Chapter: 305
As the dungeon door swung open early in the morning, Arthur burst in, overflowing with resentment towards Lucy.
That crazy punk!
How many times have I told them not to set the difficulty based on themselves? What the hell is this!
What kind of opponent is this, stronger than anything I’ve faced the moment I stepped in?
I sensed something was off from the first soldier I faced, but this knight at the end of the room? It was levels beyond!
Isn’t this already a monster beyond the capability of a working knight?
“Third Prince!”
“I know!”
Twisting his body to dodge the knight’s sword, Arthur slammed his prepared fire magic into the knight’s face.
BOOM! With an explosion, gray smoke billowed up.
Arthur thought the magic would surely deal a fair amount of damage since he aimed to burst their face, but his expectations were completely off.
Bursting through the gray smoke, the knight’s face looked so fine, it was hard to believe they got hit by magic!
“Damn it!”
Seeing the knight charging at him, Arthur lightened his body with wind magic, narrowly avoiding the knight’s sword.
From the start, blocking was never an option.
The gap in strength between the knight and Arthur was so massive that a feeble defense would lead to death.
As Arthur gritted his teeth in a cornered position, Frey appeared from behind the knight, targeting its neck.
Blessed with Phoebe’s buff, Frey resembled a beast shaped by the wind. No matter how overwhelming the knight’s spec, ignoring her sword was impossible.
As the knight took a step back to respond to Frey’s attack, Arthur finally got a breather.
“Joy! Are you done yet?”
“Almost there!… Casting completed!”
“Good! Frey!”
“Understood!”
Responding, Frey adorned her sword with aura and unleashed the strongest single strike she could muster.
CLANG! The sudden deadly blow bewildered the knight as well.
With the knight’s eyes widened beneath the helmet, they desperately raised their sword, successfully blocking Frey’s hit, but lost the chance to react to what came next.
“Burn!”
A red magic circle was inscribed at the knight’s feet, and scarlet flames erupted from it, engulfing them.
ARGH!
In a heat akin to the flames of a forge melting iron, a voice of pain escaped the usually stoic knight.
If that were an ordinary human, they would have been consumed by the flames by now, but the knight was no ordinary human.
Before long, as if they adapted to the heat, they gritted their teeth and swung their sword, severing the magic circle.
As the flames scattered, the knight emerged, huffing.
“Was that not enough?”
With a frown, Arthur clicked his tongue, gripping his sword tightly just as the knight smiled beneath the helmet.
“Excellent. You have passed the test.”
The knight explained that they could exit through the door ahead, then sheathed their sword, vanishing like a mirage.
One by one, all the knights that filled the training grounds disappeared.
“I feel like I’m going to die.”
Was it really safe? Frey, who had been on the front lines until just a moment ago, immediately lay down on the floor without a second thought.
“Frey Kent. Don’t let your guard down.”
Didn’t Arthur find her behavior unsatisfactory? He frowned and reprimanded her, but Frey just plugged her ears as if she couldn’t hear him and stayed put.
“Hey. Until Joy finishes checking…”
“It’s fine, your Highness. I just finished checking. This place is now safe.”
“See? It’s safe, your Highness.”
“…Tch.”
With a light click of his tongue, Arthur sheathed his sword and slumped down with a long sigh.
“Since we don’t know where to target, the suggestion to attack the armor as a whole was valid. Good job, Joy.”
“That wasn’t my idea. It was Phoebe’s suggestion. I only acted on it.”
“No. Had it not been for Joy’s magic, execution wouldn’t even have been possible.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, Joy. Your contribution is significant.”
“Right? The flames were super impressive and hot.”
As the other three praised her one after another, Joy hurriedly covered her mouth with a fan, not wanting to reveal her loose smile.
She probably hated showing her relaxed laughter.
The only thing she didn’t expect was that her eyes would also soften with a smile.
Watching Joy’s face with satisfaction, Arthur chuckled lightly and checked the time.
Having only just barely passed the first room, was it already time for the first test?
“Lucy Allen. What on earth was that punk thinking making the dungeon’s difficulty like this?”
Even with the four highest abilities of the first years at Soul Academy gathered, they had to struggle to clear the first room.
This meant most of the students would probably experience failure in this space and be kicked out of the dungeon.
“The Dungeon Studies Professors are the same. If Lucy Allen throws a fit, what are they even doing controlling her, cheering her on?”
If the first room was already this bad, how much harder would it get as they moved further in?
There was no way they would have opened the dungeon for final exams without a good reason.
Without such a deadline, they probably wouldn’t have been able to attempt a proper strategy. While Arthur grumbled, Phoebe softly comforted him with her signature gentle voice.
“Still, it’s not all bad. With this level of difficulty, the senior students will have a hard time too.”
“…That’s true. If the first-year exam is this hard, what kind of monsters are the upper grades facing?”
This knight was the one Frey Kent and Arthur had struggled against, even wielding the Saintess’s support.
The upper grades must face challenges far tougher; could ordinary second or third years handle that?
…Empathy for them unavoidably blossomed.
“Your Highness.”
“What is it, Joy?”
“Are you going to proceed further, or are you going back?”
“…Hmm.”
Thinking about the time it took to clear the first room, defeating the second room before the other tests began seemed impossible.
“It’s better to proceed for now.”
Still, it was right to move forward. Given the dungeon’s structure, the strategy would likely turn into a long battle.
So, even if it meant failing, it would be better to etch the next room in their minds and find clues to strategize.
“Then we should start moving. If we waste time, we might miss the other tests.”
“Right. Frey, get up. It’s time to move.”
“Ugh…”
Pulling up the reluctant Frey, they moved on, and ten minutes later—
Just before getting bitten by the giant wolf’s teeth, Arthur was sent outside and confirmed his neck was intact, sighing in relief while lowering his head.
“…Lucy Allen!”
And he resolved in his heart.
If he succeeded in conquering the dungeon, he would leave an unforgettable, horrific nightmare in Lucy Allen’s mind.
*
Lunchtime on the day of the final exam.
Having finished the Kingdom History exam, I skipped along, heading towards the Dungeon Studies exam.
When Grandpa refused to cooperate, I seriously thought about just guessing everything. After all, this test didn’t matter much anyway.
The penalty for failing would just mean not receiving the rewards given by the Academy, and to me right now, they weren’t significant.
But then, thinking of the unfortunate possibility of screwing up the exam, I realized I couldn’t just mess around with preparation.
Is Joy getting more full of herself?
That’s fine; it’s cute.
Whoop whoop. Great job. I can laugh it off.
Arthur flexing his shoulders feels the same.
That irked me a bit, but it’s still within tolerance.
If he gets too annoying, I can just crank up the training intensity.
But I absolutely can’t forgive Frey calling it “sloppy” with her expressionless face.
If that punk laughs as if it’s all a joke, I swear I might smack her with a mace infused with divine magic.
Determined to prepare for the exam for Frey’s safety, I approached my somewhat clueless slave number two, Avery, to ask about the exam scope.
I hadn’t assumed our useless slave would know all the exam ranges; my plan was to make her research hard and deliver it to me.
But she surprisingly knew everything I asked about the exam scope.
With a personality like that of a troublesome villainess, why the heck does she study so hard?
It’s truly annoying. At this rate, I look like the only lazy piece of trash.
“Why are you getting mad when I answered properly!… No, I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’ll apologize.”
Anyway, based on the exam scope Avery provided, I… didn’t study. Instead, I legally attempted to cheat using the log function.
How can cheating be legal, you ask?
Of course, it can be legal. It’s legal as long as you don’t get caught, right?
That’s common sense.
If you didn’t know before, learn it from now.
Anyway, using the log function, I successfully passed the first test and headed to where the Dungeon Studies exam was taking place to check how my created dungeon was doing.
If the Dungeon Studies professors and teaching assistants praised it in unison, the academy students would surely be impressed too, right?
“Hey hey! What do you think about this dungeon!”
“Lady Allen is amazing!”
“I thought she was only good at strategies, but she’s great at creation too!”
As I stepped into the entrance of the dungeon, expecting that response, the scene there was utterly different from what I had hoped.
“How many times did you die in there?”
“I’ve tried over twenty times and still can’t clear the first room.”
“Seriously, what was behind the creation of this dungeon?”
That place looked like a hell filled with despair and resentment.
“The second room is even worse. Ugh, my hands are still shaking.”
“My friend wet himself and went to change clothes.”
“Is that your story?”
“No, it’s my friend’s!”
“Ugh. I missed my exam while strategizing the dungeon. I feel like committing suicide.”
There existed no admiration for the dungeon among those whining on the floor.
What filled their voices was pure hatred. Only hatred.
“I really want to kill the punk who made this dungeon.”
“I heard it was the Allen family’s young lady.”
“Do you believe that? They probably just got a free ride from the professors.”
“Then does that mean the target for the beating should be the Dungeon Studies professors?”
“Seriously?”
“If I could, I would’ve loved to.”
The atmosphere was like they would tie up the dungeon creator to a tree and burn them at the stake, so I quietly stepped back.
It was obvious I would face dire consequences if I started babbling nonsense.
…
For the time being, I should refrain from wandering around at night.
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