The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City-Chapter 100: Violet Is Trapped!

The students’ reactions to the closed gate varied widely.

Currently, there were five types of people here.

First, those who panicked and didn’t know what to do.

“The gate is closed! We’re all dead!”

“We’re screwed!”

“Kyaaah! Mom!”

Second, those who desperately denied reality and were unsure of what to do.

“No, it must be a mistake. Look closely. It’s just a change in color!”

“Hahaha… Of all days, it had to happen during my field trip.”

Third, those who hadn’t grasped the situation yet. Most students fell into this category.

“Why is the gate like that?”

“What’s wrong with everyone?”

Amid this chaos, there were those who pulled themselves together and tried to do something.

The group of students I referred to as the ‘Hero Party’ belonged here.

“Nathan, where’s the signal flare? Give it to me quickly! We need to call the instructor!”

“It’s on my waist. Fire it quickly!”

“I’ll check the panic button nearby.”

And finally, there were those who observed the situation calmly.

Our Violet team fell into this category.

“To think the gate would get disrupted again.”

“Indeed.”

Irene and I looked at the closed gate indifferently.

Maybe it felt less significant because we had experienced this before.

“It’ll probably open soon.”

“Right! Nothing to worry about.”

We had already been told that the gate’s structure didn’t allow for permanent closure.

“Violet, can you contact the outside?”

“Contact? What do you mean? Of course, we can’t make a call.”

I stared blankly at Daphne, puzzled by her words.

“I know that. I meant, can you connect with another Violet outside?”

“Oh, that’s what you meant. Of course, I can! I’m in contact even now.”

“Then, could you check the external situation for me? If possible, try talking to the instructor outside.”

“Got it!”

I immediately called Violet No. 345, who was stationed in the school dormitory.

I headed to the external gate leading to the Cloris forest—it’s just a 30-minute drive by car.

“Open the gate! I want to go home!”

“Hey, wait a bit. It’ll open soon.”

The entrance to the gate was still noisy with the commotion of dozens of students.

Then, a strange sound came from beyond the mist.

A heavy thudding noise, like something massive repeatedly striking the ground.

For some reason, a bad premonition gave me goosebumps.

I looked at Irene, and she nodded.

“Did you hear that?”

“Of course.”

Gradually, students who sensed something amiss began turning their gazes toward the mist.

The commotion quieted down, and everyone stared at the mist with tense eyes.

“Everyone, gather around me!”

Irene raised her spear and shouted.

The nearby students, who hadn’t yet grasped the situation, looked at her in surprise.

“What? Who’s that?”

“She’s the first-year representative! The top student who fought a beast during the entrance ceremony!”

The students, though still confused, gathered around Irene.

First to join were male students holding shields and swords, who brought their friends to our team’s vicinity—the Hero Party.

A brown-haired boy asked Irene,

“Your name is… Irene Solstice, right? Can you explain what’s going on?”

“It’s a beast. Hear the sound of branches breaking? At least mid-level. Its size won’t be small either.”

She pointed her spear toward a thick section of mist.

The sound of bushes breaking and the ground rumbling grew closer.

-Crash!

The source of the sound appeared.

A massive beast, reminiscent of a carnivorous theropod dinosaur, emerged from the mist and forest.

Some students screamed in terror at the sight.

“Kyaaah!”

I knew what it was.

It was the mid-level beast, Kranos, which had appeared during the entrance ceremony!

-Rooooaaar!

The beast, with its four ferocious red eyes, let out a deafening roar as it looked at the students.

“A T-rex, after cockroaches?!”

“This isn’t a dungeon; it’s Jurassic Park!”

“Everyone, get ready. We can do this.”

When Irene struck the ground with her spear, golden energy enveloped everyone.

Just as the students, bolstered by the energy, were about to charge, Kranos opened its massive jaws.

It was preparing to unleash a breath attack!

“Starting with a finishing move?!”

“What a cheat!”

“I’ll deploy a barrier. Everyone, stay still!”

Daphne erected a large barrier.

The beast’s powerful magic blast collided with the pale green barrier and dissipated.

Realizing its ultimate attack was nullified, Kranos charged at us with its massive body.

“It’s coming! Aaaah!”

“Hey! There’s nowhere to run! Fight!”

As the colossal beast charged, its momentum caused some students to stumble in fear.

Fortunately, the rest, seemingly emboldened by Irene’s unique ability, didn’t flee.

Like a pack of hyenas surrounding an elephant, they attacked the beast simultaneously.

“Die!”

“Gaaah! Die already! Just die!”

“Kiiyaaah!”

Kranos was incredibly strong and durable.

It was even larger than the one that had appeared during the entrance ceremony.

While its body sustained some injuries, it showed no signs of falling easily.

Moreover, the beast had more than just its breath attack as a weapon.

“The tail! Dodge!”

“Ugh!”

Each time it swung its tail, everyone scrambled to avoid it.

Its front legs were also menacing.

Its claws, over a meter long, were razor-sharp and brimming with magic.

“What kind of beast uses sword energy?! Aaah!”

A student screamed as Kranos wildly swung its front claws.

Thankfully, Daphne quickly deployed a barrier to block it.

「What the! The crossbow bolts are stuck?」

「They’re embedded in its hide!」

I pulled out my crossbow and fired it.

The bolt imbued with magic lodged itself in the beast’s hide.

Arrows fired by me and other students were already scattered across its surface.

From one side, scattered magic bullets and energy arrows battered Kranos’ body.

From the front, Lucian darted around, unleashing a barrage of small and large magical attacks.

A rain of flaming spears and energy blades pelted the beast, but it didn’t falter.

“Damn it! It’s tougher than the one we faced during the entrance ceremony! What’s going on?”

Lucian growled in frustration, dodging attacks.

Irene, locked in battle with Kranos’ sharp teeth, responded.

“The one we fought was relatively young. This one’s an adult! Its defense and magic resistance are incomparable!”

It hadn’t even been a few minutes into the battle, but several students were already injured.

Indeed, a mid-level beast—it was a living tank.

If we didn’t subdue it quickly, there might be fatalities.

I wondered if I had a weapon powerful enough to take it down in one blow.

The crossbow bolts imbued with magic weren’t working.

That likely meant bullets wouldn’t work either.

Close-range attacks with energy-infused strikes would fare better than the crossbow, but there was a risk.

I could easily end up shredded by its front legs or teeth, turning into chopped Violet.

We needed a powerful strike to incapacitate it before it could counter.

「Bombs! It has to be bombs!」

「This won’t work. It’s time to self-destruct.」

「Self-destruct! Self-destruct!」

My mind’s tactical command quickly formed a plan.

The strategy involved a bomb-laden Violet assault squad injuring Kranos, followed by a squad climbing the beast to stab its vital points with energy-infused strikes for the kill. ṟＡNɵᛒĚ𝐬

“Irene, tell the others to back off! If our unit joins the fight now, it’ll get too chaotic. It’s better if only we handle it!”

“Got it! You guys! All of you, fall back—”

As I prepared to summon the Violet squad, a loud sound tore through the air above me, accompanied by the flight of a white object.

It was too large to be an arrow—a projectile the size of a short spear struck Kranos in the neck.

-Boom!

“Groooar!”

Kranos let out a roar of pain.

Amazingly, a gaping wound appeared in its neck.

“Ah…ah… I hit it!”

When I turned around, I saw Levi, wide-eyed and trembling, holding a ballista larger than her own body.

「What? That attack worked!」

「Levi did it!」

Kranos, now injured and bleeding profusely from its neck, went berserk.

As the students backed off, a large male student wielding a poleaxe charged forward.

“Everyone, get out of the way!”

Granite’s magic-infused poleaxe clashed with Kranos’ ankle.

After a single impactful strike, Kranos’ ankle spewed blood and split more than halfway through.

“Urgh!”

Granite was kicked and sent flying, but Kranos collapsed as its ankle gave out.

「Looks like self-destruct won’t be necessary.」

「Now it’s our turn. Charge!」

The students had already distanced themselves from the beast.

The black-clad Violet squad dashed forward, climbing onto Kranos’ massive body.

They stabbed its vital points with swords and spears relentlessly.

-Roooaar!

Kranos’ life came to an end.

「We won! Though it feels like we only landed the final blow.」

「What happened to that big guy earlier?」

Granite, who had been kicked, was being treated and didn’t seem seriously injured.

As the battle ended and Daphne tended to the injured students, I surveyed the surroundings.

Faint noises continued to echo through the mist.

There were no signs of anything approaching yet.

「Weren’t there supposed to be few beasts here?」

「Exactly. Where did such a massive one come from?」

It didn’t make sense.

Weren’t the instructors supposed to have cleared the area?

Who knows what other beasts might be lurking beyond the mist?

It was truly perplexing.

Not a single student died in this battle.

That was because the fight ended quickly.

“Hey, why were you all like that yesterday? You could’ve done better. Your firepower is unnecessarily strong…”

“It was just luck. We’ll keep trying our best.”

“Are you forgiving us for yesterday?”

“What? Forgiveness? Don’t get the wrong idea. Do you know how much I suffered yesterday? I’ll never forgive it. Don’t misunderstand me!”

From under a tree, I could see Lucian’s party chatting.

As usual, Lucian was grumbling at his team members, but his tone was slightly softer than before.

The students overall seemed to be in high spirits.

Having taken down a powerful beast without injuries, everyone’s morale was high.

“Wow! So this is Kranos. It’s amazing.”

“Did you see how I dodged its tail earlier? It was like whoosh! It swung, and I just…”

“Idiot, didn’t you just run away the whole time?”

“Hey! When did I?!”

Unfortunately, the students’ high spirits didn’t last long.

Irene, the Hero Party, and I stepped outside to investigate the mist.

Despite firing signal flares and pressing the nearby panic button, the instructors hadn’t arrived.

The results of our cautious exploration crushed the students’ morale.

“Urgh…”

“It’s the instructor! Are you okay?”

“Daphne! Quickly, heal them—wait, why aren’t they breathing?”

“…It’s too late.”

Tragically, the instructors stationed in the dungeon had been wiped out by an unexpected horde of beasts.

The one surviving instructor was on the verge of death.

“Rest in peace.”

Daphne solemnly closed the eyes of the unnamed instructor.

Seeing the students’ distress, Irene, a student named Nathan, and I exchanged glances.

In a silent agreement, we decided not to mention the other instructors’ corpses.

「Any news from the outside? It’s chaos here!」

「I just met with Instructor Frederick. It’s messy over here too.」

Meanwhile, Violet No. 345 had reached the gate entrance.

The scene there was chaotic as well.

“Is this your clone ability? So it can connect the inside and outside of the dungeon? That’s fortunate. No one’s hurt, right? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. But the other instructors…”

Upon hearing No. 345’s words, Frederick swallowed hard.

His scarred face twisted grimly.

“Kranos appeared? There shouldn’t be Kranos in Cloris Forest. How did…”

“Still, we took it down without any injuries.”

I observed the gate entrance.

Engineers were working on stabilizing the gate using large, unfamiliar machines.

Nearby, individuals who seemed to be mages were deep in discussion.

“See those slowpokes? They’ve started the stabilization process. It’ll be done in half a day. In the worst-case scenario, the sealed dungeon gate will naturally open within a day or two. We’ll come to rescue you quickly, so tell the students to wait at the entrance. Got it?”

“Yes! I’ll let them know.”

Instructor Frederick sighed deeply.

“Good people always go like this…”

I relayed Frederick’s message to Irene.

She gathered the students and explained.

“They’re working to rescue us from the outside. We’ll be saved soon. Don’t worry too much, okay?”

A student raised a hand and asked.

“But what about food? We only had enough supplies for one day.”

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The students nodded in agreement.

“Leave that to me. The important thing is to stay close to this area. It’s dangerous to wander off. Got it? In situations like this, we have to stick together.”

Nathan and the Hero Party chimed in.

“Irene’s right! We need to cooperate.”

“She’s the first-year representative, so we should trust her.”

With students backing Irene up one by one, the others gradually calmed down.

Now, all that was left was to wait.

We stayed near the entrance, awaiting the rescue team.

A day passed.

The gate disappeared.