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Resonance
The orcs kept coming.
And I kept stabbing my sword into their necks.
They were clever enough to wield axes, but not smart enough to coordinate their attacks. They charged in a frenzy, swinging wildly, and I simply sidestepped their clumsy blows—redirecting their weapons into the dirt or into each other.
“Kkuik…!”
“It’s… pretty cute.”
Each time my sword moved, another orc dropped.
Each time I slipped past an axe, I heard the shrill squeal of another beast dying.
But the point wasn’t simply to kill.
‘This isn’t it… slower. More natural.’
What I wanted here wasn’t victory.
It was practice—real, bloody combat experience to help me reawaken the instincts I’d honed before my regression.
So when I felt that familiar rhythm returning, when my arms began moving exactly as I intended…
‘Yeah… not bad.’
The blade struck deeper. My thrusts grew sharper, cleaner, more refined—until finally—
Crack!
The orc’s head burst under my stab.
The other orcs froze mid-charge, as if they’d witnessed something beyond their comprehension.
Meanwhile, I only smiled.
Resonance.
When my blade pierced its flesh, I had struck with a vibration close to the orc’s natural frequency.
That resonance amplified within its body until the internal vibrations grew violent enough to tear it apart from the inside.
‘It’s difficult to find a living creature’s frequency, unlike steel or glass…’
But with my senses—heightened beyond human limits—it was possible.
I only had to fine-tune the vibration through the bamboo sword until it matched perfectly.
And this young, awakened body finally made that precision possible.
Just then, a message appeared before my eyes.
【User Han Geon-woo has completed a beginner-level sword technique.】
【Searching for a suitable name…】
“Huh?”
I blinked. The system recognized that stab as a sword technique?
“No, no. It’s not really a ‘form’ or anything.”
It wasn’t a style—it was a principle.
A concept that could be applied to any thrust, not just one.
【Accepting user Han Geon-woo’s opinion.】
【Registering as a unique craft-based skill.】
【Would you like to name it?】
“Oh, right… come to think of it, no one’s ever actually used this in real combat before.”
It was theoretically possible, sure—but pulling it off in reality?
Nearly impossible.
Even before regression, the researchers who explored this concept had to rely on vibration-generating devices attached to their weapons.
“Call it Resonance.”
【Skill: Resonance — recorded in the database.】
The system’s message confirmed it.
It wasn’t just acknowledging my skill—it was patenting it.
Anyone who wanted to use this method would have to pay a fee… at least in theory.
“Still, no one could really use it before… Guess that part won’t change.”
I chuckled, spinning the bamboo sword lightly.
“Compared to its power, the strain isn’t that bad.”
The orcs trembled, realizing too late that fear had come for them.
I adjusted my grip and grinned.
‘The resonance is complete…’
Now, let’s see how many of you I can kill at once.
******
The battle after that was pure slaughter.
Every orc that rushed me exploded.
Their bodies ripped apart under the invisible waves of vibration I unleashed.
Blood painted the cave walls—but not a single drop touched me.
‘Even if it did, I could just burn it off with magic… but it’s better this way.’
After a while, I reached the end of the dungeon.
A massive cavern opened up before me—tens of times wider than any corridor I’d walked through so far.
Two possibilities crossed my mind.
Either an otherworldly presence waited here—
or…
“…Are you the boss here?”
“Crooook!”
Yep. The second one.
The orc chieftain.
Massive, muscular, and flanked by two green-skinned shamans—buffing and cursing—while heavily armored warriors formed a shield wall in front.
‘So it’s not a commander-type… just brute strength.’
The chief drew his enormous sword.
To him, it was one-handed—but to a human like me, it was practically the size of my body.
Even brushing against it would mean instant death.
‘If his swing lands, I’ll be blown apart by the wind pressure alone…’
And that’s assuming it’s just him.
If the shamans start amplifying his strength while cursing me…
‘This could get tricky.’
But still—
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“…Ha… Hahahahahaha!”
This.
This was it.
Before my regression, I wouldn’t have even blinked at orcs.
Now, they made my blood race.
‘It’s difficult—not impossible.’
“Three.”
I dashed forward.
Magic surged through my limbs, sharpening my senses.
The orcs tried to intercept me with their shields, but my steps predicted every motion—they couldn’t even graze me.
“Two.”
Psychic energy flared around me. I slipped past their defenses, weaving through their formation like a shadow.
“…One.”
And then, I was there—right before the chieftain.
This time, it wasn’t a resonant stab.
The orc chieftain’s body vibrated at a completely different frequency—too unstable to resonate properly.
So instead…
‘Crush it.’
I leapt into the air, raising my bamboo sword high.
And brought it down.
Crunnnch!
The reinforced bamboo shattered the chieftain’s skull like a melon.
Even with magic strengthening it, the weapon split apart from the impact.
“…What the hell…?”
The orc chieftain’s final growl faded.
I grabbed his massive sword as he fell—and swung.
Kwoooooom!
The blade howled, cleaving through everything before it—
The armored warriors.
The shamans behind them.
Even the falling chieftain himself.
All of them split apart in a single swing.
When silence fell, only I remained standing.
“…Not bad.”
I looked down at the massive sword in my hands.
It wasn’t elegant, but its balance and durability were solid.
‘Too heavy to carry around, though…’
I sighed and turned to leave.
Then—light gathered in the center of the room.
‘Ah. Dungeon clear.’
When a dungeon was cleared, light always appeared like this.
It wasn’t the work of the Black Fog—
It was the gift of the Awakening System.
The power that favored humanity.
‘The system always gives what one needs most.’
When the light faded, a bracelet with small embedded jewels lay in my hand.
“…A bracelet?”
I slipped it on, and it shrank to fit perfectly around my arm.
Then, realization struck—and I laughed softly.
“A subspace artifact, huh?”
The inner space wasn’t that large—maybe the size of a travel bag—but still valuable.
Apparently, the system thought this was exactly what I needed right now.
“…In that case,” I murmured, glancing at the orc chieftain’s sword, “I can take that with me after all.”
******
Hours later.
At the dungeon’s entrance, several elementary school teachers stood gathered, heavily armed.
“Ugh, a dungeon opening inside a school… What a pain.”
“Still, at least it’s in a corner of the campus. Imagine if it appeared in the middle of the playground—some curious kids would’ve gone missing.”
“That’s true…”
They sighed.
Most teachers here were Awakened themselves—capable of handling low-level dungeons.
“All right, everyone. Prepare to enter.”
At the principal’s command, they fell silent and entered the dungeon together.
And what they found inside made them stop in their tracks.
“…Ugh, what is that smell?”
“Blood. A lot of it.”
All around them lay the mangled corpses of orcs.
“Orcs?!”
“They’ve all… been killed?”
“No… this isn’t normal.”
Someone had done this.
Someone strong enough to wipe out a dungeon full of orcs—and sneak past the school’s detection barriers.
The principal’s expression hardened.
“…Everyone, spread out and search for the intruder. If we can’t locate them by the end of the weekend, we’ll close the school for a week for safety reasons.”
“Yes!”
“Yes, sir!”
And so, that day—
the Awakened Specialized Elementary School was abruptly closed down.
