Chapter 103: Three-headed Demonic Wolf!

After officially entering the dungeon, Keti led the students at the very front, while Lynn and Richard brought up the rear.

“Ah… by the way, I forgot to tell you, Richard, I was just joking earlier.”

“Actually, Miss Keti and I are only friends, so please don’t misunderstand, and don’t bring this up to slander her. If you do, you’d be wrongly accusing her. I really don’t like seeing her feeling aggrieved for no reason.”

After a moment of silence, Lynn suddenly broke in with these words. Richard frowned slightly, then replied flatly:

“That has nothing to do with me, Lord Lynn. I don’t care about that. What truly needs to be verified is whether Keti has the ability to independently protect the students.”

“Don’t you think your demands are a bit much? There are so many people, and in a dungeon, the space is so cramped. Expecting Keti alone to keep all the students safe and unhurt? If something really does happen to the students, you’ll hardly escape responsibility…”

“I can do it. Even if Keti lets the situation spiral out of control, the monsters here… are nothing to me.”

Richard gave a dismissive laugh, but then looked at Lynn with serious eyes, and said with a hint of vigilance:

“For a teacher at the Academy of Magic, this is the most basic requirement. Even though Keti is just a teaching assistant, since she’s taking your place now, she must be up to the task!”

“Still… I’m afraid that’s very difficult. I will step in and clear out the monsters when Keti proves herself incapable in front of the students, ending this test. As long as… Lord Lynn, you don’t interfere in this test.”

“Hmph… well, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.” Lynn tilted his head.

“Relax, relax, I said I won’t step in, and that’s because I trust Keti. But, by the way, Miss Keti is an alchemist, after all. She might just have some powerful tools on her~”

Hmm?

A flash of displeasure immediately flickered in Richard’s eyes. After a moment, he just snorted coldly, and continued walking forward in silence.

***

Whoosh—

As they walked down the narrow dungeon path, a sudden chill swept from behind. Moments later, Keti, at the head of the group, stopped in her tracks.

Not far ahead, from within the shadows, a series of emerald-green eyes began to appear. Roars and snarls echoed from all directions.

Countless Magic Beast Wolves with pitch-black bodies and green pupils slowly emerged from the darkness.

Judging by the numbers, there were at least a dozen or so, and each of these wolves bore three bizarre heads on its shoulders.

As they faced the group of people, their eyes brimmed with greedy, savage hunger.

“Hiss—”

“Ahhhhh~—”

Confronted by these hostile monsters, the students of Class 25 turned pale, their legs trembling uncontrollably as they retreated.

They bitterly regretted not faking illness to get out of this, though even if they had, Instructor Richard would never have approved a leave. Still… at the very least, they could have skipped class!

Meanwhile, in the chatroom outside the dungeon, the atmosphere had grown tense.

[My goodness, what bad luck. The first monster group is actually an elite pack of three-headed Magic Beast Wolves. If it were a group of slimes or magic rats, it’d be much easier to handle.]

[Most adventurer parties would just quit and reset the dungeon at this point! Might as well wait for another team to clear out this batch and respawn the next…]

[Guys, I’ve never been in this dungeon before. These three-headed Magic Beast Wolves look terrifying. Are they really that tough?]

[Of course! Out of all the first-wave monsters, these are the hardest to deal with—fast, razor-sharp teeth, their bites are deadly, and they can attack three people at once. It’s easy for them to lose aggro and strike at the back line.]

[Plus, with so many people here, the monsters’ magical strength is probably going to spike to a terrifying level. I bet it’ll be hard to even take down one!]

[So many students… Are they all going to be wolf food today? Tsk tsk, this is getting interesting~!]

[They’ll probably have to retreat… But then again, they might not even make it out!]

“Teacher Keti, should we… should we retreat for now? These monsters’ magical power… is so strong…”

Snapping back to her senses at a student’s trembling voice behind her, Keti only gave a calm smile. Retreat, huh? What retreat?

She’d fought monsters like these more times than she could count—she had plenty of experience!

With that, Keti stood firm. At the same time, the pack of three-headed Magic Beast Wolves grew agitated. The lead wolf let out a ferocious howl, then charged straight toward Keti!

“Summon: Meat Wall Fortress!”

In an instant, the silver-haired girl tossed out a summoning item—shaped like one of those novelty eggs—that Lynn had given her.

The charging three-headed wolf snapped it up in its jaws and crushed it, only to be met the next second by a brilliant flash of light bursting in the air…

A grotesque, indescribable mass of pure muscle exploded forth, bursting the three-headed wolf’s body apart.

Blood sprayed everywhere, and the intense scent of it only made the surrounding Magic Beast Wolves even wilder; instead of retreating, they all charged the Meat Wall Fortress en masse!

Good!

This was exactly the effect Keti wanted. Her archenemy’s invention was as reliable as ever—the aggro-pulling effect really was impressive!

At once, the silver-haired girl took out a Potion of Spellcasting she’d prepared in advance and gulped it down.

“Potion of Spellcasting—Ice Bow!”

After swallowing the potion, Keti took a deep breath, then pulled out her usual weapon: a light bow.

Mana flowed instantly from her fingertips to the arrowhead, and as soon as she loosed the string, a biting cold magical force followed the arrow, hurtling toward the frenzied three-headed wolves swarming the Meat Wall Fortress!

The instant the arrow struck, icy crystals shot through the three-headed wolf’s organs. No matter how many heads it had, the creature could only collapse with a piercing wail.

And there was another effect to this potion: each attack also froze the ground, and the chilling air would slow the wolves’ attacks considerably.

Simply put—it slowed them down!

Soon, with just a few shots from the girl’s bow, the three-headed wolf pack could barely move. Their vaunted speed was now completely useless against Keti’s specialized countermeasures.

The only pity was that, for some reason, Keti found her own strength waning. After only a few bowstrings drawn, her stamina was already flagging.

It seemed that taking down all the monsters herself would be rather exhausting.

She’d have to count on the students. Well… that’s to be expected. After all, in name, this was also supposed to be a practical lesson for the students—it wouldn’t do for her to handle everything herself.