The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound
chapter-309

Chapter 309 Abyss Tree (3)

After dealing with the creatures that appeared again and again, a new space emerged.

-Ding!

[Exiting ‘Tutorial Zone’ underground floor 1]

[Reward will be given]

[‘Main Game’ has started]

[Entering underground floor 2 ‘Familiar Ground’]

Vikir picked up an old parchment falling in front of him.

-[Return Scroll] / Scroll / Grade: ?

A scroll that allows one-time return to the tutorial zone.

It contains the answer to the question “Where are you going, my lord?”

※ Level will be reset upon use.

Vikir tucked the scroll given as a tutorial clear reward into his pocket.

This is probably an item given to all participants that can be used only once in a moment of crisis.

Eventually, Vikir descended to the underground floor 2.

There, a quite familiar scenery unfolded before him.

Colosseo Academy. It was the internal landscape of the academy where he had spent the past year.

Below were the lecture halls, training grounds, and dormitory buildings, while the street was lined with multi-story shops.

The garden built with stacked bricks, rows of trees standing at regular intervals, the square under the central clock tower, and the fountain were all as they were.

…The problem was that the facilities of this academy were already in ruins.

Vikir quietly surveyed the surroundings.

The school facilities such as classrooms, corridors, and stores remained unchanged from before being trapped in the tower.

However, there were subtle distortions.

For example, the angel statue praying at the fountain was torn to shreds and turned into a demonic statue, and pictures symbolizing rune and rune crosses were all drawn upside down.

Moreover, the surroundings were completely burnt and destroyed, as if something catastrophic had happened.

Dust piled up as time seemed to have passed long ago.

The nostalgic perfume shop that used to be crowded with female students had its door and glass windows broken and covered in dust, and the signboard of the famous restaurant was heavily rusted.

Inside, only the stench of rotting meat wafted.

On the recycling bin where the kind security grandfather always greeted students, there were only unknown bloodstains scattered.

Everything had turned into ruins.

[Amdusias devours parts of the world to feed the Abyss Tree. The swallowed world becomes part of the worldview inside the tower. It seems like part of the Colosseo Academy has been swallowed up.]

Decarabia hanging around his neck spoke for the first time.

Baby Madam also seemed to murmur uneasily.

Vikir sat quietly in front of the torn angel statue and waited.

Anyway, he couldn’t go further as it was blocked by a semi-transparent wall.

The world swallowed by Amdusias seemed to only extend to the Colosseo Academy’s multi-story shopping district area.

At that moment,

“…!”

Vikir sensed a presence.

Various students emerged from the ruins ahead, including dormitories, classrooms, and shops.

“Darn it. What kind of messed-up world is this place?”

“Are we trapped in a dungeon or something?”

“Damn it! Give me back my power, you damn demon!”

The students of Colosseo Academy. They had begun to enter the main game slowly after passing through the tutorial.

Eventually, 108 students gathered around the central fountain with the torn angel statue.

Some were confused, while others already showed a calm demeanor, having adapted to the situation to some extent.

Vikir sat quietly, observing their faces.

He didn’t see any familiar faces like Tudor, Sancho, Figgy, Bianca, Sinclaire, Dolores, etc.

Most of them were seniors, and occasionally, assistant professors were also mixed in.

“Most of the levels seem to be 1, and the stats range from 1 to 3.”

Naturally, the students’ levels were 1.

And stats like strength, agility, and stamina varied from 1 to 3.

Occasionally, there were rare individuals with a stat exceeding 5, but they were a minority.

“Compared to my stats, I think the reduction rate is a bit unbalanced.”

However, stats didn’t entirely represent an individual’s combat power, and with the existence of unrevealed stats, it was still difficult to judge solely by the status window.

Meanwhile,

While Vikir was lost in his thoughts, the students began to explore the ruins of the academy.

The upperclassmen became leaders, the sophomores managed in the middle, and the freshmen took care of miscellaneous tasks.

Among them, it was noticeable that the noble and wealthy students were prominent.

“Goodness. What on earth is this ruin? Let’s pick out whatever seems useful.”

“Be careful. That fairy or whatever might appear again and give us a mission.”

“Let’s gather as many helpful things as possible. Like food or weapons.”

“Search thoroughly! This place is already a ruin! The first to grab is the winner!”

The students started looting the shops scattered around.

Those who were quick-witted raided restaurants or grocery stores for canned food or water.

However, most of the canned food was bloated with gas, and the water was contaminated.

Students who couldn’t find any food despite searching desperately moved on to raid other shops with a sense of resignation.

Crash-

A noble female student who broke into a shop through a shattered glass window shouted excitedly.

“Wow! It is Beatrice Noel’s new scent! It’s a completely limited-edition perfume! Even celebrities don’t own something so rare!”

She doused herself generously with the new perfume, trembling with ecstasy.

“I was already annoyed by the smell of sweat and blood and rats in the tutorial area.This is perfect!”

Meanwhile, a wealthy male student who broke into a shop through a smashed door grinned arrogantly.

“Oh, this is a tobacco shop. Look at all these premium cigarettes piled up here. Ah, this is the brand I couldn’t afford to smoke earlier.”

Strangely, while necessities were scarce, luxury items were left untouched.

“Well, maybe it’s just to relax a bit before entering the main game?”

Even students who usually had no interest in perfume or cigarettes seemed to flock to perfume and tobacco shops to indulge themselves.

…However.

‘They’ll realize soon enough.’

Vikir thought to himself.

This tower is a creation of demons, the body of plants born in hell.

Everything here harbors not just simple hostility but profound malice.

“Leaving only luxury items like perfume, cigarettes, and cosmetics. It’s clearly intentional.”

Paranoia should be guarded against, but here in the tower, it ironically aids survival.

Just then.

…Squish! Squelch! Splat!

With an unpleasant noise, something popped out of thin air.

A rotting meat-like figure appeared. It was the guide fairy of this tower.

[Hello, everyone~! How are you all doing? Are you enjoying your time with me, your lovely fairy guide~?]

It continued babbling in its eerie tone.

Regretting being weakened by a hundred times, but growth here remains the same as outside, acquiring latent talents retroactively, opportunities to turn life around with peculiar artifacts… It was all insincere consolation and sweet words.

But at the end of all these premises, a phrase added shattered the students’ fantasies in an instant.

[However, that will be decided when you survive and leave the tower, won’t it?]

[If you die or cannot leave the tower, it’s over. You’ll have to spend your life here.]

Amidst the eerie silence, only the loud sound of swallowing saliva echoed.

Then, one senior student mustered up the courage.

“Hey, guys! Let’s not lose heart! This could be an opportunity! If we can just get out of the tower, we can become much stronger! Let’s raise our levels and gather more stats here and then leave! Plus, it seems we can find rare items here too!”

His words emboldened other students.

“Oh, he’s right!”

“Let’s give it a try!”

“Who cares about demons! Bring it on!”

“I’ll become a hero here and return to my family!”

“Start the mission quickly, you ugly ahh fairy!”

In an instant, the morale of the students soared as they began to challenge the fairy.

…However.

[Oh, oh, oh? Good, good, very good? That’s the spirit, isn’t it? Then shall we begin?]

The fairy started to seem bizarrely pleased at the students’ newfound courage.

Saliva dripped between its toothy grin.

Its short arms reached out so long that the flesh tore, blood and pus oozing, yet it clapped its hands rapidly, as if madly, and the students were instantly repelled.

Just as the students’ fervor faded in an instant, the fairy, trembling with joy, uttered its final words.

[Are you ready for the 2nd floor mission?]

Simultaneously, over a hundred sinister holes appeared behind the fairy.

And from within, unpleasant sounds began to emanate.

[Growl…]

The menacing growls of ferocious beasts.

Gradually, creatures spewing flames from their eyes and mouths started to emerge.

Over a hundred ‘Hellhounds’ freshly crawled out from the underworld.

The fairy enjoyed watching the students’ faces contort with despair and fear as it threw the final mission at them.

[Will you survive?]