The heavy bronze bell of Astrea Academy's main tower tolled loudly, signaling the start of the first-semester exam most dreaded by all freshmen: the Underground Labyrinth Trial.

To the academy, this examination was far more than a classroom theory simulation; it was a genuine trial of courage and survival. All students were divided into small groups of four and unleashed into an ancient subterranean labyrinth complex stretching deep beneath the campus foundations. The labyrinth was infamous for housing vicious beasts, ancient mechanical traps, and volatile, unstable mana zones.

At the damp, moss-grown stone gates of the labyrinth entrance, Rian stood alongside his three groupmates. Based on the academy's randomized assignment system, Rian had been paired with two commoner students—a quiet young girl named Lyra, skilled in basic alchemy, and a sturdy young man named Garon who wielded earth magic—alongside a planted aristocratic member from Lord Julian’s faction, tasked as the map overseer.

"Listen up! The magic map indicates we must take the southwestern sector route to reach the target crystal the fastest," declared the noble student, Marcus—a trusted lackey of Julian who wore a cunning smirk beneath his silken robes. Marcus deliberately cast a dismissive glance toward Rian. "Just follow behind me. Don't pull any stupid stunts if you don't want to die down there."

Rian said nothing. He merely nodded slowly, his sharp eyes observing Marcus's handling of the map scroll. As a former mercenary, Rian instantly smelled a trap from the route Marcus had chosen. The southwestern sector was not the shortest path; rather, it was a restricted red zone swarming with a colony of mid-tier mutant spiders.

Julian is trying to get rid of me by having this group slaughtered by monsters, Rian thought coldly. He decided to play along for a moment to see just how far his enemies intended to play with fire.

Hours later, the group had journeyed deep into the belly of the earth. The atmosphere inside the underground labyrinth was pitch-black, humid, and thick with the stench of rotting carcasses and stinging acidic fluids. The magical torches they carried could only illuminate a few steps ahead, casting a glow against damp stone walls scarred by mysterious claw marks.

"M-Marcus... it's getting colder," Lyra whispered with a trembling voice, pulling her gray cloak tighter around her while clutching a pouch of alchemical potions. "We've already passed three wrong intersections. This isn't the way out..."

"Shut up, you stupid girl! Are you doubting the map I'm holding?" Marcus snapped angrily, trying to mask his own panic. At that exact moment, Marcus suddenly hurled his magic torch to the floor, then sprinted backward around a dark corner. "Go find your own deaths!"

Marcus had abandoned the group, intentionally locking the manual stone-grate gate behind them using a hidden lever, trapping Rian, Lyra, and Garon in the most hazardous zone of the labyrinth.

Click-click-click... click-click!

The sound of thousands of insect legs scuttling across stone walls instantly shattered the silence. From the pitch-black cavern ceiling overhead, hundreds of pairs of small, glowing red eyes flickered to life in the dark.

"Damn it! We've been set up!" Garon yelled in panic, raising his stone staff and summoning a protective mana shield before him.

The next second, dozens of puppy-sized mutant spiders—Cave Arachnids—dropped from the ceiling, launching themselves forward with lethal venomous webs. Lyra shrieked hysterically as a spider lunged toward her. Garon tried to beat back the monsters with his earth magic, but their numbers were overwhelming, swarming them from every direction in total darkness.

The situation plunged into utter chaos within seconds. Panic gripped the group, and death loomed right before their eyes.

Amidst the pandemonium, Rian stood at the vanguard, completely unfazed. His heart beat at a controlled, steady tempo, while the mana flowing through his meridians began to surge with heat. He knew that if he continued concealing his true strength, not only would Lyra and Garon perish, but the secret of his existence at this academy would also be buried deep beneath the earth.

Enough of this stupid game, Rian thought.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Rian's feet trembled. From the deepest darkness of the cavern, a low-pitched, humming drone shook the air. The stone walls slowly split apart, and a colossal creature crawled out—the Spider Queen, an underground subterranean spider queen the size of a carriage, boasting a carapace as hard as black steel and venomous fangs dripping with hissing acid.

The spider queen shrieked sharply, unleashing a wave of mana pressure that instantly forced Garon and Lyra to their knees, knocking them unconscious from sheer mental terror.

Rian took a deep breath. For the first time since setting foot in Astrea Academy, he released a vast portion of the pure shadow-energy circulation seals from his forbidden grimoire.

Instantly, the temperature inside the cavern plummeted to freezing point. The shadows wrapping around Rian expanded, transforming into a dense, living cloak of absolute darkness. His eyes flashed with a razor-sharp, purplish glint amid the absolute gloom.

Before the Spider Queen could spit her deadly acidic fluid, Rian leaped forward. His movements were so blindingly fast they left fractured black shadow trails suspended in the air.

With a single sweep of his hand coated in high-tier destructive energy, a pure shadow blade materialized directly from his palm.

Whoosh!

A lightning-fast horizontal slash cleaved the cavern air. There was no exaggerated explosion—only absolute silence as the shadow energy cut straight through the Spider Queen's hard carapace.

The giant monster's colossal body froze mid-air. A thin, horizontal slash line appeared across the middle of its body, before the Spider Queen finally split cleanly into two halves and collapsed in a pool of thick black blood, dying instantly in a single decisive strike before the eyes of his companions, who were beginning to regain consciousness with eyes wide in horror and awe.