Kurten Rahvi, recently expelled from the dungeon, stood at the entrance, staring back at it with evident irritation. His companions, who had entered the dungeon with him, couldn’t help but chuckle at his demeanor.
"Hey, Kurten, we’re the ones who should be mad. Why are you the one looking so annoyed?"
"Yeah, we lost because of you."
Their casual tone seemed out of place when addressing the second son of a duke, but Kurten merely hunched his massive shoulders, showing no sign of anger.
"Yeah... sorry. I just got a bit too eager, thinking we were at the end."
"Haha, at least you know it was your fault."
Kurten’s gentle nature was well known, earning him the nickname “Minotaur in Human Skin” among those familiar with him. With his hulking physique and strength unmatched by any other academy student, Kurten had an intimidating presence. Yet his calm, bovine-like disposition endeared him to those around him, so even his blunder at the third chamber didn’t spark any serious anger among his teammates.
"Did it really frustrate you that much?"
"Yeah, kind of. It felt like trying to tiptoe through a room full of baby chicks."
The third chamber was swarming with golems.
These golems, designed in the shape of demons, weren’t as powerful as the knights in the first chamber or the wolf in the second. In fact, comparing them to those earlier obstacles felt insulting—they were so weak that even ordinary students could defeat them with ease.
But what made these golems challenging was their unique requirement: only specific marked golems could be defeated. Every time an unmarked golem was destroyed, the other golems would gradually strengthen until they became unbeatable monsters, making the third chamber one where hasty attacks were punished.
To make things worse, the golems seemed to understand the distinction. They protected marked golems, willingly sacrificing themselves if it meant shielding the marked ones. Some even charged forward recklessly, as if eager to be defeated, which added to the chaos.
Kurten’s party had struggled greatly in this room. It was hard to stay calm when golems were practically begging to be smashed.
But Kurten’s party had eventually adapted to the third chamber, bringing them within reach of success.
Just three more golems to go. But, consumed by a desire for victory, Kurten unleashed his full strength, aiming to obliterate all remaining golems in one powerful blow.
"Who’d have thought that other golems would form a wall to protect the remaining ones?"
His strategy hadn’t been entirely flawed, but the outcome left much to be desired.
Kurten’s attack failed to clear all the remaining golems, resulting in the entire party being expelled from the dungeon.
"Now that you’ve made such a huge mistake, you won’t pull that stunt again, right?"
"Of course. I won’t make that dumb move twice."
"Good. Let’s go again. We’ll get it this time."
Just as Kurten’s party was preparing to re-enter the dungeon in a lively atmosphere, a Dungeon Studies assistant entered the testing hall.
"Everyone! Please, look this way!"
With the aid of a voice-amplifying spell, the assistant’s voice echoed through the hall, drawing everyone’s attention.
After ensuring all eyes were on him, the assistant unrolled a notice and continued.
"Starting today, anyone who wishes may receive a hint for the final exam dungeon! However, please be aware that taking the hint will incur penalties to your exam score and will disqualify you from recognition as a first clear. So, please consider carefully!"
The assistant added a few more points.
Penalties would apply to the entire party.
Anyone who viewed a hint would be under a silence spell, preventing them from sharing it with others.
Hints would only provide assistance and wouldn’t directly reveal the correct solution.
As the assistant finished his explanation, the students in the hall began glancing at one another.
No one wanted to step forward first, unsure if the hints were truly worth the cost.
Breaking the silence, a second-year party took the lead.
"Have you reviewed the penalties?"
"Yes. We don’t care about being the first to clear anyway."
"Then, please take this. The contents of the hint will be visible only to your group as soon as you open it."
"I hope it’s something game-changing~"
As the second-year students opened the hint, the eyes of the other students were drawn to them.
While they couldn’t see the hint itself, they could gauge its value from the reactions of the students reading it.
At first, the second-year party hummed in anticipation. But soon, their expressions hardened. They muttered curses under their breath, their brows furrowing, and eventually ripped the hint paper to shreds, even going as far as to burn it into ashes.
Seeing this, the other students assumed the hint was useless and felt relieved that they hadn’t volunteered first. They laughed at the second-year students’ foolishness, but those who had read the hint stormed back toward the dungeon entrance, faces flushed red with determination.
"That was crap."
"Yeah, damn. I haven’t felt this insulted in ages."
"Let’s prove we’re not losers."
"We’ll see who’s pathetic by the end."
Muttering these promises to themselves, the second-year party reentered the dungeon, and before long, their names, previously at the bottom, leapt up the leaderboard.
Having struggled to pass the first chamber before, they had succeeded as soon as they saw the hint.
"...What could the hint have said?"
"Maybe I should take a look."
"If they managed to pass, then I should be able to as well."
When other students, emboldened by the second-years’ success, opened their own hints, they quickly understood why the second-years had been cursing.
Earlier that morning, Arthur’s party had already entered the dungeon.
"We’ve been through this so many times that the wolf is starting to look cute."
Ignoring Joy’s teasing remark, Arthur kicked the wolf’s form to dispel it and pressed down on his tired eyes.
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"Third Prince, did you not sleep well last night?"
Faivy approached him with concern, prompting Arthur to give her a weary smile.
"Between figuring out how to clear the dungeon and preparing for exams, I couldn’t get any sleep."
Arthur had intended to force himself to sleep for the sake of maintaining his condition, but every time he closed his eyes, it was as if he could hear a mocking voice in his mind:
“Sleeping soundly, even though you lost to a commoner? You’re not only weak, but lazy too. Pathetic~”
"Third Prince, didn’t we already come up with a solution?"
Hearing his words, Frey tilted his head in confusion.
"Yes, we did."
Last night, Arthur’s party had developed a strategy for the third room. It wasn’t perfect, but it was more than adequate to get them through.
Had they not been restricted by the entry time limit, they would already have cleared the third room and moved on to the fourth.
"But still... we won’t just be passing through that room once or twice. We may have to go in dozens, maybe hundreds of times, so it’s better to optimize our strategy."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. So listen up. I’ll explain what we need to do when we enter the third room."
As his three companions focused their attention on him, Arthur began detailing the plan he had stayed up all night crafting.
"First, as soon as we enter, Joy, you’ll prepare a spell to attack the entire field. And then..."
Listening to him, Joy suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity.
Wait a minute. This sounds like something I’ve heard before.
The method of setting up the area and drawing the enemies in... This was...
"Joy, are you paying attention?"
"Ah, this is Lady Alrn’s approach, isn’t it?"
Yes, that was it. This was Lady Alrn’s method for tackling dungeons.
She always seemed to know everything about the dungeon and set up a strategy accordingly.
Realizing why the plan sounded familiar, Joy gave a slight smile. Then, noticing the silence around her, she cautiously looked up.
Arthur, who had been speaking animatedly just a moment ago, was now frozen in place, eyes wide open.
"Third Prince?"
"...Ha. So I’ve unconsciously been imitating her."
"Um."
"It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, Joy."
Joy sensed that it wasn’t “nothing,” but she chose not to press further.
Arthur seemed slightly irritated, perhaps annoyed at himself for following in Lucy’s footsteps.
"As I was saying, to continue with our plan..."