A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special

“The Blue Moon party is rather impressive . They are very skillful . ”

“The Red Dragon party is in first place . They’re indeed an honor party . ”

The audience made various comments on the performance of the parties .

On the other side of the room, professors busily scored the performance of the parties . As it had always been, they paid no attention to the low-level parties . They were only interested in the students that occupied the top ranks .

“The third rank is Desir’s party . ”

“Oh, you mean the party that doesn’t have an official name yet? The new one?”

“I had some hope for them, but they are a Beta Class party after all . They did a great job reaching third place though . ”

The professors continued to converse with each other .

“Nice to see you, Prof . Bridgette . ”

A husky voice squeezed out a greeting . His attitude immediately showed that he habitually treated others with disrespect . He then sat next to Bridgette . It was Pugman Niplica .

“Nice to see you, Prof . Pugman . ”

It was a rare occasion for Pugman to start a conversation with Bridgette . Bridgette was uncomfortable talking to Pugman as a result . After a short exchange of greetings, she returned her focus back onto the display panels .

“You don’t seem well . ”

“It’s none of your business . ”

“Of course . You probably don’t feel like talking . I can tell by the situation . ”

Pugman deeply breathed in, staring at Bridgette’s face as if enjoying it . For some reason, he looked oddly determined .

“It’s over, Bridgette . ”

In a moment, there was a loud scream amongst the professors . The Blue Moon party cleared a high-level obstacle in Stage Two and claimed the rank one position .

Bridgette turned to look at Pugman .

“You’ll never know until it’s really over, Professor . ”

“If it makes you feel any better . ”

Pugman replied with a slight smirk .

“Desir… maybe this is his limit . ”

“What do you mean by that?”

Bridgette enquired .

“I admit that he is competent, but he is a commoner . He came all the way up to this point by pure luck, but there is a glass ceiling as a commoner . ”

“Well, there was a person who lost to a commoner . ”

She was referring to Kelt .

“… That was a careless mistake . ”

“If that makes you feel any better . ”

It felt like cold air was billowing between the two . Eventually they focused on the display panels again .

“It won’t be as easy as it was before . ”

“Is there a reason that you are so confident?”

“Hmph . It is a party competition after all . ”

Pugman replied as he continued staring at the display panels .

“Even the honor parties attempted this with their best members . But this one… is made up of Beta Class members . All of them! Aren’t they too full of themselves?”

“…”

Maybe they were . For this competition, the top magicians had gathered . This was what Desir was trying to do — compete against them with commoners who were regarded as incompetent .

‘But…’

It didn’t phase Bridgette at all though . She shook her head .

“I’ll admit, Pugman . Your bravado is incredible . ”

This time fire seemed to spark between the two as they stared at each other .

However, on the display panels that displayed the Beta Class parties, nobody noticed that there was something going on in the corner of a panel . A spot that no one paid attention to .

* * * *

“They went ahead to the next stage!”

Back in Stage One of the dungeon, a place where many parties struggled and tried their best to clear, there was a party moving forward effortlessly .

“Any traps or monsters?”

“Nope, they completely cleared them out . ”

“Great . They don’t leave any debris behind them as I expected . ”

O’Quinn smiled after the report from their scout . His prediction was correct . It was a great choice to select Desir’s party . He turned towards his party members .

“Good news everyone!  It’s time to resume our journey!”

The party, Arachne, was a Beta Class party . They had neither decent gear nor skills . Surprisingly, all six members were still alive . As a Beta Class party, it was certainly a miracle that all of their members had survived with the entrance to Stage Two right around the corner .

O’Quinn, the leader of Arachne, was smart enough to know that his party was not competent enough to finish Stage One on their own merit .

‘Then, I can literally follow in the footsteps of a good party?’

When a party clears traps and monsters, just follow quietly behind them . This was their strategy . People would say that it was sly, unfair, and sneaky, but O’Quinn thought that it was foolish to go head to head when he could go around .

The downside to this strategy was that if the leading party found out, the whole competition would be over for O’Quinn’s party . Not only that, dire consequences would swiftly follow after the tournament .

Therefore, they tried to select a party that would be magnanimous about this matter even if they were caught: Desir’s party .

“They wouldn’t harm us, even after finding out that we were chasing right behind them . ”

O’Quinn smirked .

“They even took our ace, Freechel, away from us . At the very least, they should let us follow them . ”

The Arachne party members responded with somewhat vacant gazes .

“S… Sure . ”

“We were so nice to Freechel . ”

O’Quinn shrugged his shoulders .

“You’re right . She was the one who couldn’t take our ‘prank . ’ It was just a little prank, and it was so awkward that she just ran out like that . ”

He then glared at the members who hadn’t said anything yet .

“Somebody has to be a toy for the Alphas, right, Aljay?”

Aljay looked away . Her eyes wandered around the area . She responded emotionlessly,

“… Right . ”

O’Quinn had a close relationship with Alpha Class parties and was subcontracted with them as a result . The party members had to be careful with O’Quinn . Otherwise, they could be made the new target .

The Arachne party walked down the hallway of Stage One . Originally, traps and monsters would have blocked them . No, there were actually some traps set up there, but they were already all dismantled and destroyed . They continued to walk through patches of dead monsters and destroyed traps . It was a non-stop collage of post-battle scenes .

There was a path leading down stairs just behind the piles of gargoyle rubble . The Arachne party went down the stairs .

[Arachne party has entered Stage Two . ]

“Great!”

They were probably the top rank amongst the Beta Class parties now . Even though they didn’t fight against a single monster or dismantle a single trap, by entering Stage Two they had gained so much credit already .

‘This is so easy . We can probably enter Stage Three if we continue moving forward like this . ’

O’Quinn announced to his party members,

“Alright, time to look for Desir’s tracks again . ”

“On it . ”

There were so many tracks on the ground . The debris from the battlefield was incomparable to the ones in Stage One .

“This way . ”

The Arachne party continued following the tracks that lead from battle to battle . After about 10 minutes, they suddenly came to a stop .

*Thud*

A heavy noise could be heard, swiftly followed by a large vibration .

“What is that?”

*Thud* *Thud*

And it wasn’t a one time event . The noise became louder and louder . Soon, a red dot appeared in the dark .

*Shring*

One of the magicians cast light magic and illuminated the surroundings . From one of many paths in front of them, there was something walking towards them . It had a huge body and it made the ground shake as it stepped forward with its gigantic feet, one step at a time . The magician who cast the light magic noticed what it was and screamed .

“A golem!?”

Golems were mythical figures that guard dungeons . They were one of the highest leveled monsters that dungeon invaders, like themselves, could face . It was nearly impossible for them to defeat this monster . Even if they did, they would sustain so much damage from the battle that they wouldn’t be able to carry on .

‘Is it just strolling around?’

Unlike the monsters in Stage One, golems in Stage Two steadily roamed in search of invaders .

While the Arachne party tried to collect themselves, the golem had approached them . A red light scanned them once .

*Shwing*

The golem recognized the figures in-front of it as invaders . The massive body of rock was already so close to them .

O’Quinn ordered his party .

“Back off!”

It was suicidal for them to try and defeat a golem . They needed magic of at least the Third-Circle or a Knight-Level swordsman in order to break the outer layer and damage the inside of its body .

The highest power in their party was Second-Circle . Retreating was the right decision .

The Arachne party started to run away from the golem, but the golem chasing them was surprisingly fast .

‘Way too fast . ’

It seemed like it would catch up to them in just a moment . O’Quinn had to make a decision .

“Aljay, sorry . ”

O’Quinn cast magic . He turned around and cast [Seize] magic at Aljay .

*Crush*

Aljay’s feet were caught and stuck to the ground . Due to her momentum and the abrupt stop, she immediately fell down to her knees . O’Quinn shouted at her .

“You need to be the bait for us . ”

“…!”

Aljay looked up at O’Quinn and the other members, but nobody came to help her . They continued escaping .

‘We can find the tracks later . We just need to get rid of this thing first . ’

Because Stage Two had a more complicated map somewhat reminiscent of spider webs, in comparison to Stage One, O’Quinn believed that he could remove this tail .

‘Next time, I should chase Desir’s party much closer . ’

Unfortunately, he couldn’t change the past to make this happen . O’Quinn’s party suddenly stopped in their tracks . O’Quinn’s could see a red light glowing in the dark in front of them . It was another golem .

“We’ll turn around and take the side path that we just passed!”

*Thump*

It was a heavy sound from behind them . The first golem had caught up .

‘Wait, it’s here already? Aljay, you useless piece of shit . ’

Two golems, on either side of the party, slowly closed in on them blocking any path out of this predicament . They were completely trapped .

“We’re done . ”

All of the members heard what O’Quinn muttered and gave up on escaping their fate .

‘Well, we made it to Stage Two . We did pretty well . ’

“Arachne party, we surrender . ”

As the party leader claimed their surrender, all party members’ bodies faded as they were transported to the place where they first started the competition . At least, that was what was meant to happen . It didn’t happen this time though .

“…Why aren’t we being transported?”

Nothing had happened to their bodies . In a moment, the golem in the back swung its gigantic arm .

*Crush*

“Arrrrrrrr!!!”

An ear piercing scream resounded .

It was the party member in the rear . His armor and shield were crushed and a terrible amount of blood squirted out through the holes that had appeared in it . It was a serious injury . His bones were smashed into pieces and his body was thrown to the ground .

[Anin Pailmint failed . ]

There was an announcement about the party member failing the mission, but the body that was supposed to fade and disappear was still there . In a short moment, the rest of the party realized what had just happened . Rather, what hadn’t happened .

“He’s dead for real!?”

The golems surrounding them came much closer .

Their faces were plastered with misery at their inevitable fate .