[B+ Underground Fissure Raid] was the performance assignment with the most amount of scores given, and was an assignment that allowed others to have a peek at how the top cadets carried out a raid.
The media and the masses were thus considerably intrigued by it, and there were four cameras under use inside the auditorium.
On the first day, Yeorum’s team came first and received 20 points. There were three teams in total that came first.
On the second day, Yeorum once again came first and received 20 points. This time, there were four teams that came first due to the objective grading system.
However, the third day had a relative grading system.
Considering the number of teams that had the same scores, it was difficult to come to a conclusion as to who would be sitting on the throne. It was hard to take all the variables into account.
Everyone was hoping for a miracle.
[Raid Start]
The final raid began at last.
Following a 2-hour-long pathway, the cadets set foot after the signal. The atmosphere of the auditorium synchronised with the one inside the live footage, as nervousness and excitement filled the air.
The camera showed all the teams one by one. Whenever their cadets were on the display, guardians and acquainted cadets cheered for them.
“Uwaaaah! Yooonggg Houuseeholldd— Go crush it!”
““Crush it–!””
They were quite childish and even their cheers ended up being competitive. Their shouts gradually increased in volume, and soon became thundering yells that could tremble the building itself.
Gyeoul, who was blankly watching the display screen, was startled whenever that happened so the Regressor blocked her ears for her. Because it was still noisy despite his hands covering her ears, she placed her hands on top of Yu Jitae’s hands and further blocked her ears.
Finally, ‘Yeorum and the Losties’ appeared on the screen.
“—-!”
Male cadets of RIL screamed out loud.
“Uwaaah! Yuu Yeoorumm!”
Thinking that it was finally her turn to shine, Kaeul shouted, “Aahhhk!” as well. Gyeoul also stopped fidgeting around and nervously watched the screen.
In the middle of the screen was Yeorum biting her lips.
Yu Jitae watched them advance. At the start of the raid, they followed the pathway they reserved for themselves and moved hastily. They defeated any enemy that appeared without hesitation. All the battles were handled the way they had planned it out beforehand, and everything was going smoothly.
However, when they arrived at a room and encountered other teams, the situation immediately changed.
A Japanese team coming 5th on the rank, suddenly turned around.
“Uhh? UH!?”
Kaeul shouted with surprise.
“Why are they blocking Yeorum-unni’s path?”
Without even trying to hide it, they went in front of Yeorum’s group and took their reserved path.
“They’re trying to keep her in check.”
“In check? Why?! They’re trying to defeat the boss together!”
“Because it’s important to go early and hit more.”
If they were to go before others, they would encounter the boss first so it was important to select a good pathway. Two or more teams going on the same pathway was against the rules, and attacking other cadets was also against the regulations.
Thus, ‘Yeorum and the Losties’ had to bite the bullet and look for a different road.
“Aohh, those stupid Japs!”
The abrupt profanities had unexpectedly been from Soujiro’s mouth.
“Japs? It’s your country though.”
“I can’t acknowledge those cheap bastards as the same Japanese…”
Yeorum frowned.
“Shut up. If you have time to move your tongue, move your feet instead.”
“Ah, sorry…!”
It was as expected. Although their teamwork had increased from the three days of training, it was impossible to drastically increase their raid efficiency.
Besides, Yeorum was a specialist only when it came to close combat and she was quite lacking in regards to deactivating traps and fighting against peculiar monsters.
She could bulldoze through all the traps if this was an actual raid with limited time, but it was an assignment so Yeorum had no choice but to deactivate all the traps.
After passing through the corridor of traps, they were met by monsters.
“Front side. 9 Underground Spiders!”
In response to Yeorum’s words, the sharpshooters immediately prepared themselves for battle. The spiders dropped from the ceiling and the walls, but Kim Ji-in and Soujiro had become more sensitive than ever from the past two days of hellish raids.
The spiders began moving under the veil of darkness. Their body colour was similar to the colour of the wall but Yeorum lit up the corridor with the spell, [Fire (E)], before jumping into a group of five spiders.
She was buying time for them.
Meanwhile, Kim Ji-in used her musket and aimed for the eye of a wolf-sized spider and Soujiro also landed a shot on the head of another spider.
When two out of the remaining four were unable to fight, the front fighter was able to go around without a worry. Sophia immediately removed the remaining two. Seeing that, Yeorum also distanced herself from the five spiders and grouped up with the other three. The 4 v 5 was immediately taken care of.
Thanks to Yeorum throwing her body forward, the party was able to save the time they had lost in other places, during the combat phase.
Whatever the case, they had to enter the boss room before others.
But when they were at the next room with multiple crossroads, this time the Yong household took their reserve path, a split second before them.
“You fucking bitches! That’s our corridor!”
Sophia swore at the Yong household.
“Lol, retard. Your fault for coming late isn’t it?”
“Yong Danbi! You damned n*gga!”
“What, you blonde retard.”
They shared words of racism without holding back. When Yong Danbi showed her middle finger, Sophia raised hers as well.
In the end, their path had been taken.
“Ah, I just want to go up and slap them on the back of the head.”
Sophia panted in anger.
“Let’s go. Fuck.”
Yeorum frowned temperamentally.
The Yong household was slightly faster than them. Acknowledging that fact, they turned to a different path they had reserved. In order to save time, Yeorum once again bought time during combat while the remaining three quickly dealt with the monsters. After hunting three to four groups of monsters, they finally arrived at the next crossroad.
But how unlucky could they be? This time, it was the Erfan Guild that took their reserve path.
“Aigo, we’ll be going on ahead.”
“Hihi!”
Ling Ling, Zhang Xueyan, Zhou Luxun and others who did not have a good relationship with Yeorum in the first place, laughed as they ran into the corridor. Sophia’s fingertips trembled.
“Should I go and kill them. For real.”
Yeorum and the Losties stopped their feet. All the routes they had planned for had been taken.
“Kill what. You should’ve dealt with the monsters faster.”
“What? Yu Yeorum. Are you saying I’m the problem?”
“Hey unni. Then am I the problem?”
Yeorum and Sophia growled and Sophia soon pointed at the two.
“It’s because they are slow as fuck.”
“They’ve always been slow. You should’ve been faster since you’re at least faster than them.”
“You’re putting the blame on me now? Are you crazy?”
The energy they had maintained throughout the raid was being threatened by them fighting after a long sprint. If they didn’t find a new path soon, their remaining raid would be at risk.
“…Um.”
That was when Kim Ji-in opened her mouth with a mutter.
“I, actually thought a bit more about the reserve paths…”
“What?”
“Really?”
“Nn. I’m quite pessimistic so I was thinking what if and…”
While catching her breath, Kim Ji-in floated a hologram map and suggested new paths.
“But I don’t know what would be the best out of them…”
There was a short yet extremely dangerous path,
A long yet less dangerous path,
And one that was safe but very long.
“This way.”
“Huh?”
“Are you sure?”
“Just follow me unnis~ Stop asking.”
The road she chose was the short yet extremely dangerous route. Obediently, Kim Ji-in listened to her call but looked at Yeorum with a worried gaze.
How many monsters had Yeorum been taking care of until now?
Only after thinking about that was she able to see the wounds flashing underneath Yeorum’s black combat clothes. Those blood stains hadn’t been visible because of the dark underground fissure and her clothes being a matching colour.
“Yeorum. Your arm…”
Hearing that, Yeorum glanced at her arm before casually dusting it off and she continued walking forward.
On the dangerous road, Yeorum threw her body forward more often as she fought. Whenever the monsters appeared, she crashed into them at the same running speed.
Besides, they were moving so fast that Soujiro fell during the sprint and retched.
“Yeorum. It’s too fast.”
Sophia shouted, unable to hold back any longer. Even she, who was a top ranked cadet, had trouble breathing and Yeorum was the only one that appeared normal.
“We’ll be late if we don’t do this, idiot.”
“Then how are you going to raid the boss. Don’t you see how everyone’s all tired?”
Coming to a stop, Kim Ji-in placed her hands on her knees and panted. Not even realising that she was drooling, she heavily breathed in and out.
“Then what.”
“What?”
“Should we just sit down and rest?”
“No, but,”
“Then just fucking come. Stop whinging!”
“Dude.”
It was then. Sophia glared at Yeorum with an indifferent expression.
“Why do you speak like that?”
“What?”
“Do you really think you’re the boss just because the team name is Yeorum and the Losties?”
Yeorum turned around and faced Sophia.
“Then what? Is there a better way? Come last? Or aim for the back of their heads with a knife?”
Yeorum never ran away from a fight. Right when Soujiro and Kim Ji-in were throwing glances at the two of them in a fluster, Yeorum pushed her fist forward and so did Sophia.
“Scissors, paper, rock.”
Sophia kept her fist closed, while Yeorum opened her fist into paper. This was the method the two of them had come up with during the training to solve any conflict.
“Now, who’s the boss then?”
“…”
“Whoo is itt?”
“Ahh, just go!”
As Yeorum began running again with a grin, Sophia also suppressed her discontentment and carefully followed after her.
Now was not the time for a fight.
*
Fortunately, their hard work hadn’t been in vain.
After twists and turns, Yeorum and the Losties succeeded in reaching the boss room before others.
“Huuk, huuk.”
“Uwek…”
They were all exhausted. Soujiro leaned on the wall and retched, and Kim Ji-in laid down on the ground holding her forehead.
However, they couldn’t rest for long. Soon, other parties would also be arriving here since there was only one road connecting to the boss room.
“See that, unni? We listened to the leader and we came before others, right?”
“…You’re right.”
“Yet you were angry at me, weren’t you? You wanna die?”
Sophia shook her head with a sigh.
“I wasn’t angry at you. It was because those other guys trash-talked before taking our road.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I’m serious. If they want to go, just go. Why talk shit? Those idiots.”
In fact, Yeorum was the leading pioneer in the trash-talking industry but so what? It was in human nature to hate other people shit-talking while loving their own trash-talks. Sophia was aware of that.
“Hmm…”
As she was listening to Sophia’s grumble in silence, Yeorum seemed to have come up with something. She turned her head and inspected the cave they were in, and the entrance leading to the boss room, before suddenly standing up.
“What’s wrong?”
“…”
Yeorum blankly stared at the ceiling and the ground.
“Block the road…?” she muttered.
There was only one road to the boss room. If this was blocked, all the other teams had to lick their fingers and watch.
That was when footsteps were heard from the other side of the cave.
“Oi! Get up, all of you!”
“Nn?”
“Come inside the boss room right now! Hurry up!”
After everyone entered the boss room, Yeorum gripped onto the sword artifact with her two hands.
[Pulsation]
She utilised [Karl-Gullakwa Stand-up Martial Art], as her heart began pulsing greatly. Normally she wouldn’t use it to this extent, but Yeorum used all the fire-attribute mana she could as a dragon.
[Conflagration]
Then, she shot the flames of a dragon that resembled a breath, toward the ceiling of the cave. It was crimson like the colour of blood and fueled itself with mana. While her teammates were startled, Yeorum attached the conflagration to her sword and smacked the cave ceiling with it.
Kwakwakwang!
Explosions repeated one after another as the ceiling began crumbling. Sophia finally understood what she was trying to do and screamed out in thrill.
“Dude! Are you a genius?!”
A yell could be heard from the other side of the small corridor. This voice definitely belonged to that retarded Yong Danbi.
Yeorum had blocked the one and only path.
“Kyahahaha! Crazy, for real!”
Sophia chuckled like an evil witch but Yeorum did not. Since she was the only one laughing, Sophia slowly stopped her laugh.
“Haha. Ha. Ha…?”
Unlike Sophia, Kim Ji-in and Soujiro were startled by the sudden turn of events.
It was because they still remembered what Yeorum had said nonchalantly at the start of the raid. She had asked, “Should we try defeating the boss with us four?”
Sophia back then had returned her sentence by saying, “That would be epic. Everyone will go crazy.” The other two had also laughed because they thought Yeorum was obviously just joking around.
“You guys. You’re ready right?”
Sophia realised what Yeorum was thinking half a second too late.
“Uuh? Oi, Yu Yeorum! Wasn’t that thing before a joke…”
Before Sophia could finish her sentence, Yeorum abruptly dashed towards the centre of the plaza-like room and snapped a tight spider web with her foot.
“Haigo, that crazy bitch…!”
Sophia’s pained mutter signalled the start of the fight.
Kugugugugung…!
Before long, the entire underground fissure began shaking. Kim Ji-in and Soujiro both held onto their weapons, as Sophia stood next to Yeorum.
At the highest area of the plaza, higher than the heavens, four pairs of crimson eyes revealed themselves.
The boss. Spider Queen.
With the height reaching 5.5 metres and a body length of 10 metres, the spider was bigger than most dump trucks. There was an upper body of a human where its head should be, that looked exactly like a human except for the 8 crimson eyes.
The large spider dropped from the ceiling and landed in front of Yeorum.
Kuung!
The upper body of a human above the spider’s chest was facing Yeorum, as it’s crimson eyes glared at her.
As her small body stood before the large monster, her red hair fluttered at the gush of wind created by the spider’s fall.
There, Yeorum slowly licked her upper lips.