"According to several old books, the dungeon was there even before the academy was established. 350 years ago, the entrance was accidentally found by a student. Since then, the academy had sent multiple teams to study the nature of the dungeons. They also invited many experts from the outside to investigate the place."
"It was later found that the dungeon had countless demon youths, several lesser demons, and one greater demon. The academy then sent their King realm experts to kill the greater demon and numerous lesser demons."
"Since then, every year, the academy would send their students to the dungeon in the form of a trial, as well as several elders to clean up the place after that. In addition, the unique environment inside the dungeon surprisingly gave birth to some rare herbs and treasures which were very useful for the students."
"Most of the people and the academy believed that the risk was within the acceptable range. Over time, it was proven that the benefits indeed outweighed the costs. Students mentalities and skills were greatly improved after passing the trials, and sometimes they would also bring out some rare herbs and treasures."
"Nevertheless, few experts still suspected that there was more about the dungeon than what was believed. Unfortunately, they could not prove their points as things kept going well in the last 350 years."
"One of them was a grand archaeologist named Neil Polo. After going through the excavation of several sites in the dungeon, the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains, Sir Neil suspected that the dungeon was the home of a very powerful being. Some clues were pointing to an ancient demon specializing in soul attack." Lisa concluded what she knew about the rumour.
"Strange. Soul Devouring Demon had long vanished from the world since the ancient war between demons and gods. It was believed that all of them perished in that war. However, it seemed like one or two managed to survive by special means." Elsa recalled her knowledge about Soul Devouring Demon.
"Where is Lance now?" Erza enquired.
"Let me ask my sister."
Soon, Erza and her friends were on their ways to visit Lance. Considering the fact that they were from the same clan, Erza managed to convinced the elders to allow her to see him.
"Hi, how are you doing?" Erza arrived at Lance side. He looked thinner than what he used to be. The life in the dungeon had clearly taken a great toll on his body.
"Hi, this should be the first time you visit me after enrolling to the academy. Should I feel honoured?" Lance chuckled.
"Stop saying rubbish things. How was the condition inside?" Erza smiled and decided to cut straight to the point.
"I think you are more concerned about what happened to Beel, right?" Lance had surely heard about the rumour between Beel and Erza. Even after Qi Long and Erza were officially in a relationship, some students still saw Erza and Beel going out in the weekends. There was even a rumour saying that Erza slept over at Beel place a couple of times during those weekends.
Surely, it caused Qi Long to be sceptical about her and Beel relationship. However, so far Erza still managed to convince him that she was there to practice. As an intelligent boy, Qi Long surely knew that there were some skills and treasures which should not be used during ones' practice in the academy.
"Yes, do you have any news about him?" Erza decided not to beat around the bush. She found that it was better to be direct when dealing with intelligent boy like Lance.
"I saw him fleeing from the Soul Devouring Demon when I was in the deepest part of the dungeon. It was funny for us to gather together to hunt the demon. We thought that the demon was only at Knight realm. In the end, I was forced to use my escape talisman and lost sight of Beel."
Erza was silent for a moment as she was contemplating about her next course of action.
"Please tell me everything you knew and experienced in the dungeon."
"What is it for? Don't tell me that you are actually planning to enter the dungeon? Don't be stupid just for a boy."
"What I will do is not related to you. Also, thanks for your advice. Trust me, I know what I am doing." Erza said honestly. She was indeed planning to enter the dungeon, but it was not a suicide mission. She was confident that she would be alright given her Cloak of Aztaroth and her Eyes of Chronos.
Lance looked deeply into her eyes and finally told Erza everything he knew and experienced in the dungeon. He knew that Erza was not the reckless type and should not be a love fool. She must have something up her sleeve.
Standing in front of the entrance of the dungeon, Erza could feel the pressure coming out from the cave. Yes, the entrance was in the form of a cave. There were guards and elders stationed around the entrance. All of them had grim expression on their faces.
From their conversations, Erza knew that there were currently 40-50 dead students, while the rest 200 students including Beel were still missing. This number was more than thrice from the usual figure. The number was roughly equal to the death toll during the Eastern Trial.
In addition, two groups of elders were reportedly killed in the process. This was truly a disaster. The academy was forced to reorganize the rescue teams to include a peak King realm expert.
As she went closer to the entrance, Erza suddenly found the space around her twisted and then she was back in Sir Adam office.
"Where do you think you are going?" Obviously, to be able to notice her, Sir Adam power was stronger than a King realm expert.
"You think that just because you own the Cloak of Aztaroth then you are really invisible? Let me remind you. As an early level Knight, the cloak could only help to cover your presence from an early King realm expert or lower." Sir Adam did not wait for Erza to respond and continued to talk.
"You think that it will still be useful against a peak King realm expert? Especially the one who specialized in soul attack? You think that his perception is a joke?
Erza was silent. She just realized that she overestimated herself and underestimated her enemy. She was in the wrong this time. Moreover, Sir Adam was actually helping her by stopping her. He stopped her because he cared for her.
Being cared by someone much older than her, Erza felt a bit strange at first, but later she felt warm inside her heart. She was indeed missing the love of grandparents in her life. After all, Grandpa Qing was a servant, not her elderly relatives.
"I am aware of the risk, but I believe that it is equal to the benefit." Erza calmly stated after Sir Adam finished his talk.
"Specify."
"I heard from Lance that the Soul Devouring Demon was protecting a Soul Recovery Heavenly Herb. Thanks to the unique environment inside the dungeon, the herb appeared and would be soon ready to be consumed."
"If that was true, then after he consumed the herb, the demon would probably break through to Emperor realm. A demon king specializing in soul attack was not something that the academy would be able to contain."
"Moreover, I am greatly interested in the Soul Recovery Heavenly Herb. From my research, the herb would be able to repair my weapon damaged soul and even strengthen it. I believe Supreme Elder is aware of what would that mean to me."
Sir Adam did not expect that Erza was actually aiming for Soul Recovery Heavenly Herb. It was indeed a marvellous herb and was worth the risk.
"How are you planning to snatch the herb from the demon's hand? Or to be more exact, how would you be able to do it under the eyes of so many elders?"
Erza thought for a while, then told him about her plan.
In the end, Sir Adam allowed Erza to enter the dungeon after giving her a soul protection amulet. It was very pretty with the pendant was purple in colour.
After Erza left Sir Adam office, a beautiful woman wearing a golden imperial robe appeared in the middle of the room. She was always there since the time Erza arrived in the room. However, the concealment magic around her was preventing Erza to notice her presence.
"She really looked like you when you were young. That personality to take risk for her friends were very similar to you."