Chapter 78: A non-existent hum

"Senior Paula, what should we do now?" Isabelle asked anxiously.

"Let's move first. We'll decide along the way," Paula said as she started walking. Since quick decision-making was one of the selection criteria, she decided to move first and determine along the way whether they should hunt monsters or focus on reaching the finishing point.

Max didn't say anything. He had already suggested what needed to be done, and with the hot terrain ahead of them, he was fine with whatever decision the party leader made. His goal was to use this opportunity to represent the kingdom in the kingdom-level competition, but he had very little say in this selection.

The party moved away from where they had appeared, and after walking for five minutes, they encountered ordinary Level 50 monsters. Isabelle and Max stayed behind, hiding while the seniors dealt with them. According to Paula's report, the desert contained three main types of ordinary monsters. The first was the multi-tailed Scorpion, which was abundant. The second was the Sand Golem. The last was the short-eared Sand Rat, which posed the greatest problem because its primary attack involved ambushing its prey. Hence, everyone had to remain alert while travelling. As for the Boss monsters, Paula had no information about them, so they would have to fight without any intelligence.

"I sense something underground. It's alive," Marlak whispered from Max's shoulder, remaining invisible to the others.

"What? Underground?" Max whispered back.

"What?" Isabelle, who was crouching beside Max, asked after hearing his whisper.

"Oh, nothing!" Max replied with a wary smile.

Isabelle stared at him suspiciously.

Could this be a Hidden Boss monster living in a concealed place? Max wondered.

He slowly stood up and looked at the battle taking place ahead of him. Four multi-tailed Scorpions were fighting the party, and the battle was nearly over. Max took a few steps to the side to speak with Marlak.

"What do you think about its strength?" Max whispered.

"I'm not sure. I can't detect the strength of whatever is down there. I can only sense that something exists," Marlak replied.

Max didn't believe a word the frog said. It could undoubtedly detect the creature's strength, but revealing that information would cause problems for it, so it was trying to cover things up with lies.

"Who are you talking to?" a voice suddenly asked.

It was Isabelle, who had followed Max.

"Hahaha, nobody. Oh, the seniors have finished the battle. Let's join them. At least we can help by picking up the loot," Max said hurriedly as he ran across the sand.

Isabelle followed him with a suspicious look.

"That was a fantastic fight, guys. Well done," Max complimented them as he quickly collected all the loot scattered around the area.

The loot was excellent. There were materials for forging good weapons, sacks of venom for brewing, and Scorpion meat and blood. If they hadn't been here for the selection, they could have simply farmed the monsters and collected tons of loot from this terrain.

"What's that?" Max suddenly said.

"What?" Paula asked, and everyone immediately became alert.

"I just heard something. Over there!" Max said, walking as though he had genuinely heard something.

However, he heard nothing. It was just a ruse. He wanted to check the spot Marlak had mentioned and hunt whatever was hiding there, if it turned out to be an easy monster. He believed it was likely to be manageable, since Marlak would not have informed him of it if the monster were dangerous, as doing so would put him in danger as well.

Max walked a few feet ahead, following the direction Marlak had whispered, and the others reluctantly followed him despite having heard nothing.

They were all around Level 45, so their senses were far more developed than Max's, who was only Level 5. How could he hear something that they couldn't detect at all? Max didn't wait for them to catch up. He continued walked and finally stopped beneath a large dune.

"I can hear something here. It's like a humming sound coming from this sand dune," Max said.

"Max, I can't hear anything. What are you talking about?" Isabelle asked with a grim expression.

"Come and check for yourself. I'm not lying," Max insisted, beckoning her over.

Isabelle glanced at the Seniors in embarrassment. The truth was that the Seniors had never asked for Max to be invited to their party. It was Isabelle who had suggested him, since she knew how capable he was, especially as a Healer. However, after seeing him behave so strangely, she started to regret her decision.

With nothing else she could do at that moment, she approached the dune and stood there, her disappointment apparent.

"I can't hear anything!" Isabelle said flatly.

"No, just come here."

Max grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the dune. Isabelle lost her footing on the sloping sand and fell onto it. Startled by his sudden action, she prepared to give him a serious reprimand. However, she suddenly stopped, turned her head to the side, and pressed her ear against the sand.

While the two were fooling around, Paula and the rest of the party stood silently, unsure how to react to the antics of their first-year party members. Paula was particularly unimpressed. She was Level 49, yet she couldn't hear or sense any humming sound, so she considered the entire situation a waste of time. Thinking this, she was about to give her juniors some orders. However, Isabelle spoke before she could do so.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Yeah, there is something beneath this dune," Isabelle muttered as she adjusted her ear against the surface. "Senior Paula, come and check."

"What are you talking about?" Paula asked in surprise.

How could Isabelle hear something that she couldn't, especially when the distance between them was only two feet?

Suspicious, Paula quickly approached and checked the spot in the same way Isabelle had.

"How is this possible? There really is something beneath the sand. Hahaha, perhaps we've found the first Boss!" Paula exclaimed.

"Seriously?"

The other party members quickly gathered around and checked the spot for themselves.

"Let's dig it out and see what this place is hiding." Paula didn't waste any time. They had entered the Dungeon only five minutes earlier, and hunting a Boss monster within the first ten minutes of the Selection would boost their ranking tremendously.

---

Inside the monitoring hall outside the Dungeon, the main screen was divided into four sections, showing the four parties Stanley had introduced to Terence as the top contenders. Terence had no interest in watching the other parties participating in the Selection.

On the first screen, Jakob's party was moving quickly through a forest while rain poured down around them.

They occasionally stopped to hunt monsters resembling mantises with rotating mouths and long claws. However, the battles presented almost no challenge, as the Mantis monsters were no match for Jakob's party. Watching them fight, Stanley sat in his seat, thoroughly enjoying their performance.

"Mr. Terence, should we switch to another party to see how the others are doing? We never know what we might be missing," Head Teacher Stanley suggested.

He disliked the way Terence behaved as though Jakob's team had already won and secured its place in the kingdom-level competition. Although Jakob's team was certainly capable, that didn't mean the other parties lacked potential.

“Do we need to?” Terence said. “I mean, look at their destructive power and battle coordination.” He pulled his gaze away from the first split screen and looked over at Stanley. In the next second, Stanley’s face contracted. Terence’s face was devoid of any expression, as if he were in great anger.

"Hahaha, of course. Let's see what the other parties are doing," Terence said with a wary laugh.

With that, the main screen changed for the first time, displaying different terrains and parties. Some groups were fighting monsters, while others were avoiding them and moving quickly towards the finishing point, hoping to secure the ten points awarded for reaching it first.

Terence's interest gradually faded as he watched the screens without much enthusiasm. However, his amusement returned when he noticed one of the screens showing a party doing something in the hot desert.

"That party over there, the one doing something in the hot desert. Expand that screen. I want to see what kind of hunting they're doing," Terence said energetically with a laugh.

This was his chance to demonstrate why the other parties didn't deserve his attention. He wanted to show Stanley the absurdity of forming parties based on mutual compatibility rather than merit. Using this party as an example, he intended to raise the issue with the higher officials and abolish what he considered the ridiculous practice of allowing students to form parties according to their own preferences.

The individual operating the screens quickly expanded the fourth screen, and the entire main display now showed that single party.

On the screen, a boy was lying on a sand dune and arguing with a girl. Suddenly, he grabbed the girl and pulled her towards him, causing her to fall onto the sand.

"Hahaha, what are these kids doing? Are they on a picnic or on vacation, playing in the sand?" Terence laughed.

Everyone in the hall, including the Teachers and the other Royal Official who had remained silent until then, watched the boy's antics.

"Hahaha, look at them! They're playing in the sand instead of hunting and racing towards the finishing point to showcase their talent and capabilities. They're digging and fooling around. Didn't I tell you the other parties weren't worth watching? Let's switch to the next party. Perhaps they're enjoying themselves with a basket of food as well."

Terence mocked the students and asked for the screen to be changed. The sooner he finished watching the other parties, the sooner he could witness Jakob's team winning.

"Wait!"

Just as the operator was about to change the screen, the other Royal Official ordered to keep it on the same party.

"Why, Mr. Yorgo? These students aren't worth our time. We should focus on the talented and capable ones," Terence asked his fellow Royal Official.

However, Yorgo ignored him, keeping his eyes fixed on the screen.

Seeing his colleague's strange behavior, Terence turned back towards the display to see what the students playing in the sand were doing.

What he saw made his eyes widen.

The party that had been playing and digging in the sand was now standing in front of a stone door. Only then did he realize that the students hadn't been playing around at all. They had been uncovering a hidden entrance in the desert.

"Hahaha, what a great find! If this party completes this Hidden Dungeon, they'll definitely become the number-one party," Stanley said with a smug expression.

His comment was intended to irritate Terence, who had underestimated the other students.

“Hahaha, what is so special about finding a Hidden Dungeon? They still need the means to clear it. If they cannot, what is the point of finding it? If Jakob’s party were here, they would clear this Dungeon within two hours. Let’s see whether these kids can complete this Hidden Dungeon in the same amount of time. If they do, I will recommend this party to represent our kingdom from Syrrece Academy,” Terence said. After seeing that the kids who had been playing had found a Hidden Dungeon, the amusement on his face quickly disappeared.

"Then it's a bet!" Stanley replied.

While the two argued, Yorgo continued watching the screen intently as the students discussed something among themselves.

---

"What is this? It looks like a door," Isabelle said after brushing the sand aside.

"I think we've found a Hidden Dungeon," Butterfly said.

"Hidden Dungeon" Isabelle muttered as her eyes sparkled.

"So, it's a Dungeon inside a Dungeon, which means it's a Double Dungeon?" Max asked after hearing the term Hidden Dungeon.

“No. A Double Dungeon means there is another Dungeon with a Gate. It is equal to or greater in difficulty compared to the Dungeon one enters, and it replicates the same terrain as the original Dungeon. However, this is a Hidden Dungeon. It only includes some extra monsters with multiple stage Bosses,” Paula explained the difference between a Double Dungeon and a Hidden Dungeon.

"Oh, so there are multiple Bosses inside. Then, we don't need to roam around searching for them anymore," Max said excitedly.

However, when he saw the seniors' reactions, he realized something was wrong.

"What happened? Is it difficult to clear the Hidden Dungeon?" Max asked, guessing that this was the reason behind their reluctance to make a decision.

"No, it should be relatively easy, similar to the Bosses outside. The only problem is that we might have to clear every stage to exit the Hidden Dungeon. Otherwise, we could get stuck inside the entire time, waiting for rescue," Paula said, weighing their chances of completing it successfully.

"Don't take too long to decide. Decision-making is one of the criteria, after all. Who knows? The Teachers might be watching us right now," Max reminded her, urging her to make a decision quickly.

"You're right. Everyone, let's do it. We'll either complete this Hidden Dungeon or fail the Selection, with nothing in between. This is a great find, so we shouldn't back down. That would leave a bad impression on us. Even if we somehow reach the finishing point first and earn ten points..."

Paula trailed off as she pushed open the stone door and entered first. Following her, the others entered the Hidden Dungeon, and the door locked behind them.