The Trial Dungeon (Interlude)
Amidst the shattered rubble of the stone golem, a figure shoved away the debris and dragged himself upright.
"Phew…"
It was Evan.
His boots scuffed against the gravel as he dragged his exhausted limbs forward, stepping over the ruined earth toward Danas, who lay collapsed across the stones. Evan reached out a hand.
"Are you all right?"
Danas lifted his head slightly, taking in the young warrior's face before offering a strained nod. "…I am fine. Thank you."
He grasped the outstretched hand and pulled himself to his feet, scanning the desolate chamber. "Where is the Saintess…?"
"Aria was thrown over that way earlier."
Taking a direct blow from that colossal hand had almost certainly knocked her unconscious. Given that she had not emerged by now, there was little doubt about it. Evan hurried toward the section of wall Aria had caved in, peering into the dust-choked cavity.
"Aria…!"
There she was. The petite girl lay embedded deep inside the cratered masonry, her Academy uniform shredded into blood-soaked rags that clung to her limp frame.
Evan carefully eased her out from the fractured stone and laid her down on the floor. Danas knelt by her side at once, pressing two fingers against her slender wrist to channel sacred power through her body. After monitoring her condition for a tense moment, Danas spoke in a quiet, solemn voice.
"She has completely regenerated… but the physical trauma was so severe that she appears to have lost consciousness."
"And her injuries before the healing…?"
"I cannot know with absolute certainty, but… had it been an ordinary person, their flesh would have been crushed beyond recognition."
A throbbing ache seized Evan's temples. He buried his face in one hand and lowered his head, crushed by the agonizing reality that he had failed to protect her from death yet again. If only he had sensed the golem's presence before Aria had… If only he had reacted swiftly enough to dodge the blow alongside her, none of this would have happened.
"I'll carry her."
Driven by the desperate urge to shoulder at least some of the burden, Evan stepped in front of Danas, gently lifting Aria onto his own back. She was so remarkably light, her frame so fragile that it was hard to believe they were peers of the same age.
'With a body this small… she saved me back then, and she saved me again today.'
From the moment they first met until this very second, Evan held nothing but profound reverence for her. Even if she possessed the miracle of resurrection, reviving did not make her immune to pain. How could anyone disregard their own life so completely, enduring unfathomable agony just to save someone else?
Yet Aria threw herself into danger only when it was necessary to minimize harm to others. When the High Demon ambushed them, there hadn't been enough time to erect a sacred barrier, leaving her no choice but to shield them with her own flesh. During the class assignment exam, she had endured countless gruesome deaths solely to restore Albert to human form. And today, because shouting a warning was impossible, she had thrown herself in front of the blow to protect them.
'I won't hesitate ever again.'
Whenever an opportunity presented itself, he would seize it without a second's delay. A single instant of panic had already cost him far too much. Evan swore to himself that he would never let such a tragedy repeat itself.
Just as he made that vow and began walking toward the far end of the chamber, an ancient resonance reverberated within his mind.
[Thou hast magnificently overcome the Trial of Strength.]
Evan startled and looked around. At that exact moment, torches flared across the darkened chamber, and a procession of candles ignited along the floor, forming a luminous pathway straight before him. The earth rumbled as a hidden altar ascended from the ground.
[Ascend unto the altar.]
As if guided by an unseen force, Evan nodded blankly. He turned toward the holy knight. "Sir Danas. Please take Aria…"
Danas silently received the sleeping Saintess into his arms, and Evan turned back toward the steps of the altar.
[The Rite of Succession shall now commence.]
The moment the voice ceased, azure flames erupted from the candles lining the dais, leaping forward to engulf the colossal brazier at the altar's summit. Into the roaring sapphire fire, a necklace resting upon the stone pedestal lifted into the air and plunged straight into the blaze.
"What in the world…?"
Evan had never seen fire of such vivid hue and shape. Even without touching it, he could tell it was far from ordinary.
'The sheer magnitude of this power… it's absurd.'
A fathomless, primordial energy emanated from the inferno. Though he could not fathom its origin, an instinctive certainty told him that claiming it would bestow extraordinary strength. And then—
'Is it being absorbed…?'
The roaring flames gradually subsided, the vast, mysterious power seeping entirely into the pendant. When the fire died away completely, the imbued necklace hovered above the altar, bathed in a gentle azure radiance.
[Complete the succession.]
Still entranced, Evan approached the dais and reached out toward the floating relic. The moment his fingers brushed against it, the glowing luminescence vanished, the intangible magic dissipated, and the necklace fell neatly into his palm.
He caught it effortlessly and looked down. After examining the craftsmanship for a brief moment, he fastened it around his neck.
"…?"
Nothing happened.
A staggering aura had radiated from the artifact only moments ago, yet even that lingering presence was now melting away into complete dormancy. Before he could dwell on it, the disembodied voice announced that the succession was complete and bade them depart the dungeon. Simultaneously, a pillar of brilliant light manifested before him, revealing an exit portal.
'I don't quite understand what just happened, but…'
It seemed the trial had concluded in success. Evan turned around and looked down at Danas, who was waiting at the base of the altar.
"Let's go."
For now, getting out of this subterranean tomb was their highest priority.
Beyond the dungeon's threshold, the group was making their way back to the Academy.
'Wait… why am I riding on Evan's back…?'
Aria had indeed blacked out for a brief spell from the sheer physical shock, but she had regained consciousness almost immediately. If getting hit by a heavy attack left her unconscious for hours, what practical value would her resurrection trait offer in real combat? Naturally, even when struck by catastrophic force, she only blanked out for a couple of seconds before waking up refreshed.
The problem, however…
'The timing was so awkward that I couldn't just casually open my eyes…'
Through sheer circumstance, she had ended up pretending to be fast asleep. Her initial plan had been to let the two of them fight without her and then feign waking up afterward. But by the time she came to, they had felled the golem far faster than anticipated, and Evan was already carrying her piggyback-style toward the altar.
On top of that, Evan had ascended the steps to carry out the sacred succession rite for the necklace. Breaking character and announcing, "Hey, I'm awake," in the middle of such a dramatic ceremony would have utterly ruined the mood. Consequently, even now, after they had exited the dungeon, she remained trapped in her slumbering act.
'I can't keep playing dead forever, though…'
Should she drop a subtle hint to let them know she was stirring? Like murmuring in her sleep?
After all, her roleplay concept was merely that she had never learned the Continental Common Tongue—not that she was physically mute. A few incoherent, cute baby babbles would do the trick…
'No way in hell. That's mortifying…'
She could never do that. She would literally die of embarrassment.
Damn it all. Who would have guessed that a hardcore veteran gamer like her would ever feel bashful over something so stupid?
Aaargh!
"Do you know what that necklace is?" Danas asked, breaking the silence.
Oh?
Aria had wondered what kind of awkwardness had settled between them while she was 'out' to cause such dead quiet, but it seemed they hadn't completely abandoned conversation after all.
"To be honest, when I first saw it, I thought putting it on would grant me immense power on the spot… but it doesn't seem to work that way," Evan replied.
"Meaning?"
"The overwhelming energy radiating from it vanished the second I put it on. Right now, it feels just like an ordinary piece of jewelry."
"That is… certainly peculiar."
Aria smirked internally. 'Well, of course it does, you dummy.'
In the game's lore, that necklace housed the residual mental resonance of the ancient Hero. Because Evan had yet to awaken his true power, those residual wills remained in deep slumber, rendering the relic seemingly inert. Once Evan experienced an event profound enough to trigger his awakening, the spirits dwelling within the pendant would stir, guiding him to break through his limits far more easily. In game mechanics, that was simply represented as a massive multiplier to EXP gain.
Acquiring that artifact early would accelerate his growth into a full-fledged Hero by leaps and bounds. And Aria fully intended to support him from the sidelines to make sure that happened as fast as possible.
'Haaah…'
A shiver of bliss ran through her memory. It had been far too long since she experienced such exquisite euphoria. Being flattened into meat paste beneath a monstrous, overwhelming mass had been a daily delight during her two years in the Demonic Realm, but living the quiet student life at the Academy had made her almost forget that heavenly high.
Evan got his essential progression item, and she got her long-awaited dose of masochistic bliss. Truly, killing two birds with one stone. As for Danas… well, let's just call his mental distress a minor sacrifice for the greater good. She felt a twinge of guilt toward the poor knight, but this trial was an absolute necessity. The disparity between a Hero with that necklace and one without was night and day. If she wanted to speed-run Evan's development into humanity's savior, she had no choice.
Haha…
'Once we get back to the dorms, I'm sleeping like a log…'
Her desires were thoroughly satiated; all that remained was returning to her bed for a long, luxurious rest. Or so she thought.
"Found you!!"
A sudden, intensely familiar wave of mental resonance cut through the air, accompanied by a silhouette hurtling toward them from the sky.
…Wait.
Huh?
"Eh?" Evan turned toward the source of the shout, confusion written all over his face.
Approaching rapidly through the open air—
"Aria!!"
It was Stella, gripping her magic staff and flying directly toward them at breakneck speed.
…Excuse me? Why the hell are YOU popping up out here?!