The Heroes Haven't Learned to Hold Back Yet
"Everyone assembled? I'll now begin roll call."
I lined the students up and called out names one by one. I don't care for stiff atmospheres, but getting too loose right before a live exercise does no one any good.
All forty-two were accounted for, already organized into eight parties.
Of these, twelve were Earth House students.
The roster included Jukmak, Xuehua, Mark—who had recently changed class to Lancer—Word Mage Lapri, Buffer Bob, Assassin Sana, Druid Andrea, Healer Aru, and Beast Tamer Perfo, among others.
The other course members were under Yuri and Aisha's supervision, honing their skills in the lower-level dungeon within the Academy Territory.
Today it was Luca and Tia's turn to oversee the intermediate side.
"As you all know, today is the day we finally enter the 7th floor. Of course, there's no need to be any more nervous than usual—but the rules have changed a little."
"Changed, Professor?"
"Mm. Now that you've earned your adventurer licenses, even if only provisional ones, I imagine it stings a little, doesn't it? You must be curious how your skills measure up against actual working adventurers."
"That's right!"
"They always act all high and mighty whenever we run into adventurers."
"They keep teasing us, asking if we come out here for picnics every week."
"So I've arranged a little event. From this moment on, all of you will compete against an A-rank adventurer party, the 'Dark Priest Cult,' in a race to clear the 7th floor."
"Really?"
"A clearing contest?!"
"Things were getting a bit dull, so this is perfect!"
"Let's show them what we've got!"
Remarkable energy began to stir among the students.
They were all skilled, and it was about time they grew accustomed to large-scale formations and coordinated combat. From the look of them, they'd been waiting for exactly this kind of unconventional lesson.
Bob the buffer raised a hand.
"Professor, what level is an A-rank party, exactly?"
"Our opponents are two parties composed of one 4-Star and nine 3-Stars each."
At my answer, the students murmured among themselves.
"Whoa... wow."
"That's pretty tough."
"Can we actually beat them?"
"They'll have mountains of experience too. These are people for whom adventuring is a livelihood."
"Do we really stand a chance?"
They seemed to have lost a bit of confidence. A 4-Star in the mix meant an S-rank adventurer among the enemy ranks.
S-rank adventurers were so rare that fewer than a hundred existed on the entire continent. Freyja was another matter entirely, but among priests she was virtually unmatched.
Granted, a head-on clash would offer no chance of victory—but there was no point whining before the race had even begun.
With these students, the possibilities were more than sufficient.
"You are students of Caesus, are you not? Have some confidence. Above all, the victory condition of this contest is not monster slaying—it is finding the stairway leading to the 8th floor."
"I see. That condition might actually work in our favor."
"So speed of extermination matters, but exploration and teamwork matter even more."
"Time to put everything we've learned into practice."
"At the very least, we'll be able to brag that we beat an A-rank party."
They all caught on quickly, and their fighting spirit flared right back up.
I posed a question to the students.
"I trust you all remember. This was covered in lecture three. When a force this large moves out, what kind of formation is advantageous? Xion."
"You bundle the five-man parties into groups of two to five and operate them as single raid units. The raid leader gives orders only to the party leaders!"
"Correct. Take a candy."
"Yes!"
Xion beamed and darted forward to snatch her candy.
"From this point on, we move as two raids. Parties one through four will be led by Student Lucas; parties five through eight by Student Testia."
"Party members move according to the orders of their party leader, never the raid leader. It follows the same pattern as the monster hunts we've done so far. The only difference is that you'll need to put a little more care into your coordination when facing large numbers of enemies or particularly dangerous foes."
An energetic chorus of replies came back.
"Then let us depart."
Intermediate Dungeon 11, the one we had been working through, was built from neat, uniform blocks of granite.
It was a labyrinth-style structure of relatively wide, straight corridors.
The dim torches mounted on the walls cast just enough light on the floor to make traps barely visible—no more, no less.
We descended into the dungeon with the students in tow. Passing the fully cleared 6th floor, we reached the stair landing that led down into the 7th.
As it happened, the Dark Priest Cult had arrived at the same time. A crowd of jet-black High Priests clustered together certainly made for an intimidating sight.
Freyja glanced back at me.
"Hm. So it wasn't empty bluster after all. I'd assumed you'd have tucked tail and fled long before now."
"Haha, as if I ever would. Ladies first, of course."
"Your consideration is appreciated."
Freyja stepped onto the stairs descending to the 7th floor. The instant her foot touched the first step—FWOOM!—a trap triggered, and her shoes were scorched black.
"My sentiment exactly."
Having confirmed the trap was now disarmed, I strolled leisurely past her and continued down.
"Was a trap like this truly so frightening? Join our cult, and you'll learn not to bat an eye at far worse."
"These are shoes I'm rather fond of, you see. The cleaner gets so upset when they're damaged."
Freyja shot me a look of utter disbelief.
The students filed down the stairs after me, clustering and milling about like a brood of baby birds.
The dark priests followed. We all took our places at the 7th floor's starting line.
"I can't see a thing."
"It's darker than the 6th floor."
Darkness pressed in from every side. The students were all tense. Freyja, by contrast, radiated confidence.
"Do you know why we are called the Dark Priests? Because by serving the Outer Gods, we discovered entirely new operating principles for priestly magic."
"Is that so?"
"Behold. Spells that manipulate shadows are our exclusive domain."
Freyja declared this with imperious pride.
As the priests cast their spells, their shadows peeled away from their feet and sprang to life, taking the shapes of beasts and beginning to crawl along the ground.
"The deeper the shadow, the stronger we become. Such is the teaching the Outer Gods have bestowed upon us!"
In truth, these people had simply been gifted at developing creepy spells, and religion had little to do with it.
From one perspective, it was a colossal waste of talent.
Watching the shadow beasts actively scout ahead, it seemed they served as the party's vanguard. One mystery was now solved—how a party made up entirely of priests could survive without dedicated front-liners.
"In darkness, humans freeze with fear and cannot so much as move. That is the nature of the human heart."
"Student Testia, if you would."
"Yes, sir!"
Tia traced a magic circle with an easy flourish. White mana circulated through it, shimmering and bright.
A moment later, light poured in so intense it made the eyes water. The dungeon, walled in on all sides by brick, blazed as bright as high noon.
Mweeeeh...
As the light intensified, the shadow beasts let out pitiful whimpers and visibly deflated.
"Is it not a problem that your vanguard has been weakened?"
"N-no problem at all. Their magic is rather impressive, I'll admit."
I could see Freyja working hard to conceal her flustered state.
"From here on, the real exploration begins. This is the 7th floor of an intermediate dungeon. Everyone, stay sharp."
A vigorous answer rang back. I handed Tia a brooch-shaped artifact.
"Professor, what's this?"
"A communication device. There are several kinds of artifacts that only function in dungeons with high mana density. I'll be moving with Raid One, so we'll exchange directions of advance through this."
"Understood. Leave it to me."
Tia answered crisply. Raid One and Raid Two would be exploring separate routes.
"What should I do?"
Luca asked.
"Luca, take point and lead the exploration. I'll cover the rear."
"Okay. And like before, I give the other kids their chances too?"
"You know exactly how it's done."
Luca had been performing her supervisory role admirably all along. Her power control was still a little clumsy, but today she could afford to hold back slightly less.
"I won't be going easy on you, as promised. Don't complain to me if we exterminate everything all the way down to the 10th floor today."
The shadow beasts must have finished scouting the routes, because the Dark Priest Cult party began to move. They took the left-hand corridor first.
"Then so shall we. Caesus raid—move out."
The contest had begun.
The students marched in step.
A rhythmic clatter echoed through the dungeon—the ring of heavy armor worn by each party's vanguard.
From here on, this was the domain of monsters, not men. A light tension hung on every breath they drew.
All traces of playfulness had vanished; every student had their senses stretched to the limit, braced for ambushes and traps.
Luca, moving at the head of Raid One, had already used her transcendent senses to map out the terrain structure within a hundred-meter radius.
A smell. Monsters. She raised her right fist, and the column halted.
The party leaders of the other three parties caught Luca's hand signal and shifted their members into combat readiness.
A brief lull. From somewhere deep in the labyrinth came a rustling sound. The students swallowed hard.
From around a corner of the maze, several black shapes burst forth—monsters slightly larger than a man, each bearing a mass of writhing legs.
Giant spiders.
"Now!"
"Vanguard, advancing!"
At Luca's command, the students wielding swords, shields, and spears surged forward.
Skreee!
Weapons swung, and the spiders shrieked.
The moment the vanguard succeeded in drawing their attention with a preemptive strike, the attackers and rear guard sprang into motion.
Offensive spells launched, arrows streaked through the air. The melee attackers flanked the monsters and struck directly at their weak points.
Protective barriers shimmered into place, and healing spells wove through the chaos.
"Their attacks are heavy!"
"These spiders have thick hides, don't they?!"
"Just hold on a little longer!"
Luca blocked the spiders' assaults from the vanguard while scanning her students.
They're all far too tense.
It being their first real battle, their muscles had locked up rigid, and none of their true skill was coming through.
"Hyahp!"
A razor-sharp sword stroke flashed past in front of the worried Luca. One leg of a giant spider was sheared off, clean as a whistle.
"Oh."
Luca turned her head. Jukmak stood smiling, already preparing his next strike.
"So this is... how it feels! Just like Master taught me...!"
Luca gave a light laugh and spun her sword in a flourish.
"You can swing it a little shorter than that."
Shak—FWACK!
The moment Luca demonstrated, three spiders were sliced apart in one clean stroke of sword energy.
"Oho, magnificent...!"
Jukmak marveled at the trajectory of her blade.
Among the other students, however, complaints erupted in the opposite direction.
"Ugh, come on!"
"Lucas killed them all again!"
"We were finally being serious and working hard!"
Flustered, Luca pointed a finger at the remaining spiders.
"...There are still two left."