Chapter 17
The Ice Princess.
That was Elettra’s nickname, earned for her famously cold, icy, and composed demeanor.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?!?”
But the wraiths shattered her icy facade. Elettra, reduced to nothing more than a princess, screamed and clung to my arm.
“G-ghosts, g-ghosts, ghhooosts!!! Save me, save meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”
“Elettra!!”
I shouted as I hugged her tightly to reassure her.
“Think about it! The wraiths can’t hurt us—”
One of the wraiths approaching us opened its mouth.
- Shweeeeeeeeeee...
Maggots writhed across its tongue.
“Hii….”
Elettra slid down my body, still clinging to me.
Her legs had given out from sheer terror.
“Hiii… H-hiiiieee….”
She couldn’t speak or even scream. All that came from her lungs was a thin, breathy sound.
‘I didn’t think she’d be this scared.’
Just as I was wondering whether I should show them how it was done, a wraith charged at Roy.
“Aaaagh!! Stay back, aaagh!”
Roy tried to run, but fell. The wraith approached him as he lay facedown on the floor.
- Shwaaaaaaa…
“Aaaah!!!!”
The moment the wraith’s outstretched hand touched Roy’s body.
Light.
A pure, holy light flared brilliantly.
The holy water had reacted.
**
Piusur, the thirteenth Guide of the Underworld from the Abyssal Order, had planned the attack on the academy dungeon.
“There are thirty-six cadets in all….”
He was listening to reports on the situation from a safe room, swirling his glass of liquor.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how many of them we can kill. Heh heh heh….”
“Lord Piusur! Urgent news!”
“Hahaha, yes. How many of them have died already?”
“Not a single one!!!”
“Huh…?”
“For some reason, all of them have been splashed with holy water!! The wraiths can’t even get close, and they’re vanishing the moment they touch anyone!!!”
**
The same thing had happened to the other groups: their torches had suddenly gone out, and they’d been attacked by wraiths.
“Kyaah!!”
“Aaaagh!! What is this!!!”
- Shaaaaaaaaa…
- Shwaaaaaaaaa…!!!
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
“Professor Sillon!! Snap out of it!!!!”
“Someone, light a fire!”
“The lights aren’t responding!!!”
- Swaaaaaaaaa…!!!!
The wraith, approaching with an evil laugh, touched Professor Sillon’s small body.
Bright white light erupted.
“Huh…?”
A cadet shouted.
“H-holy water!!! It’s reacting with the ghost monsters!!”
Holy water.
The holy water Gilliam Everchess had suddenly sprayed, hitting every student and professor gathered there.
At the time, everyone had found it annoying and wondered uneasily if he’d put something in it.
But the wraiths had turned the situation around completely.
“Somebody protect me!! I barely got any on me!”
“Who was near Everchess!?”
Until just moments ago, those who’d been drenched in holy water had been the ones looking uneasy.
Now it was the other way around: those who’d gotten plenty of holy water felt safe, while everyone else crowded around them.
‘I should’ve stayed by Everchess too…!’
‘I shouldn’t have stood so far away!!’
A cadet remembered the holy water that had touched their arm and swung it at a wraith.
“Get away!!”
Every time a wraith touched the holy water, white light burst out.
- Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!!
- Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
The tables had turned.
**
“What the hell happened!? The cadets suddenly splashed holy water on themselves!? No, they went in already covered in it!?”
“W-we don’t know what happened either!”
“Damn it…!”
Piusur gritted his teeth.
“But it’s not over yet…! The dungeon is still pitch-black! Release the Void Bats!!”
“Yes, Guide!”
**
The flapping filled the darkness. Wings beating. A sound that stirred human fear.
“Kiiiiiiiiiiii!!!”
“Kishiiiiiiiiii!!!”
On top of that came a shrill, unpleasant sound that was painfully high-pitched to human ears.
“Aaaagh!!”
“What is it this time!!!”
The cadets were plunged into fear once more.
**
“Heh heh heh…! The Void Bats are invincible in the dark! A threat that mere first-year academy students could never overcome—”
“L-Lord Guide!! The Abyssal Lantern!!”
The Abyssal Lantern.
An artifact that forcibly extinguished every light source within its range.
At this moment, it was neutralizing all the torches in the dungeon.
Even Piusur couldn’t easily get his hands on one. Retrieving it would be his first priority once the operation was over.
That precious item.
“A cadet has stolen the Abyssal Lantern!”
“Whaaa!?”
Piusur was horrified.
“What do you mean!? How could it be stolen!? I put it somewhere no one could possibly find it!!”
“We don’t know!!”
“Lord Guide, bad news!! The lights suddenly came back, and the Void Bats have been wiped out!!”
**
A little before Piusur released the Void Bats.
After finishing off the wraiths before any of the other groups, Gilliam headed for the inner wall of the boss room.
‘Even people who’ve read the original story wouldn’t know there’s a space in here.’
The library books contained the layout of the training dungeons, and I’d learned about them by looking through those books.
That part was true. I’d researched the place thoroughly to prepare for danger.
And Gilliam had realized something.
The six dungeons were shaped like a pizza cut into six slices.
—Then if you put the six dungeons together, wouldn’t they make a circle?
His doubts had prompted him to investigate further, and he’d discovered something.
This had originally been a circular dungeon, later modified by the academy professors for training.
And the Abyssal Lantern could affect a certain radius around its location.
—If you wanted to encompass the entirety of a circular structure within its range…
There was only one place to put it.
“The center of the circle.”
And the boss room was the farthest point from the entrance—in other words, the place closest to the circle’s center.
In other words.
If I broke through the wall at the back of the boss room, the true center of the dungeon would be revealed.
I clenched my fist.
My Strength, raised from E to D by spending points.
【Skill Activated: <Intermediate Shockwave>】
With the skill added to it, I swung my fist at the wall.
KABOOOOOOOM!!
The wall crumbled.
A small inner chamber came into view.
The dungeon’s true deepest point and the exact center of the circle.
Inside was an artifact shaped like a black lantern hanging from the tip of a mage’s staff.
It was the Abyssal Lantern.
“That’s…!!”
I heard Professor Kadisha cry out in alarm.
<Abyssal Lantern>
Description: An artifact created by a witch who sought to cover the world in darkness. They say that if you stare into it for too long, you can hear the witch’s soul whispering.
The moment I picked it up without hesitation, the Void Bats burst out, just as they had in the original story.
“Kiiiiiiiiiiii!!!”
“Kiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!”
The flapping wings filled the darkness, along with that unpleasant, high-pitched sound.
“Ah… Ahh…”
Some princess let out a groan as if she were on the verge of death. That was how terrified she was.
‘Let’s finish this quickly.’
【Acquired Item <Abyssal Lantern>】
【ON/OFF】
‘OFF.’
I turned off its effect.
At once, every torch that had lost its light because of the artifact burst back into flame.
Fwoosh!
Fwoosh! Fwoooosh!!!
“Ugh….”
The sudden light.
Even I, who knew it was coming, had to squint.
“Ngh!”
“Ghk!”
The others groaned, squinting against the sudden glare.
Even people reacted like this.
For the Void Bats, which lived only in darkness and had never known light, the brightness alone was fatal.
“Kiiiiii!?!?”
“Eeeeeee…!!”
Thud! Splatter!
Instead of biting people, the Void Bats crashed into the floor or walls and died. The sounds rang out one after another.
“Is everyone all right?”
The torches were back. I could see my teammates’ expressions.
Professor Kadisha, still composed.
Roy, pale with fear.
The other three cadets, each trembling.
And, as expected, Princess Elettra was sitting on the floor.
Her pretty face was a mess of tears, snot, and saliva.
Her hair was stuck to her face with cold sweat, and her eyes were unfocused and vacant.
Her eyes fixed on me. She reached out and whimpered my name.
“G-Gilliam… Gilli-aaam….”
“Are you okay?”
I crouched down and tried to help her up.
“!!!”
Elettra hurriedly shook her head.
‘Why is she—oh.’
The front of Elettra’s skirt and her stockings were wet.
When terror made the muscles in her lower body go slack, the muscles in her legs weren’t the only ones that gave out.
She was being so desperate because she was afraid she’d be found out if she stood up now.
‘…This is why people in romance fantasy worlds…’
Fortunately, there was a way to handle this situation.
“Extra holy water. You’re a princess, after all.”
I opened a bottle of holy water I’d saved and poured it over Elettra.
I drenched the front of her skirt and her stockings, making sure the wetness wouldn’t stand out.
“…!”
Elettra’s eyes widened as she understood what I was doing.
〈Next Compliment Suggestion (LV.1)〉
【Target: Elettra Xantias】
Recommendation: Smile
A smile?
She wasn’t smiling at all right now.
“…You look prettier when you smile.”
Elettra’s eyes went blank.
【The target is experiencing absolute elation】
<Praise Points: +3000(150→3150)>