Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy-Chapter 685: Two (2)

"As we analyze the changes compared to when we first attacked, it's clear what the Pope’s intentions were. He reduced the quality of the soldiers and increased their numbers. He must have been hoping for various problems to arise from the mental and physical exhaustion," Garad said.

"It's obvious from looking at the soldiers. The enemies we fought before were all madmen, but now, the ones below are knights who value honor," another added.

"A simple yet effective approach," Garad remarked.

"Well, it all turned to waste as soon as the kid skipped that part," another voice chimed in.

At Garad’s dry laugh, the expressions of the hero’s party became complicated. As he had said, all the Pope’s efforts were rendered meaningless by Lucy’s antics.

"Did you really have to bring that up?" one of the heroes asked.

"Sorry, everyone. It’s my fault for being useless," Garad responded.

"Garad! Don’t you have any sense! You’ve made the hero gloomy again!" someone else scolded.

"What’s wrong with that? Wasn’t I right? How long are we going to deny reality?" Garad snapped back.

Ever since entering the dungeon, Lucy Alrn had continued her strange behavior.

She had jumped over thousands of soldiers in one leap, then in the next room, suddenly started digging a hole and teleported to the next door.

After doing something strange at the outer edges, she moved toward the soldiers, only for them to fail to recognize her.

In the middle of the dungeon, she suddenly stopped, turned sideways, and the soldiers who should have appeared vanished.

With their common sense, the heroes couldn’t make sense of these occurrences, and with each new event, the mood of the group grew more and more subdued.

They didn’t resent Lucy for easily clearing the dungeon. Such petty jealousy couldn’t belong to someone called a hero.

Their gloom was actually the opposite.

Why couldn’t they have thought of something like that? If they had thought and acted like Lucy, they wouldn’t have put their comrades through so much hardship. Why couldn’t they come up with such a way of thinking?

They knew it was foolish to regret something from hundreds of years ago, but the hero’s group couldn’t stop reflecting on it.

"Do you think if we went back in time, we could have done something like that?"

"We could stop the soldiers from appearing."

"I have an idea about how she removed their presence."

"I think it's possible to replicate her flying up into the air too."

Because they were geniuses capable of replicating the same phenomenon.

"Really?" Garad asked, stunned.

The first to answer was Ruell.

"It’s possible to stop the soldiers from appearing with precise magic detection. It seems they appear when a certain part is triggered."

Next, the hero continued the explanation.

"Those soldiers were hurriedly created inside the dungeon. Naturally, there are flaws in their functionality. The modern hero took advantage of that. By going through a specific ritual, he was recognized as an ally."

"It’s my turn now, so I’ll speak. I once analyzed the behavior of Lady Alrn during her escapades. I learned that there are tiny gaps between material and material. Although the dungeon tries to replicate the outer environment as best as it can, it can’t mimic the details to such an extreme level."

Lucy had found and exploited those errors, triggering the desired effects.

"Honestly, it would take a long time to perfectly replicate it from scratch, but it’s possible to do so in the same environment. And Garad, you probably have an idea about this too."

"Damn it. Can’t we just ignore it?"

"Your expression is too serious for that."

Lucy’s behavior, though it appeared eccentric, wasn’t beyond reason. On closer inspection, it was entirely possible to imagine and carry out such things.

It was by no means her exclusive privilege.

Realizing this, the heroes bit their lips.

Had they realized this earlier, some of the hardships they had faced in the past might have been avoided, the sacrifices lessened, and more people might have been saved.

"How did that kid figure this out?" one of them asked.

"To quote her, she didn’t figure it out. She just naturally came to know it," another responded.

"What does that mean, Ruell?" one of them asked.

"Whether it’s wisdom granted by the Lord or something she’s always had, Lucy just knows it naturally," Ruell replied.

Had anyone else said it, they might have dismissed it as nonsense, but the heroes seriously nodded at Ruell’s words.

Without that explanation, they wouldn’t have been able to accept what Lucy had shown them.

"Is it talent? Sigh. This is getting pathetic. Why was I chosen as the hero?" Garad muttered.

"Wait! Lucy Alrn made a mistake!" Garad suddenly shouted, seeing Lucy, for the first time, look flustered and hesitate.

"Yeah! She’s human, so she can make mistakes!"

"...Is it really okay to be happy about Lucy’s failure?" someone asked.

"Yeah, I guess that’s true," another admitted.

"It’s fine. Garad. It’s not like you’ve only been useless for a day," another quipped.

While the heroes bickered, Ruell watched Lucy with a worried expression.

<Are you okay?>

I chuckled at my grandfather’s concerned question.

‘Why? Are you worried I might fail?’

<It’s natural to worry.>

‘Haha, you’re so cute. Don’t worry. This isn’t even close to a real problem.’

Accidents in speedruns are to be expected.

To get the best time, you have to repeat techniques that seem impossible as if they’re normal.

No matter how much you practice, being human means you can’t be perfect all the time. If you make a mistake, you need a way to deal with it.

Otherwise, you can end up wasting the good times you’ve set before.

Honestly, though, I knew other ways. I’ve been challenging speedruns in every possible method since the early days at Soul Academy.

A lot of people misunderstand that speedruns are just about competition.

They’re also about cooperation, sharing information. Each person’s new route gets combined, and the best record is born.

Having created my own routes and accepted others' to blaze through dungeons, I knew all the tricks to clear dungeons easily.

The failure earlier was from a technique where success or failure is decided on a frame-by-frame basis.

If it’s successful, it’s the fastest, but if it fails, it costs about 15 seconds.

In speedruns, that’s a painful waste of time, but this is reality. If I clear it by other means, that’s fine.

"Charge!"

As the shout came from behind, I summoned divine power.

Looking around, the soldier formations had changed from what I remembered, but the commanders were still the same.

So, I could use my techniques.

Smiling slyly, I charged forward, and from far away, I saw cavalry rushing toward me.

At the front, the knight, holding his halberd tightly while on horseback, noticed the magic in the weapon. I pulled out a scroll from my body and tore it up. The magic lightened my weight even further.

"Take this!"

The commander shouted, and three seconds later, I jumped.

I landed on the halberd, absorbing the swinging force and rising into the air.

I still lacked enough momentum, but that was fine.

Someone else would add to it.

"How dare you!"

Seeing the halberd thrown, I raised my shield.

I absorbed the physical shock and accelerated even more.

The endless soldiers disappeared into the distance.

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Hmm. It’s a shame. If I were a little more ruthless, I would have wielded the weapon without any hesitation.

Having to waste such a perfect place for a massacre at Soul Academy felt regretful.

<Lucy.>

‘Why? Are you going to say you’re worried now?’

<Would it hurt to do something a bit more within reason?>

‘...What? Isn’t this more normal than the stuff I did before? If you know the timing, anyone can do this.’

<If you make a mistake, you’ll die... sigh. Fine. Just destroy it and move on to the next one.>

‘Yes, yes.’

"Erginus."

Erginus, who had sent his mind into the mace, slowly opened his eyes at the call of the Fairy Queen.

"The evil god’s energy is growing stronger," she said.

Erginus knew why the evil god’s energy was intensifying.

It was because Lucy Alrn’s dungeon conquest was nearly finished.

As the evil god’s minions were defeated, the Lord’s power grew stronger, and as a result, the resurrection of the evil god accelerated.

"It won’t be long before the evil god descends here."

"Can you feel anything?"

"...No. I just know it physically."

Before he awoke, the last scene Erginus had seen was a boss being crushed to death by a minion he had summoned.

He had expected to face an immortal legion leader, a lord of hell, but now here he was, reduced to this.

Of course, he knew Lucy Alrn would win overwhelmingly, but still, he had hoped to see some grandeur.

"Erginus?"

"Ah, sorry. I’ve just seen something shocking."

"Really? How shocking was it?"

"I’ll show you once everything is over."

"Hmm. Looks like I’ll have to wait a while."

"No. It won’t take that long."

The sight he had just seen filled Erginus with boundless trust in Lucy Alrn.

If everything played out as she had planned, the evil god of the Void would fall without even putting up a proper resistance.

But mentioning his trust in her would definitely lead to trouble with the queen later, so he decided to change his words.

"It’s because you’re here with me."

"...Erginus."

Ha! How pathetic!

A voice emerged from the mysterious figure that appeared at the dungeon entrance.

It was something that could be described as part human, part animal, and part inanimate, at times even resembling a divine being, as it laughed while twisting the scenery of the world.

Do you really think you’re the only ones? Do you believe what you see is the truth? Can you truly be certain that it isn’t an illusion created by a mind driven mad in the void?

"Well. It’s impressive that it’s all playing out as predicted."

Erginus sneered, watching the energy swirling around the evil god, then turned his gaze to the Fairy Queen.

The queen smiled, lowered her head, and then raised her hands.

"Everyone. It’s time for some fun."

Illusions formed above the fairy queen’s wings as they fluttered in the darkness.

It was not the void, but a scene that reminded one of a forest in spring.

"We’ll show this boring one a good time."

The Fairy Queen and Erginus charged into battle against the evil god of the Void.