Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss

Suicide Before Defeating the Final Boss – 15

EP.15 Joint Evaluation Exam 2

Jeong-hyeon silently watched his team, which was already falling apart. If they were people he could communicate with, he would have tried to talk and coordinate with them somehow, but…

‘One pig, two idiots, one normal person.’

Surrounded by too many morons, he gave up fast.

‘There’s no point in shouting at idiots; it’s just a waste of time.’

So, instead of doing something pointless, he decided to watch the situation and sighed.

After a while, a message appeared on the magic stone bulletin board, announcing the exam procedures.

*-*

[Joint Evaluation Exam]

– Objective: Reach the core of the maze.

Evaluation Criteria:

Whether you reach the destination.

Time taken to reach the destination.

*Note: Requesting rescue will result in disqualification and the lowest score.

*-*

‘In short, we just have to get to the target point quickly.’

Nodding at the simple objective, he felt there was nothing confusing about it.

‘Anyway, what’s important is…’

Resilience, physical strength, stamina management and the ability to make the right decisions to find the correct path. As he pondered how to get these fools to the destination quickly, a voice called out nearby.

“Team B, please enter in order!”

With that brief announcement, we entered the dungeon.

***

Dungeons, especially maze dungeons, are characterized by their dark and narrow spaces, which tend to expose participants to excessive stress over time.

‘Because of this, even minor issues can spark fights.’

Given that their team included a fire mage and a water mage, who were notoriously incompatible, it was no surprise that problems arose as soon as we encountered a group of monsters.

“… No, seriously. Why do you keep casting water magic where I use fire magic?”

While it’s understandable to be annoyed if your magic gets cancelled out, it wasn’t something to pick a fight over. The water mage wasn’t intentionally cancelling out the fire magic; it was a matter of coordinating the order and direction of their spells.

However, perhaps due to the combined stress of the exam and the dungeon, the fire mage chose to escalate the situation instead of resolving it smoothly.

“Are you brainless? If you have a head, use your magic somewhere else. You’ve been pouring water on my fire since earlier.”

The spark of conflict quickly spread.

The water mage, already irritated, retaliated, turning the situation into a mess.

“What did you say? Do you want to die?”

The conflict escalated rapidly and their tempers flaring. Soon, they threw their staffs aside and grabbed each other’s collars, ready to fight.

‘Seriously… what a mess.’

Jeong-hyeon felt a headache coming on while he was trying to stop them, but Miria stepped in first and separated the two.

“Guys… don’t fight!”

He was relieved that at least one person seemed sane, but he realized his mistake immediately after hearing her next words.

“But since you won’t listen to me anyway, if you really want to fight, how about using magic instead of fists? If you really want to mess each other up, magic would be faster than fists…”

The two mages looked at Miria with horrified expressions, as if they were seeing true madness for the first time.

“Oh, you don’t want to fight? That’s a relief! It would have been troublesome if you really started fighting. Although, it might have been fun in its own way… No, no, it’s better not to fight.”

Realizing that there wasn’t a single normal person among the four, he felt his headache double and sighed deeply.

‘What’s the point of this Luck trait?’

With a Luck level higher than the Golden King’s, it wasn’t bringing any luck or solving problems. He was starting to regret choosing it.

Just as he was feeling this regret, he felt an intense gaze from the corner.

‘That pig is at it again.’

Jer was glaring at him with murderous intent. He chuckled bitterly and sighed again.

***

About 30 minutes had passed since then. Thanks to Miria’s peculiar madness, the situation had calmed down a bit, but a sense of disharmony still lingered among them.

‘Maybe they’re not performing well because it’s real battle…’

It was taking them over ten minutes just to kill a few low-level goblins. At this rate, it was doubtful they would even reach their destination, let alone rank highly.

‘Maybe I should have beaten them all up at the start and gone solo.’

That might have been faster. Just as he was thinking he couldn’t take it anymore, the surroundings suddenly turned red, and a warning voice accompanied by a red message appeared.

[Someone has used a Dungeon Amplifier, causing the dungeon to go berserk!]

WARNING – The difficulty of the dungeon has greatly increased!

Dungeon berserk mode.

Opinions varied on this, but one common consensus was that everyone was doomed when it happened.

Recalling these stories, he frowned, sensing something was seriously wrong. A message appeared in front of him.

*-*

[A quest has been triggered! – Stop the maze from going berserk.]

– Failure: A curse will befall everyone in the academy.

– Success: You will receive a special ??.

*-*

Seeing this, he calmed his expression and drew his sword. If he did nothing, the situation would only worsen. As he drew his sword, Jer nearby sneered.

“Don’t get cocky. Do you think you’re something special? Why don’t you just stay put?”

Miria chimed in, agreeing with Jer.

“That’s a bit harsh, but not wrong. Oh, wait… if you were actually considering suicide, I’m so sorry! I missed that.”

With that, the other three also began to voice their opinions.

“If you’re not considering suicide, just stay here. If you wait quietly like a dead mouse, help will come.”

“Y-Yeah. If we focus on maintaining the barrier, we can hold out until rescue arrives.”

“For once, the fire mage is making sense. Like he said, staying here and using barriers is the most rational thing to do.”

Everyone tried to dissuade him, but he didn’t listen. Then Miria spoke up again.

“You might not know, but when the dungeon goes berserk, the monsters become twice as strong, and the maze’s structure changes. So instead of being stubborn, come back here and…”

As soon as he heard Miria mention that the structure would change, he approached the wall with a faint hope. If what he was thinking was correct, he might be able to solve this problem more easily than expected. He calmly reached out and touched the wall to confirm his suspicion.

Cold, but with a rhythmic pulse as if it were alive. Feeling this sensation, he was convinced that the wall was not made of real stone but was instead composed of mana.

“Hey, stop messing around and come here! You have no sense and keep doing pointless things.”

As Jeong-hyeon touched the wall, Jer barked at him like a dog on a leash. Ignoring this, he stepped back and prepared to strike the wall with his sword.

“Wow, this is hilarious. Does he really think he can do that? This guy’s completely nuts.”

“Yeah, that’s just…”

“Everyone, get a grip! We’re not in a situation to laugh around. The dungeon is berserk! We could all die, and you’re laughing?”

He heard mocking laughter behind him. Ignoring it, he gathered his divine power and struck the wall.

“You can’t possibly…”

Crash!

The stone wall crumbled in one blow, revealing a passage beyond. He looked at it expressionlessly and answered shortly.

“It works.”

Of course, just saying it plainly wouldn’t be fun, so he made sure to add a sarcastic tone. The three behind him froze in shock, their expressions as if they’d seen something impossible.

“You broke the dungeon wall? A berserk dungeon wall? Is that even possible?”

“Who the hell are you?”

“… Crazy.”

Hearing these varied praises, he lost interest and looked ahead. Another large stone wall blocked the path. He gathered his divine power again and repeated the process of breaking through.

Crash! Crash!

As the path opened quickly, his teammates stared at him in a daze. Seeing their expressions, he considered abandoning them but decided they might be useful as decoys or meat shields. Then He spoke briefly.

“Follow me if you want or stay here if you don’t.”

“I’ll follow!”

The first to follow was Miria. She rushed to his side, her eyes filled with awe, and started asking him endless questions.

“You’re a first-year, right? How are you so strong?”

“Do you want to be friends? I have money and come from a good family. What do you think?”

“I’ll treat you well, okay?”

Sensing that this would become annoying, he pretended not to hear her and kept his eyes forward. If they continued straight, they would soon reach the core soon. He remembered from long ago that destroying the central dungeon stone at the core would deactivate all the dungeon’s functions.