“What happened?!”
“Teleportation into the dungeon is impossible!”
“The mana interference barrier…!”
‘This is… what?’
Amillion tried his best to remain calm amidst the chaos in the now disarrayed conference room.
Of course, it wasn’t easy.
“Undead?!”
“At least Professor St. Claire has already gone to the dungeon…”
The professors who had been watching the tournament with interest now understood the commotion—due to the monsters appearing from the dungeon.
At first, no one had noticed.
Except for the few professors involved in organizing the tournament, not many knew the details of the dungeon.
Everyone thought the organizers had simply gone to great lengths to refresh things, but they were wrong.
It started when the lead professor behind the dungeon’s creation stood up abruptly and shouted about something odd.
The monster that appeared in front of the third-year students turned out to be a d*ath Knight—an upper-tier undead that hadn’t been seen on the continent in decades.
Then, when the ghouls showed up in front of the first-year students, chaos truly ensued.
The professors capable of teleportation spells tried entering the dungeon immediately, but the attempt failed.
Their attempts to issue a mana-infused warning to the students were met with the same failure.
The one success so far had been preventing the second-year students from entering the dungeon, since they hadn’t gone in yet.
‘Is this even possible?’
On a practical level, what was happening seemed impossible.
How could something unexpected happen during an Academy-organized event without the internal staff being aware?
Reflexively, Amillion glanced at Vice Chancellor Landgar.
Landgar’s face was frozen stiff, eyes still glued to the ongoing scene on the monitors.
“Hey! The ghouls!”
Someone shouted, drawing Amillion’s attention back to the monitors. His lips tightened at the sight.
The ghouls had surrounded Elaine St. Claire, who was among the first-year students.
‘Oh, dammit.’
Amillion clenched his fists so hard they trembled, frustrated by his inability to do anything in this moment.
To see his own student in danger and not be able to act—it was unbearable.
“Did Cassius Professor arrive yet?!”
In this tense situation, Amillion thought, maybe I should’ve gone with Professor Cassius St. Claire.
Time was running out.
And then…
“Huh? Oh?”
Just before it became truly disastrous, the circle of ghouls around Elaine began collapsing—not from within but from outside.
It wasn’t Elaine breaking free; it was Ryu. Ryu was slicing through the ghouls like paper, clearing the circle around Elaine with shocking efficiency.
“Whoa!”
In the blink of an eye, Ryu had wiped out the ghouls surrounding Elaine, before plunging back into the darkness beyond, leaving a faint trail of motion behind him. Even when Ryu disappeared into the shadow, he reappeared soon after with an air of calm satisfaction, while all the ghouls were now sprawled out helplessly on the ground.
The conference room, which had been buzzing with panic, fell into momentary silence as everyone digested what they’d just witnessed.
Amillion, despite the tension, couldn’t help but think, That display will probably erase any lingering doubts about Ryu’s skill level.
“What kind of sword is that?”
Amillion muttered under his breath, looking at the black-bladed sword in Ryu’s hand.
Thinking the immediate threat was over, he turned his focus back to other pressing matters.
But he was wrong.
“Wait! Over there!”
“Has Professor Cassius arrived yet?!”
A voice echoed emptily, breaking through the stunned silence.
—
With a deafening CRASH, Amillion winced.
“Here we go again…”
His face screwed up in irritation as dust erupted, interrupting what had been a brief moment of crisis resolution. The noise and debris were unexpected—especially since whatever appeared wasn’t from the front but by smashing through the wall on the side.
‘Then it IS allowed to break walls…’
Ryu had hesitated earlier, worried about collateral damage with his Black Shadow Sword, but maybe he didn’t need to.
Next time, perhaps he could just let loose.
“Ugh!”
“What was that?”
From behind the wall, a figure emerged, or rather, an ominous presence. To Amillion’s surprise, instead of a monster, a human voice shouted back—someone unfamiliar.
“Who… Who are you?”
The next voice belonged to a female. Amillion squinted through the dust cloud, making out a pair of humans—a male knight in brown armor and a woman with vibrant red short hair, clothed in a crimson robe.
“Are you first-years?”
“V… Vice Captain Bernstein?!”
The situation, already confusing, was clarified by Cynthia speaking up from the back. She seemed to recognize their identities.
“Senpais?”
“Ugh… Looks like we ended up at the first-year testing site. Everyone, back away!”
WHOOSH!
With the knight’s shout, the air sliced through with an intense whistle.
‘What the…’
Amillion focused his eyes on the source through the dust. Towering before him was a colossal knight standing between 2.5 to 3 meters tall. The size of his sword alone screamed “overpower” as he lifted the behemoth up high, ready to bring it down.
KSSSHT!
“Ugh!”
“Ugh… The dust…”
The giant knight didn’t mess around. With just a simple downward swing, he sent shockwaves of wind rippling outward, clearing the dust cloud in one go.
Man, that guy must be strong.
Amillion’s eyes stung from the flying grit but cleared in time to get a proper view.
“Huh… What is that?”
The colossus, dressed completely in black, gave off vibes similar to Ryu. But there was one major difference: his head was a skull.
A clearly undead creature.
“Ugh, everyone, fall back! Get to the warp circle at least…”
ZIIING!
“Whoa!”
The skull knight swung his sword, and the knight with brown hair barely managed to block it with an audible screech.
CRASH!
“Oh… sh*t…”
“Garret!”
Amillion’s prediction proved correct. The poor brown-haired knight—Garret—couldn’t handle the pressure for long and eventually dropped his sword. The skull knight wasted no time.
Picking up his massive blade with ease, like it weighed nothing compared to his immense strength, the skull knight prepared for another strike.
“d*mn.”
At this point, the skull knight’s mere presence became crushing. Even Garret, standing right at the edge of the blade’s reach, was frozen in place.
‘Guess I better intervene?’
Just as the skull knight prepared to swing, Amillion moved. The situation seemed desperate, but if Cynthia recognized the duo, they were probably second or third years. Letting them handle it solo felt wrong.
‘d*mn, I should’ve finished this to secure first place…’
For a brief moment, a dark idea crossed Amillion’s mind: “If Garret gets knocked out, we essentially win by default.” But before he could entertain such thoughts, his body acted on its own.
‘Probably because this is an Academy-organized event… they won’t let things get fatal. There must be some safety measures, surely?’
CRASH!
As Amillion swung his sword, the impact sent off a thunderous roar that dwarfed any normal sword-to-sword clash. The vibration traveled up his wrist, leaving a tingly numbness in his fingers.
‘This guy’s no joke.’
Pushing force into his blade, Amillion pushed the skull knight back, managing to create some distance.
“Oof, heavy…”
The skull knight stumbled back, taking a single step to maintain his balance. His size and weapon obviously made him hefty, but Amillion had managed to push through.
“Wha…?”
“You…?”
Garret and Bernstein looked equally astonished, watching the unexpected intervention. The skull knight quickly recovered, preparing to charge again.
“Emily! Are you standing there still?”
“No sir!”
“…Good. You know what this is, right? It’s definitely undead.”
Amillion seized the brief pause to question Emily. After the ghouls were taken care of, Emily appeared calmer and had even stuck close to Cynthia. Her response was sharp, though slightly awkward.
“Yeah, though I haven’t seen this in person…”
“This is a d*ath Knight. And my flames won’t affect it.”
Interrupting Emily, the red-haired woman known as Bernstein spoke, flames flickering in her palm, reinforcing her fire-wielding identity.
“Ah. Okay, then. Does that mean we need to remove its head to k*ll it?”
“You’re Ryu, the number one first-year, right? You really are a strange one…”
“Berthe! Not the time. Here it comes again!”
Amillion caught the name “Berthe” and turned instinctively to see the skull knight rushing toward him once more.
‘Sturdy opponent.’
WHOOSH – CRASH!
Amillion charged forward to meet the d*ath Knight in mid-air, the impact echoing with the same deafening sound as before.
With Ryu’s blade locked against the d*ath Knight’s, he pivoted and unleashed a powerful kick straight into the creature’s chest, augmented by mana.
WHOOOSH – CRASH!
The d*ath Knight flew backward, smashing into the wall where his massive frame sank partially into the debris.
‘Maybe I overdid it on power control…’
Before anyone could say anything, Ryu addressed the group, seeking clarification on the fight mechanics.
“Um, you said something about decapitating it to k*ll it right?”
“Uh, even I—I’m not sure that’ll work perfectly…”
Berthe muttered, staring at the half-buried d*ath Knight, who was already beginning to extract itself.
—
And the battle rages on…
