Shadow World: Demon Academy Tales

"Cornelia, are you ready?"

"Mm."

Dekan stretched his limbs and walked toward the Void Gate with Cornelia.

Stepping through the gigantic Void Gate felt no different from entering the Artificial Shadow World earlier.

Total darkness. He couldn't see anything.

But he could sense Cornelia beside him.

Besides his own heartbeat, he could hear her breathing.

Soon, the surroundings brightened slightly, and the scene instantly filled Dekan's vision.

This was...

Dekan examined the scene.

The place where he stood seemed to be a classroom?

Why did he use the word "seemed"?

Because this classroom looked far too bizarre.

Though it was a spacious classroom of roughly two hundred square meters, it was exceptionally dark and oppressive.

The only sources of light were several lamps hanging on the walls.

Lowering his head, Dekan saw a sheet of parchment bearing a demon pattern and a set of black stationery on the desk before him.

He raised his head slightly and swept his gaze around again, noticing a group of strange creatures seated throughout the classroom.

Their appearances varied wildly. Most had horns and black tails, while some had strange patterns covering their skin.

Two figures who looked distinctly unpleasant were patrolling the aisles between the desks.

Though they wore clothing resembling suits, they gave off a strong stench of blood and an evil aura like a swamp.

Their crimson eyes could not conceal their greedy, bloodthirsty gleam, as though everything they saw was their Prey.

This was practically a nightmare scene.

But Dekan had to admit, the classroom had quite a bit of style.

It would probably be a huge hit as a Terror café at a school festival.

Unfortunately, this Shadow World was clearly not built around such a relaxed and cheerful theme.

Soon, information introducing the Shadow World appeared before his eyes.

This was a prompt visible only to "Shadow World challengers."

[Shadow World: Demon Academy Tales]

[Level: Fourth Order]

[Number of challengers: 6]

[Within this Demon Academy, where anything can exist, every corner conceals deadly danger—demon civilization is, in truth, a game of slaughter. To study demons, several human adventurers used a lost magical potion to disguise themselves as demons and infiltrate the Demon Academy, only to discover humans being cruelly tortured by demons within. Please rescue them or grant them release.]

[Objective 1: Academy exploration rate exceeds 50%. Current progress: 1%]

[Objective 2: Rescue at least three humans. Current progress: 0/3]

[Objective 3: No more than three disguised humans may have their identities exposed. Current disguises intact: 6/6]

[Time remaining: 11 hours 59 minutes]

[All challengers begin in an examination scenario. Examination duration: 2 hours 30 minutes. Subject: Demon Studies]

[Cheating by any means is strictly forbidden during the examination. Once discovered, the Proctor will immediately deprive the offender of life.]

[Once the examination ends, anyone scoring below 60 will be judged unqualified. The Proctor will immediately deprive them of life.]

[You may submit your paper early.]

[Examination time remaining: 2 hours 29 minutes]

With a thought, he could display or hide the information panel.

Huh, they really had ended up at a Demon Academy?

You thought you were on vacation, but you had actually just gone somewhere else to study.

Dekan grumbled inwardly.

He would not comment on the story background or mission objectives for now.

What the hell was a Fourth Order Shadow World?

He was Second Order, and Cornelia was Third Order. No matter how he looked at it, they should not have entered a Fourth Order Shadow World.

This was a little troublesome.

He had thought they were here to steamroll a Shadow World on vacation, but it turned out to be somewhat thrilling.

Still, the Demon Academy certainly had an excellent academic atmosphere. Failing an exam meant a death sentence.

Let's see who dared not study properly.

And... had he turned into a demon now?

Dekan looked down at himself. Besides wearing the Demon Academy uniform, his nails had turned black and gleamed like obsidian.

He felt around his head and back. He had two horns and a thin, long tail.

For the moment, he could not tell what species of demon he was disguised as.

He really wanted to find a mirror and see what he looked like now.

Dekan subtly observed his surroundings and noticed two or three examinees visibly looking around.

Those people were probably the other challengers.

Others, meanwhile, were likely observing cautiously just as he was.

"Any further whispering will be treated directly as cheating!"

A hoarse voice rang out from the Proctor patrolling the classroom. Its desire for slaughter felt like a beast imprisoned for ages, on the verge of breaking free from its cage.

Several examinees were so frightened that they obediently lowered their heads and stared at their papers.

Right, he could not look around too obviously.

Dekan thought.

But it seemed he could still shift his gaze slightly.

Just then, he had discovered some good news.

Cornelia was seated to his left, with only one empty seat between them.

Their eyes had met just now.

Cornelia's appearance did not seem to have changed much. She merely had a pair of tiny dragon horns on her head, and her pupils had become golden beast eyes. She appeared to be a dragon-type demon.

That assured Dekan that his appearance had not changed much either, because Cornelia had recognized him just now.

In that case, he should look at the exam questions first.

As a top student, Dekan was certain that if even he could not answer them, then no other challenger in this exam hall would likely be able to complete them independently.

[Question 1: In order to fit into society, humans discard three-quarters of their true selves during the process of growing up. This is a painful process for humans. If demons wish to fit into human society, what fraction of their true selves must they discard?]

[A. 1/4]

[B. 3/4]

[C. 0]

[D. 1]

Dekan could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

Was this fucking philosophy or mathematics?

He continued scanning downward, and the questions grew stranger and stranger.

Dekan finally became certain that these questions were not meant for humans.

Though he could probably guess at some of them, blindly getting a score of 60 was far too difficult.

After all, there were short-answer and subjective questions later on.

Havenlit Academy's Observation Hall.

"Why did they enter a Fourth Order Shadow World?!"

"It's over! New students entered a Fourth Order Shadow World! In one Fourth Order Shadow World last year, even older students died!"

"If it's those two freaks... there may still be some hope. After all, they defeated weakened Fourth Order Proctors during the entrance exam. But their experience is severely lacking."

"This is bad. These questions about demon civilization—even professors proficient in Shadow World intelligence studies might not be able to score a passing grade. We have not gathered much information on highly civilized demon races from other Shadow Worlds before."

"Pray for them..."

Professor Arnold had been sitting peacefully in his office when he received an emergency meeting summons from the Knight Academy. He had already arrived at the conference room.

"Dean, what do you think of their situation?"

Arnold asked anxiously.

The headmaster looked at the broadcast footage transmitted from the Alchemy Academy and shook his head.

"Hard to say. Even I cannot predict how these two will perform in actual combat. Fortunately, they brought the Observation Program. I will determine the exact situation."

There were two possibilities when someone was matched with a Shadow World above their own level.

The first was that they had been matched with several powerful teammates, or that they were simply extraordinarily unlucky.

The second was that someone in the party was high-level and had deliberately teamed up with lower-level people to challenge a lower-level instance.

"Using a Party Card when there is a difference of three Orders or more" was expressly prohibited.

Because it could seriously affect the survival rate of other raiders.

Which situation had occurred would require further investigation.

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't have trouble finding it next time.