The Academy’s Time Stop Player
chapter-59

Deep within the dungeon, in a vast open space, the raid team had managed to regroup. But they were already engaged in a fight with the monsters and magical beasts.

The six members were spread out. But, thanks to Han Seunghoon's special skill, they could locate each other and come together. The issue, though, was Liam and Hajoon, along with the situation at hand.

In front of Lee Youngha, a snake-like magical beast came near, mouth wide open. She forced it down to the ground with her fist, then turned to Han Seunghoon.

"Han Seunghoon, where are the kids?" she asked.

"I know their location. It seems they've regrouped too."

Han Seunghoon's skill allowed him to sense all presences within a limited space. He could tell apart humans, magical beasts, and monsters, and so, he was sure it was a human presence he felt.

Hearing his words, Lee Youngha gave a relieved nod.

Knowing that Han Seunghoon could feel their presence meant that the kids were safe, for now.

However, that didn't mean the situation had improved.

Before they could go find the kids, they needed to handle the monsters and magical beasts nearby.

"Ah... everyone, get down!" Lee Youngha called out, making a quick decision.

Even if the kids were safe at the moment, they didn't know when they might be in danger. So, they decided to defeat these monsters as quickly as possible.

Normally, she wouldn't use this skill thoughtlessly since it used a lot of energy. But there was no time to consider that now.

Lee Youngha gathered all her strength in her arms.

Her muscles swelled as her tendons stood out. At the same time, she wrapped magic around her arm, which started to violently swirl around. After taking a deep breath, she swung her fists in both directions towards the surrounding magical beasts and monsters.

BOOM!! THUD!! VROOOOM――――――!

With one punch, a wave-like shockwave spread through the ground. The monsters and magical beasts that got caught in her punch were thrown against the wall and started to explode.

-KEEEEEK!!!

-KYAAAAAAK!!

Their bodies exploded, resulting in their deaths, as they let out their dying screams.

It was a skill using pure magic power rather than a special ability. But, it had a significant impact on the user.

After defeating all the surrounding monsters and magical beasts, she seemed to have used up all her energy. She fell to her knees, panting heavily.

"Cough!!"

"Captain!!"

Han Seunghoon and the team rushed to help her as she started to collapse.

Her technique involved releasing her magic power, but it drained a lot of her magic energy, making her tired quickly.

In most situations, this technique wasn't used since it left you unable to maintain your strength for at least 30 minutes. But the current situation was urgent.

"I'm okay. Let's quickly get to the kids."

"Got it."

That's when it happened.

Suddenly, the ground started to tremble as if it was shaking.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

With a loud sound, countless somethings were shaking the ground and moving towards the team. In an instant, the faces of Lee Youngha and the team members, including hers, turned very serious.

They all guessed that the ones shaking the ground were monsters, in far greater numbers than before.

"Whew... Line up, everyone."

"Are you sure you can do it, Team Leader?"

"I have to, even if I have to use every last bit of my magic."

With that, Lee Youngha slowly returned to her stance. The team members also formed a circle as if to protect each other's backs, ready for the onslaught of monsters.

-Kieeek!!!!

-Shaaa!!!

Soon after, Thud! Thud! Thud! A massive wave of monsters started to come out from one entrance of the open field, shaking the ground.

Drip- Cold sweat slid down the team members' faces. Just as they were getting ready for the clash with the monsters, the next situation left them speechless, their eyes wide in surprise.

"......?"

"What......?"

-Kieeek!!!!

-Kiak!!

The monsters they had prepared to fight with poured out of the entrance and ran past the team members, escaping towards the opposite hallway.

Lee Youngha and the team members watched the fleeing monsters in disbelief.

At that moment.

Thud-thud! Thud-thud!

Something much bigger than before was coming, shaking the ground as it moved towards the team members.

-Kwoooo!!!

A massive roar.

The moment they heard that roar, the team members knew.

Why so many monsters had run away, screaming in fear.

Thud-thud! Thud-thud!

Soon after, the source of the roar slowly approached.

Lee Youngha and the team members tensed up again, waiting for whatever was coming.

They could sense it getting closer just from the power of the magic.

A huge magic, wild like a storm.

That magic filled the area for a moment and began to press down on the team members with its violent fluctuations.

The moment they felt that rough magic, Lee Youngha's face became even more serious.

"This is......"

Not an ordinary creature.

If her guess was right, this was a monster that should exist in a disaster-level area, not a place like this.

At least, it was clear that this creature was the boss monster of this dungeon.

And thinking about it, Lee Youngha gritted her teeth.

Facing a boss monster of this caliber would be impossible with their current team.

If they were to gauge its threat level, it would be the same as a level 50 monster. They would need at least two or three high-ranking heroes to stand a chance of defeating it.

And since she was the only high-ranking hero in the team, and currently unable to move properly due to the aftereffects of a technique, she had no choice but to brace himself again.

"Everyone, stay sharp. It seems that creature is the boss monster."

With that, the team members, with tense faces, awaited the arrival of the creature.

When the huge figure of the creature was revealed through the passage,

"......?"

"What......? Seriously, what's happening?"

They couldn't help but stare in surprise again.

The massive monster that emerged from the passage was a Twin Head Ogre, known to be one of the most dangerous among high-level monsters. A creature about 5 meters tall with a huge body and two heads.

However, the state of the Twin Head Ogre was strange.

Was it already half-dead?

-Kwooo!! Kwoo!!

It was running from something in fear, its body covered in blue blood.

The Twin Head Ogre, with what looked like a broken left ankle, was struggling to escape, limping painfully.

In that moment.

Crack!!

Its head exploded in an instant, and immediately after, its huge body began to slowly tilt forward.

Boom!!

With a loud thud, its massive body fell to the ground, causing a cloud of dust to rise up, engulfing the surroundings.

Immediately after, the sound of someone's footsteps slowly echoed from behind the fallen figure.

Including Lee Youngha, all team members turned their gaze towards the source of the sound, and Han Seunghoon had no choice but to harden his face as he looked at the scene. This was because the presence that had been undetectable just a moment ago suddenly appeared.

As all the members of the raid party looked in that direction.

What caught their eye was a golden hammer held by a figure.

To be exact, the figure holding the hammer seemed to be covered in a mosaic, making it impossible to see a clear face.

However, everyone knew what the golden hammer represented.

"An Irregular."

A boy whose sheer strength had already exceeded superhuman standards.

His power was known to be on par with or even surpass that of a top-tier hero.

At the sight of this boy, everyone couldn't hide their surprise and froze in place.

The Irregular's head slowly turned towards the team members.

However, there was no strong force to be felt from his actions, but they all had to tense up, frozen in place.

An unknown, strange fear.

There was nothing to be felt from the Irregular.

Just because it was quiet and peaceful, it started to generate an alien fear among them.

As they all looked at the Irregular, unable to speak.

The Irregular simply ignored them and started to look in another direction.

The Irregular, who had just stared in that direction, now moved his gaze back to the team members.

The Irregular slowly raised his hand, and just as everyone was tense, he merely pointed to the passage he had come from with his hand.

"What... what's happening?"

"Is he telling us to go that way?"

"It seems like he's pointing to the exit, don't you think?"

"........"

After completing his gesture, the Irregular lowered his hand and started to head towards the opposite passage.

As they blankly watched the Irregular leaving, Lee Youngha urgently shouted out to him.

"There are still people who haven't joined us!! Please save them!!"

"........"

Upon hearing this, the Irregular paused and looked at Lee Youngha.

The Irregular merely stared at Lee Youngha for a moment, then slowly nodded and disappeared instantly. Lee Youngha and all the team members could only stare at the spot where the Irregular had vanished, speechless.

After gathering his team members, Hajoon stopped time (SSS) when a fork in the path appeared, and called out to Philaten as he stood there.

“Philaten.”

-What can I do for you, master?

“Which way should we go from here?”

-To the left.

Hajoon had been searching for the place where Liam was using this method for the past 10 minutes.

Given the labyrinth-like underground structure of this trap dungeon, there was no choice but to rely on Philaten's help.

At the very least, Philaten's magic detection ability was on par with the sage Anna, so it wasn't too hard to pinpoint Liam's location.

-I sense a clash of magic powers over there. Someone is definitely in battle.

“··········Is that so?”

Hajoon responded calmly to that statement, but the situation wasn't exactly great.

'I didn't expect he wouldn't be able to hold out for that short time and would choose the bad ending··········.'

The choice in the episode where Liam's red quest was located was simple, but for a beginner playing Roa Young for the first time, the choice was unavoidable.

It was a simple story where you would meet a villain and get a [GAME OVER] if you chose the wrong path at a fork.

'The Vigilante crime syndicate.'

Vigilante, one of the worst criminal organizations recognized by the World Hero Association.

And the person Liam is currently up against is one of the Named from that group, known as 'Blood Demon'.

'He can't possibly handle that guy in his current state··········.'

Hajoon activated Time Stop (SSS) again.

Given the current situation, it was best to get to Liam as soon as possible.

After being stuck at a few forks in the road and releasing Time Stop each time to ask Philaten for directions, about 3 minutes had passed.

Clang! Boom! Bang!!!

From far away, the sound of a sword and spear crashing came with a huge noise.

Thinking it was lucky he wasn't late, Hajoon activated Time Stop and started heading in that direction.

And Hajoon couldn't help but tilt his head at the situation unfolding.

“··········Huh?”

With a puzzled face, Hajoon watched the situation that was currently unfolding.

For starters, Liam was still alive.

No, to be honest, the situation was even better than that.

From the look of it, Liam had been fighting on equal grounds with that guy for a few minutes.

'··········What?'

In the original game, Liam would lose and die in just a few minutes against the Blood Demon, but looking at him now, he seemed much more relaxed than expected.

Moreover, his expression was quite something.

In this crisis, he was smiling confidently, calmly blocking the Blood Demon's great sword.

For now, Hajoon approached the corridor again and released Time Stop.

And the unfolding situation was as Hajoon had expected.

Clang! Ting!!

When the Blood Demon swung his great sword, Liam calmly countered, blocking it with his spear. Moreover, as the battle went on, Liam's spear was becoming faster and sharper. Hajoon decided to watch their fight without stepping in for now, given the unexplainable growth he was witnessing.

Not simply out of annoyance, but looking at the current situation, it seemed like Liam was having some major realization and growing from it.