Chapter 55

“Haah… Haah…”

Evan caught his breath and looked around at the golems in front of him.

At first, only the golems that could be easily handled appeared, but that was short-lived.

The situation was becoming dire, as not only were the golems getting tougher and larger, but small, quick golems also appeared to harass them incessantly.

The sharp attacks and even tactics being employed by the golems, compared to the clumsy ones from earlier, made it difficult for Dannes and Evan to cope.

As the speed of taking down each golem slowed, the number of attacking golems naturally increased, creating a vicious cycle that made their situation even more challenging.

No matter how much I was regenerating their spent stamina from the side, this could go on indefinitely.

Evan and Dannes were increasingly covered in minor wounds.

“Seems like… it’s not called the Trial of Strength for nothing…!!”

Evan gathered power into his Sacred Sword and shouted as he swung it down.

The Divine Power spread out in the form of a swordlight, cutting through several charging golems.

Though the power was commendable, it was still insufficient to touch their core, and Evan clicked his tongue while sweating coldly at the sight of the regenerating golems.

“This is going to be endless…”

“Indeed… there are far too many.”

Evan, sweating, looked at the golems before glancing back at me.

“Do you perhaps know how far we’ve progressed…?”

“[… I’m sorry. I’m not sure myself.]”

The truth was, I did know.

If the patterns had intensified and various types of golems were attacking, we could roughly say we had gone through about half.

“Is that so…”

Since knowing that felt a bit off, I thought it best to respond as if I didn’t know.

Evan murmured in disappointment as he slashed at a charging golem and managed to cut through its core.

Earlier, they were struggling to target the cores, but now they had grown to the point where they could find and break the cores immediately after destroying the golems.

“Since it’s called the Trial of Strength, I can understand to some extent… but is it originally this dangerous?”

Dangerous, huh…

In the game, since it was a hidden area, I remembered it being quite difficult.

Not only was it high in difficulty, but it also required high specifications.

To be honest, the gap was so significant that it wouldn’t make sense for an ordinary user to come here at this time.

“If I may add, the Dungeon of Trials is a place designed for a Hero to challenge alone… and given that you came unprepared, it is to be expected.”

I said that while blocking the golem approaching me with a Barrier.

While I could very well leave myself to the golems, it would seem odd for me to stand there and take hits without deploying a Divine Power Barrier, so this was unavoidable.

‘They’re weaker than high-class demons…’

Those demons could break through a barrier with a bit of force, but thankfully, several golems attacking together were manageable.

Despite it not being without its challenges, it made sense they were tough to handle, given how hard Evan and Dannes were fighting.

“So what you’re saying is… we should have come here fully prepared?”

“If that preparation involves awakening as a Hero, then yes. As you haven’t even taken a step yet… it’s normal not to overcome the trials. Aren’t you currently being pushed back by the golems?”

Well, there was no need to worry too much.

After all, the process of clearing this Trial Dungeon wasn’t considered that important.

As long as a successful clearing happened somehow, a clean clearing assessment would be given without unnecessary details.

If it weren’t like that, they would have blocked players trying to cheat in the game.

“If I can just help the Hero… we can definitely overcome this.”

As I barely held off a golem with my Barrier, trying to recover the two’s stamina, Evan suddenly called out to me in shock.

“Wait a minute… doesn’t that mean this is a place we shouldn’t be at right now?”

Ah… does it come to that?

I hadn’t meant it like that, but thinking back, the things I just said could certainly be interpreted that way.

There was no way I would bring them here if their chances were slim.

Even if I was obsessed with pleasure, I had enough judgment to realize that.

In the game, there were strategies to clear the area even with low stats, but now that it had become reality, one could argue it was still dangerous even if I knew the strategies.

Not particularly?

It wasn’t that dangerous.

After all, I knew all the strategies for the random mobs and traps here and even understood how to incapacitate the bosses. With my overwhelming buffs and healing, and the power to save them in case of emergencies, there were no variables.

The closest variable would be if Evan got flattened by a golem’s attack and developed PTSD, making him fear facing the golems, but I would make sure to assist in a way that wouldn’t lead to that, so there was nothing to worry about.

“As I said earlier, with me here, there’s no need for excessive concern. The gap of power from my heals and buffs is manageable.”

“R-Really?”

Honestly, even though it had surpassed 50%, seeing that Evan was already struggling to block attacks meant I couldn’t completely rely on that… but since Evan and Dannes were quite strong to begin with, if I could effectively point out their weaknesses and ensure that no unexpected events occurred, they would be able to clear the Trial of Strength without anyone getting hurt.

Unless an unexpected situation occurred…

Such as stepping on a trap while I wasn’t able to explain things.

‘Stepping on a trap in such a wide area isn’t an easy task…’

Even if it didn’t guarantee safety, a trial was still a trial, and the traps weren’t excessively cruel.

The most malicious ones were those that made it harder to reach the boss room by dropping you downwards, and that was all.

Furthermore, unlike the traps that were meticulously hidden, the traps in the trials were divided by area, so if one paid attention, they could spot them.

In other words, if a trap-laden area came near, I could inform them regardless, and as long as they crossed cautiously, it could be said there were no traps at all.

So I was about to say there was no real problem when I overlooked one crucial point.

That the game and reality were fundamentally different.

Clunk!

“Uh…?”

In the game, even if an enemy stepped on a trap, it wouldn’t activate.

That was common sense.

Sometimes, traps were made to be triggered if anyone stepped on them, but at least at Argen Academy, it was more precise in distinguishing allies from enemies, making such occurrences less likely.

But reality was different.

Traps were activated by physical impact, and not only us but the golems wandering inside were also physical entities, despite having restoration magic due to their cores.

Naturally, if Dannes or Evan got hit and fell onto a trap, it wouldn’t be strange for that trap to be activated due to their weight.

The trap went off.

And it just so happened that a golem struck by Evan’s sword flew into the trap, activating it due to its weight and momentum, while the ground where Evan was standing suddenly gave way, causing him to fall.

That wasn’t all.

Slip!

“[Ah…?]”

Unfortunately, I was standing right by Evan, and given how precariously positioned I was—just a single step away from falling—I lost my balance when the space for my foot vanished.

“Whoa?!”

Given that I was unable to keep my balance, naturally, my foot slipped, and I fell together with Evan into the pitch-black depths of the Trial Dungeon.

“Aria!!!”

“[Get back, Dannes! You can’t go alone!]”

In such a situation, there was only one thing I could do.

“Aria?!”

To avoid harming Evan as much as possible, I wrapped my body around him to make sure I was facing downwards.

It wasn’t because I was worried about Evan or that I wanted to feel the pain of being crushed under him while plummeting down together.

After all, I could regenerate, so it was more efficient for both of us if I took on the damage rather than leaving the situation as it was and potentially dying from the fall.

Yep, that was the only reason.

Really.