Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

“I was wondering who they would send with me, and it turns out to be……”

“Yeah, I was wondering who I’d be going with too.”

We exchanged awkward smiles. It had been a while since we had seen each other, so the situation was a bit uncomfortable.

“How’s the Royal Guard doing? Are you busy?”

“Same as always. Busy, tiring. It hasn’t always been this busy, but recently, with the emergence of these gates, we’ve been running around trying to close them.”

The Royal Guard, directly under the command of the Emperor, had the primary duty of guarding the Imperial Palace. But lately, they had been deployed outside the palace more often than not.

They had been on the front lines fighting the undead when Elder Lich caused them to rise, and they had to give up their rare break to search for the Sword Saint. Now, they were dealing with the gate crisis.

Even the most loyal, honorable, and skilled members of the Royal Guard would eventually feel mentally exhausted.

“I feel a bit bad that the gate assigned to you was originally supposed to be handled by us.”

“It’s fine. You guys deserve a break too. Besides, if it’s something I can submit as a substitute for an exam, it can’t be that difficult, right?”

“It’s a gate that’s been assigned to the Royal Guard, so it can’t be an ordinary one.”

I knew what she meant. Ever since the Demon King had lost her center of power, the demons had been engaged in internal strife, fighting to determine who was the strongest. Their alliance with the succubi had stabilized the front lines to a large extent.

In other words, they could afford to divert some of their forces from the demon conflict to deal with the gates. But if it had been assigned to the Royal Guard, it couldn’t be a simple gate.

‘The professors must really trust my abilities.’

Most of the professors at Bellium Academy had connections to the Mage Tower or the Mage Association, and they all adored me. It was no surprise that they would overestimate my abilities when evaluating my performance.

“We’re fine. Loyalty and serving the Emperor is an honor and a privilege, and we all joined the Royal Guard with that understanding.”

If that’s how she felt, I had no right to say anything. I entered the coordinates into the dimensional door. Karna stepped closer to me.

“But I was a bit surprised. I didn’t expect you to set off right after receiving the instructions. I thought you’d wait for your companions.”

“Why waste time? The sooner we finish, the better.”

Just like on Earth, the concept of “gates” had been brought over to this world. And just as on Earth, these gates had a “dungeon break” feature.

I had chosen gates that were still at least a month away from opening, but just as on Earth, there was a chance that the calculations could be wrong for unknown reasons.

“Where are we going first? It looks like it’s in the southeast.”

“We’re going to the one in the sea first.”

I finished entering the coordinates, and the dimensional door began to rotate clockwise, forming a hole in the shape of a ring with a missing center. We stepped through the door.

“Ugh.”

The first thing that greeted us was the intense sunlight. I instinctively narrowed my eyes and raised my hand to shield my forehead from the glare. The sun was so bright that it was almost blinding. I squinted and scanned the surroundings.

The emerald-colored sea stretched out as far as the eye could see, and under our feet was a golden sand beach. The sand was so fine that our shoes sank into it. It already felt like sand was getting into our shoes.

The sea was incredibly clear. Thanks to my enhanced vision, I could see fish swimming leisurely far below the surface. The waves were just the right size and strength.

Beyond the beach, a forest of palm trees stood tall, their fruits hanging heavily from the branches, some even falling to the ground, indicating that they were ripe and ready to be eaten.

It was a beach that truly felt like a vacation spot, and it made me excited to see what the other candidate locations for the school trip would be like.

“Wow……”

Karna, who had never been to such a place, couldn’t help but whisper in awe.

“Is this your first time here?”

“Yes. The Royal Guard doesn’t usually get to visit such places. We do get breaks from time to time, but…… you know how I spent most of my free time.”

A bitter smile appeared on her face. No one would think that way, but she did.

“Anyway…… I don’t see the gate. I heard it was in the middle of the sea.”

Karna deliberately tried to change the subject, looking around exaggeratedly.

“Didn’t you get a briefing?”

“I only received the location report in writing. Since I’m just here to observe, they said there was no need for a detailed explanation. If I want to know more, they told me to ask you.”

Indeed, Karna’s role was to accompany me and confirm the completion of the task, not to fight alongside me. She could simply wait outside and verify the result, so there was no need for her to receive a detailed briefing.

The fact that they had assigned her to accompany me on this trip seemed to be their way of giving her a break.

“It’s over there. It’s about 250 meters away.”

Karna’s expression stiffened as she followed my pointing finger.

“……In the sea?”

“Of course. It’s a submerged gate. Do you want to come with me?”

“Go, go into the sea……?”

“If you don’t want to, you can stay here and enjoy the sand.”

“Ah, no. I’ll come with you. I didn’t bring a swimsuit, though.”

“If you had brought one, would you have joined me?”

I chuckled and started walking towards the sea. Karna hesitantly followed, her shoes getting wet from the waves. When the water reached our ankles, I turned to her.

“You can breathe, but you’ll still get wet. It might feel uncomfortable, but bear with it for now. We can dry off when we get back to land.”

“You can breathe underwater?”

Karna’s eyes widened in surprise. It was understandable, as this was a magic from Earth. After the Leviathan incident, where a gate had spat out a sea monster, the hunters from the magical community had put their heads together and created this underwater breathing magic.

The magic of the first world was almost omnipotent, the magic of this world focused on destructive aspects, and the magic of Earth had evolved to be highly utilitarian.

The low mana density of Earth meant that destructive magic was not as powerful, so magic users had focused on developing utility spells.

“Here.”

I attached a magical device to Karna’s wrist and cast a spell to synchronize it with the device. A sky-blue gauge appeared on the display.

“That sky-blue gauge shows the remaining duration. I’ll keep an eye on the time, and we should be able to finish the hunt within the duration, but just in case, ask me to recast the spell when it drops below half. The duration is two and a half hours, so you can roughly estimate an hour as half.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Karna cast the underwater breathing spell on herself and synchronized it with the device. We continued walking into the sea, and soon the cold water reached our necks.

When we were completely submerged, a whole new world unfolded before us. The view from underwater was drastically different from what we saw from above.

The sunlight shining down from the sky reflected off the surface, creating a dazzling display that illuminated the vast coral reef below. Fish swam all around us, and the water was so clear that we could see for kilometers.

Karna’s eyes sparkled as she took in the breathtaking scenery.

-If this place is chosen as the trip destination, we can dive in and explore.

I transmitted my thoughts to Karna, and her eyes sparkled even more. It was a rare opportunity to experience something like this.

The other mages would feel the same way. When I taught the underwater breathing magic to the mages at the Mage Association, the masters took a group vacation, leaving their subordinates scrambling to cover for them.

However, our appreciation for the beauty of the underwater world didn’t last long. As we ventured further, the sparkling emerald-colored water faded, and a dark navy blue sea spread out before us, changing the atmosphere completely. Karna shivered and clung to my side.

-It’s over there.

Just before the sunlight from above disappeared completely, we spotted a blue-glowing gate in the distance. The bluish-purple sea made the glowing gate stand out, and it had an eerie appearance.

Karna was even more startled than I was. She gripped my clothes as if they were a lifeline, her fingers digging into the fabric.

-Do you want to go in together?

Karna nodded vigorously.

-I hope there’s air inside the gate……?

I trailed off, unsure of what we would find. As we approached the gate, something squirming caught my eye, and Karna let out a startled scream.

“Kraken?!

“……Octopus?”

Karna was startled by the appearance of a giant octopus, but to me, it looked like a regular octopus. I examined it closely, looking for any signs of mutation or chimera-like features, but found none. It seemed to be an ordinary octopus.

‘Octopus……’

Whether it was a 25-ton dump truck-sized octopus or a monster disguising itself as an octopus, we couldn’t let our guard down. But if it was indeed a regular octopus, there was something I wanted to try.

‘Let’s tear off one of its legs.’