Ju Han-gang snorted as he looked around.
"Is this supposed to be a dungeon?"
"Yeah."
The path was unbelievably simple. After passing a few forks in the road, there wasn’t even a proper trap, and the only monster they encountered was the previous goblin. It was so easy to proceed that reaching the center was just a matter of ti.
The walls were adorned with ancient patterns, but they didn’t do much to build tension.
"Didn’t you say the Gaon Dungeon classes were a pain? This isn’t anything."
Han Iri muttered carelessly as he moved forward.
"We just have to think about what kind of team we’ll et."
Ju Han-gang’s expression hardened as he spoke.
Han Iri paused for a mont to ponder his words. Then he asked.
"Who do you want to et? Johan?"
"I’m not sure about Johan in one-on-one, but we wouldn’t be able to beat their team."
The team Johan had brought to the mock dungeon were his teammates for later missions too.
He was a Hero, and they were Crusaders guarding him.
"Then who?"
Han Iri asked again.
"Jeong Haein."
"Honestly, with Cheon Yeoul out of the picture, I thought I’d be a Seed student. But then so parachute guy... you were on a team with Yu Hana before, right?"
"Yeah, that's what they say."
Ju Han-gang scoffed and continued.
"Such a bus ride."
Han Iri laughed lightly and nodded.
"Who do you want to et?"
At Ju Han-gang’s question, Han Iri seed to think for a mont before turning his head nonchalantly.
But in his heart, the answer was already clear.
To be honest, he had fallen for her at first sight on the first day of the sester. Han Iri had always been the one to receive confessions; he wasn’t the one to confess his feelings.
But this ti, he braved the embarrassnt and tried to approach her.
However, every ti he made up his mind and approached, her answer was always the sa.
"Sorry, I have to go et a friend."
Moreover.
"She told to call her by her last na...."
Once, he boldly called out her na.
"Call Ha Sion."
He could never forget the cold look in her eyes that day.
From that mont on, the "friend" she always went to see beca the thing that irritated him the most.
"I want to as well."
In the end, he answered nonchalantly.
"I also want Jeong Haein."
Whether it was jealousy, anger, or just pure rivalry, he couldn’t pinpoint it.
But one thing was clear.
He wanted to show her that he could beat Jeong Haein.
"Well, it’s just... I’m curious what kind of guy he is."
Han Iri said as he smiled blankly, but his gaze was already wild # Nоvеlight # and restless.
anwhile, on the other side. Jeong Haein's team was in a safe area.
"Ugh... Haein...."
Team Jeong Haein had already triggered the seventh trap.
The monsters kept coming, and Kim Daehyun was feeling more exhausted than he had ever felt from any training or battle before.
"Are maze-type dungeons usually this hard?"
Hahaha, let’s just die already!!
Beside them, Yoon Sanghyuk had lost his sanity.
After breaking through the sixth trap, the arrow that brushed between his legs seed to be the final trigger.
"No."
Jeong Haein was just as shocked.
But Ha Sion, beside him, took a deep breath and answered.
"It’s a maze-type, but it seems to be a hybrid with an exit-type dungeon."
An exit-type dungeon clearly separates the entrance and exit, with two portals appearing at both ends.
From the entrance to the center, obstacles and traps are concentrated, while the exit is nearly free of obstacles, making it a dungeon that could be easily navigated from the other side in a real combat scenario.
Dungeons are usually designed with one primary characteristic in mind, but occasionally, a hybrid of two or more traits erges.
"As we get closer to the center, I feel it. The center of this dungeon isn’t the end. There’s a path that leads to the exit as well."
This ant that the dungeon was a hybrid of a rare monster maze-type and an exit-type dungeon full of traps and monsters, making it a highly toxic yet complentary design.
As Ha Sion explained, Yoon Sanghyuk, who they thought had gone crazy, started ranting again.
"No way, that ans we’re stuck at the entrance, and the ones coming from the other side are getting the easy ride, right?"
"Pretty much."
Jeong Haein nodded in agreent as he responded to Yoon Sanghyuk's grumbling.
"What the hell...!"
"And..."
Then, Ha Sion interrupted Yoon Sanghyuk and quietly raised her hand.
"If we break through just one more, we’ll reach the center."
***
For the students who hadn’t been selected, the mock dungeon was providing more than just practice; it was pure entertainnt. The videos of each team, visible from their positions, were the most thrilling spectacle, far beyond re educational material.
"Wow, damn. Yu Hana is gonna beat Johan, huh?"
"Is Kang Arin even a student...?"
On the center screen, several teams were already clashing near the center.
The intention was probably to make sure they all t eventually.
However, the student ranked within the top 100, Yong Hyunseong, was watching the footage of a relatively obscure team.
The two teams still hadn’t t.
"What? They still haven’t made it? They’re so slow."
One student asked him.
"True, but..."
His gaze naturally moved to the screen showing the maze-type dungeon.
‘Their difficulty levels couldn’t be more different...’
At first, he just thought Team Jeong Haein was moving slowly, but upon closer inspection, the difference beca stark.
Han Iri's team's dungeon was too simple. There weren’t even noticeable monsters, let alone traps, and it seed like just walking along the path would lead them right to the center.
In contrast, Jeong Haein’s dungeon was completely different.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
The traps and monsters were coordinated, and the overall difficulty was clearly higher.
However, it was Jeong Haein who was steadily overcoming these challenges.
His movents, as he slayed monsters and dodged traps, looked less like a simple training exercise and more like the battle of professional heroes.
Yong Hyunseong's gaze fixed on Jeong Haein’s actions.
Then, as the surrounding area fell silent, Yong Hyunseong looked up and scanned his surroundings.
"Wow... what’s going on?"
By now, the students’ gazes were all fixed on Jeong Haein’s screen.
Even those who had been mocking the video earlier were now silently following Jeong Haein’s every move.
At first, it was just a few people, but soon the entire class had their eyes on the screen.
"...."
No one spoke, but the silence was even more intense.
"What’s up with him...?"
Soone muttered under their breath.
That sentence echoed like a signal. The surrounding students exchanged glances and nodded in agreent.
That guy, no—Jeong Haein, was definitely different.
In the end, we had broken through to the last obstacle and were resting in the final safe zone.
However, unlike before, a tir was now counting down in this last safe zone.
It was probably the instructor’s thoughtful way of encouraging us to hurry and enter the center to fight.
"119... 118... 117..."
Yoon Sanghyuk, lying on the floor, watched the tir ticking down.
"I want to die..."
I stared at the firmly closed door leading to the center and eventually spoke.
"You probably already know, but beyond this door, the opposing team is waiting."
"And they’ve probably already targeted the exit. They’ve probably saved more of their stamina than we have."
Sion and Kim Daehyun quietly listened to my words.
Daehyun's shield was half-destroyed, and Sion was still calm, aside from her slightly disheveled hair.
"So?"
When I hesitated, Yoon Sanghyuk lifted his head from where he lay, looked at , and asked.
I was pondering whether to say the next words or not.
There was a possibility, but a part of also doubted it.
As my silence dragged on, Sion gently coaxed with a soft voice.
"Haein, if you have sothing to say, you can continue."
I nodded and spoke.
"Then, how did they spend the remaining ti?"
Yoon Sanghyuk lifted his head, thought for a mont, then opened his eyes wide, laying back down, muttering.
"...No way... They wouldn’t..."
His reaction wasn’t hard to understand.
Kim Daehyun, with a serious expression, asked.
"Are you talking about traps?"
His guess was spot on.
In human combat, traps were an essential elent.
Especially in situations like sieges, traps played a crucial tactical role.
For this reason, trap usage was always taught in combat classes.
But this was a mock dungeon class.
There were no external threats like invaders or monsters; it was only set up for a skirmish between teams.
Yet, for the enemy team to have set traps ant that they were thinking ahead not just about the current dungeon but about the upcoming fight as well.
Moreover, traps were typically an extre asure used against high-risk targets like notorious criminals or monsters.
It was a bit excessive to use them against students in a regular combat class.
"So, what do you want to do, Haein?"
Sion kept her eyes fixed on and asked softly.
The tir’s numbers continued to count down, echoing in my ears.
We didn’t have much ti left.
"I..."
***
"Enough, stop and get up quickly!"
In the center of the dungeon.
Han Iri’s team had already arrived.
It seed that to receive the dungeon’s reward, both doors needed to be opened.
But the opposing team hadn’t appeared despite the wait.
At this mont, Ju Han-gang proposed an idea.
"Let’s set a trap."
At first, the team mbers hesitated.
But Ju Han-gang quoted the instructor’s words, "You must win," and gave a long speech, and in the end, his will prevailed.
The doubt in their minds about whether the instructor’s real intention was to predict the enemy’s arrival and set traps to neutralize them disappeared entirely.
Only the desire to win remained.
Once the traps were carefully set, Ju Han-gang and his team hung from the second-floor railing of the dungeon’s center, waiting, their gazes fixed solely on the opposing door.
"But... what if we get really hurt?"
One team mber, who had opposed it from the start, asked Ju Han-gang with concern.
"It’s just practice, we won’t get hurt too badly."
Ju Han-gang answered nonchalantly, and Han Iri added with a laugh.
"Besides, aren’t the ones coming this slow the problem?"
"Yeah, won’t they just end up in the traps?"
They exchanged smiles.
Boom
At that mont.
The door to the center on the opposite side opened, and the dungeon’s reward appeared in the middle.
"They’re here."
At the tense mont, four figures quickly entered.
And then.
KABOOM!
Explosion.
With a deafening roar, the sandstorm covered the area.
The visibility was reduced to darkness, and the air shook from the pressure.
"Wow! This is amazing!"
The explosion’s effect was beyond what they had imagined. The custom-made mana bomb created by the alchemy major student was exactly what they had hoped for.
‘With this, even Johan wouldn’t win.’
Ju Han-gang waited with a hopeful expression as the sandstorm began to clear.
Slowly, the dust started to disperse.
Through the half-cleared dust, the silhouettes of the enemy team began to erge.
And they were... standing.
‘They’re standing?’
Ju Han-gang was taken aback.
As the dust cleared halfway, Jeong Haein’s figure ca into view, swatting the dust away with a grimace on his face.
And beside him, Ha Sion, whose sharp gaze quickly pinpointed their location. Her lips moved, seemingly signaling their position.
"Hey, you shaless bastards!!!"
Yoon Sanghyuk’s voice erupted from the side, filling the practice area with noise.
His hair was damp with sweat, disheveled as he scread loudly.
"Who the hell are you trying to kill with this?!"
The four of them were in perfect condition. Ju Han-gang swallowed nervously and looked around.
Then he saw it.
The remains of the troll that had been blasted apart by the explosion.
It wasn’t four figures.
‘Ah.’
The four monsters had been thrown, activating the trap.
‘We’ve been caught.’
Jeong Haein’s gaze finally t theirs.
His cold eyes fixed on their location, piercing them.
He raised his hand, signaling with a slight flick of his fingers for them to co down.
"Co out."
That cold, chilling expression sent a wave of icy fear through Han Iri, Ju Han-gang, and the others.
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