All-Master Player Of The Academy [EN]: Chapter 184

92. They’ve Skimmed a Lot – 2

Descending the stairs, they found a group of knights locked in battle.

The monsters they were fighting were Acid Slimes, a common sight in these ruins.

“This is a tricky situation.”

Embedded within the slime were metal weapons and even pieces of armor.

The person who wore the armor seemed to have been dissolved and absorbed by the potent acid.

“Fire Raise!”

A mage extended his staff and cast the spell.

Five brilliant streams of fire incinerated a portion of the Acid Slimes, but it barely made a dent in their numbers.

More slimes surged forward to replace those burned, continuing their relentless assault.

“K-Keep firing! Keep it up!”

A boy screamed in terror from behind the knights, who were struggling to hold off the slime horde.

It was a familiar face.

The boy who used to swagger around with women in Light City.

Gatorn O’Harada.

“Young Master! Run aw—. Ugh, aaaaack!”

A knight was ensnared by an Acid Slime.

As his body was dragged into the slime, Gatorn shrieked.

“Why are we losing to these slimes?!”

Even if they were Acid Slimes, they were still just slimes.

He couldn’t believe they were being overwhelmed like this when all the knights were at the Expert level.

As he let out a desperate scream, Ian strode forward and said,

“The most effective way to deal with Acid Slimes is with Aura alone. And you shouldn’t use metal weapons. Also, you need to pierce their core in one strike.”

“Th-These things don’t have cores!”

The knights knew that much.

But the slimes that filled the corridor didn’t appear to have cores.

That’s why they were being pushed back like this.

Ian smirked at them.

“Yes, they do.”

Ian kicked off the wall and leaped into the air.

The Acid Slimes shot their acidic bodies at him, but his swordsmanship easily deflected their attacks.

And then.

“This is the real one.”

A dark energy shot out like an arrow, piercing one of the slimes. A third of the slimes in the area dissolved and vanished like water.

“Huh?!”

“That’s the Acid Slime King. The King’s trait is that it can separate its body and control the parts independently. Also, if its core is attacked, it can move the core to another body. Attacking the separated bodies is pointless.”

The knights were shocked by his words.

An Acid Slime King was an S-rank monster [a monster ranked ‘S’ for its high threat level].

They couldn’t believe they were dealing with something so dangerous.

The remaining Kings had their cores pierced by Ian’s swordsmanship, and the chaos from before ceased.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

However, there were quite a few injured.

The twenty or so knights looked grim as they tended to the wounded and the dead. Ian picked up the destroyed cores from the floor and put them in his bag.

“Let’s go.”

Ian spoke to the Sword Saint behind him, and she stepped forward, gesturing to the knights.

“Aren’t you going to find out why they came here?”

At the Sword Saint’s question, Ian turned his head, and the knights flinched.

A boy and an elf had suddenly appeared.

They both looked young, but their skills were extraordinary.

They couldn’t help but feel nervous under their attention.

“W-Who might you be…”

“Ian Brandon.”

“Gasp!”

The knight was startled.

He never expected to meet the famous Ian here.

He became even more cautious, and the Sword Saint calmly asked,

“You people. Why did you come here?”

“I-Is it forbidden to enter?!”

Gatorn shouted.

Was he trying to prove his arrogance even in this situation?

Or was he trying to forget the sorrow, anger, and fear of losing his knights?

He was desperately trying to maintain his arrogance.

“This ruin doesn’t have an owner!”

“Technically, it does.”

Originally, ruins belonged to the landowner.

This ruin, located on Emerald Island, could be said to belong to the Saltus family.

“Then, d-do you have the right to explore these ruins?!”

Ian wordlessly held up the Saltus family crest.

Gatorn had nothing more to say.

“Ugh…”

“Anything else to say?”

His eyes darted back and forth.

How could he escape this situation?

He had led the knights all the way here.

But now he had to return without any results?

He couldn’t back down, especially considering the knights who had died or been injured exploring these ruins.

“I’m not going back!”

“Then what do you intend to do? You were so easily defeated by an Acid Slime King, weren’t you?”

At the Sword Saint’s question, Gatorn hesitated.

Then, with a fierce expression, he shouted,

“Who are you to talk to me like that!”

“Sword Saint.”

Ian informed him, and everyone gasped.

“N-No way?!”

“A Sword Saint? But I heard the Sword Saint was an old woman…?”

Whether they were surprised or not, the Sword Saint simply smiled.

And she spoke kindly to Gatorn, whose face had turned pale.

“I’ll laugh it off since you spoke out of ignorance.”

“Th-Thank… Thank you.”

He almost died.

As he bowed his head, Ian shrugged.

‘She has a good personality. If I had said that to her, a sword would have flown at me immediately.’

‘He’s just asking to be backstabbed.’

Anyway, that was the Sword Saint’s decision, so Ian didn’t say anything.

Meanwhile, she asked the knight next to Gatorn, who had collapsed from the tension,

“Did you break down the door to get in here?”

“…Th-That’s right, yes.”

“Where did you get the information about these ruins?”

“Well…”

He glanced at Gatorn.

“Young Master Gatorn often meets with a merchant guild. A merchant there is Young Master Gatorn’s lover… She told him about it.”

“Where did she hear it from?”

“I’m not sure. We don’t know that far.”

“Have you ever seen her?”

“Yes? Yes. She’s the Young Master’s lover, so we know her face.”

The knight took out a notebook from his pocket.

As Gatorn’s guard, it contained portraits of those who were allowed to approach him.

The Sword Saint took it and examined it, her shoulders trembling.

“…This woman told you about this place?”

“Yes. Uh… Sword Saint. Is there a problem?”

“This woman. Where is she?”

“Well, we don’t know anymore.”

They hadn’t heard from her since they left the O’Hara territory.

She asked the knight a few more questions, and he answered honestly.

“I understand. Then you all should leave this place.”

“Ah… Yes. Ah, I understand.”

“Just one more thing before you go. Was it you guys who broke into these ruins?”

“Yes? Ah. Yes.”

“You managed to break it. It couldn’t have been easy.”

The knight hesitated and took out a small staff from his pocket.

Ian smiled wryly as he received it, and the Sword Saint was intrigued.

“This is… a Rune of Explosion.”

The Tower of the Forgotten City.

One of the artifacts that could be obtained in Valhalla [a reference to Norse mythology, often used in fantasy settings].

Although it was only single-use, it was said to be frequently used in sieges or sabotage operations due to its considerable destructive power.

But now that the tower was gone, it was one of the artifacts whose price had skyrocketed.

“The O’Hara family even secretly brought this in…”

Since things had turned out this way, Gatorn was probably done for.

He might even be disowned and end up as a commoner.

Could that arrogant man really live as a commoner?

Ian smiled at the worried knight.

“He’ll resist and try to climb back up, even to maintain that arrogance.”

“Is that what they call youth because it hurts?”

Ian shook his head at the knight’s bitter question.

“If it hurts, you should see a doctor or a priest, not talk about youth. I’m just saying he’ll try to resist to survive.”

Just as he finished speaking and was about to turn around,

The Sword Saint approached him and said in a low voice.

“Ian. The fact that they came here is not something to be taken lightly.”

“Why do you say that?”

“That woman. The merchant who is that boy’s lover. She is someone I know.”

“Is she a younger sister you were separated from as a child or something?”

“Of course not. She is a demon who follows lust… and one of the targets I must take revenge on. Karrem.”

At those words, Ian’s eyes changed.

He grabbed Gatorn, who was in despair, and said,

“That woman. Which merchant guild does she belong to?”

“P-Polish Merchant Guild… Wh-Why do you ask?”

“Polish Merchant Guild?”

Kirke reported information about the Polish Merchant Guild.

Based on the simple information alone, it didn’t seem much different from other merchant guilds.

However, one peculiar thing was that the place the guild traded with was the territory of the Empire’s First Princess, Kirishnan.

‘Could Kirishnan be involved after all?’

In other words, there were no such records.

Ian looked down at him and stood up.

It was currently vacation, but research didn’t stop.

And as there were many things to make, building a reagent manufacturing room or a synthesis room was also important.

‘I’ll have to think about it after this is over.’

“The Empire… The Empire…”

The Sword Saint’s interest was focused on the Empire.

Ian calmly said to the Sword Saint, who seemed to want to go find her right away,

“If you’re interested in that side, let’s go there.”

After all, he originally intended to do this alone.

At his words, the Sword Saint snapped back to her senses.

And she silently watched those who were relying on each other, then shook her head.

“Still, we’ve come this far, so we should finish it together.”

“There’s no need, but whatever. Then let’s do that.”

Ian nodded and walked with the Sword Saint.

As they skillfully found their way again and arrived at the stairs at the end of the second floor, the entrance door closed.

-Woo-oong! Clang! Clang!!

The entrance to the stairs also closed, and a wall opened.

What came out of there was a slightly different type of golem than the ones they had encountered on the first floor.

Seeing this, the Sword Saint drew her sword.

“They’re a different type than before. However, they’re rusty and their movements aren’t very good… They should be easier to deal with.”

As she said, the golems that appeared this time had quite unnatural movements.

Some of them even fell while walking, and they couldn’t emit light.

They seemed weaker than the golems they had seen on the first floor.

“…Ian?”

However, Ian’s expression was different.

His face was frozen.

“What… What’s wrong?”

“I’ll take care of those things, so cover your ears.”

As he took a step forward, a red light flashed from one of the golems.

Beeeep!!

A sharp and grating sound, enough to make them faint if Ian hadn’t warned them, was emitted.

She barely endured the sonic attack by blocking it with Aura, and looked at him as if he were a wonder.

How did he know to say that?

As she wondered, Kirke spoke calmly as always.

That was one of the dimensions Ian had experienced.

It was a planetary invasion weapon used by the planet Kalaid, an empire that attacked and dominated other dimensions and stars.

‘But… why are they in such bad condition?’

There was no powerful laser, nor a monomolecular cutter [a blade theoretically capable of cutting through anything at a molecular level] that could cut through everything.

Moreover, their movements were sluggish.

Ian smirked after confirming that their only weapon was a sonic weapon that could stun enemies.

‘They’re still skimming a lot over there.’