Chapter 40 Dungeon Of Trials [3]

'That bitch'
Susan was staring at me.
'That fricking bitch'
It was said that the team roulette was random but I for sure knew that Mia was responsible for our class. She purposely put Susan and me on the same team!
The atmosphere of our group, as we stood in a circle, waiting for the test to begin, wasn't very friendly.
Every other team was making their plans, but only ours had such a stiff atmosphere.
Peter, a thin guy with a scrawny physique, was trembling while Derek, carrying a shield, sat in the corner with closed eyes. It didn't look like they wanted to converse with anyone.
I understood their sentiments. I also wanted to change my team if possible. But unlike them, it wasn't because of the icy glare Susan was giving me.
'Are you trying to drill holes into me?'
Not for once did Susan move her eyes. If looks could kill, I would have died over a hundred times already.
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But ignoring her, I continued cursing Mia using the entire vocabulary I learned in my past life.
No matter how pissed Susan was, I didn't need to worry about her doing something to me inside the dungeon.
The reason was pretty hilarious and dumb at the same time. Susan was directionally challenged, abnormally so.
? If I remember correctly, for the entire exam Susan will remain at the edges of the maze, unable to find a correct path.
'Mia had to put Ryan in my group?'
Coincidences can be very scary.
Inside the dungeon where there was no surveillance, it wouldn't be weird if Ryan attacked me for questioning.
He should have done a background check after the stunt I pulled in the entrance exam.
Sadly for him, Nathan was a normal guy with a normal family consisting of an elder sister, a dad, and a mom.
There was nothing wrong with Nathan's family.
"…."
That ….was a flag, wasn't it?
"Haah.."
Anyway, rather than calming him down, the lack of information might have alerted him instead. The 0th floor was the perfect time for him to personally question me.
'Should I kill him?'
Killing one more person wouldn't change anything. Drowning in sorrow won't bring anyone back, nor will it reduce the weight of my sin.
I will do anything to continue living.
But shaking my head, I ultimately decided against the idea.
Considering how you look at Ryan, he had 2 or 3 identities. The first was the disguise he was using inside the Ward under orders.
His second and real identity was of a spy. A spy of the one who was going to create Round Table, the world's first official Dark guild.
In the entire novel, Round Table only had 12 members, better known as Seats. But the trouble they caused Leon was more than combined Aegis, Umbra, and Illis, the trinity organizations. Messing with Round Table won't do me any good.
Besides, Ryan, who was a cautious person by nature, wouldn't attack me in the middle of the test as it could jeopardize his mission.
"Get ready. The portal is opening."
Every team walked to the vortex that was swirling in the air. Looking around, I could see 12 groups of cadets standing in front of it.
The portal that was hovering in the air was larger than a small house and alternated in every color. Constantly changing, it displayed a magnitude of colors, calming my palpitating heart a little.
The air around the portal felt thicker and difficult to breathe. Standing close to the portal, the feeling of foreboding started overpowering me.
"Everyone can enter, NOW"
Like a tsunami threatening to destroy everything in its entirety, everyone rushed towards the portal.
Slowly walking closer to the portal, I entered the place that could very well be my grave.
***
-SPLASH!
"Blergh"
The moment I felt my limbs again, the first thing I did was empty my stomach. This was the result of going through high Ather concentration gates.
After a minute of only retching, I finally looked at my surroundings.
A long tunnel made entirely of stones. The stones looked weathered and had several marks and cuts on them. The tunnel looked archaic, yet there was not a grain of dust anywhere.
"I expected as much from my luck …but really? Couldn't I have teleported at the edge of the maze?"
In the 0th floor, the better the structure of the maze is, the closer you are to the center.
Judging from my surroundings, I could guess I was near the central room, where the main body of the demon was recovering.
SPLASH-!
Looking below me, I saw a pool of black liquid. A thin trail of liquid was going in the direction, which I guessed to be the central room.
"A minion was created here, and it went towards the main body. "
The main body of the demon couldn't leave the central room. Thus it would use its minion, who didn't have an official name, and use them to capture cadets.
Its minions, who similarly used the Nether, could take control of anyone's body.
The demon will use the captured cadets to recover itself.
It would be better for me to leave toward the edge of the maze before the demon takes control over the cadets, leaving me no place to run.
"Let's move."
Walking in the opposite direction of the trail, I again recounted the complete event in my head.
As I was headed toward the edge, I skilfully avoided any traps I encountered. None of them were life-threatening, but it would be a waste of time to activate them when I could just avoid them.
Finding the traps wasn't tough. It was a privilege I enjoyed as someone who had read the novel.
-GRRR!
Suddenly, I heard a low growl from ahead. Stopping my feet, I squinted to peer into the darkness to find the assailant.
A bipedal creature with fur covering its entire body was the source of the noise. It was larger than me by a whole foot.
Its enormous claws, pointed canines, animal-like snout, and large ears told me what it was.
"A lycan. Judging from its appearance, it's not Iota-rank nor is it controlled by the demon."
Then I could test the result of my month-long training on it.
Seeing me standing calmly in front of it, the lycan barred its needle-like teeth.
PHZZZT-!
A spear began materializing behind me.
Lowering its body and the lycan dashed towards me on all fours. With its beastly physique and senses, it swiftly covered the darkness separating us.
It howled as it pounced on me when…
SWISH-! PUCHI-!
THUD-!
[Congratulations, you have killed a Lvl.9 Grey Lycan. You have gained 70 exp.]
The lycan couldn't even react at the speed at which the spear flew and punctured its brain.
"…."
Even I was shocked at the result in front of me. Because the public training grounds were always monitored I never fought seriously with golems.
The power of my art was impressive.
I understood this was how my art worked. I didn't need to move a muscle and only needed to concentrate to construct weapons and fire them.
But this also meant that should the fight become a close quarter one, I would be in danger.
"….I should hunt the monsters that come at me. The Dungeon will be closed for a period after this, so this is the best time to level up."
I will finally be able to level up.
"I should try to reach peak Meta-rank today."
After this, I started actively facing the monsters that came to me, but I didn't forget my primary goal: Running away from the central room as far as possible.
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