Chapter 54

The Trial Dungeon, as its name suggests, is essentially a trial imposed on the Hero.

There are three types of Trial Dungeons throughout the Empire, each consisting of the Trial of Strength, the Trial of Wisdom, and the Trial of Courage.

The location we are currently in is the Trial of Strength.

Evan needs to increase his powers as a Hero more than ever.

Therefore, considering the future tasks, including a necklace that can help him grow quickly, this is the first place he must go.

Since it is a dungeon by name, it is obviously structured like a typical dungeon for the Trial of Strength.

In other words, as the name suggests, it is a place specifically designed to test the Hero’s strength, and failing to overcome it is tantamount to death.

In the game as well, if one fails to pass the trial, it’s game over for sure.

“Ugh… What are these…?!”

“[They’re Ancient Golems.]”

Even though it’s an ancient dungeon, it is still designed to allow the Hero to grow, and thus instead of ordinary monsters, Ancient Golems appear to attack us.

To avoid death, we must fight with our all.

Evan narrowly dodged the sword wielded by a Golem and swung the Sacred Sword to completely smash the Golem’s head.

“This much is…!”

And just as he was about to change targets and swing his sword again,

“What…?!”

The Golem, which had clearly been decapitated, was rising again and swinging its sword.

Not only that, the head that had just been shattered by Evan’s strike was swirling around and reattaching itself to the neck as it regenerated.

“It came back…?!”

Because it’s a Golem.

Though they existed long ago, they are weapons that autonomously move to eliminate perceived enemies, having lost their creation skills in the present day.

As the name Golem suggests, they never die unless their core is directly destroyed.

Moreover, this is an ancient dungeon where such power sources can be provided indefinitely, so it was obvious that smashing the head alone would not be enough.

“I will protect you.”

Dannes, having assessed the situation, stepped beside me to intercept the attacking Golem.

Since the Golems appearing at this early stage aren’t particularly strong, it was exhausting to keep regenerating no matter how many times we defeated them.

“[I’ll help you.]”

It would be a problem if we got too exhausted dealing with these things.

I cast buffs on the two of them.

Of course, while it wouldn’t be bad to take hits or heal injuries when exhausted, if such things were to happen right at the entrance of the dungeon, clearing it would be nearly impossible.

“Thank you for this…”

“Thanks, Aria!”

The two strengthened by my buffs exchanged glances with me and swung their now much lighter swords.

With a force that was incomparable to earlier, they completely shattered not just the Golem’s head but its entire torso.

Beep beep!

Naturally, as the core was smashed, it couldn’t regenerate and died right there, causing the eyes of the remaining Golems to turn red and attack more violently.

“What, what are these guys?!”

Startled, Evan retreated while blocking the swings of several Golems.

Then,

Crumble!

Evan stepped on the debris below, looking astonished.

While blocking the sword, he carefully observed the torso of a Golem.

‘Did he find it?’

The presence of debris indicates that it had fallen from previous attacks and failed to regenerate.

The difference from earlier was that while he had only smashed the head, this time he had shattered the torso completely, realizing that something in the torso was responsible for its regeneration.

“Dannes! There’s something in the torso that restores it!”

“In that case…!”

Dannes gathered Divine Power into his sword, spreading it widely.

The sword blade, now much thicker than before, looked almost like a blunt weapon.

“Hyah!”

Dannes swung his sword towards the Golem’s body with the intent to completely obliterate it.

Boom!

With the strength enhanced by my buff combined with the heavy sword empowered by Divine Power.

The Golem, unable to withstand the overwhelming impact, literally shattered, and the regeneration stone inside it was destroyed, preventing it from regenerating and causing it to fall to the ground.

Looking down at the shattered regeneration stone, Dannes appeared as if he had discovered the answer and shouted towards Evan.

“It’s the orb! We need to smash the orb inside!”

“Just as I thought…!”

As soon as they discovered how to completely destroy the Golems, the tide of battle turned.

The Golems that had been resurrecting endlessly began to fall one by one.

Understanding how they regenerate, there was no chance of them surviving since they were already at a significant power disadvantage and had no chance to flee.

I scanned the surroundings with Divine Power.

Dozens of Golem remnants were strewn across the ground.

To think that dozens had appeared at the entrance.

It seems that the difficulty changes depending on the number of enemies, which is not just a game setting.

‘Then the next area might be tougher…’

Normally, this would be a zone not meant for the current state of Evan.

In game terms, entering at a level lower than recommended means he’ll face even tougher enemies ahead.

Yet we are here because of me.

As long as I’m here, at least he won’t die.

Of course, as I mentioned before, breaking through will be arduous and time-consuming, but at least it isn’t impossible.

Considering that the reward for this dungeon is an experience boost, we absolutely must succeed.

“Phew…”

“Good job.”

I approached the two who were struggling and healed them.

“This, this is fine…”

“[You have a scratch.]”

Well.

What do they expect? For a novice Hero, just a scratch like this should not be a major issue.

As I gently touched the scratch on Evan’s cheek with my finger and healed him with Divine Power, the wound disappeared completely.

He felt a warm but pleasant sensation on his cheek, which faded immediately.

Feeling a bit disappointed, I approached Dannes to heal him, but in contrast to Evan, he had no injuries at all.

‘What a shame…’

While I felt quite disappointed, I couldn’t neglect healing him.

After all, he must be tired from battling the Golems, so I recovered both of their health.

After restoring their stamina, I felt temporarily heavy but then returned to normal condition after consuming Divine Power.

“Phew… Thank you.”

Dannes, taking a slightly heavy breath, smiled and expressed his gratitude.

“Are you okay?”

In contrast, Evan continued to look at me with a face full of concern.

“[I’m really fine. This is nothing to worry about.]”

“If you’re struggling, please tell me.”

Evan said to me with a serious expression.

Um…

Perhaps it’s because I recently experienced going through countless deaths at Albert’s hands and was in a state of faintness due to not regenerating for a long time, Evan appears to be greatly worried over this minor exhaustion.

‘He’s really…’

I appreciate his concern, but this is nothing to be worried about.

In the Realm, this was just daily life.

Healing major injuries was standard, so it’s more unusual to struggle over something like this.

I’ve just grown lax since coming to the Academy.

‘Feels like I’m seeing myself from when I first arrived in the Realm.’

Dannes seems to have gotten used to it already.

After all, he has been injured beyond comparison in the Realm and repeatedly faced countless deaths to save the people there.

He probably wouldn’t flinch even if he died a lot at the Academy due to Demons.

I looked at Dannes.

‘Or maybe not…?’

He seems quite angry about something.

I felt a bit of a sting in my eyes; for some reason, he has been shooting me those subtle glances.

The problem is that those glances are directed towards Evan, not me.

‘What’s up with that?’

He never seemed like someone to give such looks.

Considering he’s looking at Evan, it might be because of him.

Could it be that he’s upset over Evan struggling even at the entrance?

A hero, in the Trial Dungeon, faltering in the beginning may not look very heroic.

It’s natural since he’s only recently awakened.

In fact, he was doing quite well considering the circumstances.

I might need to have a talk with him later.

“[For now… It seems the path has opened, so let’s go deeper inside.]”

First, let’s clear the dungeon.