"If we can't enter the dungeon because of magical energy, then we just need to absorb all that energy."
Of course, that wasn't as easy as it sounded. Even the Magic Department believed the most reliable method was to defeat the dungeon boss and destroy the dungeon core from within.
If we could just use the Demon Lord's magic sword, all of this would be solved.
The problem was...
"How much bigger is that thing going to get?"
The black mage, true workhorse of romance fantasy novels, had done an excellent job.
The magic sword was growing much larger than the one I'd seen in the Dogkin village yesterday.
It reminded me of Jack and the Beanstalk.
If one could climb it, it might actually reach the clouds, considering how big it was getting.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The gazes of three people, including Uncle Aren, fell on me.
Their expressions basically said, "What the fuck is that?"
"..."
I don't know either, fuck.
What is that thing? I'm starting to get scared.
"Um, Mr. Adam?"
Daisy, the wielder of the magic sword, seemed to share my thoughts.
She looked at me with wildly trembling eyes, silently begging me to do something about it.
"Hmm."
Let's calmly assess the situation.
Clearly, this all started when we stuck the sword into the sealed dungeon entrance to drain its magical energy.
As the absorbed magic condensed in the sword, we had to keep backing away, and...
"..."
Now we'd retreated so far that even I, a trained warrior, could no longer see the entrance.
So, how should we handle this?
According to Arang's method, we needed to counter it with compressed aura to make the energy consumption faster than the absorption rate.
Could I do that now?
"No, I can't."
But it was the Sword Emperor's job to handle this.
So I tried to leave to call for the Sword Emperor, but—
"D-don't abandon me?!"
Daisy, misunderstanding my intentions, moved slightly.
With her small movement, the sword wobbled a bit, but—
"Wh-what?"
"Be careful!"
It was like the butterfly effect.
Though Daisy's movement only caused the magic sword to wobble slightly, it created an enormous motion at the far end where the massive blade of magical energy extended.
"Y-you made me do this!"
"Hey, you said you wanted to help your friends."
"I-I didn't know it would turn out like this!"
Who could have known?
"D-don't move! If you won't take responsibility, I don't know what I might do!"
I never thought I'd see a saint threatening people, but unfortunately, she was holding what amounted to a genuine nuclear launch button.
If that thing went off—or even if she just swung it wrong—the entire dungeon could collapse.
Could even Prince Ellen survive that?
"Calm down."
As I carefully tried to negotiate with Daisy to calm her down—
"Wh-what?"
Daisy's body suddenly trembled, and I thought she might be under more pressure, but looking closer, the source of the trembling wasn't Daisy but the dungeon itself.
"I-it's open!"
Someone shouted, and Daisy, startled, pointed the tip of the sword skyward.
"Wow."
Everyone stared in amazement.
Not just the swordsmen, but even the Fire Mage was left speechless at the sight of the enormous, majestic sword.
And so were...
"..."
"..."
"..."
The romance fantasy male leads who had just emerged from the dungeon.
Even with their rose-colored glasses, they couldn't help but be stunned by what they witnessed.
For once, even the mighty romance fantasy protagonists couldn't maintain their usual composure.
* * *
"I need to dispel this with aura?"
The enormous, beautiful sword of magical energy—which had overcome even the romance fantasy male leads' selective vision—bewildered even the mighty Sword Emperor.
"Well, well. This is... hmm."
Indeed, it was easily five times larger than the magic sword we'd seen in the Dogkin tribe.
It was difficult even to point the tip straight ahead.
Perhaps the Sword Emperor should plant the handle in the ground and strike it like a training dummy?
"Excuse me."
At that moment, Violet, who had been hiding until now, appeared and carefully offered her opinion.
"Why don't we use what we can use?"
"Miss Violet, what do you mean by that?"
This came from the Magic Department's head professor, McGregor, who had been racking his brain alongside the Sword Emperor about how to handle this situation.
"I heard the masterminds behind this incident haven't been caught yet."
"That's right."
"I understand the Rias Fiefdom has many dangerous areas that limit the search, but wouldn't that be true for the black mages too? No matter what methods they used, it would be more difficult for them than for people who've lived in the Rias Fiefdom for a long time."
"That's true."
"But if they still haven't been found, unless they used teleportation to escape... it's obvious, isn't it?"
Daisy's gaze turned toward one place.
The dungeon where the romance fantasy male leads and some Academy students had been trapped.
"Set a trap and wait for the enemy. It's the most basic strategy."
A mage performs best in battle when fighting within their own domain, prepared in advance.
Unlike swordsmen, whose battles are usually decided by pure skill differences, a well-prepared mage could occasionally defeat a mage two levels above them.
If we were dealing with black mages—who had used the dungeon core to create such a trap—it was hard to imagine what might be waiting inside that dungeon.
Therefore...
"Why don't we just destroy it?"
"...?"
Professor McGregor tilted his head at Violet's words.
Confused, he looked at the Sword Emperor.
"Destroy the dungeon?"
"We've already drained all the magical energy from the dungeon core, so it's just an ordinary cave now, right?"
"That's true."
"And if it's related to black mages, it would be difficult to repurpose anyway."
"That's also correct."
"And we have an excellent demolition tool, don't we?"
At first, no one understood what she meant, but a moment later, everyone began looking at Daisy.
More precisely, at the enormous magic sword she was holding.
With that massive, majestic thing—so huge that up close you couldn't tell if it was a sword or a club...
"Let's smash it down?"
Violet suggested we strike down on the black mages like swatting a cockroach with a flyswatter.
* * *
The black mages of Rias were, as Violet had predicted, hiding in the dungeon.
The documents they received from the followers of the evil god, supposedly passed down from demons, had many suspicious points even to the black mages.
But they tried it out of curiosity, and when everything worked perfectly, they couldn't help but believe.
That's why they also believed in the reward they would receive if they succeeded.
Those religious fanatics had promised it in the name of their god.
"A magic circle that can control even a dungeon boss! With this, Rias will be in our grasp!"
"Woooah!"
The black mages cheered at their leader's words.
While ordinary people wondered why anyone would live in the Rias Fiefdom, for black mages, there was no better place.
Since it was inherently dangerous, few people wandered around.
This meant they rarely encountered their most dangerous natural enemy: humans.
Not only that, but periodically, mist full of demonic energy would flow from somewhere, making it difficult for ordinary people to use magic.
Occasionally, this dangerous energy would clash with internal magic and cause internal injuries.
But for black mages, it was like an elixir that could elevate their level just by absorbing it.
The only problems were wild animals, monsters, and suddenly appearing dungeons that wouldn't spare black mages either, meaning they could die if unlucky.
But even that would be solved with the monster-controlling magic circle the fanatics had taught them, giving them an infinite army.
And not just any army—an army of powerful monsters from what could only be called a magical realm, incomparable to ordinary regions!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
So even when the dungeon trembled, they laughed.
They thought the Academy brats were moving to defeat the dungeon boss.
The numerous traps and magic circles they had prepared, along with monsters made ferocious by berserk magic, would block their path.
And even if they overcame these trials, what awaited them was the dungeon boss—a Stone Golem enhanced by the reinforced dungeon core.
"The Stone Golem is already tough, and we've enhanced it repeatedly! Without aura, even decent sword energy would barely scratch it. And we've applied coatings and magic circles that greatly increase its magic defense, neutralizing the few spells that might be effective against it!"
They were confident that unless the Sword Emperor or the former Magic Tower Lord came along, the Academy first-years couldn't defeat the enhanced Stone Golem with their skills.
They had worked hard.
They had proven their strength by surviving in the forbidden areas of the cursed Rias Fiefdom.
Their strength was recognized by the evil god's followers, who provided them with various dark arts.
They had used these perfectly to achieve their goals.
And still not being complacent, they had maximized their chances of victory by preparing for the worst possible scenarios.
What they lacked was...
"But why is it still shaking?"
"Did we make the traps too excessive?"
"Are you sure they haven't reached the center of the dungeon yet? Besides the Stone Golem, are there other monsters that could cause such impact?"
"At this point, could it just be an earthquake?"
They simply failed to imagine things beyond the common sense of ordinary people, black mages, or even the fanatics who followed the evil god.
They couldn't imagine that a saint would pull out one of the evil god's weapons that a goddess had supposedly sealed in ancient times.
Or that she would use it to drain all the magical energy from the dungeon core.
Or that she would use that absorbed energy to smash the dungeon itself.
Those were just stories to them.
"Th-this is strange!"
"The earthquake seems to be getting stronger!"
"Dirt keeps falling—is it safe to stay here?"
"Not yet! Think of all we've prepared here! We're not alone either. The Academy students are here too. Find them while they're confused and take them hostage!"
The black mage leader was understandably flustered but still assessed the situation coolly and gave the next order.
"Boss! The door is open! All the Academy students have escaped!"
"What?!"
Unfortunately, in the face of the natural disaster that was a romance fantasy female lead...
"Aaaaah!"
"The dungeon is collapsing!"
"Run away!"
They were merely ordinary mortals.