"Lernen, do you know why I've come to this little first-class mage exam venue?"
Serie, draped in her red cloak, arrived at the Northern Branch of the Continental Magic Association. She walked slowly to the head seat and sat down.
"Serie-sama, it's because no one passed the second round again, isn't it?"
As Serie's current top disciple, the elderly and frail Lernen immediately saw through her intentions. He picked up the teapot and brewed red tea for Serie.
"As expected, you figured it out."
White steam rose from the teacup. Serie lifted it, took a sip, and continued: "A fully cooperative exam format is quite good. After all, today's mages have almost no ability to coordinate and work together."
"However, Sense has served as chief proctor five times, and every single time she used the water mirror demon in Zerfallkönig's curtain to slack off and generate exam questions. The result is that many promising mages have been denied first-class status. Occasionally she should come up with different questions. To this day, the number of people who have passed her exam remains zero."
"Falsch, where's Sense? Hiding?" Seeing that Sense still hadn't appeared, Serie set down her teacup and turned her gaze toward Falsch, who had been with Sense during the first round. Her tone carried a hint of mockery. "Though ever since the old days, whenever a topic is unfavorable to her she always stays silent, this reaction is really intense. She didn't even come to face me and chose to hide outright."
Falsch looked grim and spoke with great difficulty: "Serie-sama, I was just about to report this to you."
"Hm?" Serie raised an eyebrow, curious about Falsch's attitude.
"Sense... in the second round, to protect the examinees... was bisected at the waist. She's currently being treated by Alicia-sama and hasn't escaped danger yet."
"What did you say?"
Serie frowned, her voice subtly rising.
She stood up, walked quickly to Falsch, looked up at his face, and asked calmly, word by word: "Repeat that. What exactly happened?"
"...Not only that, every examinee in the second round—except Übel who withdrew midway—suffered severe injuries and remains unconscious. That even includes Frieren-sama." Falsch paused in silence before delivering more bad news. "They're all being treated by Alicia-sama right now. We're waiting for the second-round examinees to wake up and explain what happened inside."
"There's one more thing. Even though Sense prepared escape golems developed by Lernen, there was still a fatality in the second round."
"The deceased is named Joestar."
...
Time rewinds to just before the second-round exam began...
—Northern Nations, Tomb of the Fallen King—
Three days after the first round ended, the examinees who passed gathered here to participate in the second round.
"I will now explain the specifics of the second-round exam to everyone."
The second-round chief proctor, Sense, was a long-haired loli whose hair reached her heels. Her face was coldly beautiful, carrying a sense of calm detachment from the world.
"The exam task is to conquer this labyrinth. What you must do is explore and conquer the Tomb of the Fallen King."
"There is only one condition for passing: successfully reach the deepest part of this Tomb of the Fallen King, which has never been conquered before."
"I will enter the labyrinth with you. Of course, if you encounter danger, I will not intervene to help."
"Also, everyone take one of these bottles."
As soon as she spoke, Sense's hair moved, delivering bottles containing golems to each examinee.
"This is an escape golem developed by first-class mage Lernen. Smash the bottle, and the golem that appears will carry the user out of the labyrinth. Although using the bottle means immediate disqualification, if you encounter unavoidable danger, please use it without hesitation. I will not allow promising future talents to die in a place like this."
"The bottles will automatically shatter at dawn tomorrow. In other words, the exam time will end then."
Sense stood expressionlessly before the group, gave a slight nod, and spoke again: "I now declare the second-round exam officially begun."
The examinees naturally split into three factions: the lone wolves afraid of being treated as disposable, those acting with familiar companions, and the full-cooperation group.
Frieren belonged to the second. She explored the Tomb of the Fallen King together with Fern.
"Strange. Why choose the Tomb of the Fallen King as the second-round exam question?" Frieren muttered, looking puzzled.
Fern tilted her head and offered her own opinion: "Isn't it because the Tomb of the Fallen King has never been conquered before?"
"That statement itself is wrong." Frieren pinched her chin and decisively rejected the possibility. Her mind raced as she explained: "Alicia's Salvation Staff was taken from the deepest part of the Tomb of the Fallen King by Dio."
Fern's forward steps halted. She blinked, a hint of delight in her voice as she asked: "Did Diego-sama ever mention information about the Tomb of the Fallen King?"
Frieren frowned, full of confusion: "That's exactly why I'm troubled. According to Dio, aside from the labyrinth's built-in traps, there was nothing special about the Tomb of the Fallen King. Logically, if that were true, it shouldn't have remained unconquered by anyone except Dio up to now."
Dio has no reason to lie to me about something like this, and the Continental Magic Association choosing this place as an exam question must have their own considerations...
"I can't figure it out at all. We'll just have to explore bit by bit."
The two ventured deeper into the labyrinth.
...
On the other side—from the perspective of the sole survivor, the astonishingly intelligent Übel...
After witnessing Joestar charge into the Tomb of the Fallen King at lightning speed, Übel had no choice but to abandon the idea of exploring the labyrinth with him. Instead, she teamed up with her first-round teammate, the blond glasses-wearing man Land.
Though Land was extremely reluctant, he had no real way to shake off Übel, who shamelessly stuck to him.
Along the way, Übel maintained a carefree, roguish smile and, being a chatterbox, kept bantering with Land until...
"Glasses-kun, do you trust me?" Übel dropped her unserious expression. Her face gradually turned grave, staring toward the depths of the labyrinth as if facing a mortal enemy, her tone deadly serious.
"Hm?" Land turned back, looking at Übel in surprise. He mulled over her words for a moment before replying calmly: "I don't trust you at all. Save that question for torturing your boyfriend."
Übel didn't respond. She kept retreating, drew the bottle Sense had given her from her waist, and—without hesitation—smashed it!
Crack!
The golem inside rapidly expanded, soon reaching two meters tall. It turned its gaze toward Übel, scooped her up, and dashed toward the labyrinth exit.
"Glasses-kun, let me give you one piece of advice: this isn't a fight we can get involved in. The first-class exam comes once every three years, but once your life is gone, it's gone for good." Übel lowered her eyes, silently staring at Land before flashing another grin. "I'm not about to throw my life away for nothing~"
Land was stunned by Übel's actions. His eyes widened as he couldn't help asking: "Have you lost your mind? Doing this means you've lost your qualification for the first-class mage exam..."
"That kind of thing doesn't matter." Übel waved it off with a light laugh, completely unconcerned. "Glasses-kun, because I'm very interested in your clone magic, and I don't know if the one in front of me is your real body, I'll give you one last warning: think carefully about what kind of mage I am..."
Thump thump thump...
As the golem carried her away, Übel's voice grew fainter until Land could no longer hear her.
Based on his understanding of Übel, Land calmed down and began to think carefully about her words.
Übel is the type who uses magic by feeling. She can successfully cast spells even without understanding their principles.
A person's specialty in magic depends on their personality and experiences.
Übel uses others' magic by resonating with them. Conversely, if she can't empathize, she can't use it.
She has strong interest in my clone magic. To some extent, she might even refuse to let me die before she masters it.
Therefore, she wouldn't say something like that and quit the exam for no reason. Most people taking the first-class mage exam are after the privilege—to obtain their most desired magic from Serie.
In other words, there really is danger deep in the labyrinth severe enough to make Übel willingly wait another three years and give up that privilege.
So... should I withdraw too?
Land took the golem bottle from his waist, held it overhead, stared at it for a long time, hesitated, then hung it back.
Better keep going. My real body is back home leisurely drinking tea anyway. If this clone dies, it dies.
Land returned to his usual calm poker face and ventured deeper into the labyrinth.
Outside the Tomb of the Fallen King, Falsch watched Übel escape in astonishment, full of confusion. In his mind, if anyone could pass the first-class mage exam, Übel would definitely be among them.
Moreover, the exam had only just started half an hour ago. Übel didn't have a single injury, and her clothes weren't even dusted with the characteristic grime from triggering traps.
"Hey, you're one of the assistant proctors for the first-class mage exam, right?" Übel slipped free from the golem, leaned forward, tilted her head at Falsch, and curled her lips into a playful smile. "I wonder if you'll believe me, but you'd better find a way to notify every examinee inside the labyrinth to smash their bottles and forfeit. Otherwise, they'll all die in there—including Miss Sense."
"What do you mean?"
"Just the literal meaning..."
The riddle-speaking Übel turned and left, heading toward the town.
Inside the labyrinth, I felt killing intent and malice sharp enough to sting the skin—not directed solely at me, but at every examinee.
Even so, the portion aimed at me was enough to kill me effortlessly.
In the end, it's just my feeling. I can't use it as a reason to make the proctors stop the exam.
Mm...
To minimize casualties, I should go get Miss Alicia, who was in charge of treating examinees after the first round.
Übel glanced back at the Tomb of the Fallen King one last time. Her expression shifted slightly, the corners of her mouth rising with a faint, barely perceptible mockery.
You'd better hold out a while longer. At the very least... if you smash the bottle, there might still be a chance...
...
Several hours after Übel left, Frieren and Fern reached the deepest part of the labyrinth without obstruction, only one hall away from the exam's final destination.
Aside from those who withdrew due to traps, nearly all the examinees had gathered here. Not a single one chose to push open the door into the hall.
"What are you all gathered here for?" Frieren asked curiously.
Seeing Frieren arrive, the court mage Denken rose from the ground and pointed at the crack in the door, gesturing for Frieren to look inside the hall.
"That guy has been occupying the hall for half a day already..."
Frieren peeked in. The figure standing in the hall was unmistakably Frieren—except entirely gray-toned, clearly not the real one.
"I see. Things just got interesting."
Probably no one except Frieren found it interesting.
"Well then, let's hold a strategy meeting."