Second-Semester Finals (22)
Watching Lucy tear through the dungeon, Vishy finally understood why Adri had called that dungeon easy — and why she'd said Lucy was being kind.
All the things she'd never noticed while running the dungeon herself were suddenly, absurdly clear when she traced Lucy's footsteps through the feed.
"See? I told you, didn't I?"
Adri, delighted that Lucy had proven her point, chattered away at Vishy's side. Normally Vishy would have told her to tone it down, but this time she let the ghost ramble. Anyone who watched a person flail around while the answer sat right in front of them would feel the same maddening urge to shake them.
Haah.
How did I miss that? It was right in front of my eyes. How?
Feeling the same sting as the kid who screams "I knew that one — I had the answer sheet right there!", Vishy could only wear a hollow expression as she watched Lucy, who had effortlessly smashed the dungeon's boss to pieces, come to a stop before the final door.
She was far from alone. The exam hall was full of people sharing exactly that sentiment.
Arthur Soladin, the dungeon's first clearer, gnawed at his thumbnail as he lamented his own stupidity. Kurten's party, who had led the third-years only to fall at the final boss, were painfully reacquainting themselves with their shortcomings. The young man who had formally challenged Lucy Aln was flushing red for an entirely different reason now, realizing he'd done nothing but shout his own foolishness out loud. And nearly everyone else who had thrown their all into conquering the dungeon fell silent as they grasped, at last, what they had missed.
By the moment Lucy Aln finished her demonstration with the dungeon practically handed over on a silver platter, the exam hall had gone so quiet that even the smallest breath sounded loud.
Then it happened.
Lucy Aln, still catching her breath after felling the boss, moved — but not toward the exit. Most of the students were certain she would stride out of the dungeon and tear into them, looking down at everyone in the hall from her comically small height, something like, So. Do you losers finally understand how pathetic you are?
But Lucy never set foot outside.
Instead of leaving, she placed her hand on the crystal orb and returned to the very beginning. The first corridor. Not the collapsed wreckage that had stunned the audience on the broadcast — but the wall-blocked dead end exactly as it had been when the dungeon first opened.
"...Lady Aln? What in the world are you—"
Seeing Lucy back at the starting point, Dungeonology professor Jesl let her bewilderment show. This was not part of the plan. The agreement between Lucy and Jesl had been, at most, a demonstration of how to properly clear the dungeon. She had never once said a word about doing anything beyond that.
Hey, professor-who-calls-herself-a-professor. You're out there watching, right?
Just as Jesl was blinking rapidly, trying to guess at Lucy's intentions, the Lucy on the screen spoke — not the measured tone of a demonstration, but a Lucy fully armed and burning with heat.
Start timing from the second I move. Even an idiot can manage that much, right? Right?
Timing her. Measuring how long she takes.
No. Surely not.
The instant those words registered, the image that surged into Jesl's mind was the Second-Semester Dungeon — the one that had been ruthlessly demolished by a girl named Lucy Aln. The dungeon she'd estimated would take at least a month, maybe two, before anyone claimed a first clear had been reduced to rubble in a single day. Jesl, its designer, had been forced to run herself ragged just trying to prove that Lucy Aln was the anomaly and the dungeon itself was sound.
Lady Aln. Was wrecking every other dungeon in the academy not enough? Now you intend to bring down your own creation with your own hands? If it's doomed to collapse anyway, are you determined to at least give it a spectacular ending?
"Professor, what should we do?"
Just as the corners of Jesl's mouth, freed from her shock, were beginning to curl upward, one of the assistants — flustered by the unplanned turn of events — spoke up.
"What should we do? We keep the feed running, obviously."
"...Ah. Is that... all right?"
"Yes. What, are we short on mana? If so, I'll help."
"No, we're fine, Professor. Lady Aln cleared the demonstration so much faster than expected that we've got mana to spare."
"Hm. Fair enough. I suppose we do."
Even knowing every gimmick in the dungeon by heart, we figured the demonstration would take at least two hours — and she wrapped it up in one. Considering we stocked up on mana stones with room to spare, we can run another two hours comfortably.
"Then I'll get back to my post."
"Right. Good work."
...No.
Wait.
Lady Aln taught the students the proper method while still clearing the dungeon in one hour. So what happens if that girl clears it with everything she has?
As the memory of Lucy's rampage through the Academy Dungeon flashed through her mind, the color drained from Jesl's face — but by then it was already too late. The Lucy on the screen was already moving.
Though only a first-year, Lucy's body was already at a knight's level, and when she sprinted at full power, the end of the corridor appeared in the blink of an eye. This was the point where any ordinary person would slow down, terrified of smashing face-first into the wall. Lucy did no such thing. Rather than decelerating, she accelerated, snatched the note from the cradle like an outfielder cutting off a fly ball, and leapt into the air in the same motion.
Slamming her foot into the wall with every ounce of momentum her sprint had built, she watched the scenery shift — and then launched herself forward like a round fired from a magic circle.
None of the students in the Dungeonology exam hall could parse it. Even Professor Jesl couldn't. Every viewer watching the feed was left questioning Lucy's movements — but the mystery resolved itself soon enough. The human bullet named Lucy Aln struck the weak point of the knight guarding the final stretch of the first room with perfect precision.
"Kahaha! Magnificent! You are—!"
Lucy landed lightly on the floor and was already heading for the second room before the knight could finish his sentence. A pitch-black cave where not even a hand's length ahead could be seen, stuffed with every manner of trap designed to plant terror in the hearts of challengers. Standing at its very center, Lucy raised her mace high and, without a flicker of hesitation, swung it into empty air.
What happened next defied belief. The instant her mace came down, a wolf materialized out of the dark — straight into the blow — and crumpled to the ground.
"...Insane."
"No, what— what even—"
"What is happening right now?"
As the people in the exam hall emerged one by one from their stunned silence, Lucy abandoned the wolf twitching on the floor with a whimper and marched straight into the third room.
A blasted wasteland spread out before her. And crouched across it, fiend-shaped golems.
This place. I can't just run through this one like the last rooms. It wasn't built to allow that.
Jesl, watching the feed in open shock, prayed the demons would do their job. But alas, Lucy was a creature far beyond her imagination.
Trash demons♡ What, too scared of little old me to come closer?♡
With that taunt ringing out, Lucy hurled herself straight into the heart of the demon horde. By the dungeon's design, the marked demons were supposed to flee while only the unmarked ones swarmed the intruder. Yet whether from some glitch or another, the demons charged at Lucy regardless of their markings.
And the moment they closed in around her, Lucy brought her mace down.
She had been gathering Divinity into it from the very instant she entered the room — and now the weapon unleashed its stored power in a single, devastating shockwave. The demons, all left fragile and near death by the room's design, couldn't withstand the impact and went tumbling across the floor.
Most of the viewers winced at the sheer brutality of it — so we're just supposed to knock down the marked ones anyway, is that it? — but one man nodded along, visibly moved.
"Truly. If force cannot solve a problem, the answer is simply to apply greater force."
"...No. I really don't think that's it."
"How does anyone look at that and arrive at that conclusion?"
"Think about it. Surely there is nothing Lady Aln does that I, Luchvi Kurten, cannot also do."
It was true that Lucy Aln possessed physical abilities wildly beyond her years — but the same was true of Luchvi Kurten. Blessed by the god of might and destruction, his strength was second to none of his generation. What Lucy was doing now, he could replicate without breaking a sweat.
"If I had simply trusted in my own strength, I could have arrived at the same insight. I find myself learning something new after all."
As his friends recoiled in horror at his declaration that he would acquire that conviction by growing even more muscle, Lucy had already smashed through the fourth room and arrived at the ruined corridor. Her movements as she sprinted down it remained utterly without hesitation. Radiating the aura of a girl who would obliterate anything that dared block her path, she reached the room where the Derelict dwelled — and the Derelict, in no hurry at all, opened the door and revealed himself.
Oh ho. Such an impatient guest—
The Derelict had intended to deliver his grand, theatrical greeting, just as he had to every other student. But the greeting never finished. Before it could, Lucy's mace came flying at his head.
—How rude of you! Have you no manners?!
Then go take a bath♡ When you reek this bad, a girl's gotta hurry things along, y'know?♡
The Derelict tried everything to lure Lucy onto his stage, but she wouldn't so much as pretend to listen, raining down attacks without pause.
Ha! Very well! If you are so desperate to die, then I shall oblige you!
Pwahahaha♡ Look at you, all red-faced and mad over a little girl♡
...I'll shut that mouth of yours for good!
The Floor 0 gimmick never triggered. The Derelict, his patience utterly spent, drew his sword — and with that, the boss battle truly began.
"...So that was possible too."
Luka, who had rushed to the exam hall the moment Lucy's name came up, watched the scene unfolding on the screen and let out a hollow laugh. The Derelict she was fighting right now was not the gimmick-weakened version. Not content with merely holding her own against an opponent even Luchvi Kurten had called hopeless, she was toying with the boss outright.
"I see. So that man's true strength — her true strength — lay elsewhere entirely."
Yes, Lucy Aln's abilities were overwhelmingly beyond her age. With a physique that wouldn't yield to most active knights, she was unquestionably a girl who could one day succeed Benedict Aln as the kingdom's hero.
But she was not yet that overwhelming. A sprout that had only just begun to unfurl — noticeable, yes, but nowhere near the summit. There were a handful of third-years with strength equal to hers, or greater.
And yet Lucy was toying with an adversary that not a single one of those third-years had managed to defeat.
Some would look at this and call it nothing but cheating — she's the dungeon's designer, of course she can do it. And they wouldn't be wrong. Because she designed the dungeon. Because she knew every move the Derelict would make. That is why Lady Aln can smile in the face of crushing disadvantage.
But still.
Is knowing the boss's behavior alone really enough to pull off something like this? Is reading several moves into the future, guiding the enemy's every action, and rendering his entire arsenal meaningless — is that something anyone can do?
Of course not!
Only Lucy Aln can do this!
Reading her opponent's movements, baiting his actions, making him dance in the palm of her hand — only a girl with that ability could turn her knowledge into a result like this!
Having glimpsed the true light of the jewel called Lucy Aln, Luka's eyes glittered as he watched the corridor flood with crimson mana.
Now, then. The finale, please.
How will you overcome the death throes of a boss you built with your own hands? What move will you make to break through a spell designed to kill its visitors?
Luka waited, expecting a miracle from Lucy Aln — but Lucy did nothing of the sort.
She didn't grit her teeth and raise her shield. She didn't lunge to smash the boss before the spell could fire. She didn't pull so much as a single item from her sub-space pouch.
She simply walked past the Derelict, stepped through the wide-open door — and shut it behind her.
"...What—"
The gimmick triggered, and the floor collapsed away beneath her — but Lucy Aln, clinging to her mace jammed into the wall, remained inside the room.
"A novel idea, Professor — but a meaningless one. Hiding in the room won't shield you from the spell... hm?"
Why isn't the spell firing?