This reunion surprised everyone.
Were Leon and his group the ones who followed us in? Gapar wondered.
But Leon's team had five people. If it were just one or two quietly tailing them without being noticed, that might still be plausible.
But five?
How could they possibly have missed that?
While Gapar frowned in thought, Leon wore an almost identical expression. The thing he was thinking about was exactly the same as his teacher.
He had also discovered traces of someone moving around Academy Gate Town, and had wondered whether someone had secretly followed his group—or perhaps there had been a silent intrusion.
But what he hadn't expected was that the other party would be Gapar.
He glanced at the opposing lineup.
The famous Sword Saint, professors from the Magic Association, and…
…how on earth did Roger manage to get into such a high-level party?
A team like that had absolutely no reason to sneak behind them.
So strange.
What exactly was going on here?
"ROAR!"
The roar of the Glintstone Dragon Smarag snapped both of them out of their thoughts.
Right now, the most important thing was still defeating the dragon.
"So, done catching up?" Tursey said, casting a massive magic barrier that enveloped everyone.
At that exact moment, the dragon's magical breath swept down.
Under the overwhelming magical "dragonfire," the barrier was their lifeline.
But defenses like this rarely lasted long against dragon breath. They required a continuous supply of magic power to repair them.
Otherwise—
Crack!
They would shatter instantly.
One important rule in this world:
No defensive skill—whether magic or martial technique—could perfectly block an attack of the same level.
Even weaker attacks with special properties might not be fully blocked.
Since Smarag's breath contained magical energy, Tursey couldn't completely defend against it. A single barrier might still let a bit of it leak through.
So mages had to stack multiple layers of shields, reducing the penetration bit by bit until it approached full defense.
It was like putting more and more diapers on a baby with an absurd amount of pee.
Eventually you'd get something almost leak-proof.
But the downside was obvious—
Multiple shields consumed a terrifying amount of mana.
Luckily, Tursey had a solution.
The reason she had been promoted to professor was because she combined healing magic with defensive magic, creating a special spell called:
[Barrier Healing]
Ordinary magical shields either:
Worked once and vanished, or
Required a constant mana supply to maintain.
But Barrier Healing achieved the same effect as the latter while reducing mana consumption by nearly half.
It also gave the shield a temporary ability to absorb magic from the surrounding air and repair itself.
The benefits for a single mage's endurance were already huge.
But if applied to large-scale military battles—
The results would be downright terrifying.
That was the real reason she had become a professor.
Well… plus a tiny bit of help from her family.
After all, in reality almost no one climbed to high positions entirely on their own.
If someone like that existed, they were extremely rare.
At least in the Magic Association.
If a skill capable of perfect 100% defense ever appeared—whether magic or martial art—
You could bet that nobles and adventurers alike would be unable to resist its temptation.
But the real question was:
Where could such a skill even be obtained?
And who could possibly create it?
Hard to guess.
"Leon, draw it down," Gapar said.
Smarag kept flying around in the sky, which was extremely troublesome.
The Sword Saint's only real ranged attack was sword energy, and it might not even hit.
And even if it did—what if the dragon simply flew away?
They had to lock the dragon's aggro onto them.
At this distance, even Flare wouldn't work well. It wouldn't blind the dragon's eyes.
As for anti-flight magic?
Grounding a creature as huge as a dragon was far beyond their abilities—even the professors couldn't manage it.
So Gapar turned to Leon.
Not because Leon could shoot down a dragon.
But because Leon was extremely good at taunting.
For example—
The Dung Pot hanging from his belt.
It was Leon's exclusive recipe. No one else could replicate that horrifying smell.
Gapar had accidentally taken one whiff before.
Aside from the burning sensation in both ends of his nose…
He had also developed an inexplicable urge to chase Leon down and beat him up.
This thing had aggro-drawing magic!
If they handed Leon's dung pot to the professors and launched it at the dragon with a powerful spell—preferably straight into its nose or mouth—
The dragon would definitely become enraged and act irrationally.
Leon understood the plan.
But instead of throwing the dung pot himself, he handed it to Stella and gave her a trusting look that said, I'll leave it to you.
Stella?
Her arrows might hit the dragon—but compared to magic, arrows were affected by wind pressure, air currents, and many other variables.
Much easier to miss.
Stella accepted the dung pot.
Instead of attaching it to the arrow, she simply smeared a bit of its contents onto the arrowhead.
Then she drew her bow and aimed at the dragon.
Her expression was firm.
Calm.
Completely lacking tension.
That was the expression of someone confident in their ability.
"…Hm?"
Gapar let out a quiet sound.
As he watched Stella's body, admiration appeared in his eyes.
Those hawk-like sharp eyes.
Perfectly toned arm muscles.
Back muscles bulging like a demon's face.
A stance as steady as a mountain.
This was the ideal physique for archery.
It was as if she had been born to wield a bow.
Normally, Stella looked delicate and soft, with the gentle beauty of an elf.
But the moment she exerted strength—
The muscles hidden beneath that delicate exterior surged into view.
It felt like the art style had suddenly shifted from The Idolmaster to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
Unexpectedly cool.
But had Stella always been like this?
Gapar had never interacted much with her before, but his first impression now was clear:
This elf ranger was a battle-hardened natural archer.
Her future would definitely not stop at Silver rank.
"SWOOSH!"
With a sharp sound, Stella released the bowstring.
The arrow shot toward Smarag like lightning.
A simple, unadorned attack.
But it quietly activated the combat skill:
[Full Draw]
"ROAR—!"
Smarag opened its mouth in a roar, terrifying glintstone magic gathering before it.
How could a tiny arrow possibly pass through such a magical attack?
Yet—
It did.
It slipped through a gap just before the glintstone magic fully condensed.
CRACK!
A breaking sound rang out.
The dragon cried out in pain.
A scale near its nose shattered.
The arrow had deviated slightly from its intended path—but hitting the nose was still a great result.
Gapar had watched the whole thing.
His admiration for Stella grew even stronger.
Because he noticed a small detail:
Just before firing, she had used magic to adjust the arrow's weight and balance, pushing its range to the absolute limit.
Great combat awareness.
Good spell usage.
A promising future.
The Stella from before could never have done this.
But she had grown stronger recently.
Every day she fought high-intensity battles against invaders, while also protecting adventurers and watching for monsters.
That kind of combat was powerful training for anyone.
When she used the Taunter's Tongue to bait invaders, she had to think about how to kill in a single strike.
Adjusting arrows based on distance and enemy conditions became a required skill.
Over time, she reached her current level.
In short—
Being a Sun Warrior really raises people well.
Compared to now, the girl who first entered the Sein Dungeon had been almost naïvely innocent.
A massive storm of glintstone magic rained from the sky.
The spell Smarag had nearly finished casting couldn't simply dissipate because of one arrow.
Instead, the foul smell interfered with it, causing the magic to lose control.
Its power increased by 50% compared to before.
"Help me!" Tursey shouted.
Hades, Roger, and Drew immediately stopped watching the spectacle and began channeling their mana into her.
The magic barrier expanded several times in size.
But under the relentless storm of glintstone magic, cracks still appeared.
CRACK!
One glintstone shard—sharp like an icicle—pierced the shield and stuck halfway through.
Their vision was completely obscured by the chaos.
When the magical storm finally ended, everyone quickly looked up.
They saw—
Smarag roaring while flying away.
Its massive body shrank into a tiny speck on the horizon.
"…?"
Even Gapar had a question mark floating over his head.
Why did it run?
Wasn't it supposed to become enraged and dive down to fight them to the death?
Where did its courage go?
"Ah!"
Leon suddenly shouted.
Under everyone's gaze, he scratched his head awkwardly.
"Sorry… I grabbed the wrong one."
The item he held wasn't the aggro-drawing dung pot.
It was something extremely similar that he had recently obtained in the Raya Lucaria Magic Classroom area.
[Stink Bomb]
Instead of attracting monsters—
It repelled them.
The disgusting smell drove them away.
Because its odor was almost identical to the dung pot, Leon had mixed them up earlier.
"…."
Everyone fell silent.
Not long after, they returned to Academy Gate Town.
The crisis had passed.
Leon's group couldn't enter the academy without a Glintstone Key, and Gapar's group needed a safe place to talk.
So they regrouped here.
After exchanging information, Gapar learned something new from Leon.
"You mean… there's no limit on how many people can explore here at the same time?" he asked.
"More accurately, the limit is unknown," Leon replied while taking out some bone-in meat from his bag and sharing it with everyone.
"So there might still be other people in this area. If you run into them, try not to start conflicts."
That explained everything.
Their confusion was finally resolved.
"We're looking for the exit teleportation gate," Gapar said while fiddling with his sword sheath.
"Let's go together. I heard it's hidden somewhere inside the academy."
Leon's expression suddenly turned strange.
"The teleportation gate is right behind that dragon's nest from earlier," he said.
"Master… you all got the key already. Didn't you see it?"
Everyone in Gapar's group froze.
Gapar blinked.
Then his eyelid twitched.
"…Behind that hill?"
"Yeah."
"…."
Gapar fell silent.
Then he said:
"Who would bother checking there?"
Leon didn't know how to respond.
He could only smile politely.
"Well, in that case I'll leave the Sein Dungeon for a moment," the Sword Saint said as he stood up.
"There are some pieces of equipment I should bring here."
But when Leon heard the words Sein Dungeon, his expression grew even stranger.
He looked like he was barely holding back laughter.
"What's wrong?" Gapar frowned.
"Nothing, Master," Leon said quickly, waving his hands with a smile.
"You should just go check the teleportation gate."
"The scene after you leave will definitely surprise you."
"Mysterious nonsense," Gapar snorted.
Since when had Leon become so roundabout?
Did he learn that bad habit of dramatic pauses from Maru?
Gapar shook his head dismissively.
What could possibly surprise him now?
"We'll go with you," Leon said sincerely.
"We can also grab the Glintstone Keys on the way."
He looked like a dutiful student trying to help his master.
But for some reason—
Gapar had a strange feeling.
Not that Leon wanted to harm him.
But rather…
Leon seemed to be looking forward to seeing his master's reaction.