Chapter 8

The Genius Tamer of the Academy - Chapter 8 (8/252)

The Genius Tamer of the Academy Chapter 8

"Principal! Principal!"

Selen burst into the principal's office, shouting at the top of her lungs.

Professor Ernest, who was standing with his arms crossed, writing documents with a levitating quill, looked up in surprise.

For someone who valued manners so much, it was unusual for Selen to barge in like this.

"What's the matter?"

He knew something must have happened.

Principal Ernest lifted his round glasses with his index finger and put away the quill.

"Ah... well..."

"Take your time and tell me."

While the principal calmly tried to calm her down, Selen had no time to relax.

If what she heard from the practice ground manager was true, this was a serious incident.

"There seems to be an error in the B-3 area of the underground dungeon."

"Underground dungeon?"

If he was talking about the underground practice ground...

The principal frowned and spoke.

"Are you talking about the underground practice ground?"

"Yes. I don't know how the spell went wrong, but there seems to be a serious problem. Right now, no one can enter or exit, and the situation is out of control."

The B-3 area of the underground dungeon.

According to Principal Ernest's memory, it was the easiest practice ground among the underground dungeons, designed for beginners.

The students who enter such a place would naturally be at a similar level.

If the spell's error caused the dungeon's difficulty to spike or unexpected variables to occur, they wouldn't be able to handle it.

Realizing the severity of the situation, Principal Ernest's face darkened. He quickly put on his robe and stood up.

His voice was urgent, a stark contrast to his earlier calm.

"Who is currently inside?"

"A second-year student named Adela and..."

"..."

"A student named Han Sihwa."

At the mention of Han Sihwa, Principal Ernest's expression turned cold.

Not only was she not a senior, but she also lacked the talent of someone like Adela. There was no way she could survive in a distorted dungeon.

Why now of all times.

"...We need to hurry."

It might already be too late.

* * *

"Ugh, I feel like I'm going to lose my mind."

I feel the same way.

I keep swinging my staff, but this is beyond what two people can handle.

We're barely holding on thanks to the help of the short-haired girl. Her voice, filled with frustration, echoed beside me.

"If we survive this, I'll never look at slime salad again."

"...You lived on that?"

I only knew she was a second-year student with earth attributes. I didn't know much else about the short-haired girl.

She's a complete novice at taming, but her skill at dealing with slimes is impressive.

A name flashed through my mind.

Adela, the Earth Mage.

No way.

No way.

"It can't be."

It doesn't make sense.

A great mage like her wouldn't struggle to tame a hellhound.

Moreover, from what I remember, Adela didn't choose taming as her subject in the second-year opening exam.

She wouldn't be rolling around in a beginner's practice ground, which isn't even her major.

The fierce ruler of the earth, Adela.

Moreover, earth mages who borrow the power of the earth are quite common at Ardel Academy.

"Her skills are better than I thought."

At that level.

Even a normal second-year student would seem advanced to me, who knows nothing about magic.

Given that Ardel Academy is full of exceptional students, it's not surprising.

So, it's a stretch to conclude that this seemingly ordinary girl is Adela just because she uses a taming technique.

And she...

Seems kinder than described.

Somehow.

She has a bit of a short temper and a harsh way of speaking.

But the fact that she doesn't avoid Han Sihwa, who is notorious for being a failure, speaks volumes about her character.

"Thirsty? I don't see any water around."

"Probably not."

The girl hung her head, looking dejected.

I spoke calmly.

"I don't see any food either. Though, there are some things that might be edible."

"Edible things?"

"You and me."

"...That's a disgusting thought."

"We're the only ones left to eat, right?"

At my words, the short-haired girl grumbled and shuffled her feet.

We've already dealt with over thirty slimes. I hoped the unstable dungeon would somehow stabilize, but there's been no news.

Do we really have to wait here indefinitely?

It's been at least three hours since we entered the dungeon.

I thought this school didn't care about students to this extent...

The short-haired girl corrected my thoughts with a detached voice.

"It's probably been 30 minutes."

"30 minutes?"

"There's a time spell. It's to give us enough time to train."

Time flows differently inside the dungeon compared to outside.

What a considerate arrangement.

Thanks to which, we're about to dry up and die in here with the slimes.

"When will they come to rescue us? Do they even know we're trapped?"

"They might not know yet. What's certain is... we have to hold on for a few more hours."

I can barely see with the breath of Basil, and the swamp makes it hard to see the slimes.

The difficulty of the monsters is beyond what a 3rd-class mage can handle.

Especially when they come in groups, it's even more terrifying.

Every time I see the glowing slimes, my arms tremble.

Thud.

The grass beneath the glowing slime on the opposite side was burning.

Despite the swamp making the ground damp, the green grass quickly turned black.

Just looking at it, I can tell.

These aren't the slimes I practiced with earlier. They are venomous slimes.

A single touch would likely be a one-way ticket to the afterlife.

Thinking about it...

"Continuing to fight them is unrealistic."

After a long struggle, I came to this conclusion.

"What?"

While burying a slime that was oozing purple liquid, the short-haired girl frowned.

Despite using all her magic power to barely hold on, she was questioning my energy.

Of course, I didn't expect a polite response.

"Then, are we just going to sit here and wait to die?"

No way.

"Hey, buy me some time."

"...What? What are you planning?"

Ignoring her puzzled gaze, I hurriedly turned and ran.

While she was busy luring the slimes, I would make my last desperate attempt.

"Hmm."

The method to deal with a distorted dungeon was shown in Slime Academy.

The episode where Han Sihwa's abilities were clearly inferior to Lee Han, and she was punished.

The scene where Han Sihwa tried to set up a barricade to buy time and plant bombs to explode the slimes.

People wondered why she was applying jungle survival rules in a hunter's world, and even as an antagonist, she couldn't be that stupid.

She received all sorts of criticism from readers.

But I don't think it was such a stupid method.

Looking at it, this guy might have brought it upon himself, but he wasn't completely incompetent.

The method was perfect. Han Sihwa just missed two things.

Fire. And amplification of magic power.

"Basil, help me a bit."

"Roar!"

* * *

What are you doing?

Adela, panting while fighting the slimes, looked at Han Sihwa with a disapproving gaze.

She was bringing in wooden vines and fixing them to the ground.

"I think there were monsters like that."

They had mouths to eat people.

Flytrap or something. Anyway, this place was hell.

Adela bit her lower lip nervously.

"Are you planning to catch slimes with those?"

This isn't a fishing spot. If you wanted to set up traps, you should have gone to the sea.

She seemed competent when taming, but maybe this was the limit of Han Sihwa's abilities.

Adela sighed and hit the approaching slimes.

Obviously, her magic power was almost depleted. Her sword was already covered in purple stains.

When it became too exhausting to move a finger, maybe it would be better to throw herself into the vines and die.

At least better than being eaten by the slimes oozing venom.

Hopefully, the professors would find them before then.

While thinking this, she was about to finish off the last two slimes.

"Huh?"

Thud.

Adela stopped in front of the long wooden vines.

All the vines were brought in and now surrounded them in a circle.

"Ah."

Adela finally realized Han Sihwa's foolish plan.

Is she planning to set up a barricade with these vines to catch the slimes?

It might buy some time...

"It won't work. They'll just burn everything."

If they were practice slimes, it might have worked. But these slimes that burn the grass black? Wooden vines won't do anything.

However.

Adela was even more surprised by Han Sihwa's next move.

"...Arrow."

"What are you planning to do?"

"I don't know."

Han Sihwa took out a magic bow from the air, a somewhat effective attack spell she could make with her still clumsy magic control. But it wouldn't be enough on its own.

"Basil."

But if fire is added...

Thud.

The magic power began to burn rapidly.

Adela was forced to stop as the flames, fueled by magic power, burned fiercely.

"What is this...?"

She never thought it was possible to burn magic power.

At least, not in her knowledge.

But right in front of her.

Han Sihwa was demonstrating a new battle technique.

The flaming arrows, burning so fiercely that they were hard to hold, made Han Sihwa smile as she took a deep breath.

She was naturally gifted with magic power.

She just didn't know how to use it.

But now.

She could just brute-force the magic power.

Right now.

By amplifying it to an extreme, it would explode in any direction. That's why she set up the barricade in a circle.

When she gathered all the magic power in her body.

"!"

The fire arrow, about to explode like a bomb due to the magic power.

As soon as she released the perfectly aimed arrow, a massive fireball shot out in all directions.

"Huh?"

She didn't think it would work.

She didn't expect to cast a fire arrow from the start, let alone add real fire to a basic spell like an arrow.

But.

Bang. Bang.

Adela's eyes widened at the sound.

The slimes exploded in the air like fireworks.

Boom.

Boom.

An attack utilizing the slimes' weakness to fire.

Watching the slimes' final moments as they burned with the fireballs, Adela blinked.

No, should she be admiring this?

If the colors were prettier, maybe.

"..."

Thud.

Adela, dodging the dark purple rain here and there, looked up at the sky.

When the toxic rain finally stopped, she regained her senses.

"Crazy."

What did I just see?