Dungeon Practical Training
Dungeon Practical Training. A simple class where students enter the training dungeon near the academy and complete assigned tasks. Only low-grade monsters like goblins appear, and the dungeon itself is small enough that even lower-ranked students can easily finish it. You could call it a light, low-stakes lesson.
I ended up grouped with our usual trio—Philip, Yohan, and Angela. Normally the groups are random, but because I'm under special protection, I got to choose freely.
“Hey—! Aren’t you excited? Why do you all look so dead?”
While heading from the academy toward the dungeon, Angela ran up and smacked Yohan on the shoulder.
Yohan really did look miserable. It was his first time entering a dungeon, and the tension was clearly getting to him.
“Angela. Dungeons are dangerous places. You can’t act like that when anything could happen—”
“Aah, listen to the great dungeon expert. With Philip and Lee Han here, we’ll be fine, right? All the safety measures are in place anyway.”
Philip was reliable enough. He might not be at the very top, but he consistently ranked in the upper tier.
“I don’t trust those safety measures. Remember the last evaluation? The golem went berserk, and they still haven’t caught whoever was responsible.”
“Heh… Why bring up something so heavy all of a sudden?”
“Because Lee Han almost got seriously hurt. This is important. Don’t take it lightly either. We have no idea what could happen.”
Yohan was right. In my memories, this practical always ended in some kind of incident. It was practically an academy tradition. The exact pattern depended on which heroine’s route you were on, but it usually involved demons or cultists causing trouble. This time I had no idea who might show up. All the heroines had high favorability with me, and none of them had pulled too far ahead.
‘Well, it doesn’t really matter who comes. Nothing too big should happen yet.’
At worst, a few students would get isolated and attacked. Some people got injured, but no one died. That was how I remembered it.
Listening to Angela and Yohan bicker was oddly pleasant as we walked. Before long, we reached the dungeon entrance.
“I will now explain the dungeon practical! Everyone, gather with your groups and line up!”
The instructor shouted from the platform. The task was straightforward: enter the dungeon, defeat some monsters, and retrieve the emblem from the core room.
“The academy has been paying close attention to recent incidents. Because of that, everyone must carry a return stone inside, and all progress will be monitored from outside. Never forget that safety comes first.”
After finishing his speech, the instructor stepped down. The practical began in earnest.
Nothing should go wrong, but just in case, I thoroughly checked everyone’s equipment—including my teammates’. Return stones, potions, communication artifacts. Good, everything was in order.
“Group 5, entering now!”
After a short wait, it was our turn. We formed up with Angela and me in front, Philip and Yohan in the rear, and stepped into the dungeon.
“So this is a dungeon…”
Philip looked around at the moss-covered cave walls with fascination.
“You’ve never been in a dungeon before, have you, Philip? Makes sense for a rich young master.”
Angela teased him playfully.
“Ah, well… yeah. I’ve fought monsters, but this is my first dungeon.”
“Then just follow this big sister. I used to live as an adventurer outside, you know. Ah, there they are. Everyone, get ready.”
Following where Angela pointed, we saw several goblins standing around stupidly with crude clubs. Real goblins had some intelligence and violent tendencies, but these were artificially created monsters. Their aggression and danger levels had been deliberately lowered so students could cut them down easily.
“Want to give it a try, Philip? Since it’s your first dungeon run.”
I offered him the first attack.
“Ah, sure. I’ll give it a shot!”
Philip stretched out his hand. A hot wind stirred at his fingertips, forming a small burning sphere. The goblins finally noticed us and started charging, but it was already too late. The fully formed fireball flew toward them and engulfed the creatures in flames in an instant.
Clap, clap, clap. Angela gave a small round of applause.
“Not bad, Philip! See? Nothing to it, right?”
“Got the feel for it. Easier than I thought.”
We pressed onward, racking up flags left and right.
‘This should be about the spot.’
The moment we reached the middle section of the dungeon, everything went wrong.
The walls suddenly began to shake. The magic stone lamps embedded in them glowed red, and from somewhere came the ominous sound of metal scraping against metal.
“Wh-what?!”
Even Angela, who had plenty of experience, looked shaken.
“Damn it… This is exactly why I said you can’t trust the academy!”
Yohan frantically pulled out the communication artifact and tried to contact the outside.
“It’s dead. Use the return stones.”
He tossed the useless artifact aside and grabbed his return stone. Of course, it didn’t work. Our attempt to escape failed.
So this was the pattern. I knew this was a cultist attack.
“Don’t panic. They’ll have noticed something’s wrong from outside by now.”
Irene, who had entered earlier, was probably being attacked right about now. She could handle it at her level.
“So if we just wait here for a bit…”
That was when I heard a low, beastly growl from around the corner.
“This… doesn’t sound good.”
The moment I finished speaking, monsters poured out from the corner. They were wolf-shaped creatures—mid-grade monsters. Unlike the artificial ones, these had vicious, bloodthirsty eyes as they charged straight at us.
These were the real thing. Yohan and Philip, who lacked real combat experience, wouldn’t stand a chance. I wasn’t even sure how much Angela could handle.
“Form up! I’ll take the front—support me!”
I gave quick orders. My teammates followed without hesitation. I stood at the front, cutting down the charging wolves while Philip and Yohan launched spells into any openings. Angela cleaned up anything that slipped through.
It felt good. Our coordination was solid. Even though the situation was dangerous, I found myself oddly enjoying it.
Thud. I drove my sword into the last wolf’s neck.
“Haa…”
I wiped the blood from my face with the back of my hand. The fight was over. All the training I’d been doing had paid off. I could handle mid-grade beasts without much trouble.
“Everyone okay?”
When I turned to check on the other three, they were all staring at me with strange expressions.
“What?”
“N-no… I just didn’t realize you were this strong…”
“Yeah. You took down most of the monsters by yourself.”
“So you weren’t just skipping class and messing around after all! That’s impressive, Lee Han!”
They each voiced their thoughts.
“Well, it just happened. Let’s move for now. This place doesn’t feel safe.”
I didn’t know why things had deviated from the original event, but this area was dangerous. Rather than waiting around for rescue, finding an exit was better. There was a portal to the outside in the core room—we could use that.
“Everyone still have mana?”
“No problem.”
“Plenty left!”
“Good. Then let’s head for the core room. There should be a portal there leading outside.”
“Was the path always like this?”
“No. It definitely wasn’t.”
“Even the dungeon’s layout changed… What the hell is the academy doing?”
Leading the three of them, I navigated the twisted corridors. The monsters appearing had been unexpected, but the path itself hadn’t changed. I took the shortest route from our position to the core room.
We were almost there—just one more corner.
“Wait. Does anyone else hear that?”
Angela stopped us. When we listened closely, we could hear the sound of weapons clashing.
“Yeah. Someone’s fighting up ahead. Let’s go.”
We quickened our pace and turned the corner. There, a familiar figure was fighting off monsters.
“Irene.”
Irene had already been badly injured and was protecting her incapacitated teammates alone. She wielded a mace that belonged to one of her group members, holding back the swarm of monsters. Her specialty was healing, yet she was putting on this kind of performance… Her specs really were on another level.
“Irene. Fall back.”
“L-Lee Han?!”
Her back flinched.
“Heal the injured. We’ll handle the monsters.”
“Y-yes!”
Irene set down the mace and began treating her bleeding teammates. We took the same formation as before and engaged the monsters. Once again, there was no major difficulty. No stronger monsters appeared just because we were near the core room. The situation ended quickly.
“Are the injured okay?”
I asked Irene.
“Yes, no one’s in critical condition anymore.”
“That’s a relief. Were you heading for the core room?”
“Ah, yes. It’s the safest way to escape.”
Irene spoke as if it were obvious. Had she experienced this before?
“We’ll go ahead and secure the core room. Come with us once your teammates wake up.”
Just as we were about to move, Irene called out.
“Wait…!”
“Something feels wrong. This has never happened before… It shouldn’t be like this…”
She shifted anxiously from foot to foot.
“We don’t have a choice. The best thing we can do right now is reach the core room. If we stay here, we might get attacked again.”
“You’re right, but… please be careful.”
“Got it.”
With that, we headed for the core room first. After turning the corner from Irene’s location, a large cavern opened up. This was the core room. As expected, a portal leading outside sat in the center.
“A portal…! Haa…”
Philip let out a sigh of relief, as if he’d just survived.
“I really thought we were dead!”
“Haa… At least the portal’s still working.”
The others finally seemed to relax.
That was when it happened.
“…! Philip! Angela!”
“Huh? What, urgh!”
A massive axe flew out from behind the portal and struck Angela. She was sent flying without even a chance to react, slamming into the far wall.
“Damn it!”
I sprinted forward at full speed. Something that had been hidden behind the portal revealed itself. A gigantic minotaur. It held a massive axe in one hand, the blade still dripping with Angela’s blood. This was clearly a far more dangerous monster than anything we’d faced so far.
Most importantly, there was a black stone embedded in its chest. The moment I saw it, a chill ran down my spine. I knew exactly what that was. It had followed me through regression after regression, tormenting me endlessly.
“Philip! Get behind me, now!!”
I shouted, but Philip didn’t seem to hear. He stood frozen in place, paralyzed by the minotaur’s overwhelming presence.
“You fucking bastard!”
The minotaur swung its axe at Philip. I barely managed to reach him in time and blocked the blow with my sword.
“Kgh…!”
The impact was tremendous. I couldn’t match its strength.
“Philip! Snap out of it!”
“H-huh? L-Lee Han!”
“Yeah! Run over there! Secure Angela first!”
“A-alright!”
Philip finally came to his senses and dashed toward Angela.
“This goddamn piece of shit…!”
Thud! I deflected the blocked axe into the ground. The heavy mass of metal struck the floor with a terrifying sound.
Why had things turned out like this? Where had everything gone wrong? This future never existed before. Damn it… Just how was everything unfolding…?