Chaos in the Dungeon (1)

In the end, I did not chase after Karle.

I was confident that I could defeat him in battle, but chasing after him was another matter altogether. 

Karle's skill made him faster than me, so I could not catch up with him if he did not want to. In the worst of the cases, he could lead me into a trap and defeat me.

It's better just to ignore him, and if I get the chance later, I can give him his due pay.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

One minute after Karle flew, a teacher arrived.

She was a woman around thirty years old, with short blonde hair and a playful expression.

"Jane, right? The battle just now was amazing." She chuckled and waved her hand, using her mana to remove the barrier around Gerald and Lorena. "My name is Scylla Herrera. I teach mana manipulation. If you are interested, you can take my class the next semester."

I was startled but quickly replied.

"Thank you for your invitation. I'll consider it."

"Think about it. I promise you my class will be worth your time. I have to take these children out of the dungeon. See you later, Jane."

I nodded and watched as she departed while carrying Gerald and Lorena.

Just at that moment, the demon's voice sounded in my mind.

[Boy, I have a piece of bad news.]

Mm?

[That woman had the scent of one of my pieces.]

My expression stiffened.

"Are you sure?"

[I am.] The demon nodded. [She is the same as the girls you met before.]

…

Meanwhile, Scylla was thinking about Jane.

"What a cute boy. It would be nice if he goes to my class." 

Competition in Sanctuary's First was not just limited to students. Teachers also competed among them.

And one of the methods of competition was teaching outstanding students.

Due to that, all teachers were eager to get talented students into their classes.

To Scylla, Jane was one of these talented students. She watched how he faced the three students from class two, and the only evaluation she could give him was flawless.

Everything, from the planning to the execution, was done perfectly.

'By the way, it's almost time for that to start. I wonder how he will respond. I hope he surprises me.'

Scylla curled her lips up and thought about the surprise scheduled for today.

"I hope everything goes smoothly."

…

Awakened could be considered as the pivot of today's world. They were directly or indirectly linked to almost every field on earth. You could find traces of Awakened in the government, military, entertainment, sports, and even business.

Thus, talented Awakened were something that attracted the interest of many parties. Powerful conglomerates, influential families, famous clubs, and even criminal guilds competed to rope future powerful Awakened.

Sanctuary's First was also part of that system.

It received donations and support from many parties, and in exchange, it nurtured geniuses who eventually would be recruited by them.

And events like today's dungeon dive were the perfect chance to showcase this year's top talents.

Thus, the academy streamed the entirety of the dungeon dive to allow its sponsors to watch the students that caught their eyes.

Among the people watching the transmission was a man in a certain laboratory hidden from the public eye.

"It looks like everything is going smoothly." He muttered to himself.

But despite being alone in the room, a voice replied.

[Indeed. I was expecting some kind of mishap, but by the looks of it, the teachers of Sanctuary's First failed to find anything amiss.]

"That is natural. Their knowledge about mana is too crude to detect a spell as intricate as ours."

[Perhaps.] The voice chuckled. [Now we only need to wait for the harvest to start. Is it time?]

"It is." The man closed his eyes and focused his thoughts on his mind space. There, several points of light appeared scattered in the void.

Every point of light corresponded to someone contaminated by his [Skill].

Five of these points of light were students participating in the dungeon dive.

With a thought, he reached for these points of light and gave them an order.

[Spread].

Immediately, the points of light shone brightly.

And chaos broke out inside the dungeon.

…

A young man opened his eyes. He looked at the student walking in front of him and his thoughts were filled with anger.

'Why is he ranked higher than me? I'm stronger than him! And I'll prove it!'

"Harlam!" With a roar, he charged forward and attacked his back.

"Ugh! Dio, what are you doing!?"

"I'm stronger!" 

Without giving his friend time to react, he attacked restlessly and quickly defeated him.

Soon, the bracelet of his friend broke, signaling his elimination.

"Fuck! Are you crazy!?" 

Dio just ignored him and walked away, searching for his next target.

He was going to defeat every student in the dungeon and demonstrate he was worthy of a much higher ranking.

At the same time, a certain girl gritted her teeth after defeating a student.

"All of you will pay." She muttered with a crazed look. "I will kill you!"

She advanced through the swamp, leaving behind a trail of defeated students.

In another part of the dungeon, a gloomy boy watched coldly as the classmates who usually bullied him lay collapsed at his feet.

Another boy went around the dungeon challenging other students while laughing crazily.

And a girl stalked a certain girl with whitish-blue hair, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack her.

All of them were unknowingly being controlled by someone dozens of kilometers from them.

And at the same time, they were transmitting a certain spell to each student they defeated.

A spell that gave its creator control over their life and death.