“Three in front of me! They’re coming at the same time!!!”
“Magic!! When will the magic be ready?!”
“Casting! Casting takes time! Give me some time!!”
“Hiep! Dao, help me!!!”
“Hooeop….!”
Rosaria was almost deafened by the shouting coming from all directions, but she took a deep breath to focus on the task in front of her first, and then she leapt forward, her muscles flexing as she ran.
“Hyaab!”
Pfft!
-Goohhhhh?!
She scrambled across the ground, barely dodging the goblin’s spear blade as she raced to Lascelles, and at the same time, she launched herself into the air, kicking one of the goblins right in the torso as it grinned smugly.
The goblin let out an inarticulate cry as Rosaria’s fast-flying kick sent it sprawling into the distance.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah…go, thank you…”
Looking up at Rosaria, who had saved his ass, Lascelles barely managed to squeeze out a thank you.
“If you don’t mind, hurry up and get to Rachel, it’ll buy us some casting time!”
“Huh?! Ah…. that…”
“C’mon!!!”
“Heehee!! Yes!!”
As if she didn’t have time for that, Rosaria hurriedly attached him to Rachel and ran off once more.
Her next stop was Gren, who was barely holding off three goblins with his sword, buying Rachel time to cast.
“Get your head down!!!”
Rosaria quickly grabbed the wooden spear with the rusted blade that the goblin she had kicked had been holding, shouted, and readied her javelin.
“What, what?!”
Whoosh-!
“Hmph?!”
But Gren, who had been wrestling with the goblins for a while now, heard the shout a beat too late, and as he ducked his head in urgency, the sensation of the spear’s blade brushing against his hair sent chills down his spine.
Fu-fuck-
-Goohhh?!
-Kek?!
-Creee?!
But it definitely worked.
Using the power of Ariel, who is basically a wind elemental, Rosaria was able to manipulate not just the bullets of her guns, but most of the ranges.
It wasn’t perfect guidance, as the bullets were larger and harder to maneuver, but it was enough to get the direction right, and the spear she threw pierced two goblins.
“Yi, Gae!”
Kwak-!
-Go…go black…!
One of the goblins, who barely managed to twist his head to avoid the spear, immediately scrambled to his feet, and Gren finished the job.
“All ready!!!”
Finally, Rachel gave the signal that her casting was complete.
“Move to the sides! Get out of the way!!!”
“Huuuup…!”
“Wha—?!”
Those battling the goblins quickly rolled to the side, clearing the path ahead.
“Lightning Bolt!!!”
In that instant, lightning burst forth from Rachel’s staff.
“Graaaack—?!!”
“…Is it… over?”
“Haa… Haa…!”
“They’re… they’re all dead, right? Right?”
The lightning, fanning out in an arc, scorched the goblins in front of them to ashes, leaving their bodies reduced to nothing but charred remains.
Soon, the goblins’ corpses turned to dust, scattering in the wind, leaving behind a dozen or so glowing mana cores.
Counting the mana cores they had already collected, the D-19 team had amassed dozens of them—a significant haul from the artificial dungeon.
The First Night in the Dungeon
After their fierce battle with the goblins, Rosaria’s group moved forward with noticeably more caution.
The pitch-black path ahead, devoid of even a sliver of sunlight, forced them to rely entirely on the dim glow of a magical lamp.
The mental strain of navigating such darkness while remaining on high alert for potential enemies began to wear them down.
Eventually, they failed to complete their planned route for the day, finding themselves forced to set up camp for the night.
With no other choice, the group decided to sleep outdoors. They chewed on jerky, soaked their rock-hard bread in water to make it barely edible, and shared a moment of appreciation for how delicious school meals suddenly seemed in comparison.
After a brief meal, they set up a watch rotation.
Using their cloaks as makeshift blankets and their uncomfortable blankets as pillows, those not on watch duty quickly drifted off to sleep, their exhaustion overcoming the cold, hard dungeon floor.
The first watch was Gren’s responsibility.
Gren, who had visited this dungeon before, was overly confident from his prior experience. Back then, he thought being on watch was hardly necessary, and that attitude hadn’t changed despite nearly falling to the goblins earlier that day.
He leaned against a wall, telling himself, ‘If something happens, the noise will wake me up anyway.’
That overconfidence proved disastrous.
Clink!
“Mm… What… what was that…?”
Gren, who had been dozing off, half-asleep, heard the faint sound of glass shattering nearby.
Slowly opening his bleary eyes, he found himself face-to-face with a green-skinned creature drooling as it stared at him.
“…Uh…?”
Lowering his gaze slightly, Gren saw what the goblin was holding: a jagged dagger, its blade embedded deep in his abdomen.
His vision blurred as the cold, stabbing pain spread through his body.
“D-damn it!!!!!!”
–Guhhek!
At the same time, a scream erupted reflexively as he thrust his hand forward. A goblin’s face twisted in pain as it tumbled backward, rolling over and over.
“Damn it!”
When he glanced at his wrist, one of the three brilliantly glowing Life Crystals had lost its light.
He’d been ambushed in his sleep and had lost one of his three lives.
“What…? Wh-what’s going on?”
“Huh, huh…?”
“Ugh…”
One by one, the rest of the group began to stir groggily at Glen’s shouting.
“Huh? Wh-what is that?!”
“A g-goblin!”
“Eek?!”
Seeing the goblin twitching faintly on the ground after being knocked out by Glen’s punch, the group sprang to their feet, startled.
But that was not the end of it.
–Kerrek!
–Krerrek…!
–Kek-kek!
“Ah, damn it.”
Rosaria muttered a curse under her breath as she spotted the goblins trudging toward them, now surrounding the group after their initial ambush succeeded.
Following that, Rosaria’s team endured wave after wave of goblin attacks.
This was already the fifth ambush.
Whenever they managed to fend off one wave, another group would charge in. The relentless assaults left them unable to sleep properly, forcing them to keep moving and fight furiously. As a result, their Life Crystals were gradually being drained.
Glen, fighting at the front, was down to a single Life Crystal, and the rest, including Rachel, had also lost one each.
“At this rate, we’ll collapse before we reach the center.”
Rosaria broke the silence as she picked up the magic cores left behind by the goblins after the latest wave.
She was right. In their current state, they had no hope of reaching the central zone. Far from arriving first to wait in ambush, they were far more likely to be wiped out along the way.
It wasn’t that the goblins were overwhelmingly powerful.
By now, they’d fended off numerous attacks, and although the goblins’ tactics had grown more realistic and precise, they were still goblins.
The real issue was stamina.
The group, except for Rosaria, was trembling uncontrollably, barely able to stand after wandering the dungeon for hours, fighting off periodic waves of goblins, and losing precious sleep.
‘If only I could use my gun… it would make things so much easier.’
Rosaria clicked her tongue regretfully as she recalled the sensation of the firearm strapped to her shoulder.
She’d brought it with her but had promised Felix before the test.
Her gun was fundamentally overpowered, well beyond academy standards. If she used it to clear the trial, it would be akin to cheating. She had agreed with Felix on that point.
So for this test, Rosaria imposed a constraint on herself: only one shot. She had self-imposed the constraint of using only one bullet.
Of course, even with the restriction, she still had plenty of time to spare.
Unlike the others, she was still fresh, and she realized that she could handle a goblin attack single-handedly if she really wanted to.
if she really meant it.
However, she knew there was no point in trying, so she made sure she had adequate support, and not just guns.
not just the guns, but the power.
I did this because, well, being strong is cool.
But now, it seems, his act has reached its limits.
“I’d rather focus on recovery first, and then try to survive.”
Rosaria’s words were met with disbelief from Rachel, who suggested a change in goal.
“At this rate, we’re likely to be disqualified, let alone pass.”
“That’s not…that’s right……! It’s too hard now! They’re above us now, and in position…! I’ve been running like crazy…man, I’m way off…”
He and Lascelles even suggested that they change their goal.
But.
“…Hit it.”
“Huh?”
“Shut up! Do you think that’s easier said than done!!!”
The problem is that Gren, the team’s leader, isn’t having it.
“What difference does it make if we change the plan here, we’re still killing them, and the others are still moving forward at this point?”
“But, the situation is…!”
“Well, in the first place, if it weren’t for that magic-using bitch of yours, we would have arrived long ago! It’s not like we were slowed down because of you!”
Gren, who was insisting on his own opinion over that of his teammates, began to bark ugly as he started to put his foot on Rachel’s speed.
“…Ha, now that’s ugly, don’t you realize that you’re the one who fell asleep in the middle of the night and caused the attack?”
“That, that’s…!”
Gren cringed as he was criticized for his mistake.
“If you’re a senior, if you want to be treated as such, shouldn’t you at least not look like this?”
“Shut up! Shut up!!!!”
He didn’t stop, and when I pushed him to the point, he started to glare.
“If you don’t want to listen to me, then why don’t you just get me out of here right now?”
Yikes.
The pride of seniority, the inferiority complex of being left behind by the other teammates, and the impatience of having only one Life Crystal left.
All three combined to push Gren into an argument that he didn’t even realize he was making.
And the aftermath of it all left him with his eyes rolled back in his head and his sword in its scabbard.
“….Now, you do realize what this means, don’t you?”
“Try that smug spell. I’ll cut through your cunt before it’s even magical.”
“You’re such a lowly, pathetic human being, I can’t even call you senior. How did someone like you get into this academy?!”
“I…I…that’s enough…!”
“You coward, stay out. If you don’t want to be looked at.”
“…..”
Even when voices were raised, it was tolerable—as long as no one crossed the line.
But Glen, of course, crossed it, and the already chilly atmosphere in the dungeon turned even colder.
The standoff between the two—each ready to swing a weapon or unleash magic at any moment—dragged on, tension mounting. Both Glen and Rachel’s palms grew slick with sweat.
“…..”
Watching the scene silently, Rosaria finally broke her stillness.
“Oh, screw this. I’m done. Not holding back anymore.”
Step, step—
“W-what do you think you’re doing?! Do you want to die too?!”
“Get out of the way! This has to be settled!”
Ignoring their shouts, Rosaria, her brows tightly furrowed, calmly stepped between them.
“…Anything goes in this trial except killing, right? Then team-killing is fine too, isn’t it?”
“What are you even talking about—”
Thunk!
“…Huh?”
“”Huh?””
Before Glen could finish his furious outburst, he vanished.
Or rather, “disappeared” was the more accurate term.
Rachel and Rasel blinked in confusion, their minds struggling to process the sudden disappearance of Glen. Moments later, a loud crash and shockwave drew startled screams from them.
Glen, equally stunned, found himself embedded in the dungeon wall. It was a bewildering experience for him—one moment, he’d blinked, and the next, he was stuck in the wall.
Clang—
“…Wha—? Huh?”
At the same time, the last remaining Life Crystal on his bracelet shattered into pieces.
Staring blankly at the now-lifeless bracelet, Glen didn’t even have time to process what had happened.
Suddenly—
Fwoosh—
“W-wait! What is this…?! Hey, hey!! Damn it!!!”
A glowing blue magic circle appeared on the floor beneath him, and his form began to fade.
It was the standard procedure: when all of a participant’s Life Crystals were destroyed, they were forcefully disqualified and teleported out of the dungeon via warp magic.
“You—I’ll—”
Whoosh!
Before Glen could finish his threat and charge, he let out a final, guttural cry as the warp spell took hold, whisking him away.
“Hmm… So this is what it feels like, huh?”
Rosaria watched the scene unfold with an expression that could only be described as indifferent.
“Hey.”
“….”
“….”
“Hey.”
“…Yes?”
“Yeah…?”
She turned her head and called out to the two people staring blankly at her.
“I’m the leader now. Anyone have a problem with that?”
Crunch—
Rosaria casually picked up a fragment of rock that had broken off when she smashed the dungeon wall. She tightened her grip as she looked at the two.
Crrrsh—
The two people, witnessing the strange magic that turned a solid object into powder, could only bow their heads repeatedly, as if overwhelmed by Rosaria’s wisdom and insight.