Chapter: 308
After about thirty minutes, Arthur succeeded in breaking through the first room and loosened his shoulders as he watched the scattered knights.
“Looks like you’ve gotten used to attacking the first room.”
When they first stepped into the dungeon, Arthur and his party took several hours just to breach the first room.
They had to figure out the dungeon’s gimmicks one by one while dealing with numerous soldiers and knights in a state of utter confusion.
But not anymore. Now that they knew how to pass each obstacle, they were sufficiently skilled to conquer the first room without even a small scratch.
“The difference between knowing and not knowing the gimmicks is huge.”
Joy shrugged at the ended battle before she even had a chance to use her magic, and Arthur smiled wryly.
“Well, Lucy Allen must have set it up so that all students can conquer this dungeon, after all. There’s a big difference between knowing and not knowing the strategy.”
Strength and weakness aren’t all that important.
She must have designed it so that anyone could pass through the room if they recognized the gimmicks for conquering it.
If not, it would have been impossible for this grotesque dungeon to be a part of the exam questions. “The second room ahead will probably be the same. Let’s go.”
None of the party members expressed doubt at Arthur’s suggestion.
When they were with Lucy, facing trials worse than this was a daily occurrence, so they naturally thought this was a cakewalk.
As soon as they stepped into the second room.
Phoebe brightened the surroundings with light and cast various buffs on the party members.
Joy created several magic circles around her so that she could cast magic at any moment.
Frey held her sword tightly with both hands, remaining alert and ready to move at a moment’s notice.
However, Arthur did nothing. He simply rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, leisurely scanning his surroundings.
“Your Highness the Third Prince?!”
Joy expressed her confusion at his uncharacteristic demeanor, but Arthur didn’t respond to their voices.
Instead, he stepped forward with a smile when a wolf emerged from the darkness.
“Your Highness, are you here to die?”
“No. I’m here to conquer it. Just watch.”
As the prey approached, the wolf naturally opened its mouth wide.
A regular person would have stepped back.
They would have run away to survive.
They would have trembled in fear.
But not Arthur.
He stood still and merely watched the spectacle.
The enormous mouth that could easily swallow his head.
The fangs that could pierce steel with ease.
The tongue that would savor his flesh and blood.
Then, the wolf’s mouth, which had just swallowed Arthur’s head, closed.
“Just as I thought.”
Then, a strange thing happened. Arthur, who should have been sent flying out of the dungeon by the wolf, spoke unfazed from inside the wolf’s mouth.
“…Huh?”
“What the…?”
“What the heck is going on?”
Regardless of the other three’s shock, Arthur stepped forward.
At that moment, his face, which should have been trapped in the wolf’s mouth, burrowed deeper into the wolf’s body.
“Lucy Allen. She certainly is devious.”
As he reached the middle of the wolf, Arthur kicked something, and with a crunch the wolf’s form dispersed, revealing what had been hidden behind it.
“…A baby wolf?”
“Yeah. This little guy is the identity of the wolf that chased us out of the dungeon a few times.”
Thinking back, it made no sense.
It was a creature so fast that shaking it off was impossible, and even Arthur’s party could barely last a few dozen minutes against it.
There’s no way ordinary students could manage to find clues while dealing with such a monster.
“…Then why did we get sent back when we were attacked by it?”
“If you get attacked without realizing that the wolf is an illusion, it’ll send you away.”
“Well, that’s something only the Academy’s dungeon could manage.”
“Right. Ha. That Lucy Allen, she’s really clever.”
Thanks to that, they had ended up completely fooled.
If Toby hadn’t shown them how to conquer the dungeon, they would have been lost for a while longer before finding the answer.
“I thought that with Lucy Allen, she would have presented something much more logical.”
That girl. She structured the exam on a much more common sense level than I expected.
I don’t know if the professor did a good job of restraining her or if Lucy Allen took care to create it, but this makes things easier.
It means the next rooms are likely to show similar patterns.
If we assume that the entire Academy is designed for everyone to conquer, finding answers will become easier.
“Then all the desperate actions we did were…”
“Was there even a point? We were just played by that Lucy.”
“So…”
“Totally futile.”
“I feel drained.”
The three of them let out a sigh, realizing that all their desperate actions so far had been for nothing, while Arthur shrugged his shoulders.
“Now that that’s done, let’s check out the next room. I’m curious about what kind of grotesque thing is waiting for us.”
Considering the gap between the first and second room, the third room will probably be brutally difficult as well.
But it’s fine. They figured out the pattern, so conquering it should be easier this time.
Having successfully attacked the second room, Arthur overlooked one crucial fact.
Lucy.
Lucy, who had unparalleled skill in conquering dungeons.
Did she not think that the challengers would recognize the trend?
Arthur, unaware of this realization, soon found himself paying the price for his foolishness after entering the third room.
“C-cancel! Cancel! That Lucy Allen has no common sense! The Dungeon Studies Professors are the same! What were they thinking giving her full authority?!…”
On the first day of the Academy’s final exam.
Many challenged the Dungeon Studies exam, but none managed to pass the third room.
*
‘No one has passed the third room?’
“Wow~ How sloppy are the Academy students that they still haven’t passed the third room?”
I could only feel bewildered upon hearing the current progress from the Dungeon Studies professor.
I figured the pace of the dungeon conquest wouldn’t be fast, but this was a bit much.
“Only the top-tier students of each year managed to pass the second room. Most got stuck at the second room or couldn’t even pass the first.”
‘…Really?’
“Pffhahaha. They’re truly unbelievable shoddies. At this point, isn’t there a problem with the teacher? Stupid professor?”
“I seriously start to wonder about that. Especially after seeing the scene of breaking the wolf while it was still an illusion; I doubted myself.”
What?
Did someone really break the wolf, which was set to be absolutely unbeatable, while it was still an illusion?
What kind of madman commits such extraordinary conduct?
“Do you know the second prince of Rahbi?”
…Ah.
If it’s a monster that embodies the phrase, “If you have enough strength, your head won’t struggle,” then it makes sense.
Corten, the prince of the Rahbi family who possesses the protection of the God of Destruction, was somewhat of a dream character.
With stats and skills seemingly dedicated to delivering a powerful blow, he commonly emerges when discussing theoretical maximum damage.
Like all such dream characters, he tends to be impractical, making him someone you’d avoid unless you’re playing for a concept.
But anyway, it wouldn’t be surprising if a prince with the protection of the God of Destruction smashed the wolf.
After all, the magic that creates illusions would have been shattered by that protection.
“Thinking about it, a tactic where he gathers strength to land a single blow while his companions hold up is certainly not something you’d expect from a third-year student.”
He must have tried his best to teach them, yet somehow ended up as that kind of fool, I thought with a wry smile.
That seems less the teacher’s fault and more of a problem with the person named Rahbi Corten.
“Professor. You really don’t need to worry…”
“Isn’t it fine not to worry? After all, sooner or later, even this thick-headed prince will have to face a moment where he can’t solve things with sheer strength.”
“What if he tries to tackle issues through brute force until the dungeon studies exam ends?”
Ugh. No matter how brain-dead Rahbi Corten might be, he wouldn’t be that stupid.
…But thinking about it, that’s a genuinely scary thought.
“Hah. Is there something wrong with my teaching method?”
I didn’t know how to respond to the dungeoneering professor’s pensive state, so I turned my gaze aside.
Let’s see. Who’s currently challenging the third room?
The first name that catches my eye is, of course, Arthur.
Looks like he caught on that the wolf was an illusion just after Toby.
Ranking second among all the Academy’s first years is certainly impressive, but to be honest, that score is lower than I expected.
With how much I’ve shared so far, is it reasonable for him to be struggling in the third room?
He should be able to breeze through that!
At this rate, he won’t be able to become the magic swordsman I hope for!
Got it. Arthur. It looks like I’ve been too gentle to you up until now.
Originally, I intended to leave him alone to train during vacation, but I have to change that plan.
I’ll throw him into the training I was thinking of bringing Jack along. By rolling around like crazy, he’ll surely find something.
Other than my friends’ names…
Avery should be on Toby’s bus, so I don’t need to worry there.
It’s quite surprising to see the second prince on the list.
How did this muscle-bound brain notice that the wolf was an illusion?
Ah. Jeff is with him. If that’s the case, I guess it makes sense.
Putting aside that he’s a siscon, he’s a vastly competent person who can’t be compared to the second prince, ‘that guy.’
Hmm. The rest mostly consists of third-year students.
Still, the experience from conquering several dungeons is not to be underestimated, I guess?
There are a few second years included, but none worth worrying about.
Among the first years…
Visi?
No way! How on earth did she pass the second room?!
There’s no way anyone could conquer the wolf, let alone if she could even clear the first room!
Oh! Right! She’s right next to Adri!
If that old hag suggested something about the gimmicks, I could understand her performance.
Her insights are practically cheat skills compared to the Academy students’ levels.
Seeing that she hasn’t passed the third room yet, it’s probably not like she’s giving out all the answers. Still, I’ll have to caution her later.
At this rate, there’s no point in even having the exam.
“I almost forgot the main point. Lady Allen.”
Just as I finished reviewing the list, the professor finally pulled me from my thoughts.
“It’s about the hints that will be given out one by one starting from the second day of the exam.”
What she handed forward was the hint list that I had written myself.
Think about it.
If the exam is so difficult that a large number of students fail, where would their resentment be directed?
It would be towards me.
I’m already disliked by people, so it would be bad if the situation worsened from here.
That’s why I created hints for the worst-case scenario, just in case.
If they read that and worked hard, they should be able to avoid failing.
To hear that, you could say, “Kya! Lady Allen! You’re an absolute angel!” But there was one major problem with that hint list.
“Seriously, ‘Nice to meet you~♡ Are you the shoddy here to check the hints?♡ Isn’t your eyesight working?♡ Didn’t you notice anything strange about that shoddy soldier?♡ Oh! Right!♡ If you’re a shoddy checking this hint, you couldn’t even do that and got kicked out♡ Pffhahaha♡ It’s totally pathetic♡ Are you maybe too scared to enter after checking this hint?♡…’ Shall I just distribute the message without changing it?”
Straight up, it was something I wrote myself.
‘No! Please revise it! Turn it back to its original content!’
“Why would you even ask that? Isn’t this just right for the shoddies who cling to hints?”
Gyaaaah! What do you mean “just right”!
If that message is distributed as is, my reputation will plummet!
Stop translating and say it right! I mean really say it!
‘Please change it!’
“Hah. Seriously, how many times do I have to give the same answer? What the hell are you doing as a professor if you’re dumber than a goldfish?”
Nooooooo!
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