The first thing that came out of the dungeon gate were four blue balls of light that quickly transformed into the second year students.
They all fell to the ground and tried to regain their lost breath.
They looked around and saw them being surrounded by people in white and gold uniform.
"They're out!" The black haired leader of the golden troupe yelled.
In a matter of seconds, soldiers from the troupe gathered around the students and began inspecting them.
"Thank God they're safe boss" the kid that always follows the black haired leader of the troupe commented.
"A-Alen! He's still inside!" The fox demi-human was the first one of the group to talk.
"That name..."
"If you were here, why didn't you help us?" The red-haired leader of the group stood up and demanded an explanation from the woman.
"Take a look around first, and tell me we didn't try" said Lila with a cold expression.
The group of students looked around and saw how the ground next to the dungeon entrance had signs of multiple attacks
There was black smoke and various holes near the entrance.
"We've been trying to force the entrance open for at least five hours" the black haired woman looked around, only to find most of her men on the ground, sweating and exhausted from using up all of their mana.
"Varsem!"
A female voice everyone recognized called out to the leader of the troupe.
It was Hellen Goldenlaw accompanied by teacher Crowbell, Iaves, and Beritan.
"Finally arrived, Goldenlaw?" The black haired looked at the blonde director and teachers from Aurum Academy with a condescending smile.
"Director Goldenlaw!" All the students called out, quickly standing up.
"You gotta do something, Alen's still inside!" Eusta said with tears on his face.
"Alen?" Crowbell asked with a surprised expression.
"Is it the same Alen from class S rank eleven?" The young boy next to Lila asked.
"Yes... we used a recall stone, but he was attacked last second!" Enrick answered with nervousness.
"What happened!?" The elven teacher, Enyoll Iaves, asked as he saw the entrance to the dungeon being surrounded by a force field.
"The coachman that brought this group here told us that the low-level stone dungeon suddenly shattered and became a high level amethyst level" explained the boy of the golden troupe.
The whole party of students looked at the entrance to the dungeon and saw the purple rocks that adorned the entrance.
"A change in difficulty?" Goldenlaw asked, as this was the first time she's ever heard of this happening.
"We also didn't believe it, but we looked at the records, and this dungeon was definitely classified as a low-level dungeon"
The teachers wanted to ask the same question Enrick asked Lila.
But upon seeing the area, they quickly understood that they've definitely been trying.
"Why are you all so calm! Alen's still inside as we speak. There has to be a way to save him" Agatha finally exploded and yelled at the adults.
"A force field prevents anyone from opening the door" Lila said as she crossed her arms, looking obviously passed off.
"What happened inside?" Zagressa finally asked.
"A-a lich... it appeared and tried to kill us... we managed to escape thanks to Alen" the fox eared girl said as she joined her hands on a prayer for the boy.
A deafening silence formed as they all looked at the door.
But that silence ended with the clicking of Crowbell's tongue.
"Flames of a now destroyed continent thanks to the war against the Dragon God, flames that have not been extinguished even after thousands of years. Coat my arm with a fire able to melt the tallest mountains, a fire that only the most dangerous of creatures can control"
"Crowbell, no!"
"[Hell Hand]"
Crowbell's whole right arm became enveloped by a bright, red fire that sparked uncontrollably. A fire whose heat could even be felt by the people that were far away.
Goldenlaw opened her left eye.
"[Deep Wall]"
A wall of water formed to protect everyone else from the dark-haired teacher's spell.
"[Below Zero]"
A cold air started blowing to try to counter the intense heat of Crowbell's spell
"[Dark Hand]"
Pitch black hands started to push everyone far away from that spell.
Once everyone was at a safe distance, Crowbell lifted his right arm, closed his hands, and threw his whole arm behind him.
With all that charge, the teacher threw a pinch at the force field surrounding the gate.
From everyone else's perspective, thanks to the intense heat caused by the spell, the dark-haired teacher's body seemed to be distorting.
Sparks started flying from the point where his hand and the force field connected.
The sound of explosions began forming on that point.
And after a couple of seconds...
"!!!"
Crowbell felt his whole surroundings fade to black. Now, the only thing he could see was his own body, not even the door in front of him.
And that's when he felt a presence in front of him, hiding deep within the black void that now surrounded him.
A yellow, reptilian eye opened up in front of him. Whatever that presence was, it seemed to ignore the teacher.
!!!
With a final explosion, the teacher who tried to break open the entrance was launched far away into the sky.
Thankfully for the dark-haired teacher, the tiger demi-human's quick reaction speed allows her to jump and catch him before he reaches higher altitudes.
"Got you, Crowbell!"
Every single spell Goldenlaw casted to defend everyone from the hell hand spell dissipated once Crowbell was sent flying.
After a few seconds of deafening silence, a whistle was heard coming from the boy that always follows Lila Varsem.
"No wonder our troupe couldn't do anything, even Crowbell couldn't break that strange field surrounding the entrance"
He was quickly slapped in the back of his head by the woman he always followed.
"Now's not the moment for unnecessary comments"
"Iaves, what is this?" Asked the blonde director that was getting more and more impatient by the second.
"First time I see something like this... a change in level and a force field that doesn't allow anyone else to enter..."
"Alen..."
Enrick muttered under his breath, feeling powerless to help the boy.
All four second year students were either crying or cursing at this situation.
________
That big skeleton with a scythe destroyed my recall stone, meaning that I now have no way out of this place.
The skeleton didn't follow up on his attack. Instead, he stood still and looked at me with those empty eyes.
"It's a shame that four managed to escape, but at least the most interesting one stayed behind"
The lich made his presence very clear by making the big scythe skeleton kneel to him as soon as he was in my line of sight.
"You did something really interesting back there, kid"
Behind him, his legion of zombies and skeletons followed.
"You managed to cast a spell without incantations, but you don't possess the great sage's left eye. So you have something else that makes you special"
That boney boss kept his distance, blocking the only path with his body and undead legion.
"Not much of a talkative person, are you?" He said in an annoying and overconfident tone.
"I like to ignore people I don't like" I said as I stepped back and made sure to have both of my daggers in front of me.
He simply just chuckled at me.
"Is that so..."
Even though his skull remained as expressionless as ever, his voice was enough to picture the kind of expression he'd do if he had skin.
"I'd like to think that I'm the kind of good person who loves his neighbor, feeds stray dogs, and recycles. A good individual, y'see"
The big skeleton with the scythe stood up.
"So, I'd really appreciate it if you told me your secret to incantationless" he waved his hand, and the skeleton got on position to jump at me.
"If you do... I assure you that I'll give you a painless death, I might even put you to sleep and make you have a nice dream before they land the killing blow on you"
"I'm sorry, but I don't plan on dying here"
I can't die here. I have a future to change, an apocalypse to prevent.
At my answer to his deal, he let out a long sigh.
"Dissapointing..." he drew out that word to make his annoyance stand out.
"[Sa-"
Before I could finish casting the spell, his scythe skeleton was already in front of me.
I managed to dodge at the last possible second by stepping to the side.
It did manage to scratch my left arm, leaving a vertical wound where blood began to flow.
"You're mana reacted on a weird way. Suddenly, your inner mana began to shine bright..." I heard the lich whisper to himself.
So if I don't tell him, he'll simply make me his guinea pig and study me?
Do I use my spells and risk him figuring out the secret to fake incantationless casting? Or do I try to win without my spells?
The first option is bad in the long term. Because if he does manage to figure it out, then in the future, he'll be an even more dangerous enemy.
But the second option is impossible for me. I only know four spells, and skipping the incantation is a big part of my win condition.
"Given the nature of magic, would it be like someone with a special trait? Like how some people can move their ears at will? Or how some people can bend their fingers more than others?"
What is he talking about? It's not that deep. Even someone as dumb as me managed to-
Maybe it's the opposite? Maybe, because I'm not originally from this world, I could see magic from a simpler side that allowed me to learn fake incantationless?
He's searching for a logical answer, trying to use previous knowledge. But to reach the answer, you need to discard what you previously thought was the unshakable truth of the world.
But what if he reaches the same conclusion as me by a different method? Like how echidnas, hedgehogs, and porcupines had similar evolutions despite not even belonging on the same family of animals.
His scythe skeleton did a horizontal slash that I barely ducked under.
This skeleton is better than I am in every sense. It leaves me no opening to counterattack.
I quickly glance at the lich, and I notice that there's a path through his legion of undead that are kneeling behind him.
But the scythe skeleton is too close to me for that.
"[Wind Ram]"
The strong spell hit the skeleton on its ribcage, sending it flying far enough to allow me time to run through that path.
"His mana definitely reacted to that spell being casted, but his reserves are exactly the same as they were before he casted the spell..."
Even as I ran away, he didn't pay attention to me. I was clearly just a test subject to him.
He knew that I couldn't escape him, he's just letting me run awa-
He deliberately opened that path for me to notice. He deliberately made his skeleton not interrupt my casting.
I played into his trick so that he could study me.
________