Chapter : 154

“Watch out! A monster is slipping past!”

As my shout rang out, Zephyros swung the wind, decapitating the monster.

Liquid bubbled from the neck of the instantly-slain ant monster, and as acidic blood overflowed, Zephyros kicked the body away while simultaneously pushing its head aside with the wind.

“You crazy Theo X-kki!”

As Zephyros unleashed a curse that boiled up from his gut, Lucian, who had been silently dealing with the monsters, laughed out loud.

From the moment he mentioned running a dungeon, I should have cursed him out and told him to get lost!

What kind of glory was I hoping to achieve by getting tangled up in this crappy situation!

Zephyros gritted his teeth and once again dealt with an ant monster that approached him, foaming at the mouth with acid.

Zephyros, Lucian, and Theo. The three were currently inside a gate shaped like an ant nest, dealing with ant monsters.

And they had done so by secretly teleporting at night, without the help of any seniors or adults.

Mere ice arrows weren’t enough.

Theo immediately altered the formula for his ice magic slightly.

It would be unstable since he was modifying it on the fly, but if he could just somehow make an attempt!

Contrary to his urgent feelings, Theo was able to modify the magic with much more ease.

“It worked!”

With Theo’s short cry, mana condensed and an ice arrow formed.

Thwack!

As the ice arrow pierced the ant’s body, ice crystals spread from the point of impact, instantly encasing the ant’s entire body.

The frozen ant’s body shattered, and Theo let out a small breath of relief.

“Whoa.”

Lucian let out a surprised exclamation.

Wasn’t this a rather suitable magic for dealing with ant monsters that spewed threatening acid?

His admiration was brief, as Lucian swung his sword, piercing the throat of an ant that was opening its maw towards him with the Holy Sword.

The acidic liquid turned into ordinary liquid due to the Holy Sword’s purification ability.

It was still a bit unpleasant being the bodily fluid of a monster, but at least it was better than having his skin melt from splashing acid.

“I’m the only one having a hard time!”

Zephyros grumbled, shoving his half-melted sword completely into the ant’s body and finishing it off with wind.

How on earth did things end up like this when he was resting comfortably at the villa?

Zephyros gritted his teeth and slowly recalled how things had gotten to this point.

* * *

“I came because you called for me…”

Entering the room, Zephyros slightly frowned at the sight of Theo lying on the sofa like a corpse. Even if they were close, wasn’t this a bit too comfortable?

Theo, lying on the sofa, remained motionless and declared boldly from his prone position.

“You try getting beaten to a pulp by Cecilia-sunbae for eight hours!”

…That certainly sounded tough. While glaring at Theo with a look of displeasure, Lerwon sat on the opposite side.

“So, why did you call me?”

“There’s a dungeon I want to go to with you guys before the vacation ends.”

“Hey, what kind of dangerous thing—”

“I can’t say it’s not dangerous at all, but the three of us can clear it safely.”

In the first place, Theo had no intention of taking Zephyros and Lucian, the most important characters in the game, to a dangerous place.

However, he thought it would be better to go around Gates to farm some items in order to get even a little bit stronger.

“Did you get permission from Professor Evan?”

“Do you think I did?”

Theo, with his trembling body, managed to sit up from the sofa with difficulty.

He frowned as he clearly felt his entire body screaming from muscle pain.

“So, the plan is to sneak out and go while we’re at the villa, without my father knowing.”

“You do know that clearing a dungeon usually takes a very long time, right?”

“That’s why we have to be as quick as possible.”

If the condition was not to get caught by the professor, they had to clear it during the early morning hours, within five hours at the most.

In that sense, Theo Lisitoel was definitely a madman.

No matter how confident he was, planning to clear a dungeon within five hours was truly insane.

“Could you not drag me into your crazy schemes?”

“Crazy schemes! I’m telling you, it’s completely possible!”

He shouted with such confidence that it was getting to the point where one wanted to know the source of that confidence.

Even so, he felt a slight sense of futility, knowing that if Theo insisted they go, he would end up following along.

“What about Lerwon-sunbae?”

“Sunbae has other things to do.”

Theo had only given Lerwon about one bottle of the Elixir.

And for a skilled alchemist to figure out the recipe of a potion they knew nothing about and produce it accurately, they would need at least several dozen bottles of the same potion.

Therefore, the fact that Lerwon was able to create even the All-Purpose Soothing Agent with just one bottle was all thanks to him being an outstanding alchemist.

If he just improved the performance of the All-Purpose Soothing Agent a little, the panacea, the Elixir, would be complete.

Since he had told him to ask for anything he needed while staying at the villa, results would surely come out eventually.

“And so, the three of us will go.”

“What about the other seniors?”

“They’re excluded. If even one of the three seniors accompanies us, would that be our training?”

Theo answered Zephyros firmly.

Theo’s stats might be one thing, but Zephyros’s and Lucian’s stats were very high. Of course they were, I poured money into them.

However, there was a difference in the amount of practical experience.

The reason Zephyros and Lucian, who should have been stronger according to the original story, felt weak was not just the difficulty, but an absolute lack of practical experience.

“My goal is experience points.”

Theo said firmly.

“Jeez, can’t I even ask?”

Zephyros, who had been grumbling, let out a light sigh.

It wasn’t a difficult request. But it was also true that no amount of studying and training could replace real combat.

“Lucian, do you have any complaints?”

“I agree with Theo’s opinion.”

They had to make sure they weren’t caught going out to the dungeon.

If they were found out, the others would surely request to accompany them for safety reasons. Then their training would be ruined.

“Then, let’s go tonight.”

“Are you okay?”

Zephyros frowned.

It was strange enough that the guy who had been moaning and groaning on the sofa just a moment ago was now sitting up as if nothing had happened, but now he was saying he would go to a dungeon tonight.

It was beyond strange, was he trying to perform a stunt?

However, Theo stood up confidently and declared.

“Of course I’m okay. Nothing can break m—”

The declaration was cut short, and he flopped onto the table in front of the sofa.

My stamina broke me, tsk.

Clicking his tongue, Theo felt the cold touch of the table for a moment.

Thanks to the skill, he was recovering quickly, so he should be able to get up soon, right? Probably?

“Anyway, we’re going today, so come to my room when it’s time.”

“No, wait a minute. If experience points were the goal, you weren’t going to take Lerwon-sunbae from the start.”

Didn’t he just say a moment ago that Sunbae was being left out because he had something to do? What, was he planning to work only us to the bone from the beginning?

As Zephyros asked, belatedly feeling a sense of incongruity, Theo’s lips curled into a grin.

“Yeah. I was planning to leave Lerwon-sunbae out from the start.”

Zephyros, with a look of ‘I’ve been tricked!’, stared at Theo with a shocked expression.

“You son of a bitch.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Someday, I will definitely hit the back of that guy’s head.

Zephyros clenched his fist tightly and glared at the back of Theo’s smooth head.

* * *

I should have hit his head back then!

After finishing off the neck of the boss monster, the queen ant, in her last-ditch effort, Zephyros finally caught his breath.

“Why are you such a crybaby?”

“It’s not that I’m a crybaby, it’s that Lucian doesn’t complain enough.”

“Crybaby.”

At Theo’s words, Zephyros glared at him.

But Theo meant it sincerely. Even though he grumbled, Zephyros had dealt with the ants in close combat without even scorching the edge of his clothes, perfectly avoiding the acid.

“Still, you managed to do it somehow.”

“You son of a bitch.”

As Zephyros ground his teeth, a sudden gust of wind blew, and Theo’s tied-up hair slapped him across the cheek.

At the obviously unnatural wind, Theo’s eyes gleamed.

Giggle! The sound of the wind blowing sounded like a child’s laughter.

It seemed the ‘wind’ had playfully teased Theo on its own, rather than being commanded by Zephyros.

Though it was probably influenced to some extent by Zephyros’s intense desire to hit Theo.

“You really cleared the Gate in three hours.”

Lucian muttered in admiration.

They had decided which Gate to go to in advance, and as soon as night fell, the three gathered in Theo’s room and immediately went to the Gate via teleportation magic.

After entering the Gate, he created a map with his writer skill and moved along the shortest path while dealing with the monsters, so of course it was fast.

“By the way, how did you find a hidden Gate in such a remote place?”

“I have my ways.”

“Is this also that prophetic dream you talked about?”

“Well, a similar source?”

“What do you mean, a similar source?”

What else could it be? I just chose a Gate that was easy for newbies to clear, matching our strengths as much as possible.

“There are such things.”

In <Lapis Academy>, equipment farming was mainly done in dungeons and Gates.

If dungeons were stable places where you could farm high-end equipment, Gates were places where you mostly got trash, but occasionally got top-tier equipment, making them highly random.

In other words, since Gates were what provided the players with their dopamine rush, the location, position, and difficulty were all random.

The randomness was so intense that even the users who cried for gacha mechanics were like, ‘This is a bit much,’ which is why one-time-use Gates were introduced.

You could only clear them once, but in return, the location was fixed, the difficulty was fixed, and the equipment that dropped was also fixed.

There were only about 50 of them, but I had memorized all the coordinates.

As soon as I thought of this method, I visited each one with Albedo’s help, and there weren’t many that existed at present.

“Let’s clear some more Gates from time to time.”

“Just tell me this. How many are you planning to clear during the rest of the vacation?”

As Zephyros asked with a serious expression, Theo slightly relaxed the corners of his mouth. This is why I hate sharp-eyed kids.

“We just need to clear twenty.”

Theo answered Zephyros with a bright smile.

“X-bal, I shouldn’t have approached him saying I’d make him my vassal.”

Zephyros collapsed to the ground in despair.

If he could turn back time, Zephyros would never speak to Theo Lisitoel!

It was truly a pity that Zephyros had no such power to turn back time.

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