“I see… the Sword Demon.”

A space as black as ink.

Like a pristine white temple painted over with dark, viscous paint.

There, at the end of a massive table, a woman seated on a colossal throne murmured, twirling the rim of her wine glass.

Her face obscured by a veil, her body completely covered in black priest’s robes, she was an existence that, from afar, one couldn’t even discern as male or female.

“Ranked 20th, you said?”

“Yes, Great Incarnation.”

In the blink of an eye, a man appeared beside her throne.

With crimson hair and eyes, clad in priest’s robes that seemed to be a simplified version of the woman’s, he was the Third Cardinal.

Blood Kairon.

A bat blessed by vampires had revealed himself.

“…Will it hinder the divine task?”

“Judging from its actions thus far, it is a nuisance, but it poses no threat to the achievement of our goals.”

“If you say so… but aside from Kiara, it is our strongest asset. Raise its elimination priority to the top.”

“I heed the words of the Holy Incarnation.”

His demeanor was a far cry from his usual playful self, replaced by a grave seriousness.

He knew how to distinguish the time and place.

“Very well. More importantly, I smell blood.”

“Before coming here, I dealt with a few who are blessed by filthy half-breeds. I washed up… but it seems the scent hasn’t completely faded.”

“It matters not. Even I, before being chosen as the Incarnation of God, grew up amidst the stench of rotting corpses.”

After staring blankly into space for a moment, the woman rose from her seat and approached a mural behind her chair.

It depicted a Constellation with white hair and violet eyes slaying a calamity rising from the earth.

“Constellations are calamities, we prevent the world’s destruction.”

So saying, she grasped the black cross hanging around her neck.

“All in accordance with the will of the Great God-King.”

The night deepened.

The moon ascended.

“Im Cheol-ha… quit? He resigned?”

This morning, as usual (though it had only been twice, excluding Mondays – just Tuesdays and Wednesdays), Ha-yeon was calling roll when she heard rather unexpected news.

It was that Im Cheol-ha, who had flirted with her not long ago and had his arm broken, had quit school.

Honestly, she thought he might be absent for a few days, but she didn’t expect him to just quit.

Well… if he was going to quit over something like that, he probably didn’t have what it takes to be a Hunter anyway.

‘More importantly, why didn’t anyone tell me?’

It’s a secret that the professors told Ha-yeon, but she just didn’t remember.

Anyway, that aside, today was a special day.

“Is everyone ready to enter the gate?”

Dungeon practice.

A privilege only S-Class students could enjoy.

The only ways a minor could enter a gate were to drop out of high school and become a full-time Hunter, or to be in the top class of a major academy like Elysia Academy.

Naturally, they were doing the latter.

Moreover, today was the gate practice day that occurred once per semester.

‘They probably moved it up on purpose because I’m here.’

Scratching her cheek at Kiara’s scheme, she boarded the bus to the gate.

The Dungeon they were entering today was the C+ grade Dungeon, ‘Vibration Beneath the Earth.’

Considering that they usually went to D+ grade, or C- grade at most, her presence seemed to have had quite an impact.

That was because, for her, a C+ grade Dungeon was something she could clear by just using a mana-filled slash without using artifacts or the environment, instantly killing even the boss.

Still, she wasn’t going to clear it herself this time, and there were students present, so it would be difficult to do something like that.

“Get off!”

Having arrived, Ha-yeon was the first to get off the bus and directed the students to disembark, then headed towards the gate.

‘It’s small, as expected.’

Having been seeing only large-scale gates lately, the C+ grade gate looked too small.

It was a place she wouldn’t have even dreamed of entering before.

“Well… you’ve all heard the stories about gates and what you need to do, right?”

“”Yes!””

She assumed they had already covered the theory in class.

Her role was to supervise the practice and protect them.

“Form parties on your own, but no solo actions. A-grades are prohibited from soloing. Each party must have a tank, a dealer, and a non-combatant.”

As long as they followed these rules, it was fine.

At her words, the students immediately moved to stick with strong individuals or form groups with friends.

And in these situations, there was always something that happened.

‘The stragglers.’

Those who couldn’t mingle well with the other students and couldn’t form factions.

Nor did they have the guts to latch onto the strong.

Before long, the outlines were roughly formed, and she called over the stragglers who still had nowhere to go.

“You guys, come over here for now.”

There were a total of four stragglers.

One ranged dealer and three non-combatants.

The ranged dealer seemed to be around B or B+ grade, but probably just didn’t have any friends, and the non-combatants were simply weak.

“You… go over there.”

She sent the ranged dealer student to a group that was forming with three members.

She remembered that two of those three were popular.

They’d get along fine.

“Um… you go over there.”

Two of the non-combatants ignored her and went to a group that didn’t include a single non-combatant student.

The last one remaining.

“Cheon-seo-a, is it okay if she joins you?”

Cheon-seo-a’s group.

With her permission, it was almost the only group that was trying to go with just herself and a tank.

“Um… I don’t mind.”

She could move quickly, but in the end, someone was joining, so she didn’t seem particularly pleased, but she didn’t object either, so Cheon-seo-a affirmed.

Smiling slightly at that, Ha-yeon assigned the group names in alphabetical order from left to right.

Now, she had to offer a reward.

“To the group that clears the Dungeon first…”

Something a bit unconventional.

“I’ll give each of you a B-grade mana stone.”

The mana stones she had received through her contract with the Association.

Honestly, she didn’t know about before, but after rising to 20th place, she didn’t think she would grow much from eating just one, so she had just been leaving them in the corner of her room.

But it was different for the students!

For students who were mostly still B-grade, that mana stone was literally a cheat item.

It was a rare item that could put them one step, no, about five steps ahead of the other students.

As if that thought was correct, the eyes that had only been filled with anticipation a moment ago were now filled with competitive spirit.

“Alright, get ready! Start!”

When everyone wasn’t quite ready to start, Ha-yeon suddenly gave the starting signal.

At that, the students, who were still dazed, snapped to their senses and immediately rushed off.

Unaware of what would happen inside.

“A cave type, huh?”

[You have entered the C+ grade Dungeon, ‘Vibration Beneath the Earth.’]

Cheon-seo-a’s party was the first to enter the Dungeon.

There were no other students around, only Cheon-seo-a’s team, who had held hands and entered together, was visible.

“Let’s get ready.”

Honestly, Cheon-seo-a could sweep through a C+ grade Dungeon alone, but this was a team.

Teamwork was important.

So she dropped that thought early on.

“Let’s move forward first!”

“Okay.”

At Cheon-seo-a’s confident words, the tank student stepped forward and led the way.

‘It’s a cave type, but not a maze?’

Cave types often had mazes.

Traps, dead ends, and so on.

But there were no traps here…

Clang!

“Um… I should be careful about what I think from now on.”

What a load of bull. As soon as she said that, an arrow flew from right in front of her.

No, it wasn’t even something she was going to say, but a flag was raised?

Was she not even allowed to think?

“Let’s… move forward for now.”

Even if the tank was in front, attacks didn’t only come from the front.

Therefore, she kept the non-combatant student close to Cheon-seo-a and surrounded them with electricity.

Most projectiles would be deflected or burned to ashes before they could even reach them.

Having roughly prepared a support system, she slowly walked forward.

And while doing so, she sensed a presence.

‘A student?’

It wasn’t a monster.

Judging by the mana, it was a being with a proper human skeleton and walking on two legs.

Recognizing it as a person, Cheon-seo-a walked towards it.

And soon regretted it.

“It’s… not a student?”

What was there was a middle-aged man with black hair wearing black priest’s robes that looked like rags at first glance, but were actually priest’s robes if you looked closely.

It was someone she had never seen before.

“Who are you? This is a gate belonging to the Academy. The students are in the middle of a practice run.”

“…Hmm. Quite a good feeling, isn’t it? To meet Cheon-seo-a for the first time.”

“…What does that mean?”

Unintelligible words.

Cheon-seo-a couldn’t understand his words.

They were beyond common sense.

A villain?

“If you don’t reveal your identity right now, I will use force…”

“Kuhahaha! Force can only be used by those who are capable of it!”

Suddenly, his serious expression changed to one filled with madness.

The man’s sword, rushing forward at an incredible speed.

That sword.

Touched Cheon-seo-a’s neck.