Shadows Beneath the Academy
The basement of the academy's main building. A room where the dungeon for the first- and second-year students' exam was undergoing various tests, waiting to be brought up to the surface. An anomaly occurred in this place, which was guarded by two sentries as usual.
Rustle. A sound like a small animal scurrying. One of the guards watching over the room holding the dungeon twitched an eyebrow. "Who's there?" His deep, gruff voice echoed down the corridor. No answer came.
The guard who had spoken signaled his partner with a look and drew the sword at his hip. A blue current of energy swirled along the blade. It was Sword Qi—a phenomenon so renowned that even kingdom nobles would bow their heads and offer invitations to their knightly orders upon seeing it. It was also the symbol of an Aura Expert, a warrior capable of cutting down hundreds of soldiers single-handedly.
It might seem strange for such an Aura Expert to work as a mere academy guard, but Teonor Academy was a place where such powerhouses lined up just to secure a security position. For a rat to sneak into this very academy... it was unforgivable.
"Identify yourself. If you are a student, this will end with disciplinary action. But if you do not speak, I will take your head, even if you are a student of Teonor." A chilling warning. The Sword Qi, capable of slicing through steel like tofu, flashed with a blue light, proving the guard meant every word.
Step, step. As if intimidated by the warning, a boy emerged with both hands raised. As he drew closer, the academy uniform came into view. Clink. The guard sheathed his sword and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
"Yes, wise choice. I'll speak to the professors to make sure your punishment is kept to a minimum..." Sighing in relief, the guard stepped forward to cuff the boy's wrists, only to frown at a mysterious stench. It was a familiar smell. A loathsome odor that had clung to him constantly during his days on the battlefield. The stench of rotting corpses.
"What is that smell...? Huh?" The guard's pupils dilated, trembling as if he were witnessing the impossible. Something like this should not exist in the academy. Claws, too abnormally sharp to be human fingernails. Their tips were stained with dried, hardened blood, like balsam dye. Only then did he lift his head, which had been bent to apply the cuffs.
"Hehehe." The boy grinned as if he had found an amusing toy. His eyes were stained a deep crimson. The moment the guard saw those eyes, a bolt of lightning seemed to strike his brain. A single word flashed in his mind. A creature that reeked of rotting flesh, possessed abnormally long claws, and had eyes dyed the color of blood. A vampire. The very monster that had driven him from the battlefield forever ten years ago was standing right in front of him.
"Vamp—! Mmph!" He tried to shout a warning to his colleague behind him, but the vampire swiftly clamped a hand over his mouth. The crushing pressure shattered his jawbone. He desperately tried to draw his sword, but it was already too late. Squelch. A hand pierced the guard's chest. Like a harpoon, the hand impaled his upper body, tearing clean through his back. As the vampire withdrew his arm, red blood gushed and splattered onto the floor.
Staring with eyes full of resentment for a few fleeting seconds, the guard's pupils dilated and went dull as he lost strength and collapsed. The vampire caught him, propping him up. To an outside observer, it looked as though the guard was merely restraining the boy. Caught off guard by this illusion, the other sentry met the exact same fate. Thud. The two guards slumped to the corridor floor. Only the lights on the ceiling bore witness to their deaths. No, there was one more.
"I may have made them myself, but their performance is truly killer." A man dressed in black stepped forward, treading through the pooling blood. In his hand, he held a staff topped with a black magic stone. At the sight of this man, the vampire who had effortlessly assassinated two Expert guards began to tremble violently. Fear. The horrific biological experiments he had endured from the entrance ceremony up until his transformation into a vampire had left him with an instinctive, deep-seated terror.
Smiling with satisfaction at the shivering vampire, the man looked back and called out. "Number Two, Number Three, get over here. The time has come to achieve our grand design." At the words of the man—no, the warlock—a vibration shook the corridor. Two more vampires dashed down the hallway in the blink of an eye, naturally dropping to their knees before him. The same terror was etched into their eyes.
"Open the door." At his command, one of the vampires ripped the iron door off its hinges and threw it aside. The warlock clicked his tongue. "I told you to open it, not tear it off." "Grrr..." The vampire immediately fell to its knees. The man kicked the creature to the floor and ground his heel into its head. "Useless piece of trash."
Only after stomping on it for a good while did the man lift his shoe, leaving a clear footprint on the vampire's head. It was an injury that would have killed an ordinary human. However, possessing transcendent regenerative abilities, the vampire healed the wound in an instant as if it were nothing, returning to its kneeling posture.
"Clean up the blood of those guards and turn them into thralls. Minimize their demonic energy so they aren't detected. Make them functional for exactly twenty-four hours. And use this to repair the door and put it back." "Grrr." The warlock tossed a magic tool. The vampire who had killed the guards caught it, bowed deeply, and stood up to carry out the orders.
"Now. Number Two, Number Three, enter the dungeon with me." "Grrr." "Skrrr!" "A high-ranking demon once known as a great archdevil... How intriguing." Wearing a sinister smile, the warlock stepped into the dungeon, and the two vampires followed their master inside. It all unfolded in the dead of night, while everyone else was fast asleep.
Light crept through the gap in the curtains, gently nudging my eyelids open. Beep, beep. A loud alarm pierced my eardrums. I tapped the Device on my wrist, silencing the noise. I lay there for a moment, letting my muscles relax, before pushing myself up. "Yawn... I'm so tired." Rubbing my eyes, I swung my legs out of bed.
The floor felt smooth and clean, free of any stickiness, proving my cleaning efforts from last night had paid off. Normally, waking up to a clean room would have put me in a great mood, but today was different. The dungeon subjugation exam. Today was the day a catastrophe known in the original story as the "Antales Subjugation Incident" would occur.
After a quick wash, I changed into my Amorphous Armor and headed to our meeting spot. Seril Lever was already there, waiting while reviewing some documents.
"Ah, Leader, you're here?" "Yeah. I'm not late, am I?" "You're thirty minutes early, how could you be late? I contacted the others, but it looks like they'll take a bit longer. I put together some reference materials. Do you want to take a look? Though I'm not sure if you'll even need them."
"Really? Then look at this first. This is...!" Ever since she found out I was a Sword Master, her confidence had plummeted. The rumors and backbiting from the other students probably contributed to her gloomy mood. While they didn't dare whisper when I was around, I couldn't stay by her side forever. But now, seeing her light up as she explained the materials, the shadow of helplessness seemed to lift from her face.
She looks much better like this,Kanteil thought to himself. It was a passing, casual thought, so natural that even he barely registered it. I held the documents she handed me, listening to her explanation, when I sensed someone approaching from behind.
"You're early." Our party's healer and sub-tank. The top Battle Mage of the second year, Deila Zeros. Clad in her combat gear, she walked toward us. She naturally took the strategy guide Seril had compiled and began to read. Then, closing her eyes, she conjured a magic circle over her palm.
It was her unique training method: Extreme Realism Image Making. She could construct a virtual training space inside her mind that was so perfectly aligned with reality it rivaled the academy's actual virtual training facilities. Some professors even referred to her as a "walking virtual training center." It was her personal secret art, created by fusing her mindscape with illusion magic.
While she trained in her virtual space, a massive male student walked over with an awkward smile. He had a gentle face that contrasted sharply with his intimidating build. He looked like a baby bear's head placed on the body of a fully grown polar bear.
"Ah, I'm not too late, am I?" "You're right on time." "Whew... I saw everyone was already here and thought I was late. I knew Seril and Deila would be early since they're famous for being diligent, but I didn't expect the leader to be here so early too."
"As long as you're not late, it's fine. Here, take this." I handed him the strategy guide I had already finished reading. Frowning at the densely packed text as if it were giving him an immediate headache, he let out a deep sigh and began flipping through the pages.
"I'm not really the academic type... Even when the Disciplinary Committee President told me to read, I didn't. Yet here I am, reading this." Though he grumbled about the massive amount of information, he kept stealing glances at me as he read. It seemed he viewed me as a rival. The gap between a Master and an Expert was an insurmountable chasm, but Tom's competitive streak was fitting for someone from the northern empire—a region where even beastmen shook their heads at the locals' stubborn pride.
Tom flipped to the fifth page. Just as he was nearing the end of the guide, the Device on my wrist vibrated.
[20 minutes until the Dungeon Subjugation Exam.]
The time had come for all our preparation to bear fruit.