A massive burst of fire magic blew the door in front of Enid apart.

  The ambushers waiting on the other side went with it, reduced to ash in the same breath.

  Beyond the doorway was another huge space, even larger than the maze she had forced her way through earlier.

  The shockwave and smoke from the blast threw the survivors into chaos.

  They barely had time to see who had come for them before several wind blades and cutting streams of water sliced through them, clean and fast.

  In less than two seconds, Enid erased the entire ambush squad without breaking stride.

  As she pushed deeper, the attacks came more often.

  These cultists had clearly been warned by “Howard.”

  They were sharper than the usual lot, quicker on the draw.

  It did not matter.

  They had run into Enid.

  One cult mage gathered twisted demon arts in his hands and started to say, “This is the blessing of the Dark Demon Lord…”

  “Slow.”

  He did not even finish the line.

  Enid’s wind blades carved him and the cultists beside him in half.

  Another blocker stepped into her path, a heavy infantryman wrapped head to toe in jet-black plate and gripping a massive axe.

  “Invader, you’ll go no further…”

  “Moron.”

  He did not get a single swing off.

  Lightning turned him and the other tin cans nearby into char.

  In front of a mage, armor with zero anti-magic treatment was just a metal coffin.

  When Enid reached the end of the corridor, a new obstacle waited.

  An “old man” stood there alone like a final boss guarding the exit.

  He threw off his robe and revealed a warped half-man, half-demon body, cackling as he shouted at her, “Behold, the perfect body of the new humanity…”

  “Pathetic.”

  This time Enid did not bother with spells.

  She closed the distance and drove a flying knee into him so hard his neck snapped.

  The clown had badly underestimated a natural elf’s speed and raw physical power.

  Just like that, the first corridor was cleared.

  Enid moved on, leaving behind a trail of bodies and three short reviews, “slow,” “moron,” “pathetic.”

  She kept pressing deeper.

  She needed to conserve what she could.

  The thick twisted taint down here was stirring the curse inside her, and she knew she had to finish this fast.

  After the first corridor came a web of rooms and branching passages.

  There was nothing worth calling a real threat, just a lot of enemies.

  “How did these rats even find this space, and how did they pack this many people into it,” Enid thought as she worked. “Did Antonio let them in on purpose?”

  There were two reasons she refused to drop a high-tier spell and wipe the whole underground complex in one go.

  First, the curse backlash was getting worse.

  The pain made it hard to hold the focus required for high-tier casting, and she was running low on mana anyway.

  Second, she still had not found the missing students.

  She could already sense Rosalie’s unique divine power somewhere ahead.

  To avoid catching students in the blast, Enid could only use low to mid-tier magic and clear her way piece by piece.

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  The deeper she went, the tougher the cultists became.

  More troublesome.

  It also felt like the demonkin had done something to them.

  Even knowing they had no chance against Enid, they kept charging in to die.

  Their thinking and movement looked hijacked by twisted demon arts, turned into fearless martyrs.

  Each one still only took her an instant, but the drain added up.

  Had Caroline managed to call in help.

  Enid could really use backup right about now.

  She had promised Caroline she would not rush in alone.

  But Enid had never planned to keep that promise.

  Not until she got the missing students out first.

  Maybe her merciless sweep finally rattled the cultists, or maybe she had simply butchered the entire layer she was on.

  Either way, no more enemies came to stop her.

  She took the opening, caught her breath, and pushed forward again.

  The pain and fatigue from the curse kept stacking.

  Her guard and focus slowly slipped.

  In the end, she got careless.

  She did not notice the trap at her feet.

  By the time the floor gave way, it was too late.

  The drop was huge.

  Even with her reflexes and athleticism, there was no dodging it.

  She fell straight into the simplest kind of pit.

  Thankfully, there were no flames or spikes at the bottom.

  It was not meant to kill.

  It was meant to catch.

  The top slammed shut like an iron portcullis.

  In an instant, Enid was sealed inside a pitch-black box.

  She was just about to force her way out when a familiar voice filled the space.

  “Whew, whew… does this sound normal… testing, testing… mic check, one, two… okay, seems fine…”

  He cleared his throat.

  “Good evening, beautiful Professor Innis. Yep, it’s me again. We finally meet again. Shame we can’t do this face-to-face, but hey, you can’t have everything, right?”

  Enid recognized the voice immediately.

  “Mr. Q. So this is your trap for me. Pretty tasteless, and pretty stupid.”

  It sounded like he had planted speakers all around the chamber.

  Enid was getting hit from every direction.

  And Mr. Q’s signature little villain laugh was pure torture for someone with hearing as sharp as hers.

  “Heh heh heh… sometimes the simplest trick solves the hardest problem, you know. Just like you brute-forced your way through those puzzles. A tiny pitfall trap is perfect for a monster like you.”

  Enid did not bother trading words with him.

  She started forming a spell, ready to smash through the ceiling and walk right out.

  Mr. Q seemed to notice what Enid was about to do and hurried to stop her.

  “Oh no, no, no, no, no. Easy there, Miss Innis. These walls are built with the best anti-magic materials money can buy. Your little spells won’t even scratch them.”

  Enid let out a quiet sigh and dispelled the spell forming in her hands.

  “So what do you want, then. Planning to burn me alive. Drown me. Crush me with the walls. Just so you know, if I decide to leave, I can.”

  Mr. Q chuckled.

  “Oh, come on. I’m not that boring. I absolutely believe you can get out. I’ve seen your magic more than once. It’s just that…”

  He drew the words out on purpose, savoring the pause.

  “I also happen to know you’re living with a curse. All those puzzles and disposable goons weren’t there to stop you. They were there to bleed your mana dry, mess with your focus, and kick that curse into overdrive. Heh heh. The clever, sharp Miss Innis. Walked right into it.”

  Enid clenched the fabric over her chest.

  Someone knowing about her twisted curse made no sense. That information should have been limited to Antonio, Elena, and herself.

  Mr. Q caught the question in her eyes and rushed to reassure her.

  “Oh, relax. I didn’t tell anyone. Heaven knows, Earth knows, you know, I know, Antonio knows. That’s it. And believe me, I never lie to a beautiful lady. It would be against my code as a gentleman. Heh heh heh…”

  Enid was about to speak.

  Then the walls of the chamber began to hum with the sound of mechanisms turning.

  A force she could not see slammed into her.

  The curse inside her flared violently.

  “Ugh… that’s… Rosalie’s divine power…”

  Enid knew that feeling.

  The vast, pure holy power in Rosalie’s body, the same kind that had once scorched her curse awake, was being used here to jab it like a hot needle.

  Mr. Q shriek-laughed, clearly enjoying the sight of Enid dropping to one knee, white-knuckled over her chest.

  “Heh heh. Well. How do you like it. This divine amplification device, made from the hero’s blood. Satisfied yet.”

  He kept talking, almost giddy with himself.

  “Of course you’re not. And I bet the curse in you isn’t thrilled either.”

  The backlash drained Enid’s mind and will to nothing.

  At the same time, the holy power kept healing her injuries, so the torment did not end.

  It went on and on until Enid collapsed, unable to move even a finger.

  After that, she thought she heard a hidden door opening somewhere.

  But the pain had ground her down into a heavy, desperate exhaustion.

  All she wanted was to lie there and sleep.

  Mr. Q entered through the concealed passage and approached the motionless Enid.

  He crouched, lifted her head, and supported it like someone tending a patient, careful and strangely gentle.

  Then a spell circle slowly formed in his hand.

  He angled it toward her head, as if preparing to do something to her.

  And then it happened.

  Enid’s hand shot up and clamped around his throat.

  Mr. Q had not expected her to have anything left in the tank.

  He struggled, forcing more power into the spell, faster, harder.

  They locked in place.

  Half-conscious, Enid moved on pure instinct, trying to choke him out.

  Mr. Q fought back, pouring mana into his casting until his vision started to blur.

  Just as he was about to black out, Enid’s grip loosened.

  Her hand fell away.

  Her eyes slipped shut, and she finally lost consciousness for real.

  Mr. Q dropped onto the floor, gasping, rubbing his aching neck.

  “Good lord… I did not see that coming. Miss Innis still had that much strength left. I was a hair’s breadth from dying on the spot.”

  He took a moment, then pushed himself up.

  Carefully, he lifted Enid into his arms.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Innis. I don’t love doing it this way. It’s rough, it’s crude. But I’m just the guy running errands. Don’t hold it against me, yeah.”

  Carrying Enid, he slipped back out through the hidden door.

  Under his breath, he kept talking to himself, voice turning colder with each word.

  “Hope this really goes the way Antonio said it would. And I wonder if Miss Innis managed to ‘enter the dream’…”

  He shook his head and let out a short, humorless laugh.

  “Torturing your own teacher like this, forcing her curse to flare up, all to push the hero’s awakening and drag Innis’ memories back to the surface. Antonio, you really are…”

  He stopped himself, exhaled, and muttered as he walked.

  “Whatever. The hardest part is over.”

  He glanced down at the unconscious woman in his arms.

  “Innis… no, Enid. Sweet dreams.”