‘No way. That can’t be right.’
That was Balmung’s thought. He figured he must’ve remembered something wrong.
He’d heard the talk—how they were geniuses. He even thought he might be one himself.
But that was just within Hiaka, wasn’t it?
Balmung knew how big the world really was, and how strong the truly powerful were—better than anyone. He’d learned that from watching the mother he loathed.
‘Probably wasn’t the teens server. Must’ve been the child server, 0s.’
Nowadays, people talked about “human rights” and whatever. But 200 years ago, even children under nine were tossed into dungeons. Nations competed over it.
‘That would explain it.’
Even if they were the greatest geniuses of all time—if they were nine-year-olds, he figured they could be beaten.
With that thought, Balmung kept running hard.
Meanwhile, he reviewed what he knew about this dungeon. The 「Competitiveness↑ Dungeon」 was divided into five stages.
They’d just cleared the first maze sector.
Four remained.
Normally, you’d get lost for a while. But—
“Here!”
Elize picked a direction at the junction without hesitation.
‘...How the hell did that idiot manage that?’
In Balmung’s opinion, Elize was a huge airhead. But when she acted with confidence, she always had a reason.
“Hey!”
He shouted while running through the wind.
“Mm?!”
“How’re you finding the path?!”
“Smell!”
“Smell?!”
“A weird empty {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} smell!”
“That’s a thing?!”
What the hell is an empty smell?!
Balmung closed his eyes.
Sniffed.
And though his sense of smell was usually top-notch—he didn’t smell anything unusual here.
“Hey! I don’t smell anything!”
“Guess your nose sucks!”
“Bullshit! I’ve got a bloodhound nose!”
“So do I! Now move! You’re in the way!”
Elize raised her fist and he instinctively dodged.
Tch. That little nobody...
Yeah, she was a moron. Had no idea he was constantly going easy on her—and still always acted like the boss.
He’d just let it slide. Because he was the better person.
Still, it didn’t sit right. The fact that she could smell something he couldn’t. Her guidance remained suspicious.
“Up ahead! Everyone prepare for battle!”
“Ughhh!”
Elize had found Sector 2 again. Dead-on.
“Got it!”
Balmung shouted and drew the matte-black sniper rifle 「Siegfried⚉」.
“Sector 2’s monsters are a swarm of ‘Explosive Spiders’! Their legs explode when they die, so don’t cut the legs! Don’t get close! Attack from range only!”
“Okay!”
“Alright...!”
Spiders that punished melee combat.
But what was this team’s specialty? [Stealth], [Combat], [Illusions].
Here, it was his turn to shine.
Just as he was forming a plan—
A spider’s six legs exploded above Kendreik’s head.
BOOOM—!!
“Kendreik, you dumbass!!”
“Gahhh!”
Thankfully, his chicken head was still intact. But his skin was scorched and blistering, blood spilling from raw patches.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Balmung fired three shots, blowing away distant spiders. Elize and Gray were struggling too.
“Ahh, I cut its leg off!”
“You moron...!”
Gray quickly wrapped the severed leg in her 「Silver Thread」 and hurled it far away.
Elize sliced off the spider’s head—and the flung legs exploded.
BOOM!
It was messy. The fight dragged.
Balmung gritted his teeth. Not easy at all. This wasn’t simple assassination training anymore.
Assassins also belonged to parties. In that case, dungeon runs made up 80% of the job.
And this was Balmung’s very first real dungeon.
“Ugh...! There’s too many!”
“They keep leaping! I can’t target properly!”
“Shit!”
This was his zone. The sniper’s arena.
Before anyone else got hurt, or wasted more time—he had to act.
Just then—
――.
A strange sensation flicked through his brain.
‘Wait.’
He’d never seen an Explosive Spider before. He hadn’t even seen many monsters at all.
Yet he suddenly began to read their movement patterns.
When spiders had six legs—movement always started with the front legs. Then the rear. Then the middle.
It was a forced gait, a method of keeping balance.
And the spiders avoided overlapping paths. Of course. They were bombs—stepping on each other would be fatal.
He was reading both individual and swarm patterns.
Once that awareness clicked, he could see the entire formation’s movement. All distinct—but now visible.
Bang!
He fired. The spider twisted to dodge. He understood the dodge logic.
Bang!
Now, he could control the dodge direction.
‘Now!!’
Balmung surged magic from his body.
BZZZZT—!!
A massive mana cost—but it was to create a bouncing bullet. An 8th-level ability that could ricochet a hundred times—
『 Hundred-Path Bullet 』
Forty percent of his mana drained instantly.
Clack ————
The bullet, infused with the aura of the Black Star⚉, tore through the space.
It skimmed walls, ceilings, spider heads and legs, torsos—
—and obliterated dozens of spiders in its path. Nearly 30% of the enemies in Sector 2.
“Get back!!”
As Balmung shouted—
BOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM—!!
A colossal explosion swallowed the maze corner. The spiders he’d lured into one spot all exploded in a chain reaction, wiping out a huge portion of the zone.
Once the shockwave faded—three thumbs went up.
“Hey! That was badass...!”
“YEAH!”
“Whoa, how’d you do that!? Never mind—let’s move!”
A deep satisfaction welled up in Balmung.
Along with one big question:
What the hell did I just do?
< ↑ You have cleared Sector Two. >
As they ran again—
Balmung kept pondering what he’d just done.
His [vision], his [sight]—for one moment, it had risen to a whole new realm.
How did that happen?
He’d trained for ages as a sniper. Progress was always slow...
Then it hit him. A shocking realization.
“...!!”
Ah.
Now that he thought about it—
‘Has Professor ever left us alone like this before?’
He recalled past incidents.
Elize, beaten by Marina’s group.
Gray, thrown into the Empire’s chaos.
Kendreik, dumb and brain-fried.
And himself.
‘Never. He’s never left us behind.’
But this time, Professor had—thrown them into a dungeon like they were nothing. That was bizarre.
‘This is our first real mission as the Dante Assassination Squad. Professor, who always gave us paths to follow—even in daily life—why would he give us nothing now?’
Unless...
The answer suddenly became clear.
“HEY! LISTEN TO ME!!”
Just before Sector 3—
Balmung shouted.
“What?!”
“There’s a reason Professor didn’t tell us anything!”
“HUH?!”
“Where’s this going...?”
He summarized what had just happened.
Everyone was stunned.
If the professor hadn’t shown the path—
It meant he couldn’t.
“We’re supposed to find the answers ourselves!!”
This too was a lesson...!
And incredibly—his theory proved right.
“Hey! Don’t step there!!”
“Mistake! It was a mistake!”
Gray triggered a trap in Sector 3—a giant boulder rolled out.
Gray lured it toward him, then—surprisingly—he awakened 7th-level footwork skill [Wall Step] on his own, and ran up a square cliff wall to drop the boulder.
“This iron door won’t break... must be a puzzle like other dungeons.”
“UAAAAAAAGH—!”
“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!”
In Sector 4, Kendreik pulled out his battle axe 「Santa Barbara」—imbued with 『Explosion』.
He instinctively began to understand a high-tier formula: [Deep Penetration]. The explosion condensed into a single point.
“Smell!”
Elize followed the scent again—and kicked through a wall in the maze.
Later, they realized—that was the exit path after the boss fight.
Balmung finally understood.
Elize had smelled ‘mana-concealed mana’—the scent of [Dispel].
Which made no damn sense.
Sensing tasteless taste.
Smelling scentless scent.
Yet they were doing it. All of them.
They’d perfectly understood Professor Dante’s intent.
Not in assassination, but in their first dungeon run—every one of them had achieved astounding growth.
Balmung was deeply impressed.
‘Professor Dante... just what ARE you...?!’
Of course. He always had a plan. Even if you couldn’t see it—that only meant you were still ignorant.
Thus, skipping even the boss fight—they cleared Sector 5.
Up ahead in the darkness—a straight path to the [Exit].
“Come on, let’s go! We’re done!”
“Whoa, it ended faster than I expected...!”
Just then—Balmung’s HUD lit up with a shocking message.
< 「Competitiveness↑」 asks you a private question. This will not be recorded externally. It is asked out of pure curiosity. >
< Who are you? >
A [Revelation].
The communication method of the stars.
Balmung nearly said ‘Dormant Dragon Cadets’— but what came out instead... was the name that truly fit now.
‘Dante Assassination Squad.’
***
After sending the cadets into the 「Competitiveness↑ Dungeon」, I’d stepped out with Ran to grab a quick meal.
Our imperial schedule was so tight, we barely had time to stuff the kids with triangle kimbap before shoving them in.
Now we were eating simple sandwiches when Ran said:
“They’ve probably entered Sector 3 by now.”
“That’d be nice. Though I imagine they’re still stuck on the Explosive Spiders.”
If you know the trick, you save half the time.
But without the trick, they’d be struggling.
“...I feel a little uneasy.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s their first dungeon. A good ranking would be a great motivator.”
“Yes. It’s a shame.”
But what could I do? The world never went as planned. In a sense, I’d lost to Rebecca this time.
Still, I’d earned her goodwill. That’s a win. And I did get the kids into the dungeon. Another win.
So really—wasn’t it my victory overall?
...That’s what I was telling myself when—
< 「Competitiveness↑」 has taken interest in your assassination squad and wishes to bestow you a small gift. >
Huh? A stigma window?
Sure enough—a gift. A Star Fragment.
┃ Gift [Competitiveness↑]
┃ Reward: Star Fragments × 50
Wait—fifty?!
What the hell?!
“What’s the matter?”
“......”
Ran asked, but I had no idea either. I took a moment to think...
A few minutes later, it hit me.
Something insane had just happened.
───
▶ Competitiveness↑ Dungeon / Teens Server / Rankings
[Private] Anonymous – 29m 19s 19 (▲999, new!!) [Empire] Hebray Mercenaries – 31m 16s 32 (▼1) [Empire] Hella Party – 31m 21s 42 (▼1) [Empire] Gulapjamun Youth Knights – 32m 29s 22 (▼1) [Kreutz] Knight Assassination Squad – 33m 54s 59 (▼1)⋮
───
It was the first time in 100 years that the record for the 「Competitiveness↑ Dungeon」 had been broken.
So the next morning, I couldn’t help but be stunned.