Luka stood stoically as the remaining four wyverns approached his position. The shieldbearers stared with wide eyes and braced for impact; none abandoned him.
Luka felt touched by their bravery. He threw up an Advance Light Barrier to protect his classmates and cast Spatial Blade to decapitate the remaining monsters. Hot blood gushed out of the wounds and coated the magic wall. Thud! The beheaded carcasses crashed into the barrier, but it miraculously held firm!
When Luka finally released his spell, the protectors saw a pile of dead wyverns around him. "Help the others!" he yelled.
The shieldmen came to their senses and ran to support their classmates.
Luka watched instead of joining the fight because he wanted them to earn points for defeating the remaining wyverns. He followed their progress and sent a timely heal or a buff as needed. Otherwise, the mage stayed out of the fray.
Instead, Luka spread his detection net to search for additional monsters lurking nearby. He learned a painful lesson when he forgot about the fire elementals, and Luka refused to make the same error again.
Fortunately, the thick ice blocked the dungeon core from generating more monsters in that section of the arena. Other students stood between the Elite Class and the functional monster-generation points. Thus, the newly-created enemies inadvertently directed their attention away from Luka's party.
Luka sat down and focused on recovering his magic. The mage asked his pets to protect him while Luka meditated.
The rest of the Elite Class worked together to put down the eight wyverns. Some monsters took critical damage early on and put up very little resistance. But the alpha male was the equivalent of a dungeon boss, and its hide was exceptionally resistant to physical attacks.
Unfortunately, several swordsmen snapped their blades while striking the monster and had to fall back.
Under Terrwyn's command, the shieldmen and spearmen controlled the boss wyvern's movement while the mages whittled down its health until the alpha male finally collapsed!
Luka immediately stood up and ran over. He healed the various injuries and then cast Mend to repair the broken weapons. Normally, the spell couldn't fix broken metal; but Luka's high magic proficiency allowed him to achieve this feat.
"Thank you very much!" the swordsmen cheered as they tested their swords and felt their weapons seemed improved in lightness and sharpness. But the warriors wisely kept this information to themselves to avoid making the other students jealous.
"I stayed out of the fight to allow you guys a chance to rack up points. I didn't abandon the class," Luka explained.
"It's fine," Terrwyn accepted his reasoning and nodded. She appreciated his consideration because the fighter saw how easily Luka eliminated four wyverns by himself. Moreover, Luka defeated those fire elementals solo. Thus, he was probably the leading scorer for the dungeon trial right now.
Luka pointed at the Iron Golems fighting the other classes. "Should we help them?" he asked.
The class rep shook her head. "If we go in there now, the other classes will accuse us of poaching their prey." Terrwyn turned toward the class. "Everyone should take a small break before the next wave comes out!"
"I'll keep a lookout with my pets," Luka offered as the students sat down.
"Thank you," Terrwyn smiled.
Alas, the dungeon master refused to cooperate. A minute later, the ground began to shake. The frozen ground cracked, and a tangle of long tendrils snaked out, followed by a worm-like creature. The sinewy limbs were attached to its mouth, which opened to reveal several rows of chainsaw-like teeth. Spittle dripped out and caused the ice to turn black and melt.
"This worm is poisonous!" Luka warned.
"Shieldmen will seal its movement while the rest of us attack!" Terrwyn ordered.
"I'll lure it!" Wickkuil shouted and ran toward the giant monster.
The feelers sensed his movement, and the giant worm's head veered toward him. Its tendrils lashed out and tried to entangle the beastman's legs.
Wickkuil hopped over to avoid them; he cut off a few tendrils with his bastard sword and earned a pained screech from the monster.
From this interaction, Luka realized an important fact! "The giant worm is blind! Cut off its tendrils!" He cast Spatial Blade and began to hack the feelers on the monster's left side.
The worm furiously slammed its head toward the students!
Luka activated his Light Barrier to block the blow!
The boss monster became stubborn and continuously banged against the magical shield. When it finally succeeded in breaking through, Luka immediately sent up a replacement. "Target its mouth!" he yelled.
The rangers and gunslinger fired their ammunitions at the monster's open mouth while the mages directed their magic at its weak spot.
The fighters slashed and stabbed at the worm, but they failed to pierce through its tough hide. Thus, they focused on supporting the shieldmen instead.
Luka waited five minutes before he lost his patience; his teammates were inflicting too little damage. Even worse, the next monster wave may appear while the party was preoccupied with this giant worm. Thus, Luka decided to take action. After the mage replaced his magic barrier for the fifth time, Luka cast Laser Beam at the worm's mouth. The intense light beam burst through its mouth and created a large hole in its head.
The boss monster collapsed and shook the ground. BOOM!
Before the students could high-five each other, they felt a frightful sensation making their bodies freeze!
Luka activated his Spatial Sense and confirmed his worst fear. "It's an undead dragon!" The light mage cast Mass Removal of Abnormal Conditions on his classmates to remove the effect of Dragonfear.
The Elite Class watched in horror as the newcomer defeated the other classes. Soon, the boss monster turned its head toward the remaining students in the arena.
Although the undead dragon was the size of a house, it sprinted across the field with its skeletal limbs like a fleet-footed leopard. By the time Luka cured everyone, the monster was close enough to launch its breath attack! ROAR!
Luka immediately cast Advance Light Barrier! The high-tier spell formed a golden bubble surrounding his classmates. The barrier was air-tight and prevented the black miasma from touching the humans inside.
While maintaining his light magic, Luka cast a beginner-ranked air spell, Gust of Wind, to dissipate the black smoke.
The students were shocked to see the solid ground around them transform into ash!
The dragon's red eyes glowed with anger! The boss couldn't believe that these insects survived the breath attack! The undead beast pivoted and slammed its tail against the bubble, which immediately shattered!
"Move out!" Terrwyn yelled.
The party members executed their dragonslaying plan. The shieldbearers focused on pinning down the deadly tail while spearmen jabbed their tips at its face for distraction.
Luka teleported to a spot high above the dragon and cast his most destructive, offensive light magic: Sacred Rain! However, this ninth-tier spell had a long casting time of five minutes. The Elite Class was responsible for buying him this time.
The other mages cast fire magic, half of which fizzled due to the monster's high magic resistance.
The Elite Class worked hard to restrain the undead dragon's movements. When it reared its head back to accumulate magic to launch its breath attack, the alert students smashed its chest to disrupt the energy gathering.
Terrwyn's eyes occasionally darted upward to catch a glimpse of Luka. She saw that the light mage hovered in the same spot. The leader had kept a mental count; it was close to the five-minute mark. When she saw Luka raise his hands, Terrwyn suddenly yelled, "Run!"
The students immediately dashed away from the dragon.
A downpour of magical raindrops struck the undead monster. It roared in pain as the sacred magic began to erase its bones from existence. Its vulnerable joints broke down, and the skeletal frame soon fell apart. The undead strug
gled as its health gradually ticked away until it reached zero. The defeated boss finally dissipated, leaving behind a black gemstone the size of a human head.
Once the obsidian rock appeared, a horn blared. "The dungeon trial is over. Congratulations to all the participants!"
The arena instantly evicted the survivors of this event.
Chapter 111
Resentment
When Luka left the dungeon, he immediately laid flat on his back. The mage felt both physically and mentally exhausted from casting the high-tier light spell for the first time. Additionally, he furtively enhanced the magical damage of Sacred Rain by extending its duration until the caster ran out of mana.
This move allowed Luka to break through the monster's magic resistance to hurt its bones. Luckily, the undead dragon lost its health before Luka emptied his magic pool. But this gambit brought an unexpected benefit: level 10 light magic proficiency!
Luka felt giddy and awed at the prospect of summoning Altima for the first time. He planned to do so tonight inside his shadow realm. The summoner was curious about how the dark environment would reduce her divine power's effectiveness.
A healer approached and checked Luka's pulse.
"I'm fine," the student replied and opened his eyes.
"Your friends are worried," the woman said with a smile as she helped Luka return to his feet.
The Elite Class quickly surrounded him and slapped his back.
"You did it, dragonslayer!" Wickkuil said with a grin.
Two scoreboards hovered above the dungeon entrance. The left one listed the class tallies with the Elite Class far ahead of its competition at 2,459,200 points, while the second-ranked Class A lagged at 978,400. The right side listed Luka Heavensfell as the top achiever with 1,557,000 points.
A student pushed aside the bystanders and roughly grabbed Luka by his collar.
Wicckuil immediately gripped the offender's wrist and squeezed.
The perpetrator yelped in pain and released his hold on Luka. "What the fuck are you doing?" he glared at the beastman.
"That's my line," Terrwyn interjected with a grim stare. "If you have a problem with my classmate, please bring your objection to me as the class rep," she said aloud.
The other freshmen watched in silence.
"Your class cheated! Luka turned your side of the field into ice and blocked the closest monster regeneration point. As a result, the monster stampede came out of the other working nodes -- and attacked the rest of us! If the playing field were fair, the Elite Class would have received more attacks and unlikely to defeat the final boss," the accuser declared.
Terrwyn shook her head. "Luka used his magic to fight off a group of fire elementals led by a lord. The boss monster ambushed my class with a meteor. Luka called up an ice god with his divine summoning, but he couldn't control the deity's power. That's why such a big section of the arena turned to solid ice. Luka had no intention of cheating by blocking the monster regeneration node. The result is merely accidental and unforeseeable."
"Ms. Cardogan is correct." Headmaster Ladis revealed himself in front of the dungeon entrance. He waved his hand, and the scoreboards transformed into screens, which began to replay Luka's fight against the fire elementals. Once the video clip ended, the dungeon master continued his discussion.
"As you just saw, Glacius acted on his own without an order from the divine summoner. And I doubt Luka even knew about the monster nodes. It's just that the ice god's overwhelming power extended beyond the enemies' position due to Luka's inability to control Glacius. I judge that Luka did not act intentionally to commit foul play against other students," Ladis declared firmly.
The worst-performers refused to accept the headmaster's judgment at face value because they knew that Ladis was friendly with the pope. Thus, they became convinced that the school leader was covering for Luka on the church's behalf.
Another student rudely pointed his finger at the dungeon master. "Why did you make an undead dragon the final boss? I think that you wanted Luka Heavensfell to get an easy win!"
The headmaster smiled gently despite the harsh accusation. He felt amused by it rather than angered. "Child, I may be the dungeon master, but I have limited influence over the dungeon core's actions. The core has direct control over all aspects of the Morninglory Dungeon as its full-time administrator."
"I only intervene when the dungeon core asks for my advice. The dungeon core assessed all the freshmen participants' fighting capabilities before deciding which dragon to send out. It could easily choose a fire, earth, wind, gold, or silver dragon instead," Ladis explained patiently.
"I can't tell you why the core chose to send out an undead dragon because I'm not privy to the administrator's operational decisions," he added and shrugged. "But it's certainly not due to any sense of favoritism toward one participant."
"The dungeon core doesn't identify visitors in that way, and it lacks the motive to allow a person to run up the score anyway. In reality, the administrator has a powerful incentive to challenge the stronger students and defeat them. Frankly, I think that the dungeon core believed an undead dragon would be the hardest variant for Luka to fight."
The students began to disperse because there was no point in staying and appealing the dungeon trial's results.
"Let's celebrate! Luka will treat us to lunch!" Terrwyn declared.
Luka was startled but quickly consented to her arrangement. He thought that the class rep was punishing Luka via his wallet because Luka inadvertently hogged the limelight and took his classmates' points away. But then again, no one expected the final boss to yield a million points either. This bonanza reflected the difficulty of fighting the last monster; thus, his classmates didn't begrudge Luka's final score since he beat the dragon fair and square.
All the party members participated in the battle against the final boss, and they knew that they couldn't defeat it without Luka's light magic. His achievement helped the Elite Class maintain its status as the top class within the freshmen grade, and they were grateful to him for his contribution.
As the group walked away from the dungeon entrance, Princess Camellia accosted them with her entourage. "How can you contemplate a celebration with our fiance and leave this princess out of it, Terrwyn?" she asked mischievously. "Are you trying to seduce Luka?"
Her best friend stomped her heel. "No, I wouldn't do that! Stop making stuff up!" Terrwyn vehemently denied her accusation.
Camellia nonchalantly crossed the gap between the two sides and saddled up between Terrwyn and Luka. The princess leaned her body against his arm. "Let's go!"
"Shameless!" Terrwyn groused while folding her arms across her chest. She followed behind the lovey-dovey couple.
Princess Camellia ignored the gawks and gossip as she led the large group out of the school campus. She was proud to be seen with her man and publicly staked her claim to prevent other girls from entertaining thoughts of seducing Luka.
Terrwyn's eyes widened in surprise when the group reached its destination: The Fine Wine. This famous restaurant catered to the upper-class aristocracy, and the menu prices were ten times more expensive than a typical establishment. Even Terrwyn had to think twice before stepping inside. "Are you sure you want to eat here?" she asked in disbelief.
"Hohohoho! We booked the entire place in advance," Princess Camellia admitted with great pride. "This princess expected her fiance to win the dungeon trials and made reservations a few weeks ago. Now, come inside." She pulled Luka's arm and entered the restaurant.
The hostess and servers lined up in a row to greet the guests. "We are honored by your visit, Your Highness," the lovely hostess said. "Please come this way." The woman wore a fancy, dark red silk dress, which accentuated her mature figure.
Luka couldn't help but stare at the woman's generous rear.
Camellia's eyes lit up as she gained an insight into her man's preference.
The hostess slowly walked on her high heels past empty tables and led the
patrons toward a banquet hall. The room had two long tables perpendicular to a smaller table at the front atop a platform. The higher table had two seats facing the rest of the room.
Camellia slowly climbed the podium and waited in front of her chair.
Luka quickly pulled it back to help her sit down.
"Thank you," she cooed in approval.
Terrwyn chose to sit on the left side, and the Elite Class joined her table.
Camellia's entourage then took seats at the other table.
Half of the flower knights stood guard outside the private chamber while the rest guarded the inner doorway. The four maids stood near the princess while Orella and Matty took posts against the wall.
Servers rolled in multiple trolleys and began to serve light refreshments, such as fruit juice and cheese sliced into small cubes.
Meanwhile, the chef and his aides worked frantically in the kitchen to prepare courses worthy of the restaurant's high acclaim. Today's menu included roasted boar meat glazed with honey, seafood chowder soup, and vegetable medley on the side, followed by a double-chocolate cake and hot tea for dessert. Before the platters left the kitchen, the chef sampled random dishes and sent a few back in dissatisfaction.
Once every patron received his food, the host raised her glass and offered a toast. "To the Elite Class for an impressive victory in the dungeon trials," Camellia said.
The attendees raised their cups. "To the Elite Class!"
Luka felt uncomfortable being the center of attention. He slowly cut the boar steak and cautiously sampled the meat.
"What do you think?" his fiancée asked.
"The boar meat is chewy and retained a lot of moisture. The chef cooked it for the right amount of time," Luka answered.
"Do you like it?" Camellia pressed.
He smiled faintly. "I think boar is an acquired taste."
"That's true," she laughed.
The two continued to exchange light banter while enjoying their exquisite meals.
The other patrons felt mixed reactions. Some thought Luka was a perfect marriage partner for Princess Camellia, while others didn't believe the marriage would last. Each attendee tried hard to imitate noble etiquette and avoid embarrassing himself with poor table manners. Even the beastmen felt pressured to use the utensils to eat instead of grabbing the boar meat with their bare hands.
The Divine Summoner: Godson of Altima Page 89
