Commander Zaman was alone in his office, reviewing the contents of the test Sol had prepared. After reading it, he couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Haha! And people say my tests are hard!"
Known for his strictness and high standards, Zaman's tests were always considered difficult. Even in the previous knight selection, the tower challenge, which only fewer than 200 of the 3,000 applicants passed, was his idea.
After a good laugh, he looked at the report again and commented more seriously.
"Though his idea is rather unoriginal, given Lazuli's abilities are naturally incompatible with undead, it should serve as a fitting challenge."
…
Two days later, the squad and Lazuli stood at the entrance of Necropolis. They all wore their combat uniforms, except Lazuli, who was dressed in plain mage robes that enhanced her mana regeneration and spellcasting. Though she would have preferred something nicer, she was short on time to commission a special robe from a tailor.
"You have one week to kill the Gravedigger. Are you prepared?" Sol asked.
For a normal party, completing all ten floors in a week wouldn't be a big hurdle, but this wasn't a normal party. It was somewhat unbalanced, with one fighter and two mages, but they were stronger than the average adventurers.
Lazuli nodded. "Thank you for giving me the time and the books on undead. I think I have a good plan now to defeat them."
The books Sol lent her were from the first floor of the Royal Library, with the Commander's approval. He didn't offer any spellbooks, as they could have held the answer for free, but he didn't mind giving her books on undead to help her prepare countermeasures with what she currently had.
"Then good luck to the three of you. I'll see you when you get back."
Nataly tilted her head. "You're not coming?"
Everyone had assumed Sol would be coming along to supervise the test. He was even wearing his knight armor, which left them confused.
"Sorry, but I have something to take care of. While I'm gone, Duncan is in charge if anything happens."
Sol had been wanting to give Duncan more opportunities to lead whenever possible, as he knew his time with the Royal Knights was limited. Unlike Lapis, Sol didn't intend to stay until he served his minimum time. He planned to leave within a few months if possible, and when he did, he hoped Duncan's track record as the secondary leader would earn him the captain's promotion. This would also free Sol up to focus on other activities.
Duncan gave a knight's salute and spoke with resolve. "I'll make sure everyone gets out unharmed."
The rest bade their goodbyes and began making their way into the dungeon. Rex stayed behind and waited until they were all out of sight before speaking.
"I think someone's watching us."
"You think?"
They were standing in the middle of an open plaza surrounding the dungeon entrance near the heart of the city. Though people avoided entering the plaza because of the deathly mana it emanated, many passersby still glanced their way.
Rex nodded. "They're in the plaza somewhere, but I only sensed them for a second. I didn't say anything before because their gaze wasn't hostile, but I thought you should know."
"I see. Thanks for letting me know. By the way, have you maxed out all your detection skills?"
"They're a few levels off from max. Why?"
"Well, while you're going into the dungeon to watch over the three of them, you should take this chance to improve those skills. Lately, your only improvements have been with the sword, and that's only because Duncan dragged you to practice."
"Mhm, alright." Rex understood that although his sight was his strongest asset, he had been neglecting it lately. Now that he was somewhat over his breakup, as it had been a few months, he was feeling the stagnation of his core skills and was eager to start improving them once more.
Rex then left to join the group before they got too far ahead. But even if they did, it wouldn't be too hard for him to track them down.
Sol was the only one left in the plaza, aside from the guards stationed at the entrance. After waiting a few minutes, he walked into the dungeon and took the sigil to teleport to the 21st floor. Once he arrived, he spoke to the air beside him.
"He almost caught you. Why did you get so close to us?"
Suddenly, Amber appeared next to him and responded.
"Testing a new skill."
Sol raised an eyebrow as he didn't know she obtained a new skill, especially related to stealth. He thought she was mostly focusing on her law technique and sand skills.
"Oh? How close did you get before he noticed?"
"Thirteen feet."
"Thirteen?!"
While it may not sound like much, at their level of strength, that was frighteningly close. Amber could have closed that gap in an instant and struck before anyone could react. But for Rex to not detect her at that distance was less of an insult to his capabilities and more of a testament to how strong Amber's newly evolved stealth skill was. Even when Rex noticed her, it was only for a brief moment, and he wasn't entirely sure someone had been watching them.
Amber nodded plainly before asking, "Ready?"
"Yeah. We finally have an entire week to ourselves. Let's go."
With that, they began making their way out of the safe room and into the dungeon proper. While his squad was progressing through the 1st to 10th floors of the dungeon, Sol and Amber would be delving through the 21st to 30th floors.
They had decided that they had practiced enough in developing their law techniques, and all that remained was to use them in real battles to push their skills to completion. With the pseudo-A-Rank enemies on the upcoming floors, it was the perfect area to do so.
But with only a week, they had to be quick. They both sprinted through the dungeon's passages, carefully avoiding traps. It didn't even take one minute before they encountered their first foe.
"It's you again. Nether Wraith."