Spring, and the Demon Palace Campaign
Seron’s dumbfounded expression showed no signs of fading; she clearly hadn't expected me to actually bring the Saint. Leaving her to gawk, I decided to introduce the others.
"Aisha, Poara, this is the Saint. He's agreed to join our team for this run."
"The... the Saint?" Just like Seron, Poara stared at him with wide, startled eyes.
"Senior, how did you manage to recruit the Saint to our team?" asked Aisha, who, of the group, showed the least amount of surprise.
I shrugged. "Simple. No one else had asked him." So I did, and he accepted. Of course, I gave him a compelling reason that he could agree with.
"...Of course they didn't, you absolute blockhead!" Seron shrieked from behind me. She grabbed my collar, her eyes practically bulging. When I shot her a look that asked what her problem was, her forehead flushed a furious red, almost as if steam were about to puff out. She looked like she was going to die of sheer frustration.
"Are you completely out of your mind?! Do you have any idea what would happen if something went wrong while the Saint was with us?!"
The Saint, Sirmiyel Saint Eden. As the Saint of the Holy Order—the preeminent religion of the Empire—his status was just below that of the imperial family. If anything were to happen to him, the consequences would be catastrophic. None of the students had the confidence to shoulder that kind of responsibility. That was why, even now in his second year, no one had ever invited Sirmiyel to join their team. It was an unspoken rule.
But my reaction was a simple so what? I had the best card in my hand. There was absolutely no reason to let it go to waste.
"The Princess is going in too," I said, pointing toward the Third Princess, Iris Haishirion, who was already preparing to enter. Even a princess, whose status was higher than the Saint's, was entering the Demon Palace.
"The Princess is a completely different story!" Seron hissed. Iris was the top student of the Martial Arts Department. She excelled in both swordsmanship and academics, the very definition of a well-rounded genius. Hailed as the most talented royal in history, it would have been a national tragedy if she did not enter the Demon Palace.
But the Saint's situation was different. While he was indeed the top student of the Divinity Department, his specialty was healing, not self-defense. Naturally, any student tasked with protecting him would worry about the worst-case scenario.
"Then we just have to protect him. Problem solved."
"That's easier said than done!"
I raised my hand and flicked Seron right on her exposed forehead. "Ow?!" She let out a sharp cry, clutching her forehead and glaring at me as if to ask what the hell I was doing.
"Then make it happen. Did you think the Demon Palace was some playground? Besides, do you really think we could find a more reliable priest than the Saint?" And above all, "Is that really something you should be saying right in front of him?"
Seron’s shoulders flinched. Only then did this blockhead realize her blunder and tentatively glance at Sirmiyel. But Sirmiyel merely offered a gentle, benevolent smile and shook his head.
"I am quite alright. It is a sentiment I am well accustomed to. Knowing the burden my presence places on others, I have purposely avoided joining any teams until now." Sirmiyel had previously taken the initiative to explain his situation to the professors, agreeing not to enter the Demon Palace unless specifically requested.
"Yet, knowing all of this, Brother Hanon still reached out to me." Sirmiyel rolled up his white sleeves, his eyes shining with quiet determination. "Since you have called upon me, I, Sirmiyel, swear under the name of the Lord to dedicate my utmost efforts to our cause."
Seron’s mouth bobbed open and closed. Pricked by guilt over her earlier outburst, she couldn't find a single word to say. Leaving her to wallow, I turned to the other two.
"Aisha, Poara. You two are fine with this, right?"
"Yes, Senior. Ever since I joined your team, I had a feeling something like this would happen."
"I-I'm fine with it too!"
What exactly had Aisha expected? "You always seem to drag strange occurrences in your wake, Senior. It was only natural to anticipate it." Aisha knew me a bit too well. It seemed she had quite the sharp ear for rumors.
"Team Hanon Airey." Just then, our team's name was called out. I gave the group a nod, and they fell into step behind me. Only Seron trailed at the back, sighing heavily with a face clouded by worry.
As we approached the entrance of the Demon Palace, Professor Beganor was waiting for us. Dressed in her official uniform today, she raised an eyebrow the moment she saw me.
"Hanon, no matter how many times I look at it, you've assembled an utterly absurd team." I braced myself for a lecture, but Beganor didn't say much else. Instead, she simply reiterated the dangers of the labyrinth.
"Remember. The most important thing in the Demon Palace is your lives. If it gets dangerous, run. There is no need to throw your lives away." She gestured toward the knights stationed at the final defensive line of the Demon Palace.
"Even if an Apostle appears, the adults will handle it. Just do what you can, and no more." Having to send young students into the Demon Palace to minimize casualties on the surface... Beganor clearly detested this harsh reality of their world. She had only one wish: for everyone to return alive.
"I'll keep that in mind." This was one promise I absolutely intended to keep. Sensing my resolve, Beganor said no more. "Good luck. Come back safe."
We stepped into the Demon Palace. The entrance gaped wide like the jaws of hell, ready to swallow us whole. As we crossed the threshold, a chilling wind brushed past my face.
A moment later, I looked up to find a sun-drenched field stretching out before us, lush with grass and trees.
"This is..." Aisha, entering the Demon Palace for the first time, froze in her tracks. It was only natural; the scenery was completely different from the dark cavern we had just stepped through. The verdant landscape before us looked undeniably, utterly peaceful.
"I-it's strange. It's clearly a forest, but I can't feel any spirits at all." Standing beside Aisha, Poara looked around the woods with a bewildered expression. As she said, though a forest stretched out before our eyes, it carried a distinctly unnatural sensation.
"Tsk, the entrance this time is the Gray Forest." Seron, the only one among us who had prior experience in the Demon Palace, clicked her tongue. The first floor of the Demon Palace was divided into four distinct sectors. One of them was the Gray Forest—the very place we had just entered.
"If it is the Gray Forest, then surely..."
"Yes. It's a forest where gray zones manifest and expand as time passes," I answered, addressing Sirmiyel as I took a step forward. The moment my foot lifted, the grass I had just trodden upon withered into a dull gray. In the Gray Forest, every path you walked was dyed in ash. And the moment you stepped on these gray zones... Your stamina gets drained in chunks. A place where you must never step on the same spot twice. That was the Gray Forest.
"What a strange forest," Aisha murmured, watching the ground beneath her feet turn gray with fascination.
"There's nothing to be fascinated by. It's the most exhausting forest of them all." Seron, who had actually experienced it, grimaced in disgust. As she said, the Gray Forest was a place I wasn't fond of either. Above all, the trigger mechanism of the Gray Forest was easily the worst among all the sectors on the first floor.
"What's the plan? If we delay any longer, we won't even be able to move." Seron urged. As she pointed out, if we wasted time here, the paths trodden by the teams ahead of us would turn the Gray Forest into an impassable minefield of ash.
"No, we aren't moving."
"What?" Seron whirled around, her face a mask of utter disbelief. She looked as though she couldn't comprehend a single word coming out of my mouth. I couldn't blame her for reacting that way. But it had to be done.
"We aren't going down to the second or third floor."
The Demon Palace Campaign event of Act 3, Chapter 3: The Forest Keeper of the Gray Forest. Originally, this was an event Lucas was supposed to resolve. But Lucas was no longer here. Therefore, the one who had to take his place and handle this event was me. I lifted my head.
"From this moment on, everyone..." My next words left them completely dumbfounded. "...we rest." I had to preserve our stamina before the event triggered.
Inside the Demon Palace, within the Gray Forest. Despite being inside a dangerous labyrinth, the gentle sunlight filtering through the canopy and the soft breeze made it the perfect spot for a nap. Shady spots were plentiful beneath the scattered trees, and unlike a real forest, there wasn't a single insect in sight. Truly, there was no better place for a comfortable rest.
"Does this make any sense?! We came all the way to the Demon Palace just to take a nap?! Are you insane?!" However, in place of buzzing insects, there was a different kind of noise. Seron was buzzing right next to me. As I leaned against a tree and tried to relax, she kept nagging until she eventually lost her temper and started shouting. I cracked open one eye and looked at her.
"Why? Is there a law saying we can't rest in the Demon Palace?"
"Ha! You absolute blockhead, do you even know what kind of mission we were sent here to accomplish?"
"Of course I do." Child soldiers sent to stop the Evil Zone, who dispatched Apostles to the surface to destroy the world. That was the very purpose of the Academy, the reason for its existence. Every student attending the Academy held this duty in high honor, even if it meant risking their lives.
"If you know, then why are you acting like this?! What are you thinking?! Since we've put together such an incredible team, we should be heading deeper to fight the Apostles!"
"Forehead, the Apostles aren't only on the lower floors."
Apostles certainly existed on the first floor as well. In fact, it was safe to say the highest concentration of them was right here. The place where Apostles were first born was the hatchery located at the center of the first floor.
"Who doesn't know that?! But the Apostles always head down to the lower floors eventually!" To gain power, most newborn Apostles descended deeper into the Demon Palace. Consequently, the first floor was where the number of Apostles dwindled the fastest.
"It's common sense that we have to go to the lower floors to defeat more of them!" When Seron argued her point, I half-opened my eyes. "Right. That's why we'll go down later."
"I seriously have no idea what you're talking about." Seron stared at me, completely baffled. But I had no choice. I had my own reasons. I grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her back down onto the grass.
"Don't get worked up, just rest. It's not like I said we're never going down." No matter how much I tried to explain, she refused to listen, but eventually, she grew tired of arguing. She sat there, muttering curses under her breath. I'd have to flick her forehead again later.
"Senior Hanon, another party is passing by." Meanwhile, Poara, whom I had assigned to scouting duty, delivered her report. Her spirits were scattered throughout the Gray Forest, acting as sentries and providing constant updates.
"I think that's the last party." The students were all heading toward the center. Since they had to reach the central area to descend to the second floor, everyone was moving in the same direction. It's almost time. Before we knew it, we were the only team left on the first floor.
"Seron, how many times has the Gray Forest appeared as the entrance so far?" I asked, standing up. Seron shot me a sideways glance, her face still full of discontent.
"It's the second time since I enrolled."
"Right. The second time for you, but the ninety-ninth time since the Demon Palace first opened." Seron’s eyes widened slightly, her expression asking if I had actually been keeping count of something like that. But this detail was crucial.
"The environment of the Demon Palace has been constantly changing since ancient times." The reason the Demon Palace was always so dangerous was its environment. No matter how thoroughly it was surveyed, the layout and conditions would shift after a certain point, forcing them to risk lives sending out new scouting expeditions. And now, this period—the time of Lucas's enrollment—was the era of the Demon Palace's transformation.
Just when the conquest of the Demon Palace seemed to have stabilized, the transformation would trigger, causing countless casualties. Capitalizing on the chaos, Apostles would mature with their full, terrifying power. It was a truly turbulent era.
"When the shifts in the Demon Palace reach their hundredth iteration, a singular anomaly often occurs." Seron’s pupils dilated. She scrambled to her feet, her face pale with sudden realization. "You... don't tell me..."
"Today marks the hundredth time for the Gray Forest." My eyes narrowed coldly. "Perhaps today will be the most dangerous day in the history of the Demon Palace campaigns."
Once you descended to the lower floors, there was no way to return directly to the surface. To be precise, a method did exist, but I was the only one who knew it. For the other students, the return journey was a grueling ordeal. In fact, more casualties often occurred on the way back after completing a campaign, as the complacency of success made them let their guard down. Thus, the Demon Palace Campaign of Act 3, Chapter 3 was an event notorious for causing the worst casualties in history.
It was the catalyst that signaled the beginning of the Demon Palace's transformation. How we survived this catalyst would drastically alter the difficulty of clearing the game.
Rumbleeeee! At that moment, the entire Gray Forest began to shake. Feeling the tremors, Seron’s face drained of all color. In contrast, I slowly looked up at the sky. The bright sky from moments ago was rapidly darkening, and from the gathering gloom, massive, root-like tendrils began to descend.
"It has begun," Sirmiyel said, rising to his feet, already prepared. The only reason I had been able to recruit the Saint to my team was because I had warned him about this beforehand. The potential for catastrophic casualties... Keeping that grim possibility in mind, Sirmiyel had willingly agreed to accompany me.
"Team Hanon," I called out, drawing the heavy shield from my back. "From this moment on, we secure the exit to ensure the students' safe return." We would defeat the True Apostle of the Gray Forest—the Forest Keeper.