Surviving as the Academy’s Weakest NPC-Chapter 116 : Chapter 116

Chapter : 116
“Zephyros, you damn son of a bitch!!!”
I gnashed my teeth and swore as I evaporated the rain of fire arrows with a Circle of Water, just barely.
With a firepower that was hard to believe for a first-year final exam pouring down, I gritted my teeth, creating a Circle of Water with one hand and hastily writing with the other.
「The pouring fire arrows disappear」
As I hurriedly finished writing, the fire arrows finally vanished.
The sensation of a chunk of mana draining away in an instant made me frown, but a life was, after all, more precious than mana.
“This is crazy.”
As I wiped the sweat from my chin, I heard the sound of machinery moving wildly.
At the same time, a mechanical voice echoed from afar.
[Primary security disabled for unknown reasons. Confirming reason. Confirmed.
Confirming access authority. Confirmed. Proceeding with appropriate procedure.]
As the voice completely finished, a roar that seemed to shake the dungeon itself was heard.
Now what? What is it!
Before I could even be astonished, I saw water pouring in from the distance.
“Ah, X-bal.”
My life is screwed.
I watched it with a pale face.
* * *
How did things end up like this?
It all started with the written exam for Basic Elemental Magic.
The exam questions weren't too difficult for me since I had studied with the cheat sheets given by Cecilia and Lerwon.
I even submitted an answer sheet that quoted the contents of a thesis I had memorized.
Zephyros, who had submitted his answer sheet first, was waiting for me with a resigned look on his face.
“You didn’t leave anything blank, did you?”
“I managed to write something down, somehow.”
It seems he didn't completely bomb it.
The guy who also got the cheat sheets is making a fuss for nothing.
It’s 10 o’clock now, and the practical exam has a one-hour limit, so once we’re done with the practical, it’ll be lunchtime.
Zephyros, who had checked the time with his pocket watch, asked.
“You’re going straight to the practical, right?”
“Yeah.”
Taking the written and practical exams at once.
How great it would have been if we only had to take one of them; having to prepare for both at the same time was just merciless.
To the students who complained about the doubled exam preparation, Professor Beatrice had proudly said while picking her ear.
‘If you don’t like it, don’t take my class.’
For a professor, those were quite unconventional words.
“What kind of exam is she going to give us?”
I couldn't even begin to guess what the final practical exam, where both cooperation and interference between students were strictly forbidden, would be.
It would probably be a test of applying basic elemental magic, similar to the midterm exam.
“…Can’t you find out the exam questions with a prophetic dream?”
“Do you think that’s possible?”
At my question, Zephyros clicked his tongue, tsk, as if disappointed.
The Zephyros in the game definitely didn't have this kind of personality.
How did he end up with such a cheeky personality?
Is this my fault?
“Did you eat something weird?”
At the following question, I decided not to think about it too deeply.
Yeah, he's not a four-year-old kid.
Would his life really change just because of one friend?
“I just hope no strange accidents happen.”
Don’t raise a flag!
I’ll double the probability of an incident happening.
Right now, Zephyros's words sounded like that to me.
This is screwed.
“I’m doomed.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We usually call that a flag.”
At my small mumble, I could feel Zephyros cursing me with his eyes as if telling me to stop talking nonsense.
Whether what I’m saying now is nonsense or not will be proven soon enough.
…I was hoping that the one spouting nonsense would be me.
“Cough, cough!!”
Coughing fits erupted as if I were expelling the water that had been pressing down on my chest.
First, my fingers fumbled for the ground, and the next moment, my arms gave out.
My face hit the cold stone, and it hurt, but the mere fact that it was land brought a sense of relief.
“Kehek!”
My throat felt like it was on fire, but inhaling air came first.
It was cold, damp, and dirty, but just that was welcome enough to bring tears to my eyes.
“Ugh….”
I barely managed to lift my head, but my vision swam.
The sound of rushing water buzzed in my ears.
I took a short breath once, twice, trying to get a hold of my body, but I had no strength.
“What the hell is this dog-like situation.”
I wiped the water from my face. Ugh, it feels disgusting.
I frowned for a moment, then quickly looked around.
I didn't hear any mechanical voice like before.
“Was there a place like this?”
I hastily searched through my memories of the original story, but I couldn't remember anything at all.
“Why are there so many unexpected events?”
Letting out a groan, I flopped down.
Should I wait until I'm rescued? But how long would that take?
It was impossible to go against the rushing water.
I wanted to use a skill, but being swept away by the water was faster.
After that, I passed out at some point and ended up here….
“How long was I out?”
My head hurts. It's hard to even continue a proper thought.
I pressed down on my brow and then managed to get up.
I don't know how far I've been pushed, and there's no guarantee anyone will come looking for me.
It's better to move than to wait aimlessly.
The moment I made up my mind, I heard the system's voice for the first time in a while.
+++
<Sudden Quest>
You have been caught in a dungeon during an exam.
This is an anomaly that was not supposed to happen.
Uncover the dungeon's secret, resolve the anomaly, and escape safely.
-Time Limit: 4 hours
-Reward: 3,000 EXP, Special Skill <???>
-Failure: Game Reset
+++
The moment I read the text, I had no choice but to truly understand what it meant to be dumbfounded.
“…This crazy system!!”
Game reset, those four letters made my reason evaporate.
There's no other way to describe this than crazy.
Putting a game reset on a mere sudden quest?
“What the hell is the secret!”
It’s not just coercive, it’s downright forceful, but the system wouldn't move without a reason.
Above all, the moments when the system wielded ‘game reset’ as a weapon that I absolutely could not defy were not that many.
The tutorial and the first sudden quest were all there was.
“What’s the reason for a game reset?”
It’s probably the system’s own little trick to impose compulsion at a certain branching point where the ‘purpose’ it wants to achieve through me cannot be fulfilled.
It's annoying to have to fall for such an obvious trick, but it's better than a game reset, anyway.
“Apart from the world ending, I really hate it.”
Even if the world were to reset and repeat the same things, would my current friends and the friends of that time be the same?
They might be similar, but they would definitely be different.
“Protagonists of regression stories endure this kind of thing so well.”
Just imagining it makes me want to vomit everything up.
“The system wouldn’t have just thrown a task at me without an answer.”
There must be a way.
The system has never once thrown me a problem without a solution.
And, as it happens, I have a cheat key that can solve most problems, don't I?
「A map of the dungeon unfolds」
A map unfolded in an instant.
The dungeon for the exam consisted of a total of three underground floors.
「Confirm current location」
As the next text followed, something like a red dot appeared.
Next, I should probably check this, but I felt a strange sense of foreboding.
Please, I hope it’s not as bad as I think.
「Mark the exam area in yellow」
With that, a place that seemed to be the first underground floor of the map glowed yellow.
“Does this mean the second and third underground floors are all closed-off areas?”
And I came all the way down to the third underground floor along this waterway.
“If I had just waited, I would have starved to death for sure.”
Well, since the waterway was opened once, would they be able to track me down somehow?
「Mark the place where the dungeon’s secret is hidden」
I use the skill for the last time. If I use it anymore, I’ll run out of mana to cast spells.
A red area appeared on the map, and I estimated its location.
“Looks like the boss room is on the second floor.”
The only way to the boss room is a straight path up from the third floor to the second.
I have to pass through about three rooms to get into the boss room, and a sense of anxiety wells up.
Can I do it alone?
A magician thrown alone into an unexplored dungeon where I don't know what variables might pop up.
“Even seven lives wouldn't be enough.”
However, the fact that I have to move forward remains unchanged.
Well then, shall we give it a go?
* * *
“Ah, this is driving me crazy.”
Beatrice wanted to tear her hair out. If only that would solve this troublesome problem.
“Beatrice Bellfiar.”
At the cool voice calling her, Beatrice almost let out a scream.
Barely managing to cover her mouth, she turned her head to see an incensed Evan Lisitoel, looking as if he were about to shoot a killing spell at any moment.
“I heard there was an accident.”
“And it just had to be your son….”
Beatrice barely managed to speak in a hushed voice.
Why, of all the many people, did it have to be Theo Lisitoel!
It wasn't that it would be okay if another student went missing, but it just had to be Theo Lisitoel, again.
“At this point, don't you think your son has some kind of curse on him?”
“You would have checked, wouldn't you?”
“Of course.”
Nothing in the world happens by chance; that was a magician’s golden rule.
Even if it appeared to be a coincidence on the surface, it was the result of unseen causes, choices, actions, environment, and encounters at play behind it.
And, in a case of extremely bad luck like Theo Lisitoel's, there was a possibility of it being linked to a curse.
“When Theo collapsed, wasn't the first thing you checked with Artemia whether it was a curse or not?”
“That’s right.”
“And I’ve been checking ever since.”
Beatrice crossed her arms and tapped her forearm.
“You said it was completely clean, without a trace of a curse?”
“…Yes.”
The fact that Theo had fallen into a long, long sleep close to death for a very long time, and that he had woken up after 10 years because of it, were all a cruel joke of the gods, not the malice of humans.
And the reason his only son kept getting caught up in all sorts of incidents was not a curse either.
“Though I do think it’s partly his own fault, to be honest.”
“Beatrice Bellfiar.”
“I know my own name even if you don't say it.”
Beatrice’s gaze as she looked at the dungeon along with her scolding was complicated.
She had no idea what kind of situation the son of her damn friend, who had been missing for three hours, was in inside there.
“He didn’t wander into a closed-off area, did he?”
Hey, no way.
Why would a dungeon that hasn't allowed anyone to enter for 1,000 years suddenly let Theo Lisitoel in for some reason?
There's no way that could be the case….
“Let’s stop the exam and enter the dungeon right away.”
It wasn't a normal judgment.
But hadn't Theo Lisitoel already proven enough in the short span of two months?
If you get involved with him, any normal daily life would deviate from the ‘normal situation.’
“That would be for the best.”
Evan agreed.
Please, just don’t die. Theo Lisitoel. If you die, I won’t be able to handle it.
Beatrice prayed desperately for the boy who was lost somewhere in the dungeon.