Intruder (1)
“So this is the center?”
Stepping into the destination of the exam—the heart of the dungeon—Rosaria glanced around and muttered to herself.
After emerging from the uneven, pitch-dark caves that had defined their journey so far, a wide-open plaza stretched before them beneath a soaring ceiling. Unlike the crude cavern walls they had grown used to, the entire square was lit by luminous stones and glowing enchantments, clearly prepared for the expedition’s highlight: the boss fight. The light was so brilliant that the magic lamps that had guided them along the way seemed almost pointless by comparison.
“Huh? People are gathered over there.”
Rosaria pointed toward the center of the plaza, where a cluster of students had already assembled.
“They’re probably waiting for the boss’s spawn timer,” Rachel said, stepping forward to answer Rosaria’s unspoken question. “The pass condition is just to defeat the boss now, so it’s fairer if several teams group up and take it down as many times as they need, then split the drops.”
“Ah, that makes sense.”
Rosaria clapped her hands together as the explanation clicked into place. Thinking it through, the exam’s passing criteria were either surviving for three days or holding the boss’s core for ten minutes after a kill—and since the boss respawned indefinitely, hunting it with other parties was far more stable than going it alone.
…Which means that guy’s plan was completely wrong, then.
If they had followed Gren’s brilliant strategy, they wouldn’t have been facing a single party—they would have been the concentrated target of several. Even ten minutes would have been impossible. Rosaria had felt a faint, grudging guilt over the team-kill, but the realization that she had been right all along let her brush the last of it cleanly away.
I felt bad for nothing. If we’d actually gone along with him, we would’ve been wiped for real.
“Still,” Rachel added, “if you were the first team to arrive and the next group tried to solo it, his method might have worked.”
“Yeah, but if it were me, I’d just wait and fight with the parties that show up later.”
“That would be the case.”
“Hold on—‘that would be the case’? You knew it was going to turn out like this and you just followed along without saying anything?”
“Yes.”
“….What kind of person are you?”
Rosaria stared at her in disbelief as Rachel calmly nodded. By her own admission, she had already known how absurd Gren’s plan was—and had simply chosen not to point it out.
“If we got lucky, we could pass quickly. And if not, joining the others was always an option. I agreed with the decision to reach the center as fast as possible.”
“Why are you in such a rush to clear the exam?”
“Because spending this time back in the dormitory studying magic would be more beneficial.”
“…..”
Yep. She’s definitely one of those. Getting involved with her is going to be a headache.
Rachel’s flat, faintly unnerving answer sent a chill down the back of Rosaria’s neck. The atmosphere rolling off the girl was uncomfortably familiar—too much like certain people she knew all too well.
“Anyway, let’s go ask if we can join in. We’ve still got plenty of time.”
The exam came first. For the sake of an easy pass, Rosaria’s party headed toward the gathered students.
“Um, excuse me…? Are you waiting for the boss, by any chance?”
“Oh, looks like a new team’s arrived.”
“Welcome.”
Once they had drawn close enough to be noticed, Rosaria offered a greeting first—and the students welcomed them warmly enough.
I don’t know. This feels less like an otherworld dungeon adventure and more like joining a veteran party in an RPG.
There was no anxiety or tension in the people greeting them—only a strangely familiar atmosphere that left Rosaria feeling oddly unsettled.
“How did this even happen…?”
“I have no idea. Has this ever happened before?”
“Is something wrong?”
But the other students’ expressions were grim, the mood heavy, and Rosaria asked the question.
“Well… how do I put this… You know that when the boss in this dungeon is defeated, it respawns after a short cycle, right?”
“Yes. That’s why everyone’s gathered here to kill it, isn’t it?”
“Exactly. We’re from different parties, but we formed a temporary group to take the boss down. A few teams have already killed it, used the boss core, and left the dungeon.”
“We’d gotten pretty used to the fight, and more parties kept joining.”
“But then, at some point, the respawn timer came and went—and the boss just… never came back.”
“Uh… so you’re saying the boss suddenly stopped spawning?”
“That’s what I’m saying! Hours went by with nothing, so people started openly catching up on sleep. And it still didn’t appear…!”
“She’s right. Our group has moved past confusion and irritation—now the anxiety is starting to set in.”
“The upperclassmen said the boss summon can run late sometimes, but even then it never takes more than an hour. And the proctors always notify everyone through the communication orbs installed inside the dungeon. There’s been no sign of that either.”
“What’s going on? Is this actually okay?”
“Calm down, Ria. If we wait, the professors will help us.”
“I thought it was almost over, so I already finished the last of our food… there’s nothing left to eat…”
The boss should have respawned by now, and there was no contact with the proctors overseeing the exam. Students who had started out irritated were beginning to tremble with real unease—and Rosaria could see it written across their faces.
“Th-then…?! A-are we trapped in here?! Eek…!?”
Rasel went white as a sheet, terror seizing him on the spot.
“Haa… I didn’t want to waste time on something this pointless in a place like this…”
Rachel, on the other hand, seemed less frightened than furious at the waste of time.
“Nothing we can do, I guess… We’ll just have to wait it out for now.”
With no better idea coming to mind, Rosaria scratched her head and muttered. In situations like this, wandering around aimlessly was the worst option—waiting was the smart play.
“Let’s just eat something. Do we still have anything left?”
Years of military life had left her thoroughly accustomed to standing around for no reason because the officers couldn’t communicate. Rosaria decided to take it in stride.
And then—
“Screw it! At this point, there’s no other way!”
A male student who had been sitting a little apart from the others, quietly erasing his presence, suddenly shot to his feet and raised his right arm. The robe and wand marked him as a magic-track student. Of the three Life Crystals hanging from his wrist, two had already gone dark.
If the outside couldn’t reach them, then he would use the automatic recall that triggered on elimination—fail the exam on purpose and get out. Rosaria watched him with mild interest.
“Barton. Are you sure about this? You’ll fail.”
“I’ll break this and go back first! There’s no way the proctors would actually fail us under circumstances like these.”
“Oh, that’s actually pretty smart.”
Yeah, they wouldn’t dock points for something like this. Would they make us retake it, then?
If Barton was right, the proctors would apologize before they ever failed anyone.
“I’ll go back, figure out what’s going on, and get them to fix this as fast as possible. Just wait here. Alright—I’m going!”
—Crack.
With a triumphant flourish, Barton crushed his remaining Life Crystal in his own hand.
But—
“…..Huh?”
“…..Huh?”
A blue light should have enveloped him at once, his body dissolving as he was recalled. Seconds passed. Barton remained exactly where he stood, completely unchanged.
“What… is this…?”
His face twisted in shock, then went hollow as he stared down at his wrist. Every Life Crystal was shattered. And yet Barton had not been recalled. He was still here.
“Wait, waitwaitwait!!! What the hell is going on?! Even if you fail, you can’t go back?!”
“Are we… actually trapped?!”
The students who had been staring blankly at the scene erupted into a rising murmur of panic.
And then—
“If that’s true… th-then if we get attacked here… we just take the hit as-is, don’t we…?”
The Life Crystals were no longer functioning. Until now, even a potentially lethal blow had been fully absorbed by the crystals. Without them, a single attack could mean critical injury—or death.
“K…kyaaaaah!!!”
“Hey!!! Get us out of here!!!!”
“Don’t mess with us!!! This isn’t funny!!!”
“Let us out!!! Right now!!!!”
Students who had never once felt their lives truly threatened during an exam descended into chaos the moment their last safety net vanished. Some stared at each other, shaking. Others screamed and began to wander the plaza in a daze. For all that they were the Empire’s elite, gathered at the Academy, they were still young sprouts—immature, in need of adult protection. In that moment, they were unmistakably just students.
“What is this…”
“Something has genuinely gone wrong, hasn’t it?”
“Idon’twanttodiepleasehelpIdon’twanttodiepleasehelpIdon’twanttodiepleasehelpIdon’twanttodiepleasehelpIdon’twanttodiepleasehelpIdon’twanttodiepleasehelp”
The spectacle was enough to make even Rosaria swallow hard, a cold bead of sweat sliding down her temple.
In the blink of an eye, the plaza had become a scene of pure pandemonium.
And then—
Ssshhh—
“…Huh? A-a person!!!”
“They just appeared out of nowhere!?”
“Is that someone from the Academy?!”
At the center of the plaza, a figure suddenly materialized out of thin air.