The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1257: Needle in a Haystack

"What in the world—"

Apparently, it wasn’t just Princess Kira and the rest of the team left behind to protect Jax and Killian who’d been surprised!

Because the moment those two figures moving at such unnatural speeds flashed past the group responsible for keeping Head Maid Gloria and Butler Gary safe while they thinned out the enemy however they could, Curtis couldn’t help but feel like he’d been played this entire time!

Then again, it’d practically been like that every second since they’d been called into the Marshal’s office, and somehow, it only kept getting worse as he and Eden learned just what kind of abilities these people were actually fighting with!

Gone were the days when they’d expected tendrils and spiritual constructs that usually limited people to close-contact or mid-range combat. Instead, they were currently surrounded by so many people with access to bloodline abilities when even the Empire’s most elite families could only dream of having their respective abilities manifest every other generation!

But here they were, freely learning about one ridiculous ability after another while watching their future monarchs gun straight toward the enemy lines, all while one Duke Leander stood there lamenting with literal tears streaming down his face because he wanted to go too!

These people...

Were they even still human?!

Technically, Curtis and Eden had already witnessed several members of this group fighting back in Zone Four, so they were deeply aware that there was a massive gap between their abilities, resources, and technological innovations compared to practically everyone else.

But seeing them move like with no mechas in sight, relying on nothing more than their own bodies and an overwhelmingly powerful spiritual barrier?!

Just how much power had these people been hiding?!

Next to him, Eden apparently couldn’t hold back any longer.

"Marshal," she asked, her eyes still fixed on the direction where Luca and Xavier had disappeared, "by any chance, is Lord Luca also SS-rank?"

Curtis immediately looked toward his boss.

He remembered Luca Kyros’s earlier files well enough, and he’d long since accepted that the C-rank written on there had to be a complete load of bull. Given the way Luca could even give his own father a run for his money, it honestly wouldn’t be that surprising if he turned out to be SS-rank too!

However, to both his and Eden’s absolute surprise, Marshal Julian calmly answered without taking his eyes off the distance.

"Indeterminate."

"...Huh?"

"Indeterminate," Julian repeated. "That’s his current rank."

"..."

"..."

Curtis stared at him.

Eden stared at him.

__

Well, apparently, it was the level where doing things with an emulated ability felt completely freeing.

Xavier could only watch as his little wife, whom he’d admittedly been worried about because Luca had almost no practice using such an ability, ran with it as if he’d always had it!

And while he’d always known that Luca was a cut, or maybe several cuts, above them when it came to spiritual energy, with the two of them now using basically the same ability to blitz around like this, it was becoming more and more obvious just how big that gap truly was.

Between the two of them, Luca was actually starting to look more natural!

Case in point: the speed at which he repositioned himself and timed his spatial movements was that of someone who was not only used to the ability, but was also fearless enough to completely ignore the possibility of making a mistake and accidentally cutting himself up.

To be fair, Xavier’s concern was valid, really.

But to the young returnee who’d long since gotten used to practically dissociating from his own body, it was simply a fear he didn’t have. After all, that very detachment had been one of the reasons he was even alive today!

So for Luca, this actually felt exhilarating!

Tearing through space to reappear elsewhere, Luca practically leapt across the sky before manifesting directly above one of the giant corrupted whales. Planting his foot firmly against its slimy back, he kicked off while extending a razor-sharpened spiritual tendril, driving it violently down into where he assumed the monster’s core would be!

A long, gurgling screech of pain echoed through the air as the massive creature buckled beneath him, right as D-29’s frantic voice suddenly called out for his attention.

"Host! Lord Killian is sending a notice through your terminal! If you keep moving toward nine o’clock at this speed, you’d just have to look down to see the suspected dungeon core!"

"Woah, that close?!" Luca exclaimed, sounding genuinely delighted. "Moving like this is really convenient! Does my husband already know?"

He kicked off from another creature as he asked, fluidly twisting his body in midair to avoid a tangle of corrupted strands that’d been trying to grab him!

Honestly, Luca had already noticed it earlier, but the monsters only seemed interested in him whenever he got within a certain range.

Even now, despite the two of them repeatedly testing whether they could elicit different reactions, the creatures still seemed hell-bent on moving forward toward the metropolis rather than turning around to chase them.

Then again, maybe that was simply how the simulation had been programmed.

And since Luca really had no right to question someone else’s work when he’d willingly signed up for it because of the reward, he simply figured he’d work with whatever rules they’d been given!

Thankfully, running with his husband, who really showed him what grace looked like as he zipped around the battlefield, was surprisingly easy to coordinate even without Luca accessing his terminal himself.

Sid could do it for them!

So the moment Luca received the information from D-29, Xavier had already received the exact same data through his guardian mecha.

The two immediately adjusted course as if they’d planned it beforehand, moving in almost perfect sync while intertwining every now and then just to make sure the other was alright. Even if they could feel each other’s presence and check through D-29 and Sid, it was still far more reassuring to actually see each other with their own eyes!

After all, it didn’t matter if this was only a simulation.

What they were doing here was basically something that might very well happen during a real battle.

Luckily, traversing the battlefield and searching for what they’d initially thought would be a needle in a haystack didn’t turn out to be nearly as difficult as they’d feared.

Because before they could even spot the unusual formation Jax had mentioned earlier, both Luca and Xavier suddenly slowed.

"!"

There, amid all that destruction, was something neither of them had expected to see.

A wreck filled with oddly familiar drones.