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A week later.
Wednesday morning of the last week of May.
Elton Academy Auditorium.
All freshmen are gathered.
Everyone has a large backpack on their back.
In front of the auditorium, thick document envelopes are piled up to match the number of students.
Professor Stella's thunderous voice echoed throughout the auditorium.
"Okay, come out from the front and take one envelope each. You can't know what's inside. The teaching assistants have mixed them well, so just take them in order."
About 200 freshmen came out in order and took one document envelope each.
"If you open the envelope, the first thing you'll see is a piece of paper with an alphabet from A to F. As you saw when you came in, there are six magic circles drawn at the back of the auditorium. Flags with the alphabets from A to F are placed in front of the magic circles. Once you check the paper, go and stand on the magic circle that matches the alphabet you picked."
Now, students who have had similar experiences a few times moved to their respective locations in an orderly fashion.
Davian moved to the same magic circle as Nubes and Bellum.
Nubes saw Davian's alphabet and shouted.
"Oh! Davian! You and I are moving to the same area!"
"It doesn't really mean anything. As soon as we get there, we have to go on a solo exploration according to this map."
"Isn't it possible that we might be on the same path?"
"It'll only be for a little while."
"Where..."
Only then did Nubes take out her map and look around.
"...I'm not good at reading maps."
Davian and Bellum looked at Nubes at the same time.
Bellum looked at Nubes' map with a dumbfounded expression.
"Hey, Nubes. It's a personal exploration practice, didn't you learn how to read maps?"
"I tried to learn, but I'm not good at it. Am I directionally challenged?"
Bellum, who was looking at Nubes' map, put her finger on the map.
"Let's see. I overlap with you up to here. Let's go together until here and then split up. After that, you just have to go straight with the lake on your left."
"Really? Oh... thanks, Bellum."
"It's boring to go alone anyway."
Bellum then turned her head towards Davian's map.
"Which way are you going, Davian?"
"I don't overlap. I'll probably be going alone."
"Look for other kids. There might be someone who overlaps with you in the middle."
"I can go alone."
"You're always so chic."
Davian, Nubes, and Bellum stood on the magic circle behind the sign that said C.
A teaching assistant came up to them.
"Group C is going to the Batian Lake area. A large lake area right below the northern ice region. You know? It's north, but it won't be as cold as the northern ice region, so don't worry too much."
Batian Lake area.
A unique terrain densely packed with large and small lakes.
The teaching assistant raised the back of his right hand to the left side of his mouth and stretched his neck forward.
The teaching assistant whispered as if sharing a secret story.
"Be careful, there have been a lot of missing person reports in this area lately."
Nubes' face turned pale.
Bellum nudged Nubes' side.
"Why are you turning white again? He's just trying to scare us. Just to make us a little nervous on the way."
"R-really? Phew... that's a relief."
No.
What the teaching assistant said was true.
Davian lowered his head and looked at his map again.
'No matter how many times I draw, it's the same map.'
This time, he drew the same map that pointed to the same point as the 2nd and 3rd playthroughs.
In the end, it means that this is where the bonus stage event will be held.
In the 2nd playthrough, he barely cleared the first stage and gave up.
In the 3rd playthrough, he cleared up to the third stage and then gave up.
'I should go a little further this time.'
Fortunately, there is also strong support.
Davian was more anticipating the greater rewards than fearing the failure penalty.
'Let's go as far as we can. And see Glacie's real skills too.'
When the teaching assistant's guidance was over, a bright light poured out from the magic circle.
A little later.
About 30 students in Group C moved to a prairie where everything around them was yellow.
Like autumn ginkgo trees, the trees and grass in the prairie were all yellow.
"Now, you can start exploring to the locations marked on the maps you received. The exploration period is three days until Friday. But, well, if you're more ambitious, you can use the weekend too. You just have to come back before the Monday morning class anyway."
The teaching assistant, who had finished the instructions, took out a scroll from his pocket with a lighthearted expression.
"Then, I hope you have good results..."
The teaching assistant smiled brightly and disappeared into light.
"Why did the teaching assistant suddenly become so bright?"
"All the freshmen have gone out for practice. And it's for three days. And the next thing is the weekend. Isn't it almost like a vacation?"
"Ah, so that's why he disappeared with such a bright expression..."
Davian, who roughly checked the direction, took his first step.
"I'm going first."
"Huh? Already? Have you figured out the direction?"
"I have, so I'm going."
Bellum clicked her tongue.
"Davian, you're always so quick. Amazing anyway. Have you been here before?"
He's been here.
"Been here? You can tell just by looking roughly."
Northwestern outskirts of the Batian Lake area.
'There it is.'
Where Davian's gaze was directed.
He could see a large rock flickering.
The space is distorted because it is connected to another dimension.
On the surface, it looked no different from a normal dungeon entrance.
But Davian knew very well that it wasn't an ordinary dungeon entrance.
It was the very place where he almost died after going in thinking it was a dungeon that gave bonus rewards in the 2nd playthrough.
When he stood in front of the shimmering rock, an alarm rang.
Tring.
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[Event: Bonus Stage]
―You can decide whether to participate in each stage.
―It consists of a total of 8 stages.
―The difficulty increases rapidly with each stage.
=====
Successive alarms.
Tring.
=====
[Stage 1]
―Reward: 1,000 Mana Points (x2)
―Reward: Recovery Potion (Rarity ☆)
―Participation: Y / N
―Failure: Death
=====
...This insignificant reward was the problem.
The reason why he fearlessly challenged 'Stage 1' in the 2nd playthrough, even though the failure penalty was death.
It was because of this measly reward.
He thought, how difficult could an event that gives only 1,000 mana points be?
'But I almost died.'
But now it's different from then.
He goes in knowing the difficulty.
'Okay, let's go in.'
Davian stepped into the shimmering rock.
Splash.
Davian, who passed through the rock, arrived in a completely different space.
A red sun floating above his head.
Red clouds spread around the sun.
Three large and small planets floating near the red horizon.
A sulfur smell that stimulates the nose.
Perhaps because of the red sun, the mountains and fields were all dyed red.
'It's been a while.'
Where Davian arrived.
The home of all kinds of monsters living in the dungeon.
And unlike the monsters, the place where the demons who are not sucked into the dungeon live.
It was the Demon Realm.
Davian was standing on a red hill.
A small village could be seen below the hill.
Alien buildings that looked like a human village but were somehow different.
It is a village where demons, intelligent creatures of the Demon Realm with intelligence similar to humans, live.
"Davian!"
A familiar voice.
"Huh? I haven't called you yet?"
Glacie, who had appeared before he knew it, was floating next to him.
"Huh? What are you talking about? Were you going to call me?"
"Well, I thought there might be something I could help with today. But how did you know to show up?"
"My contractor suddenly crossed over to another dimension, so I had to come. Anyway, what's going on here in the Demon Realm?"
Even if he explained that he came to clear the bonus stage, he would obviously not understand.
"I have some business to do."
"A human with business in the Demon Realm? Kehehe. That's fun. Even Erium didn't do this. As expected, you're my friend Davian. Unique. Satisfactory."
"...I'm glad you're satisfied."
"But Davian. You know that this is a very dangerous place, right? Compared to this Demon Realm, the dungeons in the human world are just experiential learning centers."
"I know."
Davian turned around.
The exit that could return to the human world was slowly closing.
The current dimension transfer channel is unstable.
Unlike a dungeon where the entrance is always open, it repeatedly opens and closes from time to time.
In a few years, this dimension transfer channel will not disappear and will take its place like a dungeon entrance.
That's why demons pour out into various parts of the Pax continent.
Anyway, it's not now.
Davian took out Ferrarius's gloves from the inside pocket of his school uniform jacket.
"Oh? Davian! Are you already preparing to fight?"
"Of course. Can't you see them?"
At Davian's words, Glacie turned her head and looked.
She could see a few dolls running towards this place.
But they're not humans.
Red horns on their heads.
Clothes made of leather, different from human attire.
The rest are beings that look exactly like humans.
They were demons.
One of the demons who was rushing shouted.
"The exit is already closed!"
"Is it a failure again? We need to go out quickly and find Amelia!"
"But what's that guy standing over there?"
"...Huh? He doesn't have horns on his head!"
"His clothes are weird too!"
"It's a human!"
The demons, who were very nervous, stopped in their tracks and drew their weapons.
The weapon they took out was a knife with a wide side and a blade on only one side.
"Be careful. I heard that humans who come over here are usually skilled."
The tallest demon frowned deeply and looked towards Davian.
"He seems to be young."
"Really? Then let's hit him!"
Paat.
The four demons began to rush towards Davian as they were.
Davian looked at them.
"Glacie."
"Yes?"
"I hate demons. Starting from the way they rush in without looking back. There are so many things I don't like."
"Humans and demons are different."
The memory of the 3rd playthrough came to Davian's mind.
...It was a whole month.
For a month, demons constantly attacked Elton Academy.
All employees and students, including professors and teaching assistants, desperately blocked the demons' invasion.
But the large size of the academy building became a poison.
Because of the demons who might rush to any side of the wall at any time, the academy's forces always had to be scattered.
As a result, many sacrifices followed each battle.
The number of seniors and juniors who died in front of Davian's eyes was close to 100.
But the number of demons rushing in only increased more and more.
The royal family was also under attack by them, so they could not send support troops.
Then eventually...
'I was stabbed in the back by a lower demon and died.'
Clench.
The sound of Davian gnashing his teeth reached Glacie's ears.
The four demons who drove Davian of the 2nd playthrough to the brink of death.
But now, even the posture of rushing is ridiculous.
There was no hesitation in Davian's hands.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Sharp wind elemental magic split the space.
The number of wind elemental magic was four.
The number of demons was also four.
Slash!
The demons who were rushing could not even scream once and fell with their bodies cut in half.
Tring.
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