Chapter 10: A Familiar Stranger

Crash!

With a heavy thud, the head of a crawling skeleton was smashed.

Taking advantage of the opening, three spears thrust forward.

Retracting my sword, I took two steps back and swept my sword to knock them away.

“Seriously, what a pain…!”

I muttered as I smashed the heads of the spear-wielding skeletons in one blow.

Skeletons were weak individually, but when gathered in a dungeon like this [Tomb of the Ancient Lich], they were quite troublesome.

I wiped away the thick sweat and looked back.

Behind me, in the straight corridor, lay countless bone fragments.

I had already cut down over a hundred skeletons, so the end of the corridor should be coming up soon.

I moved my feet slowly, kicking away the rusty sword that got in my way.

This [Tomb of the Ancient Lich], despite its impressive name, had a really simple and vicious structure.

A straight corridor, numerous skeleton soldiers guarding the corridor, and traps that sprang out at any moment.

It was a dungeon that forced a war of attrition on the player, but its linear structure made it difficult to use wide-range magic.

The skeletons appeared one after another, making it difficult for piercing magic to be effective.

Moreover, the mana cost for using wide-range magic was doubled, making it even harder to use.

Only after overcoming all those obstacles could one reach the dungeon core at the very end of the corridor.

The item I needed right now.

“Ah, there it is?”

As if on cue, a blue light caught the edge of my vision.

On the altar at the end of the corridor, a blue orb sat alone.

At the same time, the familiar sound of bones could be heard.

The ground between the crystal and me began to shake.

Reinforced skeletons, different from the ones I had seen so far, slowly rose, armed with rusty metal pieces.

Although they were crudely made, the elite soldiers, equipped with armor, gripped their sword hilts in formation.

Swoosh-

With a rusty scraping sound, the rusty sword tips were aimed at me.

The hollow eyes of the corpses, having lost the ability to speak, were directed at me.

A killing intent different in dimension from the ordinary skeletons I had been cutting down countless times.

At the same time, the dark Stigmata sparkled.

Black particles disappeared into the dark passage.

The hollow eyes of the skeletons were filled with bewilderment, and the lost sword tips swung through the air.

At the same time, I appeared behind the skeletons and fixed my left foot, lowering the tip of my sword to the bottom right.

Tap, the sound of my footstep scattered across the dungeon corridor.

Clatter.

A beat later, a variety of bone sounds echoed through the cave.

The skeletons, belatedly realizing my presence, moved, but I was faster.

“Hmph…!”

With a soft battle cry, the blade of the practice sword, burning black with mana, was swung.

Crash!

A heavy sound of impact that resonated through the space.

The mana imbued in the sword left a thick trajectory in the air and cut down the skeleton group in one blow.

The rusty iron armor was engulfed in dark flames.

The mana-infused blade shattered the decayed bone fragments.

And with that, the bodies of the twelve elite skeletons that had blocked my path crumbled.

“Phew…”

I let out a light sigh, slowly sheathed my sword, and checked my physical condition.

Minor scratches on my wrist and small tears in my clothes.

This much was fine.

I had anticipated some injuries from the start.

Unless one was a Swordmaster, no swordsman could break through that volume without getting hit.

After all, fighting against multiple opponents was difficult for humans.

The only good news was that I hadn’t lost as much stamina as I thought.

Skeletons, despite their overwhelming numbers, had extremely poor durability.

Even with a dull practice sword, they shattered when hit with a sweeping blow.

“…Then, shall I take the core now?”

I muttered quietly and approached the core.

Whoosh-

The blue orb vibrated faintly.

A gem that had been buried under the academy for decades, perhaps hundreds of years, constantly absorbing mana.

Of course, all that mana had been used to maintain this dungeon, so it wouldn’t be of much help to me, but that was fine.

I wanted the dungeon core for its ability in the first place.

Mana absorption and mana storage.

This orb, with two abilities that were each overpowered on their own, was a typical growth-type cheat item.

At first, it was a useless item that couldn’t even block a basic magic spell, and the amount of mana it could store was only enough for one basic magic spell.

But if you developed it to the end, the mana storage capacity would increase enormously, and it would absorb most low-level magic with its own function.

“…Then, let’s get out of here.”

Smiling at the satisfactory result, I muttered and picked up the orb from the altar.

[Ancient Lich’s Dungeon Core][5☆]

[Mana Drain][E-]

[Can absorb surrounding mana and store it in the orb.

This ability can be grown]

[Mana Storage][E-]

[Can store mana absorbed through ‘Mana Drain’.

This ability can be grown]

The orb flickered blue a few times and lost its color.

At the same time, the altar crumbled with a loud noise.

I quickly put the orb in my pocket and turned around.

No, I tried to turn around.

“…Ugh?!”

Before I could, I felt the cold touch of a longsword around my neck.

My mind started racing.

It was strange that I couldn’t even detect their presence.

Even if I was distracted by fighting the skeletons, I wasn’t so bad that I wouldn’t notice someone following me in a straight corridor.

Then, the person pointing the longsword at me was at least my equal, or even stronger.

Among the villains I knew, there was no one that strong who would enter the academy in the early stages…?

“Who are you…

Ugh…!”

I tried to ask a question to find out the opponent’s identity, but all that came back was a sharp blade.

Feeling the blade getting closer to my neck, I raised both hands.

While secretly displaying the status window in front of my eyes.

[Player ID: Sian]

[Mana: D-]

[Use the ‘Ancient Lich Dungeon Core’?]

“Ah, okay.

I won’t resist.”

Damn it.

If I had known this would happen, I should have closed the dungeon door, even if it was a bit of a hassle.

This dungeon couldn’t be entered without a key.

And the existence of that key was only revealed in the middle part of the academy’s story.

In other words, this was a crisis I had brought upon myself.

“…”

I gritted my teeth and looked at the message window that had appeared before my eyes.

My mana was D-.

I had used Stigmata when entering the dungeon, used Stigmata again in the dungeon where mana consumption was doubled, and even imbued my sword with mana.

Right now, I didn’t have time to use Blink one more time.

If I hadn’t obtained the [Ancient Lich Dungeon Core], that is.

[Using the mana stored in the ‘Ancient Lich Dungeon Core’.

Stigmata ‘Blink’ can be activated.]

I took a light breath and closed my eyes.

At the same time, the Stigmata sparkled.

[Activating ‘Blink’.]

“Ugh, a Stigmata user?!

W-wait…!”

As my body turned into particles and disappeared, a familiar girl’s voice echoed through the cave.

Appearing behind the girl, I quickly reached for my sword hilt.

“?!”

I was aiming for her leg.

She was a variable I had never seen in thousands of hours of gameplay.

I should at least keep her alive for now.

Murmuring to myself, I quickly drew my sword.

The sword, like a flash of light, pierced through the darkness.

It was an attack launched from an angle that couldn’t be reacted to.

“Ugh…!”

Clang!

But what came back was the heavy sound of a clash echoing through the corridor.

At the same time, the girl’s sword drew a strange trajectory.

I didn’t know what kind of swordsmanship the girl used or where that trajectory was aimed.

The darkness made it hard to even see the girl’s face.

Nevertheless, my instincts, honed from five years of being an adventurer, were sounding the alarm.

I didn’t know what it was, but if I tried to block it, I would be the one to suffer.

I needed to dodge quickly.

I quickly took two steps back, and the moment I did, sharp slashes rained down on the spot where I had been standing.

Boom…

At the same time, the dungeon, having lost its core, began to shake.

The corridor of the dungeon trembled as the source of mana that had maintained its form for hundreds of years disappeared.

Fwoosh-

A fallen torch rolled towards us.

Only then could I gradually make out each other’s appearance.

Even though my vision had cleared, I couldn’t swing my sword recklessly.

“Ah…?”

The moment I saw the face of the girl pointing the longsword at me, my body froze.

Dark blue hair flowing down past her shoulders.

Ruby-colored eyes shining in the reflected light.

A girl who was a little shorter than me and used a longsword that was, with a bit of exaggeration, almost as tall as herself.

Her hair was neglected, almost like a bird’s nest, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

But even that was transformed into a decadent beauty by this beautiful girl.

Although she was somewhat different from the lively appearance of the short-haired girl in the original work, I, who had played [Arcana Academy] for thousands of hours, could recognize the girl at a glance.

The eldest daughter of the southern frontier barony, a genius of magic and swordsmanship, the next candidate for the head of the Southern Knights, and a girl living her second life.

The only regressor in this world.

Regina Strelachia was severely broken in some way.