Chapter 52
“Is this real?”
Chahun rushed forward and knocked on the cave wall. Each time his fist made contact, the wall crumbled into powder.
“It’s exactly like the hologram device we saw in the common area before. You won’t get injured, but the pain feels the same, so be careful not to bump into anything.”
No sooner had Yeonwoo finished speaking than Chahun, who had been walking while looking at the ceiling, stumbled on a rock. As Chahun quickly regained his balance and looked around, Yeonwoo checked the locations of cameras and buttons.
“Can you see that?”
At the entrance Chahun had come through, a fancy button that didn’t match the cave-type dungeon was glowing green. When Yeonwoo pointed to the green buttons placed throughout the dungeon, Chahun looked at them and nodded. They were emergency exit buttons to call staff watching from outside when you wanted to give up training or if a problem occurred.
Thanks to the buttons and cameras visible here and there, Yeonwoo could overcome the anxiety washing over him. This isn’t a dungeon, this is a training ground inside the Center, I can leave whenever I want. Muttering to himself, Yeonwoo picked up a pebble and used his ability. After confirming the pebble had landed at his desired spot with a soft thud, Yeonwoo lightly shook his wrist.
[Kang Chahun, Esper.]
When Chahun, who had been examining the buttons, responded, the voice from the speaker that had been checking their status called Yeonwoo’s name.
[Is there a problem with the camera?]
The staff member reported that there was an issue with the camera near the entrance and instructed them to move to the camera beside it. After confirming the two through another camera, the staff warned them to move carefully since they’d entered without a Guide, then fell silent with a crackle.
“What do I do now?”
“First, look up.”
At those words, Chahun tilted his head. He couldn’t see it with his eyes, but he would be able to feel the tangled lines on the ceiling.
“You need to follow the branches extending from the center of the dungeon.”
Gates opened at the ends of those branches. The denser the mana concentration at the center, the more branches there were, and the more branches, the larger the dungeon tended to be. The more branches, the more gates were created, so occasionally subjugation teams that entered through different gates would meet inside the dungeon.
“Which way should I go?”
“Toward where the dungeon mana concentration is thickest.”
To escape the dungeon, they needed to head to the center and then defeat the dungeon boss that would appear there. At Yeonwoo’s explanation, Chahun, who had been examining the ceiling, found the right path. Yeonwoo grabbed Chahun, who was about to walk straight ahead, and nodded toward the Sili.
Nodding his head, Chahun created a sky-blue bow in his hand. As Chahun strode forward, Yeonwoo followed behind him and extended his senses to scan the surroundings when he heard an annoying tick, tick sound.
“Wait.”
Just as Chahun turned around at Yeonwoo’s call—
“Ugh, fuck!”
As Chahun’s hand grabbed Yeonwoo’s waist, an ice wall rose up simultaneously. The ice wall infused with Chahun’s mana glowed with a soft blue light, illuminating the dark cave. Thanks to this, things that had been invisible began to appear.
Cave worms covered in smooth gray chitin were approaching the two of them. Each time their elongated teeth beneath their snouts collided, they made a tick, tick sound that reverberated throughout the cave.
The cave worms dragged their long bodies on four legs, with round bombs attached to their tails. Because of this appearance, they were often called bomb worms. Fortunately, these magical beasts weren’t too complicated to eliminate.
“Those are cave worms—”
“I know they’re worms!”
Chahun’s voice resonated against Yeonwoo’s crown. Feeling the slight trembling in his voice, Yeonwoo patted the arm wrapped around his waist and asked softly.
“You don’t like bugs?”
“I loathe them.”
Yeonwoo bit his lip and looked at the cave worms gradually tightening their encirclement. So that’s what it was. In the book, Chahun would freeze the entire area whenever he encountered insect-type magical beasts. Yeonwoo had thought it was because of poison or to prevent breeding, but it was simply because he detested bugs.
“Hey, Chahun.”
Yeonwoo tapped Chahun’s arm, which was wrapping him up tightly. He needed to use his ability to escape from the approaching cave worms, but Chahun’s arms, which were hugging him like a stuffed animal, prevented him from moving.
“Ah, hyung, I really can’t look.”
The more Yeonwoo tried to break free, the more Chahun tightened his grip and buried his face in Yeonwoo’s nape.
Having given up on detaching Chahun, Yeonwoo lifted his head and looked at the cave worms beyond the ice wall. The long antennae that substituted for eyes, the vestigial eyes beneath them that had degenerated to mere traces, and the sharp teeth at the end of the elongated snout didn’t look much different from ordinary insects, except they were quite large.
The smallest worm was a bit larger than Yeonwoo’s forearm, so he could understand why Chahun was freaking out.
But they couldn’t just stay like this. Yeonwoo pushed Chahun with his back and slowly walked backward. Despite hesitantly retreating, Chahun clung to him as if determined not to let go, making it hard for Yeonwoo to breathe as his ribs were compressed.
After tapping Chahun’s arm to loosen his grip, Yeonwoo checked the ice wall when he heard the tick, tick, tick sounds growing louder and faster. Behind the ice wall were dozens of legs packed tightly together. Just looking at them made his spine tingle with goosebumps. So disgusting.
A cave worm that had been tapping the ice wall with its antennae made a kiiiii sound and called its companions. The gathered cave worms put their antennae together and began to communicate. Meanwhile, the other cave worms swarmed the ice wall and struck it with their short legs.
At that sound, a startled Chahun burrowed further into Yeonwoo. As if my build could ever encompass yours. Though Yeonwoo clicked his tongue, he continuously tapped Chahun’s arm while calmly scanning the surroundings.
The cave worms that had been communicating with their antennae made kik, kiik sounds as they issued commands. As the cave worms retreated in perfect unison with a ssasasasak sound, Chahun embraced Yeonwoo even more tightly. As a result, Yeonwoo, now lifted off the ground, repeatedly smacked Chahun’s hand.
“Chahun. Put me down so we can escape.”
Chahun reluctantly loosened his grip. The moment his feet touched the ground, Yeonwoo grabbed him and folded space toward a stalagmite that had risen up. As soon as they arrived, Chahun tried to embrace Yeonwoo again, but Yeonwoo firmly pushed him away and pointed to a stalactite on the ceiling.
“Can you hit that?”
The hand that had been flailing toward Yeonwoo’s waist followed Yeonwoo’s finger toward the ceiling. At the end was a stalactite slightly larger than a fist.
“That?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t it too small?”
Whether it’s his weapons or this, why does he like such big things?
Now that the sound of the bugs had disappeared, Chahun seemed to be regaining his senses as he scanned the ceiling looking for a larger stalactite.
“Don’t look.”
After warning Chahun, Yeonwoo checked below. The cave worms, having noticed their disappearance, were constantly communicating with each other and forming ranks.
“Why not?”
Seeing Yeonwoo’s serious expression, Chahun craned his neck and looked down. I told you not to look. Yeonwoo covered Chahun’s eyes and watched the cave worms’ bombs growing larger.
“When I signal, drop it by hitting it.”
“Got it.”
After waiting a moment, the cave worms turned their tails toward where the ice wall had risen and began to bounce their bombs in rhythm with each other. Each time they struck their tails downward, the bombs grew larger. Waiting for the vibrations from the floor to intensify, Yeonwoo motioned toward the stalactite.
“Now.”
No sooner had Yeonwoo’s words fallen than Chahun pulled his bowstring. The arrow that flew with a whoosh hit the stalactite, and as the ice arrow burst, the cave rumbled. Hearing that sound, the cave worms’ antennae shot up. They tried to feel around the air to create an escape route, but before that could happen, the stalactite fell to the floor.
Even before the stalactite touched the ground, the startled cave worms detonated their bombs, and all the dangerously swollen bombs exploded at once. Chahun, who had covered his ears at the simultaneous wet explosions, looked for Yeonwoo, and Yeonwoo, who was half-embracing Chahun, felt the stalagmite beneath his feet wobble and scanned the surroundings for a safe place.
At that moment, Yeonwoo saw magic stones flying from the bomb’s impact. This isn’t a hologram? There were occasional instances of real magical beasts being placed in training for realism. The problem was that there wasn’t just one or two magic stones adorning the air.
Yeonwoo folded space far away, left Chahun behind, and returned to the scene. Yeonwoo waited for the bomb sounds to subside and then looked around.
“Wow…”
The cave worms’ corpses remained intact. The hologram magical beasts that should have dispersed into the air were now actual corpses. Letting out a hollow laugh, Yeonwoo turned his head to find a camera lens. They would have confirmed these weren’t hologram magical beasts, so there should be some action taken.
After waiting a while, the button’s color didn’t change to red, which would indicate training suspension. Staring at the button, Yeonwoo turned his head to look at the camera. No voice came from the speaker beside it.
“These crazy bastards…”
Yeonwoo, who had been burying his face in his hands, began to search through the cave worm corpses. The processor of a magical beast receives its price. Since Chahun had processed them, these magic stones belonged to him. The magic stones gathered in his palm were smaller than fingernails, but in this quantity, they could be sold for a high price.
He couldn’t help but laugh hollowly the whole time he was collecting magic stones. He had anticipated interference from the Center Director who didn’t want to give him a diploma, or from Lee Sangwon who wanted to take away his Sili. But the virtual dungeon was training in a dungeon-like environment against hologram magical beasts. In other words, it was training to determine how quickly an awakened could regain their senses, whether they could use their abilities to process magical beasts while overcoming dungeon mana. It was never training where they created an exact replica of a dungeon and released real magical beasts.
Are the Center Director and Lee Sangwon in their right minds? Should I report this to the Association?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
