Support Ex-Rank
The Student Association Hall was being used as a temporary headquarters.
Do Wonwoo was receiving reports amid a pile of reports written by students with insight skills.
“There’s a problem at Exit 1.”
“What happened?”
“There were twice as many enemies than in exits 2 and 3, and we detected a powerful energy wave at the center. It’s presumed that it’s a royal lineage with minions that approached!”
The report of a student with an insight skill was followed by a testimony.
Students who ran out of energy waves and had to leave the first exit witnessed a royal lineage.
Currently, the only people left in the student association hall were users of insight skills, Do Wonwoo, and Ji Myungsoo.
They couldn’t afford to send support.
The students were lost in thought.
Do Wonwoo calmly spoke as the students’ energy waves began to be disturbed.
“Freshmen have just joined Exit 1. Professor Tak Geosan’s student, Maeng Hyodon, is there. There’s also Joo Soohyuk and Jo Euishin whom you know well. And Gyungu is directing things over there. There won’t be any problem.”
Anxiety somewhat subsided at Do Wonwoo’s words.
As the students began to focus on their work again, Do Wonwoo whispered to Ji Myungsoo.
“Are the sophomores still far? What about Junyeol?”
“They’re supposed to be here already, but they must’ve encountered some enemies. I haven’t heard from them. The kid who’s monitoring them with his insight skill says he doesn’t see a single student from them.”
“We’d have to say that the sophomores can’t join us.”
Do OWnwoo said so to reassure the students in the room, but he was concerned about the situation at Exit 1.
There was a royal lineage with minions who suddenly appeared in Eungwang High.
The royal lineage was likely the main culprit of this entire situation, and it’s obviously difficult to stop him with the power of students alone.
Do Wonwoo spoke as he prepared his heart.
“If things don’t work out in 10 minutes, I’ll go. If I don’t come back, you take command and close Exit 1. And evacuate.”
“…Evacuate where?”
Ji Myungsoo asked half-sarcastically.
If the situation isn’t resolved even after Do Wonwoo comes forward, the situation is nothing short of annihilation.
It’s a question of what evacuation would even mean.
But Do Wonwoo responded seriously.
“In the residential area. Jiikhoe is staging a sit-in at the Jiikhoe Hall.”
“It’s no use if the royal lineage can track us down.”
“I’ll be blocking him.”
“I’ll go fight with you.”
“No. One person has to check all the reports from all over the school has to stay.”
Ji Myungsoo couldn’t say that he would go instead.
It wasn’t because he was scared.
If it was a royal lineage that Jo Euishin, Joo Soohyuk, Kwak Gyungu, and Do Wonwoo can’t deal with, then he’s not capable of doing anything either.
If Ji Myungsoo goes, only the number of meaningless sacrifices would increase.
Ji Myungsoo stared at the wall as he tried to hide his miserable heart.
He wasn’t confident at maintaining a blank expression like Do Wonwoo.
“The situation at Exit 1 is dealt with!”
News of victory at Exit 1 was heard.
Ji Myungsoo felt as if his foot was back on the ground after a while.
On the other hand, Do Wonwoo retained the same calm attitude.
He nodded when he heard that the royal lineage and enemies who appeared at Exit 1 were overpowered by the joining of Gong Cheonghwon.
“Spiritual Word as a weakness…”
“It’s better for Professor Gong Cheonghwon to save his physical and energy waves just in case.”
“Yeah, I’ll tell that to Gyungu.”
The situation at Eungwang High was still bad, but it wasn’t the worst.
When the atmosphere in the student association hall became brighter, Moon Saeron raised her hand.
“I… have something to say!”
Moon Saeron, a member of the newspaper department, has joined the team since she had insight skills.
Not only that, but she can predict the movement of a specific target using her Intensive Coverage skill.
‘I should ask Moon Saeron to track down potential figures on campus after she says what she has to say.’
Do Wonwoo thought so and allowed her to speak.
Moon Saeron showed some hesitation, which made Do Wonwoo call her over.
“You can write it on paper if it’s difficult to say in front of people. Or you can keep your voice down.”
“Ah, thank you!”
Moon Saeron then began to whisper to Do Wonwoo.
“My light skill is called Eavesdropping Divne Hearing, so I can collect words that I hear in a designated area.”
Moon Saeron is well known for being a campus journalist.
She was a wide-footed and quick-witted student who can obtain information that was not easily obtainable.
However, it seems that the true source of her information was her light skill.
Indeed, it was something difficult to reveal in public.
“I heard something strange from the main gate.”
“What did you hear?”
“They’re both voices I don’t know, but they were talking while looking at the clock tower at the main gate…”
The conversation that Moon Saeron overheard was as follows;
— How long has it been?
— Two hours.
— Then it’s been around 2 minutes. Ah, look at the clock tower.
The conversation between the two was somewhat strange.
It didn’t make sense that two hours or 12 minutes had passed.
‘It’s been about two hours since something happened with the boundary.’
The clock application on their device also recorded that two hours had passed.
Do Wonwoo continued listening to Moon Saeron.
— The clock tower is pointing to 12 minutes. How did that happen? Don’t tell me that the clock tower is powered by earth power.
— Looks like it’s the only clock in the school that’s pointing to the correct time.
It was like a riddle, but the experienced Do Wonwoo quickly figured out the answer.
In gardens above SSR-rank, phenomena such as time distortion and space compression are common.
There are many situations in which common sense, laws of physics, and logic do not work as people know.
Synthesizing the mysterious words heard by Moon Saeron and the situation with the school’s boundary, Do Wonwoo concluded.
‘We experienced two hours, but it’s only been 12 minutes. Does that mean the flow of time inside and outside the boundary is different?’
Do Wonwoo’s expression didn’t break, but he felt a chill go down his spine.
The situation may be more serious than he thought.
Do Wonwoo broadcasted on campus and asked those who could stay for a day to wait where they are.
He assumed that it would take a day for support from the outside to come.
‘Even if we hold out for a day, it would only be three hours outside the boundary.’
Ji Myungsoo, who was also listening to Moon Saeron, seemed to have reached a similar conclusion as his expression looked darker and darker.
***
The sophomore students doubted their senses.
Those who were on their way from the sophomore area to the central area were suddenly sucked into an otherworld.
No matter how many times they scratched their eyes, the place they ended up out of nowhere was indeed an otherworld.
It was a similar landscape to where they were, but the school around them was somewhat blurry and unpleasant.
Like a hologram projected by a broken device.
“…We were just at the school. Weren’t we?”
“Hey, I can’t see the others.”
“It’s a labyrinth otherworld. Seeing that half of them are gone, I think they’re transported to a different area.”
Hwik!
Yeom Junyeol landed toward the Class 2-0 students.
If the space is reversed again, he risks isolating himself if he flies alone.
Yeom Junyeol chose to join the students that he saw first.
“What do you see from above?”
“The space is upside down. Though it’s not noticeable because it’s poorly covered with a hologram.”
“We’ll be in big trouble if we touch that. Hey, let’s move along the road!”
“Hey, if it’s a maze then we can just break it down and leave.”
Some walls of a labyrinth can be broken down.
But the walls that caused the space to distort can’t be broken down and are dangerous to touch.
Touching those kinds of walls would mean an automatic debuff.
“Well, to sum it up, that crazy old otherworld simulator transforms a space into an otherworld, correct?”
“Yes.”
“How was this thing solved back at the broadcasting station again?”
“They turned off the otherworld simulator.”
“Can’t we just attack the otherworld?”
“Why don’t we just find the simulator and turn it off? It’s annoying to deal with a maze otherworld.”
“Okay, let’s go with a majority vote.”
While the students voted and expressed their opinions as suggested by Geum Chansol, Yeom Junyeol continued to be wary of the surroundings.
It bothered him that an old otherworld simulator was placed where they were moving, and it suddenly created an otherworld when they arrived.
‘The Chansols said we should be wary of traps… but this might be it.’
Hongryong looked around with its young eyes wide open.
Yeom Junyeol, who shares his senses with Hongryong, was able to look at the labyrinth through its eyes.
The space looked distorted, but when he looked with Hongryong’s bright eyes, he saw things that he couldn’t see before.
“…Who are you?”
Yeom Junyeol asked as he prepared to launch a flame.
Class 2-0, who were discussing loudly, closed their mouths in an instant and took out their weapons.
Step, step.
Someone walked out from beyond a space where there seemed to be nothing.
The first thing the students noticed was an umbrella.
“…”
The man didn’t reply to Yeom Junyeol’s question.
Yeom Junyeol looked at the man’s free hand.
At first glance, it seemed to be an old-looking sword.
There was little characteristic other than the black swirl-like pattern on it which was quite wide.
Yeom Junyeol felt an unusual energy wave from the sword and became more vigilant.
“Hey! That’s a UR-rank weapon! Is that Gramr?”
(T/N: Gramr, meaning “wrath,” is a sword from Norse mythology that’s used to kill the dragon Fafnir.)
Jung Haeon shouted as she grasped the identity of the sword with her insight skill.
Gramr was one of the words that Yeom Junyeol had heard from the Dragon Clan.
In old Norse, the word means “wrath.”
It’s a famous word left by Odin in the present world, and it’s a weapon that Sigurd used to take down the evil dragon Fafnir.
In short, it’s a weapon used to kill a dragon.
‘It was a trap meant for me!’
Yeom Junyeol made a wall of fire and tried to step back, but the opponent was faster.
Swwiik!
The rugged sword cut the flame with a single swing and narrowed the distance from Yeom Junyeol.
Yeom Junyeol hurriedly stepped back, but the opponent came toward him without hesitation.
‘I can’t win against a mythical treasure used to kill a dragon! Should I get on Hongryong and run away? If so, the kids here would be…’
The Gramr’s blade rushed toward Yeom Junyeol as he agonized.
It’s clear that he wouldn’t make it in a few seconds, but he couldn’t defend or run away.
The moment he called Honryong to make a wall of fire…
Fwiiishh!
Instead of a wall of fire, a wall of grass blocked Yeom Junyeol’s view.
In an instant, a tree trunk rooted from the ground was winding around Gramr.
“Huff, huff…”
Beyond Yeom Junyeol’s gaze, he saw Ma Jinseung who seemed to have run to him.
Support Ex-Rank
