The second stage of the First-Class Mage Exam is finally underway after a week’s worth of anticipation in Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End episode 23. Frieren, Fern and the rest of the mages steeled themselves for an expedition into the Ruins of the King’s Tomb, and it became apparent rather quickly that this will be an extreme challenge.
Episode 23 opens with Sense, the infamous proctor, discussing the rules of the second stage. Essentially, Frieren and the rest of the mages need to head to the deepest floor of the Ruins of the King’s Tomb to pass. They don’t even need to fight each other, so the goal itself is rather straightforward. However, this dungeon is extremely dangerous due to various traps, magic spells, and dark secrets lurking about.
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Episode 23 Shows That Teamwork Will Be Key Again
Sense reveals that she will actually be heading down to the deepest floor alongside the other mages, so she does expect some to actually pass the test here. Unsurprisingly, Sense heads inside with Frieren and Fern since they are the ones that are most likely to pass. Sense even acknowledges the sheer potential of Fern later in the episode and discovers what makes Frieren and her disciple such a formidable duo.
Denken and Wirbel continue to work with their respective groups, and Lawine and Kanne are on their own, since Frieren and Fern believe its best to trust only themselves for now. Frieren gets plenty of time to shine in episode 23, of course, as she reminisces about Himmel’s love for dungeon crawling. She has a knack for discovering treasure and mimics as well, so there’s plenty of charm and humor here.
Halfway through the episode, Denken’s group finally encounter the enemies that lurk within the tomb. Gargoyles were expected, but the amount of traps that the tomb contains is almost absurd. One of the young mages in his group gets disqualified for using a Golem, which is practically a get-out-quick card for every mage. With one member out, Denken’s group proceed toward one of the tomb’s inner chambers, where a great challenge awaits.
Wirbel and Denken’s groups quickly discover that replicas of their members are conjured up in the tomb. These replicas follow nearly identical attack patterns and behaviors to their originals, so they’re essentially powerful and deadly doppelgangers. It appears that fighting these replicas will be the main focus of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End episode 24, with Denken having a rematch against Frieren in a replica capacity. Overall, episode 23 was an awesome, eventful teaser of what’s to come during this second stage.