and efficient.
Slash—Slash—
Elaine maintained her rhythm, swinging her sword without hesitation.
“Damn.”
“This… is really the limit!”
But it truly was the limit now.
The corpses of beheaded ghouls littered her feet, and the ghouls were closing in, mere inches away.
“There are just too many…!”
The ghouls were individually weak, but their numbers were overwhelming.
Despite continuously cutting them down, more ghouls kept pouring in.
She was on the verge of being surrounded—perhaps already surrounded.
Before, they only came from the front, but now they were closing in from the sides and even behind her.
“If only this passage were a bit narrower!”
Had the hallway been narrower, she could have used the straight path to hold them off longer.
“Damn it!”
Slash—Slash—
As she swiftly cut down two ghouls closing in from behind, a rough curse escaped her lips.
She didn’t even have the time to check if Cynthia and Emily had evaded safely.
She couldn’t hear Ryu’s voice nearby, either.
“Grooo…”
“Ack!”
The deep, ghastly voice right beside her startled Elaine, and she swung her sword instinctively.
Slash—
She felt contact, but it wasn’t the neck.
In her slight loss of composure, she ended up slicing below the neck.
“Oh.”
Elaine watched as the ghoul’s intact arm came straight for her face, and she reflexively closed her eyes.
A knight shutting their eyes in battle—it was unacceptable.
Slash—
“Phew.”
“…”
A small sigh could be heard.
When the dreaded sensation didn’t strike her face, Elaine cautiously opened her eyes.
“Ryu’s swordsmanship was certainly not Sinclair’s style, but it felt even more reassuring than that.
‘To think the skill difference would be this wide.’
While Elaine was amazed by Ryu’s prowess, she also felt a pang of despair.
She had felt it during the Golem Hit and the kidnapping incident, but she hadn’t expected that the skill gap between students could be this vast.
She hadn’t anticipated it would be hard to even keep up with Ryu’s movements visually.
With swift yet sturdy movements, Ryu steadily advanced with his heavy, solid sword, even beyond the reach of Emily’s light.
“Oh, it’s dangerous without visibility…!”
Elaine finally snapped back to reality and shouted, but Ryu had already vanished into the darkness.
‘…Oh.’
Elaine instinctively moved forward to follow him but then paused.
The countless ghoul corpses strewn around made her feel she probably didn’t need to worry about Ryu.
***
‘Damn, my body feels stiff since it’s been so long.’
When I drew my sword, I thought it would feel the same as usual, but it didn’t.
Indeed, consistency is key for anything.
It wasn’t easy to fight with a sword after not doing so for a while.
‘I really wish I could use some magic here.’
Slash—Slash—
As I continued cutting down an endless wave of ghouls one by one, I couldn’t help but think that way.
If only I knew one area spell, I wouldn’t have to go through this hassle.
Slash—
Still, it felt refreshing to wield a sword and move my body after so long.
‘The test difficulty is quite high, so I guess it’s okay to use a bit more strength.’
Slash—
As I cut down the faintly visible ghoul, I realized it was the last one within Emily’s light range.
“Why are there so many of them?”
In the darkness, countless more ghouls were still lurking.
I needed to handle them before any more appeared.
Taking a step forward, I was met with thick, impenetrable darkness, far beyond the light’s reach.
‘Perfect.’
In this pitch-black environment, no one behind me or even those watching from afar would see a thing.
Now, instead of slicing each one individually, I could cut them down all at once.
Woooo—
I infused my sword with mana, and it began to vibrate faintly.
Then I took my stance.
Holding the sword horizontally, I needed only to swing forward, no more, no less.
If I misjudged my strength and the attack range spread to the sides, who knows what might happen.
This was an Academy-crafted dungeon—if it collapsed, that would be a big problem.
‘No overdoing it, keep it moderate.’
Repeating this to myself, I firmly gripped the sword handle and swung it.
Whooosh—Slash—
With a single horizontal slash, an invisible force shot forward in a crescent shape, neatly filling the corridor ahead.
‘Sweet. This is why I collect artifacts.’
As the sound of collapsing ghouls echoed, a thrilling sensation surged through my body.
The sword I held was an artifact I had once found in a dungeon.
It allowed me to sharpen and release mana infused into the blade.
According to Addy, it was a legendary sword once wielded by a hero who had slain a dragon.
Apparently, it had turned black when the hero’s blade was stained with dragon blood, or so the story goes.
I just called it the Black Shadow Sword.
Isn’t it the perfect name for me?
The blade is black, and the aura it releases is also dark.
It felt great to wield the Black Shadow Sword again and unleash its technique.
It’s rare to find a chance to openly use the sword’s power, so I took advantage of this moment.
Hopefully, no one saw it.”
‘And with a test this difficult, I’ve got to put in this much effort.’
Slash—.
Clearing away a few lucky ghouls that had dodged the initial wave, I continued forward.
After cutting down a few more, there were no remaining ghouls that registered within my senses.
“Hm-hmm~”
I hummed in satisfaction.
The thrill of wiping out a large number of monsters at once— the feeling was fantastic.
‘I’ll be able to do this more often once I learn magic.’
I couldn’t wait to get a “skill” as soon as possible.
“Ryu?”
“Ah, everyone’s okay, right?”
“Oh… Yes.”
I immediately responded to Elaine’s voice calling from a distance.
Come to think of it, I wondered if Emily had calmed down by now.
‘These things were called Undead, right? Addy’s map didn’t mention anything about this.’
The map Addy had once given me as a gift, surprisingly, was for this very dungeon exploration.
And not just any map—it was detailed, listing what kind of trials awaited at specific locations.
I wasn’t sure where Addy had gotten it, but I was grateful.
Having a map is a huge advantage.
According to what I’d checked in advance, there didn’t seem to be any particularly challenging trials, so I was planning to rush through quickly.
‘Is this some kind of surprise trial?’
Since the map didn’t contain any mention of Undead, that’s the only conclusion I could draw.
‘Just in case, I should keep a few of these.’
“Ryu? Where exactly are you?”
“Ah, I’m on my way. Wait for me there.”
Whoosh—
I transferred a few ghoul corpses lying on the ground to storage.
Even though these ghouls were supposedly Academy-made, they were surprisingly realistic.
The Black Shadow Corps doesn’t have much intel on the Undead, so keeping them on hand might come in useful somewhere.
“Uh… uh… sob…”
“Is Emily still like that?”
“Sh-she seems quite shaken.”
Emily was still curled up, clutching her knees, trembling.
Cynthia was doing her best to comfort her, but it didn’t seem to be working.
Elaine, who had been staring intently at me as I emerged from the darkness, responded to my words.
Elaine’s gaze was unusually focused on me, almost as if she’d seen the technique I’d used earlier.
‘She… couldn’t have seen it, right?’
I tried to convince myself she hadn’t and squatted down next to Emily to check on her.
We’d cleared the surprise trial, but if we wanted to secure first place, we needed to get moving.
“Emily, are you alright…”
KABOOM—
“Whoa!”
Just as I was about to speak to Emily, a huge explosion suddenly echoed from beside us.
The sound of something being completely destroyed filled the air, along with dust that quickly clouded around us.
What in the world is this now?
—
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