## Chapter 44 – The Second Gate
The two girls were shown hurrying to the next vantage point, following the students who had passed through the first gate. They sprawled on the ground, their faces beaming with anticipation for the spectacle to come.
Vivian and Ranie exclaimed softly as they discovered the second test site, a massive maze.
“Wow… it’s huge…”
The maze walls were so high that it seemed impossible for an average person to climb them.
Moreover, there was a sign stating that climbing the maze walls before entering would be considered cheating, so the students had to navigate the maze entirely by finding their way through it.
“Now that we’ve passed the first gate…
What’s the second gate?
Just a maze?”
Ranie’s curiosity was piqued, but Vivian remained silent for a moment, gazing down below.
Vivian stared intently at something, narrowing her eyes as she scrutinized it. Then, she slowly began to speak.
“Well…? It feels a little different from the Swordsmanship Club last year…
If I had to guess… I’d say it’ll proceed similarly to a typical dungeon from here on out.”
‘Dungeon.’
A name for a massive, maze-like structure of unknown origin and background.
Most dungeons had their own ecosystems, where livestock sometimes multiplied, special minerals were buried, or rare herbs grew.
In that sense, their monetary value was also highly regarded, and some called dungeons dangerous gold mines.
Dungeons, discovered randomly at any time and place, were of great interest and investigation because no country knew their origin.
One example of this was the dispute between Barmhausen, which valued alchemy using rare earth elements, and Groden, which valued magic engineering using mana absorption mediums, over a dungeon found on their border.
“Dungeons are every swordsman’s dream, right?”
“That’s right. It was my dream to go to a dungeon, too.
I wanted to form an expedition team with the support of my family later on.”
The fierce dispute between the two countries was still unresolved, and the dungeon remained undeveloped, demonstrating the importance of dungeons.
“And if it’s a dungeon…”
Vivian’s eyes narrowed as she continued to look down.
“There’s no way they’d be missing.”
All dungeons had another thing in common.
The presence of monsters of unknown origin.
“Prepare for battle!! Non-combat personnel, fall back!!”
“Isn’t this a bit too difficult…!?”
One group of students, facing a pack of small, dog-like monsters, quickly began to prepare for battle.
“We have no choice since we’ve already encountered them!!
Find a way to help, too!!”
Under the leadership of a male student from the Swordsmanship Club, female students from the Smithing Department and Medical Department retreated, while two female students from the Magic Engineering Department drew magic circles in the air with their wands.
“I’ll prepare a shield spell!!”
“Calculating a fireball spell!! Stall for time!!”
“Got it…!! I can’t hold them off for long!! Haaap!!”
Fortunately, the monsters were not too threatening, as the difficulty was set for the evaluation.
The male student from the Swordsmanship Club deflected and blocked as many attacks as possible, stalling for time. Then, the two female students’ wands glowed, creating a shield in front of them and firing fireballs forward.
It was reminiscent of a cannon in a trench from modern warfare.
Just before the shield was fully deployed, the male student threw himself into the shield just as a fireball exploded beyond it, scorching the surroundings with flames.
“Got it!!”
“Good teamwork!! Let’s keep it up!! Ah, my back…”
A shout of joy erupted, but the male student slumped to the ground, clutching his back.
Seeing this, a non-combat female student from the Medical Department rushed over to tend to his injuries, providing first aid with the medicine she had.
“Are you okay? This should make you feel better…!!”
“Ugh… thanks… I feel better…”
‘Their teamwork is pretty good…?’
I was impressed by how well the team worked together.
With that level of coordination, they could use tactics similar to those of a decent raid party.
The attack power and combat sustain of a raid party with a dealer and a healer were excellent.
However, Vivian, who was watching it with me, looked somewhat gloomy.
“What’s wrong, Vivian?”
“They’re going to have a hard time.”
“Huh? Why?
Didn’t they fight really well?”
“That’s true. But…”
“Just now, the girl from the Medical Department and the boy from the Smithing Department who retreated together.
Looking at it this way, those two have no combat ability at all. That means those two are the holes in the team.”
“Holes?”
Ranie asked, puzzled by Vivian’s sudden talk of holes. Vivian drew a picture on the ground with her fingertip, giving a rough explanation.
Vivian drew circles in the front and back, then crossed out the circle in the back, drawing arrows surrounding the remaining circles in the front and back.
“That’s the problem with inexperienced parties. The moment a hole is attacked, it’s over.
The moment the rear guard, who has no combat ability, is attacked, the vanguard panics.
Then, the rear guard quickly retires, and the panicked vanguard is attacked from the front and back.”
“Is it… that bad…?”
“Our team was eliminated like that last year.
Just when we were about to make it, the weakest team members were attacked and fell first.
And then we, who were holding out against the onslaught in the vanguard, eventually fell too.
I told you about it once before, didn’t I? Do you remember?”
Vivian brought up a sore spot she had mentioned before, and Ranie nodded slowly with a serious look of learning.
As Vivian’s admirer, she followed everything Vivian taught her very well.
“Unless it’s a monster with low intelligence that only bites and clings to the vanguard like just now.
As far as I know, beastmen are scheduled to appear this time as well.
If it’s a beastman who can make strategic attacks, they’ll easily break through such a sloppy formation.
They might not even give them time to deploy magic spells.
They should have at least been able to protect themselves…”
“Ah…!! So that’s how it is? I understand!!”
And no sooner had Ranie finished her answer than the Smithing Department student, who had not noticed the approaching monster pack from behind, was attacked and fell.
“Th-this…!!”
“Kyaaaa!!”
The Medical Department student panicked and clung to the male student from the Swordsmanship Club, causing him to be unable to react properly. Before he could do anything, the female students from the Magic Engineering Department were caught up in the attack, resulting in a major disaster.
Vivian’s bitter words signaled the end.
“They’re wiped out…”
Eventually, everyone fell, scattering blood from their injured areas in all directions. But then, they were enveloped in a group of light and disappeared.
“What’s that…?”
“That’s an emergency escape artifact.
It’s probably connected to the Medical Department.
It’s set to activate automatically when it detects a threat to life.
This is a test, so you can’t die from something like this, right?”
‘Oh… even such a device…?’
It might be an obvious thought, but when you think about it properly, there’s no way students would face such monsters with their bare bodies without any safety devices.
“Sometimes, people have to give up halfway through because they’re not in good condition.
Emergency escape artifacts are used in such cases.”
‘You can escape from anywhere…’
That’s a very convenient artifact.
Suddenly, I realized a fatal flaw in my plan, and I felt chills run down my spine.
‘This is bad…!!’
A dangerous place where anyone’s life can be at risk, a dungeon.
I realized my mistake in not calculating that my own life would be at risk there, and I quickly moved my mind to find the other members of the swarm.
‘Abort the mission!! Abort the mission!!’
