Proof of Qualification for the 3rd Floor (2)

Flash! BOOOM!

In the far distance, Hajun could see his teammates vanishing into motes of light.

Messages bloomed before Hajun's eyes, one after another. His teammates had deliberately charged straight into the enemy's defensive tower, throwing themselves out of the fight on purpose. And there was a reason for it.

Kugugugugu!

The barrier wall that kept intruders out of their base was lowering. That was what those traitorous teammates had been aiming for all along.

Tsk.

Hajun clicked his tongue and glanced back at Snikle and Dryas. The two of them still brimmed with mutual hostility, but they seemed to have grasped the gravity of the situation, waiting in silence for his command.

Good.

His mana was draining fast just from keeping the two of them summoned. Downing another mana potion, he gave the order.

"Go carve a path through them and destroy the crystal at the enemy base."

"Kihihi! Snikle of the Shadows accepts and obeys your command, Master!"

『Then let us carry out our lord's will.』

The two of them moved. Pushing back the enemy team's base would be left entirely to them. Hajun, meanwhile, would hold this position and defend the crystal.

He had to handle both attack and defense alone. Could he really pull it off?

None of that weak thinking. I can do this. No—I have to.

Confidence burned within him all the same. Every ascender here, on both sides, was only in the early twenties of level. His combat power already stood a full tier above anyone in his bracket. Honestly, if it came to a straight fight, he could guarantee victory one hundred times out of a hundred.

But there was a problem.

Mana.

He had no way of knowing whether his mana reserves would last until the trial ended. Chugging mana potions endlessly wasn't an option—their efficiency plummeted the moment you kept drinking them back to back.

The real question is how well those two work together.

Two streaks of light—one black, one green—shot forward into the distance. If they could just coordinate properly, they'd be able to punch through while burning minimal mana.

On the road leading to the enemy base, a three-way fork opened up before Snikle and Dryas.

"Kekakakaka. Tree-hugger. We go left."

『The way I see it, the right path would serve us better.』

"What nonsense are you spouting? Even a fool can see the left one's easier to break through."

『Your instincts are woeful indeed. Save your breath and follow me to the right.』

"Why, you insufferable sapling!"

『Do you truly wish to duel me here and now?』

KWAAAAAH!

Demonic energy and spirit power surged up from their bodies in parallel. From the very start, they were off-key.

A hair's breadth from open conflict—

- Don't tell me you two are fighting again?

How had he known? Hajun's will flashed through both of their minds at once.

"……!"

『……!』

The two of them deflated as if nothing had ever happened.

"Hm. Doesn't the middle path seem rather appealing, now that you mention it?"

『I was thinking the very same thing.』

Their opinions merged into one, and they immediately charged down the center path. Before long, they came face to face with an enormous turret—a defensive tower that fired energy beams to block any approach.

"Kerruk! Shadow Hiding!"

Snikle made the first move.

Shaaaa!

His body blackened midair and melted away like ink in water. Whoosh. When Snikle reappeared, he was standing in the turret's own shadow.

"Scythe of Darkness!"

KWAAAAAH!

A black scythe materialized in his hand, and he swung it straight down onto the turret.

Shaaaaa—

ZZZZZKRAK!

A single strike, and the turret's base tore away like a sheet of paper ripped in two.

『Vine Whip.』

A green tendril shot out from Dryas's hand in pursuit.

KA-BOOM!!

The gutted turret collapsed in a single blow.

Rrrrrrumble.

"Well done, tree-hugger!"

『Likewise well done, flighty wretch.』

"Wh-what did you call me? Fl-flighty... what?"

『Indeed. Watching you flit about reminds me of a wagtail that kept visiting a garden my predecessors once tended. So restless and noisy was the creature that I named it the flighty wretch.』

"KERRRUUK! How dare you, to a being of my exalted bloodline—!"

『Exalted I cannot speak to, but flighty you most certainly are. Will you duel me here, then? Move quickly. Surely you have not forgotten our lord's command.』

"KEEEEEEK! Just you wait, tree-hugger!"

This round of the war of nerves ended in Dryas's total victory. The pair bickered their way onward after that, and the remarkable thing was how smoothly they actually ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠worked together beneath the squabbling.

『Thorn Bramble.』

"Fire Play!"

FWOOOOOOSH!

The barrier fence ensnared in thorny vines caught fire and burned to the ground in a roaring blaze. Then the guardians of the mid-waypoint came pouring out. Small elemental golems of water, fire, wind, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠earth swarmed in a snarling tide.

"Curse of Darkness!"

『Vine Whip.』

"Shadow Bolt!"

『Thorn Bramble.』

Back and forth, call and response—they wove efficient skill combinations perfectly suited to every situation. Faced with such seamless synergy, the waypoint's guardians crumbled helplessly.

This guy's not half bad?

『For all his frivolity, there is real substance beneath, I see.』

As the battle pressed on, the two of them began, little by little, to acknowledge each other. Before long, they ran headlong into the enemy team's members.

"Uh, uh? Wh-what? A spirit and a demon?"

"N-no way. Were the mid objectives a demon and a spirit all along?"

"No! Those are summons—someone summoned them! There's no objective in the 3rd Floor Qualification Trial that summons spirits or demons!"

"Grrk. Don't panic—attack! They're nothing but low-grade spirit and demon trash anyway!"

Judging by appearances alone, they charged recklessly at Snikle and Dryas. With four of them, they naturally assumed they could subdue the pair.

But.

"Calling this one a low-grade demon! Have you all lost your eyes!"

『Now there is a sentiment I can agree with, for once.』

Swwwish!

BOOOM!

SHRAAAAK!

Snikle wove between the ascenders using Shadow Hiding and Shadow Clone, while Dryas bound their feet with Thorn Bramble.

SHRAAAAK! Skrrrk!

As a finisher, Snikle sliced through every last one of them with his Scythe of Darkness.

『Well done, flighty wretch.』

"Heh. This much is just the basics."

『That must be the crystal there.』

"I'll destroy it. You cover me, tree-hugger."

The two threw themselves onto the crystal at a record-breaking pace. In the meantime, the last remaining enemy ascender appeared.

"Uh... what the—what is this?"

He had been off activating objectives one by one on his own, and was just returning when he found his base razed into a wasteland by some demon and spirit. His face went blank with shock.

"Where did everyone— GAHK!"

SHRAK!

He never finished the sentence. Thorn brambles conjured by Dryas coiled around his body and wrenched him tight.

"G-GRAAAAAH!"

Before long, he too fell into the ranks of the combat-incapacitated.

And only then did the fallen teammates learn where the rest of their team had gone.

At that, the last ascender to fall—butted into the conversation.

The moment they learned that Unknown was on the opposing team, the entire mood flipped in an instant—because they knew Unknown was the one being targeted.

At that very moment, at Hajun's base—

"No way."

"G-god almighty..."

"I've heard a thousand times that Unknown is on another level, but... this..."

Hajun's teammates stood gaping at the display of his prowess before them.

FWOOSH. FWAK!

CRACKLE-BZZZT!

The ground was blanketed in fire and sparks, and upon it lay layer upon layer of monster corpses. No ordinary monsters, either—every one of them was a special monster that could be activated on this battlefield: King Slime, Fastling, Juggernaut Bug, Gremlin, Immolate Mouse, and on and on.

Wind the clock back a few minutes. Hajun's teammates had respawned just as those monsters came swarming.

"Whoa."

"Thanks to us getting bullied into it, they've gone and activated every single objective, openly and all at once."

"If we don't help him, isn't that a game-over situation for the guy?"

"Still, this much? Hahoetal might actually hold."

"Not gonna be easy, though."

They watched the oncoming tide of monsters with smiles all around. Could even Unknown turn back all of that? Of course, with Unknown's reputation, he probably could. But holding them all off without taking a single scratch? That was beyond anyone. And if the enemy ascenders had any brains, they'd strike at him from behind.

The teammates had assumed they'd simply bow out, sit back, and watch Unknown get dogpiled—but then—

FLASH— KRRRRUMBLE, KWAAAAAAANG!!

Hajun unleashing spells in rapid succession, and the waves of monsters simply toppled over like dominoes run backward.

"He's... he's in a different league entirely..."

Trrrremble.

Faced with Unknown's overwhelming dominance, someone's knees began to shake. Seeing it firsthand, they finally understood: Unknown was an ascender who could stand beside the Seven Ascenders and more than hold his own.

A single thought flickered through their minds: had selling Unknown out for ten billion really been worth it?

"I've memorized all of your faces. I suggest you pray we never cross paths outside."

As Hajun's razor-sharp voice bored into their ears—

"Ah...!"

Their unease crystallized into dread. One and all, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠same thought rose unbidden:

Ah, hell. We're dead.

It was the moment they understood, bone-deep, that blinded by greed, they had picked a fight with the wrong man.

At the moment Hajun toppled the incoming tide of objective monsters, the four ascenders who had fallen into Combat Incapacity were revived all at once—directly facing Dryas.

"It's just the spirit!"

"Take it down!"

"Anyone with fire-attribute skills, prioritize fire!"

"Everyone, focus! If we coordinate our attacks, a low-grade spirit is easy prey!!"

The ascenders were confident. Four against one, with coordinated attacks—toppling a single spirit before them was more than feasible.

『How laughable.』

But there was one thing they did not know. This spirit was no ordinary low-grade elemental. Dryas was a supreme being who had once stood on the very verge of the throne of Forest Spirit King. True, he had since fallen from that era's glory into decline—but the saying that class is eternal did not exist for nothing.

『However far this one has fallen, we are not a being the likes of you can trifle with so easily.』

Spirit power began erupting explosively from Dryas's body.

『Summon: Guardian of the Forest.』

KUGUGUGUGUGU!

The earth split apart. Through the yawning fissure, the ascenders glimpsed a colossal something rising.

"Ah..."

Their minds simply blanked. It was a presence of such supreme majesty that even the act of looking upon it felt forbidden. The crushing shock of a collapsing spirit washed over them.

KWAAAAAAAAAAANG!!

At the same instant, a cataclysmic explosion erupted beneath their feet. Soil and stone blasted skyward, high enough to graze the clouds.

Absolute destructive power. Only a fraction of the seal had been undone—yet at the 3-Star (★★★) level, the devastation it unleashed felt like the very heavens and earth being remade.

『Whew. It has been some time since I could stretch my limbs like so.』

Dryas let out a long, satisfied laugh. And in that same moment—

"KERRRUUK! It's done!"

Five minutes had elapsed, and the enemy team's crystal shattered.