Swift Glintstone Shard—a spell that might not look very impressive in PvE, but absolutely shines in PvP.
You could think of it as a modified version of Glintstone Pebble. The glintstone projectile is smaller, which lowers its attack power but dramatically increases casting speed. Because of that, it's widely used to interrupt an opponent's actions.
But interrupting actions requires skill. In that regard, this world isn't quite the same as a game.
People here can choose to ignore pain and charge forward to trade blows. Some berserkers even grow stronger the longer they fight.
Against enemies like that, interrupting them usually requires targeting weak points—or simply switching to heavier firepower.
After all, if interrupting their actions doesn't work, you might as well focus fire and kill them outright.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The sound of magic tearing through the air never stopped.
At this moment, Gapar and his group were standing in a storm of magical bullets.
Swift Glintstone Shards rained down like a torrential downpour. It was as if rain had been pattering endlessly outside the window for three days and three nights without stopping.
The mages seemed tireless, constantly waving their staffs and unleashing dense volleys of spells.
"What do we do?" Roger curled up behind a large pillar, barely daring to move.
The pillar could barely conceal him alone. If he shifted even slightly, part of his body might enter the deadly "rain" of magic.
The moment they stepped out of the elevator, they were attacked.
Fortunately, luck wasn't completely against them—there were large pillars nearby that provided suitable cover.
But under the relentless barrage of Swift Glintstone Shards, the pillars clearly wouldn't last long. These mages were masters of demolition.
"Mr. Hades! Can you cast Meteor again?!"
Hades shook his head.
The Meteor spell required specific environmental conditions. The most important requirement was a large amount of nearby soil so he could extract earth and condense it into a meteor in the sky.
But the academy grounds were spotless.
The floor was as clean as a boss arena maintained by the Knights of Leyndell. Even outside the building, the entrance plaza had been immaculately maintained.
The tiny patch of grass nearby wasn't nearly enough to summon a meteor.
Still, Hades gave Roger a reassuring gesture—telling him to leave it to him.
Oh?
Leave it to him?
Gapar halted the legs that had been about to charge forward.
He didn't know much about this quiet man, Hades. He only knew that Hades was extremely senior within the association but held no important position, seemingly devoting himself entirely to magical research.
And most of that research leaned more toward theory than combat.
So what method did he have for dealing with this group of mages?
Gapar watched with interest.
Then he saw Hades start taking off his clothes.
"…Huh?"
For once, the Sword Saint looked genuinely confused.
Hades calmly removed his robe and put on the Raya Lucaria mage robe they had just looted.
Combined with his glintstone crown helmet, he now looked exactly like one of the enemy mages.
He even paid attention to the details—taking off his shoes and standing barefoot.
Because the academy's mages were barefoot.
What a dedicated cosplayer.
"Hey… you're not seriously planning to—" Gapar's mouth twitched.
He hadn't seen someone this outrageous in a long time.
Hades nodded.
Then he calmly walked out from behind the pillar.
Was he really planning to blend in?
Did he think the enemy was blind?
And then something miraculous happened.
The moment he walked out dressed like that—
The mages actually stopped attacking.
"…Huh?" Roger's jaw dropped.
Step by step, Hades approached them.
The mages stared at this "student" from the Karolos classroom, yet none of them made a move.
No way…
Did he really manage to blend in?
Gapar didn't even know what expression to make.
He could already imagine it—if someone asked him in the future how to get past these mages and he told them Hades's story, they would surely exclaim:
"So that's the solution?!"
BANG!
A sudden explosion interrupted his thoughts.
When Gapar peeked out again, he saw Hades fleeing in panic while the furious mages bombarded him with spells.
Complete failure.
Hades scrambled back behind the pillar, panting.
Then he scratched his head in confusion.
He didn't even understand why it had failed.
Gapar almost wanted to complain.
If that terrible role-playing had actually worked, that would have been the real mystery.
But Hades had his reasons.
When wearing the glintstone crown helmet, he could barely see the road ahead. He usually relied on sensing the magical fluctuations of other beings to determine their presence.
So he logically assumed that other glintstone mages identified friend or foe the same way.
Therefore, he had manipulated his own magical aura to resemble the enemy's as closely as possible.
That should have allowed him to blend in.
And in fact—it worked at first.
Unfortunately, not every mage wore a crown helmet.
One mage without a helmet arrived after hearing the commotion, immediately recognized Hades as an impostor, and exposed him.
Thus ended the "perfectly open infiltration plan."
"Avada—"
That helmetless mage raised his staff to cast a spell.
Before he could finish—
A nearly invisible sword wave sliced off his head.
His body collapsed.
"I should've just gone first," Gapar sighed.
After charging power, his sword waves could barely reach the enemy from here. Earlier he had simply wanted to see what creative tricks the professors might come up with.
He had been about to use Solar Flare and charge forward under a magic shield—
But Roger stopped him.
Roger's eyes gleamed as he rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a glowing skull.
Alluring Skull.
Perfect.
Now they could lure the mages into Gapar's attack range.
The two exchanged a glance.
The Sword Saint didn't even try to hide his admiration for the younger man—he had already forgotten about the time Roger gifted him that embarrassing fire dragon mating footage.
After everyone worked together, they finally overcame the obstacle.
Conclusion:
Mage enemies weren't scary.
But large groups of mages were extremely annoying.
At first there had only been ten mages guarding the gate.
But nearby were many more wandering enemies and hidden ones.
Once the front-line mages started attacking, the noise attracted those wandering enemies, causing them to join the battle against the adventurers.
A rough estimate suggested at least thirty enemies would become involved.
Was that considered enemy spam?
By the standards of the Sein Dungeon—yes.
After all, that dungeon only allowed a maximum party size of ten.
But this was the Val Dungeon.
Right now only Gapar's group was challenging the academy, but in the future many more people would enter.
Eventually hundreds—or even thousands—might attempt this area simultaneously.
From that perspective, these mages were barely a drizzle.
That was why the monsters and items in the Val Dungeon had their own respawn timers.
"Rumble—"
The massive doors slowly opened.
Soft light shone through the widening gap and gradually illuminated the group.
When the view inside fully revealed itself—
Everyone held their breath.
Roger froze.
He stepped back to look at the academy's exterior.
Then stepped forward to look inside.
Back and forth, several times.
Finally he said:
"…Why is the inside so big?"
The interior of the magic academy was absurdly huge.
First came a vast hall.
Beyond it were stairs leading to the upper levels and a second enormous building complex connected behind it.
On both sides of the hall stretched even larger areas—corridors, rooms, and entirely different sections forming a complex interior structure.
Just one glance was enough to make someone dizzy.
And this was only the first floor.
Who knew what the second floor, third floor, or even higher levels looked like?
How many brilliant craftsmen must have poured their minds and lives into constructing such a colossal structure?
And yet—from the outside, the academy didn't look nearly this large.
It was almost as if the space inside had been folded.
It made no scientific sense.
But it made perfect magical sense.
It even felt like the power of pure belief:
"I think a magic academy should be this big—so it is."
Just then, a torn page drifted down in front of Gapar.
He picked it up.
Written on it was:
"Proposal and Mentor Application for the Academy's Underground Construction Design."
The page mentioned several professors requesting permission to use sections of the academy's underground structures for experiments.
There wasn't much useful information—just a bit of world-building.
But the implication was shocking.
"…There's an underground area too?!"
The buildings above ground were already enormous.
And now there were multiple underground levels as well?
Was this place designed for the Flash?
How could a normal person possibly explore this entire place in a single day?
Even a full day might not be enough to clear one-tenth of it.
Had the Sein Dungeon gone insane?
Large maps inspired a sense of adventure.
But maps that were too large could have the opposite effect—they could crush people's motivation to explore.
"Should… should we go?" Gapar asked hesitantly for the first time.
Finding a teleportation gate leading outside in this massive academy…
Wasn't that basically searching for a needle in a haystack?
Even he felt mentally exhausted.
The others felt the same.
Adventure required a balance between tension and relief—but this was too intense.
Tursey sighed, about to agree—
When suddenly a dragon's roar echoed from the sky.
"What?!"
Roger rushed outside first.
And immediately saw the Glintstone Dragon Smarag they had encountered earlier.
The dragon roared repeatedly, spewing magical breath toward the seal at the academy entrance.
Was it attacking the seal?
No—because human voices could be heard there.
It was attacking people.
The group exchanged glances (except Hades, whose helmet blocked his vision).
Could it be… the same people who had thrown bones into the bonfire?
Since they had encountered them here, they needed answers.
Why had those people been following them?
What were their intentions?
And if they could defeat Glintstone Dragon Smarag here…
That would be quite an opportunity.
Gapar led the group through the seal.
The dragon's magical breath filled the air with blinding light.
Through the haze—
A sword suddenly slashed toward him.
Clang!
Gapar blocked it instantly.
The opponent changed moves and engaged him in a rapid exchange.
Their techniques were strangely similar.
Gapar immediately realized something.
When their swords clashed again, he shouted:
"Leon!"
The opponent froze.
Then cried out in delight:
"Master?! What are you doing here?!"
As the magical mist cleared, both sides finally saw each other clearly.
Leon and his entire raid group were present.
Beside them stood Stella, drawing her bow.
But how on earth had they managed to anger the Glintstone Dragon?