Sailing to the Volcano
The day of the promotion exam and the fifth BMAT had finally arrived.
The entire first-year class was teleported to a place called Skanver Port.
As it turned out, the island housing the dungeon had coordinates that were notoriously difficult to lock onto and dangerous to traverse, so students had no choice but to cross by boat from the harbor.
Under the watchful control of the TAs, the students shuffled toward the pier in clusters and climbed aboard the four-person wooden boats waiting there. Island residents stood holding an oar beside each vessel.
"Four to a big boat! Three to a small one!"
The TAs were shouting themselves hoarse trying to rein in the energetic crowd of boys and girls.
"No room for all four of us."
Meilin came back from a lap around the pier and muttered, hands on her hips.
"Guess we'll have to squeeze in one or two at a time."
"Yeah. Nothing we can do about it."
Camibarez let out a disappointed little smile.
"I wanted us to stay together as long as we could before the exam……."
At those words, Simon and Meilin both flinched and hurriedly exchanged glances.
Their eyes finally landed on Rick. It was a look that said, Do something. Now.
"Woohoo! Time for the fixer to step in!"
Rick swaggered over to the islanders with all the confidence in the world. Since they didn't speak the continental tongue, he gesticulated wildly, explaining something with hands and feet.
"Student! Get back in line!"
One of the TAs bellowed, but Rick clung to a boat and made a desperate need-the-bathroom gesture as his excuse. The moment the TA sighed and walked off, he snapped right back into conversation with the islander.
"სყლჹჺჟ!"
The islander said something, then sprinted off somewhere. A short while later—
"Waaah!"
Camibarez and Meilin jumped up and down, hugging each other.
The islander had returned with a boat of his very own.
Rick had discreetly slipped him a gold coin while shouting 'Yo! Yo! We're friends now!' The fist bump and high-five handshake the two of them had cooked up seemed to work like a charm.
"That's it, everybody hop on!"
All three scrambled aboard. Being a private boat, it was roomier and even more comfortable than the others.
"TA! Is that allowed?"
Elisa, watching from the neighboring boat with clear disapproval, tattled to the TAs.
"If it bugs you that much, spend your own allowance too."
Rick snickered, happily high-fived Simon beside him, and added, "Ahh, tough luck. In a place where the continental tongue doesn't work, a politician's silver tongue is worthless, right? Money talks everywhere, though."
"Why you little merchant—!"
Like master, like friend, apparently—the girl was insufferable. Whatever fury Elisa was boiling over with, Rick simply leaned back in his comfortable boat, hands behind his head.
"Thank you so much, Rick!"
Camibarez beamed as she climbed aboard.
"This is the best gift ever!"
As it happened, today—promotion exam day—was her birthday. Rick gave her an easy thumbs-up.
"Don't hype me up too much, Kami. She'll brag about this for a solid week."
Saying that, Meilin stepped toward the boat. But the current rocked the hull, and the gap between it and the pier widened.
"Ah."
The girl, mid-stretch to leap, faltered and drew her leg back. She bit her pink lip ever so slightly—a plainly frightened expression.
"Whoa, did you just chicken out? Meilin got scared just now?"
Rick pounced on it immediately.
Meilin shot him a venomous glare, backed up a few steps, and yelled, "Nobody's scaaared!" Then she sprinted at full speed and leapt for the boat.
THUNK—!
Creak! Creak! Creak!
The boat lurched violently, spraying cold droplets of seawater. Her landing was clumsy—she wobbled hard with a strangled "Whoa!"—and just as her balance tipped and she was about to tumble into the sea—
Whoosh!
Simon appeared like lightning and caught her softly in his arms. At the same time, he planted his legs wide and raised Jet-Black to steady the boat.
Creak— creak— creeeak—
The rocking hull gradually, slowly, settled back into stillness.
"……Ah."
Meilin, who now found herself cradled in Simon's arms, turned as red as a boiled beet.
Trembling lashes, lips letting out shallow little breaths, cheeks flushing redder by the second—
Her whole body had gone rigid and wouldn't move an inch.
"You okay?"
Simon tightened his hold. He steadied her by the shoulders, set her gently upright, and flashed her a warm smile.
"Ah, yeah."
She swept her hair back, sat down with her knees drawn together, then put on an aloof face and said in the tiniest voice possible:
"……Thank you."
She'd come within a hair's breadth of falling into the sea before the exam and collecting every ounce of humiliation on the menu.
Just as she was trying to calm her pounding heart—
"Wahaha! Thought the whole boat was gonna flip!"
Rick was never the type to hold back when he smelled an opportunity. The corners of his mouth sailed skyward as he wore his most wicked grin.
"How heavy are you, anyway, making a boat do that? Thought a whole pig had crossed over."
"What did you call me?! A pig?! Wanna die?!"
The boat tilted sharply as Meilin lunged at him shrieking. She squealed, scrambled back to her seat, and shot a look at the islander holding the oar.
"See that, Simon? Right?"
Rick said, eyebrows wagging. Simon and Camibarez burst out laughing, while Meilin alone growled and fumed.
Amid all the bickering, the boats set off.
Drifting forward on a single small wooden boat across a sea so deep-blue its depth was anyone's guess—it was a good deal more nerve-wracking than it looked.
Then Rick signaled to the islander with a few quiet hand gestures. The man nodded and steered the boat slightly off the main route.
"……"
Simon and Meilin traded a swift glance. Camibarez, gripping the railing tight, was busy turning her head this way and that, taking in the view.
"Oh, um……! It looks like we're drifting away from the others!"
The moment she turned back around—
Ta-da! There, in the center of the boat, sat a cake with a candle planted in it. Meilin clapped her hands and shouted:
"One, two—go!"
All three spoke at once.
"Happy birthday, Kami!"
"Waaah!" They clapped for her too. They couldn't cheer loudly—the TAs mustn't notice—but it was a small birthday celebration all their own, just for the members of Group 7.
Camibarez's eyes welled up with emotion.
"You've gotta blow out the candle!"
"Ah—yes!"
Hands clasped over her heart, she went pwoo! and snuffed the flame.
The three of them clapped once more, and even the islander paused his rowing for a moment to send his congratulations in his own tongue—something that sounded like 'Whiyahu! Hiyihu!'
"Thank you all so much!"
Camibarez wiped the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, overwhelmed.
"I never would have survived Kizen without you all. Meeting you three is the luckiest thing that's ever happened to me!"
"Kamiii! You can't just say something that adorable!"
Meilin couldn't hold back and threw her arms around Camibarez. When the boat rocked and creaked again, she darted back to her own seat in a flash.
"Hey! Why does it only do this when I move?!"
As she grumbled red-faced, Rick answered:
"The scale doesn't lie."
"WHY, YOU—!!!"
So the four of them shared the cake, then drifted back among the other students.
About twenty minutes later, they reached the island.
"Whoa."
Rick's face went slack.
"……That's no joke."
KRAKOOM—!
FWOOOOM!
From the crater of the island, a volcano was erupting in real time. Magma nearing a thousand degrees streamed down the mountainside and hit the seawater, belching up colossal plumes of steam. The students' mouths hung wide open.
"Get down! Lower your bodies and we'll move!"
"This is dangerous! Absolutely no fooling around!"
All the students pressed themselves flat against the boats, eyes darting every which way. Only the TAs, distributed evenly across the flotilla, rose to their feet.
FWOOOOM!
Then a fresh eruption sent huge rock fragments flying straight toward the students. They screamed, but the TAs calmly raised their arms.
⟨ Spuma ⟩
Zap!
The Jet-Black fired from the TAs' fingertips touched the volcanic debris, swelling into great bubbles that swallowed the fragments whole.
The TAs swept their arms, and the trapped debris went hurtling back toward the volcanic island.
⟨ Spuma ⟩
⟨ Spuma ⟩
Cast after cast, the TAs cleared away the volcano's leavings with Jet-Black magic, and the boats resumed their advance.
"Ah! Look over there!"
Meilin, crouched with her hand clasped tight in Camibarez's, shouted.
"It's Professor Jane!"
And indeed—students who'd arrived earlier were waiting there alongside the professors.
Unlike the TAs, who cleaned up piece by piece with Spuma, the Kizen professors had simply spread a protective barrier across an entire section. Volcanic debris and magma that touched it melted away without a trace.
"Professor Eric Aura!"
"There's Professor Bahil too!"
Simon surveyed the professors' faces as well.
Vice Principal Jane, Eric of Jet-Black Mechanics, Bahil of Curse Studies, an unnamed Toxicology professor seated in the back row, and—
'……Professor Walter.'
He had received the follow-up mission report from Kajan recently.
Count Caron's disappearance had seemed suspicious enough that, with Nephthys's blessing, Kajan had pressed a private investigation—only for the result to come back closed, no charges found.
'……Haah. Maybe I was just being paranoid?'
While Simon was mulling this over, the boats arrived at the island one by one. The students disembarked while the TAs ran themselves ragged taking a head count.
"P-Professor Jane!"
The Head TA, tallying the numbers, came running up to Jane, gasping for breath.
"All 647 first-years have arrived! *Huff* *huff*!"
"Well done."
Jane gave the TA's shoulder a light pat, then clapped her hands sharply and called out:
"Attention, first-years!"
Every student turned toward her. In an instant, the rowdy volcanic island fell into perfect silence.
Rick smoothed his chin admiringly.
"Oooh, our Professor Jane. That presence, as always—"
"Silence, Rick Hayward."
Having his name called out before the whole student body, Rick's mouth snapped shut.
"Years ago this island was a peaceful resort, but the dungeon has triggered volcanic activity on an unprecedented scale. From this moment, we will climb the volcanic island."
Her gaze swept across the students.
"This is an unknown disaster. We cannot predict when or where debris will fall or magma will surge. Monsters native to the volcano are a certainty as well. But you are absolutely forbidden from handling any of it alone—call for the faculty instead. That is, unless you'd like to be pulled from the promotion exam with an injury before it even begins."
The students answered with a resounding "Yes, ma'am!" Jane turned her head.
"Then the professors will lead from the front, and the TAs will flank the columns on either side to keep order."
"Yes!"
The TAs scattered at blistering speed and took up positions slightly apart from the lined-up students. Jane glanced to her side.
"If you please, Professor Walter."
"*Cough, cough*. Of course."
Walter answered through a cough and opened a subspace. He still did not look to be in the best condition.
THUMP!
What he drew from the subspace was an enormous, pulsing heart. A magic circle flared to life, and a vast volume of blood surged up from the heart into the air.
Walter chanted.
A voice as mellow as a warm breeze scattered into the air. The mass of blood gathered, took shape, and spread wide open into the form of a net—a roof suspended in mid-air, its expanse vast enough to shelter the heads of every student on the island.
"Then we depart."
Jane walked at the very front, the other professors guiding the students beside her. Holding the flanks fell to the TAs.
The students set off. The moment they passed beyond the barrier, debris erupting from the summit came raining down, scattering gas in its wake.
Some students shrieked and covered their heads—but
WHUMP!
The debris struck Walter's net stretched overhead. The net rippled once, absorbed the impact, then rolled the fragments off and pushed them away outside.
"Professor Walter, you're amazing!"
The girls trailing behind him squealed with delight.
Walter blocked the volcanic debris raining from above, Eric kept the smoke and toxic gases at bay, and anything else the mountain threw at them fell to Jane and Bahil.
*GRUUUUMBLE!*)
A golem made of volcanic rock came charging up the slope at the students.
Jane sent a single violet butterfly from her fingertip to settle on the golem's head, then clapped her hands together lightly—
CRACK!
The golem's head blew apart entirely and came crashing down. The students erupted in cheers.
Ssshh.
This time Bahil flicked his hand to the side.
Muspel—flame-attribute monsters that looked like blackened charcoal figures—swarmed toward the students, then detonated on their own.
'Huh? That technique—.'
Simon blinked.
"What's wrong, Simon?"
"Nothing, it's nothing."
With the massive trial of the promotion exam looming, the students were treated to a genuine feast for the eyes—an up-close showcase of just what their professors and TAs were capable of.
And so the first-years arrived at the summit of the erupting volcano.
The searing heat made it hard to even keep their eyes open.
"There it is!"
Inside the crater, which looked for all the world like the maw of some great beast, crimson magma churned and boiled—and at its very center, they could see it: a gate of pitch-black void, wavering as if ready to swallow everything whole.
That was the dungeon's entrance.
"Get ready."
Jane said, facing the students.
"We will descend in order, by sequence."