TN: Thank Clone Trooper for the chapter. Part 5

Siwoo leaned against the dungeon’s wall to cool down his heated body and rest.

After running for a while, he finally arrived at the boss room.

Keeping an eye out in case someone approached and ready to enter at any moment, he took a brief rest.

“Hah, that was really scary…”

His body gradually cooled down, but his heart was still pounding, unable to control itself.

Well, he didn’t expect that Lyla would openly attack like that.

If it weren’t for his inexplicably heightened instincts, that male student might have had his head separated from his body by now.

“That woman, she’s not in her right mind.”

The teachers said there were surveillance cameras.

What was she thinking attacking them under these circumstances?

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.

But that was a minor question.

If Siwoo escaped this dungeon, the truth would come to light.

He needed to focus on the new information he had obtained for now.

“Those guys weren’t on the same side…”

He thought Lyla and Arte were on the same side.

That intense hostility.

They didn’t seem to be allies, no matter how he thought about it.

Was it an act? An attempt to deceive him?

He briefly considered that, but no matter how he viewed it, it didn’t seem like an act.

When he glanced back while fleeing, Lyla swung her sword at Arte.

When Arte dodged the attack, the dungeon wall was sliced cleanly as if cut by a blade. There’s no way that was an act.

They weren’t allies.

Even if they were on the same side, their relationship must be extremely bad.

That’s how Siwoo judged it.

“…Hah, well. Should I go in?”

Honestly, he wanted to go back.

Just turn back the way he came, leave early, go home, and sleep soundly.

But as someone once said, the shortest path is often the longest.

For Siwoo, the only path left was the boss room.

The boss room doesn’t reopen until the battle inside finishes.

First, he needs to defeat the boss as quickly as possible, clear the room, and use the shortcut that opens to get outside.

Then, he’ll quickly run to where the teachers are and report the situation.

Okay.

If even one of them is seriously injured, that’s enough.

Others will be able to enter after leaving the boss room, but by then, Siwoo will have already escaped the dungeon.

He steadied his breath, pushed open the heavy door, and entered the boss room.

“Moooooooo!”

“Minotaur… The Palace of Knossos.”

The half-man, half-bull monster.

The human with a bull’s head. The Minotaur.

Upon seeing that famous monster, one thought crossed Siwoo’s mind.

Come to think of it, this is a boss that was meant to be cleared by four people together.

That’s the difficulty level the teachers set.

But he has to face a boss meant for four people to defeat, alone?

Seeing the Minotaur charge at him with its battle axe raised, a look of injustice filled Siwoo’s face.

Siwoo cried out, his voice filled with pent-up frustration,

“Come at me! I’ll make you into ox-head soup!”

“Mooooooo!”

Oh, wait a minute.

‘It’s faster than I thought?’

Before Siwoo could react in his bewilderment, the Minotaur charged at him.

“Uwah?!”

His instincts rang the alarm, and he jumped out of the way in shock.

Luckily, he managed to evade the situation, but Siwoo couldn’t close his mouth.

That’s because he saw the aftermath after the Minotaur, having lost its target, rammed its head into the dungeon wall.

Quake!

The boss room shook as if an earthquake had struck.

The crumbling dungeon walls showed him what could happen if he took a direct hit.

“Ha, haha… Getting hit by that would probably hurt like hell?”

Forget ox-head soup.

Would he even survive a hit without becoming ground meat?

If others were with him, the rest could buy time even if one fell. But Siwoo was alone.

A single direct hit would be fatal.

With no time to heal from a deadly blow that would leave him immobilized, the moment Siwoo took that hit would be the end.

Seeing the Minotaur charging at him with its huge battle axe raised, Siwoo swallowed his tears.

No matter what, at least this was better than that hallway where Arte and the traitor were.

***

“Huh, huh…”

How did he survive?

A look of bewilderment filled Siwoo’s face.

That’s because he still couldn’t understand how he managed to survive.

He faced the threat of death several times.

Even with his instincts, he shouldn’t have been able to dodge with his depleted stamina.

Was he just incredibly lucky?

The Minotaur left behind a sizeable magic stone before vanishing.

Picking up its magic stone, Siwoo laughed in relief, the tension leaving him.

In the end, he survived.

For now, that was enough.

“Oh, here it is.”

Leaving the ashes of the Minotaur behind, Siwoo began to search for the shortcut to escape the dungeon.

It didn’t take too long.

It felt like a short walk before he found himself in the forest.

The noisy sound of moving stones and the closing door of the shortcut seemed to celebrate his survival.

But the joy was short-lived.

A question lingered in Siwoo’s mind.

“…Hey, why is no one here?”

His pace wasn’t slow.

Until Lyla suddenly attacked, they were rapidly passing through the dungeon.

That there were no students was understandable, yes.

It was possible.

But at the exit point after clearing the dungeon?

It didn’t make sense that no one was there.

Just as he was voicing that doubt,

His instincts suddenly rang out, and he threw himself forward.

“Wh-What?!”

Only then, upon hearing the whooshing sound, did he realize why his instincts had warned him.

An axe.

The same axe the Minotaur had used.

That axe came flying at his neck.

“Ah, too bad. It was a perfect shot. But you dodged it.”

“Lyla.”

“Geez, couldn’t you just die nicely? It’s so annoying.”

Clunk, clunk.

Lyla casually walked towards him with her bloodstained sword slung over her shoulder.

“You, how did you…”

“How what? I defeated the boss, can’t you see?”

As if annoyed, she scratched her head and nodded towards the battle axe that had just been thrown.

“That stupid ox-head, it was so weak. Well, I guess that’s why it ends up being a punching bag for students like this.”

Weak?

Of course, it would be a simple opponent if faced by multiple people.

But fighting it alone, its overwhelming power, would not be easy to handle.

No, wait.

There was an even more puzzling question now.

“Arte. What happened to Arte Iris?”

“Huh? She’s dead. Can’t you see?”

The bloodstained sword Lyla carried glinted in the sunlight.

…And above it, severed threads came into view.

“Ah, that bitch. It’s said she defeated a Rank 3 monster, but she was just a nuisance.”

“…So Arte is dead.”

“Yeah. I’ll admit it was harder than I thought. I guess she liked being hit in our sparring sessions, huh? But by now, she’s probably buried under the rubble of the dungeon.”

Lyla said as she scratched her head.

“She was annoyingly persistent. It was a bit of a struggle, but… now that she’s dead and you’re scheduled to die too.”

“Even if you kill me now, one of the students has already gone to inform the teachers. It’s over for you. …I have no intention of dying easily.”

“…Huh? Ah, ahahahahaha!”

What’s up?

Siwoo couldn’t understand why Lyla was laughing.

His instincts were ringing.

“Haha, you’re hilarious. Do you know why there’s no one else here?”

“…Huh?”

“Why are you spacing out like that? It looks like you don’t know…Alright then, let me explain. While infiltrating the academy’s grounds is difficult, the dungeons are not.”

Infiltrate the dungeon?

Siwoo didn’t understand the meaning of Lyla’s words.

What’s the point of infiltrating the dungeon?

“The academy’s security is truly exceptional, but they can’t scrutinize the external dungeons as thoroughly. They fail to detect when the shortcut that appears after clearing a dungeon is opened a day in advance.”

“…!”

“In other words, right now, there’s no one here except you and me.”

As Lyla calmly walked towards him, Siwoo could feel his instincts ringing the alarm bells.

…He could realize this situation was dangerous even without them.

“I didn’t expect you to call the teacher, but…it doesn’t matter. I’ll just kill you before they arrive, and I’ll be gone by the time they get here.”

Siwoo had pushed his body to the limit in order to defeat the Minotaur.

Honestly, it would be hard to say he had enough strength to even run away now.

But Lyla’s appearance?

Far from being exhausted, she looked completely fine, even relaxed.

Seeing that unhurried demeanor, strength flowed into Siwoo’s body.

Not to run away, but to stand up to her.

“…What, still planning to resist?”

“I don’t have a habit of begging for my life right before I die.”

No, in fact, he probably would have begged.

But that was until he met Arte.

Siwoo, who had faced even more terrifying situations than this, could overcome his fear.

At least, that’s what Siwoo believed.

“…Ah, you’re so annoying.”

Looking at that defiant Siwoo, Lyla clicked her tongue in annoyance as she scrunched up her face.

Was there something bothering her?

“Can’t be helped. It’s the organization’s orders. I don’t hate people like you, but you have to die.”

“…!”

Despite his instincts’ warning, his muscles didn’t respond quickly enough.

Did the Minotaur really take that much out of him?

…Ah, I’m going to die.

As the sword approached his neck in an instant, Siwoo sensed his impending death.

“That won’t do.”

The sword was caught by threads.

Author’s Notes

Arte has arrived.

But maybe it’s because Arte came in a hurry?

She isn’t wearing her school uniform. She only has her leotard now.

I sent a new one to her room, so it will be back soon.

It’s pretty.

Oh, by the way, they said they’ll (novelpia or an artist I assume.) give me the version with Arte’s eyes open later. Shall I wait with you?

Translator’s Corner

The art they’re referring to is the one I put some chapters ago.

Also, can someone remind me to add the chapters to novelupdates? Thanks in advance.

Also also, the Author’s notes are the hardest things to translate. I can’t tell if it’s the author of the novel or Author in the novel.

-Ruminas