Chapter 32
“…”
Garrett stood frozen, unable to say a word or even think properly.
It wasn’t because of paralysis magic or petrification.
It was simply because what was happening before his eyes was too astonishing.
The same could be said for Verte, standing beside him.
Even though a Death Knight was right in front of her, she wasn’t even thinking of attacking it with fire; she had already extinguished the flames in her hands.
Verte just stood still, unable to take her eyes off the scene before her.
“This is unbelievable…”
It was Verte who broke the silence first, murmuring softly.
Almost at the same time—
Boom!
“Emily, you really don’t know how to kill it? Cutting its head off doesn’t work.”
Boom!
“It’s still moving.”
“…Haha.”
Garrett let out a dry laugh, unable to fully process the absurdity of the situation.
Ryu Yeong, the top freshman, was stepping on the Death Knight.
Quite literally, stepping on it.
He had been stomping on it repeatedly for a while now.
Boom!
‘How does it make that kind of sound… from just stomping?’
Garrett was starting to feel sorry for the Death Knight.
Not long ago, it had exuded an overwhelming presence, as if it could kill someone at any moment.
Boom! Boom!
“Oh? It’s not moving anymore?”
The once-mighty Death Knight was now buried into the wall, trembling as its arms and legs quivered under the relentless stomps.
To Garrett, the way its hand shakily lifted into the air looked like a desperate plea for help.
When Garrett and Verte had been forced back to the first-year area, unable to block the Death Knight’s attacks, he had felt despair.
The number of people he had to protect had suddenly jumped from just Verte to five.
And by that point, he hadn’t even had the strength to clash swords with the Death Knight anymore.
Every time their blades met, the shock was enough to make his entire body tremble.
That’s why he had thought it was the end for them.
Boom!
“Oh? It’s not moving anymore.”
With Ryu’s words, the Death Knight’s raised hand weakly fell back down, motionless.
Even so, Ryu stomped on it a few more times.
It was clearly a scene of a human subduing a monster, but for some reason, it made Garrett frown.
When the Death Knight finally stopped moving altogether, Ryu lightly jumped off of it.
Gulp!
Garrett wasn’t looking at the fallen Death Knight anymore.
His gaze was fixed on Ryu.
After repeatedly clashing swords with a monster of such overwhelming power, Ryu looked completely fine.
Meanwhile, Garrett’s arms were still trembling.
“Everyone’s okay, right?”
Ryu casually ran a hand through his hair as he addressed the group.
Dressed lightly, he didn’t even appear to have broken a sweat.
Garrett, on the other hand, had been drenched in cold sweat during his battle with the Death Knight.
“But… seniors?”
“…Huh?”
“Isn’t this against the rules? Bringing a monster from your area over to ours and asking us to deal with it is a bit much, don’t you think?”
“…”
“Honestly, you looked like you were in real danger. If we’d just ignored you and moved forward…”
“Ryu!”
Garrett couldn’t help but nod as he listened to Ryu’s playful remarks.
He had a point.
Neither he nor Verte could have found a way to defeat the Death Knight alone.
‘…Though this guy managed to handle it all by himself.’
A bitter smile spread across Garrett’s lips.
“You shouldn’t be saying that in this situation! No matter what…”
“No, he’s right. You’re Elaine Sinclair, aren’t you?”
“…Yes. It’s an honor to meet you, senior.”
Garrett waved a hand to cut Elaine off, stopping her from reprimanding Ryu further.
When Garrett addressed her, Elaine respectfully greeted him.
“Ryu is right. Verte and I alone wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Death Knight.”
“Right? Right! See, you’re a cool senior for admitting it!”
“…”
Garrett wanted to rebuke Ryu for his cheeky comment but held back.
After all, it was true—they had managed to overcome the Death Knight thanks to Ryu’s help.
‘It’s absurd to think this is part of the competition.’
“Alright, we’ll head off now. Don’t cheat and get ahead of us, okay?”
“…Fine. We’ll withdraw from the competition here. We won’t proceed until you reach the finish line.”
“Woohoo!!”
Garrett glanced at Verte, letting out a faint laugh at Ryu’s obvious joy.
Verte was still staring at Ryu with a look of disbelief, unable to snap out of her shock.
“Verte, should we agree to this?”
“…”
Verte didn’t respond.
Instead, she continued to stare at Ryu as if he were some fascinating creature.
“Well then, we’ll be off now. Who knows how far the second-years have gotten.”
“…”
‘No way the second-years defeated a monster we couldn’t.’
Garrett kept that thought to himself, not voicing it aloud.
After all, the ones in front of him were first-years.
During that time, Ryu finished speaking with the other first-years and got ready to leave, waving goodbye.
“See you at the end?”
“…Alright.”
“We’ll be heading out first, seniors.”
Bow.
Garrett watched as the first-years each bid their farewells in their own way before leaving.
And then, he slumped to the ground.
“Garrett.”
“Yeah?”
“What is with that kid?”
“…”
Garrett didn’t answer Verte’s question and instead glanced toward the Death Knight buried in the collapsed wall.
The massive iron sword lying beside it somehow looked desolate.
***
‘I’ve never even seen Undead in the North.’
“How much farther?”
“Almost… we’re almost there!”
Cassis Sinclair frowned as he listened to the labored breathing of the professor beside him.
Of all places, why did they have to create the dungeon so far away?
They had been able to get close using teleportation magic, but it couldn’t bring them directly to the dungeon’s entrance.
Apparently, while there were Warp Portals set up inside the dungeon, they hadn’t bothered to set up one outside.
Because of this, Cassis was now running alongside the professor who had designed the dungeon, trying to locate the entrance.
He couldn’t blame anyone—no one could have anticipated such a strong mana disruption barrier.
‘Ugh.’
Still, that didn’t make the situation any less frustrating or irritating.
“There it is! Haaaah…”
Sching—
As soon as Cassis caught sight of the clear traces of mana leading to an artificially carved area, he unsheathed his sword.
It was unmistakable—the dungeon entrance stood before them in the form of a cave.
“The barrier…”
Cassis initially prepared to slice through the barrier, but to his surprise, he couldn’t sense one at all.
You can’t cut through something that doesn’t exist.
He wondered if the barrier had already been removed.
“Is the mana disruption still active?”
“Hah… haah… y-yes! Hah… movement is still… hah… impossible!”
Leaving the gasping professor behind, Cassis pressed his sword toward the dungeon entrance.
No reaction.
Step—
Normally, Cassis wouldn’t recklessly approach such a suspicious location, but time was running out.
Even as he felt the oddity of the situation, he stepped forward.
‘…It’s letting me through?’
“P-Professor Cassis?”
“There’s no resistance.”
“What? That’s impossible!”
“I’ll head inside and bring the students out. Keep working on things out here in the meantime.”
“Ah, y-yes! Understood!”
Without hesitation, Cassis leaped into the cave entrance.
The unusual nature of the barrier and the suspicious signs were numerous, but there was no other choice.
‘Damn it.’
Cassis stopped abruptly inside the cave when he was faced with a three-way split.
Paths divided by grade level.
There was no way for him to tell which path led to the first-years and which led to the third-years.
Calmly, Cassis closed his eyes, sharpening his senses.
He tried to pick up on anything from the depths of the dungeon, but to his disappointment, nothing registered.
‘I should’ve brought more professors with me.’
It was a thought born of regret, but regret wouldn’t help now.
The moment Cassis saw the Death Knight appear on the display earlier, he had grabbed the dungeon’s designer and rushed out without a second thought.
While the other professors assumed it was part of the competition, Cassis knew better.
It was real.
Years of life-and-death experience in the war-torn northern territories of the Arkaria Continent had honed his instincts.
This was truly dangerous.
Cassis didn’t think twice. His students and even family member were inside that dungeon.
‘I acted too rashly.’
Now there was no choice but to maximize the odds of rescuing everyone, even if it meant calling for more help from outside.
Just as Cassis was about to exit the dungeon to call for reinforcements, he heard it.
Rustle—
“Hmm.”
Cassis’s sharp senses picked up the faint sound of movement.
He immediately turned toward the noise, sword drawn and senses on high alert.
“…Impossible.”
“Huh?”
Following the rustling sound came a voice.
A familiar one.
“This seems like the right way…”
“Garrett?”
“Ah! W-who… Professor?”
Cassis rushed toward the voice and let out a sigh of relief when he saw a faint blue flame flickering in the distance.
It was his students—Garrett Iskaea and Verte Bernstein.
“Professor… what are you doing here?”
“The Death Knight! What happened to it?!”
“Oh, that…”
Verte answered Cassis’s question.
She said the Death Knight had been defeated.
“Defeated… it’s dead? You two managed to kill it??”
“Unfortunately, no, not us.”
“Then another professor must have arrived already. Was the barrier already removed?”
“N-no, it wasn’t another professor…”
“It was the first-years.”
Cassis fell silent, stunned.
The first-years?
“Then… where are the first-years now?”
For now, Cassis decided to put off asking for more details and instead asked about the first-years’ location.
There was no telling what other dangers might be lurking in the dungeon.
The third-years could be sent out, but he still needed to find his younger sibling among the first-years.
“Uh… they said they’re heading to the finish line because they’re going to take first place.”
“…”
Once again, Cassis was at a loss for words.
Even after encountering the Death Knight, they were pressing further in?
—
Read More at – GENZNOVEL.COM!!
PLEASE JOIN OUR DISCORD AND SUBSCRIBE THE ROLE TO RECEIVE LATEST NOTIFICATIONS!!
Click here -> https://discord.gg/S8c2kGVr2g
Comment