Back on Earth, as Elisa, I was a bit clumsy. Not too much. It was because I was—and still am—impulsive; meaning I often do or say things without thinking first. Here, as Bianca, I'm still myself. I'd say I'm exactly the same, just with my gamer side unleashed and a bit of freshly learned common sense so I don't int in a dungeon.

So, when I see a bunch of soldiers clad in high-quality armor, likely with magical pieces, I should be focused on solving the problem, figuring out what they're doing here, and making sure they do not kill the poor bear.

Er…

Making sure the bear does not kill the poor elite soldiers. Yeah, that's better.

So the normal thing to do would be to greet them and clear up the misunderstanding. Say something like: "Hello, we're students from the academy and this bear is a minion of my necromancer friend, not a dungeon mob."

But nope.

Because a certain seed of evil jumps out of my backpack, barks, and runs straight toward the cave wall—where I suddenly notice that one of the stone carvings does not look natural. In fact, I'd say it's far too square not to have been made by human hands, or by some other intelligent creature.

Because yes, the damned seed makes sure I hear and see him. I mean, everyone must be looking at him right now, even the soldiers.

Although those soldiers, who are on the other side of the enormous zombie bear that was once king of the mountain—they can see us, sure, but I doubt they have any idea what's going on.

A part of my brain is thinking I don't even know what they're doing here, and if they were about to attack the bear, now they're probably confused to see a group of students appear from the other side of the cave. They might even be yelling "Watch out!"

Right now, though, all I'm seeing is the damn pup lifting a paw with a mischievous expression.

No way! He's going to do it.

He's going to activate something.

Another damn hidden, higher-level floor of the dungeon?

No, please.

I've had enough with the wraiths.

I'm not going to make it in time to crouch down and scoop him up. So I charge at him with one thought in mind—kick him out of the way.

Kick an innocent little puppy? Bianca, how cruel, my thoughts whisper to me.

Screw that, I snap back.

I am not going to some other impossible level—I can't even summon the wolf right now.

But things do not go as planned.

"Agility 8?"

Yep.

"Intelligence 7?"

Also yes.

"Ability to coordinate what my brain commands with something as simple as hysterically running across a frozen cave floor and kicking the seed?" 3.

Or so I imagine in my head as I lift my leg, miss—the seed jumps out of the way; at least he does not place his paw on the wall—and I find myself falling in slow motion, face-first toward the ground.

Impact.

It hurts.

I keep sliding, with my face and knees dragging along the floor, and somehow end up sliding under the legs of the zombie bear and crashing into one of the soldiers. And to top it all off, I'm left with my ass in the air, legs spread out, in a posture completely devoid of glamour or dignity.

Thank goodness I'm not wearing a skirt or I'd be flashing my panties right now.

I want to cry and have the earth swallow me whole. Well, maybe murder the damn seed of evil first.

"Miss, are you alright?" I hear someone ask—probably the soldier I crashed into.

But I do not really pay attention.

I'm waiting to hear a sound—gears grinding, stone slabs shifting, something like that. Because I know that damn pup took the chance to press the lever or whatever that carving was.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Miss? Let me help you."

Big, strong hands grab my arms and help me up.

Since I still don't hear anything strange, I try to glance behind me at the pup, but the soldier holds me still, so I have no choice but to focus on him.

He looks like a tank. Big and muscular. He must have set his tower shield down on the floor to help me up. All his hair is tucked into his metal helmet, so I cannot tell if he's blond like I imagine. His nose is crooked, maybe broken at some point in his life, and either he has not had access to healing magic or he just likes it that way.

Wait, has he set down his shield and is holding me? I frown. Is he not scared of the bear anymore?

"I am fine. I am Bianca L'Crom, student at the Royal Academy, and I am here with my companion Ronan Velbrun on a mission."

"Yes, we were told another group of students had taken the ice worm egg trial," he replies as he lets go of me, apparently satisfied that I can stay upright on my own.

Ugh, so embarrassing… I do not blame him.

"That zombie bear that just vanished—was it yours?" He locks eyes with Ronan.

Well, looks like they actually did their homework and everything.

But I am not exactly in the mood to let them know Ronan can raise something like that, or that we left it here to block the third-years' way.

I turn my head and notice the enormous zombie is gone. Considering there is no way it could have slipped downstairs due to its size, its master must have canceled the animation spell.

"Bear? You mean the creature I slipped under?"

"Yes."

"No, it wasn't ours. And it wasn't in this cave when we cleared it earlier. There were only ice golems here."

"Like those two?"

He points somewhere behind me, and I turn around.

I see Ronan and, a couple of meters away from him, the two zombie golems.

I hope he took advantage of my little unintended show to recover his tooth. Or, failing that, I hope he, Tom, or the other zombies moved it out of sight so the soldiers would not see it.

As for the pup, he has stepped away from the carved wall and is looking at me with what I would swear is a smirk.

Can a wolf even laugh?

I think so. It is not the first time I have seen him do it.

"Miss?"

Oops, got distracted.

"Yes, like those two."

The soldier steps toward Ronan.

"You are a necromancer, right?"

"It is not my specialization, but yes, I can raise the dead if that is what you are referring to."

"And the bear was not yours?"

Play along, I whisper mentally to him.

Not that I think he needs the reminder—if Ronan is anything, he is loyal—but I am nervous.

"No. I have several bears, one quite large, but not like the one that was in this cave."

My lady, why are we lying to them? his voice reaches my mind. There is no rule against me having large bears. Or is it that you want to start hiding the key pieces of your future army?

No, no, it's just that I don't want us to get penalized for blocking the third-years' way.

Understood.

"Can you summon it?"

"I do not have mana. If you give me a medium potion, I would be glad to."

To my astonishment, they hand him one. And Ronan raises the second-largest bear he has. Once the soldiers are satisfied, they ask him to cancel the spell.

I know my friend is not thrilled about it, but he complies.

"And where did you get it?"

"From the forest."

"What forest? Near the academy?" he asks, clearly skeptical.

I sigh and step in.

"I don't know what rank you all hold. You should ask the rector or your commanding officer. I assure you, I have permission to train in that forest, and he has permission to accompany me."

At that, the soldier—whose actual rank I still don't know—falls silent for a few seconds.

"Very well. Apologies for the inconvenience. We were called because the other group of students assigned to this task spotted the creature and reported it. We came to assess whether there was a new boss in the dungeon, but it seems to have disappeared—just like your companion's smaller bear." He nods toward Ronan. "Clearly it was a raised or summoned undead. Whether by the dungeon or by someone else, I cannot say. I will speak to the rector and we will sort this out. Have you noticed anything unusual in the rest of the dungeon?"

"No." I shrug.

The specters were predictable if you wandered near the lake. The dragon... well, that is a secret I am not telling anyone. At least not until we get her out of here.

"All right, we are going to inspect the dungeon. If everything checks out, we will not close it."

"Great," I reply honestly. "We haven't collected a single pouch of eggs yet."

My lady, Ronan's voice echoes in my mind, they are going to see the lake with the hole.

When does the dungeon regenerate and respawn creatures?

Once we have left, as long as the dungeon is empty. And they have already entered.

So they will see it. If they get close to the lake. And there are, like, two rows of footprints leading to and from it, straight from the maze's exit.

Shit, what do I do?

Collapse the spiral staircase and say screw it?

My range is fifty meters. Those stairs are made of stone. I'd have to stir and shake the ground underneath, on the second or third level. With fifty meters, I think I can reach it, but I might end up burying all of us alive…

My lady?, Ronan is asking me.

The soldiers are saying their goodbyes and starting to walk toward the stairs.

I connect to the earth, it's hard to feel it, since it's far, but I manage. I close my eyes, I think I could do it. I open them. I'm not that desperate.

Let's hope they don't find the female dragon and, while we're at it, that they don't go near the lake either, I think to Ronan.

They'll see the tracks in the snow.

Maybe not, maybe by the time they get through the maze, the wind will blow or it'll snow again.

My lady, that is leaving too much to chance.

Well, we'll come up with something, or the headmaster will cover for us. He knows about my elements, and you're also a student with great potential, even if you turned down their offer to work for them. I think he'll back us up, even with the dungeon thing if he suspects anything. We're young, we do dumb things, it's normal, right?

My lady, it is very likely that you are right, and if not, we should continue building your army in case they discover what they should not and things go south.

Oh man… Ronan is so reassuring… I force a smile and say aloud:

"Come on, let's go back to the academy."

The soldiers have already left the room, and if they hear that, it's not a problem.

The way back is quick. To the village, to the teleporter, to the teleporter, to the teleporter and done. This time there weren't too many people and we didn't have to wait long between portal and portal.

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