Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy-Chapter 326: 2nd Semester Final Exam (23)

"I... I just can't understand it! What on earth is going on here?"

Luca, utterly bewildered by the scene on the screen, approached Jesel. Given her involvement in the dungeon's design, Luca thought Jesel might know something. Yet, Jesel was equally perplexed.

"Well, who knows?" Jesel muttered. She herself had no idea why such a phenomenon was occurring.

After all, the Academy’s artificial dungeon was a human-made construct. No matter how meticulously crafted, it was bound to have flaws. This phenomenon could very well be an error arising from the construction process. But... why would such an error occur?

While Jesel rummaged through her mental blueprint of the dungeon, the red mana swirling outside the door gradually dissipated. The lunatic's final desperate attack spell, aimed at killing everyone in its vicinity, started losing its potency. Despite the high specs set for the lunatic, there was no way he could sustain such a powerful spell indefinitely. Magic that had lost its target had no choice but to disperse without causing destruction.

As the surroundings fell silent, Lucy Allen, who had been clinging to her mace, kicked the door open, revealing the lunatic sprawled on the ground, drained of all energy. He lay there, glaring at Lucy with blood-red eyes, fueled by rage and hatred.

"You... damn wench!"

"Why so angry?♡ You're the one who didn’t use your magic, right?♡ You’re the coward who stopped because you were afraid your precious stage would break, so why are you blaming me?♡"

Ah... So that’s what it was.

Hearing Lucy’s words, Jesel finally understood the situation. The door at the end of the corridor was a passage leading to the lunatic's created stage. Destroying that door would be akin to destroying his own stage. Since the lunatic could only unleash his full power on his own stage, he would never be able to break that door himself.

Lucy’s tactic could only be pulled off by someone who knew the dungeon inside and out. She really was using every trick in the book to clear the dungeon in record time.

Jesel smirked as she watched the lunatic turn to ash and disappear, then checked the time.

"Five minutes and forty-eight seconds."

"Excuse me?"

"That’s the time Lady Allen took to clear the dungeon."

To think she’d managed to conquer a dungeon that most of the Academy students hadn’t even cleared after a week of effort, all in less than six minutes... Lady Allen was truly beyond the bounds of common sense.

"Remarkable."

"Indeed," Jesel agreed with the warmth in Luca's voice.

What a shame.

If she weren’t the only heir of the Allen family, Jesel would have tried everything in her power to have her pursue an academic path.

"Your Highness, the Third Prince," Luca said, acknowledging Joy and the Saintess.

"The reason Lady Allen is showing us this... must be that."

"Of course. What other reason could there be?"

"Heh... Really. It's hard to believe she’s the same person who used to turn high society on its head."

Five minutes and forty-eight seconds, huh?

Hearing the time, I pouted. My time had increased because I’d chosen the safe route. Especially the method I used to get through the boss's final attack... If I’d opted to block it with a shield instead of skipping the pattern by entering the room, I could have shaved off several seconds.

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

Thinking of alternatives, I realized that, with some build improvements and a few more tries, I could probably bring it down to four minutes. I couldn't be satisfied with this time—my pride as a seasoned player wouldn’t allow it.

Let’s rerun it.

I’ll keep trying until I set a record.

<"Take it easy, will you? You made others’ week-long efforts seem pointless in under six minutes.">

"Five minutes and forty-eight seconds, to be exact. Let’s be accurate about it; it’s a sensitive issue."

<"...Sigh. Right. Isn’t it enough that you nullified everyone else’s efforts in five minutes and forty-eight seconds? What more do you want?">

Speedrunning is a personal battle. Once you reach first place, you spend countless hours trying to shave off even 0.01 seconds. How can I just ignore a chance to reduce my time by nearly a minute?

Remembering my days of grinding to beat the Soul Academy speedrun record, I raised my voice, but Grandpa didn’t seem to understand my determination.

<"Just stop here. There are plenty of people waiting for you to come out.">

The moment I reluctantly exited the dungeon after Grandpa’s lecture, I felt the gaze of everyone in the examination hall on me.

Hm. They’re all looking at me with something like disdain.

Where are the words of admiration or recognition, like "amazing" or "as expected of Lady Allen"?

Even on the forums, where jealousy and envy reign, my speedrun videos get tons of praise. How can people in real life be colder than those online?

<I told you. You made their week-long struggles look like a joke.>

"So it looked like I was mocking them?"

So they think I’m questioning why they struggled with such an easy dungeon?

Well, I can’t deny it. I’ll have to accept the consequences of my actions.

As I was contemplating, Luca appeared with the Dungeon Studies professor.

"That was truly impressive, Lady Allen. Everyone is speechless because of what you showed them."

"Indeed, my lady. I never would’ve imagined you’d get through the final attack in such a way."

Heh. Right? It was impressive, wasn’t it?

As I straightened my shoulders, basking in the praise, a loud voice echoed from the crowd of students.

"I agree! My lady, I was deeply impressed by what you demonstrated!"

Startled by Ruhvi Kurten’s laughter and praise, I barely managed to stop myself from blurting out a retort.

Stay calm! If I answer now, I might accidentally say, "Of course, someone with as much muscle in their head as you would find it impressive."

I already have enough enemies—I don’t want to add more here!

As I bit my lip, trying not to give the crowd any fuel, Kurten turned his body to the back.

"What do you all think? Wasn’t Lady Allen’s dungeon truly remarkable?"

Wha...?

Excuse me? Do you not see the mood here? Everyone seems irritated!

The students’ reactions were just as I expected—they remained silent. They didn’t like me, but they couldn’t openly disagree with the scion of the Kurten family. So they simply chose to stay quiet.

Judging by Kurten’s blinking confusion, he really didn’t get the atmosphere here.

Is his head as muscle-filled as his body?

As Kurten stood there, bewildered, a path formed among the students, and Arthur, Joy, and Faivy emerged from it.

Why are you all suddenly stepping forward? Do you have something to say...

Wait... Are you going to make me do something here, in front of all these people?

No way, right? You wouldn’t...

You wouldn’t dare pull something a degenerate voyeuristic sadistic creep like the Pathetic God would come up with, would you?

I haven't done anything to deserve this... Well, not entirely, but I believe in you!

I believe in your character!

"Lucy Allen."

"Yes!" I answered brightly.

"Why, Prince Pitiful? Do you have something to say?"

"There was no need for you to demonstrate your way of clearing the dungeon as if it were the only solution."

...What?

What are you talking about, Arthur?

I just wanted to show those clueless idiots that if they can't clear my dungeon faster than me, they should keep their mouths shut.

"Yes, my lady. It was our failure to recognize the proper strategy; there was no need for you to defend us."

Joy? Why are you saying this?

I didn’t put that much thought into it, honestly!

Think about it—do I look like someone who would care that deeply?!