Chapter 76: Practical Dungeon Exam (IX)

“Five…? You are kidding me, right?” Gray’s voice shook slighly.

“Yeah… there’s no way that’s real. You’re joking, right?”

[…I’m afraid not.]

“Fuck…! Fuck, fuck, fuck…!” Gray grabbed his head, pressing his fingers hard into his scalp. His chest rose and fell as he carefully tried to think of a plan.

Running was an option, but that beast’s speed was much higher than this.

Fighting… was an even worse option since Gray took a lot of damage to kill a single one of them.

“…Gray, are you o-okay?” Claira’s voice trembled as she stepped toward him.

At that moment, Gray’s crazy eyes turned towards her, causing her to freeze slighly in shock.

“…Huff.”

An audible breath escaped Gray’s lips.

“Listen to me,” he said, forcing himself upright, blood still drying on his lips.

The three girls focused on him at once.

“Pick up the damn scanner and scan that damn monster, I need to know about all of its weaknesses…”

Mira blinked, then gasped.

“Ah, right! I almost forgot!” She rushed to the dead wyvern and pressed the metal plate against its burned hide.

In an instant, a strange panel popped out.

[Fallen Wyvern – High Variant]

[Type: Dark Species]

[Combat Power: Above Advanced-level]

[Weaknesses: Wings, cranium, eyes, core.]

“Haaa…”

Seeing the panel, Gray let out a deep breath as he slowly started thinking about a plan to deal with five of those monsters directly.

’Remember, Gray… you aren’t anything special except your little brain. So, use that damned brain of yours to formulate some kind of plan!’

Firstly, he considered creating a web trap with his strings, but he already knew his strings couldn’t pierce the monster’s skin.

Then, he thought about using the stalactites to stab the monster, but they were too strong, and stopping them with his strings would use an unnatural amount of mana.

“…Agh.”

Gray suddenly groaned as he felt a sharp sting on his finger.

“This…?”

And that’s when he remembered that he had the rapier that his mother had given him. A rapier of high quality that could cut most things easily.

To test it, Gray approached the corpse’s body and inserted the rapier with a little force.

Gurgle…

The rapier slid cleanly into the monster’s flesh.

“This! This is exactly what I need!”

Gray’s lips finally curled into a grin.

But then… the grin faded, and his eyebrows furrowed.

“…Swordsmanship, huh?” he muttered.

He gripped the rapier more firmly.

At that thought, thin black strings burst from his gloves, coiling tightly around the weapon’s hilt, binding it as though it were an extension of himself.

Gray turned back to the girls.

“Listen. There isn’t just one of these things. There are five more.”

The words hit them like a hammer.

“What…?” Selina’s breath caught.

“Five…?!” Claire gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Mira froze entirely, her lips trembling.

“We… we’re dead. There’s no way… we can’t…!”

The air thickened with despair.

“Enough!” Gray roared, the sound ripping through their panic. Claire and Selina flinched, yet their eyes cleared, pulled back into focus by his voice.

But Mira… she just stood there, shaking, eyes empty, body refusing to move. It was probably because of the guilt that entirely fell on her for touching the light rune.

Gray marched straight up to her.

SLAP!

The sound cracked in the cave, sharp and merciless.

Mira’s head snapped to the side, her cheek burning red.

Her wide eyes blinked rapidly, and for a moment, she looked lost.

Then strangely, her face flushed deeper, heat gathering where his hand had landed. She raised a trembling hand to her cheek, almost dazed.

“Now listen,” Gray said.

All three girls locked onto him, waiting.

He lifted the rapier, pointing it toward the fallen wyvern’s corpse.

“One of those bastards almost killed us. Five will tear us apart in seconds if we just charge in. So we won’t. We’ll make them play by our rules.”

He crouched, drawing rough diagrams with his blade in the dirt.

“First—Claire, your job is fire. The wings are fragile. Burn them, force them to the ground. Grounded wyverns are slower and clumsier.”

Claire’s lips parted, then she nodded, determination flickering back in her eyes.

“Selina—you’re defense. Barrier spells. Don’t waste them trying to protect all of us at once. Focus on me when I go in for the strike. If I drop, the plan dies with me.”

“O-okay…” Selina swallowed hard, but nodded quickly.

“Mira.” Gray’s eyes snapped to her.

She stiffened instantly.

“You scan and relay. Every move they make, every opening you see, you shout it. Don’t freeze again. If you do, we die. Understand?”

Her lips trembled, but she nodded, clutching the scanner to her chest.

Gray continued.

“I’ll use my Swap ability. This rapier is our killing tool. I’ll bait them, swap positions with rocks, stalactites, or even you if I have to. The moment one exposes its core or skull, I strike. Quick. Precise. One by one, we bring them down.”

The girls stared at him, breathless. The madness in his eyes had sharpened into something colder: absolute conviction.

He finally stood tall, tightening his grip on the rapier bound with strings.

“Remember… this is a fight to our death,” his eyes gleam, “so if we make a single mistake, we might die.”

His gaze swept through the three of them.

“Do you all understand?”

“Yes!” they all screamed at once.

“Good. Go to the corners. Now.” Gray nodded, a small satisfied curl at his mouth.

They moved.

Claire to the left, Selina to the far right, Mira crouched near a low ledge with the scanner. They spread out like Gray said.

Then everything changed.

Gray’s clothes shifted in a blink.

The heavy coat and dark shirt folded into bright, mismatched colors.

On his face, makeup bloomed over it, white paint, black lines around the eyes, a red, round nose like a toy. His hair seemed to puff and shine.

The girls stopped, mouths open.

“A clown?”

Gray smiled widely, way too widely. He took a small, theatrical bow and stepped forward, voice soft and teasing.

“Come on, come on, my little puppets~”

The sound of his voice hit the cave wall, and for a second, the girls forgot to breathe.

FWOOP!

Two wyverns dropped from the dark above and shot straight at him, teeth bared, wings beating hard.

“Now!” Gray shouted.

Claire moved first. She planted her feet, swung both arms, and sent a wall of fire at the nearest wyvern’s face.

FWOOOSH!

The flame hit full in the mouth.

The wyvern choked, molten spit hissing as the fire burned its eyes. It flailed, bringing its claws up to swipe at its own face.

Then, Selina slammed her hands out, sending a sheet of water in a sharp arc to the first wyvern’s wings.

SHHHHH!

The water struck the wing bones, steaming and hardening into a glass-like crust.

The wing folded, cracked, and the wyvern tumbled forward, crashing into the floor with a heavy crunch.

“Left eye exposed! Skull has a small break—aim up, aim up!” Mira shouted.

Hearing her words, Gray grinned under the paint.

He danced forward on light feet, baiting the second wyvern to swing its tail at him.

Looking at the tail, he ducked low, then in a blink, he swapped, his body blurred, and a round stone landed where he had been.

He reappeared midair, over the first wyvern’s back.

THUD!

He planted his boots on the creature’s spine, grabbed the rapier, and pushed the tip into the soft skin behind its eye, where Mira had said there was a crack.

“Die, my little puppet…”

His voice was unaturally cold, the total contrast of the smile on his face.

STAB!

The rapier slid in.

SHRRRIP!

Gray twisted the blade, the strings around the hilt tightening like a wire. The wyvern screamed, its claws punching at the air.

The second wyvern scrambled to its feet and came at him with a heavy swing.

“[✧Swap✧]”

Gray vanished again, swapped with a fallen stalactite that dropped down to where he had been.

He reappeared in front of the creature’s throat and rammed the rapier straight into the cranium gap Mira had called out.

CRUNCH!

Molten blood and steam are spit out.

The creature convulsed, legs kicking, then went still.

“Ugh…!”

Claire staggered back, coughing dust as she carefully opened her eyes to see if the wyvern was dead or alive.

“One down,” she panted.

The first wyvern still lived, bleeding from the eye hole.

Fwip!

It lashed its tail hard.

Gray jumped away and landed on the ground, rolling to take the hit.

The tail smashed the stone where he had stood, sending pebbles into the air.

Selina moved close and pushed water around the first wyvern’s legs. The water froze fast on the hot hide and formed bands, binding its legs.

CRACK!

The wyvern stumbled and fell forward.

At the same time…

Fssshhh!

A fire lance completely erupted against the creature’s chest.

“Core… on its chest! It’s open from the fire blast!” Mira shouted immediately, giving the signal for Gray to move.

Gray nodded.

He bounded up, strings whipping from his gloves to anchor him to the ground and to a broken pillar.

He pulled with all his weight and swung the rapier in a wide arc, driving the point into the exposed core.

SHRRRIP!

STAB!

The core cracked, light flashing like a struck ember.

Graaarghhh!

The creature made one last hoarse sound, more like a whine than a roar, and went limp, its molten glow dying slowly.

“Hagh…”

“Huff… this… ah, was much easier than I thought it would be, ugh…”

Silence fell, except for their heavy breathing and the drip of cooling blood onto stone.

“Two down. Three to go.” Claire wiped her face with the back of her hand.

Gray pulled the rapier free, stepping back.

He looked at them, the clown paint melting in streaks across his cheeks from sweat and blood, the grin still on his face.

“Good,” he said simply.

Then, his gaze switched to his rapier, and he clenched it slighly.

’…It’s crazy to think how much advantage a good weapon gives…’

[…Be careful. I think there might be a mutant between those three.]

’Huh? What’s up with that mysterious phrase?!’

[Gray. I cannot help you in a situation like this; I’m just saying these things to make sure you don’t get killed. After all, if you die, I’ll also die.]

’Then help me create a plan or something!’

[Even if it means sacrificing those three?]

’Yeah.’

Gray’s response came in an instant.

He didn’t give a single crap about their lives as long as he survived.

[Then, let me give you a small hint… Do you think you’re able to enter the monster’s body and move normally?]

’Probably…?’

Gray replied slighly.

But at the same time… his eyes widened in realization.

’How come I didn’t think of that?!’

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