Chapter 27: The Corrupted Depths

The Arcana Academy, known as the best academy in the Empire, was surrounded by a barrier created by archmages. Of course, as is always the case with academies in fiction, the Arcana Academy’s barrier was always breached. Still, it was supposed to provide some protection against monsters.

“…If only they had made the underground like that too.”

The problem was that the barrier was only on the surface. The underground also had various surveillance measures attached, but… it couldn’t prevent the intrusion of low-level monsters like slimes and goblins.

It was similar to how modern radar can’t detect small fishing boats or rafts. The mana emitted by low-level monsters was too small to be detected most of the time.

“Well, it’s convenient for me, though.”

Murmuring quietly, I took out the sewer key I received from the guild.

Clink, clink. The sound of metal rubbing together echoed, and the iron gate installed to prevent students from entering opened with a loud metallic sound.

Creeeaak- a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard, causing an instinctive revulsion. I frowned deeply and slowly entered.

“Ugh…!”

As soon as I opened the door, a terrible sewer smell rushed in. I tried to avoid looking at the dark green sewage, which was a sticky gel form made up of various dirty things, and drew my sword.

“…I can never get used to this smell.”

When I was fourteen, I received a quest to deal with the crocodiles in the sewers when I was taking the test to become a copper-badge adventurer.

After that, there were many times when I had to do quests in such dirty places. There weren’t many people who wanted to entrust quests to a young girl who had just barely reached the copper badge.

So, even though others would have been overwhelmed by the desire to give up the quest, I grumbled and slowly moved forward.

“Sigh…it’s a bit cold…”

Instead of a uniform, I was wearing a thin cloth top and tight-fitting, jeans-like pants. And a cloak that completely covered my body.

If you stay in the sewer for a long time, the smell doesn’t come out easily. I only had one uniform, so I had to choose the cheapest clothes I could buy at the market.

Thinking that I should finish quickly and leave, I swung my sword at the presence rushing from beyond the corner.

“Kyaak?!”

The sad cry of a goblin echoed through the sewer. At the same time, my sword flashed through the air.

The bodies of the goblins that rushed along the silver trajectory drawn in the air are cut to pieces. I quickly raised my cloak-covered arm, and black blood splattered everywhere.

I lowered my cloak and readjusted my grip on my sword. And three neat slashes followed.

“Kieek-“

The precise slashes, honed through actual combat, struck between the three goblins. A sad cry that was cut short echoed in the air, and the bodies of the monsters collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.

I lightly shook off my sword and slowly looked around. The deeper I went into the sewer, the less light there was from the magic stone lighting fixtures embedded in the ceiling.

The level of the goblins that appeared also gradually increased as I went deeper. If the goblins that greeted me at the sewer entrance were level 5, the ones that appeared now were at least level 15.

Something was definitely wrong.

This [Clear the monsters in the autonomous district’s underground sewer] quest was a quest for newbies who had just started the game. It was just a place to get gold in the early game, nothing more, nothing less.

And the level of beginner users was usually around 10. So, monsters over level 10 shouldn’t normally appear here.

“…It’s getting too dark.”

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

The deeper I went, the dimmer the light from the lighting fixtures became. Magic stones are objects that naturally emit light, so they should shine semi-permanently unless their mana runs out.

Monsters with increasing levels as you go deeper. Magic stones that were being deprived of their mana. And the increasingly dense concentration of mana.

I readjusted my grip on my sword with an uneasy feeling. My adventurer’s instincts were screaming. There was something ahead. It could be dangerous to go further.

“…”

This is not something I can solve alone.

Even though I had a lot of combat experience, I was still a student. Solving the abnormalities in the sewer was the responsibility of the academy teachers.

This was not a game world made of 0s and 1s.

Characters could respond outside of the options, and enemy attacks could differ from in-game patterns.

It was a really stupid thing to rely solely on knowledge from the game. That was what I had learned from almost dying in the ancient lich’s coffin.

So, I turned around without hesitation.

Until a status window suddenly appeared before my eyes.

[World Quest-Chapter.???]
[Complete the autonomous district’s underground sewer monster extermination]
-Reward: #%&*@
-Failure: @&%$#=

“…?”

The quest window of [Arcana Academy] always presented a clear goal, reward, and the price to be paid in case of failure.

Never, not even as an event, had such a strange status window appeared. I was scared and fiddled with the status window, muttering.

“What is this-“

At the same time, I felt a strong flow of mana from behind. My senses, honed from living as an adventurer, screamed. Dodge. Or you’ll die.

“Damn it…!”

The Stigmata hidden under the glove twinkled. The surrounding scenery stretched out, and the speed of my thoughts accelerated. With a strange floating sensation, black particles scattered, and my body blinked several meters back.

Boom!

At the same time, the wall of the underground sewer exploded. What appeared from beyond the wall was a dark knight clad in black armor.

“A Dark Knight?”

Dark Knights were at least level 45 monsters. There was no way a monster like that should be here. What the hell was going on here-

As if not giving me time to think, the Dark Knight raised its sword again. Sinister mana gathered at the tip of the blade again.

Clang!

I tilted my sword upward and deflected the Dark Knight’s subsequent attack, taking a step forward. With a creepy scraping sound, the knight’s sword was pushed to the left, naturally breaking his posture.

The veteran adventurer’s eyes didn’t miss that gap. The Stigmata twinkled again and space folded. I blinked behind him and raised my sword.

There was nothing the Dark Knight, whose posture was broken and whose back was taken, could do. The sword, held in reverse grip, was aimed at the joints of the armor.

“_!!!”

Thud.

With a dull thud, the 2-meter-tall Dark Knight’s body stiffened. As I slowly pulled out my sword, the knight’s body collapsed.

However, I didn’t have time to catch my breath.

As soon as I retrieved my sword and brushed back my sweat-soaked hair, I heard the low growls of magical beasts through the hole.

“…Seriously, what a mess.”

I gritted my teeth and raised my sword.

“Sigh, sigh…”

I let out a heavy breath and slowly sheathed my sword.

Pushing aside the corpses of the Dark Knight, Alligator, and Hellhound… averaging level 35 monsters, I sat down on the spot and muttered.

“Status window”

[Player ID: Sian]
[Lv:47]
[Strength: D+]
[Agility: C+]
[Stamina: C-]
[Mentality: B]
[Mana: D-]

“…I, I leveled up by 1 already.”

At level 47, no matter how many monsters you kill in the early stages, you don’t gain much experience. But I leveled up after just 30 minutes of fighting in an early hunting ground. This meant that the monsters here were not in a normal state.

A normal academy student would probably have been helpless if they entered here.

[…Quest-Ch@pt%r.???]
[Complete the cle#%ance of the au■onomous distri@t’s underground sewer]
-Reward: #%&*@
-Failure: @&%$#=

The quest window was already half-corrupted. It was too strange to pass it off as a difference between the game and reality.

No, in the first place, it was strange that these guys were in the basement of the academy. Goblins might be low-level monsters, but a Dark Knight should have been caught by the surveillance network, right?

“
“

I lightly gestured in the air and dismissed the quest window.

Beyond the disappearing blue particles of the quest window, a small passage that could barely fit a person was visible.

“Well, I’ll know when I go in.”

The entrance that the level 35 monsters were risking their lives to guard.

And, a place that had never appeared in [Arcana Academy].

I shook off my sword, and slowly started walking. To be honest, I wanted to turn around and run away right now. At the very least, I wanted to bring Regina with me.

But now that I had wiped out the guys guarding the front door, the water had already been spilled. If I ran away from here, there might be nothing left when I came back here next time.

The original story was twisted.

If I couldn’t figure out why it was twisted and fix it, all the knowledge of the future I had would become useless.

With vague anxiety, I prepared to activate my Stigmata at any time and slowly moved forward.