When I opened my eyes again,  
   my vision was met with darkness, not a single speck of light in sight.

I rolled my eyes briefly.

There was nothing to be seen.

Around me, only shadows trickled down, clinging and thick, as if unable to sleep.  
   Pure blackness saturated the backdrop.

With a quick snap, I flicked my fingers behind me.

“Hmm.”

Snap!

A light popping sound echoed.  
   The faint reverberation turned into a trace of an echo, filling the hollow silence that surrounded us.

A single strand of noise breaking the quiet.

And then—

Whoosh!

Flames flared up in various places.  
   As if they had been waiting for that sound, the torches hanging on the walls began to burn.  
   The light increased one by one, soon enough filling the space around us.

The scene was now bright enough.

“Ugh… my… my Lord?”

“...What’s going on?”

Two girls were beside me,  
   their faces showing signs of confusion as they looked around.  
   Their gazes trembled slightly.

“W-We definitely saw the magic circle flashing oddly, didn’t we…?”

“It seemed like the teleportation activated.”

“Are… are we sure we arrived properly?”

“That… is unknown.”

A surge of mana had occurred just before the teleportation activated.  
   Maybe recalling the unusual mana flow, both of them kept their guard up, unwilling to relax.

Perhaps they thought assessing the situation came first.  
   Emilia calmly examined the space we were standing in.

“It’s a strange place.”

The air brushing my cheek was distinctly cool.  
   The corridor stretched out ahead, yet even on the long wall, there was no window to reveal the outside.  
   Only the torches placed intermittently lit up the darkness.

Emilia paused, lost in thought, then spoke to me as if seeking my opinion.

“It seems like an underground space, doesn’t it?”

“I think so too.”

“The torches being placed so densely like this… it suggests no light reaches here even during the day.”

“And the absence of windows is also strange.”

“One thing’s clear: we’re definitely not at the academy.”

A faint, musty scent typical of a basement brushed past.  
   It looked like no one had set foot here for a long time, with dust piled everywhere.  
   And yet, the corridor stretched endlessly.

“…Something feels… off.”

One of the girls mumbled quietly.  
   As I looked around, Rezia, who stood behind me, grabbed onto my sleeve.  
   Her fingers, lightly trembling.

“My… my Lord.”

“Yes, Rezia?”

“The emergency signal artifact we received… it… it’s not working.”

“What?”

I checked the bracelet on my wrist.  
   Right before the exam began,  
   Selena had handed each of us a signaling artifact.  
   Normally, it should have been blinking blue, linked to the mana of the supervising professor, but now it was completely dead.

It looked like it had stopped functioning entirely.

“I-It’s been like this since we arrived.”

“Hm.”

Emilia’s artifact was also inactive.  
   In this unfamiliar place, uncertain if we had arrived as intended, we were cut off from the academy.  
   In short, we were isolated.

“W-What should we do now…?”

“The academy has probably noticed something went wrong with the test. Let’s not panic.”

“B-But, my Lady…”

“It’s fine.”

Emilia responded dismissively.  
   Though she frowned calmly, she was clearly nervous, biting her nails unconsciously.

An air of uncertainty lingered.  
   I quietly observed the situation.

‘It seems like everything’s going according to the original.’

I cast a sidelong glance around.

The sight before me was that of an old underground chamber, darkness sinking deep, emphasizing the ominous atmosphere.  
   The damp air was like the breath of some lurking creature.

Though it wasn’t exactly the exam location, in a way, we had arrived at the right place.

After all, this was the setting for the episode.

I quietly sifted through my memory.

---

**[EP5. Midterm Exam]**  
- *The Abandoned Laboratory, The Monster That Cannot Laugh*

---

In the original, the midterm exam followed a similar flow.  
   Rezia’s team got caught in a teleportation mishap, and they awakened in the basement.  
   If we stayed here, “they” would be upon us soon.

We needed to move before that happened.

Turning to the two who stood with tense expressions, I spoke.

“Let’s look around a bit, shall we?”

“What? Huh?”

Both of them looked at me.

I continued speaking calmly, meeting their gazes head-on.

“I’m perfectly sane.”

“We don’t even know where we are, and you want to go wandering around?”

“We can’t just stay here and wait.”

“I disagree.”

“I’m not sure what you’re so afraid of.”

I shrugged, as if nothing was wrong.

“If we explore, we might find an exit, don’t you think? And seeing that it’s underground, it’s likely an artificially made facility… we might even meet someone who can help.”

“But it looks like no one’s been here for a long time.”

“All the more reason to move. If there’s no one to help, it’s better for us to explore and understand the area.”

“Hm…”

Emilia hesitated.

Others might have suggested we stay put, but as someone who had business here, I needed to take a look around.  
   There was someone here I needed to find.

‘Given how vague his whereabouts were, even my knowledge from the original didn’t help much…’

Today, however, I finally had an opportunity.

Knowing that this midterm exam was a trap, I’d willingly walked right into it.

Of course, I could use my power to comb through the basement without moving, but the vastness of this space would drain a significant amount of my energy.

It was a complex and sprawling structure, nearly on par with the Astro Headquarters in scale.

‘I’ll need to tread carefully.’

Wasting energy unnecessarily was not an option.  
   Having prepared for this moment, I intended to finish it right.

No one could be expected to perform “staff welfare” tasks like this.

While reflecting with a slight sigh—

“…Alright. I suppose you have a reason for doing this.”

Emilia’s response came, cutting into my thoughts.

Perhaps she had succumbed to the serpent’s forked tongue.

Or maybe she recalled our deal and reluctantly decided to follow me.

Either way, it was a relief.

“Hmm.”

In a rare moment of praise, I patted her head.  
   Her neatly combed blue hair. Emilia frowned but endured my hand, her displeasure evident.

“Then, shall we keep walking?”

“Do as you please.”

“M-Me too, I’ll come along…!”

Together, we began to walk, heading down the corridor that stretched endlessly into darkness.

---

Meanwhile, at the lowest level of the basement…

A hidden room could only be reached by descending a staircase, twisted like a maze, seven levels down.

In that place sat a man.

“Finally, they’re here.”

Cloaked in a pitch-black robe,  
   a tree-shaped symbol, resembling roots, spread across his back—a mark of the cult.

The man scanned the room slowly.

Tap, tap—

His finger lightly tapped on the desk.  
   Unlike the rest of the basement, which had been left untouched for ages, the room was neat and orderly.

Before the man, a screen was set up, and he looked at it with a sinister smile.

“They’re handling things with surprising composure.”

It was a vast basement.  
   Hundreds of magical devices he had planted projected the situation continuously.  
   His smile grew darker.

“The Duke’s girl, the top student, and even a wyvern summoner… it seems the bait worked splendidly. Such high-quality sacrifices have come into my hands.”

It was an unsettling, twisted grin.  
   Stroking his hideously torn lips, he began scribbling something down in the book he held.

Thick, dark-red droplets fell from the ceiling.

As the pages stained red, his laughter grew dimly around the room.

“Shall I see how they measure up?”

It was time to test these sacrifices and see just how fine their quality was.

He thought of the “creations” he had let loose in the basement.

Due to resource limitations,  
   most were low-grade failures.

“But… among them is one true… ‘masterpiece.’”

His gaze settled on a screen showing the farthest part of the basement.  
   In the center of the chaotic underground space, a strange shadow swayed.

A chill ran down his spine, sending a dark thrill through him.

It was the finest masterpiece he had created in Belgen.

How many beings’ blood and flesh had been used to craft that?

He muttered absently to himself.

“...It’s beautiful.”

He hoped that the sacrifices would enhance the “work’s” completion.

His lips twisted in revulsion.

Already, the image of students soaked in blood flickered before his eyes.  
   His pupils gleamed, corrupted by darkness.

The twisted tree spread its roots grotesquely.

Wiping his reddened eyes, the man clasped his hands in reverence.

“All of this is for Him, the Source of All Things… our Master…”

After a moment of silent prayer, he closed his eyes.

In the ensuing darkness, the man failed to notice—

[.....]

—a golden serpent watching him from the screen, its tongue flicking as if ready to strike.