“Has the mana interference started yet?”
“The mana flow has been completely severed!”
“There were several magic circles set up, but they all got cut off at the same time? Does that even make sense?!”
“What about contact with the students?!”
“Impossible! No matter how much mana I send through, there’s no response!”
As the two, shocked by the news of an intruder, rushed into the room being used as the exam supervision headquarters to report the situation, they found that the professors were already scrambling around in a panic, raising their voices.
“Ah, Professor Lumillion! Even Professor Felix is here!”
“What’s going on?!”
“The connection to the artificial dungeon has been completely severed!”
“…What?”
Lumillion’s expression instantly hardened at the response. Not once had something like this ever happened during an artificial dungeon exam, this was a full-blown disaster.
It wasn’t just a minor issue in one part of the dungeon; the entire interaction with the artificial dungeon had been completely cut off. This was far from a simple problem.
“Have you contacted the headmaster?”
“The headmaster is in the capital for the regular report. Of all times, this had to happen now…!”
To make matters worse, the academy’s top authority on magic was absent when this crisis struck.
“The students’ safety is the biggest concern. It’s not just that we’ve lost contact, we can’t even assess the situation inside…”
“Do you have any idea what caused this?”
“That’s the problem! We have no clue! The maintenance period for the magic circles hasn’t even passed yet!”
“Then what do we do now…?”
Faced with a situation that was spiraling further out of control, Lumillion stood frozen. He had no idea what to do next.
And neither did the other professors at that moment.
“Wait a moment.”
Felix, who had remained silent until now, stepped forward.
Swoosh—
He placed his hand on the magic circle most crucially linked to the artificial dungeon.
“……”
“…..”
As soon as Felix made his move, the chaotic room fell into silence, and every gaze turned toward him.
In the past, he might have been scolded for messing around in a moment of crisis.
But now, everyone in this room knew that Felix wasn’t just some rich fool who bought his way up the ranks, he was a highly skilled mage.
After all, he had suggested the most improvements for this exam and was the one responsible for the core magic circles controlling the artificial monsters.
Because of that, a flicker of hope sparked in the professors’ minds.
They held their breath, waiting for Felix’s next move.
Lumillion, standing beside him, was no different.
“…This is!”
“What? Do you know what’s wrong?”
“Do you understand what’s happening?”
As Felix, who had kept his eyes shut, suddenly opened them and spoke in shock, curiosity and anticipation surged toward him.
“This isn’t just a simple severance of mana flow.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The mana flow appears to be severed, but in reality, it’s been cleverly concealed. Someone deliberately set a trap.”
“It looks completely disconnected at first glance, but in truth, the connection is still intact.”
“How… how did you figure that out…? Even the other professors couldn’t detect it.”
One of the professors murmured in disbelief, finding it almost absurd that Felix had noticed something they had all overlooked.
“More importantly! Can it be restored?”
Regaining their senses, the professors hurriedly asked the most crucial question, could the system be repaired and the students’ safety ensured?
“…This must have taken a lot of effort. The layered interference is doubled, no, tripled in some areas. The sheer malice behind it is overwhelming…”
“T-Then! Could this be the intruder’s doing?!”
“Intruder? What do you mean by that?”
Felix, stunned by the depth of the malicious magic, couldn’t even bring himself to give a definite answer.
Meanwhile, Lumillion, realizing she had momentarily forgotten the presence of the intruder due to the urgency of the situation, quickly explained the reason they had rushed to the room.
As the explanation unfolded, the professors’ faces drained of all color. What started as shock turned into sheer horror.
“…If that’s true, this is an even bigger problem! If this isn’t just an accident, but a deliberate attack targeting the students…”
“The longer we delay, the greater the danger to the students!”
In truth, this wasn’t the first time incidents targeting academy students had occurred.
The academy, being a gathering place for noble heirs from across the empire, was naturally prone to conflicts.
There had been bloody incidents throughout its history, often stemming from succession disputes or feuds between rival noble families.
However, thanks to the academy’s increasingly sophisticated security measures, such incidents had been nearly nonexistent for the past fifty years.
This event, happening under such circumstances, was unprecedented.
Over a hundred students remained inside the artificial dungeon, including heirs from prestigious families.
Among them was Rosaria Evergarden, Felix’s own younger sister.
Never in the academy’s history had such a large-scale crisis, involving so many students, ever occurred.
“Hah…”
As the professors fell into panic, Felix focused even more intently.
‘Why is this happening?’
‘This incident was never mentioned in the original story!’
Despite maintaining a composed exterior, Felix was deeply shaken.
An event of this scale should have been noted in the original storyline. As far as he knew, the artificial dungeon continued operating without issue even the following year, when the protagonist enrolled.
That meant this incident was a complete deviation from the original plot.
Up until now, Felix had navigated events with confidence, knowing roughly what would happen next. But this unexpected crisis had thrown everything into chaos.
‘What’s the goal here? What are they trying to achieve…? No, this isn’t the time for that.’
‘The most pressing issue is how to break through this situation. That’s what I need to focus on.’
There was no time to dwell on unnecessary thoughts.
Even at this very moment, the students inside were in danger, including his own sister.
‘To have hidden these layers of interference so thoroughly, and to have chosen this moment, when the headmaster was away…’
‘This isn’t some random act of sabotage. This was a meticulously planned crime, prepared over a long period of time.’
“Hmm… The circuit itself isn’t severely damaged, but we have to find a way to break through the magic circle that’s covering it.”
“But simply reverse-engineering the circuit won’t work. If we try to brute-force it, it’ll take days…! That would be far too late.”
Felix examined the circuit that the intruder had set up once again.
The design itself could be neutralized by drawing a counteracting magic circle using a dispel technique.
However, to do that, he had to fully decipher every stroke of the magic circle the intruder had placed in this artificial dungeon.
He would also have to activate a corresponding counter-circle for each one.
But even understanding such a vast magic formation would take more than a day, and replicating an equally massive magic circle was another challenge altogether.
And they had far too little time for that.
Even at this moment, the students were facing a grave crisis at the hands of an unknown entity.
“Damn…! Damn it…! What should I do?”
“If I could just force it open with an overwhelming amount of mana and set up a new warp gate… But how…?”
“Even if we gathered all the professors’ mana, it would still take too long.”
As Felix racked his brain, failing to come up with a viable solution, cold sweat dripped down his forehead.
“H-how is it looking?”
“…It’s no use. No matter what we do, it’ll take several days at least.”
“I-is there no other way?”
“As far as I know… No.”
“T-that can’t be…!”
Felix shook his head at Lumillion’s desperate plea, indicating there was no solution.
“…..Professor Felix, if you’re saying that, then unless we bring in a dragon, there really must be no way.”
“…Wait, what did you just say?”
“H-huh?!”
At that moment, Felix, who had been sighing in resignation, suddenly felt a jolt of realization surge through him.
He urgently grabbed Lumillion by the shoulders.
“W-what’s gotten into you all of a sudden!?”
“What did you just say!?”
“I-I said unless we bring in a dragon, there’s no way….”
“…Ha, haha…! Hahahaha!!!!”
“D-did you just lose it?! Are you okay?”
Hearing Lumillion repeat those words, Felix lowered his head for a moment before suddenly tilting it back and bursting into wild laughter.
“…It’s not your fault. There’s nothing that can be done….”
Seeing Felix’s near-manic laughter, Lumillion hesitated, assuming he had finally lost his mind from the guilt of being unable to protect the students.
But……
‘Wait, why didn’t I think of that? There is a dragon! And it’s right here!!’
Felix’s laughter wasn’t from despair.
It was the laughter of joy of having finally found the crucial ‘key’ to breaking through this situation.
“Professor Lumillion.”
“Yes?”
“I have a favor to ask.”
“W-what is it?”
Felix wiped the last traces of laughter from his face, his gaze turning sharp and serious as he locked eyes with Lumillion.
“Can you bring someone to me?”
“Someone…?”
Matching Felix’s intensity, Lumillion repeated his words, trying to make sense of what she had just heard.
“Hehe… This time, I think I did a pretty good job?”
Tene mumbled to herself excitedly, wagging her hips as she lifted up the freshly washed laundry.
It had already been a few weeks since she arrived at the academy.
At first, she struggled to adapt to the duties of a servant, tearing the laundry multiple times while handwashing it.
But now, she was getting the hang of it, washing everything neatly without a single hole.
Feeling proud of herself for taking another step forward as a first-class attendant, Tene smiled.
“…Wait, is this really something to be happy about?”
Just as she was about to admire her work, a sudden realization hit her.
The reason she came to the academy was to witness its incredible lessons firsthand like something straight out of Hogwarts.
Yet, after arriving, she hadn’t spent most of her time marveling at amazing lectures or enjoying fun moments with peers.
Instead, the thing she faced the most… was endless piles of laundry.
Her most improved skill wasn’t magic but handwashing clothes.
Letting out a bitter sigh, Tene couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment.
Sure, she had volunteered to be a servant to follow someone here.
But lately, she had become so caught up in her daily routine that she had completely forgotten her original goal.
“Ugh… If this was how it was going to be, I should’ve just stayed at the estate…”
Feeling a wave of self-awareness crash over her, Tene sighed deeply.
Just then.
“Hey! Over here!”
“Huh… Me?”
“You’re Tene, right?”
“Uh… Yeah, that’s me. What’s going on?”
A maid dressed in the same servant uniform ran toward her in a hurry, calling out her name.
Hearing this, Tene tilted her head in confusion.
“Someone’s looking for you.”
“…Who?”
At the maid’s answer, Tene furrowed her brows, feeling even more puzzled.