Dungeon Practice (3)
The ice giant soldier was no pushover. Standing over three meters tall, it made for a massive target, but it moved with surprising agility and wielded a shield enchanted with protective magic. Warren was struggling against it, locked in a difficult fight. The difference in size and reach was too great; he could barely block the sweeping thrusts of its long spear and keep it at bay. Still, as long as Warren held the front line like this, I could safely land effective hits from the rear. That was enough.
The problem was that the ice giant, despite its bulk, was agile enough to block every single one of my Magic Missiles with its shield. The spells that struck the ice shield only chipped away at it bit by bit. By the time I managed to destroy the shield, my mana would probably be nearly depleted. This was turning into a long war of attrition. We had been progressing at an incredible pace until now. I couldn’t afford to waste time here at the end.
I needed another way.
Using stacked missiles was out of the question. Warren would have to hold the front while I prepared them, and if he mistimed his dodge even slightly, he could get caught in the blast. Even a graze would be fatal. Of course, given Warren’s current skill level, the odds of that happening were low. But we had never practiced coordinating something like that before. I didn’t want to take that kind of risk during a training exercise.
And if I had him dodge in advance, I would be left exposed to the enemy’s attacks while casting the stacked Magic Missile. So that option was off the table for now.
Instead, I scanned the surrounding terrain. All I could see was a fairly narrow space enclosed by ice walls, a few ice pillars, and icicles hanging densely from the high ceiling. Below them lay a small pond whose surface had frozen solid. The pond was right beside where Warren and the giant soldier were fighting.
“Warren!” I called out to explain the plan.
I glanced at the icicles on the ceiling and then at the frozen pond, about to speak—
“Got it, Kael!”
Warren deflected an incoming spear thrust, nodded firmly, and immediately began luring the giant soldier toward the pond exactly as I had envisioned. At some point, the two of us had reached a level where we could read each other’s thoughts without needing long explanations.
Trusting Warren, I prepared a rapid-fire barrage of Magic Missiles aimed at the ceiling icicles. Soon enough, he had drawn the giant into the perfect position.
I launched the missiles straight upward.
“Now!”
At my signal, Warren nimbly leaped aside.
Boom! Crash!
Giant ice spikes rained down from the ceiling. The giant soldier spotted them and tried to dodge just like Warren had. It would have been ideal if one of the sharp ice chunks had scored a direct hit by sheer luck, but timing something like that perfectly from the start was nearly impossible. My real aim had always been elsewhere.
The massive ice fragments slammed into the frozen surface of the pond behind the giant instead.
CRACK!
The falling ice spikes shattered the thickly frozen pond surface. While Warren had already jumped clear, the giant soldier was still standing directly on the pond. Stomping its feet in panic, it plunged straight into the cracked ice.
Flailing wildly, it couldn’t use its spear or shield properly. I focused the next volley of Magic Missiles directly at its head.
Bang! Boom!
With its head blown off, the giant soldier froze in place, then sank beneath the pond and vanished.
“We did it!”
Warren stood up, brushing himself off, and looked toward the door that had opened on the opposite side. His face lit up with joy. We had safely cleared the final checkpoint of this practice run.
Professor Lucas was waiting near the dungeon exit, watching as students finished their practical evaluations. His job was to record their completion times and collect the evaluation bracelets. Among the five teams—ten students—who had entered the dungeon this time was Kael, the student he had recently taken an interest in. So he had been receiving occasional updates from his fellow professors about Kael’s progress.
“They cleared the second checkpoint the fastest. But these kids are something else. I can’t tell if they’re inflexible or just insanely straightforward. I blocked the path and told them to take the route not shown on the map, but they just smashed straight through the wall. We’re scrambling to get monsters ready on that side now.”
That had been the last report Lucas received about Kael’s team.
Kael was an unpredictable student. His magic power was clearly E-rank, yet he used Magic Missile with incredible proficiency. That suggested he had talent for magic, but he apparently hadn’t learned a single other spell in the past month. On the other hand, during the training period for this dungeon practical, he had shown the most impressive performance among the lower-class students. Even against illusion monsters, he never showed fear. He simply did what he could, step by step, with steady focus.
Every time Lucas observed him, his evaluation changed. It was hard to pin down exactly what level Kael was at. Clearing the second checkpoint the fastest—did that mean he had simply been lucky with his teammates? He had heard that Warren, who was in the same group, was a magic swordsman showing excellent growth in the upper class lately. Still, the other teams that had started at the same time were also made up of outstanding students. Unless the two of them had carried the entire run, it would have been difficult to be the fastest.
Lucas found himself curious to see which place Kael’s team would ultimately finish in among the five groups.
That was when it happened.
Tap, tap.
Two students with small builds came running out from inside the cave.
‘Already…?’
They didn’t slow down at all. They dashed straight up and pressed their bracelets against the crystal orb in front of Professor Lucas. Their dungeon clear time was 47 minutes. It was overwhelmingly first place among all the students evaluated so far.
Warren and I, having finished the dungeon early, were sitting comfortably and resting. The other teams that had started with us gradually emerged one by one after a considerable time gap. Warren watched them with a bright expression, clearly hoping we would get a good score.
Ophelia and Blair’s team had probably entered the dungeon by now and started their practical. I remembered seeing them waiting right after us at the start. Since they were strong candidates for first place, I rested my tired body while wondering when they would come out.
That was when it happened.
BOOM!
A heavy sound suddenly echoed from deep inside the dungeon, accompanied by a faint tremor in the ground. The students began murmuring at the sudden anomaly.
“What the—?!”
Professor Lucas and the other nearby professors immediately began moving in a flurry. They gathered in one spot, talking with serious expressions.
“A portion of the dungeon has suddenly collapsed. It looks like several students who were taking the practical got caught in it.”
“The bracelet signals are being picked up on the third underground floor.”
“Ten students, including Ophelia, are trapped on the third underground floor.”
The professors looked extremely flustered by the unexpected situation. I was shocked and confused as well. This was an event that had never happened in the original story. The practical evaluation was supposed to take place on the first floor—how had they fallen all the way to the third floor and become trapped? It didn’t seem like something that could have occurred naturally.
The only ones who would orchestrate something like this against academy students were the Cult. But at this point in time, the Cult was focused on building up its power and wouldn’t normally do anything so conspicuous. I couldn’t figure out what was going on.
“For now, we should suspend the evaluation. Everyone except the minimum staff needed to escort the students should head inside.”
“If it’s Ophelia, she should be fine even on the third underground floor. We’re picking up rough location signals, so if we move quickly, we should be able to rescue everyone safely.”
The professors decided that rescuing the trapped students took priority over investigating the cause. As academy professors, breaking through the second floor and reaching the third shouldn’t take them too long.
But.
I couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling. This was an accident that had never existed in the original story. Ophelia was fated to die when she reached her third year. I was worried that something had accelerated that fate. I needed to check for myself to understand what had happened.
Fortunately, I knew a secret passage that led directly to the third floor of the ice cave dungeon. The cave where I had first obtained the stacking staff—the one that leaked cold air—was the entrance. It wasn’t far from here. With my Stealth skill, if something was happening, I could at least confirm it with my own eyes.
Most of the professors had already entered the dungeon. Only one remained, trying to calm the agitated students. In this chaotic atmosphere, no one would notice if I slipped away.
“Warren. I’ll be back in a bit. If they do a headcount or anything, just cover for me.”
I left a short message with Warren and hurried off.