The reactions of the academy professors, upon seeing Lucy Allen tackle the 99th floor in her own unique way, were split into two main responses.
Those who had taught Lucy or witnessed her antics firsthand, including Jesel, chuckled, thinking, "Ah, the Lady of Allen is being her usual self again."
On the other hand, those who hadn't seen Lucy’s eccentric behavior as often, or had only heard about it, stared in disbelief at the scene of the door to the 99th floor opening.
"...How is this possible?"
One of the latter group, a junior professor responsible for monitoring, voiced his confusion, and his colleague nodded in agreement.
"I can hardly believe it, even after seeing it with my own eyes."
What Lucy Allen had just shown was filled with things that seemed unbelievable.
For instance, the fact that someone from the noble Allen family, someone who used divine power, could freely handle poison.
Or how a child, who had only been trained within the family, could skillfully handle explosives.
Or, more to the point, the question of where exactly she had obtained those things.
And the fact that Lucy’s divine power was filled with so much irreverence that it was incomparable to any other priest’s.
However, having seen all this and confirmed it was true, these complex thoughts could be summed up in one sentence:
It simply meant that Lucy Allen's talent was just that exceptional.
But there was one thing.
Just one thing.
No matter how much he thought about it, there was something that didn’t make sense.
How was it possible for her to defeat your boss almost simultaneously with herself?
“What do you mean, how? She must’ve calculated it.”
Hearing the two professors' confusion, Jesel chuckled lightly and spoke, but the two didn’t easily accept his explanation.
"She hit the monsters on the lower floors, measured how much power she had, then estimated the enemy’s durability based on that. From there, she took down the enemy."
“It’s not impossible in theory, is it?”
"...But that’s only in theory, isn’t it?"
"Yeah, that's true. It’s a theory full of leaps of logic. But Lady Allen is the kind of person who can make that theory a reality."
Having spent a year as an academy professor enduring Lucy Allen’s antics, Jesel remarked that they’d get used to it soon and coughed while looking at the screen.
Lucy Allen, who had just performed the seemingly impossible feat, now began hopping around with visible joy, her childish appearance making it hard to believe she was the same person who had done such incredible things. Jesel couldn’t help but smile, feeling a warm, amused sense of fondness for her.
If only they didn’t have to interact directly, she’d be so cute.
The other professors in the monitoring room shared the same sentiment.
For a brief moment, they were disheartened by the fact that their preparations seemed useless. But when Lucy expressed her joy with such enthusiasm, they couldn't help but think, "What does it matter?"
In fact, one of them even suggested they might buy jewelry inspired by Lucy Allen from the art guild.
“Professors, please focus. We still have things to do, right?”
“Oh, right, we do.”
“The things Lady Allen did are so unbelievable, I lost focus for a moment.”
As one of the professors spoke up, it was clear they still had things prepared for Lucy.
“Maybe this is the real test.”
Excitedly, the professors from the Department of Dungeon Studies laughed playfully as they watched Lucy Allen head toward the 100th floor.
When the real Lucy Allen and the doppelganger created by them faced off and the real Lucy’s hand tightened with power, all the professors from the Dungeon Studies Department burst into bright, triumphant laughter.
“Ha ha ha!”
“Heh.”
“Seems like, with all the insults she throws at others, she can’t handle it herself.”
Lucy’s confusion didn’t last long. She quickly regained her composure and began poking at the doppelganger’s weaknesses.
The Lucy on the screen was calling the doppelganger ugly.
And truth be told, her words were correct.
Though they appeared similar at first glance, the differences became more apparent the closer one looked, from the atmosphere to even the tiniest details.
“Couldn’t we have replicated the beauty praised by the Apostle of the Art Guild?”
“Well, we can’t exactly ask the Apostle to cooperate directly.”
“It was to be expected. That’s why we aimed to win in other areas.”
A typical doppelganger is created automatically based on the experience of an academy student who has cleared floors 1 to 100.
However, Lucy Allen's doppelganger was different.
It was something the academy professors had put a lot of effort into creating.
In fact, the doppelganger was verified by Cal, Lucy’s personal knight, who had even personally fought with it, so the professors were aware that it would have certain flaws from the beginning.
That’s why they decided to play a different trick on Lucy.
“Little sister~”
The professors, who had been concentrating on the scene, didn’t miss the moment Lucy bared her teeth.
As Cal had once mentioned, Lucy had a significant complex about her height.
The professors who had talked to Lucy and experienced her insults couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction when they saw her face turn red.
Especially Jesel, who had been the one to interact with her the most, couldn’t resist cheering on the doppelganger.
Even those who didn’t have any personal animosity toward Lucy couldn’t help but watch with an amused smile as the cute girl’s angry face was somehow even more adorable.
Of course, not everyone was enjoying the show.
One person in the monitoring room.
Cal.
Lucy Allen’s personal guard and the man who had, unknowingly, been dragged into this situation, was sweating coldly as he watched Lucy’s expression sour.
How had things turned out like this?
He had simply relayed the requests made by the professors when they asked for help to create something for the lady. How had that ended up putting Lucy in such a difficult situation?
He should never have been swayed by the jewelry made by the Art Guild.
He could have gotten such items himself, or even asked Arsethin if necessary.
The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.
But that useless... no, not useless, but invaluable and precious thing was something that should have reminded him of the lady’s beauty and kept his mind focused.
If only he hadn’t gotten distracted by it, this wouldn’t have happened!
Now, Cal was filled with guilt, wondering if Lucy might misunderstand him.
If she thought he was involved in a betrayal, it would be troublesome.
This was certainly not his intention!
Once this was over, he would apologize to Lucy, but if the misunderstanding grew deeper, there would be no time to explain.
Praying that Lucy wouldn’t realize his mistake, Cal continued to watch the scene as Lucy Allen and the doppelganger clashed.
The doppelganger created based on Cal’s advice mimicked the movements of the Lucy Allen in his memories perfectly.
It performed clean, quiet movements that could be described as textbook-perfect.
But Lucy Allen was different.
The moment Cal saw her movements, he realized they weren’t aimed at defeating her opponent—they were movements meant to gather everyone’s attention and inspire admiration.
Each of Lucy’s movements was graceful, smooth, and beautiful, like an actress performing on stage.
But at the end of each movement came a powerful strike that was anything but gentle.
Despite the doppelganger boosting its power with magic, it was pushed back.
Cal’s eyes widened as he saw it.
He knew the lady had been changing her weapon herself.
She wasn’t learning from someone else—she was creating a weapon that suited her perfectly.
But to think that weapon was already at a level that could be used in actual combat!
Cal, watching her moves closely, realized Lucy’s new weapon was not yet complete.
There were still some awkwardness and hesitation in her movements.
But Cal wasn’t worried.
After all, Lucy had created a weapon that looked this good in just one or two months. There’s no way she’d be stuck at this stage for long.
"Seems like it's hard to perfectly replicate Lady Allen with a doppelganger."
“Even with Soul Academy’s output, we can’t replicate an outlier like her. Even just recently, Lord Kurten was difficult to replicate, wasn’t he?”
“Well, still, we’ve had our revenge on Lady Allen, so I’m satisfied.”
As the doppelganger’s defeat became more apparent, the professors each chimed in, but then, Lucy, who was watching, suddenly made a noise.
“...Pathetic jerk ♡”
Cal, who knew exactly who that nickname referred to, turned pale and began considering whether to go find Erin.