Chapter 34

The deeper they ventured inside the cave, the steeper the incline seemed to be become until after some time they could no longer see the entrance from their position.

It was dark outside as well which did not help but they had Damian's flashlights to light their way. Looking back, they did not see Mara even though she followed them inside merely minutes prior.

"Anyone see where Mara went? Also, how long will these work Damian? I don't have any light spells or anything."

Lucius was a bit worried about losing access to light this deep inside a cave where monsters resided.

"Don't worry about her. When I tested one, it lasted for slightly less than 4 hours. It's only been an hour or so since we started using them. Hey, do you hear that? Sounds like footsteps. Let's be quiet. Turn off your lights temporarily."

Lucius was quite reluctant to turn off his and Lucy had to nudge him for him to turn it off.

Lucy whispered to Lucius.

"Are you scared of the dark?"

"Who wouldn't be when there are literal monsters in here with us and they can see in the dark while we can't!"

Damian turned around glaring at the pair and made a shhh sound while having a finger over his mouth.

Crouching and moving forward slowly, Damian led the front and made as little noise as possible. A few meters in front, a figure barely discernible in the gloom of the cave, was patrolling and using its nose to sniff out.

As quietly as he could, Damian used analyze to get more information.

"[Analyze]"

Hobgoblin [Lv. 6]

Health: 85/85

Str: 14

Con: 16

Agi: 12

Dex: 8

Int: 2

Wil: 5

Wis: 3

Lck: 2

Skills & Spells: [Tracking], [Basic Weaponry]

(Shouldn't be too much of a problem, bit stronger than an adult human. Let's try to keep the guns hidden from Mara, just in case.)

Damian readied his weapons, two daggers from his belt and casted a spell at the monster.

"[Constrict]!"

An invisible force wrapped itself around the monster like a restraining jacket and squeezed. Damian knee the effect would not last long and moved with purpose, his daggers extended.

Reaching the monster, Damian plunged his weapons into the belly of the monster with full force, using the opportunity provided by the spell.

The monster tried to yell out in pain but as he opened his mouth, the spell constricted and prevented sound escaping its mouth.

Retrieving his weapons, Damian struck again to make sure it was really dead. He then waved his friends over, signalling that the coast was clear.

"You can turn on your flashlights now."

Upon being illuminated, they finally saw what the monster was, a very large goblin. Lucius bent down and examined it, also making sure it was really dead.

"Looks like a hobgoblin. They're bigger, meaner and smarter than regular goblins but not by much. What was that spell Damian? It didn't even move as you killed it!"

Cleaning his daggers with a piece of cloth, Damian replied to Lucius.

"It's [Constrict], a novice level alteration spell. Wouldn't have worked on a much stronger opponent though, they'd have broken through it with brute force, only lasts a couple of seconds too. Should keep an eye out, there's bound to be more of these."

They nodded and continued their advance. It was not long before they ran into monsters again, this time a band of 3 hobgoblin along with a tamed wolf. After the fight they had earlier however, this wolf was nowhere near as scary at the other. The monsters had not yet noticed them and so they had the element of surprise.

"How do you want to approach this?" Whispered Lucy in a low voice to Damian.

"Just like we agreed before. I'll take care of everything, don't worry. I know you think it isn't a good idea but I'm telling you. There's nothing these exam givers love more than some intrigue. You know how they said at the start of the exam that it's a team effort? Well that's a lie. The weak work in teams true but I've seen it first hand; the really strong actually go alone. So if we want to give them the impression we're all really strong, I think this is the best way."

Damian signaled to his friends to stay back some and readied himself.

(Alright, 4 opponents. Would be a breeze with the gun but this Mara is quite sharp so it might not escape her. Hmmm..I could use 'that' thing if I also cast [Darkness]. Yeah, that seems like my best bet.)

Damian began putting his plan in motion and casted two spells in quick succession.

"[Barrier Lv.3]"

"[Darkness]"

Everything went dark for everyone in the room, giving a small warning to the monsters that something was happening but without their sense of sight they could only snarl and swing aimlessly.

"Elemental Destruction!"

At first nothing happened but after a short few seconds a loud deafening explosion struck everyone's ears and the ground began shaking. After some time the effects ceased and vision returned to Lucy and Lucius who looked upon the broken bodies of the monsters in the adjoining room just ahead.

Both were dismayed by the scene and the gore splattered all across the room. Lucius felt like he remembered reading about that spell at one point and he thought on it before coming to a realization.

"Wait a minute...isn't that an expert level spell?"

Lucy nodded in agreement and added.

"It's also a dual element spell, which makes it that much harder to learn. Needs both fire and lightning element."

Taking a final last look at the bodies, mangled and broken, both remain in awe over the destructive power of the attack.

They hurried along to catch up to Damian, who'd already headed deeper inside. After some rather quiet venturing inside the caverns without finding anymore monsters, they stumbled upon an interesting room.

Compared to the other alcoves and passageways, there were traces of construction having been performed here. What stood out the most to them, however, was a pedestal in the middle of the room with a small object sitting upon it.

As they entered, they realized Damian was already inside the room and looking around. Lucius headed straight for the center of the room and examined the item upon the pedestal.

"I think this is what we're looking for. [Inspect]"

A few seconds went by as Lucius concentrated and then he nodded.

"Yep, this is the magical item the academy placed here. Let's take it and get out of here."

His hand reached for the object but was batted aside by Damian who had rushed to him after seeing him try to grab it.

"Wait. Don't you think it's too obvious? Right in the middle of the room and on a pedestal? Smells like a trap. Could be a pressure plate under the item. Let us check the room first."

Lucius slowly retreated his hand and swallowed hard before finding a section of the room to examine.

It took a few minutes but Lucy eventually found something, calling the others to her location.

"Hey, what do you think this is?"

A small wire stretched behind some rocks, barely exposed, and seemed to head towards the pedestal.

Damian crouched down and looked over everything. He then stood up and made a decision.

"I think this is a weight trigger. Likely activated once we remove what's on the pedestal. Now the question is, is it specific weight based or anything weight. I don't think they'd have such a complicated device here, so we likely only need to add more weight before we take the item off. "

They picked up stone fragments from the ground and added it to the pedestal, creating a small mound next to the item.

Damian nodded at Lucius, giving him the go to remove the magic item from the pedestal. All three watched intently as Lucius's fingers slowly lifted the device off and waited with bated breath to see what would happen.

At first, nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be going and just as they let their guards down, someone spoke, making them jump.

"Good idea, always watch for traps."

Lucy spun around, ready to fight but realized it was only Mara. Dejected, she asked.

"So is this it? We're done with the test?"

"Yeap. I'm a bit dissapointed to be honest. I wanted to see what both of you can do. It just makes me more curious now hehe. We do test for strength and wit and it seems you have plenty of both ."

Lucius spoke up.

"But what would have happened if we simply took off the device?"

Mara put a finger to her lip and thought for a little bit.

"Well the room would have closed up and if you couldn't manage to escape we'd have concluded it a failure."

She continued on.

"I do suppose you'll be the first ones that finish, so congratulations on that. We'll be seeing more of each other soon I think. I have to go hand in my report, safe travels."

This time, she left without vanishing in the shadows and peaked a look back at Damian, winking at him as she left.

The three followed suit and left the room, Lucius packing the item in his bag. The way back to the surface was not long and the sun was not yet out.

Damian addressed the group.

"Well, good work everyone. Let's get this over with, we still have quite the path ahead of us after these exams are done."

Lucy replied.

"Are we walking back or still going on your...whatever it's called."

Damian took out a small black device, rectangular in shape from his pockets and activated it. Light flickered on the screen and he instructed them to follow him.

"I added a tracking system to it, just in case I ever lost it."

The journey back was rather uneventful and in total they were barely gone less than 24 hours. Which is quite a feat considering the time allowance was 4 days.

When arriving near the city, Damian stashed his vehicle away as usual, on the outside near the forest and continued the rest on foot.

Lucius: "Aren't you afraid someone will find it?"

Damian: "It is a possibility but the alternative is that I have to break it down. Seeing how much Mana it cost me to put it together, I want to try and avoid that. I had to charge batteries for a week to reach the amount needed."

Lucius: "You get Mana back for disenchanting no?"

Damian: "Some yes, but not all of it. What's someone going to do if they see it? They can't move it. I'll be back for it tonight anyways."

Lucius acknowledged that the odds of someone stumbling upon it for such a short time period was rather slim.

They made their way towards the academy, a few surprised to see them at the academy grounds. Once inside the academy, with Damian in the front and the others following, they headed straight for Mrs. Dalamyr's quarters, the teacher in charge of the exam this year.

A knock at the door followed by a surprised teacher standing in the doorway.

Dalamyr: "You're not gone yet!? It's been over a day, I'm afraid I can't give you any help."

Damian: "Oh, no. We're done is all. Lucius?"

Lucius stepped forward and opened his bag, revealing the magical trinket picked up in the cave.

Flabbergasted, the teacher blinked rapidly in astonishment.

Dalamyr: "That's.. impossible. You must have cheated, how dare you! Who did you bribe?"

Damian: "You can check with the observer, Mara. She'll verify our accomplishment."

The gears in Mrs. Dalamyr's head turned, trying to find a logical explanation.

Dalamyr: "But how could you.. the travel time alone le is more than this. Even if you'd ride horses at full speed and changed for new ones already prepared, you'd not even have been back yet."

Damian: "Magic, uh, finds a way."

Realization hit her and she began to think of all possible ways they could have done it with magic.

But something did not make sense.

Dalamyr: "The level of spells required for that however…Its not within a student's capacity. "

Dalamyr: "At any rate, well shall see. I shall take you at your word for now but I will definitely be in touch with your observer, make no mistake about that."

"Therefore, congratulations are in order. You successfully passed the final exam and will now head to the Leganon's army for mandatory service. The training camp begins at the start of next month. Do not miss it or you will be assumed to have deserted."

Damian:" Thank you. Pleasure working with you Lucius, Lucy. Wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours. "

With his back turned to the teacher, he winks at them.

Picking up on his hint, Lucy follows suit.

Lucy: " Yes, was good working with you. May we meet again someday. "

They then parted ways, but would reunite again in a little less than three weeks.