Why Did I Have to Enroll

"Delicious...!"

"Whew, phew..."

"Mmm?! It's quite spicy, which is nice. The food here is never spicy, so I've been missing Sichuan cuisine."

The next day, the Rebellion members woke up at the crack of dawn and had a quick meal with the cup noodles that Ban Yu-won had brought from Earth.

Ban Yu-won had realized that even in the Union, which boasts a wide variety of cuisines from all dimensions, spicy food was poorly represented, as evidenced by the school cafeteria and Ronica's various restaurants.

He had tried several times to dissuade Dokgo Yeon from choosing the spicy ramen because she liked the black and red packaging, but she was now eating the cup noodles with satisfaction.

"Aren't you eating, Ban Yu-won?"

"Huh? No, I will."

Ban Yu-won had placed the square box of instant noodles that could make you feel like you're traveling anywhere, anytime, on his lap, but he was just letting the noodles soak.

'That necklace is definitely it.'

When Light, mistaking Ban Yu-won for being asleep while he was actually concentrating on his Mysterious Qi, carefully took off his clothes, Ban Yu-won was shocked to see his upper body.

Except for being excessively slim, it was definitely that of a man.

He had known from the start that Light was manipulating his appearance since his Adam's apple was clearly visible.

The most important discovery was that even while he was completely undressed and wiping his body with a wet towel, he stubbornly kept wearing the cross necklace.

'That must be why Light can disguise himself as a man. It's not superficial if it can even fool my eyes.'

However, looking at Light now, who was desperate to hold the holy sword, it seemed that this wasn't a problem that could be solved in a short time.

Even now, Light was complaining to Dokgo Yeon about this issue.

"I can't go on without the holy sword anymore."

"From what I can see, that's not true. It seems like you're slowly getting used to fighting without the holy sword, even if it's just a little."

"But I don't have confidence beyond this...!"

"...Sigh."

Light's expression looked like he was about to cry.

Ban Yu-won recalled how Light had been rolling around throughout yesterday's battle.

Perhaps Dokgo Yeon had imagined the same thing.

She let out a deep sigh and neatly drank up the cup noodle broth.

It was quite unexpected, as she seemed like the type who would just eat the noodles and discard the broth entirely.

She gently put down the empty cup noodle container and nodded as if there was no other choice.

"It seems you've reached your mental limit, so we have no choice. Let's say we've confirmed the possibility and leave it at that."

"Really?!"

Light exclaimed with delight, then suddenly turned to look at Ban Yu-won, checking his reaction.

This behavior showed that he knew Ban Yu-won had influenced Dokgo Yeon's training of Light.

Ban Yu-won shrugged and gave the answer Light wanted.

"If Dokgo Yeon has decided that, who am I to stop it? But when we get out of the dungeon, you'll have to train without using the holy sword again."

"Of course! I was thinking I should continue practicing hand-to-hand combat anyway!"

Light excitedly drew his holy sword (it was quite impressive to see him draw a sword from thin air) and started polishing the blade that didn't even need polishing.

Meanwhile, Dokgo Yeon carefully observed Light's behavior and then turned to Ban Yu-won and said,

"You and I need to talk when we get out."

"Okay, got it."

"Grrrr."

"Beast, just eat your noodles."

As he had suspected, even after a good night's sleep, Luciel's hair was still half-dyed black.

Perhaps it was because the tension doesn't fully dissipate even when resting inside the dungeon.

At least she still had enough sense left to eat the noodles by twirling them around her fork, but with her free hand, she was tightly holding onto Ban Yu-won's waist.

She had just growled at Dokgo Yeon probably because she thought Dokgo Yeon was bothering Ban Yu-won.

By now, he had even gotten used to her overprotectiveness.

Adaptation is a scary thing, he thought once again.

"...Dokgo Yeon, do you think we can do this?"

"Don't ask me that, it's making me anxious."

Ban Yu-won rubbed his forehead, thinking that he would probably be in for a tough time with Dokgo Yeon once this exploration was over.

*

"Ha! Haah!"

"Gwaak!"

Light, having regained his holy sword, was literally flying around in Room 15.

With wings of light attached, he darted back and forth, sweeping away monsters with his sword of light. His appearance was truly like that of an angel descended from heaven.

The sight of Light struggling barehanded was nowhere to be seen.

There was no technique, no skill.

Only a destroying angel existed there, crushing all enemies with overwhelming power of light.

"Is Light's fighting level for real? This is truly a battle of the world's strongest... Is this really the same Light who seemed like a total loser up until Room 14?"

"Kruk?"

Luciel turned to look at Ban Yu-won with an expression that seemed to say, 'What nonsense is our child spouting?'

Should he be relieved that she still had enough intelligence left to understand speech? Ban Yu-won shook his head and focused on the target in front of him.

"Kuiii! I'll tear you all to pieces!"

The monster in Room 15 was none other than the infamous creature well-known even on Earth, the Orc.

Pig-headed with muscular bodies, clad in rags and armed with axes or glaives.

These creatures, inherently possessing physical abilities superior to humans, are treated as intelligent species in some dimensions, but due to their instinct for destruction and slaughter, they are often regarded as monsters in most cases.

Of course, the Orcs appearing in the tower were the same... The problem was that their strength also varied greatly.

In weak cases, even newcomers who just entered the tower could handle them easily, but in strong cases, they could be more powerful than the most formidable combat professors at Union Academy.

And in the case of the Orcs they encountered...

─Kaaang!

"Quiii! The proud Kuros of the Rusty Halberd Battalion shall judge you!"

"Kuk, really...!"

They were creatures with such tremendous power that they could push Ban Yu-won back in a one-on-one fight.

It seemed there were many named entities, but they didn't appear to be elite monsters either.

'If we hadn't given Light the sword of light, we would have really been finished here, wouldn't we?'

Ban Yu-won gritted his teeth as he deflected the Orc's long axe spear with the concept of Flow as much as possible.

Room 15 was a cavern large enough for a battalion-sized force to engage in battle, and the Orc horde emerging shoulder to shoulder from the darkness and charging in was truly the embodiment of terror.

If Light and Dokgo Yeon hadn't taken on nearly half of them each, it would have been impossible for Ban Yu-won to be engaged in a one-on-one battle with an Orc right now.

"Judge! You!"

Clearly, it must have been displeasing to see someone smaller and weaker than itself constantly slipping away.

As the Orc, its eyes reddened from the axe spear being deflected several times, swelled its muscles and raised its halberd high, at that moment.

'Isn't the structure of this tower too unreasonable? We're clearly growing at an absurd rate, but why are there no easy opponents? At this rate, we'll have to squeeze out and use everything we've got.'

Ban Yu-won also grumbled inwardly as he activated his active concept.

It was none other than the Super Strength he had stolen from Erecto's arm earlier.

"Hup!"

The moment he awakened the string of Super Strength dormant within his body and injected it with black flames, the Executioner's longsword, imbued with fierce power, struck upwards against the Orc's axe spear.

It was comical to see the creature's two arms holding the axe spear lifted high into the air, as if it were cheering.

"Guaak?!"

The Orc let out a suppressed groan, its eyes wide open.

Ban Yu-won thrust his sword in a straight line at the creature's empty chest.

A swift pierce imbued with blood poison.

A red line beautifully traced through the air!

─Kwajik

The sword, carrying the Super Strength, pierced through the creature's chest in an unwavering straight line and emerged from the other side.

Ban Yu-won pulled out his sword with great force.

Immediately after, as the creature's body crumbled into pieces and golden strings of text flowed in, there was no need for a confirmation kill.

[You absorb Life 1.4, Demon 0.7, Body 0.7, Wildness (野性) 0.2, Super Strength 0.1.]

As each individual was strong, the rewards were quite substantial.

He was particularly pleased that the Orc also possessed, albeit slightly, the concept of Super Strength that he had just used.

With just 16 points of Super Strength that Ban Yu-won currently possessed (it had grown a bit through practice after obtaining it from Erecto), he had exerted this much power. How much stronger would he become if it increased further?

He had consumed about 15% of his magic power... his mysterious qi to deliver that single strike just now, but if the value of super strength itself increased, he would be able to consume less mysterious qi and deliver even greater destructive power.

'Come to think of it, these are monsters born with Super Strength. No wonder they're pushing us so hard. The difficulty is much tougher than Rooms 11 through 14 combined.'

Raising his head to survey the surroundings, he could see Light with wings of light sweeping down from above, while Dokgo Yeon below was using fist, palm, and leg techniques to block the Orcs' charge.

What about Luciel then? Luciel was tearing apart with her claws and stomping to death the Orcs that escaped Light and Dokgo Yeon's attacks and approached Ban Yu-won.

As he had felt before, when she started to lose her reason, she showed a movement prioritizing Ban Yu-won's protection above all else.

Probably because Ban Yu-won was the weakest in this group.

"Grrrr!"

The problem was that once instinct completely suppressed reason, the distinction between friend and foe would cleanly disappear, increasing the likelihood of her pouncing on Ban Yu-won instead.

He agonized as he watched Luciel's hair gradually turning black.

He couldn't stop her from fighting in an attempt to prevent her from losing her reason, and with Eve currently asleep for evolution, there was no means to restore her reason. Sooner or later, her rampage was bound to happen.

'When that time comes, I'll have no choice but to try that thing I failed last time...'

Ban Yu-won made a firm resolution and raised his sword again.

There was no time for prolonged contemplation.

The longer he wielded his sword, the faster Luciel would lose her reason.

He could no longer rely entirely on his companions as he did when he first entered the tower.

Though only a week had passed, everything had changed since then.

The gap between him and his companions was rapidly closing, and he needed to narrow it even faster in the future.

"You look like the weakest one!"

"Perfect timing!"

At the very least, in this battle, he was determined to grow to the point where he could deflect all of their attacks (流), counterattack (反), and kill them without consuming mana.

With such resolve, Ban Yu-won faced off against the approaching Orc wielding an axe.

[The depth of Flow has become 35.]

[The depth of Counter has become 27.5.]

[Due to the activation of Mysterious Qi, part of the body's depth is being converted into an unknown concept. You will be able to define the concept once the conversion is complete.]

How long had he been growling, clashing weapons with the Orcs?

Each time he failed to counterattack successfully, he had to resort to using the concepts of Super Strength and Wave (波), rapidly depleting his mana. As he gripped his sword tightly, thinking he'd need to rest after the battle, that's when—

"Haaaaaah!"

"Ah, wait!"

Light, flapping his wings of light, flew in noisily and sliced off the neck of the Orc right in front of them.

Ban Yu-won momentarily thought, 'As expected, he really does have a talent for swordsmanship,' but simultaneously, hearing Dokgo Yeon's urgent voice, a chill ran down his spine.

Why had she tried to stop Light?

"You fool, what are we supposed to do if you kill them all!"

"Huh? Oh, no..."

As expected, the Orc whose head Light had just spectacularly severed was the last Orc in this room!

Given the already high difficulty of the room and the accumulated fatigue of the group, Light's mistake was particularly painful.

[Absorbing Life, Demon, Body, Super Strength, and Wildness from the Orcs' corpses.]

Ban Yu-won hurriedly reached out to absorb all the concepts from the dead Orcs and caught his breath, but naturally, he was far from being in perfect condition.

"You idiot! We gave you a chance, and this is what you do!"

"Ugh... Fine, I'll take care of Room 16 then!"

Dokgo Yeon, feeling fatigued, reacted rather sensitively to Light's mistake, while Light, who had been brimming with confidence wielding his sword of light, didn't take the rebuke gracefully.

To make matters worse, Luciel... was staring directly at Ban Yu-won, panting heavily.

She seemed to have completely lost her reason, as if waiting for the right moment to pounce on him.

"Haa, haaa...!"

"Ah, damn it."

Ban Yu-won instantly sensed that this exploration had plummeted into disaster.

Moreover...

—Thud

—Crash!

The space suddenly transformed, and the group found themselves trapped in separate grid-like squares.

It was as if they had become pieces on a chessboard.

Naturally, pieces appeared on the opposite side as well.

"I am Kuros, the centurion of the great Rusty Halberd Brigade! Are you the humans who massacred my subordinates?"

With a body nearly twice as large as the Orcs they had faced in Room 15, and an overwhelming height of 3 meters.

This monstrous creature standing opposite them looked more like a troll than an Orc.

'And it's connected to Room 15? I think I saw something about this in the manual...'

Linkage (連繫), or in the manual's terms, Chain.

It refers to a structure where two or more rooms are linked, naturally increasing the difficulty.

On top of that, Room 16 where they were now had an additional special rule...

—The weakest soldier attacks first.

An artificial voice resonated in Ban Yu-won's ear.

Judging by how the others were touching their ears and frowning, it seemed they had all heard the same message.

"Trick room."

Ban Yu-won whispered as he raised his head.

Since it said the weakest soldier attacks first, it obviously meant he should act first.

He wasn't sure what he could do alone against that brutish monster, but...

He had no choice but to try...

"Ban, don't worry about that. I'll handle it."

"What? No, wait—"

The sword of light gleamed brilliantly.

Ignoring the message in his ear, Light was flying up into the sky, leaving his square!

"I'll kill you!"

"Are you the weakest human? —No, you're not!"

The Orc narrowed his eyes as if confirming something, then grinned and stepped forward the next moment.

The halberd in his grip, imbued with destructive energy, flew towards Light— suddenly doubling in speed and power, overwhelming Light with no chance to dodge.

"Arghhhh!"

Light, eyes wide open, swung his sword of light to meet the attack.

But for some reason, his movements had become extremely sluggish, and before his sword could reach the Orc's neck, the blade of the halberd sliced through Light's body.

"Light!"

Ban Yu-won cried out in shock.

Light didn't let go of his sword until the moment he lost his life, and the sword of light was ultimately swung, cutting off about half of the Orc's forearm.

And then he completely vanished from the tower.

"Ha."

Light, reaction lost.

At this point, Ban Yu-won and his group's first two-week exploration could be considered a failure.

Damn troll bastard!

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