Chapter 9: Into The Lich’s Tomb

The instructors gathered to oversee the exam.

Elin, who was watching the situation in real-time using the mana communication device, smiled at Sophia, the instructor for the first-year swordsmanship class B, who was sitting next to her.

“What do you think?

Do you understand now why I’m paying attention to her?”

“…Indeed.

It’s hard to believe she’s a first-year.

She seemed quite cute, but her methods are surprisingly ruthless.”

Sophia muttered as she replayed the recent battle between Sian and the eight students.

Sophia, who had once been an adventurer herself, could tell at a glance that Sian’s posture indicated that she was a quite skilled adventurer.

A stance that intentionally didn’t draw the sword to induce carelessness.

A formless swordsmanship.

The sense of interpersonal combat honed through countless actual battles.

And a bold ruthlessness unbound by outdated chivalry.

The sight of someone with such a seemingly innocent appearance displaying such swordsmanship deeply engraved the student named ‘Sian’ in Sophia’s mind.

“…”

However, Sophia couldn’t simply be happy about the high level of the students.

Having been an adventurer herself, she vaguely knew how many people a seventeen-year-old girl would have had to cut down to achieve that level of skill.

Adventuring was not a romantic profession of exploring the unknown.

Most were people living day to day, with nothing to lose.

In an era where might made right, a seemingly fragile commoner girl was easy prey for those adventurers who lived only for today.

The profession of adventuring was not one where you could survive with naive ideals like pacifism.

Elin Agnes wanted her as a disciple, so her nature was probably good.

But a child with a dark past could always go down the wrong path.

“I understand why you wanted her as your disciple.

It seems we need to keep an eye on her for various reasons.”

“Isn’t it our role to guide students on the right path?

We should give special attention to a promising child to prevent her from going down the wrong path.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Sophia adjusted her glasses as she responded to Elin.

Personal impressions of Sian aside, she needed to evaluate Sian’s combat.

Sophia’s blue eyes scanned the documents silently.

“According to the regulations, unnecessary beatings and violence against a subdued opponent are prohibited.

However, considering the situation of 8 against 1, I’ll acknowledge it as a strategy to break the enemies’ will to fight.

What do you think?”

“I see it similarly.

It wasn’t a fair fight to begin with, eight people against one girl.”

“Then let’s add 8 points to student Sian for defeating 8 opponents.

What about the others?”

“Nothing unusual so far.

It hasn’t been long since the exam started, what were you expecting?”

“The new students this year are all quite high-level.

There’s an unusual student like Sian, the eldest daughter of the Frost family has enrolled, and there are many other noteworthy talents.”

The duel between Yelena Frost and Sian was so impressive that it was easy to forget that they weren’t the only promising students this year.

That’s why the instructors in charge of the first-year students were already busy.

When geniuses gathered, problems were bound to arise, especially at the beginning of the semester.

“Still, it’s a relief.

Nothing has happened yet.”

“Hmm…

I don’t think so.”

Elin murmured, looking at the screen in front of Sophia.

Sian, who had dealt with all eight students, was moving somewhere.

Behind her, the figure of a girl could be seen.

A girl with long, unkempt dark blue hair and striking red eyes visible through it, carrying a longsword almost as tall as herself on her back.

“Regina Strelachia, was it?”

Sian was definitely not a person with poor senses.

She was a child with the strength of an Imperial Knight, and she had even noticed Elin, a Swordmaster, despite her slightly revealing her presence.

If even Sian couldn’t detect her tailing, this girl was definitely not ordinary either.

“This child, Regina, might be at least equal to or even stronger than that Sian.”

“Why don’t we just watch for now?

I’m also curious why she’s just following without fighting.”

Elin murmured, recalling information about Regina.

Regina Strelachia.

The eldest daughter of the Strelachia barony, which protected the border of the southern desert, and a genius with talent in both magic and swordsmanship.

Until the age of ten, she was just a fragile young lady of a frontier barony.

But after an accident at the age of ten, her personality changed drastically for some reason, making her a peculiar student.

“This one also seems quite interesting.”

“Indeed.”

“Fortunately, it seems it’s not too late yet.”

I muttered, looking up at the sky.

The sun was high in the sky, so it was still daytime.

The magic barrier surrounding the forest would start shrinking in the afternoon.

Usually, in the game, it took about 10 minutes to clear the hidden dungeon here.

This world wasn’t a game, so even with a generous estimate of 30 minutes, there was still time before the barrier started to shrink.

‘Then, first, I need to hide.’

Everything that happened in the exam was immediately transmitted to the instructors.

After all, it was an exam to evaluate survival and combat using the terrain of the forest.

Of course, the instructors were also human and couldn’t manage all the students at once…

but I was a rather famous new student.

In [Arcana Academy], there were quite a few unique, non-romanceable heroines.

A regressor who lived a second life, a hero who was talented in magic instead of swordsmanship, and so on…

Of all people, I had to meet Yelena Frost first.

Because of that, I seemed to be receiving a lot of attention these days.

I was probably the only student who had received a duel challenge from the Northern Archduchess on the first day of enrollment.

And I even won that duel.

Of course, Yelena Frost was my favorite character, and thanks to that meeting, I became friends with Yelena, so I didn’t have any major complaints.

But still, excessive attention was burdensome.

“Sigh…”

Letting out a light sigh, I used my ability to move to a bush-covered path.

“Fortunately, it seems there’s no one here yet.”

After wandering in the bushes for a while, I carefully brushed off the piled-up dirt and muttered.

Originally, the dungeon in the academy’s northern forest wasn’t a place you could come to so early.

In the game, it was a dungeon that could only be entered after completing a hidden quest in the academy and obtaining a key.

Therefore, to enter the dungeon [Tomb of the Ancient Lich], you needed to progress through the first-year story of the academy to the middle part.

However, I didn’t need a key now.

That’s what Stigmata were for.

[A key is required to enter the dungeon]

[A key is required to enter the dungeon]

[A key is required to enter the dungeon]

[A key is required to enter the…]

Messages popped up as soon as I touched the door.

I lightly ignored the messages and activated my Stigmata.

My body turned into particles with an unfamiliar floating sensation.

I blinked, and the scenery of the lush forest changed to the dreary corridor of the dungeon.

Tap.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor, and the torches on the wall suddenly blazed up.

At the same time, a message window appeared.

[You have entered the dungeon ‘Tomb of the Ancient Lich’ Lv. 30]

[Dungeon Special Effect: Mana Deficiency]

[The core in the center of the dungeon absorbs the player’s mana.

The mana cost for casting magic is doubled]

Pushing aside the blue windows that appeared, I slowly ran my hand along the wall.

Most dungeon doors could be opened from the inside.

Securing an escape route was a basic principle for an adventurer.

The dungeon would start to collapse the moment the core was removed.

That’s why some adventurers only took the miscellaneous treasures and left the core, but that wasn’t possible in this dungeon.

What I needed was the mana-infused core of this dungeon.

After confirming that the door could be opened by pulling the handle near the door, I slowly moved forward.

“…It’s been a while since I’ve been in a dungeon.”

The musty smell unique to old underground spaces.

The clattering of undead bones coming from somewhere far away.

The sound of footsteps echoing in the corridor.

I gripped my practice sword, ready to draw it at any moment, and threw a fist-sized stone forward.

Boom!

At the same time, with a loud bang, a part of the dungeon wall protruded and collided with the opposite side.

The stone was crushed into small pieces and rolled at my feet.

“Sigh…”

I let out a light sigh and quickly passed through the section with the wall trap while it was returning to its original position.

The ground started to vibrate.

Clatter.

Clatter.

Clatter…

The sound of undead bones clashing could be heard from the endless darkness.

I raised my mana accordingly and started running towards the end of the corridor.

“…Sian, was it?”

A little distance from the dungeon entrance.

A girl, fiddling with the hilt of a longsword, murmured the name of the girl who had just entered.

“No student would not know.

But how…

No, from the start, there was never a time when another student defeated Yelena Frost at the entrance ceremony.

And this dungeon never appeared in the previous playthroughs…

This has never happened before?”

The girl, who was muttering incomprehensible words in a hurried voice, slowly moved after confirming that Sian had completely entered.

“…I need to ask her directly.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s the last hope.”