Chapter 169

Chapter 169

– Crash!

The thick iron door shattered after a couple of axe strikes. Grasping the torn iron plate firmly, he crushed it to widen the hole.

Ivan walked forward silently. He no longer hid his momentum or suppressed his magical power.

– Wee-ee-ing—! Wee-ee-ing—!!

The alarm blared noisily. The magical detection devices flashed red light as if in a seizure. The sound of numerous barricades descending in the research wing could be heard with a clanking noise.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going...?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

What Enrique taught was mostly for training scenarios. Real combat cannot be taught through explanation.

Therefore, Ivan needed to teach Lucia the rules for real situations.

“If you don’t lose your sense of direction, breaking through the shortest distance in the shortest time is the right way.”

“...Without considering the enemy’s status or threat level?”

“If it’s a situation where consideration is possible, you should.”

“What about in cases like now?”

“Think about what the shortest distance and shortest time mean.”

Lucia fell into thought for a moment, then exclaimed, “Ah.”

Yes, that’s right.

Ivan didn’t bother to elaborate. He walked forward with the axe. Despite the intricate traps laid by the elves’ magic and the complete lack of information on the internal structure.

However, under those conditions.

Breaking through the shortest distance in the shortest time means having the shortest contact with the enemies.

In terms of the division of roles in a hero party, it’s like this.

Einar and Veolgrin had the strength to face an army.

Jill Ber and Maximilian had the power to deal with individuals.

And Enrique and Ivan’s role was to infiltrate the enemy camp, assess the situation, test the enemies’ level, and return alive to relay that information to the party.

Therefore, it is a touchstone.

Can our party challenge this with our strength?

If so, how can we challenge it with the least losses and the greatest effect?

Thus, Ivan didn’t confront an army or face an overwhelmingly powerful individual.

He had to confront the ‘structure.’

That was his only role. To penetrate, to understand, and to survive.

“It’s about figuring out the path your party will take in advance. The rougher the path, the more accurate your perception needs to be.”

“Senior Brother, the scope of the test is too wide....”

“The world is wide.”

In real combat, students should not be confined to test papers. The world is the examiner, and the test paper is survival.

Lucia grumbled, but upon meeting Ivan’s gaze, she quickly corrected her expression. She cleared her throat and drew her weapon.

Her expression became quite resolute.

Yes, that’s right.

Ivan nodded in satisfaction and stepped forward.

*

Oswald stood on the bow, gazing at the midnight sea.

He was not familiar with elven society. Despite this body being elven, his mind was that of a human from Earth.

Thus, he didn’t know much about their culture or political system. After all, he had spent barely two years as an elf.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Huh? Oh, just... various things.”

“Don’t want to tell me?”

“It’s not that, just some trivial thoughts, Miss Rustpitz.”

When he turned his gaze, his ‘former’ fiancée was looking at him. Evelyn Rustpitz, the daughter of the Privy Council Chairman.

Honestly, it was too much for him. Her beauty, the characteristic long lifespan of elves, and the overwhelming prestige of her family.

If there was a problem, it would be this: the title of the content he had possessed was . He had dropped that trashy piece after not even reading ten chapters.

Thus, he couldn’t predict how the storyline he possessed would unfold. He just woke up to find that this woman was obsessing over him.

Even if he didn’t understand the composition and structure of the magic, it didn’t matter. Destruction magic is easy to break. All types of magic are, in the end, processes of weaving mystery into reality. The moment it becomes reality, it can be physically destroyed.

It’s enough to respond faster and stronger than the attacking spell. That is, it’s not much different from swordsmanship.

After listening to the explanation, Lucia nodded absentmindedly.

“I don’t want to do reconnaissance.”

“Then you become useless.”

“Did you just deduct points? For something like this?”

“To the point of abandoning the assessment.”

Grumbling, Lucia followed behind Ivan. Behind them, the corridor was filled with deep marks of destruction and grotesque pieces of flesh.

This experimental building was so serious about security that it didn’t even need elves as guards. Bio-golems created through alchemy appeared at unpredictable times to attack.

And they disappeared to an equally unpredictable axe blade. Ivan, maintaining his steady breath, silently cleared the path.

“By now, we must have reached the main fortress, right?”

“It leads underground to the main fortress, yes.”

“This reminds me of the old days. Remember when we were searching the dwarf burrows? I remember you only slept three hours a day, while I stood guard thoroughly.”

“Yeah.”

“I can be useful when I need to be, you know. Don’t I get any extra points for that?”

“Eating little and sleeping little are basic skills of a scout. I’ll give you five points.”

In urgent times, she could survive by just feeding on blood and could remain active in the dark for long periods without sleeping. These were very useful traits.

Moreover, unlike most vampires who are night walkers, Lucia could operate even in broad daylight.

Although she didn’t inherit most of the vampire traits like long lifespan, superior healing abilities, great strength, and magical adaptability, she did gain the ability to walk during the day in exchange.

Not bad. Relying on innate abilities slows growth, but those aware of their shortcomings tend to grow quickly.

‘Was it intuition, insight, Enrique?’

Was it an insight predicting that the hero’s party would need a scout someday?

Or was it her long years of intuition that trained her only direct disciple to be this ‘suitable’?

Whatever the case, Lucia was almost perfectly complete and extremely useful in the current hero’s party.

If you exclude actual combat experience.

-Bang!!

The magical lights illuminating the corridor all turned off at once. At the point where the research wing ended, the entire main fortress was plunged into darkness.

Soon, rustling sounds echoed from all around. Noisy sounds as if flesh was slowly moving, and horrible murmurs.

Ivan chuckled.

“We’ve become quite the threat.”

“What?”

“The tougher the traps, the more desperate our enemy must be. From now until sunrise, we won’t have time to rest.”

A squelching sound was heard right nearby. It was perfect darkness, so much so that even Lucia could barely make out anything.

Dark vision requires at least some light to function. To perceive space visually, there always has to be some light. In a space with no light at all, dark vision becomes meaningless.

-Tut.

However, there are techniques in this world that use senses other than sight to perceive space.

-Tut, tut.

Like certain bats, certain whales, and very few underground monsters, or

Like well-trained agents.

The sound of an axe moving, flesh bursting, and the rhythmic clanging of Ivan’s steel boots on the floor were heard.

Each step was measured precisely, the sound of his footsteps perfectly regular.

Tut, tut. The delicate clicking sound of his tongue, like a metronome, every quarter second.

-Boom!

Occasional bursting sounds were like collecting sheaves during harvest time. Destroying approaching golems with just that much effort.

-Tut, tut.

The snake-like hissing in the dark continued to echo through the pitch-black corridor for a while.

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