At some point, Alkiné stopped talking. Of course, so did I.
The jokes and exaggerated reactions we had been throwing around to forget the seriousness of the situation were now gone.
The longer the silence dragged on, the more I could feel Alkiné’s expression darkening, but I had no idea what to say either, so I just kept running and focused on looking around.
Alkiné stayed in my arms the whole time.
At first, she seemed to dislike it, but now she seemed used to it and didn’t react much.
The funny thing was, even though she seemed to have recovered enough to move on her own, she didn’t ask to be put down.
I thought it might be faster if she ran on her own, but considering she might need to save her strength for any unexpected situations, it felt right to conserve her energy like this.
Besides, it wasn’t much of a burden for me since my stamina was infinite… And according to my calculations, splitting up now would be pointless, so I decided to just keep carrying her and running.
As I looked around again, I felt confident enough to ask Alkiné:
“President, have you ever seen this strangely protruding cliff before?”
“We used it as a reference point during the exploration.”
“Then do you remember which direction we should go from this cliff to find the Rift Stone?”
“That way.”
Alkiné pointed in one direction without a moment’s hesitation.
The fact that she answered so quickly showed just how much effort she had put into the exploration.
But at the end of the direction she pointed… was the exact same cliff.
This was the reason most of the information the Student Council had gathered had become meaningless.
The repetition of the same terrain due to distortion.
In fact, for skilled individuals like the Student Council, finding the Rift Stone was probably harder than fighting the monsters in the Rift.
That’s why they put so much effort into the exploration, only to let their guard down on the day of the Rift cleanup and end up in this situation.
But that didn’t completely nullify their exploration efforts.
Because now, thanks to the direction Alkiné pointed out, I could calculate where the Rift Stone was.
I haven’t been running around aimlessly all this time.
Didn’t I say I’d make sure to handle the Rift perfectly? The word “strategy” coming from an Experienced Player like me is never taken lightly.
I’ve already realized that the original concept of the Rift is heavily applied here.
Honestly, it’s strange that we keep moving forward but the same terrain keeps repeating.
In games, you can brush it off as a storage issue or something, but there’s no way that’s a problem in reality, right?
So, I’m certain that the game’s system has been directly applied here.
And… there’s no such thing as complete randomness in games. There’s just some rule pretending to be random.
The distortion of the Rift was no different.
Even though I keep encountering the same terrain, I’m definitely making progress.
It just feels like I’m going in circles because the same terrain is mixed in a specific pattern.
And that specific pattern was just figured out.
“Hmm… so…”
If the original direction was this way… then based on the last cliff, it should be this way.
I’ve seen cliffs of the same shape dozens of times on the way here.
And I’ve also figured out the pattern in which those cliffs were arranged.
The two cliffs I just checked were the final sequence that confirmed the pattern.
Analysis of the Rift distortion pattern.
This method is possible because the terrain of the Rift changes based on the Riftstone, and it’s a field that only speedrunners would bother with.
Originally, there aren’t many opportunities to face Rift distortions in the game, and the difficulty isn’t so high that you need to memorize the patterns.
But I did memorize them. I once studied them hard when I thought about trying speedrunning.
“Huh? Where are you suddenly going?”
“I just had a feeling.”
Alkiné expressed her doubts when I suddenly changed direction, but I couldn’t explain it to her in detail, so I just brushed it off.
And soon, a red line-like aura started to appear at the edge of my vision.
It’s an effect I know very well.
It’s the effect that allows you to pinpoint the location of the Riftstone.
I called out to Alkiné with an excited voice.
“Chairman, look over there.”
“Huh? What’s there?”
“Huh?”
Wait, she can’t see it? That can’t be.
As I was puzzled, she stared intently in the direction I pointed and then suddenly startled.
“Wait… this energy…”
Then she quickly got out of the princess carry and started running.
But seeing her head in a slightly off direction, it seemed she really couldn’t see the Riftstone effect.
Could this also be a system application due to my characteristics?
I thought I should look into it deeply later and decided to follow Alkiné for now.
“Rudion. Follow me quickly!”
Even if you say that, I can’t keep up with the chairman’s speed.
I’m running hard, but… it’s a miracle if I don’t lose sight of her, let alone catch up.
I even used the dash cancel I couldn’t use while carrying her to chase her. But despite that, she was still getting further away.
She’s really fast, even though she’s not specialized in agility. Definitely…
The current strongest authority of the Akadeumi (Academy) is different, you know.
At first, the slightly off direction had somehow corrected itself, now precisely aiming at the center of the red aura.
But Alkiné, who was running at an incredible speed, gradually slowed down and then suddenly stopped.
Thanks to that, I could catch up to her side, but I couldn’t help but wonder.
“What’s going on?”
Right now, Alkiné is the most urgent in dealing with the Rift.
I expected her to charge forward and slash through whatever came out, so why did she stop?
Curiosity piqued, I looked around, but there was no particularly difficult situation with the Rift Stone.
‘Is it a Twin Head Wolf?’
The location of the Rift Stone is usually hidden or inside a demon, one of the two.
Currently, it’s the latter, and in this case, the demon is strengthened by absorbing the energy of the Rift Stone.
Like a goblin gaining the strength of an ogre? The enhancement is quite significant, and the difficulty changes rapidly depending on which demon appears.
But well… with Alkiné here, the demon’s enhancement is pretty much meaningless.
Crumple was a special case earlier, but in reality, her attacks have the cutting power to pierce even the Demon Race’s skin.
Of course, she couldn’t win before breaking through the wall, but that’s how strong her attacks are.
So, an enhanced demon to her? Unless it’s a high-ranking demon, it’s just a chunk of meat that’s a bit more fun to slice.
Even now, the demon holding the Rift Stone is a Twin Head Wolf.
This beast, with just two heads, is a low-level demon that Alkiné could crush with a mere wave of her hand.
So, why did she stop?
Alkiné shot back my question with another question.
“Can we keep what happened here a secret?”
As soon as I heard that, I understood why she stopped.
Once the Rift Stone is dealt with, there’s no time for conversation. The Rift will just collapse, and we’ll be thrown out.
Knowing that, she probably wanted to align our stories before we left…
“We can talk about it outside. Let’s put out the urgent fire first.”
“…Right. I guess I was overthinking.”
I wonder if she’s too conscious of me, to the point of confusing priorities.
I’m not that great of a person. Don’t feel burdened.
“Once we’re out, I’ll go request support. You… join up with the others and wait for now.”
“Will do.”
As I answered, Alkiné, who was standing in front of me, disappeared.
Turning my gaze, I saw that the Twin Head Wolf had already…
She was swinging her mana sword right in front of her.
*Whoosh—*
The red energy that had been gushing out along with the twin-headed wolf split in half.
The moment the destruction of the Rift Stone was confirmed, the Rift began to collapse.
The surrounding scenery melted away, transforming back into the forest landscape before entering the Rift.
“Ugh, kkeuuh, huuuk.”
“AAAAHH!! AAAHH!!”
“Just hold on a little longer. Just a bit….”
And then, chaos unfolded.
People with crushed arms, legs, or both were groaning and screaming in pain.
Unlike them, some were quiet, which was a bit surprising, but thankfully, everyone was still breathing.
‘Thank goodness. They’re all alive.’
I clenched my fist without thinking, feeling a sense of accomplishment I’d never experienced before. It made sense, though—I’d never saved anyone’s life before.
Meanwhile, those who were unharmed were using the potions they had brought on the injured.
They weren’t using them all at once but sparingly, which made it seem like their goal wasn’t to heal but to help them endure.
While it was the most appropriate action given the situation, for the injured, it must have felt like endless torture.
Were they really holding on just because they believed Alkiné would conquer the Rift? Their trust in the Student Council President was truly something.
“…Huh?”
Then, someone who noticed the change in the surroundings first started cheering.
“Everyone, look! It’s the outside! The President must have conquered the Rift!”
Thanks to that, everyone realized what was happening…
“We’re alive!”
“Kkeuuuk!! Huh! Haaah!!”
“Hey! Calm down!!”
From the uninjured to those who were hurt but still holding on, emotions started pouring out uncontrollably.
Some laughed, some cried.
And some let out screams of pain and cheers of joy at the same time.
Amidst all this, only one person remained expressionless, staring intently at something.
“….”
Messy green hair. Fashionable horn-rimmed glasses. Eerily lifeless black eyes.
To add a bit more… a man who harbored all sorts of dirty desires like possessiveness and domination toward Alkiné, yet firmly believed it was love.
Diggerus Jibchak, the Vice President of the Student Council. His gaze was fixed… surprisingly, in the direction Alkiné had run to request reinforcements.
Wow… even with his limbs numb, is that really more important? That’s some next-level obsession. Cold-blooded, really.
