[14th Everdusk 2103], CGA branch, Dyna Crest country.
While Evan walked inside the third stage portal during his dungeon raiding.
Outside the dungeon, we can still see the teachers looking toward the raiding board over the dungeon, on which many names were written, indicating their condition and current location.
The first rank was obviously Lucas, who was in the third stage, while in second place was Lyre, who was just behind him in the test timer. Below them were many students who were also in the third stage but in groups, except for those two who were raiding in solo mode.
In eighth rank was Evan, who was climbing the ranks rather quickly after he reached the second stage. When he reached the second stage, he was already in rank twenty-one, and after climbing several ranks, he reached the eighth one just a few minutes away from the seventh rank group.
In the top ten ranks of the students' list, almost all of them were raiding the third, while the tenth group, having finished the second stage, also started raiding the third one.
Many students also came out of the dungeon after just completing the second stage, or even some overconfident fools who thought they could raid alone just got out after completing the first one, as they were not in a condition to head toward the second stage. If they had reached the second stage, they would have been doomed to die there.
Every teacher of the respective class was checking the students of their own class, and Helen was among them, noticing the eighth student, Evan, who was in his class. After reaching the second stage, Evan quickly advanced to the third one. Though he was a bit slower than the first and second persons, his speed was quite high compared to other students. However, he was still eighth due to being late in the first stage, perhaps a late bloomer.
Helen thought that maybe this Evan might achieve a good rank in the exam and resumed observing the other students in his class.
Meanwhile, Tess, who was also a class teacher, was fixated on one student's screen, and it was obvious who it was—the first-rank student, Lucas, who was still in the third stage of the dungeon with the other remaining students.
'Oh please, don't fall into any danger, Lucas. If something happens to you, I won't be able to live without you,' she thought, her worries entirely focused on him, as their relationship was deeper compared to the other students. She and Lucas were secret lovers, a fact they had hidden until Lucas was to emerge from the dungeon today.
"Miss Tess, I think you are lost in thought," Principal Miriam remarked, snapping Tess out of her reverie. She looked at the principal in shock, by his interruption.
"O...Oh-yes, I am fine, just thinking about the safety of my student and nothing else, sir. Don't worry." She said as he nodded and walked away.
"Oh, Lucas, come out quickly. I am getting more anxious as time goes by." She said in a low while eyeing the screen to see any fluctuation in his health meter.
Meanwhile, in the dungeon, Lucas was cautiously navigating through a goblin tribe in the third stage. The enemies he faced were too dangerous to be careless.
In the outer area of the tribe, goblin bodies with green skin, slightly taller than dwarves, ugly faces in tattered clothes lay scattered on the ground. Many bodies were also lying inside the forest, indicating that Lucas had infiltrated the tribe from there.
As he searched the tribe for more goblins before confronting the boss, who resided in the largest house in the center, he noticed many goblins wielding weapons and guarding the small streets around the hut. He could hear snoring from inside the hut, suggesting that the boss was asleep.
"What can I do to attract those guys' attention and finish them off?" he wondered, his eyes falling on the huts as he devised a plan and backed away for it to work.
A few minutes later, we observed that the surroundings remained the same as before, but something had changed. In one of the huts, a large fire spread, causing many roars from the goblins in the tribe.
As all the goblins rushed towards the area to see what had happened, many were trying to prevent the fire from spreading to other houses.
While others did not notice, someone moved towards the hut where the boss was sleeping without alerting them.
It was Lucas who reached the hut, entered inside, and when he was about to attack the boss, he noticed something surprising: the boss was not in his place. Before he could escape, he sensed a life-threatening danger from behind him. If he didn't move away, he would be dead.
So, he launched ahead and rolled away from the area where he had been standing. To his surprise, a big blunt weapon smashed onto that area, cracking the ground it and even destroying the whole hut with its sheer force.
Yes, it was the boss who had just woken up after hearing the commotion and found this culprit coming towards him to attack.
Lucas, who was in front of him, was shocked. Firstly, the power the boss displayed was not something a normal hobgoblin warlord could do. He realized what it was.
Yes, the boss was mutated, which was very rare. This increased the danger significantly, but the loot would also be greater if defeated.
As he started to look around for the totem he was meant to destroy after killing the boss, he found it as a small pendant hanging by the neck of the boss, who wore his crude, worn-out armor. Despite its old appearance, the armor's defense and durability were still usable in danger.
Even the boss's big mace was now resting on his shoulder. Just before Lucas could do something, the boss acted first.
/ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR/
He shouted at the top of his lungs, causing Lucas to cover his ears to avoid going deaf. Lucas did not understand why the boss did this, as it was not a fear-inducing skill. He later realized that several goblins had rushed toward the fire and were now blocking all possible escape routes. Despite this, there was no trace of fear in his eyes; he was completely unafraid.
"Looks like you called out all the party members, huh? Good. I was wondering how to gather them all, but with your help, I can test my skill quite easily now," he said as he cast his skill, ready to rumble.
<-???? MP>
-- To be continued --