Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 21

Lesson 5. The Tower is a One-Way Street - 4

"Everyone, stop messing around and focus. A shift is happening, we're now in Room 2."

Light, who had been standing back from the commotion, said while cautiously surveying the surroundings.

It must have been the aftermath of defeating the elite monster; the environment was changing, and grass was already starting to sprout on the floor.

Meanwhile, Ban Yu-won had organized all the concepts obtained from the Cloth Eaters that he and his team had caught, as well as from the elite monster that Luciel had hunted at the end.

[Life 8, Demon 11, Melt 12, Acid (酸) 5, Resistance 1]

'I've been running dungeons for nothing.'

Ban Yu-won thought jokingly.

Of course, if he hadn't diligently scraped together concepts while running dungeons, it would have been impossible to explore the tower like this now, but the gains from Room 1 were so exceptional that it really made him think that way.

Not only had he obtained an amount of Life that would normally require killing about ten Hobgoblins (i.e., running ten lowest-level dungeons), but he had also acquired a large amount of Demon to help grow Eve and Lilith, and moreover, Melt and Acid, which were excellent concepts he was obtaining for the first time.

And even Resistance, which he hadn't expected at all!

'Resistance aside, Acid was obtained from the elite monster that Luciel defeated... It probably means acidity (酸性). I wonder if we could extract pure oxygen (酸素) from this? Is that too much?'

However, since both Melt and Acid clearly had properties that could dissolve enemies, it wouldn't hurt to have them.

He was a bit worried that if he applied this directly to weapons, wouldn't the weapons themselves melt?

'...It should be fine, right? Blood Poison is already applied.'

Still, just to be safe, he tried applying about 3 Melt to an ordinary sword.

The sword was fine, so he extracted it and applied all 12 Melt to his own sword, the Executioner's Greatsword.

As he was about to apply Acid as well, Eve, who had returned to her snake form, playfully bit Ban Yu-won's hand.

He thought it was just affection, but the look in her eyes was not normal.

"You want it?"

"Shhhh."

Acid seems more aggressive than Melt... But since following Eve's suggestions had never led to any losses so far, he boldly applied it to her.

Of course, there was no visible change on the surface.

We'll see what happens in time.

"That child has become stronger in an instant."

Dokgo Yeon's voice was heard near his ear.

Ban Yu-won flinched and retorted.

"Can't you stop sneaking up behind me like that?"

"You should train your senses more."

I suppose so.

Ban Yu-won vented his frustration by not responding to Dokgo Yeon's words.

In his place, Eve hissed affectionately at Dokgo Yeon.

"Really... how cute."

Ban Yu-won wanted to believe that she wasn't referring to him as cute.

"Stop playing around! They're coming!"

Light shouted roughly while swinging his sword.

Perhaps because he had realized from Luciel's earlier performance that they could directly attack the walls before monsters fully appeared, he was now shooting beams of light at areas where energy was fluctuating.

"But honestly, it's boring. No matter how careless a lion might be, it won't die from an ant biting its neck."

"That kind of carelessness might get you in trouble someday."

"Ban Yu-won, I'll give up my share too. It's a chance for you to quickly improve your abilities, isn't it?"

Ignoring Light's criticism, Dokgo Yeon turned around and stared at Ban Yu-won as she spoke.

Ban Yu-won quietly met her gaze.

He had been thinking that she had been watching Light since they entered the tower.

It seems he was also one of her targets.

"It's a good offer for you, isn't it?"

"You..."

As the class president responsible for maintaining harmony among everyone, he couldn't help but say something about Dokgo Yeon's attitude.

But realistically speaking, it was true that Ban Yu-won killing more monsters would be more helpful to him than her stepping up.

Especially since they didn't know when stronger monsters might appear, it would be beneficial for future strategies to defeat as many easy ones as possible while they could.

"Sigh, alright. You have a point. But can I trust that you'll cooperate later as much as you're saving your strength now?"

"Ban! Such an absurd proposal—"

"At the very least."

Dokgo Yeon's unwavering voice cut off Light's interference.

"I promise that you won't die due to overexertion now."

"Alright then. Eve."

"Shaaaa!"

Ban Yu-won conveyed his intention to Eve.

Immediately, Eve transformed into a mass of chains and rapidly shot sharp chains in all directions, causing the monsters to melt away before they could even take form, just as Light had done.

He realized immediately. That was Acid.

'She's putting it to use quite quickly.'

Once again, Eve had not been wrong.

It seemed that the concept of Acid that she was using was effective; surprisingly, she was killing the monsters more easily than when they were dealing with Cloth Eaters.

The concepts flowing in from these creatures were mainly Demon Ghost (魔靈) and Human Spirit (人鬼), except for Life.

He could guess that they were spirit-type monsters, with the additional characteristic of appearing human-like.

"Just like in Room 1, these are monsters with special abilities but no substantial physical form."

"Somehow, seeing them burst so easily made me think that might be the case. By the way, Ban Yu-won, why don't you take on that beast's share as well? That might delay the seizures a bit."

"Ugh!"

"Dokgo Yeon! You really...!"

The 'beast' Dokgo Yeon referred to was, of course, Luciel.

Light, who had been diligently cleaning up his assigned direction alone, bristled again, and even the timid Luciel gathered courage to object.

"But Ban said he'd, he'd find a solution..."

"Hmm, Luciel."

At this point, Ban Yu-won, who had completely grasped Dokgo Yeon's intentions, spoke up again.

It was very kind of Luciel to trust him, but unfortunately, he had to betray her feelings here.

"Of course I'll find a solution, but the truth is, as Dokgo Yeon says, I need to grow a bit faster, you know?"

"Ah."

"It feels like you guys stepping up now is like using a cow-slaughtering knife to kill a chicken, and I think I could handle this alone for a while. Would that be okay?"

"Ugh. If that's the case..."

Luciel stepped back with an expression that showed she understood but wasn't fully convinced.

Ban Yu-won was annoyed by Dokgo Yeon's smirk as she looked at Luciel as if to say 'See?', but since things had come to this, he decided to properly take advantage of the situation.

"Light, you too."

"What... Ban, are you serious?"

"Right now, I think it's urgent to close the gap between you and me somehow. I also feel like I can handle this much on my own. Can you help me out?"

"Help you..."

If it had seemed like Ban Yu-won was just giving in to Dokgo Yeon's insistence, Light would have stubbornly refused to the end.

But as Ban Yu-won appeared to genuinely want this, Light couldn't completely ignore him.

He put away his sword and stepped back, glaring at Dokgo Yeon once before firmly admonishing Ban Yu-won as he stepped forward.

"Alright, let's do it that way. But if it seems even slightly dangerous, I'll intervene immediately."

"I'd be grateful if you did that. ... Dokgo Yeon, is this what you wanted?"

Ban Yu-won had also seen through the fact that Dokgo Yeon was acting out because it seemed like he was trying to hide his skills.

"Well, did I ask for too much?"

He snorted at Dokgo Yeon's feigned innocence and sent a message to Eve to begin the full-scale hunt.

But when Eve instantly transformed from chains into a magic gun, it was Dokgo Yeon, who had insisted on revealing his skills, who was most surprised.

"What on earth is that?"

"A weapon from our world. They say it's not cost-effective against monsters with magical power in this world."

The first thing Ban Yu-won did when he learned that this world was overflowing with machines was to investigate whether magical tools and machines made with top-tier dimensional technology could be used in dungeons.

However, as mentioned earlier, machines were completely unusable in dungeons and towers, and eventually, people began to focus on developing machines that protect human areas and enhance convenience, instead of trying to develop machines that could overcome the magic of dungeons and towers.

At least, that's how it was explained in the high-end magic tool stores that Ban Yu-won had looked around.

"But you..."

"Well, my case is a bit different. Eve!"

—Dudududududu

Eve, now completely familiar in the form of a rifle, spun around in place, spewing magic bullets.

The magic bullets contained both Sharpness (銳) and Acid (酸) properties.

The bullets, fired at a speed far surpassing the reaction speed of monsters, each pierced through one spirit beast with certainty,

and even played the role of damaging newly appearing spirit beasts by spewing acid at the spot where the bullets had hit.

The sound of shell casings rolling on the floor rang out clearly.

"Uh..."

"Hm? Hm?"

"This isn't just shooting some kind of energy wave."

Eve's nearly hundred bullets, fired while spinning around as if dancing, pierced and killed all the spirit beasts that were emerging from all directions.

Leaving aside the power, even Dokgo Yeon was impressed by the speed at which the monsters were being taken down.

"Shooting metal balls? Except for being too linear and the energy being clearly felt, it could be used in the martial arts world. It might even be able to deal with third-rate, no, even second-rate opponents if used for assassination..."

"A weapon? Is this purely the power of the weapon? Or is it enhanced because you, Ban Yu-won, made it into an artifact? No, even if its original power is half of this, it doesn't matter. If only soldiers could be armed with this!"

While Dokgo Yeon, already too strong to be affected by mere guns, marveled at the structure of the magic gun itself, Light clenched his fist, having the kind of thought that the rulers of Earth might have had when they first saw guns.

Meanwhile, Ban Yu-won was moving with his sword in hand.

He had already instructed Eve to kill those outside a 3-meter radius centered on him, while he would directly deal with those within.

—Kyaaak!

The spirit beasts, which had been dying repeatedly as soon as they were born due to the overly strong challengers for the room's level, finally found their form and growled.

But when Ban Yu-won, who had charged in with his sword, drew it horizontally, they all melted away pathetically.

'Melt works too!'

The difference from acid was that it melted more slowly and seemed to stick to the sword as it melted.

But in the end, once it melted and disappeared, nothing was left, just like with acid.

—Except for the language concepts that these creatures would end up surrendering to Ban Yu-won!

'If it's like this.'

If you can kill an enemy with one strike anyway, it's more important to swing the sword continuously rather than with full force.

The moment he realized this, the aura in Ban Yu-won's sword changed.

Slightly bending his knees, relaxing his arms just a bit, raising his head to take in his surroundings.

As he adjusted his overall posture to be lighter and began to cut down the spirit beasts appearing near him one by one as if throwing jabs, it looked like a plausible dance.

He was finally able to show his pure talent that had been hidden behind the great power of the Babylonia Code.

"So you directly cut down those that enter your shadow, and leave those outside to your tool. Is this your original fighting style?"

Ban Yu-won only slightly nodded, recognizing that the more he tried to swing lightly, the more concise his movements became.

Lighter, faster, more precise.

Each sword strike was different, each step was different, so he had to focus on the changes himself.

[You have realized various aspects of swordsmanship. Its depth has become 31.]

[You have found a way to make lighter and sharper sword strikes possible. The depth of swordsmanship has become 33.]

[More lethal thrusts have become possible. The depth of Pierce has become 25.]

The most intuitive evidence of growth was the concept of swordsmanship, which was continuously deepening.

Dokgo Yeon nodded, her cross-shaped eyes sharpening as she watched Ban Yu-won's constantly changing sword energy (劍勢).

"It's certain that until very recently, you hadn't even swung a sword. The fact that you're growing at an absurdly fast rate as well... If you're deceiving me, that's even more impressive."

Even in the midst of fierce battle, his field of vision remained unnarrowed.

Quick situation assessment coupled with swift sword strikes that cut down multiple enemies along the shortest path.

Under the protection of Eve's magic bullets, Ban Yu-won was continuing his sword dance without stopping even once.

"Due to the situation, I think you might be focusing too much on quick swordsmanship, but it's still much better than an idiot who's just swung around by his sword."

Realizing that Ban Yu-won was too preoccupied to respond to her words, Dokgo Yeon started teasing Light again.

Light, who had been inwardly thinking similarly to Dokgo Yeon and watching Ban Yu-won with admiring eyes, bristled and shouted.

"I was fine today!"

"Well, I wonder if an idiot who shouts a battle cry every time he cuts down a weightless shadow could manage such fluid movements? Moreover, you..."

"What, what?"

"Today, you shot sword energy from afar far more times than you directly cut down enemies, didn't you?"

"Ugh..."

Light was at a loss for words.

He couldn't help but acknowledge that she had figured out so much about him in this short time.

It was also clear that she hadn't brought this up simply to tease and harass Light.

Just as Ban Yu-won had shown, she was urging Light to change, to grow.

But Ban Yu-won, who was single-handedly sweeping through the second room, couldn't help but think as he listened to Dokgo Yeon and Light's conversation.

'What is she, our teacher?'

It was the moment when Dokgo Yeon's image solidified in Ban Yu-won's mind.