Ch.19Dungeon Practicum – 7

The creature stretched its body. With its root part firmly fixed to the ground, its disproportionately enlarged upper body lunged forward.

Its left arm, completely encased in bone armor, extended sideways and swept across the floor, threatening to crush me. I blocked it with Eternity, but couldn’t stop the recoil, causing my body to slide backward.

Where Eternity had made contact, there wasn’t even a scratch.

“Is that all? Is that it? Is that really all you’ve got?”

The Maker looked down at me mockingly with its single eye. It was the only spot not protected by armor—a perfect setup to bait someone without prior knowledge into targeting what appeared to be a weakness.

That’s exactly what it was trying to lure me into.

At first glance, the exposed eye seemed vulnerable, but as evident from the fact that its entire body was covered in bone except for that conspicuously bare eye, it was merely a dummy. A dummy that served no purpose whether it existed or not.

The moment someone attacked the eye at close range, deadly poison gas would spray out. And of course, any ranged attacks would be blocked, rendering them useless.

In the original story, even the hero falls for this trick once. Aria ends up treating him, though the story only mentioned her blushing without explaining exactly how she treated him.

“Someone like you with absolutely no aesthetic sense wouldn’t understand. As if I would fall for that?”

“How dare you be so insolent!”

The creature charged at me with a thunderous roar. I parried or dodged its flailing limbs while moving as if I were aiming for the conspicuously exposed eye.

Since openly presenting a weakness would make an opponent suspicious, the creature pretended to defend its eye. Its acting was quite convincing—had I not known better, I might have found it difficult to notice anything strange.

But I had knowledge from Priscilla.

“I will not let this stand!”

As I continued our exchange of attacks while consistently insulting its artistic sensibilities, the Maker, apparently deciding the time was right, pretended to completely lose its composure and charged at me while neglecting its defense.

‘It’s practically begging me to strike.’

I pretended to take the bait. I aimed Eternity at its eye and kicked off the ground.

As the distance closed, the Maker appeared startled and moved to defend its eye, but subtly created an opening along Eternity’s trajectory. At a glance, it looked like it couldn’t block in time due to the urgency.

‘Nice try.’

I feigned stabbing Eternity into its eye, but instead created a spear made of pure mana, engraved a magic circle at its tip, and hurled it. The mana spear shot like an arrow toward the creature’s mouth.

“Nooooo?!”

The Maker let out a genuinely surprised cry. It frantically tried to cover its mouth with bone, but the spear plunged in faster.

Its weakness was at the center of its head, just below the eye. Naturally, attacking it through conventional means was nearly impossible—one had to target the unarmored inside of its mouth.

That’s why I had waited for it to grow larger. The bigger it became, the easier it would be to target inside its mouth.

—BOOM!

The mana spear shattered all its teeth and burrowed deep past its uvula before exploding. Blue and red light leaked from inside its mouth.

“Kuuuaaaaargh!”

Its body, which had stretched all the way to me, reverted to its original size. Unable to bear the pain, the Maker let out a strange scream, changing its body color erratically as it thrashed about.

I planted my feet on the ground. Its pain-filled eyes glared at me. I raised one corner of my mouth in a mocking smile.

“Don’t you change your color and size too often? You lack the qualities of an artist, don’t you?”

“I will certainly kill you, customer…!”

It tried to lunge at me with a voice full of rage. Even in that state, it was only weakened, not killed. Its core, the true body, was in the demon realm. Only by destroying that could it truly die.

Its bone-encased arm flew toward me, but the attack never reached me.

—CRACK!

“Are you alright, Mira Crate?”

“What is this now?!”

One of the dungeon walls shattered into pieces as the Chairwoman appeared. She was dressed in a suit skirt and white shirt, her long jet-black hair flowing.

Having simultaneously destroyed both the attack aimed at me and the dungeon wall, the Chairwoman walked steadily toward the Maker with her long black hair billowing behind her. Her yellow vertical pupils glowed ominously.

“So you’re the insignificant creature who dared enter here, Maker.”

“Well, well! If it isn’t ‘Dark Dragon’ Meligor! Today must be my lucky day!”

The Maker, instantly changing its angry demeanor, greeted her with the same friendliness it had shown when first meeting me. The transformation was so drastic that I was the one left bewildered.

—BOOM!

With a bursting sound, half of the creature’s upper body was blown away. The eye attached to its head glanced at its half-destroyed body and cackled.

“Your greetings are still as violent as ever!”

“Do not call me by that filthy name.”

“Are you denying your identity? Although you now take the form of a human woman, the slaughter you once carried out—”

This time, the other half flew off. But the Maker just kept cackling.

“You’ve grown weak, Meligor. So very weak. The you of the past would have buried me along with this entire dungeon! Where has that cruel nature of yours gone?”

The remaining head twisted grotesquely. Like wringing out a rag, the crown and neck rotated in opposite directions. Instead of water, chunks of flesh, blood, and meat poured out.

The creature’s final voice echoed throughout the dungeon.

“I shall see you again soon, Meligor! Know that the Demon Lord’s favor toward you has not yet waned…!”

The Chairwoman stared at where the Maker had disappeared with a complicated expression mixing dismay and anger, then swung her arm to destroy the dungeon core.

The demonized surroundings gradually began to return to normal. It seemed the demonization had occurred too recently to cause permanent changes.

“…Are you hurt anywhere?”

While asking after my well-being, the Chairwoman kept glancing at me nervously. It seemed to be because of the conversation she’d just had with the Maker.

Well, I wasn’t bothered by it. I’d already heard everything from Priscilla anyway. And I’d also heard that the Chairwoman would rather die fighting the Demon Lord’s army than ever betray humanity.

Unlike the cries of some nobles who claimed that someone who betrayed once would do so again.

“As expected of the Chairwoman. You killed it before it could even speak.”

“…”

“You could have at least talked with it a bit. It seemed to have something it wanted to say.”

The Chairwoman, realizing the implication of my words, looked surprised before quickly putting on a benevolent smile.

“Is there any value in listening to the words of such a creature? I think not.”

The Chairwoman approached me. She looked me up and down, then sighed in relief, saying I didn’t appear to be injured.

Up close, she was incredibly tall. Even though I’m quite tall myself, standing over 180 cm, I had to look up about a head’s length to meet her eyes.

“First, let me sincerely express my regret for allowing a student to be placed in such a situation. A Third Legion Commander and demonization—it was far beyond what any student should have to endure.”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

I’ve seen worse situations several times before. Besides, I wasn’t trapped here against my will—I deliberately stayed when I had the chance to escape, so it’s nobody’s fault.

But the Chairwoman, apparently thinking I was just putting on a brave face, gave a bitter smile.

“…Let’s head back now. I’ll escort you safely outside.”

“Understood.”

As the wall crumbled, the landscape of the Bellium Forest came into view. Professors were scattered throughout, purifying the demonized forest.

I immediately went in for debriefing, but after giving a brief testimony, I was released right away.

This was partly because Diana and Warden had already testified, and partly because all the professors agreed with the Chairwoman’s suggestion that I should be allowed to rest for a while after experiencing such a shock.

‘I’m really fine though.’

Still, I was grateful not to have to undergo the psychological and physical therapy that the other two escapees had to endure. That would have meant resting for a full week.

“Are you really okay? Really?”

However, I couldn’t avoid everything. Priscilla, who had rushed to the entrance of Bellium Forest dropping everything else, held me in a tearful embrace and wouldn’t let go.

“Yes. What you told me was helpful. I destroyed its weakness. It won’t be able to come out for a while.”

“…Thank goodness. Really.”

As I was busy comforting the sobbing Priscilla who was hugging me, I made eye contact with the Crown Prince who was watching me from quite nearby.

Seeing my startled reaction, the Crown Prince gave a sticky smile, waved his hand a few times, and left. Feeling uneasy, I hugged Priscilla tighter. She also tightened her arms around me.

The next visitor was a woman with an unfamiliar face.

“My cute baby nun, didn’t I tell you not to get dirt on your clothes? Hmm?”

“Kyaaaa! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“That’s right, you should be sorry. So you need to be punished, right? Where should we start? Your tongue? Teeth? Eyes? Fingers?”

“I was wrong! I was wrong! Please forgive me just this once! Please…!”

The silver-haired woman who was roughly grabbing the nun’s hair and dragging her into the Bellium Forest suddenly released her grip when our eyes met.

This caused the nun who was being dragged by her hair to fall face-first onto the ground, but the silver-haired woman didn’t even glance at her, just staring in shock at her own hand and then at me alternately.

Then she spoke with a trembling voice.

“…Get lost.”

“…P-pardon?”

“I said get lost before I change my mind!”

“Y-yes! I understand!”

The nun fled without even attempting to fix her disheveled hair or dirt-covered clothes. With just the three of us remaining, the silver-haired woman slowly approached me.

‘What the hell is that crazy outfit?’

The woman was wearing something that could barely be called clothing.

Around her neck was a triangular white cloth that barely covered her collarbone, and below that was something that didn’t even cover half of her breasts.

The pieces of cloth supporting each breast were connected by a single thread of minimal thickness, which was attached to a star positioned above her cleavage.

The thread extending from the bottom of that star went into her cleavage and emerged at the underside of her breasts, widening like a strap. That strap, starting from under her breasts, was the only thing covering her genitals.

On her lower body, she wore something that looked like black stockings cut vertically. The only thing that could truly be called clothing was the veil draped over her head.

The silver-haired woman in the strange outfit was continuously muttering something under her breath. Her voice was too fast and low to understand a single word, and her blood-red eyes never left me.

Priscilla whispered to me.

“That woman is the Saint candidate I told you about. Her name is Rosaria Leone de Michaela.”

“…Well, your description of her being crazy seems 100% accurate.”

Just from the action she was about to commit and her attire, I could tell. I was convinced. That woman was definitely crazy.

“Hey, you… I need to see you for a moment. Right now.”

“Why should I?”

Rosaria’s eyes widened, as if she hadn’t expected me to respond this way.

“…Why should you? Do you know who I am when you say that?”

“Of course I do. You’re a Saint candidate.”

“Then you must know how important I am, yet you answer like that? Can you handle the consequences?”

“Whether you’re important or not, what does that have to do with me?”

My first impression of this woman could be summarized in one word: terrible. I had no intention of complying with someone like that.

“…”

Rosaria, who had been glaring at me as if she wanted to devour me, took a step back and sighed deeply.

“Fine, damn it. The one who needs something should yield. Alright. Then come to my room later tonight. I’ll send someone to let you know where it is.”

“I don’t want to do that either.”

“…What?”

“Is that how you ask someone for a favor?”

I had the upper hand here. No matter how she acted, she was the one who was desperate, not me. As expected, Rosaria could only tremble with her fists clenched, unable to push any harder.

“…Fine. Then what should I do?”

“You should ask nicely. With a respectful attitude, of course.”

“…”

Rosaria bit her lip. But seeing no alternative, she finally began to speak.

“I… ask… you. Could you… please… come to my room… later?”

“Alright. You said you’d send someone to tell me the location, right? You can go now.”

I waved my hand dismissively, signaling her to leave. Rosaria walked away with glowing eyes and heavy steps.

Priscilla’s description was accurate. That woman was indeed crazy. I patted Priscilla’s head approvingly.

“Mmm…”

Priscilla seemed confused by my reaction but decided to enjoy the moment anyway.

I stayed with Priscilla until that evening, only going to see Rosaria when it was almost 9 o’clock. I hadn’t specified an exact time anyway, just said I’d come later.

Rosaria had rented the entire top floor of the women’s dormitory.

“You came?”

Rosaria, wearing that same barely-there outfit, greeted me with a brightening face as she sat up from her bed.

Now I was the surprised one. The fierce, menacing presence she had shown in the forest was completely different from her current demeanor. It was as if she had been replaced by another person entirely.

But having both heard about her and seen her firsthand, I remained on guard.

“So, what did you want?”

Instead of answering, Rosaria began to slowly approach me. Her blood-red eyes flashed with a sharp light.

“Before that, let me ask you one thing. Have you ever had sex?”

“…?”

What on earth was this woman saying? As I stared at her with a dumbfounded expression, Rosaria moved even closer.

“What, you haven’t? That’s a waste of your face and body. Well, it’s fine. This is my first time with this kind of thing too. If it’s the first time for both of us, that’s good for both of us, so let’s start right away.”

“Start what—”

Before I could finish my question, Rosaria tore off the star on her chest. As the thread supporting her breasts snapped, her violently large breasts sprang forward.

Something pink that had been hidden by a single strap was revealed as if a spell had been broken. I had wondered why I couldn’t see what should have been at the tips—apparently some kind of magic had been involved.

“What else? In a situation like this, what else is there to do besides sex? Oh, but first I should match your preferences. What do you like more? Should I suck you off first? Or do you want to put it straight in?”

As I listened to Rosaria’s words, which seemed completely devoid of any sense of propriety, I clutched my head, which was starting to spin.

‘Priscilla…’

You said she was crazy, but you didn’t say she was THIS crazy.