Chapter 52: The Saintess of Calamity and the Puppeteer Part 2

“Yeah. I can understand.”

It’s the impulsive desire to sweep through the dungeon.

Yeah, that’s possible.

But still, dying is not an option.

In another sense, these ones have become more difficult to deal with than the previous ones.

At least the nobles were easier to handle.

The satisfaction of beating them was second to none.

But these guys… they’re a hassle to manage.

From the saint’s perspective, I can’t just rule over them with force without reason.

“Wait a moment.”

“In this situation, if I stop them unnecessarily, they might protest.

If I end up fighting with them, things will just become a hassle.

So, it would be better to come up with a way to clear the dungeon as much as possible.”

She placed her hand on the traces of mana and magic left on the floor.

Following the flow, the deeper she went, the stronger the traces became.

And at the center of it all was Zerato.

“Sigh.”

Atlerina’s second-year practical dungeon ended up being Zerato’s dungeon.

To be honest, I want to be happy about this.

‘Why?’

Because that Zerato bastard is damn good at running away.

The Four Kings still had their pride, so they fought back and only escaped after getting thoroughly beaten and losing all their subordinates.

Especially Pector, who got absolutely wiped by me.

But Zerato… this bastard, when it comes to running, he’s a pro.

So, in a sense, it’s now easy to kill him since he’s hiding deep in the lower levels.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing.”

I want to block the entrance right now and burn his mouth with fire, but since the mana circuits are burned out, Zerato must have gained some power with the help of traitor Clanis.

After Noah disappeared, he must have considered this his world and infiltrated the empire.

Yeah. Looking at it this way, it seems like we could kill him.

“Saint! Let’s go down immediately!”

“Let’s wipe them all out!”

These madmen are getting excited.

I’m the Saint, Ashtar, and I’m leading the students.

If any of them die or get hurt in the dungeon, it’s all my fault.

In other words, I have to protect them while fighting.

The difficulty level just spiked.

I could deploy defense magic, but if Zerato’s the type who would sacrifice his life to take someone down, I’d be left defenseless.

I’m thinking of ending it with a big magic blast, but if I do that, these idiots might get caught in it and die.

The fact is, I need to wipe them out while protecting them and ensuring the dungeon doesn’t go berserk.

“Should I just destroy everything?”

There’s a way to sweep them all away without looking at the mess.

But I can’t just let it go now that we’ve come this far.

It’s not impossible to deal with these reckless idiots while making our way out.

I glanced at the puppeteer beside me.

She doesn’t know my inner thoughts and just smiles slyly.

Her help is desperately needed right now.

“Syria.”

“Yes, Saint.”

“Use your puppet magic to send them outside.”

Using Syria’s puppets to control the students is one way.

Her expression turned serious then.

“Do you really mean that?”

“Yes.”

“In other words, you want the saint to purify this place, right?”

“That’s right.”

Syria nodded.

“But I don’t want to.”

“Huh?”

“Is this the time for jokes?”

“No, well, of course, right? You’d get to see the Saint in action, so why bother?”

“What the hell?”

“So, you’re trying to make me do everything alone?”

“More importantly, I can’t just use magic recklessly.”

“What? The one who always carries puppets with her can’t use magic?”

“Listen to me while I’m being nice.”

“I mean I can’t use it on the students. It’s a decision made by the elders of the Magic Tower.”

“The Magic Tower?”

“Think about it. If I use magic now, wouldn’t it upset the balance of Atlerina?”

Certainly, considering Syria’s prowess in battle, it’s understandable that she can’t use magic recklessly.

“No, but isn’t this an exception?”

“A magician of my level can’t go against the elders’ wishes. If I were a low-ranking magician, I’d just get kicked out for breaking the agreement, but this is a particularly crucial time for me.”

I guess I wasn’t just sent from the Magic Tower to Atlerina for nothing.

“Is this some kind of magician’s contract?”

“Yes. It’s a magician’s contract.”

‘A magician’s contract… that means Syria is basically useless now.’

“Promises are important, but for magicians, they carry even more weight.”

“Especially those affiliated with the Magic Tower; they’re incredibly proud.”

“Why are they so proud?”

“Because they’re magicians. Magic itself is a difficult skill to master, so when you wield it, you have to carry yourself with a certain dignity.”

“That’s why magicians make contracts that are tied to their pride.”

“Breaking those contracts causes their reputation to plummet.”

‘For someone like Syria, with her skills, she’s probably aiming for the head position at the Magic Tower.’

“So, what happens if she breaks a magician’s promise?”

“She’ll have to give up that position.”

In other words…

“You’re really useless. Both now and back then.”

“She’s really become useless.”

“Excuse me?”

“Ah, I just thought it would be like that.”

For a moment, I unintentionally mentioned the past.

Considering Syria’s intelligence, it didn’t seem like she’d just let it slide.

Surprisingly, Syria had a simple side to her.

“Wow, you’re really doing this. Isn’t it a bit much to blatantly ignore me like this?”

“No, damn it.”

I was still serious.

“D-Did you just curse?”

“Whatever, they all know anyway. Let’s just keep it civil, okay?”

“It’d be better for both of us if we were civil, right?”

“Ugh, you’re really too much.”

“I know you’re not actually crying. Be quiet before I rip all your hair out. I’m really going to have to step in at this rate.”

‘At this point, I’d already gone too far.’

There was no need to worry about maintaining the saint’s dignity.

I clapped my hands to gather the students in one spot.

“I have something to say about magic and all of you.”

“There’s nothing to say here, right? This isn’t a stable, you know.”

Damn it.

I couldn’t hold back anymore.

I grabbed Syria’s head and slammed it into the wall.

Bang!

As Syria dangled from the wall, the students finally quieted down.

“Phew, finally, it’s quiet. Anyway, we have an emergency here.”

“An emergency, what do you mean?”

“It’s simple.”

This dungeon is full of magic.

The dungeon is a five-floor structure, and from the fourth floor down, it’s completely covered in magic.

That means it’s really bad right now.

“What does that mean?”

“In short, if you go down there, your body will be bruised all over, and you’ll bleed to death from every hole in your body.”

That’s the power of magic.

Even an ordinary person—no, even a skilled mage or someone who can handle mana—would struggle to survive the magic on the fifth floor.

“Does that mean we can’t fight the monsters?”

Normally, it’d be better not to fight them.

But they’re at that age where their blood is boiling.

And most of them come from aristocratic families or military backgrounds, so they probably want to try something.

If I told them not to, they’d definitely throw a tantrum.

In that case, it’s better to negotiate.

“Up to the third floor should be manageable. I have a proposal for you all.”

“What is it?”

I was trying to set some conditions before they completely lost control.

“There’s a boss in the area full of magic. And it’s a being that you’ll never be able to defeat at your current level.”

“No, you’re underestimating us.”

One of them tried to argue, but I pointed to Syria, still stuck in the wall.

Seeing her dangling was actually kind of funny.

I wanted to lift her skirt and smack her on the butt, but such cruel punishment would be barbaric, so I refrained.

Looking closely, I could see she was still twitching, so she was still alive.

I approached her and used mana to fix her body to the wall, binding her in place.

It was a Mana Restraining Spell.

“Try pulling out this ‘thing’ stuck here. If you can, we’ll get started.”

“Is she… alive?”

‘She should be alive for now.’

“If she were dead, she wouldn’t be a future candidate for Master of the Magic Tower, would she? Try pulling it out. If you can, we’ll get moving.”

“Wait, it’s not coming out?”

“Well, of course not. I locked it with mana.”

That’s to be expected.

I had trapped Syria inside using mana.

She probably realized my intentions, as she wasn’t struggling to get out.

She just seemed stuck there.

“Well, this is…”

“This is training with mana.”

It’s training to pull Syria out using mana.

***

‘Rewards?’

“Being able to walk through magic-filled areas could be reward enough, right?”

“So, this means we have to use mana to pull her out?”

“Yes. It’s basically a lesson in magic engineering. It shouldn’t be too bad.”

“I wasn’t offering any rewards, but I wasn’t against helping out either.”

“We don’t really understand, though. How does this work?”

“That’s a good question. In fact, Syria could be easily pulled out if not for the mana surrounding her. Right now, I’ve lightly fixed Syria’s body and the wall with mana. The mana restraints can only be undone with mana. You all need to use your mana to undo this.”

Since they were a reasonably intelligent group, I thought they’d manage it quickly.

‘About four hours, I guess?’ That’s how much time I’d give them.

“But shouldn’t we hurry?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Really?”

I secretly activated Havel’s hourglass.

“Time magic is in effect.”

“Does that mean you…”

I could tell them if I wanted, but I thought they’d work harder if I let them believe it was the dungeon boss’ doing.

So, I’m going to use Zerato.

Zerato wouldn’t even know it, but he’s the one who’ll unknowingly become the one who cast the time magic.

“A dungeon master’s trick, probably.”

Zerato, you’ve just turned against Atlerina.

It was true that he was already an enemy, being part of the Demon Lord’s army.

‘But having students beat him up would probably be a blow to his ego, wouldn’t it?’

That guy was unnecessarily insecure.

Yet, even with that insecurity, he was quite good at running away when I beat him.

“Oh, so it was the dungeon boss who did this?”

“Yeah, it’s called a time trap.”

It’s not unheard of in high-level dungeons.

For example, there could be a room where time moves extremely slowly.

If you enter such a room, time moves slowly, and unless you disable the trap, the time difference between the inside and outside grows.

“Time trap. That sounds tough.”

“To use such a high-level trap on mere students…”

Zerato deserved every bit of criticism.

“That’s how pathetic he is. At least the boss is dumb enough to let the trap reset after some time. So, we’ll train with mana for now. Use your mana to slowly melt away the mana restraints around Syria.”

We need to be able to withstand the magic.

“If we do this, what’s the benefit?”

“The better you manage your mana, the longer you can withstand the magic.”

If they train a bit, they should survive.

It’ll probably just make them feel a bit queasy.

At least, they should be fine up to the fourth floor.

The fifth floor is another story.

“Does this mean we can clear the dungeon safely?”

They were asking questions, but it was more about the experience.

Rather than explaining it all, it’s better for them to figure it out themselves.

I pointed to Syria, still stuck in the wall.

“Let’s aim for the fourth floor first. Pull her out.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Thus began the real effort to pull Syria out.