Multiple professors stood in a circle around a large crystal that displayed everything unfolding inside the dungeon. The tension had been mounting for far too long.
"We should teleport them out immediately!" one professor declared, his voice sharp with urgency. "It's entirely doable."
A colleague from across the circle cut him off. "However, I see no imminent danger yet. We have no justification for pulling them from the dungeon."
"No justification?" The first professor's face flushed crimson as he lunged forward aggressively. "I've witnessed multiple deaths—multiple deaths within that dungeon! Ten guilds, ten parties, four students in each. Forty students entered, most of them first-years, and only twenty-five remain alive!"
The other professors' eyes widened in shock. They hadn't anticipated such carnage. Death was never supposed to be part of this exercise, yet somehow the fierce competitiveness had spiraled into something deadly.
"You're absolutely right," another professor said, his hands trembling violently. "Too many young lives lost. We cannot accept this—we will not! If someone from a powerful family dies, the magical academy will face an absurd amount of backlash. Such a catastrophe would destroy us!"
"Teleport them out now!" he commanded, slamming his fist against the crystal's pedestal.
"What if we can't?" a professor said, his voice shaky.
"Whether we can or cannot means nothing!" The first professor whirled on him, eyes blazing. "We must teleport these students out before any more deaths occur. We must do it no matter what it takes. If we don't—do you want to die? Is that what you're asking for? Do you really think our capability matters more than their lives?"
The other professor recoiled. "I—I didn't—"
"You didn't what? Clearly you don't care enough to risk everything to save these children if you're asking such cowardly questions!" His voice cracked with fury. "We will teleport these students out of this dungeon. No more deaths. Not a single one. These students came to this magic academy to learn, not to die on their first dungeon mission!"
Suddenly a voice cut through the chaos. "The man's right. We need to—no, we must teleport these students out of here. Now!"
The professor who spoke placed his hand on the crystal. Magic began to seep from his palm into the crystal surface. A bright glow illuminated the area. Soon the large open space that had once been empty filled with hundreds of students.
But there was a problem. These weren't their students—they were someone else's.
"What—what in the world are we doing here?" one student said, looking around frantically.
"No way. Is this the magic academy? Why are we here?" another demanded.
"I don't know! We've been teleported back to Blackened Academy. Why are we here?"
The professors looked around in panic. They had summoned the wrong students.
Meanwhile—
Caden rushed forward, his blue fire illuminating the darkness of the fourth floor dungeon. The boss stepped forward, matching Caden's attack force and speed.
"All right, let's see how you like this!" Caden said. He threw a punch.
The dungeon boss slammed its wand on the ground. A large barrier, white in color, formed around the massive golem.
"So that's what it does. Doesn't matter," Caden thought, his arrogance surging back to the surface. He swung his fist toward the boss's face, channeling all of his energy, all of his fire into this attack.
BAM!
A massive explosion erupted as blue flames scattered everywhere. The boss stumbled back, its shield completely destroyed. The attack was astronomical. When the dust settled and the explosion faded, the boss had a portion of its face removed. The boss screamed in pain as it tried to fire from its wand, but no spells came out. The wand shattered.
"Looks like your wand shattered. Well, well. How defenseless."
Caden laughed. The boss's wand lay shattered, the dark energy within dissipating as soon as it broke. He was smiling. This had been a back-and-forth fight, but now that the boss's main offensive tool was gone, now that it only had its fists and legs, this was far easier for him.
Caden leaped forward. He swung his fist down hard, harder and harder as he began striking the boss right in its face. The boss seemingly took no damage. The golem roared as its stone fist hurtled toward Caden. Caden ducked under the strike and delivered a quick kick to the golem's abdomen. The kick knocked the boss back slightly.
"What in the world is going on?" Mason thought as he stared at his other two party members.
"Right?" Nemo said. "What is going on? It does seem like Caden is getting the upper hand with his new transformation, but you never know."
Then something made them stop speaking entirely. What they saw was truly astronomical. The boss golem threw a punch, and Caden grabbed it with his fist. Even though the golem's fist was nearly three times stronger and larger than Caden's, Caden blocked it. Though he was pushed back slightly, his grip held firm.
The boss slammed its foot down on the ground, which proved to be a catastrophic mistake. The floor began to crack as spider webs formed across the ground. Nearly everyone jumped back.
"What the—get back! Everyone get back! The floor is going to collapse!" one man shouted as he ran to the far wall of the dungeon.
Cracks began to appear, spreading larger and larger. The boss roared and charged forward to take down Caden, but the floor finally collapsed. The boss, Caden, Mason, Blake, Nemo—everyone fell down past the third floor, past the second floor, and even closer toward the first floor.
Mason grabbed onto Blake, and Blake grabbed onto Nemo. The three party members plummeted together, clutching each other for comfort. They needed to grab onto something, anything.
Eventually—BAM!
Darkness. No pain. No impact. Just darkness. Every single one of them had passed out on impact. The boss lay in pieces, its stone body completely destroyed.
"All right, I finally made it to the first floor," Sol thought as he was followed by three companions: Michael, Lucas, and Corbin.
Corbin walked forward. "Look over there," he said.
Sol's expression shifted. He turned around and stared. He saw a bunch of unconscious students, all of them nearly bleeding out. Sol immediately ran over.
"Let's see what I can do."
A large light spread out from his hand and covered nearly everyone. "This might not do much, but at least it's better than nothing," he thought as their bodies began to heal at an extremely quick rate. It wasn't enough to heal all the wounds they had just received, but it was enough to stop the bleeding and keep them conscious and alive for a little bit longer.
Sol turned around. Michael and Lucas stood beside each other, looking forward. Their eyes were not on Sol. Their eyes weren't even on their companion. Their eyes were on the dungeon boss chamber.
"Look," Michael said, staring at Lucas. "You go in there, you take on the boss with me, and we share that blacksmith armor we were promised."
Lucas stared. "Shouldn't we go in with Sol?"
"No. We can't beat that boss on our own. Don't you hear it, though?" Michael said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "I hear fighting, and I feel a lot of pressure—a lot of pressure coming from that room."
"That's exactly why Sol should enter, or even Corbin! Both of them are way stronger than either of us combined," Lucas said, his voice growing more high-pitched by the second.
"Fine. Just know that you or I are getting that blacksmith armor because it really doesn't matter which one of us gets it. We're technically both going to have it," Lucas said, his confidence returning.
"Right. As long as either of us lands that finishing blow, then we're golden," Michael said.
Lucas nodded. "Exactly. We let everyone else do all the damage and reap the finishing blow. If it's already damaged, then we're even more golden than if we go in."
"Quick enough. Where are you both planning?" Corbin walked forward, suspicion etched on his face.
"Nothing," Michael said quickly. "We're just talking. We're not allowed to have a chat?"
Their faces looked innocent enough, so Corbin didn't press further. "Fine, fine. I just don't want you planning anything weird."
Both of them smiled and nodded. "We won't. We promise."
What lay beyond the door of the boss's chamber would be unknown, but all of them were soon enough about to find out.