As soon as the Academy Dungeon opened, Arthur rushed inside to get a sense of the atmosphere.
The theme of the dungeon was similar to typical dungeons found in other regions.
Contrary to rumors that it would be harder than ever, it felt rather ordinary.
It seemed like the others who entered with him shared the same thoughts, as they all looked around, tilting their heads in confusion.
"They said this would be the worst dungeon in Academy history, but it’s not much different from what we saw last year."
"Don’t jump to conclusions, Joy. You’ll trip if you do."
"I’m not letting my guard down. Our opponent isn’t the dungeon, it’s Lady Allen."
Recently, after being provoked by Lucy Allen’s challenge, the group had agreed to a bet and started planning strategies to win against her.
The concept of letting their guard down was impossible. They had been forced to participate in Lucy’s antics before, so how could they afford to relax?
It was also true that they had a numerical advantage. While there were constraints on Lucy Allen, the difference wasn’t so huge that it couldn’t be overturned by her abilities.
Knowing this, the four of them moved quickly upward.
The speed at which they advanced was incomparable to the time they had spent tackling the dungeon together last year.
Just a few months ago, the idea of reaching the 100th floor of the Academy Dungeon seemed almost impossible, but now, within less than three hours, they had passed the 20th floor.
The biggest factor influencing this was Arthur’s improved leadership.
Last year, Arthur had some knowledge about dungeon exploration, but he wasn’t considered an expert.
Though he was a prince, he couldn’t really do things freely, and outside of widely known strategies, there was little opportunity to learn anything else.
But now, that was different. After reading and rereading the dungeon strategy guide Lucy Allen had given him, to the point where he could recall specific lines from specific pages, Arthur had become a skilled strategist on par with seasoned mercenaries.
Adding to this was Joy, who, like Arthur, had perfectly memorized the strategy guide Lucy had given them, and applied it to the dungeon in her own way.
She linked her magic and the strategies from the guide to progress through the dungeon.
Thanks to this, she was able to find the quickest route through the dungeon and dismantle its traps, becoming someone any adventurer would want to team up with.
The combination of Arthur and Joy’s abilities made progressing through the dungeon a lot easier.
Moreover, the group had become accustomed to long marches after training in the Allen Knights’ Order.
Whereas before, they would have stopped to rest after some progress, now they moved for three hours without showing signs of fatigue.
Given the harsh training from the Allen Knights, this was hardly even considered strenuous.
Each individual’s skills had improved significantly.
The bosses they encountered on the 10th and 20th floors fell apart in less than a minute. No one could complain about their abilities.
The first time the group stopped was after five hours, when they reached the 40th floor.
As they had done before, they defeated the boss of the 40th floor with ease and opened the door to the next level, only to see the view of the 31st floor.
"...What is this?"
The first thought that crossed Arthur’s mind upon seeing the scene was what Jackal Burrow had told him before entering the dungeon.
‘Your Highness, the dungeon this time is inspired by the dungeon created by Lady Allen. It is likely not something that can be overcome with brute strength alone.’
His words were right. Arthur let out a bitter laugh and turned his head toward the group.
"Joy, did you notice anything strange?"
"...I’ll have to analyze it again as we go up."
"What about you, Saintess?"
"Sorry, I didn’t notice anything either."
"Hmm. This is troublesome."
If there were any clues between the 30th and 40th floors, that would be somewhat lucky.
But if the clues were further below, things would get complicated.
Tch. Standing still and pondering won’t get us anywhere, so I might as well start moving.
"Your Highness, what about me? Aren’t you going to ask?"
Just as Arthur furrowed his brow, Freya suddenly popped out from the side. Arthur let out an exasperated sigh at her, who was acting like a bother.
"Is there any need to ask? You were too busy swinging your sword to pay attention to anything."
"Tch. Fine. Then I won’t say anything."
"...Did you discover something?"
"No need to ask, right?"
"Sigh. Damn. I’m sorry. I spoke roughly because I was in a bad mood. Could you at least tell me what you found?"
Seeing Arthur swallow his pride and bow his head, Freya nodded in satisfaction before speaking up.
"I didn’t find anything."
"...Freya Kent!!"
"Your Highness, could you be a bit quieter? I’m trying to focus, and it’s hard to concentrate with all the noise."
"Is this my fault? Freya Kent, you started the argument!"
"Ah. Upon closer inspection, there’s something strange here. Let’s go."
"Joy Partlan! Are you ignoring me now too?!"
After a day had passed, I arrived at the entrance to the Academy Dungeon and started wondering where my friends had gotten to.
Why are they still stuck around the 80th floor? The Academy 2nd-year dungeon shouldn’t be that hard for them, should it?
It seemed the others weren’t faring much better.
The Second Prince’s party was stuck around the 60th floor, and Jackal’s group hadn’t even passed the 50th floor. Even some of the other promising candidates I knew were stuck around the center.
...Could it be that the Academy Dungeon has changed because of me? Did my dungeon inspire the professors to create a new type of dungeon?
After hearing rumors from Erin, who worked with the other assistants at the Academy, I chuckled to myself, wondering if the rumors might actually be true.
If the professors created a dungeon entirely different from the game, then all the knowledge I had from the game would be useless.
As I thought about it, speedruns would no longer be possible.
But what’s the problem with that?
A new dungeon has appeared.
A new dungeon that I know nothing about.
The dungeon created by the Academy professors, right in front of me!
Excited about the new content, I stepped into the dungeon and, much to my surprise, found an ordinary dungeon layout.
The monsters that appeared were also ordinary, with weak monsters that you’d expect to see on the first floor. When one of them was struck by my mace, it immediately fell down in a respectful manner, which made me tilt my head.
This is strange. For a dungeon inspired by one I made, there’s almost nothing here.
<Lucy, think about it. There are first-year students entering this dungeon. What if it was too difficult from the start?>
‘...That’s true.’
So, it means there’s nothing too difficult at the beginning.
As I rapidly advanced through the dungeon, I realized my grandfather’s words were right.
Until I reached the 30th floor, nothing interesting had come up.
A dungeon built on the typical rules of the Academy Dungeon left me feeling disappointed.
However, as I entered the 31st floor and started exploring, I began to feel a sense of excitement.
There were far too many unnecessary elements in the 31st-floor layout that you wouldn’t normally find in a typical dungeon.
The Academy Dungeon, designed by the professors and completed by graduate students, had to be efficient.
That’s how it was when I made my own dungeon.
But this floor, it had too many unnecessary elements that seemed intentionally added.
If you weren’t careful, you’d never even notice them.
Hmm. Based on these clues, it seems like there’s a completely different path than what meets the eye.
Humming to myself, I followed the clues, only to find a blocked wall.
Anyone else might think they’d lost the path upon seeing this wall, but not me.
It had even been marked that if you hit this wall in a certain spot, it would break. How could I miss it?
Bang!
As I lightly struck the wall with my mace, I watched it crumble and reveal a completely different, more temple-like area than the dungeon we had been in before. I couldn’t help but grin.
Wow. They really put a lot of thought into this one.
When I made my dungeon before, the grad students cried saying we’d all die if we kept going like this.
I wonder how much they had to roll around behind the scenes to create something like this while the Academy was in such chaos over personnel changes.
No wonder some followers of the Evil God managed to slip in without anyone noticing.
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Poor fools.
I guess it’s fortunate they weren’t killed and were just locked up somewhere.
Come to think of it, did they feel scared or happy when they were locked up?
I’m kind of curious about that.
Once I finish clearing the dungeon, I’ll have to go find them and ask.
With these thoughts in mind, I moved on to the next floor. As I passed through the dungeon, I realized just how much effort the professors had put into it. I decided that for the rest of the week, I’d continue exploring this dungeon.
I didn’t expect they’d go this far.
At this point, I’m really starting to enjoy the challenge.
Later, I’ll optimize it. I’m sure that if my friends and I roll through it, we’ll set an amazing record.
<Lucy,>
As I bounced around, exploring the dungeon, my grandfather called out to me with a wry smile.
‘What is it?’
<Don’t you remember that this dungeon exploration is a bet? You’re supposed to be speedrunning it.>
‘...Ah, right.’
Now that I think about it, I should be speedrunning it, not getting lost in the excitement of the new dungeon.