episode_0005

… okay. It was Eldrid.

The only victim of the dungeon rampage incident.

I don’t know if there are other Eldrids within the academy, but if not, it means that Rachel is the victim.

… No, given the circumstances, it’s definitely Rachel.

When I read the novel, she was a character who had never appeared before, so I remember reading it without much thought when she was mentioned.

I can’t remember clearly because it was a long time ago, but I think it was described through the mouth of a character in the novel.

It is said that the daughter of the Eldrid family, who was left alone in the dungeon, miraculously survived, but suffered terrible injuries and was on the brink of death.

Also, although she barely regained consciousness, the family ignored her will, made her drop out of the academy, and took her back to the family.

“… … .”

Although Rachel looked a little nervous, her expression itself seemed calm.

It probably means that you have no idea what will happen to you in the future.

“Okay, let’s start the practice.”

With that warning to myself, I started moving toward practice.

With a feeling of frustration as if there was a stone stuck in my chest.

***

“Enter.”

Following the professor’s command, we entered the dungeon.

I felt like a strange energy was passing through my body, and the next moment I was standing inside the dungeon.

“This is a dungeon… … .”

“Dark. The atmosphere is somehow strange.”

The surrounding students were looking around the inside of the dungeon, each expressing their impressions.

The interior of the cave, which would have originally appeared dark, was barely visible due to torches that appeared to have been installed in advance by the Academy.

“Everyone be quiet.”

After calming down the chaotic atmosphere, the professor categorized the starting points as previously divided.

After a while, I stood at the assigned starting point with my group members.

“… good. Then, let’s start practicing.”

With a shout from the professor who checked the watch in his arms, the students began to move forward.

Although it is a bit sloppy, we created our own formation.

It was a typical formation, so to speak, sending students majoring in combat, that is, close combat, to the front, and students majoring in magic to the back.

How far has it progressed like that?

“Ah… !”

With the startled voice of one of the students, something appeared in our field of vision.

Grrr─

“It’s Ratman… … .”

Rat Man. A rat monster that literally resembles a human.

Its combat power itself is not that great, but since it operates in groups, it is not an opponent for beginners to take lightly. In addition, it is often avoided, especially by women, because of its disgusting visuals.

Even taking all these factors into consideration, its combat power was not that high, so it could be considered suitable for beginners to deal with. The Academy must have chosen this place because of that.

Quite a few students around me looked surprised or nervous, but I wasn’t that surprised.

I knew from the beginning that Ratmen would appear, and I had dealt with monsters before.

“Don’t relax!”

The students gathered their posture at the professor’s shout coming from behind them.

And soon a battle broke out.

The battle itself was not as difficult as I thought.

Ratmen are objectively weak monsters, so if there are this many people, there is no need for any special cooperation in the first place.

The students seemed to know this as well, as they became more and more relaxed and became more and more accustomed to fighting.

So, from a certain point on, our group began to progress further into the dungeon without any major obstacles.

Looking at it up to that point, it seemed like the practice would end without any problems.

Coo!

Of course, that couldn’t have been possible.

***

“What is this… !”

Alexis couldn’t hide her embarrassment at the sudden situation.

The practice itself was proceeding without any major problems.

Joe, who had some difficulties at first, was now accustomed to dealing with the ratmen and moving forward.

However, the situation suddenly changed with a sudden tremor and an explosion of sound.

Wow!

The rat men’s aggression suddenly increased, and their fighting power also became stronger.

To make matters worse, the vibrations that continued after the first vibration were making the fight more difficult.

“Everyone, calm down!”

Eventually, the faculty member who was watching from behind stepped forward, but that alone was not enough to resolve the situation.

Crrr!

The number of Ratmen began to increase in a way that could not be compared to before.

“Damn… ! What on earth… ! Retreat first!”

Even though the Ratmen have become stronger and more numerous, they are still just Ratmen. It could have been easily dealt with at the level of a faculty member, but dealing with the Ratman was not important right now.

The faculty decided that they could not keep the students completely safe against rat men of that size and eventually decided to retreat.

The students followed the words of the faculty and staff in order to survive even though they were caught in a state of panic and fear.

Of course, Alexis was one of them.

But in the end, Alexis couldn’t move as she wanted.

Quang!

This was because a sudden explosion pushed Alexis’ body away.

Fortunately, Alexis was not directly hit by the explosion, but Alexis, who was within enough range to be affected by the explosion, was thrown backwards with the impact of the explosion.

And before Alexis could even recover from the shock and get up, a series of explosions occurred.

bang!

This time, he wasn’t directly caught in the explosion, but that didn’t mean the explosion was completely unrelated to him. Because the explosion happened above his head.

As a result, the ceiling of the cave collapsed, and the debris fell towards Alexis, who was unable to recover from the shock.

“Alexis!”

When the staff saw this, they were alerted, but the staff who were protecting the students from the rat men were unable to approach Alexis right away.

‘shit… … !’

Alexis cursed under her breath as she looked at the pile of rocks falling towards her.

Dying? So suddenly?

Isn’t that too vain?

In a situation where Alexis could only helplessly look at the pile of rocks falling towards her.

Suddenly, an external force pushed his body.

thud!

And then the pile of stones crashed down mercilessly.

Even as the dust had not yet settled, Alexis somehow realized that she had survived.

“Trigram, are you okay?!”

Then a voice in his ear brought his mind back to reality.

When I turned my gaze towards the direction from which the voice came, I saw the face of a girl.

Alexis immediately recognized the girl’s identity.

That she was a girl in the same group as him.

For sure… Did you say your name was Mary?

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I survived.”

Alexis stood up and bowed her head to the girl, expressing her sincere gratitude.

“Oh, no! Please raise your head!”

Mary flailed and flailed at Alexis’ actions.

Although Mary is a noblewoman, her counterpart is a prince.

It was natural for this kind of reaction to occur.

Inside the Academy, everyone is said to be equal regardless of status, but no one was unaware of the fact that this was not as perfectly applied as it was said.

“I will definitely discuss this case later.”

Alexis truly thought so and made a promise.

I will definitely repay you for saving my life.

“You don’t have to do that, but… Anyway, for that, I need to escape from here first.”

Mary, who had been shaking her head with an embarrassed expression, became serious.

“… I see.”

Alexis’ expression also hardened.

The place where his eyes were directed was where he had been a moment ago.

What was visible was that the passage was completely blocked by fallen debris.

***

“Phew… Is everyone okay?”

After wiping the sweat from their foreheads, the professor checked the students’ condition.

If the professor is like that, what about the students?

Most of the students were sitting on the floor, drenched in sweat, and I was among them.

How long was it like that?

“I lived!”

“I almost died… !”

The other groups also exited the dungeon one after another.

The number continued to increase, and at some point, most of the people emerged safely.

‘It goes back to the original.’

Mary and Alexis are probably struggling to escape the dungeon by now.

Even though we go through all kinds of hardships, we will work together to overcome the hardships and eventually escape.

In this way, this event will end without causing any significant casualties compared to its scale.

… Except for Rachel Eldred.

“… … .”

I tried to ignore the discomfort creeping up in my chest again.

‘… ‘Because it’s not like dying.’

You will be severely injured, but you will not die.

And as long as you don’t die, you can fully treat it. Because divine power exists in this world.

As Jack said, with the power of such a famous family, it would be possible to borrow the power of a high-ranking priest.

You don’t die, you just get hurt.

It’s just that I quit the academy.

So you should leave it as is.

We have to let things go as they were in the original.

… It has to be that way.

─ “I was so frustrated with the situation I was in that I wanted to do something. I thought that if I came to the academy, I might see some possibility.”

─ “But… Now that I’m here, I’m not sure. I don’t know what to do specifically, and I don’t know if I really have the power to change this situation… I’m not sure.”

─ “Maybe everything is just a meaningless struggle. Maybe I just have no choice but to face the future that was planned for me. I often think like that.”

“… … .”

The next moment, my body was running towards the entrance of the dungeon.

“… hmm? Wade Heblon! What are you doing! Stop!”

I heard a voice grabbing me from behind, but my legs didn’t stop.