The Genius Tamer of the Academy

Chapter 8

“Principal! Principal!”

Selene burst into the Principal’s office, shouting at the top of her lungs.

Professor Ernest, who had been calmly writing documents with a floating quill, startled and looked up sharply.

It wasn’t like Selene, who valued “etiquette” so highly, to come rushing in like this.

“What’s the matter?”

It was clear that something serious had happened.

Principal Ernest lifted his round glasses with his index finger and grabbed the quill from the air.

“Haah… It’s….”

“Take your time, explain it slowly.”

Unlike the calm Principal who tried to reassure her, Selene didn’t have a moment to relax. If what the practice area manager had told her was true, this was a serious incident.

“It seems there’s been an error in the underground dungeon, in zone B-3.”

“Underground dungeon?”

The underground dungeon…

The Principal frowned as he spoke.

“You mean the underground practice area?”

“Yes. I’m not sure how the spell went awry, but it seems there’s a significant problem. The area is currently inaccessible, and it’s completely out of control.”

The underground dungeon, B-3 zone.

According to the Principal’s recollection, that was one of the lowest-level practice areas.

Students who ventured into such areas would naturally be of a similar skill level.

If a spell error caused the dungeon’s difficulty to spike or introduced unexpected variables, those students wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, the Principal’s face darkened. He hurriedly donned his robe and stood up from his seat.

His voice, now urgent, dispelled the calm demeanor he had moments before.

“Who is currently inside?”

“Second-year student Adela and…”

“….”

“First-year student Han Siha.”

At the mention of Han Siha, the Principal’s expression turned icy.

Not an upperclassman, nor someone with the talents of Adela—there was no way a student like him could survive in a transformed dungeon.

Why did it have to be…

“We need to move quickly.”

It might already be too late.

* * *

“This is driving me crazy!”

She wasn’t the only one on the verge of losing it.

I was following closely behind, constantly swinging my staff, but this was beyond what the two of us could handle.

Thanks to the help of the short-haired girl whose name I didn’t even know, we were barely holding on. Her frustrated voice echoed right next to me.

“If I survive this, I’ll never look at slime salad again!”

“…You’ve been eating that stuff?”

All I knew about her was that she was a second-year student specializing in earth magic. I didn’t know anything else about this short-haired girl.

She was a novice at taming, but her skill at burying slimes was no joke.

For a moment, a name flashed through my mind.

Adela, the earth mage.

No way, that can’t be right.

Could it?

“There’s no way.”

It didn’t make sense.

There’s no way that powerful mage would struggle with taming a Hellhound.

Plus, if I remember correctly, Adela didn’t choose Taming as one of her subjects for the second-year entrance exams.

And it’s not like she’d be rolling around in a beginner’s practice ground when it wasn’t even her major.

The fearsome ruler of the earth, Adela.

On top of that, earth mages were fairly common at Ardel Academy.

“Her skills are better than I expected.”

For someone of her level, at least.

Even if she’s just an ordinary second-year student, to my eyes, she seemed quite skilled—though I’m someone who doesn’t even grasp the basics of magic.

Ardel Academy is a place filled with monsters, so it’s not surprising.

So, just because she’s using an earth-based method to bury slimes doesn’t mean I should jump to conclusions that she’s Adela.

And besides…

She seems kind-hearted, contrary to her reputation.

She’s got a bit of a prickly side, and her words can be harsh.

But the fact that she didn’t outright avoid someone like Han Siha, who’s infamous for being a complete failure, shows she’s got a good heart.

“Are you thirsty? I don’t see any water around.”

“It seems like it.”

The girl lowered her head with a gloomy expression.

I spoke calmly.

“There’s nothing to eat either. Well, except for us, that is.”

“Something to eat?”

“Yeah, you and me.”

“…You’re disgusting.”

“There’s nothing else here but us, you know?”

The short-haired girl let out a low groan and stomped her foot in frustration.

We’d already taken down over thirty slimes here. We had been hoping the unstable dungeon would somehow fix itself, but there was no sign of that happening.

Are we really going to have to wait here indefinitely?

By my reckoning, we’ve been inside for at least three hours.

Does this school really care so little about its students?

The girl corrected my thoughts with a nonchalant tone.

“It’s been 30 minutes.”

“Thirty minutes?”

“There’s time magic in effect. So we can train thoroughly.”

Time flows differently inside the dungeon than outside.

What a considerate gesture.

It’s just going to leave us to wither away inside here with the slimes.

“When are they going to come and rescue us? Do you think they even know we’re trapped?”

“They might not know yet. But what’s certain is… we’re going to be stuck here for a few more hours.”

We were barely able to see anything, relying on the light from Basilus’s breath to illuminate the swamp as we fought the slimes. It was getting exhausting.

The monsters were difficult to handle unless you were at least a third-class magician.

And to make matters worse, they were coming in swarms, making the situation even more terrifying.

Every time I saw one of those luminous slimes with their glowing blue eyes, my hands trembled.

Crackle.

The grass beneath the luminous slime on the other side began to burn.

Although dampened by the swamp, the grass that had been growing relatively green quickly turned black, scorched by the flames—a sight that was far from pleasant to watch with a clear mind.

Just from that alone, it was obvious.

These weren’t like the slimes we had popped for practice earlier—these were venomous slimes.

Just a single touch from them would probably be a one-way ticket to the afterlife.

When you think about it like that…

“It’s going to be tough to keep fighting like this.”

After gasping for breath and battling for what felt like an eternity, I came to that conclusion.

“What?”

The short-haired girl scowled as she buried yet another slime, oozing purple liquid, into the ground.
She was barely holding on, having gathered all her remaining magic, and wasn’t in the mood to hear something so discouraging.

Of course, she didn’t respond kindly.

“So, what? We just sit here and wait to die?”

Not a chance.

“Hey, buy me some time.”

“…Huh? What are you planning to do?”

Ignoring the curious look she gave me, I turned and hurried off.

While she was busy luring the slimes, I was about to make a last-ditch effort.

“Phew.”

There’s a method to deal with a malfunctioning dungeon, one that was even covered in the Slakademy.

It was an episode where Lee Han’s superior abilities were showcased as he punished Han Siha.

In that scene, Han Siha tried something and failed spectacularly—setting up a barricade to buy time and planting bombs to blow up the slimes.

Readers cursed him out for it, saying it was idiotic to act like he was in a survival show, even for a villain.

But honestly, I never thought it was such a dumb idea.

Han Siha wasn’t a complete fool; his downfall was simply due to his poor execution.

The method was sound. He just missed two key points: fire and magical amplification.

“Basilus, I need your help.”

“Woong!”

* * *

What on earth is he doing?

Even as Adela panted heavily while fending off the slimes, she couldn’t help but glance back at Han Siha with disapproval.

He was dragging over some vines and fixing them to the ground.

“There’s a monster that looks like that, isn’t there?”

The kind that opens its mouth wide and eats people whole.

Was it a Venus flytrap or something? Either way, this was hell.

Adela bit her lower lip nervously.

“Does he think he can catch slimes with that?”

This isn’t a fishing pond. If he wanted to set up a trap, he should have gone to the sea.

He looked somewhat competent when taming earlier, but perhaps this was the limit of Han Siha’s abilities.

Adela let out a short sigh and struck down another approaching slime.

Of course, her magic was nearly depleted. Her sword was already smeared with purple stains, and her exhaustion was mounting.

At this point, she wondered if it might be better to just throw herself into those vines and die quickly, rather than be devoured by the slimes drooling with poison.

At least it would be better than being eaten alive by those venomous slimes. She just hoped the professors would find them before it was too late.

As these thoughts weighed on her mind, she finished off two more slimes, her legs growing heavier with each step.

“Huh?”

Adela stopped short in front of the now fully extended vines.

It seemed like Han Siha had dragged every vine he could find, surrounding them in a circle.

“Hah.”

Adela finally realized Han Siha’s foolish plan.

Did he seriously think setting up a barricade with vines would stop the slimes? Sure, it might buy them some time, but…

“It’s useless. They’ll just burn through it anyway.”

If these were practice slimes, it might work, but against slimes that could char the grass black, those vines wouldn’t stand a chance.

But then.

Adela was even more taken aback by what Han Siha did next.

“…Arrow.”

“Wait, what are you doing now?”

“Who knows?”

Instead of answering, Han Siha conjured a magical bow in the air.

With his still-unsteady control over magic, this was the most effective attack spell he could manage. But by itself, it wouldn’t be enough.

“Basilus.”

But if you add fire to the mix…

Crackle.

The magic started to burn rapidly.

Adela couldn’t help but stop and stare as the flames began to blaze, fueled by magic.

“What in the world….”

She had never imagined that magic could be used to ignite a fire.

At least, not within the realm of what she knew.

But right before her eyes.

Han Siha was demonstrating a new combat technique.

The fire arrow blazed so fiercely it was almost too hot to hold.

Han Siha grinned and took a deep breath.

He was naturally gifted with magic.

He just didn’t know how to use it.

But in situations like this, all you need to do is pour in raw magical power.

Right now.

By amplifying the magic to the extreme, you could turn it into a firebomb. That’s why he had set up a circular barricade.

When he had gathered every last drop of magic into one shot.

“…!”

The Fire Arrow, now on the verge of exploding like a bomb from the sheer magical power, was released. As soon as he let go, massive fireballs shot out in all directions.

“Huh?”

Adela hadn’t expected this to work.

She hadn’t even considered the possibility of adding actual fire to a basic spell like Arrow, rather than just casting Fire Arrow.

But then.

Boom boom. Boom.

The sound of explosions echoed in her ears, and Adela’s eyes widened in shock.

The slimes burst in the air like fireworks.

Pop.

Pop.

He had used the slimes’ weakness to fire to his advantage.

As she watched the slimes disintegrate alongside the fireballs, Adela blinked in disbelief.

Should she be appreciating the beauty of this moment?

If only the colors were prettier, maybe.

“…”

Drip.

As she dodged the gloomy purple rain falling from the sky, Adela found herself staring blankly at the dark sky.

When the toxic rainstorm finally ended, she snapped back to reality.

“This is insane.”

What on earth did I just witness?