The Ancient Lich's Tomb

The instructors had gathered in the monitoring chamber to oversee the examination.

Watching the proceedings unfold in real time through the scrying orbs, Elin glanced at Sophia, the homeroom teacher of Class B in the First-Year Swordsmanship Department seated beside her, and smiled faintly.

"Well? Do you see now why I've had my eye on her?"

"...She certainly is remarkable. It is hard to believe she's merely a freshman. Such an adorable face, too, yet her methods are unexpectedly ruthless."

Sophia murmured under her breath as she rewound the footage of Sian's battle against the eight students.

Having once worked as an adventurer herself, Sophia could tell at a single glance that Sian was an exceptionally seasoned veteran of the trade.

The deliberate decision to keep her blade sheathed to bait her opponents into lowering their guard. A fluid, formless sword style. Keen interpersonal combat instincts honed through countless life-and-death encounters. And above all, a decisive, brutal pragmatism wholly unburdened by archaic notions of chivalry.

To see such lethal swordsmanship emerge from a girl whose fragile appearance stirred an instinctive desire to protect her etched the student named Sian deep into Sophia's mind.

"..."

Yet Sophia ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could not simply rejoice over the high caliber of the students.

Having walked that road herself, she had an inkling of just how many throats a mere seventeen-year-old girl must have slit to attain such deadly proficiency.

The adventurer's trade held none of the romantic wonder associated with exploring the unknown. For the vast majority, it was a wretched collective of desperate souls living hand-to-mouth with no future to speak of.

In a world where fists were closer than the law, a seemingly frail commoner girl was prime prey for ruthless cutthroats who lived only for today.

The profession of an adventurer offered no room for survival to anyone harboring naive delusions like non-lethal mercy.

Given that Elin Agnes herself had declared an interest in taking the girl as a personal disciple, her fundamental nature was likely good at heart. Even so, a child burdened with a dark past could stray down a ruinous path at any moment.

"I think I understand why you wish to take her under your wing. In more ways than one, she requires close guidance."

"Isn't steering students toward the right path our duty as educators? When a child with such a promising future is at risk of falling astray, we ought to give her a little extra attention."

"I suppose you're right."

Sophia adjusted her glasses as she replied. Personal impressions aside, she still had an exam to grade. Her navy-blue eyes calmly scanned the evaluation forms.

"Technically, Academy regulations prohibit unnecessary violence against incapacitated opponents. However, considering the eight-to-one disadvantage, I'm inclined to rule it as a valid psychological tactic to break the enemy's will to fight. What are your thoughts?"

"I see it the same way. Eight people ganging up on a lone girl was hardly a fair match to begin with."

"Then we shall award Student Sian eight points for neutralizing eight combatants. What about the rest of the field?"

"Nothing unusual so far. The exam has barely begun—what did you expect?"

"This year's freshmen are exceptionally capable across the board, after all. Aside from outliers like Sian, we have the eldest daughter of the Frost Duchy, along with a wealth of other remarkable talents worth watching."

The spectacle of the duel between Yelena Frost and Sian had been so overwhelming that it naturally took center stage, but they were far from the only prodigies among the incoming class.

For that very reason, the instructors assigned to the first-years were already run ragged. Whenever a clutch of geniuses gathered under one roof, trouble was bound to erupt before the semester even properly began.

"Still, it's a relief. At least no major disaster has broken out yet."

"Hm... I wouldn't be quite so sure about that."

Elin murmured softly, her eyes fixing upon the display before Sophia.

On the screen, Sian had finished dispatching all eight students and was heading somewhere deep into the woods. And trailing silently in her wake was another girl.

She carried a greatsword nearly as tall as herself strapped across her back. Shaggy, unkempt dark-navy hair fell loosely around her face, framing a striking pair of crimson eyes that peered out through the tangled fringe.

"Regina Strelitzia, was it?"

Sian was by no means dull of sense. Her raw combat capabilities rivaled those of an Imperial Knight, and she was perceptive enough to detect Elin herself—a Swordmaster—the instant Elin let a sliver of presence slip.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

If someone could stalk Sian without her noticing in the slightest, that tail was certainly no ordinary student.

"That Regina girl... she might be on par with Sian. Perhaps even above her."

"Let's keep watching for now. I'm rather curious myself as to why she's only trailing her instead of picking a fight."

Elin murmured, recalling what she knew of Regina's file.

Regina Strelitzia.

Eldest daughter of County Strelitzia, the border family guarding the frontier against the Southern Great Desert. A prodigy blessed with terrifying talent in both magic and swordsmanship.

Up until the age of ten, she had been nothing more than a frail, timid young noblewoman of a frontier estate. Yet ever since an accident at ten years old, her entire demeanor had undergone a drastic transformation for reasons unknown—a peculiar student through and through.

"This promises to be quite interesting as well."

"Indeed."

"Fortunately, looks like I'm not too late."

I looked up at the sky, muttering under my breath. The sun still hung high overhead; it was broad daylight. The magical barrier enclosing the perimeter of the forest wouldn't begin constricting until the afternoon.

In the game, clearing the hidden dungeon here usually took about ten minutes. Factoring in that this was reality rather than a screen and giving myself a generous buffer of thirty minutes, there was still plenty of time before the zone started shrinking.

"...Guess I'd better slip out of sight first."

Everything taking place across the testing grounds was being broadcast straight to the faculty. The entire premise of the exam was to assess survival instincts and combat efficiency utilizing the forest terrain, after all.

Of course, instructors were only human and couldn't keep eyes on every single student at once... but I was already an infamous freshman.

Inside Arcana Academy, there were quite a few distinctive, unconquerable heroines.

A regressor living through a looped existence, a hero gifted in sorcery rather than the blade, and several others...

Of all people, running into Yelena Frost right out of the gate had drawn far too much unwanted attention my way lately. I had to be the only student in history to receive a formal duel challenge from the Northern Grand Duke's daughter on the very first day of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the entrance ceremony. And on top of that, I went and won.

Sure, Yelena Frost was my absolute favorite character, and that encounter had allowed us to become friends, so I had no real complaints. But being under a blazing spotlight was an enormous pain in the neck.

"Phew..."

Letting out a soft breath, I triggered my ability and vanished, reappearing along a secluded, overgrown trail choked with brush.

"Good, looks like nobody beat me here."

After wading through the undergrowth for a few minutes, I carefully brushed aside a mound of accumulated soil, muttering to myself.

Under normal circumstances, the dungeon hidden within the Academy's northern forest wasn't accessible this early. In the game, you had to clear an obscure hidden quest line on campus to obtain the requisite key before the doors would even budge.

Consequently, setting foot inside the dungeon known as the Ancient Lich's Tomb typically required grinding through the first-year storyline all the way to its midpoint.

Right now, however, I had no need for a key. This was precisely what Stigmas were for.

The instant my palm brushed the stone gate, system warnings surged into my vision in rapid succession. Ignoring the popups entirely, I activated my Stigma.

A strange, disorienting lightness washed over me as my body dissolved into shimmering particles. When I blinked, the verdant canopy of the forest vanished, replaced by the damp, somber stone corridor of a subterranean vault.

Click.

As the quiet thud of my boots echoed against the flagstones, the sconces lining the corridor flared to life in unison, igniting into eerie, flickering flames.

At that exact moment, translucent blue windows materialized before my eyes.

Swiping away the glowing text, I reached out and ran my fingers along the perimeter of the stone doorway. Almost all dungeon portals were engineered with a manual release from the inside.

Securing an escape route was the absolute golden rule of adventuring. The instant a dungeon's core was pried from its pedestal, the entire subterranean structure would begin to destabilize and cave in.

For that reason, some adventurers chose to scavenge the peripheral treasures while deliberately leaving the core intact. But that wasn't an option for me today. What I needed more than anything was the core itself, thoroughly saturated with absorbed magical energy.

Finding the lever recessed into the masonry, I pulled it downward to confirm the slab shifted smoothly, then turned to make my way forward.

"...It really has been a while since I set foot in a dungeon."

The stale, musty stench unique to ancient subterranean crypts hung heavy in the air. From deep within the winding darkness came the faint, rhythmic clatter of rattling bones, mingling with the soft crunch of my boots on stone.

Keeping my hand rested against the hilt of my training sword, prepared to draw at a split second's notice, I scooped up a fist-sized chunk of rubble from the floor and tossed it forward into the hallway.

CRACK!

With a deafening crash, a massive slab of stone jutted violently from the right wall, slamming into the opposite side with tremendous force. The stone I had thrown was instantly pulverized, its pulverized remains rolling beneath my boots.

"Phew..."

Exhaling softly, I waited for the crushing trap to slowly grind back into its recess, then sprinted through the hazardous zone before the mechanism could reset. As soon as I crossed the threshold, the ground beneath my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feet began to tremble faintly.

Clack. Clatter. Clack...

The distinctive rattle of skeletal fiends grinding their joints together echoed from the depths of the suffocating dark.

Channeling mana through my limbs to match their tempo, I broke into a full sprint toward the end of the corridor.

"...Her name was Sian, wasn't it?"

A short distance from the concealed entrance, a solitary figure lingered in the shadows.

Fingering the hilt of the immense greatsword resting against her back, the girl murmured the name of the one who had just vanished into the subterranean tomb.

"There shouldn't be a single student I don't know... How could this... No, to begin with, no other student has ever defeated Yelena Frost at the entrance ceremony before. And this dungeon was never discovered in any of the previous cycles... Nothing like this has ever happened."

Her voice trembled with an anxious, ragged urgency, spilling words that made sense to no one but herself. Waiting until she was certain Sian had ventured deep within, she slowly stepped toward the entrance.

"...I have to ask her myself. Maybe... just maybe, she might be my final hope."