"Who are you?" These are the words that first came out of Mei after they decimated all of the goblins in their surroundings. Saul remained guarded as expected of their Magi Defender. Meanwhile, Pilas kneeled in a corner trying to catch his breath.
"Are you from the Solomon Academy of Magic?" Mei asked.
"No," Kieffer succinctly replied. "We need to get out of here, fast." He added.
Mei observed her party and swiftly came to a decision.
"Saul, help Pilas. We are getting out of here." Saul heeded Mei's words without hesitation. He offered one arm to Pilas. The tremors in the cave are getting stronger, boding ill premonition to Mei.
"Don't worry, it's my teacher. He must be finishing things up." Kieffer tried to comfort the three mages, but judging from the resolute expressions… the three remained skillfully alert to their surroundings.
A sense of admiration rose from Kieffer's heart. So, these are what mages are like?
Meanwhile, Mei sneaked a glance at Kieffer's stump, his left arm missing. Many thoughts crossed her mind. Is he from the Mage Guild? Another academy? That conjured magical sword is at least at the extreme level. Factoring the superhuman strength and speed, Mei is confident that this one-armed mage is almost an extreme-grade mage.
The same thoughts are running amok in Mei's fellow mages.
"U-uumm… Your arm, I was curious. What happened to it?" The elf, Pilas suddenly asked. Kieffer stared in wonder at this particular elf. Weren't they banned from coming to human territories by the empire?
"A goblin cut it off. How about you? What is an elf doing at this place?"
Saul silently sweated, he gazed at the elf beside him who has gone pale beyond reason.
Mei quickly offered an explanation.
"A-a, he's not really an elf… He..he… he had a transplant!! Yes, a transplant!"
"Oh… Awesome…"
Wait… He believed that!? Can you even transplant an elf's ears? Is this guy serious? The three mages were speechless.
'Maybe, it's just an act.' Mei suddenly thought, but Kieffer just had that innocent look. Like Mei, Saul is confident in his eyes… and like what Mei is thinking, he similarly thought the same.
"Hey… uuhh… Do you know there was a statue of the Last Adventurer in the Solomon Academy of Magic? It was displayed in the grand plaza." Saul asked, warily testing the waters.
"Wow, really? Awesome!!"
"…" The three mages were speechless.
This Kieffer is just too gullible.
There is no way the statue of the last adventurer would be seen in their academy. Pilas covered his ears with his hat. He owes an explanation to his friends but now is not the right time, especially in the presence of the one-armed mage.
It took their party no time at all to exit the cave.
BLAM! BOOOOM!!
They can hardly feel the tremors by the time they escaped the cave. However, a sudden explosion roared instead. Kieffer looked back, only to see the cave showing signs of collapse. Debris and boulder threateningly crashed, and some dust scattered.
"T-teacher!!" Kieffer cried, rushing for the cave.
The three mages were shocked by Kieffer. Mei was able to react on time as she unleash a Fire Bolt at Kieffer's path.
"What are you doing?"
"Saving your life!! Even if you were an Extreme-grade mage, you won't survive in that cave-in. Calm down, think like a mage!"
"My teacher and sister are there. Move out of my way."
Kieffer tried to conjure his Arcane Sword, however, he can't. His MP has bottomed out. But he won't just give up like that.
'Do you know what constitutes arcane power? Wisdom. The reason why Arcane Magic is difficult is that people most often lack wisdom. For your magic to get stronger, you'd need wisdom. But how?'
Kieffer recalled his teacher's most recent assignment. He can't understand the question itself. But that didn't stop him from finding an answer, right at this moment, Kieffer glanced a bit at the answer.
"Wisdom comes from within."
"ARCANE STRENGTH! ARCANE AGILITY! ARCANE ENDURANCE!" He spat the magic words, arcane power welling from him. He doesn't initially know the magic, but he remembers. The power that dwells in the human body that his teacher awakened through a 'buff' spell.
Though Kieffer doesn't know what a buff means, that can't stop him from casting one. If Wally were here, he'd realize how much of an overpowered munchkin Kieffer actually is… He sped past Mei and quickly disappeared into the cave.
It only took a blink of an eye.
Mei worriedly looked as to where the one-armed mage disappeared.
…
Felicia, a professor at the Solomon Academy flew on her broom in a hurry. Her azure hair cascaded against the winds. As a mage at the Epic-grade, her speed can be considered extraordinary. She worries for her three students to whom she gave permission to explore an intermediate-grade dungeon.
Dungeon, they were methodologically named as such. They are places where monsters are mostly concentrated to. A mage's power levels are divided into six (6), from lowest to highest — elementary, intermediate, elite, extreme, epic, and arch.
"Ughh… Why is the Magic Guild so stupid lately? To think that they mistook grading a dungeon? Those kids won't survive an extreme-grade dungeon."
When she arrived at her destination, it was the peak of noon. She saw her students waiting by the cave's entrance.
"Thank the Goddess, you lot haven't entered yet."
"""TEACHER!!""" Her students called.
It only now does Felicia notice that her students are quite out of place. Saul looked haggard, he have some minor cuts. Meanwhile, Mei's neat clothing was covered in dirt and dust. Pilas have it worst as she observes that the handsome blonde kid is unusually pale.
"What happened?" Felicia inquired, to which Mei answered truthfully. Well, except for the fact that Pilas is actually an elf. Felicia listened attentively.
"T-teacher, please… Can you save…" When Mei was about to ask their teacher to save their savior, she suddenly realized that she doesn't have the one-armed mage's name.
"It's fine, I'll do my best." Felicia understood Mei's words nonetheless. She immediately rushed for the cave while riding her magical broom. The cave's collapse is nearing its completion, and Felicia dodged the falling debris expertly.
The stench of blood reached her nose. Suddenly, signs of the collapse halted. Felicia remained wary. In her descent for the cave, she was met with dead goblins… a lot of them. But that didn't stop at just that.
Though a cave-in is suddenly obstructing her path right now, she doesn't mind as she teleports herself to the other end of the cave-in. That's where she saw the remains of the Goblin King.
"W-what's this?" She observed the traces of battle and scrutinized the monster in front of her.
"It's a rare variant!! A Death Goblin King!" Chills in her spine, the Epic-grade mage faltered. Even for Felicia, fighting a monster such as this will be difficult. Especially with the support of many Death Goblin variants. It only now did Felicia realize the many Death Goblins in the cave-in.
"So, that's what he did." Realization struck her.
Felicia continued on her broom, while she casually cast detection magic in her surroundings.
Finally, she reached the end of the tunnel. What she saw, she can't believe it.