“That would be all of the groups. I should at least have an hour or two before the first one comes out.”

  Said the teacher while wiping his monocle with a soft cloth. The blue void gate hummed quietly before him, and now he only needed to wait for the students to return. For a moment, his gaze shifted to the side, and he saw a shadow approaching. Even without looking, he instantly knew who it was. The steps were slow and heavy.

  “Quinten…”

  The head of Class B1 turned his head and immediately regretted it. The tone of the man who called out to him was not cheerful but mocking.

  “Harold, why are you coming over here? Don’t you have something better to do, like chewing through the syllabus?”

  “Ho ho, good one! But I just wanted to have a chat with the head teacher of Class B1. Is that too much to ask? Are you still upset that you did worse than me on the last assessment?”

  Harold was a rather heavy man, his belly bulging even through the loose robe he wore. Compared to Quinten, it was clear that he cared little about his appearance. His cheeks were round, and crumbs clung to his clothes as if he had just finished eating.

  “You are as unkempt as ever.”

  The heavier teacher laughed at Quinten’s remark and didn’t seem to care about the taunt.

  “Oh, don’t be like that, old friend. I just wanted to see how your promising students are doing. Word is, you’ve got that Rainstar girl in your class. She has become quite the topic among the faculty lately.”

  Quinten gave a short sigh and turned his gaze back to the rift.

  “You’re not getting anything out of me. You’ll see her at the interclass competition.”

  It was clear what Harold wanted, and Quinten had no intention of giving it to him. Through the recent seating duel, he had made his assessment and would not reveal his students’ strengths. His rival, the head of Class B2, would gain no advantage from him.

  “Have you figured it out? Well, not like it matters. You’ll lose just like you did befo…”

  Right as Harold was about to continue babbling, something happened. The blue gate before them began to sizzle as bolts of black lightning crackled across its surface. Both teachers froze. The gentle hum that had come from the gate distorted into a piercing screech. The magic circles meant to stabilize it started to flicker and hiss violently.

  “What in the world?”

  Quinten muttered, stepping closer. His monocle gleamed as he activated an identification spell, but the reading that appeared made his heart skip a beat.

  “Impossible. The gate has become corrupted. It is turning into a crimson gate. Quickly, we must stop it!”

  “I’ll help!”

  Even though Harold had been harsh toward his colleague, once the students were in danger, both teachers acted immediately. They drew their magical instruments. Quinten’s had a smaller, gem-encrusted wand, while Harold’s resembled a traditional wizard’s staff with an orb embedded between the wooden branches.

  Both raised their staves in unison, their mana bursting so fiercely that the air distorted around them. The once stable chamber turned into a maelstrom of light as sigils burst to life beneath the void gate.

  “We must reverse the flow. Get the students out before the corruption spreads.”

  Harold said.

  “I know.”

  Quinten replied in an irritated tone. He thrust his wand forward. A dozen magic circles appeared around the gate, each filled with complex symbols meant to stabilize the dimensional flow. The black lightning reacted violently, lashing out like living tendrils and shattering one of the circles instantly.

  Harold gritted his teeth and slammed his staff into the ground, channeling all his mana into the spell. Soon, other teachers rushed into the chamber to help. The spell was working, and one by one, students began flying out of the gate.

  “Get the students to safety!”

  Quinten shouted as students began escaping. The gate had not yet turned fully red as it remained a deep purple. In this state, it could still be salvaged. Within moments, the void gate began spitting out the people who had gone through it. Some tumbled across the floor, dazed but alive. Their familiars appeared beside them, disoriented but unharmed.

  “Maintain the inversion. Do not let the gate close yet!”

  Another teacher shouted as they joined the effort. The black lightning intensified. The gate continued to eject more students, but its color deepened into a dark crimson glow. Then, with a burst of energy so powerful that it shoved even the teachers backward, the gate transformed completely.

  “It’s completely turned!”

  Said Harold as he attempted to get from the ground. Around them lay multiple students, most of them dazed and confused.

  “Did everyone make it out safely?”

  Quinten, on the other hand, was more concerned about his students. His gaze swept across the entire chamber. Within seconds, he ran several calculations in his mind and realized that one group was missing.

  “Astrella Fjord, Gwendolin Rainstar, and Syber Tygrys are unaccounted for. They are still inside the corrupt gate…”

  He clenched his fist around his wand and tried casting another spell on the gate, but it did not react. It now glowed a deep crimson and could no longer be accessed from this side. He understood that clearly.

  “This is bad…”

  He whispered to himself, knowing well what this meant.

  ******

  A low rumble echoed through the cavern. Dust drifted from the ceiling and scattered like ash while faint growls sounded from the shadows ahead. The soft blue glow that once illuminated the walls shifted and became a bright crimson.

  “...That’s not supposed to happen!”

  Astrella shouted as she turned toward the sound. Airy, her summon, fluttered closer to her, and her face showed the same worry that her summoner felt. Gwen stood beside her and tightened her grip on her staff, the only weapon she had besides the beings she could call forth. Syber, however, did not appear very alarmed and had yet to summon anything to protect them or himself.

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  “Get behind me. I’ll take care of this.”

  Rusty said as he raised his shield and lowered his halberd. The tunnel was narrow and not well suited for long weapons except for thrusting. By standing in the middle, he could block any monsters from slipping past him since one part of the passage was slightly narrower.

  “W-why did the gate close? What’s happening?”

  Gwen asked in a trembling voice. The gate they had entered through had vanished, leaving them with no way to escape.

  “I read about this before. Did you see it turn red?”

  “Red… you mean the gate became corrupted, but that means…”

  Before the two girls could continue their conversation, three monsters burst from around the corner. The crimson light spilling from the walls reflected off their leathery skin, revealing shapes far more menacing than the goblins the students were used to fighting.

  “Hobgoblins!”

  Astrella shouted as the creatures revealed themselves. Though similar to their smaller kin, there were many differences. Each one was at least a head taller than a regular goblin, and their arms were longer than a human’s, ending in clawed hands that scraped against the stone floor as they moved. Their faces were a grotesque mix of human and beast, with flat noses, pointed ears, and yellow eyes that glowed faintly with malice.

  The first hobgoblin roared, its sharp teeth glistening with saliva as it raised a crude iron cleaver. Both girls flinched at the sound, but Rusty did not move. He held his shield steady and waited for the monsters to come closer. The leading hobgoblin charged forward with surprising speed, its cleaver dragging along the ground and striking sparks.

  “GUOgH!”

  In less than a second, the monster’s head was split apart by Rusty’s quick thrust. Green blood splashed across the floor as the creature collapsed instantly. Even after seeing their companion cut down, the other two did not hesitate and charged straight at him. One leapt toward his shield while the other tried to grab his halberd before he could swing it.

  Suddenly, his weapon became a blur. He unleashed several rapid thrusts that pierced through the monsters’ limbs and torsos. They had no coordination or strategy, only blind aggression. They reminded him of ordinary dungeon beasts as they fell to the ground and died by his hand.

  “Oh?”

  At first, their bodies looked like regular flesh as green blood splattered in every direction, even across his armor. But after a few seconds, the corpses and gore began to shine with a bright red light before dissolving into tiny particles of mana that lingered briefly, then vanished.

  “So, what about this red void gate? What makes it so special? What’s this corrupt gate?”

  When the fight was over, he turned to face the two girls. They looked startled by how quickly the battle had ended, but soon regained their composure.

  “I almost forgot we have Rusty to protect us. With him, going through a red gate might actually be possible.”

  Astrella said with a sigh. Gwen remained silent, speaking to Rusty through their link instead.

  “A corrupt gate is when a regular gate becomes unstable. It closes from the other side and can’t be accessed by others until it’s cleared or until you reach the new gate exit.”

  “A new gate exit?”

  Rusty asked. Gwen was about to answer when Astrella jabbed her in the side, making her yelp.

  “H-hey, what was that for?”

  “For leaving me out of the conversation. I know you’re talking to Rusty through that connection of yours. What were you talking about?”

  Astrella looked irritated at being excluded. Gwen took a breath and answered once she had composed herself.

  “He just wanted to know what a corrupted gate was and how to clear it.”

  “Ha, that’s easy. In this case, let this big sis answer that for you, Rusty.”

  Astrella stepped closer and patted him on the back.

  “B-big sis?”

  Gwen repeated those words, confused by the choice, but she didn’t interrupt as Astrella began her explanation.

  “When a gate becomes corrupted, a new exit appears somewhere within it. Once we find that exit, we’ll be able to get out. You can also create a new exit by defeating every monster inside, but since this is only a closed maze section of a corrupted gate, even if we kill them all, we still won’t be able to leave. That’s why we need to find the exit ourselves.”

  Astrella sounded proud of her explanation, but she wasn’t finished yet.

  “I’m sure you’re wondering where this exit could be. It’s most likely near a large concentration of monsters or a single, much stronger one.”

  Rusty stood there listening to the explanation, and it was all he needed to know. It reminded him of the dungeons from which he came from. Sometimes, large groups of monsters, traps, or a boss kept people from progressing further, and this place seemed to have similar systems, only in reverse.

  “So, we just need to find this exit?”

  “Yes, Rusty, we just need to find the exit.”

  Gwen replied in a way that her friend would understand, and this seemed to make Astrella happy.

  “This is stupid…”

  However, their team was not unified, as the third humanoid member shook his head in disappointment. Finally, Syber decided to act. He reached out with his hand to materialize a summoning circle. From within, two creatures emerged, ones that Rusty recognized from the previous test.

  “It looks like that Lightning Tiger… They are just smaller.”

  Two beasts appeared that looked more or less like regular tigers, only slightly larger and with sharper fangs.

  “Hey, where are you going? We are all in this together!”

  Astrella looked furious and pointed her finger at Syber as she shouted.

  “I don’t plan to babysit anyone. Just don’t get in my way…”

  It was clear that the young man had no intention of cooperating, and soon he was walking down the corridor. Rusty stepped aside to let him pass and wondered where the young man got his confidence from. The two tigers he had summoned were only E-rank creatures, the same rank as the Hobgoblins.

  “I think we should follow him. What if something happens to him?”

  Gwen asked in a concerned tone, and Astrella responded with a slight pout on her face.

  “Then it’s going to be his own fault!”

  Gwen felt more sympathy for their third party member and started inching forward, unwilling to leave him behind.

  “Let’s just follow him. It’s better if we stick together.”

  Rusty’s summoner continued to urge her friend to follow as Syber was about to vanish into the corridor and leave them behind.

  “Fine, but don’t think he’ll get any buffs from me!”

  Eventually, the two girls agreed to follow their unfriendly companion. Rusty moved first and was followed by the two girls. Gwen managed to summon one Iron Armor to stand in the back. While she still had some mana left, it was better to keep some in reserve in case Rusty’s form required mending.

  Soon, the group of three entered a larger chamber filled with more hobgoblins, and a fight broke out. As before, Rusty was their main fighting force. With Airy’s buffing magic, which seemed to have improved further, he became faster and stronger than before. While he took down three of the red monsters, Syber’s tigers managed to maul a fourth one while he stood there with his arms crossed.

  “Where should we go?”

  Once the battle was over, they found themselves at a juncture. Three paths stretched in different directions, and with no clear leader, they were unable to decide which one to take.

  “Why are you going left? The right one is clearly the correct path.”

  Grumbled Astrella as Syber was already walking that way.

  “I told you to stop bothering me. Just go right if you want.”

  The young man replied with a shrug. He clearly wanted nothing to do with the group, but Gwen was unwilling to let them split up.

  “Left doesn’t look that bad. It’s not like we really know where to go. Why don’t we just mark our path with a spell? If we get lost, we can return here.”

  “...Fine!”

  Astrella looked to Airy, who nodded. Airy released something like sparkling dust, and soon a faint glowing trail appeared behind her. As the group moved left, the trail remained visible to anyone with mana sense. The group of youths pressed forward, with no end to the maze in sight and no idea what truly awaited them.