429.
Lunia stood with her arms crossed, looking around.
“Abad of Lumeran, Ruwen of Azonia, Digness and Ameran of Demian.”
Lunia, the representative of the 1st year students at Seirun, was also a candidate for the Student Council President. Despite her fierce and choleric temperament, her position as Seirun’s top student remained unshaken. As such, she was well-informed about the details of the top students from the rival Hero Academies, with whom she was naturally in a competitive relationship.
“They’re all renowned mage students at their respective schools.”
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say these individuals were the best mages in the second year at their Hero Academies.
“Though Luca and Chloe Mueller from Lumeran are missing… They’ve probably been assigned somewhere else.”
Unaware as she plummeted down the cliff, Lunia realized they were scattered once she regained her senses.
“It seems the trials of the training camp start right away.”
Abad, with his characteristic gentle smile, spoke, prompting Ruwen to add, “That’s right. The fact that we five are gathered here likely means we’re in the same group.”
As Ruwen stroked her lush fox tail, Digness remarked, “The fact that we’ve got only mages here indicates they’ve paired us with challenges fitting our capabilities.”
“Yes, it’s certain,” Ameran agreed. “I just checked, and it seems we can’t return to the top of the cliff. A barrier is in place.”
“Different schools, but similar thinking,” Lunia responded, smiling faintly. Every mage was quick and precise in analyzing the situation.
“Alright, then the destination must be beyond that thicket, right? I wonder what trials await… Hmm?”
Lunia’s gaze shifted from the bushes up to the sensation of mana vibrations she detected above.
Plock!
Swords, lances, and shields flung from atop the cliff plunged into the ground.
“Weapons?”
“Why are these coming to us?”
Each student picked up a weapon that caught their fancy as they exchanged curious expressions. As Lunia wielded her spear, uncertainty flickered on her face.
Boom! Boom!
The ground shook.
Flash!
From the darkness beyond the thicket, menacing red eyes gleamed.
“It looks like the test has begun.”
Ruwen idly raised a finger while her face remained nonchalant.
Woosh!
A small fireball ignited on the tip of her finger and flew toward the thicket.
Grrraaaa! Woosh!
The powerful explosion set the surrounding area ablaze, flames dancing wildly.
Boom! Bang!
However, the mysterious beast remained unmoved.
Seeing this, Ruwen’s eyes twitched.
Bang! Bang!
A large brown figure came into view, lifting its hands and roaring ferociously.
“Kyaaa!”
“What is that thing?”
“Hmm…”
“…A bear?”
Lunia sported an incredulous look, while Abad chuckled. Digness, on the other hand, appeared disapproving.
“That’s an awfully cute teddy bear.”
Ameran gasped in amazement.
“I thought something grand was coming, but this is disappointing.”
Snorting, Ruwen conjured a magic circle in her palm and released a spell toward the teddy bear, its hands raised.
Ka-ga-ga-ga-gang!
A fearsome gust of wind blew away everything in its path, lifting the debris into the air.
As the dust settled, Ruwen flinched.
Everyone else, too, was taken aback by what they saw.
Twitch!
Claws emerged with a chilling sound from the teddy bear’s fingertips.
“Eh?”
At the moment Ruwen uttered this bewildered sound:
“Kyaahaa!”
The angry teddy bear came down with its claws.
Gaaaang!
In panic, Ruwen leaped to avoid the attack.
Where Ruwen had been standing, the enormous paw of the teddy bear struck.
With a terrifying scratch, the ground seemed to explode, scattering debris everywhere.
Startled by the menacing figure that betrayed the teddy bear’s cute appearance, all the students froze momentarily.
“This stuffed teddy! Why aren’t magic spells working?!”
“Seems like a guardian powered by magic engineering. It probably has a high resistance to magic and wouldn’t budge even with typical spells,” Abad responded.
At Abad’s urgent call for help, Lunia stepped forward.
“If that’s the case, it must mean incinerating it with overwhelming firepower will do the trick.”
Whoosh!
Flames erupted around Lunia’s body.
“Let’s see the skills of Seirun’s representative for the year.”
“You won’t be disappointed.”
Lunia beamed and released her magic.
Flash! Kaaaaaaaawwwwwnn!
A pillar of fire surged beneath the teddy bear.
“Still intact?”
Lunia mumbled, slightly startled.
Abad’s spell was also completed.
Kaaaaaaannnn!
A massive vortex trapped Lunia’s flames and the stuffed bear together.
Haaacck!
But this magic had no effect, and the stuffed bear slashed its claws through the flames and wind and charged forward.
“Let’s run first!”
“Exactly, what is this teddy bear’s identity?”
The five mages ran in panic.
As Digness used earth magic, the ground surged to create a large wall.
KAWANG!
The thick wall was broken through effortlessly as the stuffed teddy bear swiped its forepaws and accelerated.
This time, Ameran used water magic to create a vast swamp on the ground.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Despite this, the teddy bear charged forward as if it was running on solid ground, pursuing the five students.
“Keeeoooooo!”
The teddy bear twisted its head and began dribbling saliva, presenting an utterly bizarre and terrifying sight.
“That teddy bear! It just tripped over a rock and its leg ripped!”
“What?!”
“It seems physical force rather than magic energy can affect it!”
At Abad’s cry, Lunia closely observed the stuffed teddy. Indeed, as its soft fabric snagged on branches and rocks, stuffing seemed to protrude through the tears.
Seeing this, Digness addressed Ruwen, with whom he had a contract: “This means we’re supposed to take down the teddy bear using weapons! Ruwen, your turn!”
“Why should it be my turn?!”
“Since you’re a beastman!”
“The prejudice that all beastmen excel at martial arts should be abandoned!”
Ruwen screamed hysterically.
“Rather, let the robust dwarf handle it! Or maybe Lunia El Rundah, who can summon familiars!”
“Dwarves aren’t all immensely strong! I’m a refined mage artisan!”
“The summoning of familiars has been failing from the start!”
Just as they argued back and forth:
“Keeeeeek!”
“Kyaahaaa!”
Seeing the teddy bear roared right behind them, the students were shocked and sped up their escape.
“Can’t you hear screams from somewhere?”
“I’m not sure, don’t know.”
At Chelsea’s words, Chen Sia tilted her head.
“There’s someone screaming with fear somewhere.”
“Mr. Borman certainly lacks fear.”
“Of course! This body is a warrior and hero of Azonia, descendant of Aron!”
Borman bragged about his bulging muscles.
Watching this silently, Driana spoke.
“Hey.”
“What? What strange speech is this, dwarf girl?”
“You have a splendid physique.”
“Hooh? Do you understand the beauty of my muscles?”
“Indeed. Are you willing to model for art purposes?”
“Will I do it?”
“Take off your clothing.”
“Alright! Dwarf girl! Behold the beautifully trained muscles of beastmen!”
Boastful of his strength and muscle, Borman stripped off his shirt without hesitation.
Posing with his rippling muscles on display, he drew a grimace from Chelsea, who had joined a party with him before.
“He’s doing it again.”
“Chelsea! If you’re a combat mage, don’t neglect physical training!”
“I don’t want to become a lump of muscles like you.”
“Continued physical training may not only enlarge muscles but also help you grow taller, despite your short stature!”
As Chelsea raised her staff to strike Borman, Chen Sia stopped her.
“Fine, impressive!”
Regardless of what they thought, Driana applauded brightly, which made Borman puff up with pride.
“Take it all off.”
“Wait, that’s crossing the line even for me.”
However, Borman shrank back with Driana’s unimaginable demand.
“Enough of these jokes and games. We need to move out of this place quickly, don’t we?”
Adjusting his glasses, a male student from Seirun said.
The place they landed was, indeed, an underground stone chamber.
Inside the large square room, the only source of light was magical lanterns.
“Can’t find the exit, can we? That’s why I was trying to get some useful work done.”
Sighing deeply, the Seirun student responded to Driana’s statement.
“Stripping isn’t productive work.”
Dr-r-r-r-!
Suddenly, the floor lit up with a red glow.
Woomg!
The students quickly moved away from the glowing red zones.
“Hey! Borman! What are you doing?! Get away!”
But Borman stood firmly on the dangerously glowing red section.
“Hmph! Don’t know what this is, but retreating isn’t my style! Let’s clash… uhk?”
Zzzzap!
Borman convulsed as if electrocuted.
Chiiik!
As the floor returned to normal, the smell of burnt flesh spread through the space.
Shakily regaining his balance, Borman muttered:
“Hmph, that was a slight sting.”
The ground Borman had stood on started glowing red again.
“Hey! Get out of there now!”
“No! I won’t bow to this trap. I’ll defeat it… Urgh!”
Zap!
With a quick move, Chen Sia kicked Borman in the ribs.
Bang!
Borman collided with a wall.
Zzzzap!
Intense sparks exploded where Borman had been standing.
As the light faded, Chen Sia smiled faintly.
“I did it to save you.”
“You might get killed trying to save him twice.”
Driana, with her arms crossed, shook her head as she spoke.
Flash!
Suddenly, multiple red sections lit up across the floor.
“Apparently, this is training to avoid the floor.”
“Is it a trap where clearing the pattern opens the path?”
Murmuring this, the Seirun student tilted his head, to which Chen Sia followed.
Lowering her stance, Chelsea confidently muttered:
“What’s the big deal? This seems simple enough.”
“We’ll see how long it remains simple.”
As Driana spoke, the patterns on the ground became more complicated.
“Quite intense from the start.”
Watching a magical screen, Leo muttered while Melina grinned.
“I prepared training that would maximize everyone’s strengths or compensate for weaknesses.”
The training scheduled for the first day was planned by Melina herself.
“I believed that candidates like Lord Aron, whose role is to eliminate enemies at the front line, are still lacking physically. Therefore, I restricted their use of aura and added gravity magic to push them beyond their limits.”
Pointing to students climbing cliffs and those being chased by stuffed animals, she continued:
“I wanted to improve the response abilities of mages like Lady Luna in emergency situations.”
“True. Even Lunia has shown her worth without using magic.”
In situations where magic didn’t work or could hardly be used, Luna wasn’t useless.
‘Whether it was a sword turning into a bow… or battering enemies with a staff.’
Through numerous battles, Luna proved formidable in close combat despite being a mage.
In reality, she had the skill to extricate herself from perilous situations without assistance from Leo and Dwenno.
“So why the stuffed animals?”
Bears, rabbits, puppies, cats— guardians in peculiar exteriors.
When asked about the odd appearance of the guardians, Melina beamed.
“They’re cute, aren’t they?”
The stuffed animals drooling and screaming grotesquely while chasing students were far from cute.
‘You do have some peculiar tastes sometimes.’
Leo shook his head.
“Isn’t endurance needed for those students tasked to protect someone like Lord Dwenno? Besides, they need the mental strength to endure suffering.”
“So you arranged electric torture?”
“It’s not torture. It’s repeated training to help them endure for extended periods.”
Missing one step on the floor pattern sends you back to the start. Moreover, the patterns become increasingly complex, and the electric shock upon failure grows stronger.
‘Definitely, the response skills and concentration can be honed this way.’
What’s most tragic for the students is that this day’s training is just the start compared to the trials ahead.
Leo clicked his tongue.
“Poor kids. They can’t even enjoy their vacation.”
‘Isn’t the one who shoved them into the abyss of hell Lord Leo?’
Melina did not voice her inner thoughts but didn’t want to endure the same hardship herself, should she speak up.
‘This is too much for me even at my age to roll around with kids.’
Melina patted her shoulder and sighed deeply.
Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
The logs were burning. A dwarf put out the fire with his feet as he tidied up the campsite.
The elven wizard stretched widely upon rising from her seat.
The dragon was already up, gazing at the black flames burning on the far mountains.
The beastman warrior sat down, his sword drawn in hand while he stared intently at the reflection of his face in the blade.
The human, sitting against a nearby rock, was chewing dry meat when he said,
“Aron.”
“…”
“Aron?”
“Yeah, uh, what’s up?”
Aron looked at Kai, who had called him, and came to his senses.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Speak if you’re scared.”
“I’m fine.”
Aron smiled and shook his head.
Seeing Aron, Luna, who was stretching, opened her eyes wide.
“What a shock! Aron isn’t trembling just before a battle! This has never happened before, hasn’t it?”
Luna exclaimed while snatching the bread Kale was about to eat.
Kale frowned, attempting to reclaim the bread, but Luna quickly stuffed it into her mouth.
“You blasted elf.”
Kale grabbed her cheeks with both hands, and Luna choked him.
“Idiots are pretty energetic this morning, aren’t they?”
Dwenno clicked his tongue, looking at Aron.
“Looks like he’s mentally prepared.”
“Yeah, I can’t keep shaking forever.”
Aron replied with vigor.
Looking at Aron carefully, Lissinas asked,
“Aron.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you really alright?”
“Of course.”
Aron gripped his sword named Courage with determination.
“Don’t worry.”
Sleeehh!
The sword gleamed sharply.
“You guys… I’ll protect you.”
![[TS] The Protagonist is Conquered](https://i3.wp.com/novelhitam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1743806812-5548-TS-The-Protagonist-is-Conquered.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The Protagonist is Conquered")
