Chapter 89
Chapter 89
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Deciding the Winner: Field Training (6)
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Dark and damp cave interior.
Alexander Sergei, a second-year knight division student at Pharenchia Academy, had been glaring with wide-open eyes for two straight days, waiting for the freshmen.
Two meters tall, weighing 130 kilos.
The axe blades in his pot-lid-sized hands gleamed blue.
"Heh heh heh... I wonder what kind of fools will come in."
Just recently, during training, he'd slain a giant centipede in Hover Mountain and received an earnest invitation to join the knight order. There was nothing left for him to fear.
All the monsters the soldiers had left inside the dungeon for the freshmen had been butchered down to the bones.
To the poor lambs who unfortunately chose the spot he was guarding, he would show them the bitter taste of the world.
He looked every bit the monk who had broken his precepts, or a warrior drunk on blood.
Thud, thud, thud.
His sharp senses caught the presence at the cave entrance.
'Alone? Tsk, a straggler. What a worthless punk.'
Someone who abandoned their comrades to pass the training was trash.
His grip tightened on the axe handles.
In truth, this training relied heavily on luck.
No matter how skilled you were at scouting, if you ran into a top-tier second-year inside the dungeon, there was no way to win.
Especially against Sergei, from the battle-loving Shakel Federation.
A mere single first-year charging at him? No chance.
Finally, as a black shadow rounded the corner and leaped out, he offered a light greeting.
"Die, freshman!!!"
Black Magic Sword: Shura Storm Whirlwind Double Slash
Full-power mana-infused axe throw
The axe, charged with mana and hurled at full force, flew along the wall and embedded its handle deep.
Enough destructive power to inflict at least a month's worth of recovery injury, no matter where it hit.
But Sergei immediately sensed something off.
'Dodged it?'
There was no sound of the usual victim flying back after taking his axe.
"Whoa, fuck. Hey, you just tried to kill me, right?"
"...Who are you? Not a freshman."
"I'm not here for that, so hand over that doll behind you for a sec."
A man he'd never seen before.
But a powerhouse.
Couldn't let his guard down.
As the man approached, Sergei swung his axe blade horizontally in a massive arc.
A devastating strike to separate head from torso.
But—
Kwak!
"Shit. Hey, you really a student? Why's the knight division full of monsters like you?"
"Wh-what the...!"
The hand gripping the blade didn't budge an inch.
The axe blade aimed at his throat drifted farther away.
Not enough with one hand—he tried with both, grunting, but the overwhelming gap in strength was absolute, inscrutable.
"You worm!! Using strange sorcery!!"
"Ah, just fuck off. You Ronkerman-dipped-in-white-chocolate bastard."
As Louis casually shook off his hand, Sergei flew far back.
Ignoring him rolling on the ground fused with his own thrown axe, Louis picked up the doll at the end of the dungeon.
"Where'd you get this?"
"Cough, cough! It was given to me by my dear sister! You dare touch it?!"
The strong exploit, the weak get robbed.
Sergei had no intention of yielding even a single hair to weaker first-years.
That's why he'd placed his most precious possession there—the doll his sister had given him when he left home, telling him not to forget her.
"This thing's full of black magic, man. You're being tricked right now."
"Gah!! How dare you insult my sister!!"
A doll handmade stitch by stitch with her calloused hands from a harsh married life, identical to her.
He'd refused it at first—"A grown man carrying a doll?"—then secretly packed it while she cried.
"Look at this, see? Looks like a doll, but if you pull the head right off..."
"Don't you dare let go of that filthy hand...!!"
Riiip.
"..."
"..."
The two men stared blankly at the doll with cotton fluff flying out.
Louis broke the silence first, eyes meeting the doll's dangling head and Sergei's dumbfounded face.
"What the hell, it's real?"
"Gaaaaah—!!!"
As the second day's sun set, Erzebet, Adella, and Kal found the dungeon entrance.
Scouting first, no other teams nearby.
Dusk was falling, and the entrance was well-hidden by rocks and grass.
As Erzebet pondered camping overnight and entering tomorrow, Adella strode forward confidently.
"A-Adella! Wait...!"
"?"
"Rushing in blindly is dangerous. Got a plan?"
"Nope."
"Then hold on. We don't even know what's inside."
The three sat on the ground, ate to fill their stomachs, and planned.
Enemies inside: mainly monsters and the second-year guardian.
Couldn't rule out traps.
"First, send Piy to scout."
"Um... Your Highness."
"Yes?"
"Can you manage it?"
"What do you mean, Kal? That's what familiars are for. You can do it, right, Piy?"
"..."
"P-Piy...?"
"Piy—."
Clearly reluctant, half-hearted.
Erzebet couldn't show her royal... no, sovereign dignity crumbling further to her teammates.
Grabbing Piy and approaching the entrance, it began flapping its wings and crying pi-pi-pi-pi!
Extreme sensitivity to danger.
Just like when she first met Louis.
"Just go in."
Adella said, seeing the terrified Piy.
"The person inside won't change anyway."
"..."
"..."
The three cautiously entered the dungeon.
The western forest was more a rocky area formed before Pharenchia's development, so the dungeon resembled a natural cave.
Drip, drip—the sound of water dropping as they ventured deeper.
Eerie air brushed their skin, light fading.
"Not a single light."
"Shall I light a torch, Your Highness?"
"Would you?"
"Yes, got it. Adella?"
At Kal's request, Adella handed over her entire bag.
Lighting the oil-soaked wooden torch inside, Kal sensed something wrong.
'The ceiling... it's black?'
Walls and floor brown all over, but torchlight didn't reach the ceiling.
Plus a faint fishy smell tickling his nose.
The moment something startled in his raised hand launched a group attack, Kal drew his sword and shouted.
"Wormbats!!"
—Kieeeek!!
Giant bats hanging thick from the ceiling dove at the three.
Before tough wings and sharp claws could rake them, Erzebet hastily activated [Wind Slash] and .
Kal slashed at the bats with his sword and yelled at the dazed Adella.
"Adella! Retreat first...!"
"..."
"Adella!?"
Her classmate, always unreadable, stared calmly beyond the endless darkness even now.
That composure bolstered him somewhat, but Kal felt an inexplicable dread.
"Leave this to you two."
"Ah, Adella!"
Adella advanced through the wormbats, ice pick like a staff in one hand.
She knew who awaited at the cave's end.
Deep shadows fell over her azure eyes.
With a chilling gaze and even colder voice, she called into the darkness ahead.
"Stop hiding and come out."
"...Hiding? Who?"
The figure who emerged radiated beauty like the queen of night, even in the dark cave.
Liv.
"Welcome, junior."
"..."
"We have a lot to talk about, don't we?"
"Just one thing."
"Technically, yeah, but..."
She too held her staff, glaring at Adella with black-purple glowing eyes.
"The result will be very different from last time."
Thud!
Sergei's body crashed with a massive sound as he rolled back eyes-up.
I tossed the broken axe blade to the ground and dusted my hands.
"Man, this guy's built like a mountain but carries a real doll around."
What a waste of time. False alarm.
Hell, he even tried to kill me like I was his arch-nemesis. Scared me for a sec.
Had I met him before?
Couldn't remember.
Anyway, as I was about to threaten Lehel for the next coordinates, one of the crystal orbs in my pocket dropped to the floor.
It had been showing Liv's dungeon, and picking it up, I spotted two familiar faces.
"...They really met."
Adella and Liv facing off, just like Sergei when I yanked the doll's head.
Definitely not a good vibe.
One of them might get seriously hurt.
Should I go stop them? As I pondered, Lehel's voice came from the crystal orb.
—Uh, boss? The difficulty spiked here.
"What're you talking about?"
—You said tell you if anything happened. One of the coordinates you asked about—monsters are evolving there!
"Then why're you just watching?"
—Huh?
Come to think of it, wouldn't it be faster for Lehel with her portals to go instead of me running?
Her crisis management was rock bottom again.
Unique magic holders aren't right in the head.
For Lehel, dulled by long years to most stimuli, real events felt like TV shows.
Soldiers' pay mixed with sand? Monsters turning demonic beasts? Whatever.
She just laughed at fun stuff or reacted to novelties.
Guess I need to fix that gambling addiction after all.
"Hurry up and go!!"
—Eek! G-going! Right now!
"Clear all those out, and if there's a doll inside, don't break it—bring it to me."
Sending Lehel off first, I sighed and checked the coordinates for Liv and Adella's spot.
Wanted to let them handle it themselves, but the mood was off.
Worried a bloody slaughter might erupt any second, I ran while checking the orb—then Liv's eyes met mine, staring straight through from the other side.
"Huh?"
Did she notice the familiar I planted in the cave?
Snip.
"Ah."
The screen showing the two cut off completely.