Dungeon Practicum (7)
The massive body of the thing I'd killed in a single blow — an ogre, as it turned out — rolled across the dungeon floor.
I kicked the corpse away from my feet with a light nudge of my boot.
A satisfying sandbag, that one.
It had only taken one hit, but that was the result of unleashing the secret art known as the Solar War Body.
If I'd fought him using nothing but pure mana control and physical reinforcement, I would have burned through time trading tedious blows back and forth with the ogre. Not that it would have changed the outcome — a few more punches and he'd have keeled over, dazed and flailing, anyway.
At this rate, mastering the Halo to my exact will isn't far off.
Even in the original story, no one had ever pushed the Halo to its absolute limit.
Even Eva, who claimed every Divine Artifact and reached the God King's realm, failed to draw out the potential of any relic other than her primary weapon.
The author himself never properly described what the Halo's true power even was by the story's end.
Solis, the mid-boss who appears in Part 3, showed glimpses of possibility — but he never realized what he truly was and failed to prove his worthiness.
At this pace, I could be the one to prove it.
The day I reveal the ultimate depths of a Divine Artifact, just as Eva and her accursed bloodline once did, was drawing near.
Sometime around the middle of Part 2?
That was my rough estimate, anyway.
"Everyone, what are you doing? Let's get moving."
In any case, the monster blocking the exit had been dealt with. With nothing left to do here, I pointed toward the gate and said it flatly.
"Whoa, junior! You were incredible!"
"Ugh—"
Kael came sprinting up from behind and grabbed my hand, shaking it every which way. The violent greeting rattled my whole body until I felt like I was sitting in a massage chair.
"I knew you were skilled, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this."
"As a serving Guardian, I can say this with authority: you're talented enough to graduate from the Academy early and walk straight into Guardian headquarters on a special appointment, and nobody could say a word against it."
The Guardians swarmed around me, their eyes sparkling as if they were standing before a legendary hero who had appeared the moment the world fell into crisis.
Well, I had saved their lives from mortal danger.
And the strength I'd just displayed was far beyond anything an Academy student should be capable of, so I understood the reaction.
"Ah, well. Thanks for the compliment."
To me it was an utterly predictable result, so I answered them with practiced indifference. In their eyes, apparently, that came off as shyness — they poked fun at me, jabbing me in the shoulder and ribs with their fingers.
"My, look at this one. Blushing, are we? Adorable, though."
"Have some confidence. You're the best Academy student I've ever laid eyes on."
Kael and Toma took turns baptizing me in praise. It had the odd feel of a push-and-pull flirtation, and honestly, I didn't mind one bit.
Being showered with popularity from women was, for me, always a welcome thing.
Then Mori broke through the atmosphere and wedged herself between us.
"Junior Solis, join my team."
An out-of-nowhere recruitment offer with no bottom and no end. She was burning with such passion that she seemed ready to drag me off by force, regardless of my own wishes.
"Come work with me. If you want to be the dog, then I'll be the dog too."
Mori clutched at my trouser leg. Desperate didn't even begin to cover it — the sheer sincerity in her actions made my pants stretch.
It wasn't as if I couldn't understand where she was coming from. A student who hadn't even awakened his full potential had toppled a mid-tier Guardian. If this guy became a Guardian and accumulated real combat experience until he was complete? The title of Royal — the strongest among Guardians — would practically be his by default, and simply having such a talent on one's team would earn a page in the history books.
"I promise you. The finest treatment you could ever want, I swear it — so come with us."
"I must decline."
"Oh, come on, think it over just once more, hmm? I'll make sure you never regret it!"
Her pleading, desperate clinging threw me off balance inside. But I had no intention of getting tangled up with these people any further, so I answered with firm resolve.
"I'm not particularly interested in Guardian work itself. My dream is to graduate and live a comfortable, easygoing, ordinary life."
"Grrrgh, please! Just once!"
"Mori, you're embarrassing yourself."
"On the person who saved our lives! You've gone way past pathetic, honestly."
Unable to watch any longer, her fellow Guardians seized Mori by both arms and began dragging her away. Suspended in midair, Mori flailed and kicked at empty space.
"Let go of me! I can convince him! Junior Solis, over here!"
"That's enough, hurry up and come on. We've got a mountain of work — collecting the monster corpses all the way through writing the reports."
In the end, Mori was hauled off by her own comrades, heels digging into the ground. As soon as they were ready, we would be leaving the dungeon as well.
"Come on, let's head out too."
"S-Solis, are you... okay, Mr. Solis?"
"Perfectly fine, as you can see. That much was just a light warm-up."
"That's, that's amazing... I could do nothing but stand there and watch..."
Eva clutched at her chest and hung her head.
Guilt, binding herself in chains. She must have been aching to stay behind with the Guardians and fight alongside them. But in front of the monster, the crushing pressure had frozen her body solid.
By her own standards, if she had performed at her true ability, she could have joined forces with the Guardians and fought a battle with decent odds. She hadn't managed it. Even though a path forward was clearly visible, fear had kept her from advancing. The simple fact that she hadn't found the courage the way I had made her bite her lip.
It was the same in the original story.
Eva blamed herself for the tragedies born of her failure to step forward, and downed a heaping bowl of despair. It was only later, with Chloe's comfort, that she steeled her heart again.
"Well, what can I say. It's okay to be scared. Where in the world would you find someone who feels no fear at all?"
I rested my hand on Eva's head, patting it gently — a gesture of comfort, careful not to make her feel bad.
"B-but you fought so bravely without any fear at all..."
"Me? I ran the numbers, knew it was a one-hit kill, and only then walked in. If I hadn't, I'd have been trembling in my boots too."
"B-but choosing to fight at all means... our starting assumptions were completely different... I couldn't even do that much..."
Eva shrank into herself, muttering in that usual voice of hers, small and creeping.
"Let me make one thing clear: you're the normal one here. I'm the strange one."
Did I think I'd never made a mistake? Never once been afraid? No human could claim that.
The reason I could face a monster now without so much as blinking was my assimilation with Solis's body. Steeped in his cruel, relentless temperament, fear simply had no grip on me.
Even without the influence, the outcome would have been the same — but I doubt I'd have been this composed. Maybe I'd have cut an ugly figure early on, too.
"You are you, and I am me. Instead of comparing yourself to other people, think about how you can do better next time. That's all it takes."
"Re-really? Is that really enough?"
"Of course. I guarantee it."
As the novel's most devoted reader, I could say that with more certainty than anyone. Because one day she would stand braver than anyone at the very front of the battlefield — a hero who led humanity, a savior.
Had my resolute answer helped? Eva's expression slowly returned to its usual brightness.
"I-I'll work really, really hard and become someone as amazing as you, Mr. Solis...!"
"Uh, sure."
About that "Mr. Solis" again, though. Why on earth did her way of addressing me keep flipping back and forth? Formal one moment, casual the next. It seemed to happen only with me, which made it all the more confusing.
In any case, that wrapped up the dungeon practicum. Time to head back to the Academy and rest properly. Rest, I said.
"B-but, um, over there..."
"What is it? Something else on your mind?"
"The other teams... I was wondering if they're all right. An accident happened on our end, so the other groups might..."
"Ah, that."
Eva's worry was well founded. What did they call it here again — a chain reaction? The phenomenon where a variable in one dungeon sends tremors through the surrounding ones. That was what she was fretting over.
"Don't worry about that."
I had anticipated all of it in advance — and prepared thoroughly for it, too.
"That side was probably resolved even faster than we were."
"Huh? Wh-what do you mean...?"
"Because a very reliable someone followed right after them."
A special list of monster hunters. In proper web novel fashion, a student who wasn't supposed to participate in this dungeon practicum at all.
She had already accepted my request and gone to stand at Chloe's side. There would be no problem.
...
"Ugh—!"
Chloe collapsed to the ground, still gripping her sword. Her whole body was a map of wounds — but she had escaped any fatal injury.
"Haaah... I thought I was going to die."
Arlan, her partner, lay sprawled on her back beside her. As a support mage who had poured out her mana from the rear, she didn't have the strength left to twitch a single finger.
The Guardians who had accompanied them as protectors were also unconscious on the ground. But they were all still breathing, so they would survive once they were carried back to the Academy for treatment.
It was hopeless.
Chloe stared at the monster that had blocked her path.
The Golden Velvet. A massive bat-like monster distinguished by its lustrous golden fur. The guardian of a dungeon known as the Undersea Grotto — a place whose danger level existed on an entirely different plane from the ridge hills they had visited. A monster rumored to be capable of erasing an entire city from the map. Its sheer presence could only be called despairing.
I was no help at all.
Even fighting alongside the Guardians, she had been utterly overwhelmed instead. An ugly, humiliating defeat.
Gifted talent, they said. Top of Purity Academy, they said.
What a joke.
She felt, down to her bones, that she had been nothing more than a frog at the bottom of a well.
"Are you all right? Want a hand?"
And then there was the woman standing atop the monster's corpse, using it as a stepping stool.
Marin Light.
Appearing out of nowhere and finishing the monster off in a single strike — the sheer transcendence of that strength filled Chloe with a bone-deep sense of helplessness.
"...Thank you."
At the same time, relief at having survived. Envy. Admiration. Countless emotions surged over her like waves, converging and tangling into one.
Someday.
I will surpass Solis — and the girl standing before me, without fail. And at the very summit of Purity Academy, I will overtake my father, the Royal — the strongest Guardian of them all.
With her resolve hardened into steel, Chloe grasped Marin's outstretched hand and squeezed it with everything she had.