The Dungeon of Trials (2)
As the name suggested, the Dungeon of Trials was fundamentally an ordeal bestowed upon the Hero. Across the Empire, there were three such dungeons in total: the Trial of Strength, the Trial of Wisdom, and the Trial of Courage.
And the place where we currently stood was the Trial of Strength.
Evan might have possessed other qualities, but when it came to raw martial might as a Hero, he still needed to grow far beyond his current limits. Considering what lay ahead—and factoring in the necklace that could accelerate his growth—this had to be our very first destination.
With "dungeon" right in the name, the Trial of Strength naturally followed the standard layout of a classic dungeon crawl. In short, true to its moniker, it was a place designed solely to test the Hero's pure strength. Failing to overcome it was practically synonymous with death. After all, failing a trial in the game meant an immediate game over, so there was no mistaking the stakes.
“Kh... What in the world are these things?!”
“[They are ancient golems.]”
Though ancient, this dungeon was engineered from the start to serve as a stepping stone for the Hero's growth. Thus, rather than ordinary monsters, ancient golems materialized to attack us. If we didn't want to die, fighting with everything we had was our only option.
Evan narrowly dodged a blade swung by a golem before bringing the Holy Sword down, completely shattering the automaton's head.
“Take that...!”
Yet the instant he tried to pivot toward his next target—
“What the...?!”
The golem, whose neck and head had clearly been cleaved apart, rose once more and swept its blade toward him. Not only that, but the stony fragments pulverized by Evan's blow swirled through the air, reassembling atop its neck in seamless regeneration.
“It revived...?!”
Well, it was a golem. They were autonomous weapons from an ancient era whose crafting techniques had long been lost to time, designed solely to eliminate targets recognized as enemies. As their nature dictated, they would never stop until their power source ran dry—unless one smashed their internal core. And since this ancient dungeon supplied that power endlessly, merely obliterating their heads was never going to be enough.
“I shall protect you.”
Having assessed the situation, Danas stepped to my side, parrying a golem's incoming blow. Because these were early-stage golems, their individual combat power wasn't particularly overwhelming. Even so, cutting down enemies that regenerated infinitely without pause was bound to drain anyone's stamina.
“[Allow me to assist you.]”
It would be a disaster if they exhausted themselves just dealing with the vanguard. I cast enhancement buffs over both of them. Sure, stepping in to take a stray blow for someone who let their guard down from exhaustion—or soaking up their wounds—sounded wonderfully appetizing to me, but if that started happening at the very entrance, clearing the dungeon would be next to impossible.
“This is... My gratitude, Saintess.”
“Thanks, Aria!”
Feeling the effects of my buff, the two voiced their thanks and swung their blades, which now moved with newfound lightness. Empowered beyond comparison, their strikes shattered not just the golems' heads, but smashed right through their stony torsos as well.
Beep, bip!
With their cores pulverized in the process, the ruined golems collapsed permanently, unable to regenerate. At that moment, the eyes of the remaining golems flared crimson, their assaults growing distinctly more ferocious.
“Wh-What is with them?!”
Startled, Evan parried a barrage of swords from multiple golems, taking a step back.
Crunch!
His boot came down upon stone rubble, and Evan's eyes widened in realization. Even as he deflected another slash, his gaze locked intently onto the golems' torsos.
Did he figure it out?
The fact that rubble remained meant the golem downed just moments ago hadn't regenerated. The only difference between his earlier strike and the last was that he had previously targeted only the head, whereas the latter had crushed the entire upper body. He seemed to have caught on that whatever powered their regeneration resided in the torso.
“Mister Danas! There's something in their torsos keeping them regenerating!”
“In that case...!”
Danas gathered divine power around his greatsword, expanding it into a massive aura. The blade thickened to an astonishing degree, looking more like an oversized bludgeon than an edged weapon.
“Hraaaah...!”
With a mighty roar, Danas swung his sword straight into a golem's midsection with enough force to pulverize it completely.
KABOOOM!
The combined impact of my divine buffs and his holy-infused greatsword was devastating. Unable to endure the overwhelming kinetic shock, the golem shattered into pieces. The regeneration stone housed within snapped under the force, raining down in useless fragments that could no longer mend the construct.
Looking down at the shattered gem, Danas shouted to Evan, confirming their hypothesis.
“It is an orb! We must crush the orb inside them!”
“I knew it...!”
Once the secret to destroying them was revealed, the tide of battle shifted instantly. Golems that had endlessly risen no matter how many times they were smashed began dropping one after another. Now that they understood the regeneration mechanism, the vast difference in martial prowess between the two sides made itself apparent. The constructs were mercilessly reduced to dust.
I expanded my divine awareness across the cavern.
Dozens of shattered golem remnants littered the stone floor. To think dozens would ambush us right at the dungeon's threshold. It seemed the mechanic where dungeon difficulty scaled with party size wasn't merely game flavor.
If that's the case, the next area might be even harsher...
Normally, this wasn't a zone the current Evan should have been entering. In game terms, we had walked into a dungeon far above his recommended level, meaning increasingly brutal opponents awaited us deeper within. Even so, we had come here because I was with him.
As long as I was around, no one was going to die. Of course, as I had warned earlier when telling them not to expect to leave within a single day, clearing this place would be an exhausting, protracted grind. But impossible? Far from it. Considering the dungeon's completion reward provided a massive experience boost, tackling it early offered absurd efficiency. We had to see it through.
“Phew...”
“Well fought.”
Approaching the two weary combatants, I began attending to them.
“R-Really, I'm fine with just this much...”
“[You have a graze on your cheek.]”
Honestly. He truly was a rookie Hero through and through—getting grazed over something like this? Gently brushing my fingertip across the scratch on Evan's cheek, I channeled divine power into the cut until the broken skin vanished without a trace.
A stinging yet delicious sensation rippled across my own cheek before dissipating into thin air. Feeling a lingering sense of disappointment, I turned to Danas intending to heal him as well, but unlike Evan, the veteran knight didn't have a single scratch on him.
What a complete waste...
Deeply disappointed though I was, I couldn't neglect my duties as a healer. Since battling the golems had undoubtedly drained their stamina, I restored their physical vitality instead. Having replenished two people's worth of energy, a sudden, heavy lethargy weighed upon my limbs. I burned a measure of my vast divine power to scrub the fatigue away, returning my body to peak condition.
“Phew... Thank you, Saintess.”
Catching his breath, Danas offered me a gentle smile and bowed his head.
“Are you truly all right?”
Evan, on the other hand, was staring at me with a face full of worry.
“[I am truly fine. This hardly even counts as healing.]”
“If it ever gets too hard, you must tell me.”
Evan spoke with utter earnestness.
Hmm... Was it because he had watched me die countless times at Albert's hands just recently, unable to regenerate properly for days while falling into a coma-like slumber? Evan seemed fretful even over the slightest scratch.
Good grief, this boy...
While I appreciated the concern, this didn't even register on my healing scale. Back in the Demonic Realm, this sort of thing was daily routine. Healing catastrophic, fatal wounds was my baseline; it would be weirder if a paper cut like this bothered me. I had simply gotten soft after moving to the Academy.
It's like looking at Evan back when I first arrived in the Demonic Realm.
Danas, on the other hand, appeared thoroughly accustomed to it. In the Demonic Realm, I had been mutilated far worse than anything here, dying over and over again beyond count just to keep the people there alive. Even if he learned I had died dozens of times to a demon at the Academy, he probably wouldn't bat an eye.
I turned my divine awareness toward Danas to inspect him.
...Wait, is he?
Why did he look so furiously angry?
His gaze felt rather sharp—or rather, he had been casting a peculiarly chilly look for quite some time now. The real problem was that his piercing stare wasn't aimed at me, but squarely at Evan.
What's his problem?
He was never the type to glare like that. Seeing how he was glaring at Evan, it had to be something about him. Could it be because Evan was already struggling at the dungeon's threshold? Perhaps seeing the supposed Hero huffing and puffing at the very entrance made Evan look unworthy of the title in the knight commander's eyes.
Still, Evan had only awakened recently, so it was completely natural. If anything, he was performing exceptionally well for his level. I'd have to pull Danas aside and have a word with him later.
“[For now... it appears the path has opened, so let us venture deeper inside.]”
First things first: we had a dungeon to clear.