Free Web NovelChapter 34: The Briefing & Entry
Friday morning. The massive academy auditorium was packed with hundreds of nervous, sweating first-year students.
Arthur walked down the aisle, the ambient chatter of the room completely ignoring his footsteps. His new custom Shadow Wolf armor was working flawlessly. The sleek, pitch-black leather absorbed the light and completely muffled his movements. He didn’t look like the creepy stalker from the back row anymore. He looked like an elite assassin.
He found his squad sitting near the front and took an empty seat next to Emily.
She paused her stretching to look at him, her brown eyes widening slightly as she took in the high-tier gear. "Nice armor, Vance. Did you rob a guild vault this morning?"
"Custom order," Arthur replied, leaning back in his chair.
Before Emily could ask where a scholarship student got the money for custom monster-hide armor, the heavy auditorium doors slammed shut.
Professor Elena Moon walked onto the main stage.
She was wearing her strict, high-collared academic dress. But as her golden eyes swept over the massive crowd of students, they briefly, deliberately locked onto Arthur. She noticed his new armor immediately. A faint, almost imperceptible smirk tugged at the corner of her lips before she turned her attention back to the crowd.
"Listen up, Cadets," Elena’s voice magically amplified, echoing through the massive hall. "Today is your first official dungeon dive. You will be entering an F-rank ruin in the eastern sector, designated The Crypts of the Forgotten. Your objective is simple: map the first floor, extract the designated mana cores, and survive."
She waved her hand. Several instructor assistants began walking down the aisles, handing out heavy silver bands to every student.
"Take a bracelet and put it on your dominant wrist," Elena instructed. "These are Recall Bracelets. They are engraved with a one-time spatial teleportation rune tethered to your biometric vitals."
Arthur caught a bracelet tossed to him by an assistant. He turned the silver band over in his hands, inspecting the intricate glowing runes etched into the metal.
"If you are about to take fatal damage," Elena continued, her tone turning dead serious, "the bracelet will instantly generate a split-second mana shield, absorb the lethal blow, and forcibly teleport you out of the dungeon and back to Matron Beatrice’s infirmary. If your bracelet activates, you are marked as ’Dead’. You will instantly fail the expedition. Are we clear?"
"Yes, Professor!" the auditorium shouted in unison.
Arthur snapped the silver band onto his right wrist. He stared at it, his inner gamer doing some quick, cynical math.
A spatial teleportation artifact tied directly to an automated biometric trigger? Arthur thought, shaking his head. These things must cost atleast ten thousand credits a piece on the open market. And the academy is just handing them out to a bunch of panicked teenagers? Half these idiots are going to trigger the teleport by tripping over a rock or getting spooked by a loud noise. Fifty percent of these bracelets will be wasted in the first ten minutes. The budget of this school is absolutely absurd.
"Move to the courtyard staging area," Elena ordered. "The portal opens in ten minutes."
Arthur stood up and looked at his squad.
He had fully expected to be carrying a bunch of useless, dead-weight NPCs today. But he realized he had lucked out. He may have to thank Alicia to have quarrel with Emily.
Emily Thorne was practically bouncing on her heels, her fists taped up in heavy brawler wraps. She looked like a professional pit fighter ready to snap some necks. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
Felix, the generic shielder, was quietly strapping a massive, heavy iron tower shield to his forearm. The kid still hadn’t spoken a single word to Arthur, but he looked incredibly solid. His stance was low, and his eyes were focused entirely on his gear. Perfect meat shield behavior.
Then there was Chloe. The level 12 healer was shaking like a leaf, her teeth practically chattering as she clutched a wooden staff to her chest. But Arthur’s high perception picked up the details. The staff wasn’t cheap academy-issue wood; it was carved from deep-root mahogany, and the mana crystal embedded at the top was glowing with a dense, stable green light.
She’s terrified, Arthur noted. But she has excellent mana control. If she doesn’t piss her pants, she can actually do her job.
"Alright, listen up," Arthur said, his voice cutting through the noise of the crowd.
The three of them looked at him. As the one who formed the squad, he was the de facto leader.
"This is an F-rank crypt. It’s going to be dark, narrow, and full of undead," Arthur stated bluntly. "Felix, you’re the wall. You hold the front and do not break formation. Emily, you’re the hammer. You stay right behind Felix and crush anything that tries to flank his shield. Chloe, stay in the center. Don’t attack. Just focus entirely on keeping our stamina up and casting minor heals."
"What about you?" Emily asked, adjusting her gloves.
Arthur patted the Whisperwind Longbow slung across his back. "I’ll be in the rear. If something slips past you, I’ll put an arrow through its skull before it touches the healer. Stick to the plan, don’t panic, and whatever you do, don’t trigger your damn bracelets."
Felix gave a single, firm nod. Emily cracked her knuckles, grinning fiercely. Chloe swallowed hard and tightened her grip on her staff.
They walked out into the massive courtyard.
In the center of the stone plaza, a colossal ring of enchanted obsidian was humming with violent energy. Instructor Morwenna and three other high-tier mages were channeling mana into the ring.
With a deafening crack that sounded like tearing thunder, the center of the ring ripped open, revealing a swirling, pitch-black spatial vortex.
A foul, freezing wind blew out of the portal, carrying the distinct, stomach-churning stench of rotting meat and stagnant water.
"Portal is stable!" Morwenna shouted over the roaring mana. "Enter in your squads! Move!"
"Showtime," Arthur muttered.
He pulled his black leather hood up over his head, blending perfectly into the shadows of his armor, and stepped through the swirling black gate.
