Chapter 9
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Northern Duke (2)
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As I stepped down from the carriage, a towering ravine came into view.
On one side of the ravine was a cave entrance about three meters high.
An opaque barrier symbolizing the dungeon shimmered at the cave mouth.
Near that barrier, inside a low fence, three guards stood watch.
A burly, muscle-bound bald man who had disembarked from another carriage approached the guards.
The soldier in the finest leather armor stepped forward to greet him.
"No one's gone in, right?"
"Yes, sir. No one has entered since the White Wolf Mercenary Corps used it a week ago."
The dungeon used for promotion exams was one managed separately by the Mercenary Guild.
It had already been fully cleared to the deepest level and was kept that way.
As long as the treasure chest in the final treasure room wasn't opened, the dungeon wouldn't disappear.
Dungeons that produced useful resources were often left unclosed on purpose.
'They'll all have to be sealed off eventually...'
I worried briefly about the future, but it wasn't my place to interfere yet.
The byproducts of these dungeons were already being put to good use in various places.
Anyone insisting they all be destroyed would just be dismissed as a madman.
After finishing his talk with the soldier, the man returned to our group.
I glanced around.
Two carriages had arrived for the promotion exam.
From mine came me, the woman in the white mask, and the five-person party including the man who had shown me his daughter's picture earlier.
The other carriage had unloaded the bald man, who seemed to be the promotion examiner, and five men with black boar tattoos on their necks.
Among them, I spotted the scar-faced man who had picked a fight with me at the guild yesterday, then looked away from the promotion examiner.
"For this exam, go to the third underground floor of the dungeon and register this magic tool with the spider egg."
The promotion examiner pulled a palm-sized disc-shaped magic tool from a leather pouch.
Embedded in its center was a green-glowing orb.
"You have twelve hours. If you don't come out by then, it's a fail. Take one each."
I approached the promotion examiner and received the magic tool.
It was a brown wooden disc with a red orb in the center.
Once everyone had their tools, the promotion examiner raised his voice again.
"Alright! First up: Eric! Second: Ray! Then the Karik Mercenary Corps. Black Boar Mercenary Corps enters last!"
"Treating us like troublemakers from the start? That's kinda hurtful."
The scar-faced man twisted his lips.
As I watched him quietly, the promotion examiner called my name.
"Eric! Enter!"
"Kid, always watch your back in the dungeon."
The scar-faced man grinned at me.
I smiled lightly in response.
"Is that how you got the scar on your face? Not watching your back?"
"What did you say, you little shit?"
"Next time, watch your front too, not just your back."
"Enough! Get in there!"
I gave the scar-faced man a light smile before passing through the barrier.
Steamy heat and humid air enveloped me as I crossed.
I took off my robe, stored it in a temporary sub-space, and moved to a corner slightly away from the entrance.
Inside the cave, three narrow passages stretched ahead—barely wide enough for three people to pass abreast.
'This narrow? Things might go even smoother than I thought.'
Tight spaces were the most advantageous terrain for a space mage like me.
I pressed against one wall and cast a camouflage spell to hide myself.
Ten minutes later, the barrier at the entrance rippled, and the white-masked woman entered the cave.
'Huh? No way?'
The woman in the white mask suddenly turned her head and stared right at my hiding spot.
After staring for a moment, she lost interest and began chanting a spell.
After about three minutes of chanting, her body floated into the air.
She swiftly flew into the leftmost passage.
'Ancient magic... Great for buffs and attacks, but the long cast times and high mana cost are the downsides.'
Where she had stood, two mid-grade mana stones lay on the ground, their glow faded.
'She could've just walked... Wasting two expensive mid-grade stones?'
Mid-grade mana stones were affordable for B-rank mercenaries.
But for mercenaries who maximized profits by minimizing expenses, they were always something to use sparingly.
'In the original story, her excessive competitiveness led her to challenge the heroine and lose every time...'
Similar age. Same gender. But always losing to the talented, superior heroine, becoming a laughingstock.
As I recalled the original plot, the next group entered.
The five from the Karik Mercenary Corps, including the couple who had spoken to me.
Two warriors, one archer, one rogue, one mage.
A textbook five-person party, they entered the cave.
They shed their thick outer clothes into their backpacks and stretched as they spoke.
"Whew, it's hot. Three paths—which way?"
"Straight ahead in times like this!"
The middle-aged man who had talked to me took the lead down the central passage.
He seemed to be the vanguard, with the rest following behind.
After the Karik Mercenary Corps left, a short time passed before the entrance barrier rippled again.
'Huh? It's not even been ten minutes yet.'
Five men with black boar tattoos on their necks entered the cave.
The scar-faced man stood at the fork, holding a blue orb in his hand.
"Hm? Only detecting six?"
"One's a space mage. Probably stashed in sub-space."
"Damn, can't detect that either?"
"That'd cost a fortune. If needed, we wait at the entrance."
"Yeah, just grab the five-man party and dig a trap at the entrance."
"Tch, waiting's boring..."
The men dashed down the central path.
Keeping my camouflage up, I carefully followed at a distance.
'What happened to the promotion examiner to let them in so early?'
The examiner should've blocked any early entry by the Black Boar Mercenary Corps.
Promotion exams assigned strong examiners who could handle five B-rank mercenaries alone.
Dungeons had variables, but fighting among examinees during the test was strictly forbidden.
'So that's where their confidence came from... What did they do to the examiner?'
Sensing something off, I stayed alert and trailed the men from afar.
Soon, they ran into the earlier Karik Mercenary Corps.
The middle-aged man stepped forward, shield raised.
"What is this? It's not even been ten minutes."
"Heh... Got bored waiting."
The scar-faced man smirked vilely and raised his curved sword.
The middle-aged man peered around from behind his shield.
Narrow corridor. Five Black Boar men armed only for close combat.
Meanwhile, the Karik party's archer hugged the wall for a shot, and the mage began chanting.
Behind the middle-aged man, a one-handed swordsman and a throwing knife wielder took positions.
"Ha, you think you can win in this situation?"
In a wide space, they'd need to surround them—but charging into a tight passage would be a one-sided slaughter.
The scar-faced man chuckled and backed away slowly.
"Who knows...?"
"I don't know how you swayed the examiner, but... Gah!"
Suddenly, the space in front of the middle-aged man warped, crumpling his shield.
As if struck by something invisible, the shield dented deeply, sending his leather-armored body flying skyward.
"Wasting an expensive invisibility scroll like that?"
"Catch these guys, and we get two 4th Circle mages for free. Gotta invest to win big."
"Their gear won't even cover costs."
The air shimmered as the bald promotion examiner appeared.
The faces of the Karik members preparing behind the middle-aged man twisted in shock.
"Why are you helping these bastards? You think you can stay in the guild after this?!"
With the notoriously shady Black Boar surviving alone, a full investigation would follow.
Promotion exams weren't life-or-death.
This spider cave was chosen because spiders were easiest to escape from when dangerous.
Even without evidence, seven A-rank hopefuls wiping out in a promotion exam was unprecedented—the examiner couldn't dodge blame.
"When His Grace the Northern Duke returns, those bugs might survive, but you...!"
"I won't be in the North by then."
"You can't escape responsibility... What?"
The examiner's smile deepened, as if reveling in the chaos.
"The city's bugs are looting shops right now, idiot."
"They won't follow us out of fear of getting mobbed by the townsfolk, right?"
"Or stay here and get beaten forever. But guys like that wouldn't join our corps."
"What do you...?"
The throwing knife wielder's face contorted.
The scar-faced man stepped forward.
"We'll snag this idiot meat shield here and head east. War's heating up there."
"If we leave the North, even your precious Northern Duke can't chase us."
Realizing the truth, the throwing knife wielder instinctively backpedaled.
"Funny reaction, but time to end... Huh?"
An opaque wall appeared before the scar-faced man.
"What the...?"
"Space magic! The kid's nearby!"
The examiner recognized it and scanned around.
But the cave held only ordinary rocks and stones, black smoke sucking into the piggish nostrils of the flabby men.
"What is this sm—fire smoke! Mana around your breathing!"
"Break the wall!"
"Escape to the entrance!"
The examiner punched the opaque wall.
The Black Boar men bolted back the way they came.
But they hadn't gone ten meters before another opaque wall blocked them.
"He... head... hurts..."
In less than twenty seconds, the Black Boar members collapsed one by one.
"What the... We handled fire mages better than this..."
"Compare wood smoke to toxic fumes from burning synthetics, and it's not so bad."
A young man's voice echoed through the air.
"Where are you? Show yourself!"
The examiner charged toward the voice and swung, but the dungeon rock didn't budge.
"Impressive mana. You're holding out a while."
"There?!"
He dashed at the voice again, swinging futilely at empty wall.
"Raaagh! Come out!"
While they talked, I'd scattered low-grade mana stones and kept swapping positions.
Small mana stones glowed faintly on the floor, but blue light from wall-mounted sources lit the cave brightly.
The examiner hadn't noticed the stones on the ground, lashing out wildly.
'If he'd stayed calm, he might've sensed the mana flow... But who stays calm inhaling factory fire toxins?'
I recalled my firefighting days.
Crashing ceiling debris, a busted oxygen mask—nearly died.
'If not for my bro, I'd be dead... Though thanks to him showing me that weird novel, I ended up here.'
After three minutes of rampaging, the examiner finally lost consciousness.
'Ran around for three whole minutes? Could've been dangerous if I hadn't provoked him.'
If he'd regained composure and searched the narrow passage, I might've been caught.
Good thing the taunt worked.
I pulled a dagger from my temporary sub-space and approached the examiner.
As my body touched his, the camouflage spell broke.
'Distorts space around me to refract light... Can't attack while hidden, huh.'
I stabbed his throat repeatedly for the kill confirm, then moved to the fallen men on the other side.
Black Boar executives sprawled everywhere, likely dead already.
I finished them off one by one, then dispelled the toxic gas spell.
The black smoke filling the cave vanished.
'This was creation, not space...?'
I thought of the spells I'd practiced over the past five months to replicate with magic.
Most failed, but toxic gas, hazmat suit, and oxygen mask succeeded.
Dispelling the hazmat suit lifted the familiar weight from my body.
'Only things familiar and impactful to me manifest? Tricky.'
I circulated mana lightly to check remaining reserves.
'First time using this scale so long... Half left?'
A standard 4th Circle space mage's barrier wouldn't hold against an elite A-rank like the examiner.
But after absorbing the Philosopher's Stone from the principal,
my mana had surged dozens of times beyond a normal mage of my circle.
Inefficient, but pouring mana into the barrier massively boosted its durability.
Calculating mana used, I realized the Karik party had wounded, then headed toward the opposite passage.