A Month of Hell (2)
A Month of Hell (2)
"Colosseum...?"
Baek Ha-na, the first to enter the rift, took in the vast circular arena spread out before her.
"Looks like something starts once we go down there."
Nam Seo-hee, who had entered alongside Baek Ha-na, spoke after calmly surveying their surroundings.
-Kyaaah?!
Baek Ha-na and Nam Seo-hee turned their heads at the sharp scream.
They caught a glimpse of Na Ju-hee, who had been summoned outside the spectator stands and was plummeting toward the arena floor below.
"Let's sit here for now, Ha-na."
"Yeah."
Baek Ha-na and Nam Seo-hee sat down in the stands.
The seats were made of a hard, marble-like material—calling them comfortable would have been generous, to say the least.
"Where is Professor Cheon, though?"
"Right. He should have entered before us."
While the two were scanning the stands for Cheon Ji-ho, students began to be summoned one after another.
"Kheumm...!!"
Jaden, who had somehow been falling headfirst, swiftly used levitation magic to land on the ground and cleared his throat with a cough.
"Professor Cheon Ji-ho?"
His mana-infused voice spread quickly.
-I'm down below.
Cheon Ji-ho's voice soon came from beneath the stands.
"Everyone, assemble below."
Jaden was the first to leap down from the stands, and the other students began to move as well.
"Shall we go too?"
"Yeah."
Baek Ha-na and Nam Seo-hee became the last students to jump down from the stands.
"Ah, all thirty present, as expected."
Jaden included the late-arriving Baek Ha-na and Nam Seo-hee in his count and confirmed there were no stragglers.
"Haa. I'll do a quick sweep of the surrounding area first."
Cheon Ji-ho's empty right sleeve fluttered as he swiftly scaled the wall and ascended.
"Hey...!! I said let's go together—why did you leave me behind?"
"Didn't hear you."
"Grr...!!"
While Nam Seo-hee and Na Ju-hee were glaring at each other in a tense standoff, Baek Ha-na glanced up at the wide-open ceiling.
'Looks just like the real sky.'
The sunlight beating down held the same warm, gentle heat as the real thing, and the blue sky with clouds drifting lazily across it seemed no different from the genuine article.
She had experienced artificial rifts like this through Baek Woo-jin several times before, but the vividly rendered natural environment was convincing enough to fool her every time, and it always felt new.
"There's a waiting room and restroom area implemented inside. Nothing beyond that in terms of facilities, though."
"Hm, so there's no food either."
"Correct."
Unlike Cheon Ji-ho, who looked somewhat grim, Jaden showed no particular concern at the news that there were no provisions.
"Let's head to the center for now. On the way down, I noticed something on the ground."
"Let's."
Jaden led the way, with Cheon Ji-ho and the students following.
"The ground is springy."
"Yeah. Feels like you wouldn't get hurt even if you took a tumble."
Na Ju-hee, having overheard Baek Ha-na and Nam Seo-hee's exchange, discreetly pressed her foot into the dirt floor.
She was mildly impressed by how easily the surface left an imprint, like a sponge cake.
"This looks like it's telling us to stand on it, don't you think?"
"Yes...."
Reaching the center of the Colosseum, the two professors spotted a white platform that was unmistakably a hidden mechanic. It even had black footprints stamped onto it, helpfully showing where to stand.
"Mm, stepping on this will likely summon another academy's student participating in the Ceremony."
"Excuse me? A student, you say?"
Cheon Ji-ho's surprised question was met with a nod from Jaden.
"Professor Baek instructed me to compile a list of student candidates from other academies and send it over by yesterday."
"Are you telling me... it was to prepare for this?"
"Yes. Well, I understand your reaction, Professor Cheon Ji-ho—hard to believe when you don't grasp the magnitude of this place."
He himself would have reacted the same way had he not known what this place truly was.
"There's no exit anyway, so let's not waste time and just trigger it. Who wants to step on this?"
"Now, rather than having a student go first, perhaps we should—"
"Heh-heh, that's probably not what Professor Baek wants. He placed us here in a supporting role—to watch over the students and give advice. So let's just focus on our assigned roles. If we step in and something goes wrong, we might end up short-handed."
"...That's a fair point. I was told your Korean was poor, but you sound remarkably fluent right now."
"Well, I've put in some effort to make a good impression on my superiors."
Jaden turned around and looked over the students.
"Now then, any volunteers to go first?"
Swish.
"Miss Ha-na and Miss I-seul, I see."
He swept his gaze once across the two faces of contrasting colors.
"In an actual battle, the king should remain until the end, but this is training, so prioritizing the king's will is correct."
No sooner had Jaden finished speaking than Yoon I-seul lowered her slightly raised hand.
"For that reason... Miss Ha-na?"
"Yes."
Baek Ha-na stepped forward, pulling on her slightly worn half-gauntlets over both hands.
"Everyone else, please step back a bit. We don't know where the opponent will be summoned."
Once the remaining students had put enough distance between themselves and the platform, Baek Ha-na placed her foot on the footprint drawn on it.
Wooong—!!
"...?"
The ground vibrated faintly, and in an instant, everyone around her vanished.
The confusion didn't last long.
She spotted the group clustered together in one section of the stands.
"So... I just have to fight that thing?"
Baek Ha-na clenched her fist, watching the summoned opponent take shape in a burst of blue light.
'A student from another academy, huh...'
The fully formed humanoid summon wore a uniform with gold and black in harmonious balance, a Western-style sword hanging at its waist.
Flash!
"...What's with the glare?"
Shing.
The summon offered no reply and drew the sword from its hip.
And in the very instant its shoulder twitched upward—
Paaang──!!
The air exploded and the summon's head vanished.
Baek Ha-na's fist, having punched straight through the space where its head should have been, slowly returned to its original position.
Thud!
The summon collapsed to the ground with a heavy sound, then disintegrated into particles and disappeared.
But only for a moment.
Wooong—!!
In the exact spot where the summon had vanished, a new one began to take shape.
"Use your strength efficiently...."
Bouncing lightly in place to loosen up, Baek Ha-na waited until the new summon—same uniform and sword, different face—drew its blade.
Shing.
The moment the summon drew its sword and moved, she kicked off the ground.
Puh-eok─!!
This time, Baek Ha-na's fist punched clean through the summon's chest.
'Too easy.'
After that, Baek Ha-na reduced ten more summons to dust.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
All of them so far had gone down in a single exchange, but the one she'd just felled had withstood two attacks. She was entering a phase where she could feel the summons' skill gradually rising.
-Miss Ha-na, would you try saying "I forfeit"?
Just as she was starting to get into it, Jaden's mana-laden voice reached her, and Baek Ha-na had to follow his instruction. She was a student, and he was a professor.
"Forfeit."
Wooong—
A small tremor traveled through the ground once more, and the summon that was materializing before her eyes crumbled to dust and scattered on the wind.
Swiish.
"...?!"
Baek Ha-na's ears and tail shot straight up.
It lasted only a split second, but a touch—a warmth so familiar she could never forget it—brushed across her cheek.
"Woo...."
She tried to call out the name of the person she missed, but the words never made it out.
When she came to her senses, she was standing in a different place entirely.
With several food items in her hands, no less.
Sway, sway.
Baek Ha-na's tail wagged happily.
She had already intended to give it her all, but now she had an even better reason to try harder.
"Ha-na."
"Oh, Seo-hee."
Standing there with instant food piled in her arms, Baek Ha-na stopped her swaying tail when her friend appeared and walked over.
"The professors are looking for you."
"Let's go."
As if she'd never been smiling at all, Baek Ha-na's eyes sharpened into their usual keen look as she returned with Nam Seo-hee to where the group had gathered.
"Forfeiting lets you stop whenever you want... the participant moves to the waiting room... and food is provided... something along those lines."
Jaden summarized the information they'd gleaned from Baek Ha-na's match.
"Since stopping is an option, let me verify a few more things first."
Following Jaden's instructions, ten more students took to the arena and declared forfeit.
"So the opponents are fixed as apprentice chevaliers from France, the amount of food varies depending on how many opponents you defeat... and if you forfeit and challenge again, you start from the very beginning."
"So long as you don't defeat the first-ranked opponent, it looks like the cycle can be repeated indefinitely."
"Yes, I think so too. And if my guess is right, defeating the first-ranked opponent will cause them to be replaced with candidates from another academy."
"Hm... you did say one month. Time won't exactly be plentiful."
Jaden nodded in agreement.
"We should start with attribute training. Showing them directly will be more effective than explaining. I'm not sure if they'll register us, but... I'll go out first and demonstrate against each rank, all the way up to the first."
Jaden leaped from the stands and made his way to the center of the arena.
"Everyone, focus and watch carefully. These are the opponents you'll be facing in actual combat."
At Cheon Ji-ho's words, the students nodded and repositioned themselves to get the best view.
"It's starting."
Jaden stepped onto the platform, and a summon began to take shape in a burst of blue light.
Except.
"...An old man?"
Up until now, students in apprentice chevalier uniforms had been summoned, but what appeared before Jaden was an old man clutching a staff.
And then.
Paaak──!!
The thick staff slammed straight into the back of Jaden's head.