Harem System in an Elite Academy

The air was heavy again, like something had shifted in the dungeon's unseen rhythm.

Arios' boots sank slightly into the damp stone floor as the faint hum of magic rippled through the corridor. The torches embedded into the walls flickered violently, casting their shadows across the cracked floor. He held his wooden sword tight — still a practice-grade weapon, but reinforced with mana — and waited.

Moments earlier, the four of them had been together. Lucy was complaining about the uneven lighting; Liza was walking in front with her map projection floating beside her shoulder; and Pokner was the one urging everyone to move faster before their time limit ran low.

Then the ground had quaked — not enough to knock them over, but enough to trigger something beneath the surface. A glowing circle had appeared under their feet, and before anyone could react, a wall of transparent crystal had erupted from the floor, separating Arios from the rest of the group.

Now, he was alone.

He exhaled slowly, running his thumb along the edge of his weapon.

"Not ideal," he muttered to himself, glancing at the faint glow of the crystal barrier behind him. He could still hear Lucy's muffled voice through it — panicked and high-pitched.

"Arios! Can you hear us?! Don't move!"

"I'm fine!" he shouted back, though his words came out distorted, swallowed by the hum of the crystal.

Pokner's voice followed. "Don't do anything reckless. The path might reset if you move too far!"

He nodded to himself even though they couldn't see him. Then he turned around.

The corridor ahead stretched longer than before. The torches didn't just flicker — some were dimming one after another, as if the dungeon was consciously pulling back its light. His mana sense tingled faintly in his chest. Something wasn't right.

He started walking.

The first few minutes were quiet. The air smelled faintly metallic, like rust and old blood, though the ground was clean. Arios traced the side walls as he moved — the surface felt cold and damp, the faint runes beneath his fingers pulsing like veins. Occasionally, he'd stop, press his palm against the stone, and feel the current of energy shift in unpredictable directions.

Whoever designed this dungeon system had changed something.

He reached an intersection and crouched, touching the floor. There was a faint vibration — not footsteps, not airflow. It was rhythmic, mechanical. Like gears grinding under the surface.

He frowned and whispered, "This isn't part of the academy's calibration…"

His system flickered to life briefly in his vision.

[System Notice: Dungeon field irregularities detected.]

[Source: External interference.]

His suspicion was confirmed.

He sighed through his nose. "Figures."

Meanwhile, behind the crystal barrier, the other three weren't calm either.

Lucy paced back and forth in the narrow hallway, her arms crossed tightly. "We should've stopped when the readings started to spike. Why didn't we stop?"

Pokner was crouched beside the wall, examining the runic structure. Her eyes narrowed in focus. "It's not responding to standard dispel codes. Someone encrypted it."

Liza, quieter than usual, hovered behind her, glancing at her map projection. "The dungeon layout isn't updating anymore. Every few seconds it's re-rendering the same coordinates."

Lucy turned. "Meaning?"

"Meaning he's not just on another floor," Liza said flatly. "The dungeon made a parallel route — a split instance."

Lucy groaned, slamming her fist against the wall. "Of course it did. Why wouldn't it?"

Pokner stood and brushed off her gloves. "Calm down. Arios won't panic."

"That's not the point!" Lucy shot back. "He might not, but— we're on a timer, remember? If we can't regroup before the sixth-floor clock runs out, we'll lose all the accumulated points!"

Pokner adjusted her glasses slightly and said, "Then we keep trying. Liza, track the next mana surge. I'll locate the interference core. Lucy, keep monitoring the seal reaction."

Lucy sighed sharply but nodded, leaning toward the glowing crystal. "Fine. But if anything happens to him…"

Pokner didn't answer.

Back on the other side, Arios had reached a wide, circular chamber. The ceiling arched high above him, draped in faint mist. The air temperature had dropped several degrees. He could see faint frost forming near the cracks of the floor.

He exhaled, watching his breath mist out. "Cold mana zone…"

A flicker of movement caught his eye. From the shadows at the far edge of the room, something shifted — low and silent. He reached for his mana, quietly reinforcing his stance.

The creature that emerged wasn't a wolf this time. It resembled a lizard, but its skin was encased in crystalline shards, glowing faintly blue. It moved on four legs, claws clicking on the floor, its tail trailing faint vapor.

[System Notice: Crystal Drake — Rank C]

Arios muttered, "Smaller than expected."

The drake hissed, its throat flashing with inner light.

Then it lunged.

Arios sidestepped, pivoting sharply. The creature's claws scraped past his sleeve. He countered immediately — a controlled downward strike to the shoulder joint. The wooden sword didn't cut, but the mana impact sent a pulse through the drake's body, cracking part of its crystal plating.

It stumbled, but didn't stop.

It came again.

Arios let it. He waited for the angle, then rolled aside, swept his leg under it, and struck the exposed underbelly where the shards were thinner. The drake hit the ground hard, screeching. Blue mist burst from its body as it began to dissolve into particles.

He stood straight again, breathing out once.

"Still too simple," he murmured. His tone wasn't prideful — it was observational, as though taking notes.

But what came next wasn't simple.

The system pinged again.

[System Notice: Multiple energy signatures detected.]

[Warning: Field stability declining.]

Arios' brow furrowed.

Then the floor cracked open.

The chamber shuddered violently, and four more creatures erupted from beneath — two more crystal drakes, one floating wisp creature with ember-like eyes, and a humanoid shadow that looked like it had crawled straight out of a mirror.

Arios didn't speak this time.

He shifted his stance lower, extending his sword out and channeling mana evenly across his arms. The wisp shot first, glowing orbs scattering toward him. He blocked two, let one explode past his shoulder, then advanced on the nearest drake. His movements were controlled, mechanical — trained efficiency rather than rage.

Within minutes, the chamber was littered with evaporating mana residue. The shadow figure had taken the longest to finish — its ability to mimic his strikes was irritatingly accurate, but Arios' precision had won.

He looked down at the remains, then up toward the trembling ceiling.

"This whole thing is being rigged…"

He tapped his wrist, opening the interface again.

[Attempting communication with party members...]

[Signal unstable.]

He frowned. "They're too far."

The dungeon wasn't just trapping him — it was redirecting the field into separate pockets.

He looked ahead at the next archway.

Another corridor. Another layer of silence.

He began walking again.

At the same time, the rest of the group had set up a temporary ward station. Pokner's hands moved steadily over the portable array, adjusting its rotation speed. Liza kneeled beside her, linking the map's feed to the dungeon frequency.

Lucy sat against the wall, arms wrapped around her knees, staring at the crystal barrier that still hadn't faded.

It was faintly glowing now — a sign that it was feeding on external mana.

Pokner glanced at her. "Stop worrying."

Lucy glared. "You keep saying that."

"Because worrying won't help," Pokner said simply.

Liza added, "If he's in a parallel route, it means the dungeon AI considers him an 'active player.' He won't face impossible odds."

Lucy muttered, "Unless someone wants him to."

The silence that followed was heavy.

Pokner didn't look up. "If that's the case, then whoever's tampering with the system will have to reveal themselves eventually. The AI logs interference."

"Meaning?" Lucy asked.

"Meaning Arios might already be recording evidence without realizing it."

Lucy blinked, then exhaled slowly. "...That's the only comforting thing you've said all day."

Pokner gave a faint smirk.

Hours seemed to blur for Arios. He'd lost sense of how long he'd been walking — the illusionary sun cycle of the dungeon made it impossible to track real time.

He passed through another tunnel — this one lined with strange glyphs that flickered intermittently, as if half-functional. He touched one, and it sparked violently before stabilizing again.

[Environmental control systems unstable.]

[Field corruption level: 34%]

He muttered, "That's high."

He turned a corner and found himself standing before an enormous metallic gate — tall, curved, and covered in frost. The sigil at the top glowed faintly red.

Arios approached cautiously.

He knew this was no normal sixth-floor encounter.

Behind that door, something was waiting — either the key to escape, or another trap meant to drain him.

He took one long breath, reinforcing his mana again, then placed his hand against the gate.

It opened without resistance.

The noise that followed was a low, grinding rumble — like an old engine coming to life.

And from within the dark chamber ahead, two bright crimson eyes opened.

Arios stepped inside, eyes narrowing. "You've got to be kidding me…"