Free Web NovelChapter 200: Dungeon Quest
It was afternoon.
The white class was called into the conference room, where the teachers would usually gather for meetings. However, today the room was occupied by only Ophelia. She was waiting there for her students after their lessons for the day ended.
"You have called for us, Ms. Ross?"
Belian led the class.
"Yes. Go ahead and take your seats." Ophelia stated bluntly while she was still fixated on the document she was holding.
On her command, everyone sat down. But it was visible on some faces that some were uneasy due to the fact that Mika was not at the academy today.
"I understand that everyone has something else in mind but we shouldn’t neglect the fact that we’re currently participating in an exchange program with the academy of Youra."
Ophelia handed out copies of the document she was reading until a few moments ago as she talked.
And before anyone asked a question, they went through the document while listening to Ophelia.
"Just like in any other exchange, you, as the exchange students, have to fulfill a task given to you by your corresponding teacher and the headmaster of the academy, meaning that the headmaster and I discussed things and came to the following conclusion for you all."
Since the introduction of the exchange program in the academy of Loogam, students may be able to experience the curricula of other academies in other nations but they still had the duty to carry out a specific task given by the teacher and headmaster of the corresponding academy.
"This time, we agreed on having you explore a dungeon near the border of the North." Ophelia stated.
Some narrowed their eyes and some turned even more uneasy as they continued to read. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
"The dungeon has six floors, which are each occupied by monsters. Usually, there was a monster on the lowest floor, which acted as the boss, however, we received reports that something else took its place."
"An internal dispute?" Sylvia asked.
"We don’t know..." Ophelia replied bluntly.
"The people, who have seen that creature stated that it did not attack them despite its aura being ridiculously menacing. They couldn’t clearly depict its appearance as they could only see bandages."
"So is our mission to eliminate it?" Belian posed the question.
"Not directly. Our priority is to analyze it and to discern if it’s a threat or not. After that, we will see what our next action will be based on our evaluation."
In other words, if it would turn out to be a threat, then they had to eliminate it.
"Were other people inspecting it?" Lisa asked.
"The palace had sent a few scouts to the lowest floor but they actually did not return alive." Ophelia replied.
"..."
Lily gulped down her saliva.
"But there’s nothing to worry about. It’s because I’m confident in your skills that I and the headmaster proposed this mission for you guys." Ophelia stated with a proud smile.
"The headmaster even allowed you to pick a few students from Youra to assist you if you want to." she added.
Following those words, Ophelia was the first one to head to the exit.
"With that being said, we will depart in two weeks. If you see Mika, relay the information to him, okay?"
She closed the door behind her after she left.
"Let’s leave as well, shall we?" Sylvia suggested with a small sigh as she stood up.
But it seemed like Lily had other plans.
"C-can we please talk for a moment, everyone...?" she asked kindly and nervously, attracting everyone’s attention.
"What do you want to talk about, Lily?" Lisa wondered.
Lily’s gaze wandered around the room and she was constantly fidgeting around with her fingers.
"H-how are we going to face Mika from now on...?" she asked sheepishly.
"Hm? Weren’t you the one, who was trying to lighten the mood? Saying that we should make good use of the time we have left together?" Lisa said, frowning a little.
"I-I did but..."
Belian stood up and approached the door.
"Where are you going, Belian?" Harik asked.
"I will search for Mika and tell him about the dungeon quest." Belian responded calmly.
"B-but what ab-"
"I think he, too, wants that we behave like usual around him. If he desires something specific, then he will most likely let us know." he said, cutting off Lily.
Sylvia sighed.
"I guess he’s right about that." she said with a smile, also leaving the room.
"Is that so...?"
Lily was slightly taken aback as she initially thought that they should come up with something more grand for Mika. But the actual outcome was also a satisfying result.
Now, the whole group searched for Mika.
And it did not even take long until they found him.
"Just what did he do this time...?" Sylvia murmured with a wry smile.
"He has little time left and yet he spends his time with causing one ruckus after another..." Lisa muttered disappointingly, shaking her head.
In front of the white class was a large crowd, creating a circle around three people. A few of them noticed the presence of Belian and the others and instinctively paved a path for them out of respect.
"What the..."
Belian squinted his eyes at the sight in front of him when he arrived at the center of attention.
"Hahaha! I can now imagine clearly how you beat Mom!"
"Tch...! Damnit!"
Two people were on the ground.
Sara, who was laughing loudly while sitting on the dirty ground, and Asak, whose belly was touching the ground. In comparison to Sara, Asak had bruises and dirt all over his body.
Gritting his teeth, Asak lifted his neck and glared at Mika, who was standing in front of the two.
"We’re done, right...?" Mika asked tiredly.
Unscathed, he scratched the back of his head, looking at them nervously.
"Mika, what happened here?" Belian asked baffled.
"?"
It was at that moment that Mika noticed his friends.
"Well..."
Sara was about to answer, sounding embarrassed.
"After Mom told me that Mika beat her without breaking a sweat, my curiosity got the better hand out of me so I tried to ambush him, hehe..." she laughed shyly.
"S-sorry, what?" Lisa chimed in.
"But as you can see, I also stood no chance against him!" Sara stated strangely proud.
Belian and Lisa looked perplexed at Mika after hearing that he not only wiped the floor with Sara but also apparently with the queen.
"T-then, what about Asak...?" Harik wondered sightly anxiously.
"Oh, him? If I remember correctly, he just appeared out of nowhere and tried to fight Mika, too. However, the result was the same for him. He got beaten badly, haha!" now, she was laughing at Asak.
"..."
Clicking his tongue silently, Asak averted his gaze from Sara.
"He beat both the sword prodigy and Asak, who mastered hand-to-hand combat...!"
"And he did that in such a short time!"
"I’ve never seen anyone like him before...!"
"Is everyone on the other side of the sea like him...?!"
The students started to chat among themselves.
"..."
Belian noticed their conversations as he looked at each one of them.
"At this point, nothing you do will surprise me anymore..." Lisa sighed.
"Mika, come with us. There’s something we have to talk about." Belian said.
"S-sure..."
Not knowing what they wanted to talk about, Mika just agreed to tag along for now.
"Where were you today?!" Lily whispered angrily into Mika’s ear.
"Sorry...!" Mika laughed it off awkwardly.
"You’re not even trying to justify yourself...?" Lily sighed.
"H-hey! We’re not done here!" Asak shouted from the ground.
"To me, it looks like you’re done though?" Sara remarked innocently.
Belian took one last gaze at Sara and Asak before heading somewhere away from the crowd. And after finally arriving at a quiet spot, Lisa lectured Mika about the upcoming dungeon quest.
"..."
Mika heaved a big sigh.
"In the end, we will still waste time because of the quest... Now I feel stupid for telling the queen that I didn’t want to use my time on such things..." Mika lamented with sagged shoulders, inaudible to anyone else.
"Everything okay?" Lily wondered.
"Yeah..." he replied reluctantly.
"So? When will we depart...?"
"In two weeks." Belian replied.
"I see... Well, let’s hope that we can complete the quest quickly..." Mika declared in low spirits.
Then, Belian opened his mouth again.
"How about we ask Sara and Asak to assist us in this quest?"
"!"
Everyone, especially Harik, looked at him with big eyes.
Not because of Sara but because he mentioned Asak.
"Objectively speaking, those two are probably the top students in their fields. Having them tag along may be beneficial to us." Belian elaborated.
"That’s true but..."
Lily slowly shifted her gaze to Harik.
He may have not told everyone about his past, however, it was obvious to them that he and Asak were not really on good terms.
"You feel the same way, don’t you? Mika?"
"..."
Mika wore a stern expression when Belian called him out.
However, he was not stern because of that topic. It was because of the things only he saw.
[Main quest: Eliminate the semi-transcendental being on the lowest floor of the Unnatural Dungeon.]
[Reward: The fifth installment.]
[Punishment: Death.]
