The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1252: Written Up

"Go, go, go! We need to get to higher ground!" Luca shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos as he urged everyone to keep running while making sure everyone in their group was accounted for.

"No, wait, wait! Not this way! Incoming! Incomiiiiiing!" Ollie screamed at the top of his lungs from where he was being carried by Kyle, apparently taking it upon himself to announce whatever dangers he managed to spot.

And it was a good thing they didn’t waste another second heading in that direction.

A massive section of one of the buildings had just been struck by a giant blob of corruption, and the entire structure was already giving way. Fragments and debris rained down as several floors buckled in rapid succession, the building collapsing straight toward the path they were running on!

At the rate they were moving, they would’ve run directly beneath it just in time to get pancaked!

Fortunately, Marshal Julian, who was carrying the stunned Princess Marin as they moved, managed to shout over the terrifying roars and crumbling concrete.

"This way! But hold your fire! There are civilians here!"

Yes.

That was right.

As if the sudden shock of landing somewhere completely unfamiliar, having massive blobs of corruption barreling down from the sky, and not even getting a short moment to strategize wasn’t already enough of a nightmare for the newbie challengers, because what do you know?

They were more than a little horrified to discover that there were actually "civilians" inside the simulation!

Then again, by the time they’d reached their third block of frantic sprinting, said people would’ve been impossible to miss because of how they were capable of screaming, falling, and even bleeding.

It was all so terrifyingly realistic that, had it not been for the massive holographic sign floating ominously above the unfamiliar metropolis—visible from almost anywhere that wasn’t covered by a roof—one could’ve genuinely believed that the catastrophe unfolding around them was real!

Which was probably why the very first time they heard screams that hadn’t come from their own party, everyone instinctively rushed toward the sound to help despite their own distress.

Only when they arrived, they were stunned to find shadow-like figures scrambling for their lives, fleeing from the exact same nightmare currently chasing them!

"?!"

Luca nearly stumbled from the sheer surprise of it as he came to an abrupt stop.

At almost the exact same moment, D-29 started complaining in flustered panic about being unable to perform even the most basic information-gathering tasks, as the little system seemed to have been barred from actively interfering with the simulation!

Definitely a major issue and disadvantage.

But at that point, the golden-eyed cadet couldn’t quite focus on that because, as his eyes darted around where they’d momentarily stopped, he finally realized that the shadow-like figures weren’t just in front of them.

They were practically everywhere.

Running behind large windows, screaming along the streets, and even spilling out through open doors.

Figures upon figures of three-dimensional shadows scrambled in every direction, almost like moving mannequins, with every single one of them frantically reacting to the sudden apocalyptic emergency.

It genuinely felt like they’d been dropped straight into the middle of a futuristic metropolis undergoing a full-scale invasion!

At that point, it would’ve been a miracle if none of them ended up confused, because just what kind of E-rank dungeon simulation was this?!

Surprisingly, what finally got everyone moving again was Princess Kira attempting to get the attention of one of those shadows, hoping she could either communicate with them or, at the very least, help evacuate them.

"Hey! Can you hear me?!"

Nothing.

"Hey!"

Pressed for time, the Orcish Princess, who normally made a point of never grabbing anyone who even remotely resembled a fragile toothpick, actually dared to seize one of the figures by the shoulders and shake it, practically screaming right into its face.

Still nothing!

Then, insanely enough, the moment Kira let go, the construct simply resumed whatever panicked motions it had apparently been programmed to perform, behaving as though the Orcish Princess had been nothing more than a wall it’d accidentally bumped into.

"Oh hell, I think these guys can’t even really see us!" Cece yelled after observing the bizarre interaction.

Now, that would’ve been fine.

It would’ve been perfectly acceptable if the shadow had simply continued ignoring them. After all, they were probably nothing more than NPCs generated to make the simulation feel more immersive.

Unfortunately, the real disaster happened only moments later.

"Watch out!"

A corrupted projectile suddenly slammed down dangerously close to where they were standing, and Princess Kira reacted on pure instinct.

A violent burst of wind immediately shot outward, intercepting a massive piece of building debris that’d been sent flying straight toward them. The chunk shattered exactly as intended, breaking apart before it could crush anyone beneath it, but the force of the impact sent several of the larger fragments hurtling in every direction.

"!"

One of them struck the wall directly above a fleeing shadow, sending part of the damaged structure crashing down and pinning the construct in place.

And then—

Everyone froze as a sharp, jarring chime echoed through the air.

Then, right above them, on that enormous holographic projection floating ominously over the metropolis, a prominent red mark eerily similar to a tally suddenly flashed into existence.

"!"

Oh, hell no.

The Orcish Princess immediately noticed the addition to the already baffling display, and despite having no idea what the other unfamiliar characters actually meant, her expression twisted in absolute outrage.

Because really, did she even need to understand the writing to recognize the universal feeling of being unfairly written up by an instructor?!

All around them, those shadows were screeching, panicking, and even running themselves straight into danger, yet the moment got involved and accidentally injured one of them, a red mark suddenly appeared!

"HA! What kind of joke is this?!" the Orcish Princess screamed indignantly, her aura immediately flaring with pure anger.

It certainly didn’t help that they’d already confirmed there was practically nothing they could do to positively influence the shadows. Healing didn’t work, and physically moving them out of danger was equally pointless when they’d simply return to their programmed behavior the moment they were released.

So really, no one could blame Kira for being this furious and frustrated, especially when this was definitely not the first time they’d encountered such a ridiculously shady dungeon mechanic!

__

See, most people would probably assume that the first major sign of trouble was the fact that their surroundings looked absolutely nothing like the description they’d received before coming, or maybe that the creatures currently trying to eat them were nowhere close to docile...

But in truth, they knew things had really gone to hell the moment the expected smile slipped from Luca’s normally cheerful face.

At that point, they should’ve known that things simply weren’t going to go as planned.

Because instead of becoming extremely delighted that corruption was barreling right at them, Luca’s face actually turned pale as he realized they were facing the worst possible kind of corruption.

The kind that was and couldn’t be vacuumed up by his instinctively extended hands!

Worse, just as the words, "Oh no!" and "Run!" left the young dungeon owner’s lips, everyone quickly realized that doing so was much easier said than done.

Because for some reason, their fastest modes of transportation weren’t even activating!

The space buttons they carried basically did nothing!

Those who’d already tried theirs immediately looked at one another in intense panic, while Luca quickly asked D-29 what on Solaris was happening.

The little system frantically reported that it seemed the simulation wasn’t allowing the use of mechas to clear the dungeon!

"WHAT?!" Luca gasped.

But Ollie screamed it even louder.

"WHAAAAAT?!"

What the hell was that supposed to mean?!

How could anyone possibly expect him to use his short-ass legs to outrun that massive hairball of death?!

The blonde already knew it!

The fact that they couldn’t fit all their mechas through that gate and had to enter on their own two feet had definitely been a bad omen!

Now, granted, considering they were completely aware that this was only a simulation, why would any of them even react so violently?

So what if they didn’t quite have a working plan yet?

So what if their mechas and inventories weren’t working?

Their lives technically weren’t at stake, right?

Well, that was because of one very important thing.

PAIN.

For some godforsaken reason, they could actually feel pain!

From the uncomfortable pressure of stepping on uneven ground littered with debris to accidentally snagging themselves on protruding pieces of metal as they ran, every little thing registered with enough realism that nobody wanted to test just how far that particular feature went.

Because if they could already feel that much, what exactly would happen if one of those corrupted monsters actually managed to get its hands on them?!

Well, they would rather not find out.

Especially not with a mixed group like this! As it was, they were already distressed enough about having the children witness of it.

Sure, the children were doing surprisingly well after getting over the initial shock of seeing those things, but that was precisely what was breaking Luca’s heart.

Because why did they seem all too used to such a sight?

Moreover, it was definitely getting harder to keep themselves put together when their initial concerns were turning out to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Because aside from everything else, they couldn’t even figure out what the actual objectives were when the simulation hadn’t bothered translating the massive holographic display above them.

Worse, they couldn’t simply bulldoze their way through the place either. Everyone had to carefully restrain their abilities lest they accidentally earn even more of those ominous red marks.

So, with no clear idea of what they were supposed to be doing and with far too many things they weren’t supposed to do, the group eventually decided that their best option was to find somewhere much higher and get a better look at their surroundings.

Without a working map in such a clustered space, it would be hard to decide on their next move, especially when clearing a dungeon usually meant having to destroy its core.

Which was how they’d ended up in their current desperate state.

"I’m sorry! I really didn’t expect anything like this!" Luca apologized as they finally managed to get everyone up onto a higher ledge.

Sure they kept on telling him it wasn’t really his fault and that technically it could simply be considered as part of training, but how could the dungeon owner not feel guilty when he really made it out to be a harmless walk in the park earlier?!

Unfortunately, nobody even had the chance to reassure him.

The moment the last person made it safely onto the ledge and everyone finally had enough breathing room to look around properly, the entire group went quiet.

"!"

From where they stood, the sheer scale of the metropolis finally became painfully clear.

Just how exactly were they supposed to search the entire place?