Chapter 60: Life doesn’t go as planned

Countless people climbed the mountain, focused on a single goal.

And we were among them, naturally ascending the mountain.

However, there was one difference between them and us.

Unlike the students heading for higher ground, we were moving towards a shady area that no one used.

I knew why they didn’t choose this path.

Because-

“! It’s sticky!!”

“Louis! Louis! Help!!”

This path was riddled with traps.

I facepalmed, watching the two of them struggle, trapped in sticky slime.

It wasn’t a dangerous situation. Slimes were low-level monsters that, at most, secreted harmless sticky mucus.

But the reason most people avoided slimes was exactly what I was witnessing now.

“Ugh…”

Elena made a grimace, caught in the slime.

With information about this place being widely known, most people knew it was full of traps.

The commotion finally settled down after I rescued Elena and Lisa, who were stuck in the sticky liquid and didn’t know what to do.

The mountain was so quiet that I couldn’t understand where all the students had gone.

It should be around here.

Recalling my memories, I looked around.

Then, something sparkling in a shady spot caught my eye.

“What’s that…?”

Lisa, who was removing the slime residue from her body, also noticed it and let out a curious voice.

And after approaching, she realized what it was and shouted joyfully.

“Found it…!! Louis! I found a treasure!”

What she pointed at was the treasure we were looking for.

A small glass bead, proof of passing the exam, lay there.

The glass bead sparkled in the light.

But that wasn’t the treasure we were looking for.

“Huh…?”

The moment Lisa, filled with joy, touched the bead, a white light erupted from it.

Lisa, belatedly sensing something was wrong, stepped back, but it was too late.

With a familiar sensation, we were sucked in somewhere.

When the light faded and we opened our eyes again.

We were in a strange, cave-like place.

“S-Sorry, guys. I touched it without checking….”

“It’s okay. Let’s just focus on getting out of here for now.”

I had no intention of blaming her.

The current situation was all part of my plan.

This place was a small dungeon prepared for the exam.

In the comic, it was only briefly mentioned by Lumine, who expressed disappointment that no one had stumbled upon it.

The reason I wanted to enter this dungeon was simple. Unlike the traps outside, the difficulty of this dungeon wasn’t that high.

Outside, a fierce battle for treasures would be taking place among the students.

So we could simply find the treasures hidden here and return.

Falling into a trap and overcoming the crisis through cooperation. It was a suitable scenario to satisfy the hidden objective of the exam: cooperation.

“Kik!”

Just then, a sound came from inside the cave.

We raised our weapons.

A moment later, what appeared before us was.

“…A goblin?”

An ugly creature with a green body and pointy ears.

A goblin.

“Kik?”

The goblin tilted its head, looking at us. It froze for a moment.

Then, with a strange cry, it ran back inside.

…That was a quick reaction.

I made a dumbfounded expression, seeing it only tilt its head despite our obvious intruder appearance.

Even though goblins were low-level monsters, their slow reaction was frustrating.

“Is this a dungeon?”

“It seems so.”

Elena immediately realized this was a dungeon after seeing the goblin fleeing in a panic.

As I confirmed her words, their expressions turned serious.

They had only heard of dungeons but had never actually been inside one, so they seemed quite nervous.

But we couldn’t just stand here frozen.

They would be swarming us soon.

Pit-pat, pit-pat

“Prepare for battle.”

The sound of countless footsteps approaching echoed from afar.

The goblins that appeared were too numerous to count at a glance.

“Eek…!”

I heard Lisa gasp behind me, but my heart remained surprisingly calm.

In a fantasy world, goblins were nothing more than punching bags.

Literally the weakest.

No matter how many swarmed us, we wouldn’t lose.

…Although there were more than I expected.

Anyway, it was a manageable number.

“Kik…! Kik!”

I stared at the goblin that kept making strange noises, as if trying to communicate with us.

It desperately gestured, trying to tell us something.

But naturally, I didn’t understand the goblin language.

Well, they were probably saying something like, ‘This is our territory, leave.’

But unfortunately for them, we didn’t have a way out of here.

We either had to defeat the boss of this dungeon.

Or find another exit.

Since they wouldn’t let us roam freely.

A clash was inevitable.

Seeing us raise our weapons without flinching, the goblin glared at us for a moment.

Then, raising its weapon, it started running towards us.

“Kruk!!”

“Here they come…!”

The first to attack was the goblin that tried to communicate with us.

I easily dodged the club swung at me and immediately swung my sword.

“Kieeek…!”

The battle began with the goblin screaming and spraying blood in the air.

Goblins kept swarming us endlessly.

But no matter how many there were, they were no match for me.

“Haa…!”

I turned my head slightly and looked back.

I saw Elena and Lisa holding their own against the goblins.

There was no need for me to help.

Quickly cutting down the goblins with Aura, I went into the middle of the enemy lines and channeled my mana.

“Lightning Fall.”

Boom!!

Lightning struck all around me, creating explosions everywhere.

The goblins’ screams pierced my eardrums repeatedly until finally, silence fell.

Looking around, only the burnt corpses of goblins remained.

“Gasp… Gasp….”

After waiting for the acrid smoke to clear, I approached the two of them, who were catching their breath.

“Are you both alright?”

“Cough…. We’re fine. Just a little tired. But Louis….”

“What?”

“Did you do all that by yourself…?”

Elena’s gaze was fixed on where I had been standing.

A gruesome scene that made me frown.

It was close to a massacre.

“Uh…. I guess so?”

“You’re incredibly strong, Louis….”

Come to think of it.

‘Elena has never seen me fight seriously.’

During my growth to my current strength.

She had never seen me go all out.

Just a few sparring matches at the academy.

That was all.

Leaving Elena, who was lost in thought with a complex expression, I got up.

Louis, carry me

I ignored Lisa’s voice from behind and considered the current situation.

Most of the goblins in the dungeon would have been annihilated in the recent battle.

Then, our next task was to find the treasures hidden somewhere in this place and escape.

According to the information I had, there were three treasures hidden here. So it was safe to say there would be no more danger.

“Let’s find the exit.”

Helping the exhausted Lisa up.

We walked deeper into the dungeon.

“This is the last one.”

After wandering for a while, we finally found all the treasures hidden in the dungeon.

Having also found the exit in the process, we stood before it, holding the last hidden treasure in our hands.

The practical exam would be over once we returned.

As I stepped into the shimmering dimensional gate, the surrounding scenery distorted in an instant.

We were excited, anticipating the end of the long exam.

But what awaited us was.

Students lying on the ground, injured. And a red-haired girl standing among them.

Clarice, with her sword covered in blood, slowly raised her head.

Her entire body was stained black, and horns sprouted from her head, giving her a terrifying appearance.