A few hours before Aria woke up, James returned to announce the results of the exam. The examinees whispered among themselves, speculating about what had happened to Aria's team. Ophelia and Idril remained silent, deep in thought and exhausted. "Well done. Those of you here today have passed the exam to become adventurers for the Alliance," James announced. The room fell silent as he spoke. "As for your respective ranks, you will be informed by our lovely receptionist," James continued. Whispers erupted among the examinees, but no one asked any questions. James looked at each of them and proceeded, "Good to have you onboard, you may go," he concluded, offering a small salute.

The newly recognized adventurers began to disperse, some leaving with their teams, others alone. As the crowd cleared, Ophelia and Idril were left behind, still sitting and gathering their thoughts. James approached them, his gaze drifting to their lantern, which glowed with a bright white light. Ophelia looked at James and asked, "How is she? How's Alice?" Her eyes were full of worry. "I sent her to the infirmary. The healers are doing their best as we speak," James answered, but he could tell his words did little to ease Ophelia's concern. She bowed her head, her mind filled with thoughts about Aria's situation. Idril remained silent, staring at the floor.

"You know it's weird, I was observing everyone but for some reason, you lot evaded my gaze entirely." James confronted Ophelia and Idril but they remained silent, not sure how to explain it all to him. "You have an interesting light in your lantern. I thought I told you to bring the goddess's holy fire? Last I checked it was blue not white." James remarked, curiosity in his eyes. Ophelia lifted her head and looked at James. "We had the holy fire, but we were attacked. Alice tried to save it, but we didn't have any other choice," she replied, giving a vague answer to avoid further discussion on the topic. "I see," James said, studying their appearances. He had a nagging feeling in his gut. "Did you really have a hard time fighting ghouls and skeletons down there?" He inquired as curiosity got the better of him.

Ophelia turned her head, unwilling to answer or meet James's gaze. Idril looked at Ophelia and answered for her. "It wasn't any of those," he muttered, still staring at the floor. James furrowed his brows in confusion. "That's not possible, there should be no other monsters down there besides those," he insisted, but he could see that Ophelia and Idril were not in a state to lie. He wanted to know more, but decided it would be considerate to let it go for now. With questions still lingering in his mind, James told them, "Go back to the guild and see to your friend. I'll see you again later." With those words, James left them.

Back to the present, Ophelia explained to Aria what had happened and told her that they would go to the receptionist for their ranks. Aria nodded as she prepared to leave her bed but suddenly a healer came. The healer was an adult woman. She stared at Aria from head to toe, then as though she realized something, her eyes sank in astonishment. "This is a miracle! How are you awake?! We were sure you were never going to wake up," the nurse exclaimed as she looked at Aria. Aria, who was now awake and almost at full strength, just gave a confused grin as she quickly tried to put on her glasses. Ophelia noticed Aria's action and was intrigued and studied Aria's features as she thinks. Aria thanked the dumbfounded nurse for taking care of her and left the infirmary, leaving the nurse in a state of awe. 

Outside they saw Idril waiting for them. His expression was somewhat odd as he looked happy but sad at the same time. He approached Aria but didn't look her in the eye. "Alice, I'm glad you're awake," were the only words Idril could muster to say to Aria. Ophelia looked at Idril and knew why he was being this way. The recent events had been gnawing at him. He must have hated himself for what he did, Ophelia also felt the same. Aria smiled at Idril and said in a gentle tone, "I heard you carried me from the dungeon until I got to safety." Aria gave her most graceful bow as she thanked Idril for his help. "Thank you, Idril." But Idril turned beet red as he blushed. "I-I had to, we needed you in order to pass, you know!" Idril blurted out a silly reason and he knew it, regretting it the second the words left his mouth. He averted his gaze and tried to keep quiet. Ophelia was a little amused by Idril's reaction but decided not to make things more awkward. "Let's go to the receptionist, we need to be registered officially as adventurers," Ophelia suggested to the group. Aria and Idril nodded in approval.

As they approached the receptionist, she greeted them and asked what she could do for them. Ophelia asked the receptionist to officially register them as adventurers. The receptionist studied them and asked for their names. Ophelia gave her name along with those of her teammates, but as the receptionist heard them, she stated, "Oh, you're those adventurers who haven't passed the exams." Ophelia and her team were surprised and confused by this turn of events. "What do you mean? I thought we all passed the exam?!" Ophelia protested as she looked at Idril and Aria, who were also confused about what was going on. "If you would be so kind as to enter the room on my right, you can take up your concerns with the person in charge," the receptionist requested. Ophelia thought it best to just follow the receptionist's instruction as they would get nowhere by just arguing. She looked at Aria and Idril who gave a soft nod. So, without delay, they headed to the room on the right.

As they entered the room, they were greeted by none other than their proctor, the Rogue gold adventurer James Llarme, who was sitting at the center on a wooden box. "You sure took your time," he said, gazing at Aria and her team as he flipped his arrow bolt. "Did you really fail us?" Idril asked, as he and the others were confused. "Well, let me explain. I was more curious than I'd like to admit about what caused you lot to vanish mid-exams and resurface in that ragged state," James started to explain, looking serious all of a sudden. "I ventured again into the dungeon." Aria and her team were surprised that he ventured there again and, curious if he found out something, they listened intently and held their breath as he continued. James looked at them and revealed, "There wasn't anything out of the ordinary." Aria and her team let out a disappointing sigh. Ophelia then thought to herself that the place they ended up wasn't a part of the catacomb, or at least it was hidden so foolproof that not even seasoned adventurers could find it. "So, we're left at an impasse, since I have no way of knowing how well you lot did in the exam. And there's also the fact that you didn't bring the right fire." Aria and her team began to get anxious as they didn't know where the conversation was leading. "I am inclined to fail you all, but my gut says I should give you guys a chance," James proclaimed as he gazed into Aria and her team's eyes. "I'll give you guys one chance. Right here, right now." Aria and her team became even more curious and anxious. "If one of you lands just one attack on me in five minutes, I'll let you pass." Holding an hourglass, he slams it on the wooden box, and the sand inside the hourglass begins to drop.

Without a moment's delay, Idril fires an arrow aiming at James, but he gracefully dodges it with a backflip. "Now that's more like it," James approves, amazed at the reaction speed of the young elf. Aria and Ophelia are taken aback but know that the challenge has already begun. Idril continues to fire arrows at James in midair, and James effortlessly dodges them as he lands on the ground without getting hit. Idril is dumbfounded by James' flexibility.

Seeing an opportunity to attack, Ophelia unleashes a continuous barrage of firebolts at James. However, like Idril's attacks, James manages to dodge them all. Aria realizes that ranged attacks are ineffective against James and tries to think of a way to help. However, her current loadout only consists of concoctions that don't discriminate between friend and foe. Her screaming slime, the "Doncello Gritando," would end up disabling her teammates as well, especially since the area they are in is not as large as the catacombs they were previously in.

Meanwhile, Ophelia becomes frustrated as her attacks continue to miss. She decides to use a spell called "Windwave," creating a strong gust of wind that hinders mobility. James is caught in the gust of wind, making his movements sluggish. As Ophelia continues to cast the spell, Idril tries to attack with his arrows. However, the strong wind blows his arrows off course, preventing them from reaching James. "What are you doing!?" Idril protests, realizing that his attacks are now useless. Ophelia snickers and scolds Idril, telling him to wait for her signal.

James is being blown towards the wall by the strong wind, struggling to move. As the spell finishes, Ophelia shouts at Idril, giving him the signal to attack. Idril, who has been waiting, nocks five arrows in his bowstring and releases them all at once towards James, who is backed into a corner. To their surprise, all the arrows miss, and James disappears. Idril looks at the wall where his arrows struck, finding it impossible to have missed an almost immobile opponent. Ophelia searches for James but realizes too late that he has manifested behind her. Before she can react, James grabs her arm and stops her from casting spells. Idril, attempting to aim an arrow, is unable to do so with Ophelia in the way. "Only two minutes left!" James taunts, amused by making it harder for them to pass. Ophelia struggles to break free, but James' grip is strong.

James, enjoying himself in the moment, momentarily forgets about their last team member and scans the room to find her. However, he notices a can rolling towards his feet. Before he can react, the can releases a thick, heavy smoke that obscures his vision. Ophelia, caught in the smoke, coughs. James realizes that he could be attacked within the smoke, so he releases Ophelia and escapes from the cloud. With only a minute left on the hourglass, James remains confident that he can still win. He activates his special skill, "Shadowslip," which allows him to travel from shadow to shadow. All he needs is to find a shadow to slip into and emerge from one of the enemy's shadows.

As James finally escapes the smokescreen, an arrow heads straight towards him. In the last second, inches from his face, he dodges it, but he notices something tied to the tip of the arrowhead. Before he can react, a blinding light explodes in front of him as the arrow hits the brick wall, breaking the blinding vial. Temporarily blinded, James decides to escape into the shadows. However, due to the bright light from the blinding vial, his escape route is cut off, causing the shadows to disappear. He falls to the ground, but his eyesight begins to return, and he realizes he can still move.

Suddenly, a cold, chilling sensation brushes against his cheeks. As his full eyesight returns, he sees a cold ice spike stuck on the wall just millimeters from his face, with blood dripping from his frozen cheeks. As he realizes what had happened, the last grain of sand falls from the hourglass.