Chapter 88 – Deciding Match During Field Practice (6)

Within the oppressive darkness of a damp cave, Alessandro Sergei, a second-year knight division student of Farencia Academy, waited. Two days he’d been perched within this subterranean lair, his eyes burning with predatory anticipation.

Two meters tall, 130 kilograms of muscle, he gripped his massive axes, each blade the size of a cauldron lid, gleaming menacingly in the scant light.

“Heh heh…I wonder what lambs will stray into my slaughterhouse.”

He’d earned his reputation. During a recent training exercise on Hover Mountain, he’d single-handedly felled a gigantic centipede, an act that earned him an enthusiastic invitation to join the knight order. He feared nothing.

Every monster the instructors had strategically placed within the dungeon for the first-years’ “challenge” lay scattered in pieces, their bones picked clean.

Woe betide the unfortunate freshman who stumbled into his designated dungeon. They would learn a harsh lesson about the world.

He was a warrior-monk gone rogue, a berserker drunk on the promise of violence.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

His keen ears twitched, picking up the sound of approaching footsteps echoing from the dungeon entrance.

Alone? Tsk. A straggler. How pathetic.

Anyone who abandoned their team to complete the exercise was nothing but a coward.

His grip tightened on his axes.

This field training was a cruel lottery. Even the most skilled navigator could be undone by a stroke of bad luck, pitted against an insurmountable opponent.

And Alessandro, a warrior hailing from the battle-hardened Shakel Alliance, was a near-insurmountable opponent for any first-year.

As a lone figure emerged from the shadows, Alessandro roared his greeting.

“Die, freshman!”

He hurled an axe with all his might, the weapon whistling through the air, infused with magical force. It slammed into the cavern wall with a bone-jarring thud, the shaft quivering from the impact. A glancing blow would have incapacitated any ordinary first-year for a month.

But something was wrong.

Did it miss?

The expected thud of a body hitting the cavern floor never came.

“Whoa, hold on there! Were you seriously trying to kill me?”

“…You’re not a freshman.”

“No, I’m not. Now, hand over the doll.”

The man was unfamiliar.

But powerful.

Alessandro couldn’t afford to underestimate him.

As the man approached, Alessandro swung his remaining axe in a brutal horizontal arc, aiming to cleave him in two.

But…

Clang!

“Damn. Are all you knight division brutes monsters in disguise? You’re relentless.”

“W-what…?”

The man had caught the axe blade barehanded. It didn’t budge. Alessandro strained, pushing with both hands, his muscles screaming, but the man held firm, an unyielding wall of strength.

“You…you fiend! What manner of sorcery is this?!”

“Give it a rest, Ronnie Coleman.”

With a casual flick of his wrist, Louis sent Alessandro flying backwards, his massive frame crashing into the cavern wall.

Ignoring the groaning heap of muscle and steel, Louis retrieved the doll placed at the dungeon’s end.

“Where did you get this?”

“Cough…cough…My…sister…gave it to me! You…you have no right…”

The strong prey on the weak. The weak are left with nothing.

Alessandro had no intention of surrendering even a hair to some inferior first-year. This doll, crafted by his sister’s calloused hands, a miniature replica of her, was his most prized possession, a memento from his home, a promise that she would not forget him.

“This is black magic. You’ve been duped.”

“Lies! You dare insult my sister?!”

He’d scoffed at the doll at first, a grown man carrying such a childish trinket. But he’d secretly taken it after seeing her tears, her calloused hands—worn from years of harsh labor—still carefully stitching the final details.

“Look. It may seem like an ordinary doll, but if you just twist off the head…”

“Don’t you dare touch it!”

Rip.

“…”
“…”

Stuffing erupted from the doll’s severed neck, filling the air with silent snowflakes of cotton. Both men stared, momentarily stunned.

Louis, his expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation, finally broke the silence.

“Well, I’ll be damned. It really was just a doll.”

“Nooooooooo!” Alessandro’s anguished cry echoed through the cavern.

***

As the second day drew to a close, Erzebert, Adela, and Cal finally stumbled upon a dungeon entrance.

A quick reconnaissance revealed no other teams in the vicinity. The encroaching darkness and the dungeon’s cleverly concealed entrance, shrouded by rocks and overgrown foliage, made it a tempting prospect.

Erzebert hesitated, weighing the risks of entering versus setting up camp for the night. Before she could reach a decision, Adela marched forward.

“A-Adela! Wait!”

“?”

“It’s reckless to charge in blindly. Do you have a plan?”

“Nope.”

“Then hold on. We don’t know what’s inside.”

The three settled down, their meager rations providing little comfort as they formulated a strategy.

Within the dungeon, they could face two primary threats: monsters, and the second-year guardian. The possibility of traps couldn’t be discounted.

“We’ll send Pii in to scout.”

“Um…Your Highness,” Carl began hesitantly.

“Yes?”

“Are you…confident in Pii’s abilities?”

“What do you mean, Carl? Reconnaissance is a familiar’s primary function. Isn’t it, Pii?”

“…”

“Pii? …Pii?”

“Pii…” The familiar’s sullen chirp conveyed its utter lack of enthusiasm for the task.

Erzebert, unwilling to display any further erosion of her authority, especially not in front of Carl, grabbed Pii and approached the dungeon entrance. The familiar, sensing the impending doom, erupted in a frantic flurry of wings, its panicked chirps echoing through the twilight.

This extreme reaction, mirroring its first encounter with Louis, set off alarm bells in Erzebert’s mind. Pii possessed an uncanny ability to detect danger.

“Let’s just go in,” Adela declared, her gaze fixed on the terrified familiar.

“Whoever’s inside isn’t going anywhere.”

“…”
“…”

The three cautiously entered the dungeon.

Unlike the surrounding forest, the dungeons in this region were natural caves, remnants of a time before Farencia’s cultivation.

The rhythmic drip of water echoed through the darkness as they ventured deeper, the air growing heavy, the temperature dropping with each step.

“It’s pitch black.”

“Shall I light a torch, Your Highness?”

“Yes, please.”

“Of course. Adela?”

At Carl’s request, Adela wordlessly handed him her entire backpack.

Carl retrieved an oil-soaked wooden torch and ignited it. As the flickering flames illuminated the cavern, he noticed something unsettling.

Why is the ceiling…black?

The walls and floor were a dull, earthy brown, but the light failed to reach the ceiling, swallowed by an unnatural darkness. A faint, fishy odor permeated the air.

As he raised the torch higher, something stirred in the shadows above. A flurry of movement, followed by a chorus of enraged screeches.

“Wombats!”

Screech!

A swarm of massive bats, their leathery wings beating furiously, descended upon them.

Erzebert reacted instantly, casting Wind Shear and Barrier, the protective spells shielding them from the initial onslaught.

Carl drew his sword, parrying the snapping jaws and razor-sharp claws. “Adela! We need to fall back!”

“…”

“Adela?!”

Adela, ever enigmatic, stood motionless amidst the chaos, her gaze fixed on the depths of the cave, as if she could see through the darkness, her expression serene, almost…expectant.

Her unnerving calmness, while strangely reassuring, filled Carl with a sense of foreboding.

“I’ll leave this to you two-nya.”

“Adela, wait!”

With an ice pick clutched in her hand like a wizard’s staff, Adela pushed through the swarm of wombats, advancing deeper into the dungeon.

She knew who awaited her.

Her sapphire eyes, now hardened with resolve, held a chilling glint. Her voice, cold and sharp, cut through the darkness.

“Come out. I know you’re there.”

“Who’s hiding?”

From the shadows emerged Liv, an ethereal figure radiating an almost otherworldly beauty, a queen of the night within this subterranean realm.

“Welcome, junior.”

“…”

“We have much to discuss.”

“Only one thing.”

“I suppose that’s true. However…” Liv’s amethyst eyes glittered with malice as she raised her staff. “This time…the outcome will be quite different.”

***

Thud.

Alessandro’s unconscious body crumpled to the cavern floor.

Louis tossed aside the shattered remains of the axe and dusted off his hands.

“Why would a muscle-bound oaf like that carry a doll?”

What a waste of time. The brute had attacked him with a ferocity that suggested a deep-seated grudge, one Louis couldn’t fathom. Had they met before? He couldn’t recall.

As he prepared to move on to the next set of coordinates Lehel had reluctantly provided, a crystal orb slipped from his pocket and clattered to the ground.

It was the orb displaying Liv’s designated dungeon. He picked it up, his gaze drawn to the two figures within.

“…Well, I’ll be.”

Adela and Liv stood facing each other, the tension radiating from the orb like heat from a furnace. It was a confrontation he’d anticipated, but seeing it unfold…

This wasn’t going to end well.

He considered intervening, but before he could act, Lehel’s panicked voice crackled through the orb.

“Boss! We have a situation! A major escalation!”

“What’s going on?”

“You said to report any unusual activity! One of the locations you marked…the monsters are evolving! Rapidly!”

“And you’re just…watching?”

“Huh?”

It dawned on him then. Lehel, with her Warp Gate magic, could reach the location far faster than he could. Her sense of urgency, however, seemed to have atrophied entirely.

Those with Unique Magic truly were a breed apart. Years of experiencing—and subsequently becoming desensitized to—extraordinary phenomena had warped Lehel’s perception of reality. The escalating crisis, the evolving monsters—it was all just another form of entertainment, a spectacle to be observed, not a threat to be addressed.

He’d have to address her gambling addiction sooner rather than later. It was clearly impacting her judgment.

“Get over there! Now!”

“Eek! Y-yes! On my way!”

“Neutralize the threat. And if you find a doll, don’t destroy it. Bring it to me.”

After dispatching Lehel, Louis sighed and checked the coordinates of Liv and Adela’s location. He’d hoped to avoid interfering, but the situation within the orb felt precarious.

A bloodbath was imminent.

As he ran, his gaze fixed on the orb, he suddenly locked eyes with Liv. She stared directly at him, her expression unreadable, through the shimmering surface of the crystal.

“Huh?”

Had she detected the familiar he’d subtly placed within the cave?

Click.

“Ah.”

The feed went dead.