"Why did you freeze the entr—"

<[Ice shards]>

What interrupted me was a chant, followed by dozens of sharp-looking ice shooting towards me at great speed.

Frowning, I used Wind magic to slightly alter their course, making them barely miss me.

"L- Look, Sylvia! My hair might be gray right now but I'm definitely Theodore!"

"I know", she calmly replied. 

She then continued with a hint of excitement in her voice. "That's exactly why I'm doing this"

"Doing what? Killing me?"

In response, Sylvia merely chanted.

<[Stellar projection]>

Nodding at apparently thin air, Sylvia extended her right hand out, manifesting a Scythe made of ice.

Pointing the Scythe at me, she spoke. "I challenge you to a duel"

'So that's what's happening', I sighed inwardly.

This was why I wanted to avoid Sylvia in here at all costs. After all, she even stared at me with an excited gaze as soon as the professor said that fighting was allowed.

Now that I thought about it, why did I even come to find her in the first place?

'Was I... concerned for her safety?'

Although she annoyed me with requests for duels everyday, I had to admit that it made my days somewhat less boring. After all, I anticipated her requests everyday, albeit just so I can turn it down and see her being disappointed. Her tails drooping down, dragging along the floor as she walked away was pretty cute after all.

Admittedly, having a beauty like her chasing after me was also a good feeling.

'No... I can't think of it like that. She's supposed to be Arthur's', I slapped my own cheeks in self-reprimand.

'I'm merely worried about her safety because she's a heroine, that's all'

Stopping my thoughts there, I turned my gaze back to Sylvia, who was looking at me with anticipation. "I refuse"

Shaking her head, Sylvia refused my... refusal and got into a battle stance. "It doesn't matter. The professors had already permitted fighting"

"..."

"As long as you're not crippled or dead..."

TINKLE—!

"...I can fight to my heart's content"

SHIIIIIIING—!

A high-pitched sound rang out as layers of sharp icicles appeared above my head.

'Crazy!'

I tried to dash out of the way, but of course, thing weren't so easy for me.

<[Ground freeze]>

Instantly, the ground below me became slippery. 

"Ack!", I lets out a groan as I fell to the ground.

Seeing the icicles falling closer and closer to me, I extended my right hand out and focused Wind mana.

<[Wind burst]>

FWOOOSH—!

I flew out of the spell's range just in time.

Looking back at where I was, I gulped as the ground was full of little holes.

'If that had hit me...'

GULP—!

"S- Sylvia! Let's not fight here! I'll fight you once we get out of the dungeon, okay?"

'As if I'd want to fight you ever again', I sneered inwardly.

Staring at me as if she was looking into my soul for a good second, Sylvia slowly shook her head. "You're lying"

'...How did she know? Was my expression that obvious?'

Tinkle—!

As soon as I finished my thoughts, a clear tinkling sound rang out, and Ice mana suddenly converged in great quantity under my feet.

<[Ice lance]>

Spikes of ice shot out from the ground towards where I was standing. Luckily for me, I had just dodged out of the way mere moments earlier.

Unluckily though, my backpack wasn't spared from the fate of being skewered.

|Hiiiiiik!|, a scared noise suddenly rang out in my mind.

(Lyra?)

I narrowed my eyes as I continued to dodge the [Ice lances] that were still trying to impale me. It was as if I was in a bullet hell game.

(Why are you here?)

|Fuhahaha!|, Lyra laughed as if she hadn't just screamed in fear earlier while she flew to the ceiling of the room, landing on a ledge. |I sensed that you were in danger earlier so I manifested inside your bag|

Sylvia seemed to have also noticed Lyra, who was in her bird form. As such, she was giving me a questioning look.

Feigning ignorance, I shrugged my shoulders at her.

Seeing this, she began attacking again.

<[Ice lance]>  <[Ice spear]>

WOOOOSH—!

A wooshing sound could be heard as an Ice lance grazed my cheeks.

'It's faster now?'

In response to the increase in speed, I coursed Lightning mana throughout my body.

<[Red lightning]>

Being able to dodge Sylvia's attacks with slightly more ease now, I observed the situation again.

Lances were still trying to skewer me, and the [Ice spears], which Sylvia had just casted, where floating behind her menacingly. They traced each and every of my movements, but they still refused to launch themselves at me.

I then asked Lyra. (Since when were you here?)

|Hm? I've been here since you saw that... tree? I'm not sure what it was|

(...Then why didn't I see you when I took out the bandages from my backpack?)

|Well, it's because I used my skill [B - Ash veil] |

Although I'd have liked to ask Lyra how presumably ash could make her invisible, this wasn't the right time to ask such questions.

(Why did you even come here? What could you even have done to help me?)

|If the tree had landed an attack on you, I've have spent most of my power to kill it. I can't let my only champion die after all|, Lyra replied in a tone as if she was waiting to be praised. 

Feigning ignorance to the obvious intent behind her answer, I spoke to Lyra. (...So can you spend your power to save me now? Not going to lie, I'm kind of in a dire situa—)

WOOOOOOSH—!

As I was in the middle of talking to Lyra, an [Ice lance] shot directly towards my face. It barely missed me as I twisted my body to the left.

(...See?), I sighed. (I almost died there, so help me!)

|...|

(Lyra?)

|I can't|

(Why?), I frowned.

Sighing, Lyra answered. |Me killing a Dragon is akin to waging war with God Draconis|

(...I wouldn't want Sylvia to die either, so just knock her out or something!)

|I can't|, she sighed again. |If I used my powers like I did the other day, it wouldn't be able to do anything to her. So... only thing I can do right now is kill her|

(I see, then w—)

Spurt—!

As I was too distracted conversing with Lyra, a lance had successfully impaled me in the stomach.

"F- Fuck..!"

Pain, all I felt was pain. It wasn't the searing pain like Ria's fire. Instead, it was the chilling pain of frostbite slowly forming on my stomach.

As if they had just lost strength, my legs gave out, and I was kneeling on the ground.

'...So this is the end?', I despaired as 3 more lances were fast approaching me.

However—

"Huh?"

—They stopped dead in their tracks.

The lance right in front of me crumbled into pieces, revealing Sylvia who was still standing a distance away, looking at me with an indifferent gaze.

<[Portal]>

As soon as the chant left her mouth, a gaping hole in space appeared right behind her.

She then dashed backwards and went into the portal, leaving the dozens of Ice spears still at their place, pointing at me.

Vuam—!

A sound, one that was all to familiar to me who had used Gates countless times, came from behind me.

Before I could even turn around, I felt cold metal pressing against my neck.

'...A Scythe?'

Snapping me out of my thoughts was an monotonous whisper in my ear. "Stay still, and do not turn around"

Of course, it didn't take a genius to know that the voice belonged to Sylvia.

Gulping a mouthful of saliva, I complied.

A layer of frost then slowly appeared on my hand, freezing the bandage and breaking it into pieces. 

As the last piece of bandage fell off, my severely burnt hand was laid bare for the world to see.

I could hear a sigh coming from behind me, but I didn't have time to dwell on it, as a light-blue magic circle suddenly appeared before me.

"S- Sylvia", I stuttered. "There's no need to kill me, right?"

As if answering my question, the circle grew brighter and much more intricate.

"H- Hey! I have a daughter waiting for me at home. You know, the pink-haired girl. A- Are you that heartless to make her an orphan?"

"..."

Still keeping silent, Sylvia completed the circle.

<[Hydro beam]>

A beam of extremely pressurized water shot out from the circle, instantly reducing my body into bits of flesh.

Or, that was what I had expected to happen.

Instead, the beam of water slowly extended to me. It then enveloped my entire body.

As opposed to being suffocated to death like I had anticipated, I could breath normally. In fact, I felt... at ease while being in the water.

Eventually, the water all vaporized, and also vaporizing along with it was—

"Huh? My wounds?"

—All of the injuries I had accumulated. Yes, even the burn I had on my hands.

'...Can't believe I forgot about this', I facepalmed myself.

Sylvia's water magic was dedicated to healing, so of course it would heal me instead of harm me.

Seeing that all my wounds had healed, Sylvia retracted her Scythe and stepped into the tear in space behind me again.

Vuam—!

Now standing where she originally was, she shouted. "I'll give you 30 seconds to prepare yourself for the real battle"

'She's still at it?', I sighed in frustration.

I was half-expecting her to apologize to me after healing me and stop fighting me because I got defeated too easily. But it seemed that I hadn't lost quite pathetically enough to warrant that kind of reaction from her.

Sighing yet again, I did a few stretches with my arms.

'They don't hurt anymore... as expected of Sylvia the White witch'

I then took out a sword from [Alternate storage] and readied my stance.

'Let's lose in the most pathetic way possible, shall we?'

30 seconds must have passed, as Sylvia was sliding towards me on the ice floor.

She was pulling her hand back, presumably trying to punch me.

Anyone could see that the punch wouldn't hurt me even if it landed square on my face. Furthermore I could easily dodge it if I had just moved a little bit to the left.

However, I stood still and braced myself for the punch. After all—

'What's more pathetic than being knocked out after a mere punch?'

—It was my first step to my plan.

BAM—!

Her fist made contact with my cheek. There were a lot more force behind it than I had expected, so I was sent flying away into a wall.

Well, despite that, it didn't hurt at all.

'...I still have to act my part though'

"Ow!", I massaged my left cheek as I fell to the ground.

"The pain!", I shouted. "It's killing me!"

|Uh Theodore?|

(What? I'm trying to save myself here!), I replied with irritation.

|I don't know what you're trying to do but... you're rubbing the wrong cheek|

I instantly froze on the spot in realization, before switching to massaging my right cheek instead.

'Please don't notice! Please don't notice! Please don't notice'

And of course, my prayers weren't answered, as Sylvia's eyes darkened.

After a while, she spoke.

"Fight me properly, or I will kill the fucking Zeus knockoff of a God that you follows"

Instantly, my eyes were filled with rage. However, the rage was not of my own, as—

|WHAT DID THAT FUCKING LIZARD JUST SAY?|

—It was Lyra who was mad, not me.

However, like with that time in the Hall of Divinity, her emotions were affecting me.

(Lyra! Calm down!)

|CALM DOWN? THAT FUCKING LIZARD JUST INSULTED MY FATHER. UNFORGIVABLE!|

My emotions were starting to get out of control.

I decided to just activate my skill.

<[F - Emotionless]>

Instantly after, all my emotions disappeared. And even the overwhelming rage dissipated into nothingness.

Or that was how it was supposed to go.

***

Trauma

That was what most students present were going through right now.

-W- What the fuck is this?

-NO! BIGSNAKE! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE BEFORE GIVING ME YOUR REAL NAME?

-Ugh! That's disgusting!

Of course, all of those statements were related to the burnt corpses in the tree's belly.

Holding in her urge to puke and gathering her courage, Amelia spoke up. "Attention!"

Seeing that almost everyone's eyes were on her, Amelia continued. "Let's bring the corpses out of the dungeon so that the professors can take them back to their families!"

However, unexpectedly to Amelia, who had been leading the students for well over 5 hours now, they voiced displeasure at her orders.

-Fuck no! Why should we dirty our hands?

-I don't know... I think we should leave this place as soon as possible.

-W- Wait! Isn't that the exit?

Instantly, everyone's gaze turned to the blue fissure behind the tree.

"..."

"..."

Silence enveloped the entire room, as every students gazed at each other warily.

Eventually, someone broke the silence.

-GET OUT OF MY WAY! I'M GOING FIRST!

-NO, YOU GET OUT OF MY WAY!

Nobles and commoners alike, they all tried to shove each other out of the way to exit the dungeon.

Amelia could only hung her head down helplessly at this.

Pat—! Pat—!

"Thanks, Lucy", Amelia said as she felt Lucy's hand patting her shoulder, consoling her.

After a few minutes, the room was empty. Well, nearly empty anyways.

Raun, Krista, Amelia, and Lucy were still in the dungeon.

Evelyn were here too. Although the excuse she gave them was that she preferred dealing with dead humans than living humans. That and the fact that she didn't want Amelia or Raun to touch any beastkin's corpses.

And there was also—

"TELL ME! WHERE IS SYLVIA?"

—Max, who was practically screaming in Amelia's ears.

Covering her ears, Amelia calmly replied. "Theodore had already gone to look for her. You going to find her too would just complicate things"

Max's eyes shook violently at the mention of Theodore. Gritting his teeth in anger, he shouted. "THAT'S EXCATLY WHY I NEED TO FIND HER. WHO KNOWS WHAT THAT PERVERT WILL DO TO LADY SYLVIA!"

Shaking her head, Amelia ignored Max and focused on getting the corpses out.

Max glared at Amelia with bloodshot eyes. No doubt he would have pounced on her and pummeled the shit out of her if Lucy wasn't right beside her, similarly glaring at Max.

"This is going nowhere", Amelia muttered as she could barely lift a corpse up.

Sighing, she reached into her pocket, took out a seed pack and—

RIP—!

—Ripped it open.

Hundreds of tiny seeds fell onto the floor, some falling into holes that the tree's roots made.

Amelia willed Life mana into those seeds, and chanted.

<[Grow]>

Instantly, dozens of vines grew from the seeds.

With a wave of her hand, the vines coiled around the body, taking them near the blue fissure.

"I have to thank Ria for this", Amelia muttered.

After all, she wouldn't have even thought of using her Life magic this way if it wasn't for Ria's suggestion.

And thanks to that, she now had a way to defend, and attack.

'I can't keep relying on Raun after all'

It was then that a groan rang out.

"Ughhhh! How long was I out for?"

The groan belonged to Krista. She held her head in pain as she slowly got up.

Amelia smiled warmly at this. She was about to walk up to Krista and ask for her well-being when she noticed that Raun was one step faster than her.

Shaking her head, Amelia decided to get back to moving the corpses.

Though, she couldn't help but to overhear their conversation.

"You've been out for about 2 hours, Krista"

"..."

"Don't worry too much, Theodore showed up while you were sleeping"

"What?", Krista sighed in relief. "Really?"

"Yes", Raun puffed his chest out as if he wanted to be praised for delivering the information.

Krista, oblivious to Raun's thoughts, looked around the room confusedly.

"I don't see him though"

Desperate for a praise, Raun answered. "Well, he went to the Exit room to find Sylvia. So don't wor—"

"RAUN YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

Amelia screamed out loud.

How couldn't she? After all, Max was already running out of the boss room and towards the Exit room, all the while shouting about how painful he would make Theodore's death be.

Alternating her gaze between Amelia and Raun, who was hanging his head down low, for a good second, Krista finally figured out what was going on.

"I'll go after him!", she shouted.

Seeing the chance to escape the enraged Amelia, Raun begged. "Let me go with you!"

"No", Krista stuck her tongue out at Raun as she saw Amelia cracking her knuckles. "You stay here and help Amelia. Bringing you with me would just slow me down"