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chapter 383
“Oh…”
“Wow…”
As soon as Elena and Chloe entered the dungeon, they instinctively used wind spirit magic to push away the poisonous air.
At the same time, they floated in the air with the power of wind so they wouldn’t have to step on the unstable ground.
“See? Didn’t I tell you? For spirit summoners who’ve crossed the Wall, this kind of environment isn’t really a problem.”
“True. I didn’t even consciously try to push the air away, but it just naturally does.”
“Floating in the air feels kind of strange, but honestly, it’s pretty comfortable too.”
Watching the two, Woo Jimin tried stepping on the ground.
“Ugh… it feels weird.”
Her foot didn’t sink completely, but she realized it wasn’t an environment suited for fighting. So she climbed onto my back.
“…What are you doing?”
“Hehe… sorry. But I can’t fly, you know.”
That wasn’t what I was asking. But I couldn’t just leave her behind, so I carried her and used Sky Step.
The poison in the air…
It wouldn’t affect me or Woo Jimin, but still, I decided to push it away with magic.
Just because it couldn’t harm our bodies didn’t mean it wouldn’t corrode our equipment.
The records said even metal weapons rusted in just an hour, right?
If I didn’t keep the poison away, there was a real chance it could damage things like my spatial artifact bracelet or Woo Jimin’s handguns.
“It’s really tough, isn’t it?”
Elena said this while crushing a monster in front of us with her spirit magic.
“With carapaces this sturdy, their byproducts must sell for a lot… the guild in charge of this dungeon must’ve made a fortune.”
“Ah, that? Supposedly they did, but not really. From what I’ve heard, the profits weren’t as high as you’d think.”
I shook my head.
“Gas masks don’t last, weapons break down quickly, and every time they come in they have to replace gear. On top of that, they couldn’t even bring many supplies because of the harsh environment—it’s a burden just hiring porters. Without subsidies from the Association, they would’ve actually taken a loss.”
Some might ask why they didn’t just use spatial artifacts instead of porters.
But spatial artifacts aren’t easy to obtain, and even if you manage to, they’re insanely expensive and usually have very limited capacity.
The ones Yeon Mirae and I use are growth-type artifacts created specifically for me by the Awakener System—that’s why they have absurdly huge capacity.
“Anyway, let’s focus. There’s no way only one monster will show up.”
Before I even finished speaking, monsters identical to the one Elena just killed appeared.
All crustaceans, huh.
Looking at them suddenly made me crave seafood.
Though, after smashing these things to bits, I probably wouldn’t want to eat seafood for a while.
Boom!
Crash!
While I was observing them, Elena and Chloe conjured spheres of compressed air with wind spirit magic and launched them at the monsters.
Watching them, Woo Jimin asked from my back:
“Hey, Geon-woo.”
“Yes?”
“Normally, with wind spirit magic, don’t you fight by forming blades of wind to slash, instead of throwing spheres like that?”
“That’s right.”
Wind summoners usually push enemies away with gusts, create whirlwinds, or use wind to enhance their own movements. But those methods lack killing power.
To solve that, they often condense wind into sharp blades—what Woo Jimin called “wind slashes.”
“Then why are they fighting like that?”
Right now, the two were attacking by smashing monsters with compressed spheres of air. That struck Woo Jimin as odd.
“Because these monsters are tough.”
The records we saw before entering said so, and we confirmed it firsthand upon arrival.
So the two judged that using wind slashes would be inefficient compared to blunt force from compressed air spheres.
“They could force their way through with slashes if they wanted, but the mana consumption would be enormous.”
Like how you’d use a hammer instead of a knife to break a rock.
And Woo Jimin should’ve known that herself.
“Isn’t it the same for you, Instructor? I know your gun has all kinds of functions built into it.”
She also adjusted her attacks depending on the situation.
[Look—this is the non-lethal suppression mode on my custom weapon. The bullet’s tip changes into rubber, and the impact releases a shockwave that stuns targets in range.]
[Mm-hm. And it also has piercing fire, elemental fire, and even a fire-suppression mode.]
…That last one is obviously for firefighting, not fighting monsters.
Anyway, aside from standard bullets, her gun also had suppression, piercing, and elemental fire modes.
The meaning behind that should’ve been obvious.
“…Huh? Oh. I’ve never actually used the piercing or elemental fire modes.”
“…What?”
“Look closely.”
She aimed at a monster in the distance and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
Crack!
The monster’s hard shell was pierced clean through—it died instantly.
“……”
“See? Most monsters go down in one shot anyway, so I never had to use those modes. If one bullet isn’t enough, I just accelerate it more.”
“How much did you accelerate that one?”
“Just now? About thirty times.”
…At normal speed, the bullet would’ve barely chipped the shell. But at thirty times, of course it tore right through.
Kinetic energy grows exponentially with speed, after all.
“Anyway… now I understand why Instructor Woo Jimin didn’t realize.”
Apparently, Chloe was just as dumbfounded as I was.
“But if acceleration works that well with guns, why don’t other accelerators use firearms?” she asked.
I could answer that one.
“Because Instructor Woo Jimin used to be a competitive shooter before Awakening. She already had excellent marksmanship. On top of that, she trained a lot to make it work.”
“Yeah. Accelerating just the bullet is tricky. If you do it too early, you wreck the gun itself. So I trained to accelerate them after they left the barrel.”
Woo Jimin added.
“Ahh… then I guess it’s not easy.”
They’d need not only marksmanship training, but also practice syncing their ability with the bullet’s exit timing.
If they succeeded, they could be as powerful as Woo Jimin, but since it wasn’t easy, no other accelerators bothered with guns.
Still… there is one thing even Woo Jimin can’t do.
I glanced at Elena and Chloe’s handiwork.
The monsters struck by their air spheres were completely pulverized.
She can’t wipe out large groups at once like that.
Woo Jimin could fire in bursts, sure, but taking out swarms in an instant wasn’t her forte.
The two spirit summoners, though, had just smashed every monster in range with one giant air sphere each.
“…Sometimes I really envy mages and summoners. Their abilities are so versatile…”
Woo Jimin muttered at the sight.
“Anyway, what do you think, Geon-woo? If it’s just these kinds of monsters, we could probably clear everything but the boss pretty quickly.”
Elena looked excited—maybe realizing how strong she’d become after crossing the Wall.
Chloe didn’t say anything, but she looked eager to rampage through the dungeon too.
Seeing them, I warned:
“Awakeners who’ve crossed the Wall rarely die. But when they do, it’s almost always because of arrogance—especially right after crossing. Just because you’ve crossed doesn’t mean your energy is limitless.”
“…That’s true.”
At that, Elena calmed down and checked her remaining spirit power, her expression stiffening.
“Remember, today we’re here not just to conquer this impossible dungeon, but also for the two of you to objectively gauge your own states. So let’s move carefully and keep checking.”
The two nodded and slowed their pace.
“…Did you really have to put it like that?”
Woo Jimin whispered to me, low enough only I could hear.
She didn’t like how I’d dampened their spirits.
“It was necessary. They already spent more spirit power than they should’ve.”
And…
“They’ll need to save enough if they want to beat this dungeon’s boss without my help.”
“Huh? Wait—do you know how strong the boss is?”
Of course I do.
I can sense it—one monster standing out, abnormally stronger than the rest.
And just like the others, it had a shell… but far harder, on a completely different level.
“I’m pretty sure even your attacks won’t work well against it, Instructor.”
“…That stings my pride a little.”
