Page 27

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Chapter 26: The Sunflower’s Defeat

Isabel Luna.

A girl whose bright smile is as radiant and warm as a sunflower.

Her cheerful energy could make anyone smile along with her.

But recently, that smile had all but disappeared.

The reason?

The death of her childhood friend, Lucas.

A sunflower draws its nourishment from the sun.

But now that the sun had vanished,

there was nothing left for her.

Each night, as Isabel lay down to sleep,

she would remember that fateful day.

First-year students normally didn’t enter the Dungeon of Demons.

But Isabel and Lucas were part of the special first-year class.

Unlike regular first-years, this class was chosen for their exceptional abilities,

earning them the chance to enter the dungeon ahead of schedule.

Isabel, too, should have gone to the dungeon that day.

But the night before, a trivial argument arose between her and Lucas.

The reason?

Isabel had caught a terrible cold.

She insisted on going despite her condition,

but Lucas had adamantly refused.

In the end, Lucas had left with their newly-formed team,

promising to bring back some tea to help with her cold.

And Lucas never returned.

All that came back was the news that he had been killed by a demon.

No body.

Nothing.

Lucas had been her childhood friend,

someone she had grown up with for as long as she could remember.

And their last memory together was an argument.

That loss left Isabel hollow.

A sunflower without its sun wilts away.

She stopped eating, drinking, and even sleeping.

Isabel was fading, withering, dying.

Until one day, a boy appeared before her.

A boy who had publicly insulted Lucas in front of everyone.

Someone who had done something utterly unforgivable in Isabel’s eyes.

Hannon Irey.

Fueled by her rage toward him, Isabel changed.

Even if it meant her own death,

she vowed to make Hannon take back every insult he had ever thrown at Lucas.

She became relentless.

She ate, drank, and slept again, devoting every waking moment to training.

All to defeat him.

All to show the world just how great Lucas truly was.

And so, she began to live again.

Hannon, however, was a strange boy.

Whether it was due to some misunderstanding or his own arrogance,

he always looked down on her, mocking her at every turn.

Many in their class couldn’t stand him,

some even hurling blind criticism at him.

But Hannon remained unfazed.

If anything, he seemed to provoke people further,

hurling sharp retorts as if daring them to criticize him more.

Yet, as if to prove his convictions,

Hannon casually performed feats that left everyone speechless.

Even when the lazy genius, Ban, got serious, he defeated him leaving everyone surprised.

‘What kind of person is he, really?’

Isabel couldn’t figure him out.

And lately, for some reason,

she found herself thinking about him more and more.

“Isabel, are you okay? You look exhausted.”

“Oh, sorry. Don’t worry. I’m fine.”

Startled by the voice calling out to her, Isabel quickly replied.

They were in the Dungeon of Demons.

How could she let herself get distracted like this?

“Ugh, I’m sorry. I’ve caused so much trouble for everyone.”

Behind her, a Divine Arts student named Gaison was being supported by his teammates.

He was ranked third in the Divine arts division,

but now his body was paralyzed by a demon’s curse.

Normally, he would have purified it with his holy powers,

But he had exhausted all his strength during the battle with the demon.

With no energy left to perform Divine Arts,

his recovery had slowed significantly.

To avoid pushing themselves too hard,

Isabel’s team decided to return to the surface,

help Gaison recover, and then reenter the dungeon.

“It’s fine. The opponent was tough. Honestly, it’s a relief we made it out with just this much damage.”

A boy from the magic arts division tried to reassure Gaison.

He wasn’t wrong.

The demon they had faced on the third floor was far stronger than usual.

It was clear that it had spent a much longer time in the dungeon than the others.

If their team hadn’t entered together,

they might not have been able to defeat it.

BOOM!

“Why has it been so noisy up there?”

Mina, Isabel’s friend from the Martial Arts division, frowned.

They were climbing the stairs back to the first floor.

But today, the noise above was relentless.

“Is someone fighting a demon up there?”

“Didn’t we and the senior teams clear out all the demons? Could there still be any left?”

The students murmured amongst themselves.

Isabel also looked up the stairs in confusion.

At that moment, Ban suddenly snapped his head up,

his eyes glinting sharply.

“Everyone, prepare yourselves.”

Before anyone could understand what he meant—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A deafening explosion rocked the entire staircase.

The ground shook violently, and the students crouched in shock.

If the vibrations were reaching the first floor staircase,

something serious was happening above.

“We need to get up there now.”

At Ban’s urging, everyone quickly climbed the stairs.

When they finally emerged on the surface,

a thick cloud of smoke greeted them.

“What on earth happened here?”

Mina waved her hand in disbelief.

As the smoke slowly cleared,

the gray forest came into view,

scarred by the signs of a fierce battle.

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Massive roots had been sliced apart.

The ground was a gray wasteland, trampled and scorched.

Pieces of what seemed to be demon corpses were scattered everywhere.

The once-familiar gray forest was unrecognizable.

“This place feels... wrong. The demonic energy here is overwhelming.”

Even Gaison, a devout believer ranked third in Divine Arts,

shrank back at the oppressive atmosphere.

“Isabel.”

Ban called out to her, pointing ahead.

There, a woman with blue hair was running,

carrying someone in her arms.

Isabel recognized her face.

It was Aisha Bizvel, a fellow first-year student.

But what made Isabel’s eyes widen in shock

was the person Aisha was carrying.

It was Hannon.

“H-Hannon?”

Isabel stammered in disbelief.

Her reaction caught everyone’s attention.

“Hannon? You mean that piece of trash?”

Isabel's friend, Mina, frowned.

"Oh, you mean the famous transfer student."

A student of Magical arts showed interest.

"Mina, you shouldn't refer to a fellow academy mate like that."

Gaison admonished Mina.

At the very least, it was clear that everyone knew Hannon's name.

This reaction alone spoke volumes about how shocking his recent actions had been, enough to catch everyone’s attention in a short time.

"Let’s go."

Among them, only Ban remained calm, leading the way toward Hannon.

The rest followed him without hesitation.

As they approached, the team on the first floor came into view.

The most shocked among them was Gaison.

"Si-Sirmiel!?"

Saint Sirmiel von Eden.

A figure whose status rivaled that of the imperial princess.

Seeing someone of such prominence in this place left the students utterly stunned.

But Sirmiel paid no attention to them.

He was focused solely on healing Hannon, using divine magic.

Soon, everyone turned their gaze to Hannon and gasped.

Hannon’s condition was a mess.

His skin was scorched in places, he had severe burns, and his left arm was completely twisted.

Anyone could see how serious his injuries were.

"…Seron, what happened?"

Ban directed his question at Seron, who stood frozen.

Startled, Seron turned to Ban.

"Oh, Ban? When did you and Isabel, Mina get here?"

Seron’s dazed reaction made it clear she hadn't even noticed their arrival.

"Seron, can you explain what happened?"

When Isabel pressed her again, Seron scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

"Well, um… An Apostle appeared on the first floor. You know, they say when a dungeon’s layout shifts ninety-nine times, and then the hundredth time looks different, a dangerous Apostle might appear."

Seron’s explanation was disjointed and rambling.

However, Isabel’s team was sharp and highly capable.

Despite her muddled words, they understood perfectly.

The essence of the situation was this:

A far more dangerous Apostle emerged when the Gray Forest reached its hundredth transformation.

Somehow, Hannon foresaw this, led everyone to face the Apostle, and achieved victory.

That was the bottom line.

"Is he an idiot? If he knew about something like that, he should’ve gathered people to fight together from the start."

Mina was outraged after hearing the story, but her words were countered by Gaison.

"No, that’s not the case. When we descended to the second floor, the Gray Forest remained unchanged. It’s possible that the Apostle has specific activation conditions."

Conditions like the number of people dwindling below a certain threshold.

Similar patterns had been observed in past dungeon explorations.

Hannon knew this and waited until all the teams moved to the second floor.

"Besides, this is the Gray Forest we’re talking about. The more people there are, the harder the battle becomes."

Gaison pointed to the gray-tinted ground.

True to his words, the Gray Forest’s nature made battles more challenging with larger groups.

Whether they liked it or not, they had to fight the Apostle with a small team.

"Se-Senior"

At that moment, Foara, who had been silent, spoke up hesitantly.

"Senior said he planned to stay in the Gray Forest until something happened."

Even if the hundredth shift in the Gray Forest turned out to be nothing.

Even if the Apostle’s activation required everyone to leave.

He was prepared for that.

"He was determined to stay and ensure no one could be prevented from returning because of an Apostle."

By remaining here, Hannon ensured that other students who descended to lower floors could return safely.

This place was an academy.

Achievements in the dungeon became accolades and brought benefits to students.

Zerion Academy was a gathering place for those who sought to make their names known to the world, beyond the duty of protecting it from the dungeons.

Yet Hannon forsook all that, choosing instead to stay on the first floor.

Solely so everyone could return safely.

And the Apostle that appeared was so dangerous that, without Hannon’s leadership, the team would have been annihilated.

Had any other team stayed behind, they would have been wiped out, and exhausted students returning from the lower floors would have also suffered mass casualties.

Thus, Hannon fought and defeated the Apostle at the cost of ending up in his current state.

"He really turned into a burnt potato, huh… Not what I meant at all…"

Seron muttered gloomily, and everyone wore somber expressions.

Isabel, in particular, stared blankly at Hannon.

In her mind, she kept replaying what he said on his first day at the academy.

‘I came here to ensure that Zerion Academy will no longer be tarnished by disgrace.’

No more disgrace for Zerion Academy.

Isabel’s eyes widened as understanding dawned.

There was a deeper meaning to those words.

He was also determined to ensure no student would die and everyone could return safely.

As if he vowed to prevent another tragedy like Lucas’s death.

"So that’s what he meant…"

Isabel’s fists clenched tightly, trembling.

She had merely wallowed in despair after Lucas’s death, letting time slip by.

But Hannon had trained himself and fought to prevent such tragedies from happening again.

That realization weighed heavily on Isabel, dragging her down.

‘I’ve lost.’

In so many ways, she felt defeated by him.

Isabel stared at Hannon, silently coming to terms with her loss.

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